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WINSEN LIGHT
Granted, the Engineers did a good job, but the respirator sat heavily on Winsen's shoulders. Perhaps if they had spent a little more time on design? At least the Hazardous Material Suits had give in them. Some would call it baggy.
Winsen Light, he liked it that way. It saved him from that claustrophobic feeling he got sometimes, mainly while in confined spaces. Still, mustn't grumble. House Rindlebrooke had footed the bill for it after all, certainly for the promise of treasure. That was beyond denying. But, according to Denny Spire, the genius kid Winsen found some decade ago languishing in a dead-end Programmers job, there was much more out there left to discover.
The boy had somehow come across a bundle of old, yellowed and water damaged maps from before What Came Before, each showing a series of buildings, some of inside the buildings and evidently their contents; contents at least from before What Came Before. But some of those things, according to Denny Spire, they couldn't be damaged easily. Maybe they were still intact? Maybe not, but it was worth the exploration. Trouble was, these places were in the Wastelands - the area of the world, beyond the Droke - where only insane or intrepid people went.
Winsen was almost certain he wasn't insane, so he had to be the latter, but trying to convince others, now that was an act of insanity.
#
"You want to what?" asked Surah, Winsen's on-again-off-again romantic and business partner. This nonsense was even worthy of her turning from her book.
"You heard." said Winsen, sitting opposite Surah in a cafe in the Square. The chairs were like concrete. Winsen was used to lying on floors in the middle of nowhere, but this was beyond the pale. He squirmed in his chair, much to the amusement of Surah.
"Piles back again?" she smiled wickedly.
"Just think," said Winsen, ignoring her joke, "All that space; all that treasure? How could you not?"
"Well, there is that slight thing of the air being poisonous, the water being acidy, and the place full of deformed and mutated creatures that have managed to survive in a near impossible environment. Call me picky, but it doesn't sound that appealing to me."
"Right, but imagine, if we had Hazmat Suits, and some kind of breathing apparatus -"
"Good luck with that. But count me out. It's far too dangerous, Win." expressed Surah, shaking her head.
"Okay. Alright. Thirty five percent."
Surah grinned from ear to ear, slamming her book shut. There was always a way around that one, smiled Winsen to himself.
#
"There is tell of something great out there, far and deep into the Wastelands. Some have tried, and all have failed, to reach that golden land." said Winsen, in way of a motivational speech. They were testing the apparatus in the bowels of the Halls, surrounded by officials. Winsen leaned in to speak conspiratorially with Surah, "One for the bigwigs." he winked. Surah sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Denny. Calm down, or you'll hyperventilate." said Surah, stroking the struggling young genius by the arm.
"Why the Hell do I have to come? I mean, I'm not an adventurer, or a treasure hunter -"
"Sorry, bud." shrugged Winsen, "But they wouldn't give the stuff to us without an expert on the trip - plus you know what to look for, what to take. We need you, lad." Winsen emphasised his words with a slap on Denny Spire's shoulder, sending the boy struggling to keep on his feet. Surah punched Winsen in the arm. Winsen shrugged in a, "I don't know what to say," kind of way.
One of the officials stood forward, proud of the others, all in one ordered line, "Will he be ready for launch?" asked the man identical to all the others, save this one had a slightly lighter grey outfit on.
Winsen looked first to poor Denny Spire, then to Surah Kendy. Surah's eyes were pleading, "Yes. Yes, he'll be ready. It's his first time in a Suit. Like water off a - something's back." said Winsen Light to the official, but the look he gave Surah was his familiar, "If in doubt, bullshit," look.
#
The respirator was making Winsen's face mask steam up. Surah tutted at him.
"Win, how do you manage to dress yourself in the mornings? Come here." Surah adjusted the straps on his mask, and eventually the steam dispersed.
"You know, Surah - sometimes I don't get dressed in the mornings." Winsen flashed his eyebrows suggestively. This only elicited another barrage of tutting from Surah.
"Guys, we need to find shelter soon. These respirators need time to charge." interrupted Denny Spire. The three of them were hitting the very edge of safety within the Wastelands, some two miles inside the cordon. The ground was mostly rubble, with huge expanses where the ground had been hammered down by large wheel-based vehicles, the like of which hadn't been seen since around the time of What Came Before. It made walking an easy task, but, as Denny assured them, it would get rougher and more dangerous. The possibility of receiving a cut to the Hazmat Suits, a life threatening one, was going to escalate the further into the Wastelands they went.
This place played tricks with the mind. Denny was so sure he had seen two young people, one male, the other female, slicing the horizon. Surah assured him that was impossible, "Only the insane enter the Wastelands, remember?" And that seemed enough for Denny Spire to accept it as an illusion of some kind.
