Above the Border of This Blue Earth's Horizon (WEB-NOVEL)

[fsc]

Above the Border of This Blue Earth's Horizon

Official page:
https://www.facebook.com/ATBOTBEH/

Genre:
Sci-fi, action, tragedy

Synopsis:
Day 12.812 -- Or 35 years and 29 days since our Earth has been submerged in rising ocean surface. At least that's what I've been taught, I was born in to this world eighteen years go, not long enough to see how this all started. Day -1, yes, day minus one, is what they called to be the Aquapocalypse: An event that redefines our existence on this Earth. The day -1 is the birthmark when ices which resides on the coldest spots on Earth melted completely and raised ocean's surface significantly by two hundred and fifty percent, submerging almost the tallest peak on Earth. My name is Rain, and this is my story.

Chapter list:
Chapter 01: The World Which Tainted in Blue
Chapter 02: Live Bait
Chapter 03: Someplace Different
Chapter 04: From the Life She Left Behind

Note:
This is my ongoing project whilst waiting ALLBLACK to finish.

Any mockery, suggestions, and comments are welcome.

[fsc]

Chapter 01 - The World Which Tainted in Blue

Day 12.812 -- Or 35 years and 29 days since our Earth has been submerged in rising ocean surface. At least that's what I've been taught, I was born in to this world eighteen years go, not long enough to see how this all started. Day -1, yes, day minus one, is what they called to be the Aquapocalypse: An event that redefines our existence on this Earth. No one remembers what year it was before we resettled our calendar, all I know is that day -1 is the birthmark when ices which resides on the coldest spots on Earth melted completely and raised ocean's surface significantly by two hundred and fifty percent, submerging almost the tallest peak on Earth.

It was not like my predecessors didn't do anything, they tried to patch Earth's atmosphere by using chemical element to decrease Earth's temperature, and it was working, at first. The plan backfired after years later, causing radioactive radiation which increased Earth temperature significantly and hasten the polar melting process. Thus triggering the event of Day Minus One; The Aquapocalypse.

Mankind, man… They didn't just sit down and wait for their extinction, they found a way to survive. They built the Aquapolises: The underwater civilizations. And they didn't messed up this time, they properly calculated everything. I've been living right in front of death's door for eighteen years, I am living under the danger of deadly radiation above me, danger of painful death of crushed by water pressure below me, and as if that wasn't bad enough, I also living with sea monsters around me. The Aquapolises has been built between these hazards, making the civilizations able to survive, The Aquapolises has been the Noah's Ark of my time. There are four Aquapolises across the globe, the Arcadia in America, the Elysium in Europe, the New Babylon in Africa, and where I live, the Canaan in Asia.

"Rain, stop spacing." My communicator suddenly blares an incoming voice.

"I am not blanking, Dan?" I reply while my hands is busy sorting a very bold sets of cables.

I am working outside of the Canaan now, there is many activities happening outside the gates, but no one is insane enough to wander outside the glass walls other than us, the military services.

"I know when you spacing out." Dan's voice raids my com again. "What were you thinking anyway?"

"I told you; nothing."

"What about you? Anything about the cables?" I ask him.

"Nope, same old. Barnacles eating the cable's coats again."

"Mine too."

What I am working right now is the most dangerous kind of all jobs, repairing busted sonar threat detection and outer communication system out in the open right north of the gates.

"I'm almost finished." I reported to Dan, not actually telling him anything, I just wanted to let him know how it feel to be disturbed.

He didn't respond, perhaps he know the real meaning behind my nagging. Regardless, it's nice to have some silence while I finishing my work here. These hardwares requires more attention than the others, even when these cable is coated with bold rubber, it still attract small animals because of the electricity. Every four days, engineers are dispatched to maintain the cable's condition. The cables also cannot be buried under the ground, since there is constant movement of tectonic plates which makes it relatively safer to let them lie above the ground.

The only thing I can hear is the hissing of my oxygen generator releasing carbon dioxide and circulate it with salt water to convert into oxygen so I wont run out of breath every once and then. The sound don't bother me anymore as I carefully pluck the barnacles from the cables, sometimes the feeling being used to the hissing noise scares me, as it practically lower my defenses.

"Rain?"

Dan called me again, his constant pestering makes me ignore a concerned tone in his call.

"What?" I reply.

"I'm hiding." His voice is getting smaller and smaller, I know once Dan calls in weak tone, something has gone wrong.

"What happened?"

"Pesces, class D."

Pesce, deepwater fishes. Most of them are not a threat, which is why we organised them into classes: Class E to A. To qualify a pesce into class E, the fish must be at least three meters long. Class D requires the threat to be sized at least five meters long, and carnivorous. Class C need the threat to be at least ten meters long, and carnivorous like sharks and whales. Class B requires the threat to be at least twenty meters long, carnivorous, and have special characteristic like poisonous. While class A is a special class where the threat is larger than thirty meters long predator.

These classes not only applies to fishes, it also applies to serpents, vertebrates, and invertebrates. So far, the greatest threat I've ever faced is class C serpent. While the greatest threat ever recorded in Canaan is twenty eight meters class B serpent which also killed my father. Class E to C of all species attacks can happen up to tens of times every day, but deadly classes like B and A only happen seldom. Mostly because those classes used to hunt in deeper waters.

"Can you call back up?" I respond to Dan.

"I haven't finished working the cables."

"…" I hesitate for a second. "How many of them?"

"I saw three, don't know if there is more." Dan reports. "With your help, we can take them."

"Okay, hang on there."

I proceed to deactivate my com line and use my antipressure mobility suit to visit Dan. My suit utilises turbines on my back and under my feet which is controllable from my palm, all I need to do to accelerate and decelerate the turbines is flexing the fingers on both of my hands while my arms are straight resting on my sides. One side of hand controls that same side of turbines, so if my right hand is resting straight and I flex my thumb and index finger inward, the right turbines on my back and under my feet will accelerate.

Dan is not supposedly too far from me, at least just fifty meters away from me behind some rocks. I traced the cables until I find it turns behind a rock. Right before I make the turn, I noticed three white sharks circling around, they know there is a prey nearby. I know Dan, he can take care two of those sharks alone, but not three.

