3000 Sample

Set in a dystopian world of deserts and death.

It’s the year 3000, and Earth is on its last breath. The air has become toxic, flooded with carbon dioxide. The ocean levels have decreased, leaking off into space through the weak atmosphere. What is left is deserts, and anything that is not sand is probably dead. No where is safe. There are no cities. There are no places of refuge. There is no life. So yeah, Earth and all its inhabitants are screwed.

* * *

The speeder zipped past Ajax, knocking him to is feet. The hot sand burned against his skin, and his anger didn’t help. He had run out of water hours before, and was searching for a new waterhole. Out in the New Gobi Desert, you were either poor like Ajax, or rich, like the guy on the speeder. It didn’t matter if it was fair. It was just a matter of life or death.

Ajax stood up and brushed himself off. The dunes were no longer composed of pure sand, but were covered in a thick layer of metal and plastic scraps. Occasionally, if you were lucky, riches would hire the poors to turn these scraps into raw materials, in turn for food and shelter. The riches however, would only get richer off of the materials.

Some poors tried harvest and sell raw materials on their own, but were either murdered to keep the business pricy, or couldn’t make quality stock worth buying. It was a dangerous game. Then again, life in the deserts was always a game. And losing meant dying.

Ajax continued walking, the wind quickly reburying his footprints. Ajax was thankful for this, as tribes of cannibals dwelled in this area. Cannibalism was not uncommon in the New Gobi, but it was disgusting none the less. They often hid in shadows, or rode around in makeshift speeders, swiping at any trespassers.

With the dying sun slipping behind the mounds of trash, Ajax needed to find shelter before the dark creatures came out of hiding. He jogged to the nearest mound of waste, and began clawing at it.

It broke through, and he had found an old bolt hole, probably from a past traveler. He hoped that the body wouldn’t still be in here, because the sun was almost gone. He lit a small plastic torch, and then filled in the hole he had dug. He had a shot at survival for the night. Hopefully crawlers didn’t live in or near here.

He pulled some plastic bags together, and made a bed for himself. It was going to be a rough night, even if things went well.

* * *

Ajax awoke to a piece of dirty cloth in his mouth and his hands tied behind his back. At least he was still alive. The sun beat down on him. He looked up and saw a face above his. It was human. And by the looks of it, it wasn’t a cannibal. That was good news for him.

Ajax moaned, sick and tired of this kind of life.

“Shut up!” the girl whispered.

She peaked around the corner, of the trash pile, and quickly whipped back.

Ajax managed to spit the pathetic excuse for a gag out of his mouth.

“What the heck is going on?” He whispered back.

“Crawlers,” the girl whispered, eyes wide. “they are everywhere. We are lucky to be alive.”

Ajax looked up and over the pile, and sure enough the grotesque mutants were scavenging the area. Their slick, sand-colored, bodies moved around on splayed black insect legs.

“Why are there so many of them? And I thought they were nocturnal.”

The girl paused. “Are you new to the Gobi?”

“No.”

“It sure seems like it.”

Ajax was grateful for the girl’s mercy, and that she had probably saved him from being crawler food. They are smelled of the foul creatures. They had a musky scent, usually mixed with the aroma of their previous meal. Probably an unfortunate traveler.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

“Run.”

* * *

Ajax and the girl’s feet flew across the littered sand, and the crawlers had picked up on what was going on. Their thin, hairy legs pounded across the dunes with remarkable speed. It was a wonder that they were an accidental mutation, and not the work of some perverted scientist.

They would either have to outrun them, or find one of the few skeletal trees and climb it. Neither option was likely to present itself. The ground began to collect small flecks of metal, which made Ajax glad he had made shoes in the past week. Not the best shoes, but they were shoes.

The crawlers continued to advance, and no trees were in sight. Things didn’t look so good for the two. Ajax knew there was one option left.

Ajax whipped around and stepped firmly into the sand. His fingers went to his temple, and his eyes glowed a bright green. A loud humming could be heard. The girl stopped when she realized her once-captive had come to a halt. She turned and was shocked. Ajax faced the crawlers boldly, and they stopped, confused as to why their prey had lost fear in them. They circled slowly.

