City Escape

Sigmund could feel his lungs burn with every step. He hadn't run this hard in ages. As he dashed through the overgrown brush of the park, he would stop every few minutes to listen for pursuers. When all he heard was silence, it would prompt him to run once more. His clothes were tattered, torn, and muddied. No longer the regal appearance he was accustomed to wearing.

Occasionally, he would tap his wrist watch to display a holographic gps map of the area. The maps he had for America were all pre-US balkanization but it was fine in a pinch. According to his gps, he was following a road called Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. towards the western edge of the island he was on. This wasn't the quickest way to Land's End but it felt like the safest. Sigmund wanted to be able to hide in the brush for as long as possible. 

Finally, after roughly an hour and a half of stop and go through the unkept growth, he arrived at the park's western edge. He noted on his map that this was demarcated by several large dilapidated windmills, primitive pieces of farming technology. In front of him, a sprawling neighborhood of townhomes showing up as "Outer Richmond" on his map. On a street lamp, he was able to read the English signs. One side pointed in the direction he had come from and read, Hippie Hill / De Young. That wasn't where he wanted. The other sign pointed away from him and read, Land's End.

He was glad his studies were paying off. His English was high level conversational at best but that was all that was needed for diplomatic work. Being able to read the signs was a godsend. It was almost midnight now and because of the lack of available energy in the UPSA, street lights started going off one by one to save power. Sigmund reached the street and crouched behind a thicket of trees. In front of him was a straight upwards sloping street of about 100 yards. It dead ended at the foot of small hill. When he looked on his map, he saw that there was a trail that traced around that hill and towards his destination. With the final cover of darkness, he was sure he would make it now!

He felt a slight vibration on his wrist. It was a reception code known only to to those in the Imperial Circle and the upper echelons of the Chancellor's government. Sigmund recognized the code immediately and tapped his watch. He whispered, "Brother! I'm so glad to hear from you. Do you know what's going on?"

A voice responded into an ear implanted receiver that was placed when he was a boy, "I've been briefed on the situation, Ambassador. My unit has been called in to help."

Sigmund's blood curdled when he heard the ice in his brother's voice. They never, even in the presence of the emperor, referred to one another by their rank or designation. Instantly, Sigmund put things together in his mind, He's not in a position to speak freely. This call is compromised.

He responded with an equal measure of coldness, "Thank you kindly, Captain von Bismarck. Where should I rendezvous with you and your men?"

There was a brief pause, "What's your current position? We'll come pick you up. Or rather, can you walk?"

That was the phrase Sigmund was waiting for! When they were kids, Sigmund and his older brother had developed a few short hand phrases that could be said under the guise of normal conversation in case their parents were listening in. In this case, "can you walk?" was a question about whether he was alone or not. This was usually in reference to whether each had a girl with them or not. An answer of yes meant that he was alone and thus would be fine getting home by himself. An answer of no meant that he was not alone and couldn't impose walking on his date, thus requiring assistance for he and her to get home.

If this call is compromised, my answer here may reveal more than I want it to. It's expected that Schulz is still with me. So I should state that I'm alone. However, he may not want me to reveal my location. I'll keep that to myself.

"Captain, I'm not quite sure where this is. Sorry, I should have studied the map more before coming here. And yes, I can walk. Where should I go?" Sigmund whispered into the air. The implant in his ear picked up any words in crystal clear audio through means of bone conduction. Which meant the reply coming back was the last thing he wanted to hear.

"Sorry, Ambassador. Can you state that again? There was interference in the line." His brother, Ernst Friedrich von Bismarck was not a clever man. All of these codes that they used growing up were entirely Sigmund's idea. Ernst loved being able to pull fast ones over the family handlers and Sigmund simply enjoyed having a closeness to his brother. So, when asked to repeat himself, Sigmund knew without a shadow of a doubt that Ernst was not in a safe position. He was being forced to make this call and might even have a gun to his head. 

Any phrase that asks the speaker to repeat themselves is the biggest red flag in this coded language that the von Bismarck scions had developed. It essentially meant, "You're in trouble and I can't help you." Which was all Sigmund needed to hear. With that he dashed out from his covered bush and began running down the street towards the hill directly in front of him. While running, he was desperately searching his thoughts on how to answer to buy him time before his location was discovered.