I draw my gun from the holster on my thigh, preparing myself for the coming battle.

"Dan?" I call to Dan from my com.

"Yeah? You here?"

"I'm close, tell me when you ready."

"Three?"

Every time he ends one word sentence in holding tone, it's never rhetorical, he will execute whatever it is he seemingly ask immediately. That's why I never answered given the chance, until this time.

"Three." I answered.

"Two."

He didn't even bother to repeat the countdown, he just continue my counting.

"One." He counts again.

"Zero." Both of us finished the countdown silently, which is the mark for me to move out from my hiding spot and start shooting.

I shoot the first shark which closest to me instinctively despite it doesn't even looking at me. I pulled the trigger and my gun released a bullet, not a lead bullet which was used by the older civilization, in this place, we use stick-mine bullets. My shot hits right to the first fish's right gill, the impact is not deadly enough to kill anything. This standard pistols doesn't even effective in short range, the bullet had too many friction against the water and the water's pressure. There are stronger guns but engineers like us is not eligible to carry such weapon.

Exactly one second after the impact, the bullet exploded. Blood and fish flesh burst out from that white shark like water balloon. The explosion also drawn the attention of the rest of the sharks to me. Both of them charges at me instantly, I fires another shoot to the shark which closest to me while my free left hand flexes it's index finger inward. I produced enough speed for me to move away to my left from both of them while I wait for the bullet to explode.

I was only expecting one explosion, but as my bullet explodes, another explosion detonates parallelly after my bullet busted off. The second explosion happened from the left side of the second shark, which thrown it towards me and hit me hard for it's mass. This fish must be at least eighty kilograms.

The fish pinned me to the ground, I am not strong enough to move it myself. I look to my left and find Dan rushing towards me.

"I'm sorry." He apologises while holding the shark's right side which is pinning me.

"Shut up." I answer in annoyed tone.

After a hard push from both of us, we manages to move the fish and get me off of it. I picked my gun which apparently had been thrown away as Dan's bullet exploded.

"Thanks." Dan says.

"Just…" I pause for a second. "...finish your job."

I thrust myself back to the gates without looking back at Dan, it's enough blood for me today.

"Hey, wait for me at the control panel." Dan's voice blaring from my com again. "After I finished cleaning the cables, you could turn on the communication system and see if it works."

"I know."

Not that I hate Dan, he has been a great buddy ever since I joined the military. I just prefer to avoid bloodshed if I can. I know every time I face once of those predators, they keep getting bigger. They say perhaps after thirty years of radiation, these water could have make many of the underwater organism to mutate. I'm afraid that sooner or later we will have to deal with class B threat every hour.

It does not take long before I reach the control panel, it's located right before the cables end to the walls of Canaan.

"How is it?" I called Dan.

"Finished, turn her on."

I raise the lever in the control panel to activate the external communication system, some lights on the control panel changed it colors. I also feel vibrations in the waters because of it.

"Canaan Defence Force, engineer 718 and 731 to base."

I only hear static for respond. After pausing for a moment, I decided to try calling again."

"Canaan Defence Force, engineer 718 and 731..."

"Canaan Defence Foce, headquarters." I feel glad to know the communication system is running and transmitting the respond clear as a crystal. "Maintenance complete, you are to report back to the quarter."

"Thank you, base. And we are expecting good meal for dinner." Dan's voice suddenly interferes with my com.

"I can't promise anything, engineer 718." base replies with playing tone, which actually makes me scoff softly.

I smiled, finally all my task for today are over. I head to the gates immediately and wait for Dan to return since the gates only open once for every batch of people entering or exiting. Right as I reach the gates, Dan also reaches the gates. Soon when we standing behind the outer gate, it lowers and locks us in a room where the waters gets drained out so the gates is completely dry before we enter the Canaan. Canaan have four main gates, one in each direction, and each of them works in the same way.

When the waters in the room has been completely drained, our mask release the rubber lock that hold water from leaking in my glass helmet. We put our mask to it's slot in our chromatic chest plate, and for the first time this evening, we are able to inhale deeply as many air as we want.

The second gate starts to raise, slowly it reveals the outer rim of Canaan, this Aquapolis consist of three rims, the central rim, the inner rim, and the outer rim. The outer rim is the industrial area of the city, it's where farms, factories, and power plants resides with direct access to the sewage system. The inner rim is the residential area, where Canaan citizen lives. And lastly the central rim, the corporal area, where Canaan's officials are working as governmental clockwork keeping the whole city in order.

Built six kilometers below water surface, with four hundred kilometers of diameter, Canaan is the third deepest and second largest Aquapolis on Earth. I have never seen it with my own eyes, but I heard that the Elysium is almost twice the size of Canaan. Despite so, Canaan has the tallest walls of them all, standing at mighty four hundred meters of titanium wall and diamond coated roof to hold fifteen thousand tonnes of water pressure.

"I think I cannot join you for dinner." Dan says as they steps their third step from the gates.

"Why?" I ask him whilst stopping walk and turning at him.

Dan only shift his eyes from right to left whilst tilting his head to his left.

"Ah." I roughly express that I understand his gesture.

"I'll be back for night shift, okay? Okay!"

As usual, he answer for himself. He didn't even finish answering, he just wander off after I expressed my understandment earlier.

So Dan has been seeing this girl in the assault forces, he said they meet one week ago at the market. I didn't paid too many attention to his story, but in the end, they keep meeting in many places. If it were for me to say, I believe Dan has been stalking her since months ago.

Like I said, since Dan has been meeting with this girl, this week marks the most day I dine alone with the number of three. Today, two days ago, and six days ago was the days I dined alone. Before then, at most I only dine alone one day in one week. Still the number is not enough to make me stalk him to see what kind of girl got him smitten.

Two hours later, I am being dispatched to maintenance the equipment in east guard tower. It's not hard, it just Dan's absent by twenty minutes is making me upset.

"What the hell is he doing?" I check my inbox in my cellphone again, since I keep leaving message for him since forty minutes ago. "Please don't say he is getting wasted for being dumped."

"Rain!" Dan suddenly barges in to this security room where I am working.