The air moved in strange ways in the Wastelands. In some places the air was as thick as a gas, in others so thin it tore at the garments of the Hazmat Suits, threatening to rip them asunder. It allowed Winsen Light to do his suggestive humour at Surah Kendy, about him and her and a quiet spot, where he would do the same thing with his teeth. She had slapped him for it, but it was ineffectual, as she couldn't penetrate the Suit. This led to another innuendo from Winsen, followed by another attempted slap.
"Over there." pointed Denny Spire, to a pile of rubble slightly higher than the rest, "Air's fairly normal there. Exposure is up to three hours. After that -" Denny left it hanging there, making his way to the spot he had gestured to. Both Winsen and Surah followed.
#
They camped in the lea of a nature-made - such as it was in the Wastelands - lean-to. It kept the worst of the wind from them, as they were currently without respirator, while they charged the tanks for the next leg of the hunt.
"Nearly Tea?" asked Surah, taking the kettle from the small fire she had set.
Winsen thought about it, then realised he had few options so reluctantly agreed. He hogged the first taste down quickly. Denny, on the other hand, sipped away at his. He loved the taste of Nearly Tea, apparently. That was the thing with geniuses - they had the minds of machines and the taste buds of a rock.
The sky grew darker, if that was possible, and more diluted shades of grey. Light was at a premium, so the trio huddled around the fire, with the little illumination it presented.
"Remember the last time we were out like this?" asked Surah, desperate for conversation in the heartless heartland.
"I remember you had less clothes on then." remarked Winsen, smirking. Surah punched him in the arm, "I only meant you didn't have a Hazmat Suit on. That really hurt you know?" Winsen said, rubbing his arm defensively.
"Oh shut up." Surah smiled.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Denny became suddenly alert, searching the creeping darkness for a sign of the noise maker.
"Oh, relax, Denny. It's the Wastelands. Could be anything. Could be the wind knocking over a teetering rock, or the ground settling. It could be anything. It could be a -" Surah was cut short as a flash of some kind of beast broke into their light, and instantly left it. She rose to her feet, and the other two followed her instinctively. They all had their backs to the fire, forming a triangle of defence around it. Then another flash, this time in front of Winsen.
"It's the fire." whispered Winsen, "It's attracted to the fire."
"Don't move. It's probably blind or something. Maybe sound - shit!" Surah felt something whip and strike her right leg.
"Maybe not shouting would help!" continued Winsen, still whispering.
"It's circling us." said Denny. He was surprisingly calm of voice.
"I guessed that." admonished Winsen sarcastically.
"So, what do we do?" asked Surah.
"We kill it." said Winsen. He was given his golden opportunity as the creature chose that moment to strike. It was about six feet in length, a tail of sorts, tipped with barbs. It had the usual collection of eyes, snout and maw, just not necessarily where they would usually be found in natural nature. The environment had altered the creature; changed it from its original species to one that could connect with its surroundings, survive in, on and of the land. It squealed like a man in a blender, noise enough to loosen the bowels of even the staunchest of heroes. It was a genetic mutation of something that once roamed the world before What Came Before. Winsen pawed at it ineffectually, as the thing snapped blindly at his face. There was a flash of blade, and Denny Spire barrelled the thing from his friend, sending him and it into a kind of death roll. Eventually Denny rose to his feet, the corpse of the thing lying dead and blood sizzling on the iron blade Denny held, ready for a further strike.
"Look at his face." whispered Surah to Winsen, "Not a scratch of emotion."
"Yes, Surah, Denny is what we call a sociopath. But remember - he's our sociopath." winked Winsen in reply.
"Of the Bos genus. Within the Bovidae family. Cow. It's a mutated cow. With big sharp teeth." explained Denny, as a matter of course, as he rejoined the other two, wiping the blade with a cloth before discarding said cloth into the fire, where it sizzled.
"Right. Well. There you go then." said Surah, "Uhm, I'm guessing the tanks are replete by now. Shall we?" asked Surah, as she gently kicked the dead beast, just to make sure it was really, really dead.
#
Light was beginning to arrive as the trio reached the edge of an area called Borough. There were a few words before that one, but Borough was the only one readable. Borough appeared to be near the centre of something devastated. Most of it dipped into a crater, burn marks at the base suggesting something extremely hot had super-heated the ground, turning it into a kind of black crystallised glass. The three of them decided it was likely to be impossible to traverse, so skimmed round the rim of the crater, eliciting more dubious comedy from Winsen. It wasn't an easier route, by any stretch of the imagination. Circumventing the crater drove them into a huddle of twisted metal, melted together to create eerie statues to a time long past. A monument to What Came Before.
