Chapter 1

A nail sunk in the wooden floor and the hammer fell through boards of a shambling clock tower. A lone, uncut plank sat at the right angle, at the right length to catch the dropping gavel.

-” Well, what you waiting for boy? On the rope with ya.” The old man didn’t even have to turn around to realize how it happened. The racket told him enough already. “ Oh, and bring our lunch while you're down there.”

-” Sure thing sir. One problem though”, graveled the young man, his voice muffled by a thick breathing mask. “ It stopped on the fourth floor.”

-” Not for long.” A few moments later, the clock’s arm swiped violently to the top, and the metal pipes and cables started to tremble. Bolts of electricity zipped from one location to another, waking different pieces to achieve their midday chores: Making sure that the bells ring hard enough that even the dead wouldn’t slumber. “ Told ya”, smirked the old man with a glint in his prosthetic teeth.

-” Not again. Goddamit Zuwa, getting tired of how many times you and this death trap of a building mess with me” The young man then pulled on the rope, just to be sure.”…You had the rat stew, right?”, he asked while trying to decipher his own handwriting. “ I think I accidentally ordered a mushroom one for me.”

Zuwa stopped gaveling the nails and got caught in thought for a few moments- “ No, they removed my bowels to pay for my credit a few months back. Can’t process meat now. If there are any rat parts, you can have them, alright?”

-” Ugghh, right. Sure…Back in a second.”

Zuwa- “ And don’t forget the hammer” , yelled the old man but the boy was already rappelling two levels. “...Hope he uses the right hand this time.” A swear later answered his worries.

…

Between each level, the boy could peek into the outside through holes in the structure, giving him a puzzle piece at a time for his imagination to put together. A vast brown ceiling with flooding lights illuminated parts of a vast settlement of crumbling hightowers; Most of them collapsed into one another, sustaining each other into passageways for weary travelers.

Others use these vestiges of humanity’s attempts at touching the sky as shelter from the seasonal water sprinkles that the governance provides.

The young boy stops his descent to catch the most entertaining show they could get around there. A large structure sitting in the middle, connecting their land to the ceiling above through a large elevator. Whenever its in use, a light show smudges the brown for other colors with names unknown to him. Like right now.

-” I guess we lost another handful of workers”, thought the junior repairman, sighing for the people in that giant, gaping lift. “ Good luck, anyway. Maybe you’ll be the fortunate ones to return back safely.”

…

As the tower’s hands told them, fours have passed since the two handymen finished their lunch and whatever patchwork they could muster for today.

Zuwa- “ So, my clumsy apprentice, got a question for you. Tomorrow repairs or tonight repairs?”

“ Ugh…”, he wavered while taking a look around. “ Probably back in three days?”

Zuwa- “ Ha! Can’t catch you with my trick questions anymore, can’t I Diaz. That is true, we bought ourselves another three days of time.” Zuwa then took another look around, thoroughly inspecting the building, like he always does.” I’ll take the rest of the day off. What about you?”

Diaz, bewildered, looked at him as if he was speaking in tongues. “ Still 15, ain’t allowed breaks between jobs. Speaking off, gotta run.”

Zuwa- “ Sure thing. Be safe out there, Diaz.” He then remembered something important and grabbed the boy’s ankle. “ You on elevator maintenance next up, right?”

The sudden grip made the boy lose balance and fall face down to the ground. “ Dammit Zuwa, you can just-” but then he remembered that he had to use kid gloves with his old colleague. “ Well, just stop grabbing my leg and poke or slap next time. So, what is it?”

….

-” Just keep on running!”

The air inside the metal tunnels was damp and musty, a breathing trap for any lungs not modified for the smoggy environment of the city. The girl dragging the child barely felt the dangerous miasma around them, but the boy felt his chest burning up. Stil, he pushed his skinny legs to their limits just so they could put more and more distance between them and their pursuers.

A wrong turn brought the fugitives in front of a broken down grate, and once the girl took a peek she felt like the ceiling was being eaten by the endless horizon. “I think this is this”, she added, before quickly pulling back to evade a puff of hot steam blowing upward.

-”...Eury, I…”, but the boy pent up the second a noisy rat chewed too hard on some electric wires. He realized that it wasn’t his pursuers, but nonetheless, the chills on his back found a good nesting place in the kids back.

Eury- “ Ew, never liked those critters. Can’t believe there are people who eat them.” The girl stuck her tongue out in disgust and just the nausea from the image made her cheeks tremble.

-”...The cleaners from the monastery said they were delicious. I never had such a meal though. Did you?”, the boy asked, forgetting his worries for a moment.

Eury- “ N…goddammit, I promised not to lie to kids anymore”, a recent oath returned to her mind. The girl then sighed and told a truth with omissions. “ Once-ish. I got sick, vomited for two days and thought I’d finally take that huge elevator to the otherside.”

Her cheerful tone of the experience confused the young boy, but it helped raise his spirits even more than before.

-” Ok, I won’t eat them then…Should we go back and find another route then?”

A serenade from a chime of bells started to be heard from a distance, announcing that the day was technically in its mid portion.

Eury- “...No. I got an idea, but it would require a lot of luck to pull it off.”

-” …So why not go back then?”

Eury- “ Because that asshole hunter from the monastery is probably ravaging the entire tower and elevator looking for us. Also, surveillance, drones, and your lack of prosthetics would draw too much attention to us.”

Meekly, the young boy drew back his head, as if to apologise for his transgression of not getting his body modified.

Eury- “ Stop that, told ya to not take it as if it's your fault. Now, let me check my ID…does this look shiny enough to you?” She handed over a silver rectangle with a code bar and an encrusted picture on it.

-”...It’s too dark to tell. You’re an official hire?”

Eury- “ Course not, my factory doesn’t give out these IDs until you’re 16 or older. I’m just one year away from getting a real one. This is just a replica I made in my spare time. As a treat for me, for ugh, getting used to carrying it around?”

Somehow, by some miracle, the kid bought her explanation as genuine and was even impressed by the girl’s ingenuity. “Wow…”, he replied.

Eury snapped her finger with delight at his reaction - “ Wow indeed. Let’s hope that the next person we meet has the same response though. Sammy, we’re riding down the elevator from the outside.”