Infinity

9781483513966

1

NEO-EDEN . YEAR 2104

Link stared out the window of the maglev as millions of like buildings provided the perfect backdrop to his dull reflection. The young man was in his early twenties and had a fairly light complexion to accompany his deep, greenish eyes and frosted blonde hair which he spiked up in a point.

Link was wearing his typical black hoodie with white stripes down both arms that was made of a strong, plastic material, and a pair of jumper pants that were apparently all the rage in the City. He also wore a pair of squarish, dark-tinted glasses; not so much because he needed them to see, but mostly to dim out the bright whites of Neo-Eden.

The interior of the car was relatively solemn for a transit vehicle; seeing as how most people were either asleep in their seats as the glass overhead helmets they wore projected thousands of advertisements into their tired heads, or too preoccupied with their own personal grids to pay attention to anybody else. True human interaction was all but dead, Link thought to himself.

He stared down at his own palm and then flipped his hand over to see the same curious symbol which had marked him for years; two perfect black circles joined together. This was his grid.

A grid was something that nearly everybody had; and if you didn’t have one, either you were too poor to get one or you never wanted one to begin with. The grid was your life. It allowed you to buy things, sell things, access buildings, vehicles, the weather, maps, the internet, communicate with friends; basically everything that you could ever need, the grid did for you.

The way a grid worked, was that a very advanced piece of technology was inserted into your wrist, and once in your bloodstream it would assimilate itself to your genetic code. Fortunately, a person would be put to sleep while the device was being inserted via some very sharp instruments, so they would never have to feel a thing.

The grid produced a series of numbers on the top of your hand, most often referencing a birth date or some other significant numeric group that was unique to you. When tapped, the numbers would light up and activate the device, causing a plethora of lights and colors to soon issue forth.

The mysterious thing about Link’s particular mark was that it was very different than everyone else’s. Instead of having a number appear on the top of his hand like the others, he had two unified circles.

Despite this individuality, Link never seemed to have any difficulty using his grid and was quite fortunate to have never gotten into any trouble with the authorities where he might have been questioned about it, only the occasional passerby would make any note of it.

The truth of the matter was that Link had been much too young when his grid had been implanted, to ask why it was different, much less remember getting it. And even if he could, he had been anesthetized, so he wouldn’t even have remembered getting it to begin with.

Nevertheless, Link continued to gaze out the window of the Maglev at his surroundings. He was on his way home from Shopping District to The Hutch.

The Hutch was a living district which comprised of families ranging from lower income to below the poverty level. Most of them couldn’t even afford to have a grid of their own, which meant that more often than not, they would have to work their entire lives to pay one off.

It also meant that they wouldn’t be able to buy or sell anything, leastwise not from the Main City or any well-to-do folk, until they got one. If they could afford a grid however, chances were that they probably couldn’t afford much else.

As Link glanced at the passing towers and structures of Neo-Eden, all having a very monotonous and geometric pattern, he noticed many E-boards or electronic billboards and advertisements for Prysm.

Prysm ran everything. They owned the buildings, the electricity, even the Maglev that Link was sitting in. And most importantly, they owned the grid.

The grid was Prysm’s crowning achievement, its golden goose so to speak. It had all started with that, and now Prysm controlled nearly the entire globe.

They used the grid to regulate society, to know what people were doing and where they were at all times; which the people didn’t seem to mind, because in exchange for privacy they had security.

However, there were those who did not wish to be under the complete control of Prysm. Therefore, when these people rebelled against them, the government, by Prysm’s orders, had all of these agitators sanctioned away in a place south of The Hutch that they called Sheol, which literally translated from the old Hebrew language as the grave.

Here, people lived in harsh, ghetto-like conditions until they either died or agreed to join Prysm’s program. Those who couldn’t afford to receive a grid or refused to cooperate with Prysm were taken to Sheol where they could remain indefinitely.

In this way, Prysm was far more than a corporation; it was god. Which seemed all too fitting, considering the people had all but rejected any idea of a God; and those who hadn’t, religious sects and the like, were in Sheol.

This was the world that Link was a part of, and even though he didn’t choose to be in it, he had to make the best of what he had.

As Link got settled back in his seat, he breathed for only a brief moment before he couldn’t hear a sound and the world around him went black.

2

When Link came to, he awoke to a world of ash and smoke. The thick black clouds seeped under his glasses and into his eyes, making it extremely difficult to see anything.

After his weak eyes finally found enough strength to open slightly, Link quickly realized that he was lying on the ground with his face pressed hard against the metal floor of the train.