He made it roughly 40 yards before he had to stop and catch his breath. He ducked into an alleyway and crouched behind a large metal container. He tapped his map and searched for a landmark that he could call in as his location. He then remembered the signs he had seen on the way here. "Captain, I regret to inform you that I seem to be lost. A sign on a hill near me reads 'Hippie Hill' in English. Do you happen to know where that is?"

There was a longer pause than Sigmund was comfortable with on the other side. Then, "Acknowledged. Stay at your current location and we'll come to you, Ambassador." Even though it was a ruse, hearing the calculating business of his brother's military cadence was unnerving to Sigmund.

He took a deep breath, stood up, then replied, "Will do, Captain." and then began running once again. While he was running, he heard a faint whisper in his ear as if his brother had turned the transmission volume of his implant to the lowest setting it could go. "Be careful, little brother."

Sigmund stopped in his tracks. Took a second to collect himself, and then carried on. He had to reach the node at all costs now. When he reached the trail head at the foot of the hill, he noticed lights off to his right and down a street perpendicular to the one he had just left. He also heard voices. Once again, panic set in and adrenaline flooded his veins. Without looking back, he tore up the trail.

At the top of the hill, he saw the ocean to his left and an abandoned hospital to his right. That's when he saw it, the large cable that ran from a nearby substation to a door of the hospital. That must be it. Nothing else but a node could require that much power. He bolted across the street in complete darkness. The only illumination was from external lights surrounding the hospital. 

Sigmund quickly crawled under the chainlink fence surrounding the premises. He followed the cable to an exterior door and continued inside. He went down a few flights of stairs, a long corridor, and through what was clearly an old boiler room. He came upon a door that was ajar because the large cable held it so. Inside, he heard voices. German voices!

He was about to stroll on in to the room beyond but thought it wise to listen in first.

"Connect that wire here! No, not that one! The green one! Yes! Now, what's the power output? Good!"

"Plant the explosives here and there. No no, don't prime them. The machine will set them off once transport is engaged."

"Any word on His Highness and General Schulz? How long are we to wait? They could be dead by now!"

A wave of relief fell upon him as Sigmund wearily walked into the open doorway. When he came into the room lit by old florescent lighting above, the four engineers working on the node froze as their gaze was locked on him. With every ounce of energy left, he said in his most highborn German tongue possible, "It is I, Sigmund Werner von Bismarck. Second Scion of the Bismarck Chancellor and Ambassador of the German Empire. Address me with proper respect."

They seemed to light up when he was finished speaking and quickly called, "Your Highness!" and then immediately gave a quick and shallow bow at the waist before running to meet him.

"Where have you been? And where is General Schulz?" the one that seemed to be in charge asked.

"I'm not sure. I fear the worst. He sacrificed himself that I might go free. I was unmolested on my way here but I fear that won't last for long. My bro..." his words were interrupted by a loud explosion above. "They're here!" he yelled. "What needs to be done before we can execute a jump?"

The engineer looked at the machine quickly before responding, "This a field unit that has already seen extensive use. It only has one jump left and we've rigged explosives to go off as soon as we finalize the jump. The static from the procedure will set off the bombs and destroy the node. As far as we're concerned, we just have to turn it on and let the coil charge."

"Then get on it! We don't have time!" Sigmund pushed the engineer away to emphasize the urgency. Which in turn made his point very clearly. All four engineers went about their work and in a matter of seconds the coil above a flat platform was beginning to glow bright blue with energy.

He was not an engineer and had no role to play here so Sigmund quickly took his place on the platform and waited. The node was reaching criticality now and would discharge whether they liked it or not. The engineers joined him on the platform and waited as a growing whirring sound filled the room occasional arcs of lightning sparked from one ring in the coil to another. Any second now they would be gone.

Just as the machine entered into its final moments of charge before initialization, a figure entered through the door that Sigmund entered by. Sigmund's vision was becoming blurry as a side effect of the jumps from these crude field nodes. Just before jumping he could see General Schulz running towards him and then. Black.

Many would think that teleportation was instantaneous and that, like blinking, you close your eyes at one location and open at another. It's actually more like sleeping. For roughly 10 seconds, the target of teleportation is vaguely aware of themselves. However, they have no feeling in their body's. When their faculties return, they will have materialized at their destination. This was one of Nikola Tesla's greatest inventions and the German Empire had perfected it.

Sigmund had the General's face on his addled mind as he drifted across the world to his hometown, Berlin. The next thing he saw, he was home.