OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

One Headlight

That man came looking for you two days ago. He was worried. Ben told Meg with his hands. He came to our house.

I'm sorry. Meg signed back, cringing at Marcus' behavior. He is an idiot, nothing more.

Is there anything you would like to tell me? Ben pressed. He didn't want to push Meg too far, especially after she had just been through such a harrowing experience.

Meg stole a glance at Ben, the worry he hadn't expressed was hidden in the deep shadows under his eyes. Arc City One citizens passed them by, polished, carefree and happy. There was a time (when she was very young) that Meg had desperately wished for the simplicity of their lives. Now, she couldn't stand their blatant indifference to reality.

How do you know him? Ben probed.

Meg thought about the question for a moment. There was no use trying to avoid the answer now as Marcus had effectively forced himself into their lives.

Work, she told him. I was called to the control room to fetch a bot that malfunctioned in the Architect's panel, and Marcus introduced himself...with force.

She didn't need to tell him that the malfunctioning bot had clearly been tampered with or that it appeared to her that Marcus had waited until it was her shift to call a Tinker for help.

She'd discovered both of these things while she was crawling around in the machinery of the control room console. The mini-spider bot looked as though someone had crushed its domed head and wedged it up under the console, where a bot would rarely go.

When Meg had been called to negative-six, she was following orders and not at all happy that her day was bringing her to the control room. She had seen Marcus around the Harmony building before, but as always with all Legionnaires, she kept her head down and her eyes ahead to avoid any confrontations.

Marcus had announced that the bot was stuck in the console, and Meg hesitated. She tried to convince Marcus that it was best that another, smaller, bot go first to see if it could dislodge the other one. She remembered with perfect clarity the amusement in Marcus' eyes when he first heard her affected voice. Just like all the kids in school, and the adults insensitive enough to forget that she was a real person, he'd found an easy target. 

She couldn't remember the sound of her own voice, but she could only assume it was terrible, given that people had such profound reactions to it.

Apparently, Meg's arguing had aggravated Marcus, who in a moment of lust-driven bluster, had raised his foot to playfully nudge Meg in the direction of the console. Unfortunately, the big ape didn't know his own strength (amongst other things) and wound up striking her to the ground.

Her tiny body had crumpled under the unexpected force as the surrounding Architects turned away, ignoring the situation to focus on their work. Marcus never wrote up the incident, and neither did any of the Architects who witnessed it. The only evidence he'd left behind, was the boot-shaped mark on Meg's upper leg.

What does that mean? Ben signed, trying to pull his daughter's attention back to him.

Force means to act in an earnest and persistent manner. Meg responded, which tickled Ben.

He had missed her wry sense of humor. He knew she wasn't going to give him any more information, and she didn't need to. Her avoidance of the subject said it all.

Laura would be proud, Meg signed to Ben while forcing a smile to her lips, I actually want to shower.

After an adventure like that, I can see why. Ben joked, not wanting to lose the momentum of their conversation. Will you tell me about it?

I think you're going to hear, whether you want to or not. Meg replied with an audible sigh.

Was it bad? Ben signed.

Not at all. Meg hedged. As you said, it was an adventure.

Ben wasn't sure what she meant by this, but as they had just reached their destination, and he was out of time to ask.

Meg had no memories of the Hub, and if she did, they wouldn't be nice ones. There was an ominous familiarity that cloaked her the second Meg's foot struck the first step. Six more, and they could walk through the plain synthetic wood door that would open with the weight of their bodies.

She craned her neck back to look up the full five floors of the nondescript rectangular building. While the Harmony's construction was something to marvel at, the Hub looked like a stark municipal edifice. Still, it felt unnatural that a Tinker should have any business going in here.

The Legionnaire behind the front desk waved them on, recognizing Ben right away. He had no idea why Persephone had seemed so upset, or why the Quorum had sequestered themselves, but it wasn't his place to ask. Plus, the lobby was filling with sea monkeys, which was disconcerting.

Legionnaires who operated on terra firma (or flatfoots, as the seafarers were in the habit of calling them) did not get along with their aquatic counterparts. As trained pilots, the Seafarers' (or sea monkeys, as their land equivalents laughingly referred to them) skillset differed considerably from the militaristic Legionnaires, which only widened their divide.

Randal, the Legionnaire on duty, sniffed his indifference at the strange commotion.

Two other soldiers of lower rank were holding posts in the lobby, moved behind desk.

"What's going on?" Jill asked Randal as Matthias strutted over the faux marble tiles of the foyer. "What the hell are all these Sea Monkeys here for?"

"I don't know," Randal replied, his eyes watching as the elevator doors swallowed up their bodies. "But I've counted fourteen, so far."

Last, and most certainly least, was Marcus. If he was trying to blend into the crowd of city workers and bots who were rushing around the lobby, he was failing miserably. He was completely out of breath and looking over his shoulder as if he was worried someone was shadowing him.

"You look awful," Randal remarked, sizing up his compatriot.

"Did everyone go upstairs?" Marcus asked, plowing ahead in his quest for answers.

"Everyone who?" Jill chimed in, hoping to get some dirt. If something was going down on Arc City One, she was determined to get herself into the action.

"Everyone in Persephone's party," Marcus explained quickly, unfit to name names from memory.

As it happened, Marcus was in luck, sort of.

"They just passed by. What do you think they're up to?" Randal wondered out loud.

"I apprehended a group of women suspected of trying to sabotage Arc City One. An inside job." Marcus spilled willingly, know that this would rile up the other Legionnaires. "There was an attack already on Arc City Two, but they don't want anyone to know."

Those last few words made Marcus' frustratingly slow brain, pause altogether. Perhaps he shouldn't have mentioned the attack, particularly because he didn't actually know what really happened.

"Woah." Randal pushed a meaty hand through his close-cropped hair. "Does the Captain know about this?"

"Nah," Marcus answered, shaking his head. "But I think we'd better tell him. This is getting out of hand."

"Wait, did Persephone say anything to you?" Julia worried.

The others turned to her, their faces twisted in disproval. "You want to sit on this and be responsible for another attack?" Marcus got fearfully close to Julia, almost pushing her back with his chest. "Or, do we do what we do best, and save this city?"

"The second one!" Randal called out with jubilee. "Let's kick some ass!"

"Who's ass are we going to kick?" Another Legionnaire asked as he strolled over to the front desk.

"There was an attack on Arc City Two, an assault from the inside, and Marcus caught women trying to do the same thing here." Jill condensed Marcus' story to save them time. "We need to get to Captain Rogers!"