The rest of his body was unable to move for the most part and it felt as if he had sustained some major damage to his left shoulder. He was all but paralyzed there on the floor, which as one can imagine, is quite unpleasant.

Link struggled to lift himself off of the ground, but he had to use all the strength of his legs. This was due to the fact that his right arm was in an awkward position, and every time he tried to put any sort of pressure on his left arm, it put him in excruciating pain. After a few minutes of trying, he was finally able to force his body off of the floor, at least enough to where he could grab ahold of a nearby seat.

The air was still thick with smoke and Link had to squint his eyes to prevent flecks of ash from penetrating his eyes while he tried to look around and see what was going on. Through the blackness, he was barely able to make out the outlines of bodies scattered around the car but they didn’t appear to be moving very much.

As he made his way through the car, Link heard the sounds of moaning from the fellow injured passengers, in addition to noticing a rather gruesome sight.

A few of the passengers, who had been wearing the overhead projection helmets at the time of the blast, had their heads crushed under the pressure of the glass upon impact, which caused them to be trapped within the device. It was too horrific for Link to look at, but he also couldn’t help but wonder what the last images they had seen were, before their untimely deaths.

Instead, Link slowly worked to the front of the car where he was confronted by waves of thick black smoke billowing through the doorway.

Link had realized by this point that the train was still moving at a pretty decent speed, and for all he knew, could crash at any given moment. Recognizing that he had to press on for the sake of his life, Link quickly exhaled and ducked through the smoldering passageway.

Once on the other side, Link found that the smoke was even thicker, and now there were flames. Surely, the next car had to be where the blast had occurred, he thought to himself. Fire licked at his face, causing beads of intense sweat to pour down his brow, as the smoke worked its way down Link’s throat and into his lungs, which felt like they were caving in.

I’ve gotta’ get out of here, Link thought aloud.

After finally making it to the front of the car, Link found that the door to the next car was concaved and the passageway connected then was blocked by a massive pile of debris. Needless to say, he was not going to be making it through that way.

The only other option that appeared to Link was to climb out of the window. It would be risky for sure, with the vehicle still in motion and traveling at high speeds, but it was the only way and time was running out.

Link quickly reached for the emergency latch to open the window, when suddenly he heard a faint muttering sound coming from behind him. Link jerked around, only to find yet another grisly scene.

In the aisle directly across from him, a man was laying head back, with a mound of rubble crushing his chest and a piece of pole sticking straight through his leg.

Apparently, when the explosion went off, it snapped the pole in half, causing the lower part to pierce through the man’s appendage. What little breath was left in the lungs of this unfortunate soul, he was expending to cry out for help.

Link knew that if he didn’t get out of the car quickly, that he would be trapped forever among the inferno; however, in this moment he was somehow overcome with compassion for the helpless passenger, as if he was meant to help him.

He could never remember when exactly it was or who had even said it, but sometime when Link was very young, someone had whispered something to him that had stuck with him for his entire life.

"A day will come, when you will have to choose between what feels right and what is right. And in that moment, I pray that you will always do the right thing."

Such profound wisdom was found in these words that had always motivated Link to make the moral decision. However, this was more than just choosing between good and bad; he now held the power of life and death in his hands, his life and the life of a complete stranger.

Nevertheless, Link could not bear to leave the man in this agonizing state, so, compelled he let go of the emergency handle and rushed over to assist him.

When Link arrived at the injured man’s side, he was a bit shocked to find that the wound which he had sustained was a lot worse than he had initially perceived. The first thing that Link could think to do, was to attempt to comfort the man; ask him some questions that would hopefully take his mind off of the pain.

Hey man, everything’s gonna’ be just fine, Link said, leaning in close so that the man could hear him and putting his hand on his shoulder. What’s your name?

There was a brief moment of silence before the man responded.

De….Derek the man replied, weakly.

Link shifted some of the rubble off of Derek’s chest, so that he could move around a little bit more.

Wh…what happened? Derek struggled to speak. There was a l…loud explosion and I…I just want to see my family. Derek glanced down at his leg and then jerked back in agony.

Up until this point, he had apparently not realized how severe his wound actually was.

I’m going to get you out of here, Link assured him. But first, we’re going to have to get this pole out of your leg.

Derek immediately fainted at the thought of the intense amount of pain that would cause him.

Link knew however, that as soon as he removed the pole from Derek’s leg, that he would immediately have to stitch it up somehow. But the means to do so were nowhere at hand. Link quickly jumped up on his feet and ran towards the back of the car, once again braving the thick blackness.