One of the crawlers suddenly collapsed and smoke began to puff from it mouth, its body glowing, getting stronger and stronger. It popped like one of the large beetles in the sun. One by one, the crawlers continued to drop like flies, and they finally realized that it wasn’t a fair fight. The remaining ones fled.

The girl had jaw dropped and began to stutter.

Ajax knew what was coming.

“You, your, your. An Android?”

* * *

“You’re an Android!” Her eyes bugged out. “I thought they had all been destroyed in the war!”

“Well, here I am,” Ajax replied. “Got a problem with it?”

“That’s awesome!” she squealed.

Ajax sighed. She knew about his secret and that meant he would have to get rid of her too, if he was to stay free. He had gone rogue ten years back, and had no intention of going back to being a riches soldier. It was either kill her, or take her with him. He really didn’t want to make that choice.

“I can’t believe it! What else can you do?”

He hated the feeling of being probed and asked of his limits. Truth be told, he hadn’t used his bionic abilities in years. It hurt to many people around him. Good people.

“What is your code?” she suddenly asked firmly.

Ajax paused. “I do have a code, but I also have a name, and I prefer the name.”

“Well, what’s the name, soldier?” she laughed.

Ajax charged at her, knocking her down.

“Don’t you ever, ever, call me soldier.”

“Okay!” she whimpered. “But what is your name?”

“Name’s Ajax.” He said, helping her up. “Just Ajax.”

* * *

The two just stood there for a while, staring at each other. Both were wondering what secrets the opposite held. Ajax guessed he had more.

“You know, I usually would have killed you by now.” Ajax said.

“What is stopping you?” the girl sniffed.

“There is something non-threatening about you.”

“Really?” she squeaked.

“No,” he growled with a malicious laugh, “I just owe you for saving my life. Androids are programmed to repay any debts.”

Her face went slack when she realized that she had power over an Android, one of the most powerful cyborgs created.

“Then again,” Ajax’s wheels turned in his mind. “I just saved yours, so I don’t owe you.”

Ajax’s mechanical brain then generated new code to asses the situation. He was now free once more. It tossed the chains of a soldier into a mental trash can.

“I will be on my way then. See you in the next life.”

The girl was slapped out of her stupor.

“Wait! Don’t go! I can’t be out here on my own. I will die the first night surely.”

“Not my problem, sweety. We’re even.” Ajax retorted, not looking back.

“But what am I supposed to do?”

Ajax sighed. He couldn’t leave a poor, unarmed girl out in the New Gobi like this. She would be killed and eaten, either by cannibals or crawlers, or whatever else hid in the ever shifting sands. The girl would always be prey.

“Fine you can come with me until we find you a safe village to stay in. Provided we find one.” He said, gloomily.

The girl’s face lit up like the smoggy stars, and she bounded towards Ajax and planted a quick kiss on his metallic cheek.

“Thank you!” the girl sang. “Thank you very much!”

After a few minutes of bounding around, the girl calmed down and walked in sync with Ajax’s pace.

* * *

The walked in silence for hours, not a village was yet in sight. It looked like Ajax would stuck with the nosy human for another night. He wasn’t completely disappointed. He was just used to living on his own. He wasn’t human, he was a creature made of metal and lab-created flesh. The ice-cold steel in his body took out all of his human compassions.

“So, what is your name?” Ajax inquired, now that the girl knew his.

“You know,” she said. “I am not really sure. I think that it’s Arrael.”

“Arrael.” Ajax tested out this new name in his brain vaults. It worked. “Cool.”

“Thanks.”

The two continued in silence until the sun began to sink lower into the horizon.

Without talking, they found a pile, and began to dig and make a shelter. Once completed, they lit some plastic on fire, avoided the fumes, and closed the hole they had dug. They were safe for the night.

* * *

At the crack of dawn, Ajax and Arrael awoke, and began to dig their way out. Neither had eaten in the past twenty-four hours, and both were starving. With a few more handful of trash, hot sunlight broke through into the shelter. Arrael’s stomach growled.

“How do you feel about crawler for breakfast?” Ajax asked.

“Fine with me. Better than being cannibal,” Arrael responded.

