The Life of Gaia

CHAPTER 23: SkrewkcolC

Wherever they were, the sentries around the city became petrified in their positions. Those who were being pursued noticed that suddenly there was no one behind them; those who were hiding, listening for footsteps in the streets, heard no more noise. All those that were attached to the walls of the buildings let go and fell, smashing to the ground in a bang of orange and gray gears. Gradually people peeped out of doors and windows, and when they saw that the streets were finally clear, they did not hesitate to rush out in search of their loved ones.

Whatever had happened in the Vintage Usine seemed to have been the cause of this unexpected change; news of the appearance of the two white girls reached even the remotest neighborhoods where people had taken refuge: even the wealthiest, who had locked themselves away in the basements of their villas, joined the groups headed for the factory. Children played at kicking the metal remains of the sentries.

The giant Usine was not in good condition. Some told of seeing the two girls crashing into her from the roof, but it was impossible for anyone to recognize any hole because of the height of the structure: the only thing certain was that a flash of light flashed from all the windows, and soon afterwards the two white figures were seen whirling away. Some more, some less, took courage and passed the dried blood-soaked cemetery surrounding the entrances, searching for an explanation and for the warden, now seen as an executioner to be eliminated at all costs.

No one found Veir's body, although a group of workers had stumbled upon that of a strange robotic creature, lying lifeless in the room from which the speakers had been activated, resembling a dead crustacean; as disturbingly organic as some of its body parts were, nothing was suspected about its nature. He was immediately considered one of the many mechanical workers employed in the control of the Usine, and the search was returned. Another thing no one could explain was the nature of the clear liquid covering the floor of that floor, nor what the torn sarcophagus in the center of the adjacent room was. People needed to vent about who was responsible for all that, not to solve mysteries. After a few days it was convinced that he had sneaked away during the attack, and they moved on to deal with other problems.

Every alley was cleared of the bodies of the victims of that day, and the remains of the robots melted down to repair the damage to the pipes and fixtures of the houses; a monument made of the same material was erected in the factory square: a large cogwheel stained red on which were engraved the names of the dead and those who had done their part to protect the innocent. The Protestants came out of the shadows and were hailed as heroes, becoming an official organization in the city aimed at protecting them from the abuse of the powerful. The Vintage Usine was rebuilt where it had been damaged, returning imposing and towering exactly as before, but this time to be what it should always have been: a home for its workers, and a source of pride for all citizens.

Among the various searches, two months into the affair, the body of a man in an advanced state of decomposition was found. His clothes had been ripped off by the sentries still frozen posing around him, and he had been attacked with such fury that he had become unrecognizable: one could barely distinguish the color of his hair. It was a detail in his clothing that made it possible to tell who he was: the canary-yellow ring he wore on his right hand, which the former Usine administrators recognized to be that of Helix, the director's right-hand man. Because of his complicity, the townspeople refused to bury his body in the cemetery with everyone else's; thus, the corpse was incinerated in one of the factory's furnaces, leaving his ashes to be lost among the chunks of coal in the bottom.

A nameless grave for a heartless man.

*******

My sister and I watched the city come alive again step by step, floating in front of the white flower suspended in the clouds. We had completed our mission, and any moment now we would be going back downstairs. As people jumped in the street and friends cried with joy to see that everyone was all right, I had the wonderful feeling that mine and Zantas' journey had also come to its end. Beside me I could see Alexis' soul staring at a random spot on the horizon, intent on reflecting on what had just happened. A doubt arose in my mind with the force of a hurricane and I could not contain myself.