The Raintaker

A sort of steam punk beginning scene set outside Seattle.

                Lights flickered as a woman typed on the screen before her, blue unobtrusive light pouring from the table. There was a loud groan and the small compartment-like room pitched forward. She watched the holographic screen, waiting and listening. There were groans and clashes about the ship and she could hear the screams of crewmen. She only had a few minutes before the intruders found her scraping information from the ship’s memory.

                Her breath drew short.

                ‘Complete’ flashed across the hologram. With a small smile, she drew out the chip, grabbed an emergency sledge hammer and destroyed the machine. Shoving the chip in her pocket, she ripped the remaining pieces apart and found the computer’s battered core cell. She opened the window and chucked it into the swampy water in which the Raintaker was sinking. Across the black water were the decrepit and largely abandoned remains of the city of Seattle. Reinforced towers along the wharf were sending search lights over Puget Sound, looking for survivors from the explosion of the Raintaker.

                She kicked down the door and ran down the tilted hallway that was clogged with the bodies of crewmen and Creevers. Chunks of ceiling fell to the floor and the lights died. The wounded ship groaned.

                She stumbled around the corner and groped for the emergency chute that would take her to the base level and engine room. She found the door glowing with anti-dark enamel. She pulled on the handle and found it jammed. A few shouts of laughter echoed down the metal hallway and her heart leaped. Creevers were pushing their way through the west wing. She broke the glass emergency door window with her elbow, climbed inside and jumped down the chute.

                After six seconds of darkness, she came to a halt on the engine room. It was a vast, grumbling warehouse filled with steam and almost unbearable heat. Self-sufficient glow lanterns lit the steel walkways between the various machines that fueled the Raintaker. On the opposite wall there was a large glass door revealing another smaller but circular room. Under the sign ‘Hibernate Transportation Facility’, it looked a heaven among the harsh darkness.

                She ran across the walkway toward the facility. To her surprise and gray armored figure stepped from behind a generator, holding a gloved hand out to her.

                “Ha!” a barking voice came. “Boy, am I glad to see the likes of you, Gainer!”

                The figure halted beneath a glowing lantern, revealing a smiling but scarred face. His armor was covered in ash and blood and he carried a large blaster in his other hand.

                “Captain Viirda!” shouted Gainer as she ran to greet him. She found at least a dozen of other soldiers hiding behind the generator in what seemed to be their last defense. “How’re your men?”

                “Good. Tired,” he replied. He watched her. “Did you see any others?”

                “I came from the third floor. Everyone there was gone.”

                “Did you get"” Gainer interrupted him by showing the chip and the captain grinned. “You’d better hurry,” he said instead.

                She moved past him and the remaining soldiers and into the Hibernate Transportation Facility. It was lit with hundreds of glow lanterns, which casted the room in a yellow green light.

                Lining the walls were nine glass hibernation capsules, all filled with young clone humans. Since the attack on the Raintaker, many of the clones had died. Some had broken through the glass capsule and had suffocated; others breathing masks were jerked off and had drowned in the light blue fluid. A few were impaled by broken glass, but only one had survived unharmed.

                He was sitting, stoic, in a chair in the center of the facility with his head bent forward. A white uniformed physician was checking his vitals and general condition. When Gainer entered, the physician turned around, wearing square glasses and holding a clipboard. The clone did nothing.

                The physician shook Gainer’s proffered hand. “He’s the last, eh?” she started.

                “Unfortunately,” the white uniformed man said. “Twenty-three years of preparation and it’s all lost in a twenty minute surprise attack, but at least we have him. At least he’s perfectly healthy.”

                The clone was still unresponsive, but he breathed softly and blinked. The clone was young, with tan, weathered skin and brown hair that was hidden by a knit cap. He was already dressed in inconspicuous leather and woolen gear, a belt with many pouches and a small, tightly organized backpack. A blaster and extra ammo were strapped to his back. The clone wore fingerless gloves and had a pair of goggles about his knit cap.

                “You have the information card?”

                Gainer brought the thumbnail-sized chip and gave it to the physician, who tucked the clipboard under his left arm and walked to the right side of the clone’s head. He pushed a tuft of hair away from behind the clone’s ear and inserted the chip into his head.  The clone blinked rapidly, his eyes widening, but he didn’t make a move. The physician then stood before him.

                “Look at me,” the physician ordered.

                The clone straightened and gazed at the man with attentive pale eyes.

                “You are Bedwyr,” the physician informed the clone. “You are an eighteen-year-old male tasked with the greatest mission of our generation. You must travel to Oslo, the northern most rebel city. With our entire planet at war and under oppression by various warlords, this task won’t be easy. You’ve been trained for a standard of twelve years and you have a holographic drive that is programmed with secondary information. We have inserted extra information into that drive. It’s of the utmost importance. Do you understand?”

                Bedwyr gave a short nod. “Yes, sir.”

                The physician continued. “Your first task will be to find Canvas Todd. Last we checked, he lived in Seattle, but he travels often to Tacoma by land. You have been in hibernation and are currently in a sort of hypnosis. Once you track down Canvas Todd, that hypnosis will wear away and you will proceed as a normal human. Do you understand?”

                “Yes, sir.”

                “Stand, Bedwyr.”

                The young man stood, watching the physician curiously. They walked out of the facility and into the engine room, presenting the clone to Captain Viirda and his men, who all gathered around to see Bedwyr.

                “He seems kind of odd, captain,” muttered a soldier.

                “Are you sure he’s got enough ammo?”

                “That’s him? That’s really him?”

                “Yep,” replied the captain, examining Bedwyr with the critical eye of a commander. “My boys and I will hold off and get rid of the Creevers upstairs, giving Bedwyr a safe escape from the Raintaker.”

                “How many men do you have?” Gainer asked.

                “Fifteen,” replied Viirda. “Sixteen including you. There are at least sixty Creevers up there, but since they never have an original thought in their head we have a good chance. They’re so idiotic; they might as well be clones.” Viirda paused. “No offence, Bedwyr.”

                Bedwyr’s expression didn’t change and he seemed to not have cared.

                “Viirda, those Creevers are the same men who surprised this ship. That’s original.”

                The captain shook his head. “I’m convinced it wasn’t their idea. I’ve been fighting Creever’s since I was thirteen. I know them fairly well by now. I also know that the Creevers may be vicious, but they can’t possibly conduct an ambush. They’re too loud and too undisciplined. I believe someone planned and directed the attack. Someone who knew we were coming.”

                A silence fell. If they knew of the Raintaker’s cargo, then the entire mission could fail.

                “Then we should deploy Bedwyr immediately,” said the physician. He opened a latch trapdoor that brought fresh swampy air into the engine room, draining out some of the steam. He removed a protective grate and motioned for the clone to come beside him. “Bedwyr, it’s time for your mission to begin.”

                Bedwyr glanced through the hole at the black swamp water below. “Yes, sir,” he said. He jumped out, splashing as he landed and ran toward the mossy land.

                “And Bedwyr?” called the physician before the clone ran too far.

                “Yes, sir?”

                “Don’t trust anyone. Do you understand?”

                “Yes, sir.”  Bedwyr continued. Captain Viirda, Gainer and the physician watched as the hope of the rebellion crept into the foggy, wet forest.