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Thursday, November 11, 2010

3054: The Arrival

I fly to the north  of the planet for about five minutes, and I see Camelot on the horizon. The energy membrane dome above the city casting off an eerie purple glow. I slow down my ship and pass through the membrane and hover down into a hangar in the center of the city. The cockpit hisses open and I climb out and jump to the ground.

"Welcome to Mars, Sir Vell!" says an officially dressed human walking towards me.

"Just Kryp is fine," I reply. "And you are?"

"No one important, I assure you. I'm here to escort you to the meeting. You are the last to arrive."

"I didn't know this was a multi-merc gig," I say to the escort.

"I know as much as you do, sir. I'm simply an extremely well-paid chauffeur. Now, if you'll step inside, we'll be on our way."

He opens the door to a high-end white hover-speeder and I take the backseat. He gets in in front of me and shuts the door. The speeder purrs almost unnoticeably and lifts up above the ground. The driver slams on the throttle and we shoot off into the densely populated Martian city.

The buildings in Camelot are compact and very tall. The spires and towers of the city all appear very well-kept and give the city a regal appearance befitting the capital of a planet. The polished look is especially impressive considering that it has been the capital since humans first started terraforming Mars about 800 years ago. When the solar system was starting to be civilized, Mars was the only planet aside from Mercury and Pluto that was without an intelligent native race, mostly due to its inhospitable terrain. So, the humans decided to colonize it by making it more like Earth. Most of Mars is still in its natural state, but the cities and surrounding areas have been transformed into fertile and self-sustaining ecosystems.

"That's our stop just ahead," says the driver.

The capital building of Camelot is an enormous floating white spherical structure with landing platforms and complex lattices and pathways jutting out from all over it. It's a truly unique and amazing building amongst Camelot's forest of shining towers.

Our speeder flies up to a landing platform near the middle of the capital building and the driver lets me out. I thank him, he bids me good luck, and he flies the speeder off. I walk down the pathway connecting the landing platform to the main building. I reach the door and it slides open automatically.I walk into a room lit only by numerous screens and holograms. There's a large round table with six men sitting around it and two open chairs. I take one of the remaining seats and wait. Seconds later, another door opens and a man steps in, his form lit from behind, concealing his features.

"This is the room for the top  secret mercenary job. If you're in the wrong class, please don't hesitate to leave now," says the man dryly. "No one? Good. Let's get started."

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