"Where the hell have you been?!" I say whilst sharply increasing my tone.

"Can you meet her with me tomorrow?"

"He ignored me." I think.

"I don't know if I right, but I am afraid that she thinks I am an outcast. You know, like cleaning departments."

"I don't care; work!"

"She's perfect, you see. She's one in a million!"

I sighed, I know he wont take no as an answer.

"I'll see tomorrow." Knowing him this long, the only thing will silence him is only I let him hear what he want to hear. "But now, you work on the hardware, and I'll take care the software."

Dan only responds with a stiff nod with rigid smile. Having a stuck buddy isn't bad, but I have to always be prepared for this kind of situation. At least I made him to do his work, for now.

"Communication link, check." I speak to myself as I checking every object I need to maintain. "Detection system…"

I pause, the detection system works perfectly, I checked with live video feed from outside to confirm that there is a cluster of fishes a few tens of meters away from them. But there is one things that make him curious, the sonar detected another object a few hundred of meters away.

It seems inanimate, but it emits signs of life, both thermographically and electromagnetically. The place it's resides is a little bit further from the furthest communication dish of Canaan. No one in this place would dare to wander that far. Out of curiosity, I decide to check it.

"Dan, I need your gun."

I snatched Dan's gun from his holster and run to the east gates, Dan only give me weird look as I run hastely descending the tower's side.

I wear my helmet and mask as I run into the gates, I pressed the button demanding access to the outer wall which commands the inner gate to raise slowly. The second gate opens really slowly for me, it's like the gate knows that I am in hurry.

I speed up my APMS unit as fast I can, I am afraid that if I am right, someone is in need of help. The lights from Canaan scares any threatening creatures so my path is slightly clear. The light only turned on at night to protect those who are sleeping.

Now that I am just a few meters away, I stop swimming and slowly approach the mysterious object. The only thing that separates me and it is this small hill, I draw out Dan's gun and keep my gun in my holster. I need two guns in case this thing is really dangerous.

As I am getting closer to it, I start to hear a hissing noise. For a second I withered, I thought it is some kind of dangerous sea serpent. But as I getting closer, I know that it's not something alive, that hissing noise is the sound of metal cooling.

Just a few steps and I can see it, as I closing in to the peak, I can see bubbles of air floating from this hill's other side.

I reached the top whilst still looking at the bubble trail, I trace them down slowly until I see the other side of this hill. Under that side, slowly I can see a diving bell. But the closer I inspect, the clearer it gets, now I realise that that object…

...is an escape pod.

--fsc

[fsc]

Chapter 02 - Live Bait

"A diving bell?"

My mind states the first thing I can think upon laying my eyes for the first time against a mysterious object lying a few meters in front of me.

"No, no. That's not it."

But something is not quite right. First off, this so called diving bell doesn't attached to anything. And secondly, diving bell hasn't been used since two decades ago. Last time I ever seen a diving bell was inside Canaan's old equipment storing warehouse. This is definitely not a diving bell, it's an escape pod.

The hissing noise from lump of cooling metal still can be heard, just not that loud anymore. I slowly approach it trying to understand what this thing actually is while pointing Dan's gun at it. Closer I get, the more I convinced that that hissing noise is produced by it's shell.

"This thing fell from above?!"

I look above, again tracing the air bubbles flying upwards from the diving bell. It's hard to believe if that really happened to this thing, as any object capable to endure the radiation above is really scarce. Not to mention any vehicle like that in Canaan is registered to the military.

Nothing happened as I approached it, I am standing right in front of it now. I take one rock from the ground and use it to knock at it. I know that thing is still hot.

It produced tolling noise as the rock in my hand bumped against it, this thing's shell's must be thick.

The hissing noise suddenly get loud again right after I knocked at it for the third time. I twitched and backed up as the noise suddenly got loud, even I dropped the rock in my hand. Oddly this second session of noise last much shorter than the first one.

"Is there someone in here?!" I shout at it soon after the hissing noise fades.

"..."

No respond.

I pick a rock again from the ground, I don't know if it was the same rock I dropped earlier. The origin of this thing still make me more curious than I can care about right now.

"Is there someone inside?!"

I knocked twice against it again before shouting at it whilst circling it around, expecting better view of it. Or even better, finding a window so I can look inside it.

"..."

"... can ... hear ..."

Buzzing static covering someone talk in my communicator, I focus my ear to try if I can hear it better.

"Can you hear...?"

The voice is getting clearer, I can make sure that it is human voice.

"Yeah, yeah! Stay on this channel!" I reply, giving whoever it is instruction not to change it's radio channel.

"How deep are we?!" The static has faded out, our frequency must have synched out.

"What?"

"How deep are we under the surface?!"

Now I hear it's voice clearly, I am sure that this voice is belong to a woman.

"Six kilometers."

I answer to her query, hearing her question make me sure that she really fallen from above.

"Are you inside this escape pod?" I ask her.

"Yes."

"Open it then."

"..." She went silent for a moment. "I don't have anti-pressure suit."

I think for a moment, ponder what the best thing I can do for her.

"This is engineer 731 to base, req---"

I halted my request for backup, the last thing she said make me even more curious.

"Where did you come from?" I switched my communicator to short range radio to reach her back, also the fact that she didn't use her long range communicator to call for help is odd.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked, where did you come from? You obviously are not from here, you fell from above, you don't know what depth we are, you didn't use your long range communication device to call for help, you don't have anti-pressure suit..." I listed everything that is wrong with her. "So where did you come from?"

"..." Again, she went silent.

"Answer me so I can help you."

"..." Just silence, I'm starting to hate her and her rather rude introduction. "I'm sorry but I can't tell you."

"What? Why?"

"I just can't."

"Listen, you are an outsider. You wont tell us where you come from, you will be considered a threat."

"..."

This time I don't mind being kept on hold, this silence is not her trying to keep things away from me. She is thinking what's best for her to say.

"If you are not a soldier, then what are you?" She speak in low, interrogating tone.

"I'm an engineer."

"You have friend?" She ask me again.

"I have one best friend."

"..." Again she pause, taking time to think. "Okay, I'll let you help me if you promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"I need you to promise to hide me."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you once you promised me."