"Must be close to an epicentre." remarked Winsen, lifting up a chunk of metal for the other two to slide under.
"Looks like a battle raged here once. Just look at those barrels? Those guns must be -"
"One hundred and twenty millimetre smooth bore KBM2 on a Yatagan MBT." remarked Denny Spire, quite by instinct.
"A what?" asked Winsen, for clarity.
"A tank. A big one." Denny could see even more clarification was required, "One of the things that made the big wheel-base tracks."
"Oh." said Winsen, none the wiser, but pretending he understood.
"Over here." called Surah. She had passed the other two and was a short distance ahead. Surah was holding a small silver device, rectangular and fitting in her palm, "Looks like some kind of communication device. And more over here. Look how small they are?"
The other two joined her, "This one still switches on." said Denny, taking it from Surah. It showed a perfect picture of a young family; a woman, a man and two small children, one of each. The man was smiling, holding the woman's head gently as it cradled in the crook of his neck, the man's other hand was on the shoulder of his young son and the woman's hands both on the shoulders of the little girl. The man was bearded, but it was tended, cut neatly as was his hair. The woman had long straight golden hair, which cascaded over her face in places, while being held further up by being hooked around her ear. The boy was, well, like any boy was. Time could never change that. The little girl was like her Mother, except her hair was black or brown and tightly cropped in a bob. Behind the family in the picture was a plethora of buildings, grey in colour, but tall in stature. And none of them appeared in any way destroyed, or cracked, or even chipped. The sky was a vivid azure, cloudless with strange little black dots here and there, hanging in the air. There was no desperation, there was no fear. There was no sign of a world in turmoil or of people running for their lives from something devastating and anathema. It was life, lived.
"So that was life before What Came Before, huh? Looks busy. Too busy." remarked Winsen, disinterested. But what the other two couldn't see was the lone tear that welled in Winsen's eye. It was gone almost as soon as it arrived.
"I don't know." said Surah, "I think I could've lived in those days. I wonder what they were really like? I wonder if we would recognise them as like us, if we were to see them now? Look, Denny, they're so happy." Surah offered.
"They're dead now." shrugged Denny. He handed the device to Surah, who turned it off and put it into her pocket, tapping it for safety. They didn't understand. They were men, after all. Surah followed on, just a few steps behind.
#
In the light, the creatures kept their distance. Only when the trio stopped, as they had to on occasion for the sake of the breathing tanks on the respirator, to allow them to replenish, only then did the creatures chance their arm. They would prowl in bunches an equal distance from each other. It seemed they weren't overly fond of each other also, which aided in avoiding them. They would come close, but lacked the striking intuition. The three humans were certainly a curiosity at the moment for the creatures. Humans never came this deep into the Wastelands. And the creatures wouldn't wander outside of it. Three upright animals that chattered to each other, while covered in a luminous skin. A very odd sight indeed.
A little away from the crater's epicentre, the signs of humanity a long distance dead began to show. The three of them wasted no time in investigating the buildings that still partially stood. The first they came to was an odd type of building. Outside, it had paper drawings of scenes depicting romance, adventure and mostly action. Through the doors, a strange odour of sweet tastes hit them, finding its way even through the tough vents of the Hazmat Suits. Denny found the source. It was a smashed machine, with little yellow, misshapen, malleable things that squelched as he pinched one of them. Further into the building, double doors sat in recesses of a carpeted wall, with tiny round windows showing a vast room beyond.
"They used to show stories in these places, you know, before -" began Denny Spire, opening a door and looking inside. There were a series of seats, closely connected to each other, in rows and columns, all facing a wall. Whatever was on the wall was not there anymore. Perhaps it perished. Perhaps it was destroyed. Whatever had happened, it was gone.
"Before What Came Before." finished Winsen, looking a little deeper into the vast room, picking up discarded objects, looking for value. There were a number of blankets and such. Here and there were little plastic toys, burned a little, but much loved.
"They must've hidden out here, the people of this place. So many blankets. So many lives. And look at this? Isn't it -" started Surah, holding up one of the plastic toys, humanoid in shape.
"The thing the little girl was holding in the picture on the device? Yes." said Denny Spire, as matter of factly as he had spoken before.
"Denny, mate. Have a heart, eh?" admonished Winsen, upon seeing the look on Surah's face.
"What?" asked Denny, definitely surprised. Winsen nudged him and he looked over at Surah. She wasn't crying, but she was surely close to tears, "Oh. Sorry, Surah. I didn't mean anything by it."
