*
We were in front of yet another AI desperately arguing our need of a vehicle.
‘Mother fucker, I'm your general. United World Security Forces. Under order of the president I command you to provide me with a vehicle.’ Aeniah had lost her temper quite a while ago and had even tried to punch out the holo of the AI. The AI, if that was possible, seemed coyly amused at the effort to punch something made entirely out of light.
‘I am sorry Madame Corinthia but vehicle loan cannot be obtained by United World citizens. Only citizens of Ascension may freely use this service. You can obtain a rental permit from the nearest attendant.’ The AI’s arm gestured towards row after row of empty terminals.
Aeniah turned to Sean. ‘Sean darling, why don’t go and get me one of those permits.’ Her voice played dangerously upon the word.
Sean bolted away and disappeared down some corridors for a while. After a period of about half an hour, in which the AI took more abuse than I thought it was possible for one person to give, Sean returned.
‘About bloody time.’ Aeniah then put on her nicest possible smile and cutest accent. ‘If it wouldn’t be too much trouble could you kindly give me some transport.’
After looking over the documentation that Sean had retrieved the AI transformed her expression to one of absolute joviality. ‘Of course general, I see your documentation is indeed valid. My apologies for the delay. What kind of vehicle were you after?’
‘The fastest one you have,’ said Aeniah and then after a second of thought, ‘probably make it the sturdiest one too.’
‘Okay let’s see what we have for you…ah, it seems as though the closest match to your criteria is a Muldune California. The vehicle is made of reinforced Tordan® armour and its effective highest speed is mach one.’
‘Mach one?’ I queried.
‘Mach one is a measurement of speed and was created in order to reflect man's need for an uncomplicated way of measuring their velocity relative to the speed of sound. Does this vehicle sound acceptable?’
‘I would have preferred it hypersonic, but I guess that will have to do.’ Aeniah said as she folded her arms.
The AI walked over to a terminal and pretended to be reading some information off the screen, but we could all see that the screen was blank and probably hadn’t been turned on in decades. It seemed that Carvelle had intended a certain level of service should be carried out by the AI to give the consumer a valued feel. Of course in the aftermath of the population’s extinction it just seemed plain stupid.
‘Okay then. Your vehicle is ready and waiting in the dispatch area. Today is a great day for driving. Traffic is abnormally low for this time of year and traffic cameras indicate no congestion.’
A platform raised itself in amongst the empty lots and we stepped onto it. The platform moved silently and descended through floor after floor of still and silent vehicles. It was in this moment that it hit me, Ascension was truly dead, and its population just hadn’t been given enough time to rest silently in their graves. Everything in Ascension seemed a little ridiculous without its population. AI’s were waiting to take care of their clients every need. Systems had been waiting for decades to perform the functions that they would never be asked to fulfil again. The city was built like an impressive work of art, but with no one to view it, it should have been titled ‘An Ode to Frivolity.’ Even the traffic control updates were broadcasting information to the multitudes of computer terminals that no one would ever read. It seemed at this moment as though the entire station had been made entirely for us. It seemed as though every walkway and every shop and every house had been constructed with us in mind. And it had been a wasted effort; for there was no way that we could fill the void. I thought of Blue Dawn and realized just how she must feel. It wasn’t so much that she had to continue with project Ascension, but that there was nothing else she could do. I understood that if she could not continue with her project then the only thing that was left for her to do would be to wait silently for death, as the last broken remains of her civilization corroded into ruins.
The platform stopped at the dispatch area which was identified by a very helpful sign. Our vehicle was on another descent platform and the AI had not been kidding, it certainly looked rugged. It was all bold lines and flat shining surfaces. The colour was a green so dark and shiny that it almost appeared black. It reminded me of a stealth plane in design, only somehow sexier and with four large wheels.
Aeniah got into the driver’s side and I got into the passengers. Even the bloody car began to lecture us on safe driving. ‘And please remember you can only exceed the speed of sound whilst on the freeways and not the highways, this is because only the freeways are designed to support the shock waves.’
Aeniah, rather than grunting and groaning, flicked around in the systems menu and the endless stream of narrative was silenced. We both let out our breath in relief. There was a tapping noise on the window of the car. Sean was banging his head against it, I laughed when I remember that we had left him outside without any hands to open the door. I opened the door and let Sean inside. He settled down in the back.
The platform began its decent out of the arch. We were being lowered onto the highway. It suddenly hit me as to why the building had been constructed in this manner. It was sufficiently separated from the highway that it would not have any effect on traffic flow, and by suspending the bulk of its body in the air over the highway a vehicle could be lowered onto every lane of the highway at once. It still seemed a little excessive.
The seething mass of bodies were waiting in their multidides beneath us on the highway. ‘How are we going to get past them?’
Aeniah just laughed in response and pressed her foot to the floor. I was pushed back into my seat with the force of the acceleration. The car launched off the platform and fell the twelve foot onto the ground, impacting heavily. I was thrown forward and then pinned backwards again as the wheels gained traction on the road surface. My eyes felt as though they were going to explode out through the back of my head. Aeniah was screaming with the sheer thrill of the cars performance and after my initial worry wore off I joined in to form a chorus.
The buildings hurtled past us. Unsuspecting members of the infected population were cut in half by the car as we drove through them without a care. Even Sean appeared to be enjoying himself more than usual. His musical humming increased in pitch and speed. We banked right and rose like gods up an elevation and into the Commercial District’s skyline. Here we soared above the heights of the smaller buildings and joined the tallest structures in the world.
The road changed as we rose from a familiar black surface into a clear glassy one. The car’s screen flashed the words Mach Capable Freeway. Aeniah moved a lever until a short beep was heard, lifted her foot and then hammered it back down on the throttle. The skyline began to blur. We were moving so fast I could no longer see the glassy road. As far as I could tell we were driving on thin air.
We were now reaching the edge of the sky. The final sun hung above us, but the cars climate control was keeping us at a comfortable temperature. The blue of the sky melted into a grey of metal and I saw at last the city limits. We passed through a hole in the wall and left the Commercial District behind.
14