KunlunA Story by nightlight6The nuclear apocalypse has occurred.... at least for a part of the world. The rest of the world has gone on its merry way.Bells knew
he had to call his folks back home. It’d only been an hour since he left, but
the mission was treacherous enough that they were demanding constant updates.
He sat cross-legged on his cot and pulled up the video conf interface on his
watch. He then
spent the next hour lying to his parents. “Everything’s
normal so far!” “You
wouldn’t believe the radiation over
the Pacific.” “I’ll
bring some grade-A Chinese fallout home for Jayron, promise” He hadn’t
expected to have to lie, but right now that was the order from Command. The
truth wasn’t dangerous, necessarily, but it was completely and utterly
bewildering. Most of the past hour had been spent running around the
helicarrier in a frenzy along with the rest of the expedition team.
Non-essential crew had ultimately been ordered to retreat to their bunks so the
admins could get things sorted out. “Have you
seen anything crazy mutated yet?”, asked Bells’ father. “Ohhh, not
yet, but I’m sure I will!” “Do you
think there’s any people left in East China?”, asked Bells’ mother. “I doubt
it Mama, you know the rad-smog’s too thick.” The
helicarrier was temporarily stationed at Misawa Air Base in northern Tōhoku, the most
populated region of Japan. That wasn’t saying much. Given that most of southern
Japan had been abandoned due to fallout, Japan had become a wintry agrarian
country. Some of the old manufacturing was still happening in modern Japan, but
it was nothing like what it had been two centuries ago. Bells glanced out the small berth window onto the short
Misawa skyscrapers and distant green mountains. “I think I need to get going. Tell Gram I’m safe!” “Okay, honey. Send pictures?” “You know I’ll try. Love ya!” With a smile and a wave, Bells flicked off the video
conference. He was most definitely not going to be sending pictures. As he
rubbed a hand over his face with a groan, a voice piped up from the cot across
from him. “Damn, I
didn’t know you were that good of an actor.” Bells
groaned louder. The voice continued. “Glad my
parents aren’t clingy or else I’d be screwed.” Peeking
through his fingers, Bells glared at the source of the voice. “Shut up,
Kepa. They’re not clingy.” The sturdy
woman looked back at him with a face carved from stone. “They
called you an hour after we took off from Hawaii. That’s clingy.” Bells
attempted to shoot lasers of death from his eyes into Kepa’s dark, detached
ones, but unfortunately he wasn’t the one with a constitution of steel. He
backed down after a couple seconds and buried his face in his hands again. His
plan to create his own solitude failed as Kepa spoke up with some interest. “I guess
they’re gonna need us after all.” Bells
sighed and dropped his hands into his lap. “We don’t
know that.” “There are
people in China. There have to be. How else do you explain our readings and the
Japanese reports?” He didn’t
have a coherent response to that. “I-I mean,
I don’t know! We can’t jump to conclusions! Maybe there’s robotics or AI
activating posthumously, maybe there’s a weather phenomenon happening, it’s way
too early to tell.” Kepa
raised a single thick eyebrow. “Okay. But
you have to admit this is all really weird.” All Bells
could do was shrug helplessly and look out the window. There was
no radiation entering the Pacific. There was
no fallout being kicked into the air. There was
no rad-smog over East Asia. Something
weird was happening in China.
With dust
storms, barren trees, and crumbling buildings as far as the eye could see, the
Korean peninsula was the definition of a post-nuclear wasteland. In the
chaos of the Pyongyang-Beijing War’s nuclear climax, North Korea had been nuked
into oblivion. Millions of innocent, brainwashed individuals had died
instantly, and the tyrannical government had fled to Russia with their gilded
tails between their legs. South Korea was less lucky in some respects. Though
not a single nuke landed over the DMZ, the massive radiation from the north
swept into the southern part of the peninsula without remorse. While most of
the upper class was easily able to flee to Japan, the US, and Australia, too
many Koreans were abandoned to die from radiation poisoning. Modern Korean
descendants called themselves the Ilh-Eobeolin. The Lost. As the
helicarrier flew over Korea, Bells noticed security officer Eun-seo was not
present on the bridge. Not much
activity occurred during this time, beyond the science staff taking continued
measurements of the radiation in the air and monitoring the ground below. The
radiation of the Korean soil was still decreasing at a steady rate, continuing
to support the claim that southern Korea would be arable by 2370. Bells could
hear the botanist John babbling about how there were new grasses appearing in
patches around Seoul, but when he looked down he couldn’t see anything
interesting about the sparse brown vegetation. The
radiation in the lower atmosphere was higher over Korea than it was in the
Pacific jet stream, but it was still far less than expected. Bells could hear
the climatologists muttering over their instruments. He had a strong suspicion
any problem they were looking for simply wasn’t there. When the
helicarrier finally made it out over Korea Bay, most of the talking on the bridge
stopped. All eyes were on the distant, dim line of land to the west. The line
of land expanded to the south and north as the helicarrier ventured further
into the bay, but no detail could yet be seen. The first
detail to become clear, particularly to the crew stationed on the telescopes,
was the color green. The instant the lookouts announced this, the captain
turned to the team of scientists huddled around their semicircle of computers.
She looked sharply between each of their bewildered faces. “Any explanation?” There was
some chaos as the scientists whispered animatedly to each other, and one would
occasionally poke a head out. “There’s an
alga along the coast that’s resistant to radioactivity?”, question-answered
John the botanist. “The
materials of the North Korean bombs might have interacted with the steel of the
Chinese skyscrapers to create a green coating. Somehow.”, shrugged Nequila the
chemist. “Maybe all
the radiation was vented into the atmosphere after the war and…. No, who am I
kidding, that’s stupid.”, shouted climatologist Jayesh before dropping to a
mumble. The
scientists continued running themselves rabid while the captain looked more and
more exasperated. Bells turned to Kepa, who was standing next to him towards
the back of the bridge. “Maybe
it’s one giant, mutated green slime.” Kepa
snorted. “You might
be right. Something tells me us translators have about as much of an idea of
what’s going on as the eggheads do.” “Kepa, you
have a Master’s degree in Mandarin literature. We’re all eggheads here.” “Shut up,
nerd.” The
captain waved her arms in the air and turned back towards the windows. “Just keep
us updated when we get more information.” The
scientists didn’t seem to hear her. The ruined
city of Dalian, on the tip of the peninsula sticking into the bay from the
north, passed them by quickly. Not much detail could be made out, but the
lookouts reported that there were skyscrapers still standing. The green
extended up the skyscrapers, adding more fuel to the increasingly frustrated rabble
around the computers. “It’s
mutated vines! Millions of them spreading across the land like a mold slime!” Bells
couldn’t help but think that sounded dangerously close to his idea. As Beijing
finally came into view a few minutes later, the captain hushed the scientific
team so she could listen to the lookouts. “Looks
like loads of crumbling skyscrapers from here. Anything to note?” “There’s
green on these skyscrapers as well, but it’s definitely not an even coating. It
seems fairly vine-like, and there’s not any green on certain crumbled areas of
the skyscrapers. I can already see some reddish brown patches. Probably rust,
ma’am.” “Interesting.
Anything to note on the coastline?” “No
unusual coloring. There appear to be objects in the water, but they might just
be ruins of ports and ships.” Bells took
in the growing Beijing skyline. As they got closer, it was easier to see what
the lookouts were talking about. The hundreds of skyscrapers were in various
states of disrepair, and the green on them looked like rivulets of water
running down a cliff. Chunks of skyscrapers were missing, and the entire faces
of some of the smaller ones were covered in rust. Those skyscrapers were
probably going to completely collapse soon. Green extended on the ground that
was visible beneath the tall buildings, and John was already saying that it was
clear there was variation in the plants taking over Beijing. Beams and
poles stuck out of the water along the coast, and from the helicarrier
thousands of shipwrecks could be seen littering the bottom of Bohai Bay. The
lookouts noted a few chunky silver objects drifting in the sea, and dismissed
them. They were probably just light debris that stayed in the relatively
contained area of the bay. The
helicarrier rose in elevation slightly so that it could pass over the ruined
buildings more easily. As they made landfall and looked down, a couple of
people gasped. Just behind the coastal line of skyscrapers was a massive,
shallow crater. The crater was not so much in the ground as it was in the
buildings. For nearly 2 km in every direction from the epicenter, the
skyscrapers were either flattened or just plain gone. For another 14 km in
every direction, chunks and faces of buildings were missing, the source of
destruction all pointing back to the same place. While North Korea had dropped
“small” nukes throughout much of East China, it had reserved its three crown
jewels for the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Remote footage of
the detonation of each was a horror to watch at the time, but in Bells’ era was
run-of-the-mill stock video stuck into historical documentaries. Something
about flying over one of the crown jewel’s craters made it difficult to keep
seeing the footage that way. The impact
of the awe-inspiring destruction was lessened by the continuation of green.
Even in the center of one of the largest nuclear explosions in history, where
it had been expected that lethal radiation would remain for thousands of years,
the ruins were overgrown with vegetation. In the completely flattened epicenter
large, old trees were growing, surrounded by smaller trees and shrubs.
