Red Sky by Ben Archer

Author:Ben Archer [Archer, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ben Robinson
Published: 2018-03-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24: Chasing the Sun

It takes a while to accept this new way of life. I mean, you live as one person, with certain rules of how to sleep and eat, then all that leaves in the blink of an eye. The monster seeps its sticky black fingers into every little crevice of your being. Concepts like murder and morality become innocent victims to the altar of satisfying it.

True story: I once knew a guy who was a vegetarian his entire human life. Well, after the change he couldn’t control that anymore. He would literally go vomit after every bloody meal. He was so disgusted that he refused to eat until his monster would eventually make him. He woke up from these blind rampages with no memory of the terrible things he had done. There were only countless pools of blood to let him know that it definitely wasn’t good.

This tragic cycle played on until he absolutely couldn’t take it anymore. One random day, when he felt the dreaded hunger coming back, he calmly laid his things on the sidewalk, gave his favorite coat to a passing stranger, and chewed through his wrists right there in the middle of the street. I suppose my point is that everyone has to find their own way. Though it’s easier for some than others.

My somber mood is interrupted by a soothing voice over the intercom. She alerts us that the ship has broken cloud cover and the best views will be off to the left side. Quinn abruptly bolts from her chair with a fistful of my sleeve. The girl tugs my jacket (with me in it) all the way over to the huge window.

Her over-enthusiastic hands spill my freshly made drink along the way. Even though it’s uncomfortable, it’s easy to laugh off since it will easily blend in with the rest of the dark stains. Quinn’s honest smile, as the clouds tumble away from our ship like cotton balls, make the freezing-cold clothes a distant memory. Her eyes twinkle from the sparkly white peaks spinning into magnificent new shapes every few seconds. They appear to be solid enough to scoop the fluffy mountains up into a delicious ice cream sundae.

In the middle of all the natural beauty is a rising monument to human construction. The massive stalk grows out of the thick clouds and finally gives us our first view of the four silver behemoths. This first city, appropriately named Prime, looms large over us. The ship purposely slows to allow us to enjoy the passing spectacle. At first glance the bottom layer appears to be one big mess of jumbled steel, but it’s actually an expertly crafted maze of tunnels with brightly colored shuttles running the labyrinth. Some are in enclosed tubes, while others merely hang down in the wide open sky. All the precise routes remind me of a slow motion game of Pac-Man.

We pass so close by another shuttle that its passengers wave to us. Quinn reaches out to the friendly people by pressing a hand to the glass.

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