I need time to think, hiding one person in four kilometers city isn't hard. The question is if it's worth the risk.

"Dan, can you hear me?" I sent long range communication to Dan, who is supposedly still on east guard tower.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I'm one hundred meters outside of the east gate. Can you bring me an anti-pressure suit?"

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you later."

I close my conversation with Dan and switch my com to short range system.

"I promise, my friend is on his way."

"Thank you."

"While we wait, can you---"

My attention is moved towards a group of rocks suddenly fall from another hill across the place I am now. I slowly move my sight towards it's peak while hoping it's not something I fear.

"Hey, what happened?"

I ignore her question, as a giant terror is standing a few of tens meters away from me.

"Invertebrate, class C." I whisper to my communicator.

Waits in front of me a giant viridite worm, about two and half meters high and approximately eighteen meters long. It still yet to open it's dreaded mouth, it only grind it's round layering sets of jaws. Seeing all of this, this creature officially replaced the largest creature I've ever faced position in my heart.

It's eyeless, I'm guessing it sensed our presence from the heat this escape pod emitted minutes ago. My hunch is backed up by the fact that this worm have a patch of rare big feather like thing on it's back, possibly it's sense of sight.

"Dan, come faster." I whisper into my communicator. "I am facing class C invertebrate in front of me."

I turn my back against the pod, my heart never been racing this fast before.

"Hang on there, I'll call for back up."

"No, no!" I stopped him, I promised someone else there will be no one else to know what's happening here. "Do not call for back up."

"What?! Are you mad?!"

"Just don't! Just hurry with the suit! And bring more guns, just in case!" I take a peek from the side of the pod, I find the worm is closing in. "I'll try to hold it as long as I can."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

Dan close his communication, I wish he hasten his pace.

I draw out Dan's gun again, I admit I've never hold a gun this tight before. I don't need to peek to see the worm, I can feel it's movement now. The pod starts to shake a little bit, and from the sound of metal scratching I heard, it's gnawing on the pod right now.

I stabilise my breath, I inhale as many air as my respirator allow me hoard and exhale them slowly. I brace myself to attack, and now my mind is focused, I brave myself for this fight.

I spin to my left, turning out from my hiding spot. I find the worm is chomping at the pod with half of it's body on the pod. It's position give me the chance to shot at it's abdomen, I fire Dan's gun at it and return to my earlier hiding spot.

Soon after I rest my back at the pod, I feel a small tremor of explosion. Followed by rough bellowing from the worm. It works in hurting it, while in other side it also works in making it mad.

It lifted the pod with it's teeth, nothing hides me from it now. And now I realise it, the pod is not hot at all anymore. Which means the only thing glowing in it's heat vision like a beacon is only me.

The worm throws the pod behind me and lands roughly against the hill on it's side. The pod certainly would have crushed me if I weren't ducking.

"You all right?" I call the pod to make sure she isn't hurt after being thrown.

"Don't worry, this pod can hold."

I focus back at my fight, I notice my shot earlier opened a wound on it's stomach. This thing have blue for blood.

The worm backed up a bit, for a moment I think it's afraid of me. I make a good gap between me and it, far enough I made it to stand before the pod again. The worm still backing up, it give me time to think of what to do next. I look at it's wound I inflicted earlier, perhaps I could kill it if I keep opening it's wound.

"Wait!"

I just realise that it's not backing up, it's taking a stance just now I realise it's length had shrunk. It's preparing to jump at me like a spring.

"Can your pod sustain explosion?!" I ask her hastely from my communicator.

"What?"

"I said, can your pod sustain explosion?!"

"Yes! It can even survive nuke attack!"

"Fine enough!"

I jump on the lying pod's top and put Dan's gun on it's opening crank and point the gun forward. It's very convenient for me to know that the gun fits perfectly on it. I hang on the top of the pod for a moment, I draw out my gun from my thigh holster. Provided if Dan hasn't reloaded his gun, his gun will only have one bullet left. Just like mine, this kind of gun only hold three bullets per clip. That's why I have to make every shot counts.

"Come on!" I taunt at it while breathing heavily.

Once it jumps at me, I realise I know I am making a good gambit. The key to success is my reflex, once it jumped, it will be hard for it to change direction. Plus I have made a good distance, it give me a good gap of time to know the specific moment to evade.

It doesn't take me one second to know when I should jump to avoid it's deadly bite. Right when it's body stretches and starts to float in water, it's my sign to let go. I push with my legs as hard so I can thrust to my right, soon when my hand is free, I flex my fingers inward. The turbines in my back and feet pushes me even further, in just a blink of moment, I've gotten out of it's bite range.

It bite at the top of the pod, it bit to deep the pod stuck in it's teeth. The worm struggles to take the pod off it's mouth. It's side jumps to left and right trying to shake the pod off. I seize my chance and aim at it's stomach again. It's back has thicker and harder layer of flesh to sustain water pressure while it's abdomen has thinner layer of flesh for flexibility. That is it's weakness.

I fire another bullet, it sticks to the worm's stomach, I only need to wait a second for it to explode upon impact. And if the explosion doesn't kill it, the explosion surely will push the pod deeper to it's throat and push Dan's gun so the crank will pull the trigger and the bullet will explode in it's mouth.

The bullet I fired exploded, making the worm to raise it's mouth upward, the pod will push the gun and shot another bullet. I wait a moment and the second explosion burst off, the worm fall powerlessly yet still alive.

"Did you just killed that thing alone?"

Dan's voice can be heard in my communicator, he speak in very weak tone. I know he just arrived here, he cannot yell since he is just as speechless as me. He slowly approaching me with a chest of another APMS unit on his hand. I hand him the gun in my hand to his left hand while he hands the chest to my left hand.

"This isn't my gun." He complains.

"Your gun is busted."

Luckily the worm landed on it's side with the pod turned upside down, so I can open the crank and only small amount of water entered the pod. The girl inside the pod is younger than what I thought, she has back long black hair and wearing synthetic fabric suit which is designed to sustain high temperature. She is knocked out, probably she hit her head when the pod was thrown around. Dan and I carried her inside Canaan and let her rest in my house, since Dan doesn't want to left another girl alone in his house. I let her rest on my bed while I rest on my couch, and thus we spent the night.