Radiation readings showed that though the epicenter was radioactive, it was
about as radioactive as standing in the abandoned city of Chernobyl 300 years
ago. Dangerous
if you stood there for days, but not lethal. The
lookouts listed details they could see in the streets. There were thousands of
abandoned cars, buses, and trolleys, all of them rusting and covered in
shade-loving plants. There were signs of movement among the vegetation, which
the biologists excitedly chalked up to animal life. There were less abandoned
vehicles than expected, and one of the lookouts pointed out that there were
patches of road that seemed like they had once had something covering them for
a long time. Nobody could reasonably explain that until they sent out a ground
team. Another
lookout noticed a chunky silver object similar to the debris in the ocean. It
was decided once the helicarrier found a good place to land, a team would definitely
be sent to check that out in particular. After
some debate, the captain ordered that they land and set up camp in Tiananmen
Square. It was central to the city, it was far enough from the crater’s
epicenter that the radiation was minimal, and they wouldn’t be pissing off the
descendants of Chinese expatriates by landing in the Forbidden City (which was
equally open but was an obvious no-no). It was clear from the discussion that
only Bells and Kepa knew the history behind this place. They exchanged eye
contact, basically saying to each other, “we’re
going to have to double as historians on this mission, aren’t we?”
Bells and
Kepa elected to investigate the Forbidden City, and since they weren’t needed
(yet) the captain allowed them to head off. Walking across Tiananmen Square
towards the Gate of Heavenly Peace with only a precautionary mask in one’s
pocket was surreal. The stone tiles of the square were free of any damage,
their neglect belied only by the occasional grass rising between the cracks. The
Mao Zedong Mausoleum behind them was in complete ruins, as was the Great Hall
of the People to their left. The National Museum of China to their right,
however, seemed merely abandoned. The glass in the windows were broken and the
large sign that had once hung above the entrance lay shattered on the ground,
but it looked like it would be safe enough to enter. The Gate
of Heavenly Peace and the southern walls of the Forbidden City behind it were
practically pristine. Besides
the missing flags, signs, and portrait of Mao Zedong, the entrance to the
palace looked like a picture from a history textbook. The red had not faded,
there was not a tile out of place. Bells scanned the Gate as they crossed the cracked
avenue separating the palace from the square. The gilding on the roof was still
whole and shining, and the lion statues beside the entrance appeared untouched.
As they passed the tall huabiao columns, the creatures topping each staring
down at the newcomers, Bells noticed something odd. There was a pale line
running through the center of the huabiao on the left. He signaled Kepa to come
look at it with him. Sure
enough, there was a thin line of what looked to be cement encircling the
huabiao. It was like the column split in two before being glued back together.
Bells slowly ran a hand over the dragon engraving in the column that was
interrupted by the line. “Uh, Kepa,
do you know if the huabiao in front of the Forbidden City sustained damage
before the war?” Kepa took
a tablet out of her pack and flicked it on. “Nope, but
I can try to find out. There have to be thousands of pre-war pictures that were
taken in this exact spot.” “Right.
How are you going to find them?” “Through
the incredibly modern and complicated technique of doing a reverse image
search.” Bells got
out of the way as Kepa stepped back and took a picture of the huabiao. When she
entered the image into the search engine, she gave a rare laugh. “Wow,
won’t the people managing satellite web flow be shocked when they see somebody
Googling something in the middle of Beijing.” Bells
snorted. “I think
it’s just AI managing traffic, Kepa.” “Well
then, this is gonna fry the s**t out of that AI’s circuits.” There was
a pause as Kepa drew up the closest matching images to her photograph. There
had indeed been thousands of photos taken in this exact spot, and a quick
sorting revealed that at least a few were taken within 2 days of the nuclear
exchange. Bells looked over Kepa’s shoulder as she glanced up and down from her
tablet to the huabiao. “It
doesn’t seem like the line is in this one.” Kepa
hummed and brought up another photograph. It was taken the afternoon before the
bombs hit. “Nothing
here, either.” Bells
stepped away from Kepa and returned to running a hand on the huabiao. He looked
over his shoulder at her to see her sliding through more photos with a frown on
her face. “This
doesn’t make any sense, Bells.” “Maybe,
um, it was damaged and immediately repaired? And nobody photographed it?” Kepa
glaced up at him with deadpan eyes. “No
government is that efficient at fixing things. Tourists and locals were here in
some capacity 24/7. That’s simply not possible.” Bells
turned to grimace at the huabiao. “It has to
be possible. Otherwise this was fixed after the war, and that’s-“ “We should
go inside the palace.” Kepa
pulled Bells sharply away from the column and shoved her tablet in her pack. He
broke free from her as she started to drag him towards the Gate. Falling in step
beside her, Bells tried once again to shoot eye lasers at his colleague. “You don’t
need to drag me around like a kid.” “Oh no,
I’ve hurt Bells’ feelings. Whatever will I do.” “Do you
think there’s an explanation for the huabiao’s repair in the palace or
something?” “No, but I
think the suspicious stuff is going to start adding up.” The path
leading up to the true entrance to the Forbidden City, the Meridian Gate,
resembled the stones of Tiananmen Square. The tiles were unbroken, worn only by
feet in centuries past. Wildly overgrown hedges blocked any view of what might
be seen to either side. The Meridian Gate itself was as massive and imposing as
its original architects intended, and its tall red walls opened out to greet
the first outsiders it had likely seen in 200 years. The building that topped
it linked to the towers on the ends of the Gate’s walls, and the roof shined
gold under the sun. As with the first gate, the added artifacts of the 20th
and 21st century were long gone. Bells
briefly looked over at Kepa as they passed under the inexplicably whole brick
and mortar. She was still craning her neck upwards, her eyes dazed. When they
emerged into the palace proper, it was to more of the bewildering same. The
many buildings and towers of the Forbidden City stretched out before them with
glowing roof, undamaged walls, and colorful gilding. The artificial creeks
that had run through the city were dry, but the vegetation that had taken over
Beijing seemed not to have reached this place. Trees and shrubs grew where they
could, but the palace remained something out of a documentary. Bells and
Kepa took their time walking north. The inside of the Hall of Supreme Harmony
was barren, devoid of anything that hadn’t been bolted down. Glorious
engravings and paintings, immune to the ravages of time, stretched up every
column and wall. The throne room had no throne on its dais, and the narrow
windows were open to let in every breeze. As they made their way out into the
Inner Court, Bells nudged Kepa. “Where do
you think all that stuff went?” “Hmm?” “The
throne, the furniture, the sculptures. Where did they go? There aren’t any
ruined artifacts anywhere.” “Good
question, Bells, good question.” The
insides of the palace proper and all the quarters surrounding it were similarly
devoid of any loose artifacts. Every building was as beautiful as it had been
left two centuries ago, but there was no furniture. No art that wasn’t a part
of the walls. Kepa spoke up as Bells examined the shadow left behind by the
missing throne in one of the many throne rooms. “I think
there’s a simple explanation.” “Really?” “Yeah.
They saw the writing on the wall and hid every historical relic in a vault
somewhere. In fact…” Bells
watched as Kepa took her tablet back out and typed away at it furiously. After
a minute she tapped the screen triumphantly. “Bingo.
The inside of the Forbidden City was closed to the public for three months
leading up to the nuclear exchange. No wonder it was so easy to find a matching
photo earlier. All the tourists who came here had to resort to milling around
outside, taking pictures of columns.” “That’s
brilliant, Kepa. It, uh, doesn’t explain everything else though.” Kepa
huffed and stored her tablet away again. “You’re
right. It doesn’t. After we check out the Imperial Garden we should head back
to camp and talk with the captain about all this.” Branches
of trees stuck over the walls surrounding the Garden, but just like every other
building in the palace the walls themselves were perfectly whole. The entrance
to the garden was humbler than the rest of the buildings, and it was shadowed
by vegetation on the other side. Bells looked to the right as they entered the
garden. Tall, unpruned trees rimmed the edges, and broadleaved plants thrived
in the shade. “John is
gonna have a field day when he sees-“ “Uh,
Bells?” A grip
under his chin forced him to look forward. Kepa got her hand out of the way as
his jaw dropped. In the
sunlit center of the garden stood rows and rows of white irises. Every inch
of the ground that wasn’t taken up by path or gazebo was covered in green and
white. They swayed slightly with a breeze that blew through as the outsiders
stared. Bells walked forward and knelt next to the closest row without
realizing he’d done it. With hesitant fingers he stroked the petals of one of
the irises, and felt the soft give of a living flower. When he scanned the
irises nearby, he could see occasional imperfections like dying leaves and
browning blooms. “They’re
real. They’re… real flowers.” “What the f**k, Bells.” Bells
shakily stood up and turned to Kepa. He’d known her since freshman year of
college, and he’d never once seen her look scared. Now alarm was shining out of
her eyes as she looked up and around with halting movements. He stepped over
and laid a firm hand on her arm. “We need
to head back to camp. Take a picture.” Kepa’s
eyes shot to his. They stared at each other for a few moments, having a silent
conversation Bells himself didn’t fully understand. Finally, she jerked her
head in a nod. “Good
idea. If this place vanishes by the time more people get here, I don’t want to
think we just had a joint hallucination.”
