Technocracy: AETHER, Part 7

“Come on!” Terry shouted, as the four of them went up

Another incline of dark black metal, sloping steep.

In their path a pair of Technocrats appeared, and they

Shouted in alarm. Saera flung out her naked arm,

And a blast of air flew out and knocked them both aside,

Allowing the four of them to hurry on along

Up the slope, and they were moving further, further up.

“Are we getting closer, Terry?” Marin said to him.

Terry raised his hand and his eyes flashed bright neon brown.

“Yeah!” he said. “We’re getting closer to the upper floors!”

So they faster ran, Marin, Ardo, and Terry all

Picking up their pace, as Saera flew right by their side.

They arose towards two heavy doors of metal, black,

Which swung open, revealing to them a chamber vast,

Something huge and high, a big black metal dome, in which

Were set rings of light that gleamed a cold, cruel neon red.

This chamber seemed larger than some others they had seen,

And so they held out some hope that they were moving towards

The summit of the place where they’d been abducted to.

So they rose and ran into the chamber: “Holy shit!”

Ardo cried, for suddenly they saw two massive things.

These were creatures, animals, alive things of huge size.

Their skin had the hard sheen of a surface metal-like,

But it seemed slick, slippery, and wet. It was alive,

It was living tissue, though it seemed metallic, too.

They were massive, huge, enormous, giant things, and they

Looked exactly, totally, like… “Snakes!” Saera exclaimed.

Two of them. Huge, massive snakes, serpents of giant size.

Both of them at least two hundred feet long, if not more,

And their huge and rounded bodies were enormous in

Circumference, big enough to fit humans inside.

Their long, huge bodies were black, metallic, and were slick,

And they ended in long arrowhead-shaped heads, that were

More like the head of a python than of a cobra,

And in those black heads, there shone two huge and gleaming eyes,

Eyes of neon red, that glowed and gleamed amid the space,

With black pupils, slitted, that now swung about their way.

The huge black snakes stuck out tongues at least five feet in length.

And they lunged, causing Saera, Marin, Ardo, Terry

To go scrambling as the massive snakes came crashing down,

Slamming with their bodies. One of them opened its mouth,

Showing off huge fangs that were the size of Terry’s arm.

The snake bore its fangs at them, but then it closed its mouth,

And its heavy body began wrapping around them,

Forming a big circle around them that hemmed them in,

Like a big black wall surrounding them on every side.

But Saera evaded this by flying off the ground

And she flung her arm out and a burst of blasting wind

Hit the snake’s head, knocking it back hard across the room,

And it banged against the chamber’s walls, leaving a dent.

The second snake came upon them, and just like the first

It attempted to hem them in, curve around them all.

Terry thrust his arm up and a chunk of metal floor

Shot up in a spike that hit the second serpent in

Its chin, knocking it hard, sending it slithering back.

Yet the two serpents coordinated, and they moved

In a sequence to swing all around the four of them.

Ardo’s hands with flames burned, water swirled from Marin’s palms.

“Wait!” cried Terry, and the other three now turned his way.

“They could kill us,” Terry said. “I don’t think it’d be hard.

So why are they holding back the way they are?” he asked.

“All they’re trying to do is surround us, hem us in.”

Saera’s white eyebrows rose. “The Technocracy does not

Want harm to come to us. We’re too valuable to them.

They need us alive for… whatever that they have planned.

So these things, these things must be in their control, and they

Have been programmed to capture us only—not to kill.”

“So they won’t be too aggressive,” Ardo shouted out.

“So, let’s be aggressive back at them!” and his eyes gleamed

Blazing neon red, and the neon red flames burned at

Their corners, and Ardo thrust his hands out, and two jets

Of sharp orange fire blasted at the nearest snake.

Fire hit the serpent with great heat, and flame, and force,

Knocking it back, sending it back, gnashing, hissing loud.

“Right,” said Main, “good idea! Let’s be aggressive, guys!”

