The Forgotten City Read Free

she could see into the hazy distance below. Gigantic cogs and conveyor belts shunted through the factories of Emmanuel Borough. The three largest worksites here were occupied by the Mining Coalition, the Steel Works and the Oil Drill. Without these, the Fleetships that tracked and transported the essentials of food and water from the outer tunnels of Kullra Fornax into the city would not fly. Nothing had grown or been born in the city, save for humans, for longer than anyone alive could remember. These worksites, and all others, were owned by Purple Wings and manned by Grays.
    At the very base of Nÿr-Corum, effectively marking the end of the city, burned the Mother Fire, the only thing that kept them from freezing to death. There had been several attempts at estimating exactly how long they’d last if the Mother died out. The results were varying, but all pointed to the same answer – not long.
    Croy spotted Darius swooping downward and altered the course of her dragger. She followed him past all the upper factory floors. Workers paused to watch them fly – Grays with gray clothes, gray faces and gray hair from fire soot and industrial dust. Their lips were cracked and parched, flecked with white, and their bodies moved in a drudging way. They worked long and hard. The machines never stopped and neither did the shifts – as one ended the next immediately began. Both Darius’ parents had been miners killed in a Dray attack. He never spoke of it and Croy knew better than to ask.
    Her partner was hovering above the Filter, the city’s primary water silo. She swooped in beside him, looking down, past the guards posted all around the topmost edges. The huge structure was eroded and stained where the water level had once reached. It used to stand almost full. Now conditions were critical. Rations were the lowest they had ever been, since the last major expedition into the outer tunnels had failed. The Drays had destroyed the city’s largest Fleetship, the Chimera , slaughtering all the Fleetsmen, both male and female, and looting everything on board. Now all hopes rode on the second-largest ship, the Teriscoria , which had been sent out shortly after. The latest reports said it was heavily laden with supplies and en route to the city. Normal life continued, no one yet saying aloud what everyone was thinking – if the Teriscoria didn’t make it back, people would start dying. The Conference had released a message claiming it had a backup plan. Even though she was a Controller of the Martial Corps and thus an employee of the Conference, Croy was highly doubtful such a plan existed.
    The Conference was made up of the highest of the Purple Wings, who were far too rich and too soft to comprehend what starvation and thirst meant.
    “They found a stinker in the silo,” Darius called out to her.
    “Great – like we have water to spare,” Croy replied.
    Darius grunted and plunged his dragger straight downward into the darkness of the storage tower. Croy followed him, their engines roaring in the enclosed space. The humidity closed in on them. It had an earthy, sediment scent to it. Croy saw light ahead and then smelled a riper, heavier stink. She felt an immediate reaction – her stomach and throat tightened, her eyes watered – as her body warned her to stay away.
    Torch firelights grew larger and brighter and blurred forms took shape as Darius and Croy descended over a floating pier and jetty stretching out into the center of a large body of water. Groups of people were scattered along the jetty. Darius and Croy leveled out and brought their draggers down on the pier. The largest group of people was huddled around something at the end of the structure. Croy glanced at her partner and saw they were both feeling the same thing – here a life had been taken.

Chapter 2
Eli
Aquais
Scorpia (The Graveyard)
    “ N ow repeat after me – I am in control. I am strong. I am a worthwhile person with valid and important ideas and