When the
pair of translators finally made their way back to Tiananmen Square, several
large tents had been erected some distance away from where the helicarrier
stood. A throng of people were standing around someone in the center of the
camp. Given what they could hear as they approached, Bells and Kepa were pretty
sure it was the captain. “Ma’am, we
don’t know what that thing is. We have to-“ “A whole
skyscraper is missing to the north! Missing!” ”For the
last time, calm down, all of you! I can’t sort through this-“ It was
clear multiple people had come back from their surveys at the same time, and
that each of them had a story as unbelievable and concerning as the one in the
Forbidden City. Somehow Bells wasn’t surprised. When they came to a halt next
to the group, Kepa crossed her arms over her chest and glared around at
everyone. Bells turned to her. “I don’t
think we’re gonna get a word in edgewise.” Kepa
turned her glare towards him for a second before looking forwards again. Bells
was startled when she suddenly unfolded her arms and clapped her hands over her
head. “HEY! SHUT
UP!” The crowd
flinched and shut up. Kepa
stared them all down with eyes of flint as the clap and shout rang through
their ears. When they looked suitably quiet, Kepa nodded towards the unstartled
captain. “Ma’am.” The
captain’s mouth quirked in a brief smile before she turned to security officer Eun-seo. “What was
this about a thing? You seem to think it’s dangerous, whatever it is.” Eun-seo
shrugged. “I don’t
know if it’s dangerous, but we need to be cautious.” “Describe
the thing for me. I didn’t quite catch what you said before.” The
security officer looked around at the team she’d brought with her and all of
them shook their heads. Eventually she looked back at the captain with
hesitantly gesturing hands. “It was
like a…. mobile fan. With a siphon on top.” Everyone
present just looked at Eun-seo blankly. The captain tilted her head to the
side. “A fan.
With a siphon on top.” “More of
an exhaust pipe, I suppose. But there’s definitely a fan on the bottom.” The
captain considered this before looking around her. “Engineers?
I’ve got an engineer or two here, right?” Nobody
raised their hand. Frowning, the captain seemed to seek out who might be the
next most useful. For some reason, her eyes landed on the translators in the
back. She directed her voice towards Eun-seo. “Was there
any text on the machine?” “I think
so, yeah. We couldn’t read it. It was in Chinese characters.” The
captain nodded. “Fantastic.
With any luck, our translation crew will be able to decipher the nature of it.
Are you two prepared for an outing into the city?” Bells
startled when he realized he and Kepa were being addressed. Kepa answered for
him. “Always
ready, ma’am.” “Good. I
want you to head out immediately with Eun-seo.” “Of
course. Should we brief you on what we found in the Forbidden City, first?” The
captain frowned. The person who wanted to talk about the vanished skyscraper
tried to interrupt about how his briefing was more important, but the captain
held a hand up to silence him. “What did
you find?” “To
summarize: pristine buildings, missing furniture, and a garden full of funeral
flowers.” Silence. For once
the captain looked truly shocked. The people in the crowd turned between her
and Kepa with confused looks. Working her mouth for a couple moments, the
captain finally responded. “Funeral…
flowers…?” Kepa
nodded grimly. “Loads of
living white irises. They’re a flower traditionally used in Han Chinese
funerals.” “Living?
Meaning they weren’t fake?” “Yes. I
have several photographs from different angles of the flower beds if you want
them.” The
captain slowly took the tablet from Kepa’s outstretched hand. She flicked
through the photos of the Imperial Garden, her expression never changing. When
she seemed satisfied she handed the tablet back to Kepa. “That’s
valuable information. Good work you two.” Bells
only nodded. He hadn’t said a word.
In fact,
Bells didn’t speak until an hour later, when they were walking through the crumbling
streets of Beijing towards the fan-thing. Kepa had spent the majority of the
journey walking closely to Eun-seo and making sarcastic jokes to get the other
woman to laugh. Eun-seo was tall and lithe, with short black hair and serious
almond eyes. Her laugh was as pretty as she was, but Bells was starting to get
annoyed. When there was finally a break in the conversation, he pulled Kepa by
the elbow until they were walking a safe distance behind the security officer.
He whispered at her from the corner of his mouth. “Kepa, you
need to stop.” Bells
could see her death glare in his peripheral vision. “Stop
what?” He had to
fight to keep from throwing his hands up in the air and exploding. He settled
for whispering as loudly as he could. “She
has a girlfriend!” Bells
could feel Kepa’s eyebrows wiggling even if he wasn’t looking directly at her. “I don’t.” Eun-seo
looked back at them when she heard the loud groan coming from Bells. Kepa waved
at her dismissively. Bells having his face in his hands was clearly nothing to
be worried about. The other woman snorted and looked forward again. Bells righted
himself and glowered at Kepa. “You’re
gonna to be the death of me.” “Maybe.
Not my problem.” They
turned the corner at an intersection and Eun-seo pointed ahead. A block down
the road, one of the large silver objects they’d seen from the air was standing
attention. It didn’t look dangerous in the slightest, but Eun-seo held an arm
out to keep the two translators behind her as they approached it. It was about
as large as a conventional war tank, with a dipped nose and large treads that
added to the resemblance. A thick tube as tall as the machine was wide stuck
out of the top. It was clearly made
from some sort of metal alloy, not silver, but Bells and Kepa had no idea what
it could be. As they
came to the side of the object, they saw that the bottom of the tank was raised
in the middle. A quick glance underneath confirmed Eun-seo’s description. There
was a large fan underneath the tank, separated from the outside by a grill.
While Kepa continued to examine the fan, Bells looked for the Chinese
characters. He found them printed onto the back of the machine, along with the
Latin letters “TM-3”. Bells read
the characters out loud. “Fúshè
tōngf"ng shèbèi. Radiation ventilation equipment.” Eun-seo
stood next to him. “Ventilation?
What, did they think if they planted these things in the streets they’d be
saved from nuclear annihilation?” “I don’t
know. This doesn’t look like something that’s been standing in the same spot
for 200 years, though.” Kepa’s
muffled voice sounded from under the tank. “You
guys’ll be interested to know this fan pulls air upwards instead of pushing air
downwards.” Bells and
Eun-seo returned to the side where Kepa’s legs were sticking out. Eun-seo
tugged at the shorter woman’s feet. “Get out
from under there! It could turn back on!” “Okay,
okay.” Kepa
emerged and brushed herself off as she stood up. “I’m no
engineer, but there’s dirt and grass covering the blades, and even without a
flashlight I can tell there’s crap that’s dried in upward sprays above the
fan.” Eun-seo
huffed and looked between the two translators. “I have no
idea what’s going on, do you?” Two shaken
heads were the only response
“I’m
telling you, it was the weirdest s**t I’ve seen in my entire life. The cuts
from the foundation were clean, mate. They were clean.” Everyone
was sitting around a bonfire in the center of camp, enjoying a warm beverage
and the chance to talk freely about the day. Bells looked up at the sky as
Jayesh rambled about the vanished skyscraper in his British-Indian accent.
There was so little light pollution that you could see the Milky Way in its
full glory, and he couldn’t help but wonder about the occasional silver linings
to horrible events. “There’s
some robotic fleet that’s maintaining everything despite their master’s
absence. It’s the only explanation.” “C’mon,
Jay, that’s not the only explanation. Maybe the Chinese dismantled it before
the war. Maybe there’s a form of erosion at work we’re not aware of. You can’t
go jumping to conclusions.” Bells
looked down at the group of people surrounding him. As Jayesh and one of the
climatologists proceeded to argue about mysterious robots, he glanced over at
Kepa. She was sitting next to Eun-seo and looking over the other woman’s
shoulder at a phone. Given how Eun-seo was smiling like a dork and Kepa was
frowning, he would bet anything they were looking at pictures of Eun-seo’s
girlfriend. Bells turned away with a snort and noticed John was staring at him.
John raised an eyebrow. “What’s so
funny?” Bells
checked to see that Kepa was still absorbed with being cockblocked before
answering. “Kepa’s
been flirting with our security officer all day and I think she just realized
what a lost cause that is.” John
glanced at the two women before snorting himself. “I didn’t
take Kepa for the romantic type.” Bells
shrugged. “I
wouldn’t say romantic so much as player. She’s been dragging me along to be her
wingman since we first met.” “You got
anybody back home?” “Oh. Ah…
not really. I’ve been talking a lot with this one guy over video conf, but I
haven’t gotten the chance to, um-“ “Life’s
too short, man. I learned that a long time ago. Now I’m the happiest I’ve ever
been. You have to release your insecurities.” “That’s
what Kepa says, but-“ “I’ve got
a guy and two girls waiting for me back home. It’s incredible.” Bells blinked
at John, blinked at the fire, then turned to blink again at John. “You’ve-
wow. That’s...” John
clapped a hand on Bells’ shoulder. “Poly’s
the way of the future, my friend. The way
of the future.” “I can’t
even imagine-“ “And we’re
all biologists.” Bells
stood up as casually as possible. “I’m
getting kind of thirsty, so I’m going to, uh, get something.” John waved
him off. “No
problem, dude. And remember to tell me all about the stuff you saw in the
Imperial Garden.” Bells gave
the botanist a thumbs up before scurrying to the table with all the hot
chocolate supplies. He was
just pouring some steaming water into a cup when he heard a loud sigh to his
right. Kepa had decided to join him. Bells smirked a little bit without looking
up. “Disappointed?” “Eh, yeah.
But there’s more fish in the sea. What happened with John? You looked
embarrassed.” “He
decided to tell me about his love life.” “Ah. I
see. Didn’t realize you were so anti-poly, Bells.” The spoon
now stirring in chocolate mix nearly careened to the side as Bells sputtered. “I’m not. I was just surprised.” “Not
everyone’s as shy as you, you know. I think being poly would be great.” Bells gave
Kepa a skeptical look as he straightened up with his prepared hot chocolate. “You can
barely stand to hold down a relationship with one person. Being with multiple
women would just wear you out faster.” Kepa
clasped a hand to her heart, her expression never changing. “You wound
me. I’ve never been so insulted in all my life.” Bells
grinned and turned to lean on the table as he drank his hot chocolate. Kepa
prepared her own cup in silence, the conversation around the campfire filling
the night. Tomorrow the captain would be taking a select crew on a helicarrier
survey of the land at the foot of the Xishan mountains to the west. Bells and
Kepa were being brought along to translate any signs or written artifacts they
might find. He wasn’t quite sure why the captain wanted both of them, but he
supposed it was useful to have two translators to make up for any mistakes. Out
in the former suburbs of Beijing, they’d either be encountering less or more
oddities than in the city. Bells didn’t know what would disturb him more.
