Man Of Earth
14
## It would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious. Susan was the first to begin acting unusual during a mission debriefing. Dan had at first put it down to stress, but almost immediately the Professor started throwing pieces of paper at her, while Ambassador Able threw his chair about the room and Ambassador Low started undressing and throwing his shoes at anyone near him. Even Rex Canon, Democratic Prime of Sunray City, was acting strangely. He began shouting at clouds out of the window of Headquarters. It was obvious something was wrong ##
It was then that the world began to spin for Dan, and everything seemed to double in his vision, a haziness to his actions and a slur to his speech. It must be something in the Water System! Someone, somehow had poisoned the Water System! It was the only logical answer to what ailed his friends, making them act out of character. Just to be sure, Dan Ward jumped onto a console and punched up the appropriate details. It was true. The Water System showed a contamination had entered the filtration system late the previous night. Sabotage.
Dan shook off his own personal funk and looked about the room at his friends. There was nothing he could do for them right this second, though he sensed it would only be a matter of time before they did something dangerous, to themselves or someone else. Dan had to reach the Water Plant before it was too late, and start the decontamination process, lest the entire City fell into chaos. Dan ran from the room, aware that every second counted.
He hadn’t managed more than a few feet out of the door before the Guards who usually protected them in the room were now confronting Dan upon his exit, “Halt!” called one of the Guards. His manner was of intoxication; his words were slurred and his posture was swaying. However, Dan complied, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out of my way, there’s a good chap.” instructed Dan. But there was no witty retort, no clever quip. All four Guards as one man came for Dan then, waving their long batons at him. Dan simply dodged, spun and rolled round them easily, while they all fell into a heap behind him. If it was an endemic problem throughout the City, then the faster Dan got to the decontamination valve of the filtration system, the better.
On his way out of Headquarters, Dan met one or two other groups like the first bunch of Guards that waylaid him, but these also he managed to avoid, by taking a circuitous route through the bowels of the tower Dan dodged the more dangerous encounters. Eventually he came out into the City, where the problem was only getting worse.
“Look! The so called hero!” yelled one citizen.
“Why don’t you just go back to Earth! You people make me sick!” called another citizen.
“We’d be better off now if it wasn’t for you, Dan Ward!” spoke a third citizen. And it went on much like this throughout Dan’s journey across the City. There was a fair amount of hostility around. At first Dan thought it was just directed at him, or the Earthlings as a whole, but it soon became neighbour against neighbour, where perfect strangers found themselves in shoving matches. Fairly soon, Dan would be caught up in something he couldn’t avoid, so he slipped down an alleyway to get away from them. It only brought more trouble.
A group of determined citizens, perhaps eight in total, came around a corner in the alleyway, holding home-made weapons of wood or utensils, “Kill the Earthling!” they chanted as a group, advancing meaningfully on Dan. All he could do was climb the wall next to him and run across the roofs, but even as he did, random citizens were taking pot shots at him as he ran. Dan kept running, jumping, leaping across the gaps as best he could, but eventually his luck ran out and he fell, heavily, through the roof of a house. And everything went black.
When he awoke, Dan found himself being tended to by an old man, who seemed completely unaffected by the day's activities. Dan could see he had been moved to the man’s house and placed on a long chair, a flannel over his forehead and a thumping headache where he must have landed hard on the ground. Dan could see that the man had built his own water filtration system, which must have saved him from the poisoned water. It was roughly made, but had an air of familiarity about it, like a jerry-rigged Earth canteen. But Dan knew time was still of the essence, so he tried to collect himself and sit up, but the pounding in his head forced him to reconsider.
“Don’t get up! You need to rest after taking a knock like that! You’re Dan Ward, are you not? You know, we have a lot of things in common, you and I?” smiled the man, replacing the flannel. He also took out a round white pill and gave it to Dan, with a glass of filtered water from his own system. The pill also looked familiar to Dan.
“Really?” said Dan, not wholly convinced. The man was of advancing years, so could have been a little confused.