"It's alright, Denny. It's just -" Winsen came over and put an arm around Surah. It was all he needed to say.
The next building was full of clothes. Most were tattered beyond recognition, but there was a contingent of materials that could withstand even the toughest disaster. They looked about and Winsen pocketed a few leather belts. They had value. They could hold things together. They could help lift things, and at a pinch, they could hold trousers up. Surah picked up a tiny leather skirt, for which Winsen gave her the thumbs up. She threw them at him. Just in case, he pocketed them as well. You never knew.
A walk further into the heart of this land led them to a small building with shelves upon shelves of books. Denny dived in without a by your leave, delving hungrily into the many leafed denizen, pouring over the pages like a rabid beast over a slice of flesh.
"Leave him to it. He'll be in there for a while. Let's carry on, come back for him." said Surah.
Denny looked happy amongst the volumes, picking one from the floor, another from a shelf, sitting cross-legged, like a small, excited child unwrapping a present.
The next building they came to was full of furniture; beds, chairs, tables - every conceivable thing a home could wish for. Winsen and Surah meandered through the maze of metal and wood. Here also was evidence of people living for shelter. More blankets, furniture turned over or up against other objects to create borders and areas for the comfort of families. Only the skeletons of food containers long since emptied and repurposed was the evidence to life still being lived. They could've been there decades. Centuries. It was impossible to say, but there certainly were no humans about, that was for sure.
Winsen found a bed and animatedly jumped on it, patting the other side of the mattress for Surah to take. Certainly she was tired, and she supposed it wouldn't hurt just to lie down for a while. She lay down next to Winsen, both with happy smiles plastered on their faces. There was no need for words. Even inside the Hazmat Suits, it felt like bliss. Slowly, Winsen and Surah's hands met in the middle of the bed, and they exchanged a look between them of maybe, just maybe, if the circumstances were different?
But it didn't last. Those moments never do. And this time, the moment was interrupted by Denny, running to the foot of the bed, yelling loudly, "I think I've found it!" he enthused.
"Well, bully for you." muttered Winsen, a little disappointed.
"What? What did you find?" asked Surah, climbing off the bed. Winsen groaned and got himself to his feet.
"Okay, spoilsport. What is it?" said Winsen, a little more brusquely than he had intended. Denny didn't seem to notice.
"The mother-load!"
"Care to elaborate?" asked Winsen, adjusting his Hazmat Suit after it turned skew-whiff in the tumble on the bed.
"Circuit boards. More than the eye can see and the hand can carry!" explained Denny, anxious to take them there. Winsen was in no rush, though.
"That much, eh?" said Winsen sarcastically. He received his daily thump from Surah on his arm. There was a really nice bruise forming on Winsen's arm in that spot.
"I know we might not be as quick as you - Winsen, shut it - but what's so good about that?" asked Surah, rounding the bed to face the boy.
"Think about it. We could have gold, we could have diamonds, we could even have cheese, but what does every House in the Droke need and use?" asked Denny excitedly.
"Prophylactics?" ventured Winsen, receiving a further punch from Surah.
"I don't know, Denny. What?" she asked.
"Machines! Well, that and food. But food is unsustainable. Circuit boards are invaluable."
"Well, if they're invaluable, what's the point?" This time Winsen dodged the punch from Surah.
"Don't you see, though? No House is making these, because no one knows where to get the material, let alone how to craft them? Engineers are in constant want for stuff like that." said Denny.
"Otherwise they have to go into the Battle Grounds, and scavenge for the bits and pieces that have been used so often, they've virtually lost their power." continued Surah.
"Wait, that means - we would be -" started Winsen, an epiphany hitting him.
"Wealthy beyond our wildest dreams?" finished Denny, with a grin not often explored on his face. He was usually so serious.
"So, not gold then?" said Winsen, ever searching for the last word. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to dodge the lightening quick fist of Surah Kendy this time.
#
The warehouse building was lined with concrete, unblemished in a natural shade of cream. Everything inside, the huge machines and the small items, some weapons, some instruments, they were all as they had been left. Someone had at some time opened the huge door that sealed from the inside, keeping the treasures within safe and sound, for a moment such as this.
Surah was strolling around the big pieces, gently stroking their smooth surfaces, like cold dead flesh to the touch, "What are these things?" she asked.
Denny spoke from a bench, where he was turning and twisting the instruments and circuitry that lay about, half finished, "Machines of some sort. They don't work. They've got no power, see?" Denny pointed to a spot on the machine practically identical to every other part to Surah, but she nodded anyway.