Eun-seo
took role-call the next morning as the captain oversaw the pilot’s
preparations. “Belmont
Davis?” “Here.” “Jayesh
Subram?” “Here.” “John
Anderson?” “Here.” “Kepa
Morales?” “Present.” “Nequila Jackson?”
“Here.” “Richard
Cuma?” “Here.” “Everyone’s
accounted for, captain.” The
captain turned away from the pilot to look over the assembled team on the
bridge. “Good.
Jayesh and John, I want you on the telescopes.” The two
took their places at the front of the bridge, and Jayesh awkwardly fielded
John’s attempts to high-five him shouting “J-TEAM!”. Everyone
else stood looking out the windows as the helicarrier lightly ascended into the
air. It stayed at a high enough elevation to pass over the remaining
skyscrapers, but was otherwise closer to the ground than it was during the
approach to Beijing. Only a few kilometers west of Tiananmen Square, they flew
over the empty foundation belonging to Jayesh’s vanished skyscraper. The stubs
of steel gleamed up at them from the concrete, confirmed what the climatologist
had said about “clean cuts”. Gaping holes could be seen leading to what had
formerly been the basement. Nobody said anything. The captain didn’t bother
asking for explanations. She knew there were none. It turned
out this skyscraper wasn’t the only one. As they flew west, more and more empty
foundations created gaps in the city. By the time they reached the shortest
outlying skyscrapers there was an empty foundation for every building. This
didn’t capture the attention of the crew so much as what lay beyond. The
suburbs of Beijing had largely consisted of blocky apartment buildings, with a
cluster or two of sprawling individual homes belonging to the rich. It was the
ruins of these things that they had expected to find, but instead there was
nothing. A few apartment buildings intermingled with the final skyscrapers, but
then the city ended. Forest stretched out before them for miles and miles. Dark green
encompassed the landscape around Beijing, and when they looked to the north and
south they could see it bordering the city until the horizon. Kilometers beyond
the dark green there was the light green of flat fields and grass growing up
into the mountains. There were no ruins that could be seen; not in the forest,
and not in the fields. The captain was about to say something, her head shaking
back and forth, when John piped up from his telescope. “Ma’am? I
think I know what the trees are.” The entire
crew looked over at him with interest. The captain nodded, encouraging him to
continue. “They’re
all fruit trees. Every one. I can’t see a species down there that hasn’t been
cultivated for its fruit at some point, but I’d have to examine the forest in
person to be sure.” The
captain raised her eyebrows, and put up a hand to stop the muttering that
immediately broke out on the bridge. “What
species do you see?” “Apple
trees, pear trees, plum trees. I think I see Chinese Mulberry… that one used to
be endangered, wow. There’s also at least a couple persimmon-bearing species.” “I don’t
see any fruit.” “Er, well
ma’am, it’s the middle of summer. Fruits tend to be mature by the fall.” Everyone
was quick to hide their snickering as the captain blushed. “Yes, of
course. And what do we see in the fields? Jayesh?” The
climatologist hummed in acknowledgement but didn’t look up from the telescope
when he spoke. “I see
clear paths arranged in patterns. They’d look like dirt roads for farm equipment,
if I didn’t know better. There also appear to be some intact buildings
scattered around. They’re small, probably the size of a small house.” John piped
up. “It’s all
crops. They’re harder to identify than the trees from here, but I’d bet my life
that a decent chunk of it is soy. Looks like there’s also possibly potatoes and
tomatoes, and maybe some peanuts. And… look, haven’t you noticed? Along the
rivers to the north and south, the vegetation on the banks is incredibly
uniform. There’s no spacing between the plants. It has to be rice.” Bells
glanced at Kepa, wondering how she felt about miraculous agriculture, but she
was staring straight ahead at the mountains. Her eyes bored into them like
they’d personally offended her. The
captain gazed at one of the ribbons of silver in the distance, its banks
glowing green, before turning to the pilot. “Land at
one of the intersections in the dirt road, Tanya.” “Yes’m.” Jayesh and
John stood up from the telescopes as the helicarrier began to descend. Bells
watched as the green fields rose to meet them, and dust blew over the swaying
crops. When they finally landed with a light thump of wheels on dirt, the crew
waited for the pilot to give the all-clear to disembark with impatience. The
helicarrier took up most of the intersection. If they were to try and walk
around it, they’d have to skirt through the fields. Eun-seo
was the first down the ladder. She gazed around at the carefully planted
vegetation that stretched in rows towards the horizon, a hand laid casually on
the tazer at her hip. Bells was the next to descend after the security officer
nodded up the ladder at him. When he stepped out from beneath the helicarrier’s
shadow he was taken aback by how direct the sunlight felt on his skin.
Everything was somehow brighter than it was in the city, somehow fresher. He
looked down and tread carefully around the knee-high potato plants so he could
get out of the way of the next crew member. Kepa
landed directly on one of the plants, crushing it under her boots. She looked
unrepentant as she joined Bells. The rest
of the crew followed shortly, and the captain was quick to spread everyone in
different directions. Her only demand was to stay in sight of the helicarrier.
Bells parted from Kepa and slowly beelined for the small building that was only
a few hundred meters from the landing site. He stuck to the dirt road and
observed it as the sounds of people talking quieted behind him. The road
had two shallow depressions carved into the middle, with a variety of other
marks left by machines scattered about. Bells couldn’t help but look for
footprints. He saw none, and a thought ran through his head over and over. The robots are growing food for long-dead
masters. It was AI
gone rampant. With nobody to stop them they were trampling down Beijing to make
room for the farms of hungry people who no longer existed. Somewhere they would
find a hill of refuse two centuries old, where the machines had dropped their
harvest. The small
building was wooden and simple in design. It had no windows, but it did have a
large garage door taking up the entire wall that faced the road. Bells stopped
in front of the door and looked around. It seemed that some of the tracks were
sourced from this place, and there was enough aging dirt on the building to
suggest that it had been here for some time. When he noticed a simple divot
near the bottom of the door, Bells glanced back at the dispersed crew. Nobody
was watching him. Bells took
hold of the divot and pulled upward with all his strength. He was startled when
the door opened easily and silently, retreating to the ceiling with a woosh. The inside
of the building was empty. A giant metal hatch lay flat inside the floor, and
aluminum cabinets stood along one of the walls, but there was no farming equipment
in sight. Bells stepped around the edge of the hatch carefully and examined the
cabinets. There was no visible way to open them, and the only marking was a
small, vertical strip of black in the center of each. He touched the strips and
tried to dig his nails under the lips of the doors, but nothing would budge.
Frustrated, Bells huffed and looked at the hatch that took up most of the
floor. It looked
as if it was meant to retreat to the side when it opened. Was there a staircase
underneath? A rising podium for hibernating farmer robots? There was no way to
know. Bells was
about to leave so he could inspect the outside when he noticed something on the
wall next to the entrance. There were four buttons all in a row, each with a
speaker below them and a small sign above them. Interested, Bells read the
signs closely. They were in Mandarin. “For surveyors: Please press button and speak
full name,” read the first. “For technicians: Please press button and
speak full name,” read the second. “For miscellaneous citizens: Please press
button and speak full name,” read the third. “For visitors: Please press button and speak
full name,” read the fourth. Bells
blinked in confusion at them all. Surveyors? Technicians? Citizens? Visitors? A voice in
his head that sounded dangerously like Kepa observed that none of this sounded
very robotic. He knew
that he should shout for other people to come over here. He knew that Eun-seo
would have his head if he did something risky without permission. He knew he could
be making a huge mistake. Despite
this, Bells pressed his thumb onto the fourth button and leaned carefully
towards the speaker in the wall. “Belmont
Davis.” He
released the button and stood back. There was
no sound. No feedback from the speaker, no bleep from the button. Bells stared
at the apparatus for a few more moments before turning away with a sigh. He’d
just wasted time interacting with technology that probably hadn’t had a person
on the other end for centuries. This
belief made it all the more startling when the sound of static erupted behind
Bells as he exited the building. He turned sharply and ran back to the set of
buttons as the static warped and changed. It was so loud it hurt his ears, and
he knew there was no way other people couldn’t hear it. As shouts
sounded from hundreds of meters away, the static quieted and went silent. A
beat passed before a clear, artificial voice sounded from the speaker. “Hello, Belmont Davis. Please remain outside
while a representative moves to your location. We apologize for the wait.” There were
word choices that Bells would not have expected from his education, and the
tone was formal but genuinely cheerful. He stared at the speaker as it went
completely silent. He wasn’t
alone with his thoughts for very long. Eun-seo sprinted into the building with
her tazer in her hand, her eyes darting to the sides. “What was
that sound? Was there someone talking?” Bells felt
very much like a fish. He tried to say actual words to the security officer,
but his brain felt stopped up. A trickle of ammonia ran down his throat into
his chest as Eun-seo glared at him. “What did
you see, Bells? What did you do?” What did he do? Bells
shook his head and took a step back. Eun-seo met his steps and grabbed him by
the arm. “I heard
Mandarin, Bells. What did it say? Have you endangered the mission?” He might
have. Oh lord he might have. Because
he was curious. Stupid, careless
Bells. Eun-seo
snarled and dragged him outside. People were making their way towards the
building, and Kepa ran for them as she saw Bells being handled like a criminal. “What the
hell are you doing, Eun?!” The
security officer stepped in front of Bells as Kepa approached. “He made
contact with some unknown entity and-“ “And what?