Upon reaching the passageway to the previous car again, Link slid his hand along the inside of the doorway, to find a small compartment, sheltered by glass.

There appeared to be a little red button on the side of the compartment and a sign directly above it, which read, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY. Now seemed like as good a time as any to push the button, but when Link went to mash the button in, he found that the mechanism was faulty and no longer worked.

Running out of time, Link quickly ripped a small bar that was meant to be a secondary method of opening the compartment, out from under the box and used it to shatter the glass.

Glass sprayed everywhere as the bar broke through, leaving a small hole, just big enough for Link to reach his hand into. As he pushed through the crevice, shards of glass scraped up against Link’s skin, sending blood trickling down his right arm.

Moments later, he pulled out a small case of first aid equipment. Clutching it to his chest, Link raced back towards the front of the car, where he hoped that it was not too late for Derek.

Derek’s eyes were not open, but he appeared to still be breathing.

Link ripped open the case, and began pulling items out. One of the first things he grabbed was a bottle of medicinal alcohol, which he quickly poured on the areas of Derek’s leg that had been penetrated by the pole, hoping to numb the pain.

Unfortunately for Link, it seemed to have rather the opposite effect, instead causing Derek to jolt awake with a yell and begin writhing in pain.

Link could tell from the amount of blood there was around the punctures, that it was only a matter of time before Derek bled out, and if he didn’t remove the pole soon, he would most likely die. Link tore out a piece of cloth from the first aid kit and placed it inside of Derek’s mouth.

Here, bite down on this Link said, and at once Derek clenched down on the bit of cloth.

Link then pulled a small suture kit out of the first aid case, so that he would be ready to stitch up the wound as soon as he pulled out the pole.

Well, here goes nothing, Link muttered under his breath.

Link had never done anything like this before in his entire life. Sure, he had removed the occasional thorn once or twice as a child, but that was nothing compared to what lay in front of him.

Gripping the bottom portion of the pole tightly with both hands, Link closed his eyes and yanked on it with all of his might. What happened next was all a bit of a blur.

Derek let out a loud scream and started shaking violently, still chomping down on the piece of cloth, while Link scurried to stitch up the two gaping, bloody holes that the pole had left on opposite sides of Derek’s leg.

Link couldn’t close his eyes now.

With wobbly hands, he carefully fed the catgut thread through the eye of the tiny needle and began to run it through Derek’s leg, sewing the wound closed and then repeating on the other side.

Derek didn’t seem to mind much though, seeing as how the feeling of the needle piercing his skin must have been considerably less painful than the torment that he had just experienced.

Once the holes had been all sewn up, Link snapped the ends of the thread off with a pair of miniature scissors he found in the kit and then applied some medical ointment to seal up the wound, to which Derek merely winced.

Link proceeded to grab some bandaging cloth out of the kit and wound it around Derek’s leg, being sure to wrap it tightly so that it wouldn’t fall off, before tying it.

He also took another bandage for himself to cover his arm, which was still bleeding pretty heavily from where it had been sliced up earlier and stained the cloth crimson.

Link then focused on the next objective at hand: moving Derek to a safer location.

Alright buddy, we’re going to have to get you up now, Link said to Derek, who was doing slightly better now that he could take his mind off of the injury somewhat.

Link reached out a hand to Derek; and clasping tightly, was able to heave him to his feet, despite the pain that Link still felt in his left shoulder.

He knew that Derek would not be able to stand the pressure from walking back to the other cabin; so Link thrust his arm under him, hoisted him up over his shoulders, and began to carry Derek, which hurt immensely.

Throughout this whole situation, Link had almost forgotten about the heat of the flames and the black smog which still hung in the air, returning to him like a claw gripping at his throat. In spite of this, Link valiantly persevered once again through the darkness.

On the other side, Link gasped for air; as did Derek, who had not breathed clearly in quite some time. There was still a good deal of smoke in the car, but it was a far cry from what he had come from.

Laying Derek down gently on a nearby seat where he could prop his injured leg up, Link relieved his shoulders from the heavy burden of the body and took a couple of deep breaths before turning again to Derek.

Well, you’re going to be ok now, Link promised.

Th…thank you, Derek mouthed, his face shouting gratitude louder than his words ever could.

Link hated to leave Derek in there with all of the bodies, but he knew that he would be safe.

Just then, a middle-aged lady named Peg who was sitting in an aisle close by, was waking up. Panicked at the condition of her surroundings, she shouted over to Link.