“I can tell you’re sceptical.” smiled the man, “I can see you saying to yourself, ‘What is this old man on about?’ You see, Captain, I too am from Earth. Oh, but I wasn’t caught up in the fervour, like you and your comrades! No, I simply hid myself away, and - well, just got on with things. That better?” said the old man, taking the glass back from Dan. Dan could say nothing, however. He wasn’t sure what to make of the man, “My name - my Earth name is Doctor Sam Farley, of the Demaine Medical Centre. Here, I’m simply known as Surley.” the old man continued to smile.
It felt strange. Dan couldn’t think of a reason to distrust the man. Why couldn’t he be? It was equally as likely that he came to White Haven, even as Dan, Susan and the Professor did. Right now, it mattered not which side was truth, as Dan had a mission to complete, “Well, Surley, it’s nice to meet another like myself but I really have to go now. The City is relying on me.” Dan forced himself to his feet and began for the door.
“Wait!” called Surley, “If you insist on going, then let me take you the quick way!” Surley pulled back a tapestry on his wall, revealing a door. It opened into an alleyway, and with Surley’s assistance, Dan hobbled through the door and back into the City. Within a few minutes, they turned a corner and came to a scene of injured people. There was about half a dozen people and they had obviously been attacked.
Surley ran to the first injured person. He pulled his bag round to the front and began rooting inside for the necessary equipment, “Lucky I always carry my Medical Bag with me everywhere!” he said, tending to the injured person. Dan did what he could, and between the pair of them, they managed a fairly good job. Just as they came to an end, the gang that had caused the injuries in the first place returned to the scene of the crime.
“Run!” called Dan. Surley was surprisingly light on his feet, and eventually, through twists and turns, they reached the Water System, keeping just ahead of the gang, who were very much affected by the process of contamination, slowing down their speed and reactions. Dan tried the door to the Plant. It was locked.
Surley grabbed Dan and shouted to him, “You’re going to have to break in! Go! I’ll keep these people occupied!” Dan nodded his agreement and moved round the building, looking for a way in. Surley climbed onto the low roof of the entrance to the Plant, picking up small pieces of objects he could throw at the gang, who had now reached the door, “Take that you cur!” yelled Surley, as he tossed the objects upon the men below.
Meanwhile, Dan had found a way in. He climbed through a thin window and made his way cautiously to the machine that operated the decontamination process, avoiding confrontation on the way. There were a few workers here and there, but most seemed quite happy simply to kick away at a wall, or throw a chair against a door. Dan started the machine, and slowly it began to wind up, gears grinding and the satisfying sound of water pumping filled the empty air of the Water Plant. Success, and not before too long, Dan hoped beyond hope.
#
And, of course, it was ever thus so. Within a day or two, things returned to normal, and the cost was counted. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and Sigma Dissonance didn’t manage to instigate a major offensive or anything nearly as worrying as that. Perhaps they were hoping that the City would simply fall apart and all they would have to do was stride right into the centre of the City and take over. But that could never happen; not as long as there remained Captain Dan D Ward, Man of Earth.
Dan brought back with him from the City one old man; an old Earth man. The Professor and Susan were of course eager to speak to him, and he tried as much as he could to answer their questions, but he had been in Sunray City for some time and he had become quite forgetful of most of what occurred in those early days. Still, it was a fascinating tale nonetheless.
Rex Canon, the Democratic Prime, pulled Dan aside, “Once more, we are indebted to you for saving our City, Dan! If it were not for you -” Rex simply left the sentence hanging.
Dan turned to Rex, a sternness never leaving his visage, “All it reminds us of, my friend, is that we must ever be on high alert! We see what they’re capable of, but perhaps this is only the tip. I have an itchy suspicion there is much more to come.” Dan was left to look at the old man he had stumbled upon, the Earthling like him, and he wondered how many more Earthlings there were out there in White Haven, not to mention what diabolical schemes Sigma Dissonance were cooking up even now.
Dan looked to the skies.
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