Did it threaten us? Did he launch nukes at Japan?!” Eun-seo
scowled. “I have no
idea what it said, and Bells won’t tell me.” “Maybe
because he’s having an anxiety attack?! Get over here!” The taller
woman tried to resist as Kepa shoved her to the side, but was outweighed. Kepa
ignored Eun-seo’s outrage and laid gentle hands on Bells’ elbows. She stared up
at him with steely eyes, but his eyes were fixed on the ground. “Hey
there, Bells. Sorry about all that.” Bells
shook his head. “My fault.
Don’t worry about it.” “You don’t
deserve to be handled like that. You- look at me, Bells.” His eyes
shot up to hers. The steel in her gaze was somehow reassuring. “You don’t
deserve to be handled like that, okay? You with me on that?” Kepa
relaxed very slightly as Bells hesitantly nodded. She nodded back at him. “There you
go. Now, I’m sure if you did something wrong it was a mistake, or you didn’t do
anything wrong at all. Okay?” Bells
tensed at this. His voice wavered. “It
sounded friendly, but- I don’t-“ “Friendly’s
good. Friendly’s always good. We can work with friendly.” Eun-seo
piped up from where she was pacing and watching the two of them. “It might
be a trap! Don’t tell him friendly’s always good!” Kepa shot
her death glare over at the other woman as Bells winced. “Shut the
f**k up, Eun.” “What’s
happening here?” The
captain had caught up with them, and the rest of the crew was somewhere behind
her. Kepa talked over Eun-seo’s attempts to take control of the situation. “Bells
made contact with something that spoke Mandarin, and he thinks it’s friendly.
Paranoia-Incarnate over here accused him of terrorism.” “I did
not!” The
captain looked between the three of them for a couple seconds before nodding to
Kepa. “Has he
told you what he heard?” Kepa shook
her head and redirected her full attention to the man in front of her. “Okay,
Bells. What did it say? I don’t think you’re in trouble.” Bells
glanced up at the patient captain before looking back to Kepa. “It, uh,
greeted me before saying a representative was coming to this location. Also
that it was sorry for the wait.” Kepa threw
a sarcastic look over at Eun-seo. “What a
polite trap.” The
security officer didn’t say anything. She seemed like she was in the sullen
pre-stages of embarrassment. There was
a swelling of mumbles that rose from the cluster of people behind the captain,
and she turned to look at all of them. “I don’t
know what we’re dealing with here, but I don’t want to take any chances. I want
everyone to stay back where you are. Kepa, Eun-seo, Bells, I need you to stick
with the rest of the group. As the leader of this expedition, it will be my
responsibility to greet whatever comes.” The
captain cut off Eun-seo’s protests. “No, this
is my responsibility, Eun. If Bells is right, I won’t be in any danger.” With great
reluctance, the security officer retreated towards the rest of the crew. Kepa
maintained her grasp on one of Bells’ elbows. Despite feeling better, he
allowed her to pull him away. The
crew assembled ten meters away from where the captain stood in front of the
building. She faced the open garage door with her hands clasped behind her back
in parade rest. There was no talking now.
It seemed
like they were waiting for hours. The sun beat down on them as noon approached,
and Bells wished he had applied sunscreen this morning. He could see sweat
trickling down the captain’s brow. Kepa fidgeted restlessly next to him, and
she hadn’t lost her grip on his arm. She was waiting to bolt with him if the
need arose. He appreciated the sentiment. As Bells
was starting to feel the back of his neck tingle, the entire group was startled
by a loud noise. The harsh
whine of hydraulics filled the air. Kepa’s grip tightened, and Bells watched as
the captain’s jaw clenched. Given the rumble of metal that joined the sound, he
would bet anything a platform was being raised as the hatch opened. When the
cacophony finally ended, the captain’s jaw had unclenched, and her arms had
dropped to her sides. Silence.
Absolutely unbearable silence. Bells’ eyes were fixed on the door. Finally, the
reason for the captain relaxing became apparent. A short,
slim woman dressed in white emerged from the door to stand in front of the
captain. She was
wearing a qípáo-style shirt with long sleeves, and loose trousers that draped
over her black shoes. The trim and clasps on her outfit were all black as well.
Her sleek black hair was pulled back in a simple braid that extended to her
hips. Without a pause for breath, she extended a hand towards the captain. “Hello, my
name is Dailan. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Somehow
the captain managed to act as though this encounter wasn’t completely startling
and lifted an arm to shake hands with the woman. “My name
is Alice Dunklee. The pleasure’s all mine.” Dailan
grinned, her eyes crinkling. Something uncoiled in Bells’ gut. The grip on his
elbow loosened. “Somehow I
doubt that, Miss Dunklee. Now, where is Belmont Davis?” The
mystery woman’s gaze turned to the cluster of stunned people. Her eyes shone
with interest as she looked over each of them. The captain piped up. “I’m the
captain of this group, so I-“ “Yes,
that’s all well and good, but I was summoned by a Mr. Belmont Davis.” Kepa
hissed as Bells hesitantly raised his hand. “Uh, I’m
Belmont Davis.” Dailan
smiled brightly and gestured him towards her. Bells looked at the captain for
support. She shrugged with exasperation. Bells
slowly approached the representative. She bodily turned to greet him and raised
her hand once more. His hand rose to meet hers almost without him thinking
about it. If his handshake wasn’t very firm, Dailan didn’t seem deterred by it.
Her face shone with excitement. “Hello,
Belmont. It is a pleasure to meet you.” “Y-you
too. I prefer Bells, though.” “Of
course, Bells.” “We can
speak in Mandarin if it makes you more comfortable. I’m a translator.” Dailan
released his hand and tilted her head to the side. She giggled, but it wasn’t a
derisive giggle. It was a joyous giggle. “Oh,
you’re a Mandarin translator! That’s amazing! Where did you learn the
language?” “Um,
Middlebury College. It’s a university in the state of Vermont in the US.” Dailan
slipped seamlessly into Mandarin. Her light voice complemented it completely. “Why would the world maintain the education
of a language whose source they thought long dead?” Bells
tried not to tense. The woman’s smile never faded, but her eyebrows rose in
expectation. This was not a conversation she wanted the captain to hear. He
cleared his throat and tried to look as casual as possible. “Because the death of any language is a
tragedy, especially one with as much history as this. There are many
communities of Chinese people around the world who still use the tongue. There
are millions of books and archived web sites to read.” “Every language is worth it? Even the
language of a country that wiped an entire civilization off the map?” “I think history’s more complicated than that, but yes.” Dailan’s face shifted to innocent
politeness. “Did you or any other nation suspect there were survivors?” “Not as far as I know. My team has only truly discovered that just now.” “What is your purpose for being here?” “We were sent to investigate the disappearance of the rad-smog over China
in satellite imagery. We come in peace.” Something in Dailan seemed to
relax, and she smiled genuinely at Bells. “You’re very knowledgeable. I appreciate
how well my language has been taught despite the stretch of time.” Bells nodded. If he twisted around
he had a suspicion Kepa would be boring holes into his head. Dailan turned to the somewhat tense
woman next to her. “If you would allow me, Captain
Dunklee, I would love to introduce your crew to my people.” The captain hesitated. “I would be very interested in
seeing this… Hidden China, but…” “You would be allowed to leave at
any time. I can assure you that you will be honored guests, not prisoners. The
only request of our government is not to reveal our existence until we are
ready.” Dailan’s eyes twinkled as she
continued. “You’ll find we’ve also abandoned
the English terms ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’. It will not be insulting if you use
them, but others will find it… antiquated.” The captain nodded slowly, before
turning to look at the rest of the crew. “Okay, everyone. This is now an
ambassadorial mission. I expect you to be on your best behavior, and not to go
places or touch things without express permission from the people here.
Understood?” Every person nodded. Dailan smiled
at the captain and swept an arm towards the building. “If everyone could assemble on the
platform, we can get going.” Feeling distinctly surreal, Bells
joined the captain and Dailan on the platform. The rest of the crew was not far
behind. Kepa moved to stand between Bells and Dailan, examining the mysterious
woman all the while. When the platform suddenly jolted
before descending, Dailan lost her balance and wobbled. Kepa grabbed her arm to
steady her. She received a thankful look in return as the other woman smiled
sheepishly. “Thank you. I’m not quite used this
old technology.” “No problem. I gotcha.” Kepa slowly let go of Dailan’s arm,
but Bells noticed she looked like she’d seen a ghost. It was something only
somebody close to her would’ve been able to spot. He couldn’t help but let an
anxious thought or two in his head. Maybe Dailan was synthetic? Maybe she was a
hologram? The platform came to a stop, and a
large door opened in front of them as the hatch closed over their heads. Behind
the door was a wide, well-lit concrete corridor. It connected perpendicularly
with an even larger corridor up ahead. Dailan took the lead, and the rest
of the group fell behind her. Bells turned to whisper to Kepa as the two of
them trailed in the back. “Is everything okay?” Kepa took a deep breath and nodded.