What’s going on? What happened? Am I going to be alright? she said frantically, looking up at him with wide, scared eyes.

I sure hope so he whispered hesitantly, reminded of the task at hand and that if he didn’t find a way to stop that train, that they would probably never live to find out.

Once he had made sure that Derek and Peg were as comfortable as they could be, considering the circumstances, Link took another deep breath and rushed back to the other car.

By this point, the smoke and the flames had worsened, making it almost unbearable for Link as he worked desperately to escape the burning train car. Finding the emergency hatch yet again, Link pulled hard on the handle this time, until the window flew open.

Air surged into the car; which fortunately for Link, cleared out a lot of the smoke, allowing him to see more clearly. Link pushed himself through the gust of air, and reaching both hands through the opening, pulled his body through.

On the other side, He suddenly had nothing to grab hold of except for the edges of the window that jutted out from the train; and because his eyes had not yet adjusted to the brightness outside, Link was finding it difficult to see anything.

After the lenses of his glasses had dimmed some, Link was able to see his surroundings more clearly. He could see cars weaving through the streets far below, as well as speeding down the elevated highways of Neo-Eden. He could also tell that that he was going to have to hoist his body up onto the metal rim that came out over the window.

Mustering up as much strength as he possibly could, Link gripped the top of the sill and used it to heave himself up, putting an incredible amount of pressure on his already weak shoulder.

Standing on the rim, there was very little room for footing, and Link immediately began to tip backwards. Preventing his demise, he quickly thrust his arms upward and grasped hold of the top of the train.

With both hands extended and clutching the edge of the train for dear life, Link walked his legs up the side until he was able to pull the rest of his body up and onto the top of the car.

Link lay there on top of the maglev for a few moments and watched hundreds of turquoise, white, and black colored buildings go whizzing by as he contemplated how close he had just come to falling to his death.

After regaining a bit of his composure, Link struggled to his feet, but soon found that the speed of the train mixed with the dizziness it caused, prevented him from maintaining balance and caused him to fall swiftly on his face.

Scaling the ridges that made up the roof of the train, Link was forced to crawl toward the source of the blast. What he found when he got there, was nothing short of astonishing.

Whatever had created the explosion had ripped a hole in the maglev that almost spanned the length of an entire car of the train. Due to this fact, the gap between where Link was and where he needed to get to was too long and too wide for him to clear.

There were not a lot of options here; Link was going to have to jump down into the blaze that was rising up out of the hole.

He had gotten this far, Link thought to himself, now was the time to take another risk. Closing his eyes, Link leaped down into the inferno.

Thick smoke flooded into Link’s lungs, as flames seared into his flesh, making it appear to glow red. He had completely lost his sense of direction in the fiery abyss, but he did his best to move in the direction that he thought was forward.

All of a sudden, Link slammed into a metallic wall.

Feeling his way around for a few seconds, Link eventually found the outline of the passageway leading out of the flaming chamber.

Luckily for him, the explosion had apparently blasted the door completely out of place, so that it no longer blocked his only means of escape.

After passing through the scorched corridor, Link was at long last able to see the door to the control room directly in front of him, on the other side of the train car.

Injected with purpose, Link seemed to glide across the car to the entrance of the control room, which, to his dismay, he found to be sealed with an electronic touch pad lock.

Since it was grid-activated like just about everything else in the city was, Link assumed that it was only accessible to authorized personnel who possessed the proper grids.

About to give up, Link figured that he might as well give it a try since it was his solitary means of survival at the moment.

Link pressed down on the symbol atop his palm and watched it light up.

After several moments of waiting for the grid to load, Link swiped his hand across the touch pad and to his utter surprise, it blinked green with a message that read, CLEARANCE ACCEPTED.

Link was completely unsure of how he had just been able to do what he did, but at the time being, he also didn’t care. Making his way over to the control panel, Link waved the back of his palm over the recognition pad and hoped with all hope that luck would be on his side again.

Sure enough, the console came to life, causing a holographic touch pad to project out of the panel and light up. Link was still dumbfounded at how this was happening to him, but he tried to concentrate on what had to be done.

The interactive screen was displaying what appeared to be an in-depth diagram of the inner workings of the train.

Link had no idea what he was doing. He had little to no knowledge of maglev mechanics, other than some things he had read about it in books as a teenager. Still, he was able to pinpoint on the diagram the approximate location where the blast had occurred and started from there.

It appeared that one of the MAG engines in that