Shortly in the next day, me and her overslept since I was exhausted and she doesn't wake up until I wake her up. I remember that I promised Dan to meet his dream girl. I can't believe under my busy morning I haven't asked this girl's name. Even until I meet with Dan and his dream girl to have breakfast in this tavern in the outer rim.

"Rain, I'd like you to meet Leah." Dan says as he pulling me and the girl in my side towards their table.

Finally I meet her, Dan's dream girl; Leah. She have neck long bluish hair, probably she kept her hair short since she is in the assault force.

"Leah, this is Rain; my friend. And..." Dan stutters, now I think of it, I haven't hear this girl's name either.

"Nova." She answer her name herself.

"Last night, Rain killed a giant worm by himself to save her." Dan boasts about last night's event, despite I told him to keep it secret.

The girls are relatively quiet compared to me and Dan, we have small chit-chat after placing our orders for breakfast.

"So, Nova, since you are obviously not from around here, where did you came from?" Leah asked her.

Actually I wasn't intend to have this conversation since I told Nova I only have one friend I can trust. I stare at Dan asking him if she is trustworthy silently, which Dan respond to my glaring with a single nod.

"It's all right, Nova. You can tell us." I assure her.

"So? Was it Elysium? Or Arcadia? I doubt it you came from New Babylon, I heard New Babylon is all soldiers." Leah continues.

"So you don't know about it either..." Nova responds, she smirk cynically while saying this.

"About what?" Dan interrogates.

"I came from the fifth Aquapolis." Nova answers while sipping her morning tea from a cup.



--fsc

[fsc]

Chapter 03 - Someplace Different

Time feels to turn so slowly, that must be the longest sip I've ever seen. I believe I am not the only one feel it. Dan and Leah also rendered speechless. But again, I have to correct myself. It wasn't the time, it's us feeling surprised.

"Say that again."

Leah is the first one to break the silence between us. And it is still hard to believe Nova hasn't even finished her sip, it felt like eons for me.

"I said, I came from the fifth Aquapolis."

Finally Nova lower her cup, immediately to respond Leah's instruction.

"What do you mean? The fifth Aquapolis?!"

I snapped, blurted in thirst for explanation.

"Leah asked me where I came from, she listed three names: Arcadia, Elysium, and New Babylon." She starts to explain. "Including this place, then there is four Aquapolises."

"That's not what we want to hear."

Leah cut in in the middle of Nova's explanation, I curl my lip to my mouth while slightly shaking my head. She understands my gesture and muttered sorry silently.

Nova looks at me, her eyes made it clear that she is silently asking me if she can continue explaining. I give her a nod telling her to proceed in her explication.

"To be honest, I didn't even know that there are four more civilizations." She continues. "We were made to believe that the place I came from is the last civilization left on the face of the Earth."

We pause a moment, the waiter of this place is bringing our food. I pass one plate to Nova, who is sitting right next to me. While Leah who sits in the same side as me pass another plate towards Dan.

For a moment we break our heavy talk, trying to enjoy our breakfast. But apparently the three of us is waiting for each other to bring back the topic. None of us can live without knowing the truth after this.

"A fifth civilization, really?!"

Dan, who I just noticed had been silent since Nova take a sip from her cup and was the loudest before then, now joined in this discourse. He probably stuck in digesting Nova's acknowledgement just like me.

I can tell that everyone at this table is having a hard time believing what we just heard. I am kind of half believing it, I've seen the prove all over her once I met her: she fell from above, she didn't know what depth we were, she didn't use her long range communication device to call for help, she didn't have anti-pressure suit...

"Where is this fifth Aquapolis you claimed came from?"

Unlike any of my friends who is cornering her like a convicted criminal, I asked her calmly.

"It's hidden within the southern hemisphere of the Earth. I don't know the exact location."

"How can you not know?!" Dan cut in, expressing the same words I want to tell her, just in a different tone.

"I wasn't let to know." Nova defend herself.

"What's that place called?" I ask her.

"The Eden."

Chewing stops, half lifted spoons put down. Dan and Leah are obviously do not believe her. Both of them spent their whole live believing that there were only four civilizations of mankind left on Earth, now someone is telling them that there is one more a place like that.

Half of me believes her, and the other half is thinking that Nova is lying. For a moment we enjoy our meals, resting from our discussion.

Leah and Dan keep staring at me like I am the only one who knows what to say. I only shrugged my shoulders while shaking my head to respond to their stare.

"If you didn't know that there are more than one Aquapolis, how can you wager your life coming all the way here?"

Apparently Leah can't stand my silence, she try to make a topic by her own.

"I can't." Suddenly the atmosphere on our table is getting heavier. "I was ready to die."

Leah touched a sensitive topic, Dan coughed twice hinting Leah to stop. A gesture I appreciate, I don't like talking these kind of things while eating.

It would seem we have tacitly agree to finish breakfast before continue talking about this. Leah is eating some kind of soup of vegetables and Nova is enjoying a plate of two sunny side up eggs. While me and Dan keep eating our porridge with Dan pausing every once and then talking about something.

Each meal vividly describes it's consumer. Leah obviously works as city patrol, she need plenty of energy to do her job until noon while keeping healthy eating habit in long term. So do I and Dan, just not like Leah, we aim to pick best meal so we still have energy until midday. While Nova is the most different of us all, I only guess her job before running away is something not too exhausting, perhaps tablework.

Unfortunately for me and Dan, our cellphone rings. We are being called to do some more repairing jobs.

"Nova, you remember how to reach my home from here, right?"

I ask Nova mid-meal after taking a drink of water from my glass.

"She can stay with me, I can show her the city." Leah intervenes right before Nova can answer, her offer is somewhat unexpected since me and Nova barely know her.

"Really? She wont distract you?"

I turn my face to Leah, but from the corner of my eyes, I can see Nova is slightly frowning.

"Sure, it's better for her rather than sitting around in your house."

"Thanks." Nova accepts.

"All right then." Dan says as he stands and leaving some money on the table, and then walks away leading me to leave with him.