Bells couldn’t have expected what she said next. “She has biceps, Bells.” “W-what?” “Biceps. Rock-hard, indestructible biceps.” “Oh. You’re… oh no, Kepa-“ “I want her to carry me over her shoulder into Nirvana, Bells.” Bells checked ahead to make sure
nobody was listening. “Kepa, I swear to God, if you flirt with the representative of a long-lost
civilization I will die. I will actually die. I will keel over. No more
Bells. That’s what you’ll do to me.” She was too forgone. Eyes blazing,
Kepa marched to the front of the group and walked alongside Dailan. Bells
sighed as he saw Kepa shake the other woman’s hand with a grin. He could only
hope she wouldn’t destroy the remnants of this mission’s dignity. The group turned left as they
joined with the central tunnel. Strips of light shone from the ceiling, harsh
in their fluorescence. Dailan directed everyone to veer to the side as a rumble
sounded behind them. The rumble became louder and louder, before a machine
rolled past them at a leisurely speed. It was shaped like an arch, with boxes
of indeterminate necessity incorporated into the top. Bells caught a glimpse of
sprinklers on the underside. Dailan noticed the stares that
followed the machine as it eventually disappeared into a side corridor. She
gestured towards where it had vanished with a smile. “One of our newer pesticide
dispensers. It sprays an insect deterrent derived from the warning glands of
certain hymenopterids.” Bells could hear John hiss
something that sounded like “genius!!”. He had no idea what a hymenopterid was,
but he supposed that was more sustainable than a cocktail of chemicals. The tunnel rose on a slight incline
as they walked, and began to narrow. It suddenly came to an end with a series
of metal poles standing before what appeared to be a private train station.
There was a single train compartment visible to the group as they walked past the
poles, its insides visible behind a large cutout. Dailan stepped into the train
and gestured for the rest to follow her. It was shaped like a tube, with
white walls and no windows. Plush red seats lined the sides of the compartment.
There were doors at either end of the compartment, but there was no telling
what was behind them. The light inside the train was warm and sunny. As the last person stepped in, the
opening closed behind them with a click. The outline of the door could be seen
in the wall. Dailan sat down on the closest seat, and the rest followed suit. A
small jolt ran through the train signaling the start of movement, but there was
no disturbance after that. It was a magnitrain. Dailan looked around at the
assembled crew, who were sitting about in varying states of relaxation. “Is anyone claustrophobic? Perhaps
I should’ve asked earlier.” She seemed relieved when everyone
shook their heads. Kepa casually nudged the
representative from where she sat directly next to her. “So what are your interests,
Dailan? What do you like to do?” This earned Kepa a slightly baffled
smile. “Oh, um, a great many things.
Aren’t you interested in my people as a whole?” “Of course, but you seem like a
very interesting person. I’d love to know more about you.” Bells rolled his eyes at Kepa’s
tone. Dailan didn’t seem to mind as she chuckled and looked down at her feet. “Well, all of my studies have been
focused on different languages and cultures. I’ve always dreamed of seeing the
rest of the world. My room back home is honestly quite embarrassing… I’ve
covered all the walls with flags and pictures from different countries.” “That’s not embarrassing, that’s
cool. Any degrees in the subject?” “Oh, yes. I’ve earned an advanced
degree in English literature.” Bells’ jaw dropped before he could
control it. Kepa grinned hugely, an unusual amount of enthusiasm pouring from
her as she clasped the arm of Dailan’s chair. “I have a Master’s in Mandarin
literature!” The representative blinked in shock
at Kepa before grinning herself. “Really?!” “Yeah! I’m a translator! Learning
about Chinese history was my passion growing up.” “That’s wonderful! Where did you do
your studies?” “Middlebury College, same as
Bells.” Dailan turned her grin on the
reeling man sitting across from her. “You didn’t tell me you had a
second translator with you!” Bells held his hands up in
submission. “I was too scared to think of it!
Don’t blame me!” The two women laughed
simultaneously, and Dailan gripped Kepa’s hand. “Oh, I think I’m really going to
enjoy talking to you two.” Kepa continued smiling like someone
had injected her with happy juice. Her grin took on a smirking quality as she
nudged Dailan. “You never told me what you like to
do with your free time.” She shrugged, pink rising into her
cheeks after the laughter. “Not too much. I’m on my sector’s
soccer team, and I mostly do martial arts to stay in shape for it. I like
movies, reading, painting. I tried to create a Foreign Films club as a
teenager, but it didn’t really work out. A lot of people don’t like bothering
with subtitles.” Kepa shot a pointed look over at
Bells. “Believe me, Dailan, we know the
struggle.” “What do you enjoy doing, Kepa?” “Oh, not much. Long walks on the
beach, world domination…” Kepa winked at Dailan. “… talking to pretty girls.” Bells tensed at the overt attempt,
but Dailan just removed her hand from Kepa’s and covered her mouth with it as
she giggled. “Be serious!” “I am being serious! But if you
must know, I’m a fellow lover of movies and reading. I’m also a big fan of
speechcraft. I was the head of the Middlebury debate team.” “And you, Bells?” “Oh, uh, I like movies. I read a
lot of historical fiction, and I dabble in poetry. It’s not that good though. I
do volunteer work, sometimes.” Kepa leaned towards Dailan in a
conspiratorial fashion. “His poetry is great, and he
volunteers all the time. He’s made like five hundred trips to developing
countries building homes and promoting LGBT+ rights. Don’t let him be humble.” Bells shrunk in embarrassment as
Dailan smiled at him in respect. “You sound like a wonderful person,
Bells. It’s an honor to know you.” “No, um, the honor’s all mine.” Dailan looked like she was going to
rebut that, but she stopped as a ding sounded in the compartment. The same voice
that Bells had heard from the speaker when he pressed the visitor’s button
resonated through the train. “Arriving at central elevator. Thank you for your patience.” The chatter from most of the crew
silenced, and Captain Dunklee turned to her two translators. “What did it say?” “We’re arriving at a central
elevator.” “Ah, good.” Dailan looked between the captain
and Bells, and a frown settled on her face. She sounded guilty when she spoke. “I just realized… Only two of you
speak the language. That might limit your crew’s interactions with the people
here.” The captain raised her eyebrows. “Nobody here speaks English?” “Not many. Given our separation
from the world, learning a foreign language has only been a niche hobby.” “…. Oh. Right.” Dailan shook herself as she stood
up. There was a jolt as the train slowed to a stop, and she accommodated it
with a shift of her feet. Sighing, Dailan recovered her cheer. “It doesn’t matter. As long as you
all stick together or only explore in two groups, it should be fine.” The side of the carriage pulled
back, revealing a concrete train stop similar to the one where they had
boarded. A large glass door stood a small distance away. It seemed to open into
the tube of an elevator shaft. Dailan stepped up to the door and pressed a
button on the side. She glanced back at her group. “It might take a bit. The central
elevator is always busy, and this is the least travelled floor.” True to her word, the wait
stretched for several minutes. Reality was sinking in for just about everyone.
