BLEED/HAVEN

[XII] ISAIAH

Isaiah had been awake for most of the back end of the trip this time around. Despite his aching body and pounding head, sleep seemed to elude him. It was likely the copious amounts of adrenaline running through his body keeping him from resting anymore. He planned to get some sleeping aids from Bruna after she was done ripping him a new one. His eyes were glued to the window, watching the grey skies above slowly parting as the rain had moved away from Haven. It was peaceful for once, the sun peeking through the grey clouds with the monotonous lull of the engines beckoning him towards an impossible rest. The vibrations travelling through the metal structure were relaxing as well. However, despite all of these factors, he was still on edge. What was the reason for that? It was sitting right across from him, staring out the window as well.

There were still a multitude of questions running through his head when he studied the being. What exactly was she, what was the purpose of her satellite hitting the planet, why did Avis keep her in the Capella base. There was a lot of doubt revolving around Avis and his loyalties at this point, and this newfound secret did not help. Isaiah sighed, no use in thinking about it now, he was gone forever. If only he had his intentions written in black and white on those pages back at his home. His gaze wandered back out the window to the setting sun behind the foreground of Haven. What a sight it was. Isaiah leaned forward,

"Hey pilot, how about we take the scenic route? I wanna take a look at the city."

The pilot nodded and closed up the aircraft to pressurize before ascending, waking mostly everyone up. Noone complained though, the scenic route on a sunset was something they all needed after such a stressful situation.

There were five layers in total of Haven, two upper and two lower with a ground level. The megacity was large enough to hold over two million residents. It was in the shape of a cone. The top layer was home to the most prestigious members of society, politicians, retired folk, council members and the like. It broke through the clouds and sat above in a heavenly pocket of paradise without a worry in the world. People who lived there were preparing for life on Lestallum, colonists. Living their lives with synthetics and going through soft training for life off world. Eventually the aircraft broke through the clouds and finally caught a glimpse of paradise, and no amount of words on a schoolbook page or virtual reality tours could prepare one for how breathtaking it was.

The setting sun in the distance toned the clouds with beautiful hues of violet, orange and crimson that reached into the aircraft and caressed the eyes of everyone viewing. It was akin to a painting of cherubim dancing about in their habitat, clouds so soft yet tangible enough that one would vow that they could rest on them. The beautiful whites, golds and silvers that decorated the enormous glass dome cap of the apex of Haven. Only about fifty thousand people lived on this layer. The infrastructure was beautiful, simply and grand, with large lush green parks to beautiful mansions teeming with people. There were lakes and rivers people used to boat and fish in. Like a resort, but that was just everyday life for people on the fifth level.

Kenny was snapping pictures along with others taking selfies of the views up there. Tek offered to take a picture of the three of the members of Apex but the pilot came over and spoke,

"Welcome home everyone. Haven, the last megacity on Earth. Population sitting around twelve million or so. Alright, descending to the fourth level, don't wanna get sighted by loitering too long."

With that, they dove back into the clouds, in no time they broke out of the bottom and came to view the fourth layer. The tapered cone shape of the city expanded here, meaning that the fourth layer was much wider and thicker than the fifth. This is where one could start seeing that the underside of the fifth layer had buildings hanging from it like stalactites. The bright city lights were illuminating the slow overtaking of night. Civilian and industrial aircraft kept the skies bustling while the ground beneath mirrored the ceiling with more buildings, interesting and intricate infrastructure and the like. This layer was akin to the wealthy district of a city, with suits and polos being the choice attire of the business men and women who lived on this layer. This layer was massive, holding around four hundred fifty thousand people.