Ajax went to find some of the crawlers from the fight the day before, while Arrael stayed at the bolthole to start another fire on which to cook the crawlers.

The sand was even hotter today, and Ajax had a hard time keeping his feet from burning. When he found the crawlers’ bodies, they were mummified from the heat.

Glad I’m not them, Ajax thought. He selected the biggest of them and shot it with a bolt of energy. It slowly began to float, and Ajax raised it to his hand level, and pushed it effortlessly through the scorch.

Meanwhile, Arrael was having trouble lighting a fire. Ajax had been the one to light the torch the night before, and she had never made a spark in her life. She searched around, and found a pool of oil inside the cool bolthole. Tipping it into a bag, she carried it outside, and dumped it on some plastic she had gathered.

She then hunted around for a piece of glass, of which she would use to light the oil.

When she had found a shard, she took it back and aligned it with the sun. It started smoking when-BOOM!

* * *

Raiukam turned and took his speeder to a halt. A pillar of fire, followed by black smoke rose into the sky. Androids, he thought. Today was his lucky day. All of his hard work as an Android hunter would finally pay off. He would be rich off of selling just one of the super-soldiers. People pay good money for power.

All of Raiukam’s men had stopped and stared where their leader had pointed. Every one of them knew what it meant.

“Let’s move, men.” Raiukam shouted.

They all stepped on their speeders pedals, and raced into the smoky cloud. They would be riches or dead, depending on the following events.

Ajax saw the explosion, and dragged the crawler as fast as he could. Arrael, the first human he had ever trusted, could be hurt. He didn’t care about the burning sand or the blazing heat, he had to get back to the bolthole.

When he arrived, the fire was burning fine, but Arrael had been thrown across the cleared space, and lay burned on a garbage mound.

“Arrael!” he cried.

He raced towards her, and picked up her thin and malnourished body.

“Arrael, can you hear me?” he said, on the brink of tears.

He check her pulse, and it was very faint, like a the slight current in a summertime river. The crawlers was left floating next to the fire.

Arrael exhaled and coughed. “Ajax? What happened?”

Ajax lay her back on the mound. “You set off a bomb. It was the oil. Never light that much oil.”

Arrael tried to laugh, but it sound more like a cough.

“Guess that goes to show how much I know about lighting fires.” she said, grinning weakly.

She sat up and looked at the bonfire she had created. With effort she stood up, gasping. Ajax motion at some metal, and crunched it into crutches. The glides smoothly to his hand.

“Here, these might help.” He said, offering the shiny crutches to Arrael.

Arrael smiled, but it disappeared quickly, and her mouth hung slightly open. Ajax was confused by her reaction.

“Is there something wrong with them?” he asked.

“Look.”

Ajax turned, and saw what had caused Arrael to act so strangely.

Guns and soldiers surrounded him.

* * *

“Well, well, well,” said Raiukam. “Looks like we got ourselves two Androids, boys.”

The ring of men snarled and laughed. Ajax was not happy.

“Look Mr. and Mrs. Whatever-you-code-is, you can either come with us peacefully, or you can make this a fight it’s your choice.”

Ajax paused, and coolly replied, “Two things. One, she is not an Android, I am. Second, I make my own choices.”

“Oh, but we gave you choices. Choose one,” retorted Raiukam.

“Well, not any of the ones I want.” Ajax responded smoothly.

His hands were up in a flash, and the barrels of all the guns bent into knots.

“So I guess you are taking the hard way then,” Raiukam said. “Attack!”

Ajax flung out a wave of power, and all the soldiers were knocked off their feet. But, they rose as quickly as they fell. They were well trained.

Ajax realized that there was no way he could fight his way out of this. His hand were up in the air again, and from his fingers, sprouted bands of pure light. He searched the scraps, and began piecing together a ship, one meant to leave the ground. One meant for space. Within seconds, he had a working space ship. He flung himself onto the deck, and climbed inside. It rose a good height into the air.

“Come on, Arrael!” he shouted. But Arrael was standing still. With a knife, held tightly in front of her throat.

* * *

Raiukam cackled and said, “Come down, Android, or your girlfriend dies on the spot.”