During work, Dan keep telling me to get to know about Nova. He knows that she know about something, which I keep telling him that I know that too.

Today's work feel like the longest job I've ever done, at the afternoon, Dan informs me that Nova had headed home. Leah also told Dan that Nova is acting strange. Nova seems to avoid all kind of personal question. I need to talk to her immediately.

Once I reach home in the afternoon, the first thing I do is to look for her. I found her listening to my classic music collection while reading something from my tab in my living room. I'm not too familiar with the music, but I believe it's the seventh piece of Carmina Burana composed by Carl Orff.

"What are you reading?"

"Greek myths."

"Oh, Nosselt?"

Nova scrolled my tab up-downwards for a while, perhaps looking for the name of the book's author.

"Yes, Friedrich Nosselt." She continues. "Don't you think it's kind of ironic, even after mankind lost their own history, I still more interested in myths?"

"Not for me."

"Really? Then which nation's history is most interesting for you?"

I think for a second while approaching her who is sitting on my couch.

"I once read about the Spartans, it's interesting enough for me."

In the world where human civilization is living in the brink of extinction, knowledge is being distributed freely. Canaan keep a big collection of archive from many library all across Asia before the Aquapocalypse. And nowadays it can be read freely by those who want to know about it digitally.

There are still people who live between the two epochs; before and after the Aquapocalypse. Majority of those people say that the live after the Aquapocalypse is better than before. My father was one of them, he always say that despite the harshness to survive, humanity has never been this open to each other.

"But for my favorite, I prefer the Indonesian history."

"Why?"

"Because it's the least documented history in the world."

I pull a chair and sit in front of her, I know she is not trying to settle in, she is trying to not thinking about something.

"Why did you escape?"

She ignores me. Leah is right, she is hiding something.

"What happened in Eden that made you need to run away?"

She inhale and exhale a deep breath, she end her reading and put my tab on the couch to her right.

"Because it is the worst place to live."

"Why?"

"Unlike this place, knowledge is suppressed. You need to be in a certain position or job to know about something."

"Why you choose to run away? Why don't you stay and fight?"

"Because I won't win." She pauses. "The law there is inhumane, every living soul have to work for the sake of the nation."

"What happen if you don't?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know."

"Why?"

"I once witness a robber, a desperate man with family, who shot to death immediately upon capture."

"How do you know that? How do you know he have family?"

"..." She don't reply. "He was my brother."

"I'm sorry."

Hearing this, no wonder she longed to escape. What kind of barbaric civilization does not tolerate human doing crime without the motive of being greedy. Even the Romans who watch men being eaten alive by lions as a form of entertainment have fair trial for common thief. I can understand her feeling.

"Why did you avoid telling all of this to Leah?"

"It's associated with the reason why I ran away."

"Wait, I thought you ran away because you can't take being suppressed?"

"Well, that too. But---"

"Hang on."

I ask her to stop since I received a message from Dan. I draw my cellphone out and read it.

"In Eden, do you have Scavengers?"

"No, what's that?"

"Then today is your lucky day."

I pull her hand and lead both of us towards the door. Nova nags as I drag her, but despite so, she still want to folow me.

"See that?"

I point my right index finger diagonally upwards, at the long bridge which connects the outmost wall and the inner rim.

"That bridge leads to the docks at the other side of the wall, and the other end of it leads to the inner rim."

I explained to her briefly. Like I said, Canaan consist of three rims: outer, inner and central. Three of them are connected by these bridges. The gates I used to wander outside are just maintenance ones, these docks are the one used in commercial business, like fishing vessels, traders from different Aquapolis, and what I about to show to Nova: The Scavengers.

"Follow me!"

I shout at her as I descend the stairs that connect the streets where my house is and the main roads since my house is located in the southern outer rim, third level from the bottom most.

"Where?!" Nova complains from the street barrier in front of my house.

I turn around after I reach two levels below her, in the motorcycle depot.

"To the docks, of course!"

I shout at her while taking a motorcycle from it's racks. Canaan provides these depots for it's citizen as a form of transportation, anyone can take one motorcycle and store it in different depot after they reach their destination. Canaan also have train lines, but only within the inner rim and the central rim.

Nova slowly descend the stairs to approach me. I kind of wishing that she would hurry.

"Hurry up! I don't want to get leftovers!"

I shout at her telling her to walk faster as I start the motorcycle's engine.

"What do you mean with leftovers?!"

She ask me while mounting the back seat of the motorcycle, actually it's been a while since I drive this two wheeled machine. I immediately accelerate towards the south bridge, the one above the south gates.

"I haven't told you." I speak while accelerating on the roads, I speak in half loud tone since I don't know if Nova can hear me. "The Scavengers are groups of gatherers, they are one division of our military force whose job is to recover things that they value is still usable and/or valuable."

"Like what?!" Nova also speaks in loud tone, the motorcycle is not that loud, it's just the wind that make our sound hard to hear.

"Engine parts, artworks, books…" I reply. "Stuffs like that."

"Why are we going to the docks then?"

There is barely any traffic in these roads, only industrial transporting carriages, but even they don't make a long line. In just under three minutes we managed to reach the base of the bridge, I stop in front of another motorcycle depot.

Nova and I dismount from the motorcycle, Nova waits patiently as I park the motorcycle into the depot and plugging it's charger into a slot in the depot. These motorcycle are powered by electricity, one motorcycle can travel up to thirty kilometers once fully charged.

"Because when a Scavenger vessel has returned, each of it's crew are given five objects to keep for themselves." I keep talking as we approach an elevator which connects the ground level and the bridge level. "Most of them are kind enough to give away their findings to whoever they meet on the docks."

"How long have you been doing this?"

"Since I was a little boy. I was always excited when a Scavenger returns."

We keep conversing inside the raising elevator. There are three people including us and two kids in this elevator, these two kids perhaps have the same destination like us.

After three hundred meters it climbed and once we reach the top, the kids runs towards the docks. I purposely used the elevator which is the closest to the outer wall so we don't need to walk far before reaching the docks.