The group was silent, and there was a lot of nervous fidgeting. Bells wished
the elevator would just come and get it over with. Finally, almost between blinks, an
elevator car arrived in front of them. The door opened, and Dailan gestured
everyone through. The car was roomy enough for everyone to stand comfortably. They were half-expecting to be
wooshed directly to whatever was the awe-inspiring center of activity, but
instead the car stopped only a couple of seconds after it had started its
ascent. The clear walls revealed that they were at the intersection of four
hallways. It seemed like a floor for maintenance activities or offices, as the
walls were concrete and largely undecorated. The hallways were impossibly long,
seeming to stretch towards the horizon. Unlike the agricultural tunnels, this
place was lit with artificial sunshine. Everyone turned to stare as they
realized why the car had stopped. A woman in casual clothes reminiscent of the
early 21st century stepped onto the elevator, a phone in hand. She
was incredibly absorbed with whatever she was typing into it, and only looked
up when she realized there were several pairs of eyes boring into the back of
her head. Turning to see what was going on, the woman stopped when she saw her
fellow occupants. Bells was surprised the phone didn’t fall out of her hands. The woman’s mouth was agape, and
her eyes scanned over every other person before resting on Dailan. She received
a shy wave. “Hi, Lanying.” Lanying blinked and, not knowing
what else to do, slowly waved back. “Hi… Dailan…” The elevator lifted by a few more
levels before the door opened again, and Lanying stepped out. She threw a
bewildered look over her shoulder at the most ethnically diverse people she had
ever seen in her life before determinedly heading for a flight of stairs. Bells
caught a glimpse of shining blue walls, varying architecture, and other people
walking through the halls before the elevator moved onward. Flashes of color and light passed
them by as they rose with increasing speed. There was nobody else trying to get
on at the moment. Kepa muttered something about them either being deep
underground, or inside a mountain, but Bells was too caught up with being
overwhelmed to respond. The car suddenly started to slow,
making everyone feel like their hearts had risen into their throats. Dailan
grinned in anticipation. Bright, warm sunlight replaced the
fluorescence of the elevator light as the car came to a stop. Basking in the
gasps which sounded from her charges, Dailan stepped out and swung an arm in
flourish. “Welcome, my friends, to Kunlun.” The glass elevator shaft was in the
center of a massive, white dome. The dome narrowed towards the top before being
pierced by the shaft. Artificial, extremely realistic sunlight shone from a
small point near the top of the dome, and its light cast angled shadows on what
lay below. Openings into hallways as tall as a house circled the base of the
dome. Several platforms stood in rings around the walls above them, each with
their own series of doors. Old gingko trees stood in circles of soil and
vegetation. Benches surrounded the circles, and several stalls for food and
drink could be seen in the shadows. Small vehicles, manned and unmanned, parted
the loose crowds of people that populated this hub of activity. People were
walking, talking, sitting, standing, eating. Bells was startled when one of the
high walls lit up orange, and the shape of a tiger jumped down along the edges,
seeming to use platforms and the tops of hallways as perches. It came to a stop
on the ground floor, where it roared before vanishing. The entire wall of the
dome was made of screens. The crew stepped out to join
Dailan, barely noticing when several people brushed past them to enter the
elevator. Some of them shot confused looks at the newcomers before they
vanished. Dailan looked at her crowd of stunned faces with a smile. “The sun here moves in accordance
with the real sun outside. In the rest of the facility, you’ll find the level
of light changes instead. Would anybody be interested in coming to the Hub at
night?” Nobody was looking at her, instead
taking in the sights, but every hand shot up anyway. Dailan was practically
buzzing in excitement. Kepa elbowed Bells and subtly
pointed towards a group of people who were standing nearby. They were all
teenagers, and they were muttering amongst themselves while shooting glances
over at Dailan’s guests. If he had to guess, though, Bells would say that
wasn’t why Kepa pointed them out to him. Every person in the group was
dressed in a completely different style. One tall boy was wearing the
traditional hanfu robes of Imperial China, another boy was wearing punk
clothing from the 21st century, and a girl with dyed red hair was
wearing a loose tunic and skirt in the fashion of men from the Qing dynasty. They weren’t the only ones who were
doing their own thing. There hardly seemed to be two similarly styled people in
the entire dome. Bells saw fashion from every period of Chinese history, and a
few periods of history from other countries. He saw flappers and hippies,
lolitas and goths. Dozens of people seemed to be walking around in impossible
avant-garde costumes. A person of
indeterminate gender floated past in a dress made of green bubbles, and some
seemed to be detaching and trailing behind them. Dailan’s 20th-century
garb was probably meant to act as a middle ground, if she didn’t dress that way
all the time. Speaking of, the representative
caught her group’s attention (it was somewhat of a challenge). “Alright, everyone,
there will be plenty of time to take in the sights later. For now, please
follow me to our intended destination. There are a few people who want to meet
you.” After ascending to the top level of
the dome, the crew was led by Dailan through a short series of hallways. They
were simple and clean, with ancient paintings and tapestries accounting for the
decoration. Bells guessed this was probably where all the missing artifacts in
the Forbidden City had gone. Dailan stopped the group in front of a pair of
white double doors before glancing back at them. “It will just be a second.” She opened one of the doors
narrowly, and stepped into the room. The mood from before they’d arrived
returned in force as everyone stared forward in anticipation. They couldn’t
hear anything that was happening inside after Dailan closed the door behind
her. Bells was startled when Kepa elbowed him. “Do you remember our C-Myth course,
Bells?” “Yeah, I think so.” “Kunlun was a multi-tiered mountain
that was home to gods and other legendary beings. Its roots penetrated as far
into the earth as the mountain itself stretched into the sky. People believed
that it was almost impossible to find, and if you did find it you’d be granted
immortality or longevity.” “That, uh, that sounds really
accurate to… all of this.” “You think?” A multi-tiered, exquisite vault in
a mountain which extended the longevity of a once-doomed people. Yeah, that
sounded exactly right. Kepa nodded over towards the closest tapestry to catch
Bells’ attention. “A lot of the art here references
mountains.” Bells couldn’t help but snort. “A lot of Chinese art references
mountains in general. China’s full of the things.” “I’m trying to be observant, Bells,
you’re crapping on my vibe.” The captain seemed like she was
going to hush the two of them, but she was cut off when the doors opened.
Dailan waited on the other side with a smile. “Please, come in.” Filing in, the crew found
themselves in a spacious conference room. Sunlight followed them even here, but
the air was so cool in the room that it was almost jarring. Sitting behind a
long crescent table on a dias were eight well-dressed people. Each of them
drank in the sight of the newcomers with obvious interest. Dailan arranged her
charges in a complementary crescent before standing in front of them and facing
the people on the dias. She bowed her head before speaking. “If it would please you, I would introduce you to our visitors.” The man at the very center of the
table, dressed in a 21st century business suit, nodded in return. “It would please us all very much.” Dailan turned back to her group and
gestured behind her lightly, her hand moving with every person she introduced. On the left were Xi Yan, a
jovial-looking geologist; Meng Anming, a historian decked out in beautiful
Imperial regalia, including the make-up and headwear; and Wen Fei, a shy
biologist who ducked his head and nearly lost his old-fashioned cap when he was
pointed out. The central three people, including
the man whom Dailan had addressed, were Kunlun’s ministers. They were
effectively joint presidents. One of them was Xiu Jinjing, a maternal woman
with kind eyes and wavy hair. Another was Tseng Lingde, an elderly man with
sharp features. The speaking minister was Tiu Feng. On the right were two women who
were obviously twin sisters. They were dressed similarly to Dailan, with the
exception that their outfits were brightly colored. Their intelligent eyes
peered from middle-aged faces to examine the newcomers. Po Caixia and Po Caiyun
were the chief engineers of “Inner Affairs” and “Outer Affairs”, respectively. Dailan nodded at the captain, who
stepped forward when she realized this was her moment. “I will translate between you and
the assembled council. Bells and Kepa can sit this one out for now.” Captain Dunklee nodded before
turning to make eye contact with each of the council members. She bowed her
head slightly, imitating Dailan. “I am Alice Dunklee, head of the
US-based reconnaissance mission into China. Our mission is scientific and
explorative in nature. We come in peace.” Minister Jinjing tilted her head to
the side. “What led to your mission being undertaken? Have any others tried to come
here?” “I cannot say whether other nations
have attempted it, as I don’t have that knowledge. I can say that my team was
assembled after the disappearance of radioactive smog over East China, and the
sharp reduction of new radioactivity in air and sea currents from the western
Pacific.” Minister Lingde was next, except
instead of speaking to the captain, he spoke to the engineer Caiyun. “That was certainly fast, Caiyun. They must have active satellites.” The woman sighed longingly. “Ah, to have our own satellites. We really must get into space at the
first opportunity.” “If I’m not interrupting, my crew
would be interested to know why exactly these phenomena vanished.” Caiyun raised an eyebrow at the
captain. “You haven’t noticed the decrease in new radioactivity over the past 200
years? It should have been steadily sloping off.” “We chalked it up to natural
decay.” “Yes, I can see that. Natural decay certainly played its part, but China
would still be wasteland if not for the radiation ventilation technology
invented by my predecessors.” “I think we found one of those
machines in Beijing. We couldn’t figure out what it did.” “It’s quite simple, really. It sucks up light debris and fires it a
kilometer or more into the air. The majority of latent radiation after a
nuclear event has occurred is caused by fallout and the topsoil in contact with
fallout. You find little to no radiation even just a couple meters down. If you
transfer the radioactive particles into the atmosphere, they will disperse
faster, and even decay faster. For the last couple years, we’ve just been
kicking up barely radioactive dust.” Captain Dunklee tensed, and spoke
before she thought it might be wise. “You ruined Japan. They might have
been able to recover from the initial event if it wasn’t for the constant
stream of fallout covering their southern half.” The council members looked between
each other uneasily, and Caiyun didn’t seem to know how to respond. Finally,
her sister Caixia spoke up. “The new fallout over Japan would be greatly distilled, though we regret
giving them any at all.” Dunklee stared coldly at the
engineer. “That’s a politician’s response.” There was muttering among the
council as the captain glared them all down. After coming to some sort of
conclusion, Minister Feng cleared his throat. “We would be willing to grant Japan our technology to help them to
recover. The responsibility is ours to bear, as North Korea is gone.” Every person in the room was
startled when Eun-seo suddenly stepped forward. She’d been silent since being
introduced to Dailan. “And what of Korea?” “Ah, w-what about Korea?” “Will you grant your technology to
heal the Korean Peninsula? South Korea was innocent in that war, and your
ancestors destroyed them anyway.” Caiyun hesitantly caught the
security officer’s attention, and winced slightly under the younger woman’s
piercing gaze. “You are absolutely right, but Korea would be a greater challenge. If we
were to use the ventilation technology there, the fallout would go straight to
northern Japan. Your leader has implied that’s where the remaining people are,
and it would be dangerous to give them undisturbed fallout that has less space
to disperse.” “Would you be able to develop a
solution?” “…. Of course. With time, but of course.” “Good.” Eun-seo returned to her place and
nodded at the captain, who didn’t seem annoyed to have been interrupted at all.
Dunklee looked back to the ministers. “There seem to be many… Kunlunese?
Kunlunians?” “Kunlunen,” Dailan supplied. “Yes, there seem to be many
Kunlunen people here in this mountain. Where did you all come from?” The historian Anming spoke with a
deep and sonorous voice, and sounded proud. “We are all descended from the staff and security of the lead government
officials who first built a vault into these hills. Our reach extends to
smaller vaults built near Shanghai and Guangzhou, and their stories were
similar before they joined Kunlun.” “Are there any descendants of those
government officials?” A satisfied glint entered Anming’s
eyes. “No.” The captain decided to leave it
there. “Dailan mentioned that you do not
wish for us to reveal your existence yet. What is your timetable for making
contact with the world, and what do you want from us?” Feng was the one who responded. “We plan to make contact with communication satellites and announce our
existence to the world in the next week or so. A team of international
specialists, including Dailan, are composing messages in multiple languages.
