To Save the World

Chapter 3

David woke up to a summons flashing on his screen and an alarm sounding.

"Silence alarm". He rolled out of bed and staggered to the console in his room while rubbing his eyes. He looked a the screen, confused. Finally, giving up, he mumbled to himself as he moved to fix a cup of synth coffee.

Finally alert enough to see clearly, he sat down at the console and activated the message again.

A young woman's face appeared on the screen. "You have been selected to participate in an expedition outside the walls."

David groaned as he rested his head in his hand. "Why me?" He muttered as the woman began to speak again.

"You have been selected because your psychological profile aligns with the other members of the expedition party. You should consider this an honor-"

"End transmission." David said sharply, then to himself, "Honor my ass. Death sentence more like." Sighing, he pulled on his clothes, and headed for the rally point.

As he stepped outside, he glanced quickly at his watch. Satisfied he would be able to walk and still arrive before the gathering time, he strode purposefully past the transit stop. He tried to picture what Haven was like before. He imagined trees where the sun barriers were, and vehicles of all kinds traveling the road. Now, only sanctioned vehicles ran, which meant walking or using the public transit system, as unreliable as that was these days.

A horn blaring brought David out of his musings. He glanced around and waved the bus on that was approaching him. There was no need to spend money when his own two legs would suffice.

When he arrived at the expedition rally point, it was already buzzing with activity. He was surprised that the transport guild had ponied up several large vehicles. They almost never let their vehicles outside the city gates. Not only was the metal to precious, but so was the propellant.

He looked around and saw most of the guilds represented. As he searched for the mage gathering area, he began to wonder exactly why he had been chosen. Normally, it was only the battle mages that went beyond the walls, and as he expected, he was the only non battle mage included.

One of the mages spotted him and called out, "Over here Dave. But I guess you already knew that being a seer." David rolled his eyes listening to their derisive laughter. He put on a blasé face. He refused to let on how much their jabs bothered him.

Deliberately turning his back on them, he scanned the gathering for anyone he might know... and like. He perked up when he saw Greggory and Sue gathered with the technologists. She was busy looking at something, until he saw Greggory tap her shoulder and point to him. Praying his blush wasn't visible to them, he smiled and waved. She returned his smile and wave before returning to her work.

Behind him, he heard one of the battle mages say loud enough for him to hear, "Looks like the seer has a techie girlfriend. Don't need to be to see the future to tell how that one'll end." David raised his hand extending his middle finger without bothering to look back.

Looking around, he wondered exactly what they were going to be doing given that both the Thieves Guild and the Assassins Guild were represented. For the first time, he regretted not listening to the full message. He quickly slipped his ear piece in. Activating his comm, he tapped in to the message system, but as he thought, he'd erased the damned thing, and it was no longer available to be restored.

He was about to head over the technology group when the PA system came to life. He turned toward the source of the sound, and his mouth fell open in surprise. Standing on the stage were the Guild Masters, all of them.

"We face an unknown challenge." The leader of guilds gazed out across the assembled strike force, waiting for quiet. David took advantage of the pause to quickly return to the mages staging area.

"An unknown force has levied two attacks against us in as many days." Motioning to the Thieve's Guild-master the leader continued, "If not for the bravery of our Thieve's Guild, we would have lost critical information from the first attack." The leader waited as a murmur passed through the gathering. "The second attack has been confirmed— the acid rainfall was not a natural occurrence.

The mages worked with the techs to pinpoint the origin of the most amazing development, the successful merging of technology and magic. Each of you have been selected for this expedition based upon your skill or aptitude for these two ... divergent abilities." Glancing at his wrist, the leader concluded, "Get your gear stowed, we roll in 15 minutes."

A quick glance at the mages staging point, and David knew his gear would be handled. No need to subject himself to the idiots there. He caught Sue's eye and motioned with his head, and casually walked to an area with less commotion.

Several minutes later, Sue joined him. "Isn't this exciting? We haven't had this kind of expedition outside the walls in more than a year!" she said breathlessly.

"Yea. But, it seems like it could be really dangerous."

"Of course it's dangerous. Living is dangerous. Don't you want to feel alive? I mean we're just existing right now. Waiting for ... I don't know, for our city to run out of resources so we can be inexorably annihilated by the mutants or the bio-mechs. And now we have this new threat. I mean it was one thing when we were the only ones with magic."

"Sue, there have been reports of norms living among the mutants, for years. And a norm who can do magic would be well protected among them. It really doesn't change anything for us. We're the ones who have the greater knowledge, and have made the advancements."

"But they're the ones that have access to the scrap and scrub. We only have access to what's here," Sue said a tremor in her voice.

David pulled Sue into his arms, holding her tightly. "And you don't have the Seer's gift to reassure you." Not, he thought to himself, that his gift had done much to reassure him. They separated as the horn signaled final preparations to depart with the largest single expedition to venture out from Haven.

David began his walk back to the mage's muster point. Suddenly, he felt as if he had been hit in the back of the head with something heavy. The intense pain seared through his brain making his eyes water. His knees buckled, and he felt himself losing his balance. He tried to scream for help, but his throat had closed so tight that no air was able to escape. His sight turned to tunnel vision, and then went black. Shapes began to be visible again, as he, once again, felt a rumble; the same rumble that he felt when he dreamed of the ark ship. A white light flashed, and he saw a decaying building, the one remaining word visible at the top, Aero.

When David opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Sue. Smiling, he reached up, and lovingly touched her face. "I love it when I dream about you."

Sue quickly grabbed his hand and put it by his side. "You aren't dreaming. You had one of your episodes."