Her eyes flared blue neon with their bright neon blue tears,

And she danced and spun and flung her legs out, and there came

A torrent of whitewater erupting from the air

Smashing into the second serpent, knocking it back,

And Marin lowered her navy blue eyebrows, and the

Water flowing round the serpent all suddenly FROZE.

There was an enormous cracking sound, a groaning sound,

As the snake was buried under huge layers of ice.

It thrashed and it writhed with the parts of it that were free,

And even now Marin saw the ice begin to crack.

But Terry stepped forward, and his eyes glowed neon brown,

Neon copper with their neon brown flecks flying off,

And he raised his arms, and the black metal of the walls

Bent and warped and curved and it wrapped round both of the snakes

Forming bars, curved metal bars, that pinned them both in place.

“Wonderful!” cried Saera, and she floated down, and she

Made her eyes shine neon white, and the white neon lines

Of the wind currents blowing from her eyes glowed as well,

And she flicked her wrist and huge, enormous gale-force winds

Blew and struck each serpent in its giant blackened head,

Knocking them against the walls. Both serpents hissed and groaned,

As their heads impacted the walls so hard they left dents.

They shifted their heads back and forth. Both were clearly dazed,

In no state to struggle against their metal restraints.

“There’s the door!” said Terry, pointing ‘cross the chamber now.

“Come on!” he said. He ran, with the other three behind.

They passed through the door and up another massive ramp.

More Technocrats crossed their path, but each time one of them

Used his or her powers to eliminate the threat.

They moved and they charged, upwards, ignoring every door

That led off to other wings or halls of the complex,

That led deeper, or back down again. They just went up!

Running, running, up the ramps, always ascending up.

Finally they saw, enormous, huge, a massive set

Of doors, huge black doors, lined all around with gleaming red.

“Come on!” Terry shouted, and he ran that much more fast.

Ardo and Marin followed him, and beside them both

Saera flew. The four of them then reached the giant doors.

They swung open slowly, and the four of them emerged

Into a chamber, a space, an area of SIZE.

“Wow,” whispered Ardo, who upwards gazed, looked up and up.

This space they were in now made the place where they had fought

The giant snakes seem SMALL. This space was enormous, huge!

The biggest space any of them had seen in their lives.

It was huge, and it was a huge dome, a massive dome,

Rising huge, a massive black dome booming high above.

As they upward glanced, they could certain structures perceive,

Bubbled things that floated, semi-transparent, amid

All the great expanse of the dome rising to the air,

Rising higher, its size only reemphasized by

The strange bubbled structures that seemed small amid its vast.

And amid its highest heights there was a ring of lights,

A ring of red neon lights, that seemed to separate

The highest reaches of the dome up from all the rest.

And the impression was that the upper reaches of

The dome floated on thin air, apart from all the rest.

And in the great center of this great dome’s great high height,

At the central summit of it, looming up so high

There was a center, distant, of gleaming neon red,

A central point of cold neon red, that shone straight down

So that the entire massive dome almost appeared

To be a great EYE that glared down at them. Almost like

The Eye of God Himself, staring downward from above.

“Oh my gosh,” whispered Marin, who could not help but stare

In wonder at the sheer scale of all that she could see.

And, as her sapphire blue eyes moved about, she saw

That there were structures floating, attached along the dome,

Structures that were semi-transparent, structures that clung

To the walls of the great dome, things of amorphous shape,

Floating about like the organelles inside a cell,

Separate structures, and Marin saw, as she now looked

That within these structures there were floors, and walls, and rooms.

Whole chambers existed inside these hov’ring structures.

“Just how many people live here, anyway?” she asked.

“Who knows?” Saera said to her. “There is so much that we

Do not know about the Technocracy.” Terry said,

“We can worry about all of that some other time.

I think,” and he stretched his palm upwards into the air,

And his eyes gleamed neon copper brown, and then he cried,

“There! That big red light, up in the center of the dome!