"And this?" asked Winsen, picking up a small pointy item.
"I think it's a weapon." explained Denny Spire, "Don't know anything about it. It must have been cutting edge, even as What Came Before occurred."
"And we can't use any of it?" asked Winsen further.
"No. The circuitry demands an extensive power system. They must have been working on it when What Came Before happened." said Denny.
"But the circuit boards? They're fine?" asked Surah.
"Yes." said Denny, "Look at the security system in here. This building was impenetrable."
"We managed to get in alright?" said Winsen, tossing aside presumably another useless weapon.
"As I said, no power. Without it nothing functions in here." said Denny, returning to the bench and its gems.
Winsen had begun to wander to a lever that seemed to open something. He called over to Denny, "What's this do?"
"I don't know, but don't touch it."
Winsen wiggled the lever, "Looks like there's something on the other side -" a hiss sounded somewhere. A series of clunks and thuds signalled the opening of a vent above Winsen. He jumped back instinctively.
Denny had already started his run towards Winsen when it began, "Don't - shit! Too late!"
A thick green mist billowed out of the vent. Winsen was inches from it when he began to quickly back away, "What's that smoke -"
Denny began picking up random pieces of circuitry, shoving them dangerously into his pockets, "We have to go." he almost breathed as his actions became more anxious.
"What do you mean?" asked Surah, watching the drama unfold before her.
Denny continued unabated, picking anything within reach and thrusting it anywhere he could hold it, "We have to go! Grab what you can!"
Winsen had finally reached the other two, "Wait! Why are we in such a hurry?"
Denny stopped and stared at Winsen, "Don't you see? Look what that smoke is doing to that metal door!" Winsen and Surah looked back to where the smoke had reached a corrugated metal door, operated by a chain on the side. The chain simply dissolved, the door slowly being eaten away.
It shocked Winsen into action, "Shit! Right. Do it! Grab everything you can! Here, put them in here - on this trolley! Quick!"
"You don't need to tell me twice." agreed Surah as she complied with the instructions. Once they had loaded all they could manage onto the trolley and in the large bag Winsen had found lying around, they ran as fast as they could in their Hazmat Suits, pushing the trolley before them.
After a minute or so, they looked behind. The smoke was dissipating into the general disease of the Wasteland’s air. Surah punched Winsen in the arm, serious this time, "You idiot! Why can't you just leave things alone?"
"How was I to know it would release a metal eating smoke cloud?!" defended Winsen, hurt by fist and words.
But Surah was unrelenting, "If you'd have only listened to Denny -"
Winsen winced a little, "Really, it doesn't matter." he said, his voice slightly laboured.
"And how do you suppose that?" continued Surah unabated.
"I - never mind." said Winsen, resigned. He lacked the energy to fight her right now.
And this thought had occurred to Surah also. She knew this wasn't like Winsen, "Wait. What's wrong? Sheebus! Look at the size of that tear?" It was then that Surah spotted the foot long rip in Winsen's Hazmat Suit. Part of his skin was missing too, exposing sensitive flesh beneath.
"It's okay. I'm fine. It only nipped me a bit." Winsen pulled away a little from Surah. She followed.
"But, your Hazmat Suit -"
"As long as we're careful -" cut in Denny, concern for another being an alien concept for him, but this was Winsen Light, Adventurer, Hero and Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire.
"I don't think there's a fix for this, Surah - Denny." smiled Winsen weakly.
"What are you saying?" Surah wished she could do something; anything.
"I'm saying I really fancy a nice long lie down on a comfortable bed for once in my miserable, useless, unlucky life." explained Winsen, getting weaker by the second.
"Winsen -" tried Surah.
"Denny, be a mate, take her back. You know the way." said Winsen to the boy. Denny nodded, understanding with maturity beyond his years.
"But -" attempted Surah again. Denny had already taken her by the arm and was trying to lead her away.
"You know what?" began Winsen, "If only - ah, never mind. Forget it. That-a way." said Winsen, pointing in the general direction of the Droke. Even Surah could see it. He needed some dignity, to not be seen as the weak man, to be the strong one as always. So she let him go. She had to. It was what he wanted. And Denny led the way.
Winsen, with the strength he had left to muster, which was minimal at best, found that building with the furniture in it. On his way through, he picked up a blanket and a pillow. He found his bed, right where he left it, and he slowly peeled off his Hazmat Suit, folding it neatly, carefully draping it over the foot of the bed. He lay down gingerly, pulling the blanket up to his neck, closing his eyes and descending into bliss with a smile on his face.
Ah! Peace, at last.
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