This bridge is about thirty meters wide and is about forty kilometers long between the docks and inner rim. But from the elevator we rode, we only need to walk for about a hundred meters. The floors are metals and the top is curving glass which also covers the sides. There is a road in the middle of the bridge for those who drive from the inner rim.

Along the way, Nova is more interested to the view of Canaan's outer rim from high than our destination. Well, it's true that the view from this bridge is astonishing. In the end of the bridge, lies an arch which leads directly to the docks.

I received another message in my cellphone, it's from Dan telling me that he and Leah is already waiting inside the docks.

"Dan says he already there with Leah."

I say to Nova who is still amazed by the view outside the bridge.

"What?"

"Wow." I thought to myself. "I didn't know she got awed that much just by the scenery."

Slowly, the arch reveals the true view of the docks. Small submersibles and big submersibles lines along the pier under a glass dome. It's like when you hold a cup upside down on a bucket of water, the cup locks the air inside and the water is held below the cup.

Nova and I stands on top of the stairs which leads to the dock level, where sailors are hauling crates, fishermen transporting their fishes, and traders selling their goods.

I scan the area for a particular submersible, I am looking for the Scavenger vessel. Dan sent me a message telling me that the Scavenger vessel is docked a little bit in east. I look at Nova who is more surprised, from her reaction, I believe she never seen something like this back in Eden.

[fsc]

Chapter 04 - From the Life She Left Behind

"Like what you see?"

My tap on her shoulder breaks her amazed gaze upon the sight of the Canaan's docks. Nova slightly shocked as she suddenly turns her face towards me. Doing that made me a little bit regret.

"Yeah?"

"I said, do you like what you see?"

"I said yeah."

"No, you wasn't listening."

I mock her as I descend the set of stairs which leads to the docks level. From this height I can confirm Dan's information saying that the Scavenger submersible is on the east.

Scavenger submersible is deemed unique for me, it have flat surface both on top and it's bottom. The four hundred meters of it's long sides have seldom number of turretery, while it's front have a thirty meters wide air cannon vent. War submersibles is far more larger, riding that kind of vessel is my dream.

It's not take long until I find Dan and Leah standing in the backmost of small patch of crowd of the soon opening scavenger vessel. Nova immediately approaches Leah, probably apologising to her after what I talked with her earlier. Dan who noticed our presence approaches me while also letting Leah and Nova take their spot.

"I am not too late, am I?"

I greet Dan who is walking slowly towards me.

"Nope, just before the unboarding." He replies. "Have you talked to her?"

"Yes."

What did you found?"

"Not much, thought the place she was is seems a really awful."

"How is that?"

"She told me that---" I faltered, my attention is taken to the scavenger submersible, it's door is starting to raise. "Look! The door's opening!"

The backside of the scavenger submersible which parked to the pier is starting to raise, I can see it's crews are starting to walk out.

The first line of them begins to handing away their findings. I can see miniatures, models, and toys are being given away, that is why I always want to stand in front row. But the front row is always filled with children, mostly half of my age.

Soon the crowd open a way for the scavengers to pass through, the ones in the front who had handed away their findings head straight towards the stairs. As a grown ups, Dan and I can only stand in the back. Most of them are muscular older men. Well, they are sailors after all.

The scavengers in front soon had given away their findings, it chains on to the scavengers in the back row. Oddly enough Leah and Nova also get somethings, Leah get handed a nice watch, while Nova get a pair of Victorian marionettes. Dan and I are only standing outside the crowd in the back, waiting for the scavengers to pass through and hoping if one of them would give us something.

After waves of scavengers passed through without getting anything, I decided to give it up. I patted at Dan's shoulder and point at the girls, asking him if I can go. Dan only respond by fast and slightly nodding at me.

I've only gone for five steps until a voice from my back prompt me to turn around, it comes exactly from Dan's direction.

"Engineer!"

One of them which lines almost in the backmost of the scavengers approached Dan.

"Yes, sir." Dan answers.

"I think you can use this." The scavenger says as he hands a motor to Dan.

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't be, I am an engineer myself."

"Damn..." I cuss myself for walking away from Dan in the last second to approach Leah and Nova. If only I stayed with Dan for a while longer, I'd get something for myself.

"Bad luck, eh?"

I don't know since when Leah have standing right beside me, her voice startled me.

"Look what I got."

Leah says as she flashes the silver watch she just got, it's have three needles just like the clock tower in the center rim. It's quite rare to see that kind of watch.

I move away my eyes from her to Nova, who just come back from absorbing the view of the scavenger vessel closely.

"You know, that dolls doesn't suit you." I told Nova while pointing towards the dolls she hold in her hands.

Now I can see them clearly, they're actually cooler than dolls in general. One of the dolls is a girl in aquamarine ball gown dress with glassy blue eyes and back long gold hair. I don't actually know the real aquamarine, I only seen that color in the art gallery on the paintings of the surface of the ocean. While the other one is a boy in black tuxedo with glassy green eyes and short black hair. It's only creepy when I stare directly into the doll's eyes.

"I like them." Nova replies to my comment while lowering her face staring at her hands towards those dolls, I can see her smiling a little while she doing that. "What did you get?"

"Aah..." I avert my eyes away while my right hand rubs the back of my head, I am feeling invalid after negatively commented at Nova's dolls while I myself get nothing.

"He got nothing." Leah took the liberty of answering as she take her leave to approach Dan. I kind of wanting to complain, but anything I can say will make me look pathetic.

"Really?"

"It's okay, this isn't the first time anyway."

I try to assure her, she is looking me with vacant eyes. She looks at her hands for a while and then look at me again.

"You can have him."

Nova hands over the boy doll in her right hand.

"Uhh..." I stutters, I don't understand her motive giving me a present.

"What? You can't have this one." She says while curling the blue girl doll under her armpit close to her chest.

I reluctantly raise my right hand and reach to the doll, I grab the doll while sighing.

"Thanks."

Upon receiving the doll, I can see Nova is looking glad for something.

"Rain!"

Dan is calling my name loudly, it takes Nova and my attention away from each other. We instinctively approach Dan who is talking to Leah.

"Me and Leah is planning to dinner, wanna come?"

I myself actually don't mind, but I don't talk for Nova. I look around at her and let my eyes talk to her, she understand that I am silently asking her if she want to come.

