Chapter 108

"He's real!" - "A new one! When was the last time?" - "Never happened, man, he's the first!" - "Are we sure he came from the other side?" - "Yeah, I'm sure, I was watching and saw the ripples" - "He smells too young to be from here" -  "Wait, so there actually is another side?" - "I knew it! I f*****g knew it! There is another side, I'm not crazy! Well, I may be, but not for this!"

The racket went on and on without any sign of stopping. The lively crowd continued to discuss whether I came from the other side of the Fractal Space, as they called it, or if I was simply someone who had remained on his own 'till this day.

Finally a resolution was reached. The general consensus was that I indeed came from the "lighter side", considering my apparent age and the fact that it was incomprehensibly improbable that I had remained in hiding for so long without anyone ever getting a whiff of me.

After this silence fell once again. Everyone looked at me without moving or even blinking, as if waiting for me to say something or do something. Most of them looked at me like I was an interesting attraction, an unexpected change in the usual routine, while others looked at me with unfocused gaze.

I ignored them and turned to the first person I had met since coming here.

"Those are the ships, correct?" I questioned him, pointing with my finger to the objects that had raised my interest.

They were now covered by a circle of people, but all around the beach in the proximity of the town and directly in front and under the gaping hole in the sky, there lay scattered  several oval-shaped vessels which were reminiscent of both submarines and spacecrafts. Their dark surface was extremely smooth, although several indentations and ivory inserts covered their exterior. There were no clear bottom or top parts, as their degree of symmetry was astounding. There also was barely any difference between the front and the back, although a row of openings located on the slightly more flattened side made it possible to identify it as the rear.

"Oh, so he really wants a ship" - "Why do you think he wants one? Does he know what they are used for? And if so, how?" - "Who cares" - "I think he knows" - "A youngin comes here for the first time and wants a ship? He certainly knows"

"Yes, those are the ships. Beautiful, aren't they?" my brisk guide made himself audible in the midst of the never-ending comments.

"They are quite ugly," I gave my honest opinion.

"You may be right, but they are useful," he responded to my words with a shrug.

With those final words, he set off and disappeared in the middle of the chanting crowd. I was now on my own. I walked off as he had done and started towards the vessels that would carry me to my destination.

I cut through the crowd, ignoring all those around me. There was no need for me to take care of them, as we managed to avoid each other every time there was a risk of making contact. Although they were all talking about me, they weren't actually paying much attention to what I was doing. I was a distraction from the usual routine, but not much more than that.

From all points of view there was nothing peculiar setting me apart from them, except maybe my origin. Or at least that was how I appeared to the majority, although there were a few that kept gazing at me.

Despite the surrounding chaos I could somewhat tell that the people who were still paying attention to me were the elders of this place. It was evident from their bearing and from their presence itself that they were different from the others. Not necessarily stronger, but certainly wiser and with a keener perception.

I continued on my way and finally emerged from the crowd. I reached the town soon enough and I witnessed the true mess that it was. Scraps and debris scattered everywhere, broken houses kept together with badly done concrete renovations, functioning house appliances positioned in the middle of the road and connected with never-ending extension cords that went to who-knew-where. I saw a person using a Bunsen burner trying to cook the leg of an unidentified animal before she threw it to the ground, displeased that it had gotten burnt.

The most bothersome part of walking through the town was the continuous prickle I felt on my skin. It took me a while to identify the source of the discomfort, but I finally identified it with the rocky-metallic waste deposits  around the town. It took me a while to recognize what they were as I had never witnessed them, but I came to the conclusion that they were radioactive wastes.

This piqued my curiosity, and I temporarily abandoned my main objective to find the origin of the garbage. I didn't expect I would find nuclear material in this place. I reached one of the concrete cubicles with vapour leaks I had previously located and started studying it. Judging from the hissing noises coming from behind the concrete walls, some piping seemed to be broken.

Suddenly, a head peeped from one of the biggest cracks.

"What do you want?" asked curly the person drenched in scalding water.

"What is this?" I answered back.

"A plant for the enrichment of plutonium," he explained with a monotone voice before disappearing back into the crack.

The presence of nuclear reactors explained the presence of radioactive wastes. Them being scattered around the town with no precaution at all was most likely just because nobody paid any attention to proper disposal procedures. Nevertheless no one should fret over what to do with the nuclear waste while simply keeping it around. After all radiations weren't a danger for the inhabitants, on the contrary, they were a useful source of heat and, judging by what the curt man of the crack was munching on, they went also as food.

Having satisfied my curiosity I set off to where I was originally headed to. I reached the beach and got near one of the vessels. Before putting my hand on it, I thought back to what my guide had told me. I turned around and shouted in a calm tone.

"Is someone using this?" my voice resounded everywhere.

I waited for a few seconds and no answer came. My voice had certainly been heard and my position located and yet no one showed up. Convinced the ship was free to use, I walked around it, trying to find the entrance. I located it almost immediately, thanks to an ivory inlay which actually seemed out of place.

I pressed on the side of the vessel and I heard the click of a few mechanisms. The next moment the outlines of a circular door appeared on what had seemed an unblemished exterior until then and the portion of surface slid to the side disappearing inside the thick walls of the vessel.

The interior was completely void, except for a strange contraption at the rear end of the vessel which was actually part of the main structure. I had a look around despite the pitch black darkness. The ceiling perfectly followed the curvature of the structure, while the floor was more levelled. Other than this little detail, there was nothing different between the interior and the exterior in terms of colour or materials.

The only thing noteworthy was the contraption, which consisted of a small cylindrical chamber which could be opened and closed via a sliding panel on its side and a piston which run inside it. I pulled on it until it stopped, verifying the length of its stroke. It was enough to completely fill the internal chamber in its entire length.

I exited the vessel as there was a visitor waiting for me. I confirmed it was one of the few who had kept his eyes on me when I had left the crowd. He was an older man, with a strong physique and no hair, but with a bushy white beard covering his face.

"Are you a Legion?" he asked me with a questioning look but no wariness, only curiosity.

"Not yet. You should be able to tell"

"There is no way to know for certain, each Legion is unique and you already have the blood of one… although not much of it"

"What do you want from me?" I asked without delay in order to avoid a useless period of silence.

"You seem knowledgeable, but you may be lacking the details. Do you know the necessary procedures?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Procedures? For us?"

Everyone in this town was a mature archuman, completely independent and self-reliant. There was no need for things such as procedures for what was basically an anarchy. Just a few general rules to avoid endless fighting.

"I may have chosen the wrong term. If you are willing to lend me an ear, you may find it to be worth your time"

So I listened to him and confirmed his words to be true.