“Just go, Ajax! I don’t have a reason to keep going. You do! You’re worth more than the richest person on this dying planet! And don’t lie! You know you are. You-” She was cut off by the knife pressing tighter to her throat.”

“If you think we will let you have an hour to decide, you’re wrong, Android!” Raiukam shouted. “You have ten seconds to decide, before I tell him,” he said pointing at the soldier who had captured Arrael. “to slit her throat.”

Ajax paused, and shouted back. “You know what to do, Arrael!”

Arrael snapped out of her act, and became to New Gobi desert-dweller that she was. She whipped around, adrenaline coursing through her veins, and slashed the shocked soldier, that had once held the seemingly defenseless girl, with a piece of metal. The soldier dropped to the ground with a gargled scream, blood spurting from his chest.

She turned and screamed over the roar of the ship’s engines, “Ajax, catch!”

Ajax waited for her to throw whatever she wanted to protect, but instead she jumped. Ajax’s brain caught onto what she was doing in exactly 0.24 nanoseconds, the rate at which his robot-brain processed thoughts.

He caught her with invisible hands and lifted her into the ship. They took off, leaving Raiukam and his soldiers in the garbage piles of the New Gobi.

* * *

The ship climbed higher into the frail atmosphere, and thin wisps of clouds rushed around them. Ajax and Arrael stood in the cabin of the makeshift vessels, and Ajax had managed to lift the cooked crawler aboard, and the two of them ate in bliss.

Although overcooked crawler was not particularly tasty, anything makes a good meal when you are hungry. It’s just like the old saying, back when there were farms. Tastes like chicken. If chickens still existed. . .

“You know something, Ajax?” Arrael said. “You’re a pretty decent cook.” Could use some salt though.”

The two of them chuckled for a moment, but stopped to feast once more. Arrael stopped suddenly and stared at Ajax.

“Ajax, where are we going to go? They won’t stop hunting for us until they get what they want. You.”

At this, Ajax swallowed his mouthful, and hesitated before answering.

“Arrael, I don’t really know.”

The both of them sat down on the cold floor of the ship, and remained quiet. The silence was eerie, apart from the hum of the ship, after living in screaming winds of the Gobi and listening to the cries of creatures at night. Now, it was all gone.

The aircraft suddenly rocked back and forth, and it groaned with this unexpected action.

Something white rushed past the murky glass windows. It wasn’t a cloud.

Ajax and Arrael both stood and looked out the window.

Thousands of little yellow eyes stared back at them.

Cloud Gulpers.

* * *

“Ajax, are those what I think they are, because if they are, we are in big trouble.”

Ajax gulped. He knew all too well what she meant.

Cloud Gulpers are evil little creatures, and are harmless on their own, similar to a annoying rat, but in massing flocks, they could tear things to pieces in minutes.

The ship shook again. The gulpers were chewing through the metal as they stared at the distraction group.

“Ajax, you’re the computer! How do we get out of this?” she shouted.

Ajax’s mind raced along its cyberpaths, trying to find an answer and all the knowledge that existed about Cloud Gulpers. He finally arrived on a secluded and old file in the cyberspace of his mind.

“I think that if we descend to a certain altitude, they will no longer be able to stay on the ship, but I am not sure that this will work.”

“Isn’t there a more positive answer? There has got to be something that will work 100%!” Arrael shouted over the scratchy gnawing.

Ajax had already thought over the other options, but did not like the one that seemed to be presenting itself. Finally, he spoke.

“If we fly out into space, the lack of air should kill the cloud jumpers. The problem is, is our spacecraft airtight? If not, we will die like the gulpers.”

Arrael stood still, considering the options Ajax had presented her with. She was not comfortable with the idea of space. “Let’s see if we can try going lower. We might make it that way.”

“Okay, let’s see what we can do about-”

The ship cracked, the gulpers were inside. They were in free fall.

* * *

~ Thank you for reading my sample. I am still writing this. Hope you liked it!

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Kackman.Dystopia

I' only 14 by the way. I am the kind of person that my teacher says has a lot of stories in their head, but never has enough time to write them. Hope I have enough time to finish this one!