"I..." She answers nervously. "I want to continue my reading."

She answered so timidly, I know no one else except me heard her reply.

"We can't go, I need to take her home." I rephrase her answer as needed. "She's exhausted for today, maybe next time."

"Well, too bad." Dan says.

"Then, see you later." Leah bids a good bye for today.

That's one of many wonders of Canaan I want to show Nova. But well, that's it for today. I lead our way to the stairs and to the bridge, retracing aback our way until we reach the motorcycle depot.

"Do you mind walking a bit?"

She asked me before I take a motorcycle from it's rack.

"I thought you want to continue reading?"

"I can do it later, I want to see the corners of this city."

I don't mind doing that, it's not like I have any job to do or like it's a long walk anyway. I refrain myself from taking the motorcycle and walk to the upper road, she follows me without saying anything. We walks on the third level streets, the least road taken by vehicles.

"Thanks for tonight."

I thought I heard she saying something, I wasn't paying enough attention to her, I was too occupied from enjoying the atmosphere of empty streets and the sound of industrial machinery in afar.

Come to think about it, I've never had this kind of afternoon walk anymore. The last one I can remember is about seven years ago when I was younger, my father would take me to this family restaurant not far from home and walk like this in our way home. I don't remember reaching home that night, maybe I fell asleep on the way and Father carried me home.

"What was that?" I ask her as I wasn't paying attention for what she said.

"I said thanks for tonight."

"Don't mind it, it's pretty uncommon for a Scavenger homecoming."

"I wish I was born in this place."

All the moment I was with her, I never seen her this melancholic. Unlike the breakfast we had today, she seemed sad and hated it. Now I see her sad, but she kind of enjoying it.

"You wont really appreciate something you can enjoy everyday or some times."

"Huh?"

"I was born and raised here, every day I experienced it's magnificence, But sometimes I want something to change."

"..." She thinks for a moment. "You don't see what I saw, and I don't want you to."

"I don't know what you have seen and I don't know how bad it was. But now you're here, someone who can appreciate things I call normal more than I can, make me kind of appreciate those things more now."

Well, it's true. I've never feel someone this close to me since my father died and since first five months of knowing Dan. It would seem something in my live had changed before I realised it.

"You're saying you see things differently because of me?"

"Maybe, yeah."

She sighed and smiles but not saying anything. I think no matter what kind of hard life she experienced a while back, she have a new one here.

We talked about many things as we walk, our conversation made us forget about the time. Next thing I realise we are just about one kilometer away from my house.

The streets around my house has been relatively empty in these hours, mainly because it's the time for resting. Only sometimes a motorcycle or cargo truck passing in the lowest road.

"By the way, what did you talked with Leah earlier?" I ask her again.

"I was just apologising to her for my attitude today."

"Did you tell her what you told me about yourself?"

"Not yet, I don't know how I should tell her."

"If you can't, I can tell it to her."

"No, I'll tell her myself. Tomorrow I will---"

"Nova Verchiel!"

A loud voice yelling a name took away Nova's attention. She turns left and right frantically trying to pinpoint it's origin. I wasn't paying enough attention to it, but as I try to remember about the voice, I realise the voice is calling Nova's full name.

For somewhat reason I also frantically searching for the person who called Nova. My eyes then fixed at a figure on the roof of a two stories house to our right. The figure is wearing cloth cloak to cover his body while his face is covered in a rather advanced helmet.

He jumps off the roof and land on the streets, as he landed he draws a gun and aim it at us.

I was about to tell Nova to run, but then I realise that Nova is standing petrified while looking at behind my back. Next thing I realise is that there are two of them. This is an ambush to corner Nova.

Suddenly Nova vigorously sidestepping backwards before I can turn around to see what made her stood stiff for a moment. After a few steps and trying to turn around for full speed running, another cloaked figure whose head is also covered in a rather advanced helmet appears from my behind to grab her and bind her movement using his hands.

These two moved faster than any human I've ever seen. The second figure who binds Nova covers her mouth and nose using his right hand. I can see a small patch of cloth in his hand, he is trying to sedate Nova unconscious. Meanwhile the first figure who jumped from the roof approach them whilst still aiming his gun at me.

With the last strength remains within her, Nova tries to reach out to me before her right hand falls to her side powerlessly. The second figure pins her elbows to her sides to maintain her standing posture.

"Let her go!" I yell at the both of them.

"Do not meddle in our business." The first figure says.

"I wont let you take her!"

"Do you know what this is?" The first figure shows his gun's left side to me by releasing his finger from it's trigger, and now I notice that that gun is different, it's not sticky bomb pistol like the one I carry, the barrel is smaller than that. "This gun shots metal bullet that penetrates your armor."

"..." His threat doesn't scare me, I seize the chance when he is showing his gun at me to draw my gun. "Let her go!"

I'm aim my gun at them to bluff. I cannot really fire this gun, since it's a sticky bomb pistol. If I fire this gun and hit one of them, the explosion can hurt Nova.

"Do you know who this girl is?"

The figure who holds the gun ask me while pointing his palm which holds a gun at Nova, I know he is waiting another moment to top the situation again. The only thing which odd is he doesn't try to aim his gun at Nova to threaten to shot her so I will lower my gun.

"No." I answer his question calmly.

"Then why can you endanger yourself trying to save her?"

"She is my friend."

"So you will risk your live to keep her save?"

"Yes! Now let her go!"

I don't understand why him asking me this, this is definitely not a hostage dialog.

"Fine."

*BLAM*

A noise of explosion from compressed gun barrel shocked me, but I cannot avert my eyes away from the view in front of me. The gun in the first figure's right hand fired a bullet, pieces of shattered high density carbon burst from it's place because of it's incapability to stop the impact with the bullet.

Just like he said, the gun really can penetrates armour. Red blood splatters out from the exit wound where the gun is fired along with pieces of shattered armour.

The sight of this event give me so much shock I don't know what I should do. Being shot like that will surely cause death.

I don't know what is really happening or the motive behind it. My mind is unable the comprehend the reason why the second figure...

...shot his accomplice in the head to his death.

--fsc