Your arrival has moved us forward, a bit.” Dunklee smirked. “Sorry for the inconvenience.” Feng laughed for the first time,
and a little tension left the room. “You have nothing to apologize for, Alice. Your arrival is a gift. And
as for what we want from you, we would prefer if you stayed with us until the
reveal. You are free to leave if you wish, but we would appreciate the chance
to learn about the outside world. It’s possible some of your crew might also
appreciate the chance to learn about Kunlun.” “…Yes, I think some of us would
enjoy that.” “In that case, Dailan will show you to a set of guest rooms. A number of
us will probably be calling in to talk to you as the week progresses.” “Would I be able to send a message
to my remaining crew in Beijing? Just to explain that we will be gone for some
time.” “Of course.” After being shown to a set of
warmly colored rooms on a lower floor, the crew went with Dailan to eat at an
Italian restaurant. After 200 years of isolation, though, things were a little
bit off. “Uh, Dai?” “Yes, Kepa?” “These calamari are just rice
noodles turned into loops and fried.” “I don’t see the issue.” “You have fish-based Bolognese
sauce on your bok-choy wrapped raviolis. Why couldn’t they use fish for the
calamari?” “Fish don’t make loops, Kepa.” “Your people invent a way to get
rid of radiation from the ground, but they can’t remember that calamari are
made from seafood? I don’t know if this trip was worth it.” “We don’t have saltwater hatcheries
for squid! We have to make do!” “I can’t believe this. I can’t
believe you claim to love other countries and you don’t even appreciate real
Italian food.” Bells ate his carp parmigiana in
peace. He wondered what the cheese was made of since Kunlun had no dairy
supply, but he supposed it didn’t matter. It tasted pretty good. Besides, even
if the food wasn’t entirely accurate, the setting sure was. The three of them
were sitting at a booth in the most extravagantly, overtly Italian restaurant
he’d ever been in. Every wall was made of stucco, there were Roman statues
everywhere, and stereotypical guitar music was floating through the air. The
waiters were even dressed like pizza chefs for some reason. At the front of the restaurant,
windows overlooked the Hub. It turned out one of the rungs of the dome was
entirely occupied by eating establishments. The screens of the dome had gone
dark and starry, and at one point Bells could have sworn a blue dragon flew
past. He was startled when Dailan flopped
on him and sighed. “Please save me from your
colleague, Bells.” Working through the surprise, he
wrapped a protective arm around the Kunlunen woman. “Kepa, stop harassing her about
food details.” “I’m not harassing; I’m looking for answers.” Dailan stayed leaning on Bells for
a couple of minutes while the two translators bickered. She picked at and
examined the hem of Bell’s shirt. At one point she reached over to take one of
Kepa’s calamari, and chewed on it thoughtfully while glancing between her
charges. Bells was startled a second time
when Dailan poked his chest. “You know, Bells, we have surgeons
here who can get rid of your breasts if you don’t want them.” Kepa went on alert, and seemed
ready to say something, but Bells shot her a look. “Um, no, that’s fine. I like them.
They don’t make me feel less manly or anything.” Dailan hummed in agreement and sat
back normally so she could finish her dish. Kepa attempted some sort of
concerned sign language over the other’s back, but Bells waved her off. Later, when they were all finished,
the three of them descended to the ground level of the Hub. It was much less
crowded than it was during the daytime, and people were walking around with
little red flashlights. Dailan invited them to lie down on
either side of her in the grass plot of a gingko tree. It was soft and dry, with
no need for a quilt. Bells couldn’t help but smile when he looked up at the
ceiling. A beautiful replication of the
night sky shone down on them. A thin crescent moon, probably replicating what
the real moon was doing outside, hung halfway down one of the walls. The hubbub
of earlier today had quieted to a hush of soft speaking and light footsteps. Kepa had no regard for the hush as she
spoke up in Mandarin with her normal voice. “Hey Dai, can I ask you something?” “Of course.” “Would you want to grab lunch with me at one of the Kunlunen restaurants tomorrow? I’d love to try some
authentic local food, but I probably need some guidance.” Bells was surprised when Dailan
smiled over at the other woman and nodded. “It’s a date.” A warmth bloomed in his chest as
Kepa looked surprised herself. A grin lit up her normally stony face, and
something like a giggle escaped her throat. “Yes. Exactly. Great.” After that, silence descended on
the trio. Bells saw a clumpy shadow flit across the sky, and he spent some time
puzzling through what it had been. He came to the conclusion that there was a
camera at the top of the mountain recording the night sky for the screens
below, and a bird or bat had flown in the way. There was something comforting
about seeing a flaw in Kunlun’s perfection. He gasped and pointed when a
shooting star streaked overhead. “Did you see that?!” “I did, but I think Kepa’s busy.” Bells lifted his head and saw that
his friend was absolutely knocked out. Her eyes were closed, and her chest rose
and fell slowly with her breaths. He chuckled and turned back to look at the
sky. “Yeah, Kepa can sleep anywhere. Get
used to that.” Dailan snorted in response, but
Bells could see her face crumple into a frown from his peripheral vision. There
was a pause where she began to say something but stopped. Finally, she spoke
quietly with some hesitance. “I’m… sorry I embarrassed you,
Bells. I shouldn’t have brought up something that would make you uncomfortable.
In my endeavor to make you more comfortable
I invaded your privacy.” Bells shook his head. “It’s alright. I’m used to having
stuff like that brought up when I’m abroad.” “I guess you would. How’s the world
coming along, in terms of all that… stuff?” “It’s better. Some places are still
bad when it comes gender and sexuality, but, uh, it’s getting better.” “That’s really good.” Silence fell over them. Bells
noticed Jayesh and John walking by. Jayesh was normally fairly quiet, but he
was whispering animatedly to the botanist next to him. John nodded and
listened, but he seemed a little distracted by the trees and the flower beds. When
they made their closest approach, Bells heard Jayesh hiss something about
hoping the dome expresses the weather outside. Something occurred to Bells
suddenly. A question he had wanted to know the answer to since yesterday
morning. “Dailan?” “Yes, Bells?” “The Forbidden City is totally
pristine and undamaged. There’s even a load of white irises growing in the old
Imperial Garden. Do you know about that?” “… Yes.” “Why is it like that?” “It’s a memorial.” “That’s a pretty huge memorial.
Who’s it for?” “All of China.” Bells opened his mouth to say
something, but there were no words. He looked away from Dailan and flopped his
head back to view the ceiling, the weight of it sinking into him. All of China. He and Kepa had explored and
examined a monument to the billion-plus people who had lost their lives 200
years ago. They had breathed its air, admired its perseverance, and touched the
flowers of its eternal memorial service. Follow-up questions like Who waters? Who glued that column back
together? faded from his mind. They were too shallow in the face of this
knowledge. Of course somebody was watering. Of
course somebody was doing repairs. What did any of that matter? Bells peeked at Dailan’s face, and
found passive sadness. Whatever weight he was feeling must be a hundred times
worse for her. “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to
push all of his sorrow, all of that weight, into only two words. There was a pause as Dailan took a
deep breath, shuddering slightly. She swallowed and the sound seemed much
louder than it was. Eventually she nodded slightly. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.
The people responsible on both sides are centuries-dead, and have no
descendants.” She glanced over at him quickly. “… But I appreciate the sentiment.” Bells’ lips briefly curled up in a
reassuring smile before he turned back to the ceiling. He folded his hands behind his head
when his neck started to complain. If he concentrated, he could hear Kepa
lightly snoring. She really needed to own up to that. An adult had gathered a
group of children nearby, and they were pointing towards the sky. The little
red flashlights quivered in the hands of the kids as the teacher asked them
questions. Bells couldn’t hear any of the questions, but he heard the answers.
Tiny cries in Mandarin of things like “a star!”, “the moon!”, or “Jupiter!”
drifted through the whole dome. He was kind of surprised they were up so late. “Bells?” “Yeah, Dailan?” “What do you think the world will
think of us?” Bells sat up on his elbows and
looked down at Kunlun’s representative. “What do you mean?” Dailan mimicked him, getting onto
her elbows and gesturing a hand in exasperation. “Kunlun. What will they think of
us? I mean, your crew seems to think well of us, even Eun-seo.” “Yeah, whoever’s idea it was to
introduce her to your gyms is a genius.” “But what about the rest of the
world? What if we’re grossly behind? We’ve been isolated for so long.” “You’re really not behind. The only
thing I can think of that you’re behind on is fashion. A lot of trends have
come and gone in the past 200 years, and you guys are probably gonna go crazy when you’re exposed to all of
that.” Dailan collapsed back to the grass
and sighed. “If you say. I just want the world
to welcome us. I want everyone to admire this place like I do.” Bells rested back with a bit more
grace, and he folded his hands behind his head again. The light shadow of an
insect or dust particle passed in front of the camera on the mountain, and the
laugh of a victorious student rang through the air. He smelled grass, perfume,
and food. Everything was peaceful. “I think the world will love you.” Dailan smiled up at the sky. “I hope so.”
© 2016 nightlight6Author's Note
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Added on July 31, 2016 Last Updated on July 31, 2016 Tags: post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, science fiction, sci-fi, nuclear apocalypse, apocalypse, partial, china, korea, lgbt, lesbian, transgender, trans, adventure, friendship, black protagonist Authornightlight6AboutI'm a recent college grad writing in my spare time. I have the greatest interest in writing sci-fi, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic fiction. Thank you for stopping by and reading my stuff! :) more..Writing
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