That is where the dome is thinnest. I actually think

It might be an entrance of some kind. And it’s so high

That it’s got to be the spot that’s closest to the ground.

Up there’s where the distance to the surface will be short!

So we,” Terry’s eyes stopped glowing, and his copper eyes

Bent with sadness. “We’re stuck here,” he could not help but say.

“No way!” Ardo cried out. “’Fraid so,” Terry said to him,

“Up there in the light is the spot I can break us out,

But it’s way too high, there’s no way we can get up there.”

“FUCK!” roared Ardo, glaring upwards at the summit now.

“I guess all the fucking Technocrats can fly!” he said.

“We can’t fly!” “One of us can,” Marin quietly said.

Ardo and Terry looked at her suddenly, and then

All three of them looked across at Saera, hovering.

Saera’s silver eyes were huge. “I…” she began to say,

But then Marin shouted out loud: “Saera, save yourself!

Go! Escape! Get out of here! Leave us behind now! Please!”

“I—” Saera began, but then Marin ran up to her

And she gripped her by the shoulders, and she smiled at

Her oldest and best friend, with tears in her bright blue eyes.

Marin said to her, “You’re always putting yourself last

But if you can escape, do it, even without us!

Leave me behind, please! I just want you to be okay!”

Saera landed on the ground, touched down her bare pale feet

On the black metallic floor, as her pale naked arms

Clutched around herself, her silver-white eyes wet with tears.

“Go,” said Marin. “Please, go! Please, I love you! Please, just go!”

And for just a moment, for a single, gentle gasp,

Saera felt alone and small again, amid the world.

But it seemed then like a cold, clear wind, a sharp gust, blew

Through her chest, into her heart, and she felt something hard

Settle in her chest, and then go racing up her spine.

She looked out at Marin, and she said to Marin, “No.”

“Saera, please!” begged Marin. “Please, I beg you—” “No!” she said.

“No, I shall not leave alone. I shan’t. We shall ALL leave.”

Saera floated off the ground again, into the air.

“Saera, we can’t fly,” said Terry. “We three aren’t like you.”

“NO,” said Saera, and both of her pale arms spread apart,

“No, we are ALL leaving,” and she wider spread her arms,

And Marin, Ardo, and Terry suddenly could feel

Wind whipping around them, heavy breezes blowing round

All of them, around their bodies, underneath their feet,

Winds that kept on blowing, harder, sharper and more fierce,

Winds that did not blow their hair and did not make them cool,

Winds that blew around them but not on them, and they kept

Increasing in strength, and getting stronger, stronger still…

And suddenly all three of them rose up off the ground.

Marin, Terry, and Ardo rose up into the air.

“Oh my God,” whispered Ardo as he was lifted off

Of the ground, into the air. Terry and Marin too

Gaped and gasped in wonder as they were all raised into

The air, where they rose up to meet Saera as she hung

Suspended in the air. Now they were suspended, too.

Marin smiled. Marin laughed. Marin whooped out for joy!

“We’re flying!” she shouted. “We’re flying!” she cried out loud.

Saera smiled at her best friend in the whole wide world.

“I shall never, ever leave the three of you behind,”

Saera said. “Now, come. It is time for us all to go.”

All four of them gazed upwards at the great point of light,

Gleaming neon red, it shone so high above. “Terry,”

Saera asked. “Can you pierce through that barrier?” He said,

“Yeah. Just get us close enough and I can do the rest.”

“Then let’s go!” said Ardo. “Let’s get the FUCK out of here!”

“Yeah,” said Marin. “Let’s get out of here. I’m sick of this.”

Saera smiled at her friends, and then she strongly THOUGHT,

And the winds whipped, and they blew around the four of them,

And Saera, Ardo, Marin, and Terry all began

To fly with increasing speed upwards, upwards, straight up.

They flew for the dome’s summit, straight up, kept gaining speed.