Ninety Days

By Kenneth Horton

The main character is condemned on a trumped up charge of murder in order to use him as a 'loose cannon' in a society which is run by an elite monitory group supported by their Proctors and guards.
The location is many years into the future when after several punishing nuclear wars the worlds remaining population is reduced to living in isolated cities where they can only exist in totally enclosed shielding to protect them from a strange type of radiation which seems harmless to crops and some animals but harmful to humans.

The original complex was built deep underground and was originally the London nuclear command bunker for the UK, slowly it developed into an enclosed city with five levels below the surface and another seven above.

All these levels are connected by an automatic railcar system which due to the acute shortage of people to maintain it is in danger of coming to a standstill. As punishment for his crime and with no death penalty,our character is sentenced to manual labour for life to work in the various service departments of the city as required.

Having been employed all his life in the transport system, anonymous people in the hierarchy sympathetic to the idea of a fairer city council manage to arrange for him to return to the now silent transport workshops to put some of the rolling stock back into service.

In this way they hope he will be able to become a 'loose cannon' and re activate the movement or change. In this environment our character manages to meet other people forced to live in the 'no go areas of the city. These people are sought by the city guards whose aim is to crack down on such things as demonstrating against the ruling city council or making any adverse comments in any way.

Circumstances are arranged so that they join forces and slowly start to organise themselves while living a cat and mouse existence with the authorities.

Eventually they are instrumental in bringing things to a head and the start of a change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Horton
• Release date: Sep 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301445219

Kenneth Horton

Retired in the 1980's depot manager for Lucas / C A V Electrical and Diesel fuel injection Plays a Yamaha electronic organ A100 Plays Golf, and a computer buff, likes flight similators

Book preview

NINETY DAYS

By Ken.Horton

Copyright 2012 by Ken.Horton

SMASHWORDS EDITION

CHAPTER ONE

In which John is jerked out of his comfortable life style, tried and sentenced and as a prisoner learns how to clean drains and spends a day on the farm.

The shrill bell of the alarm brought him out of his deep sleep, above his bed a naked bulb clicked on glaring down on him and lighting the immediate area. Looking around he quickly took in his surroundings and confirmed that he was the only occupant of a small little used dormitory.

Originally fitted to hold about ten beds he could dimly see across the room there were only six bed frames, a couple of broken single wardrobes and one side locker without a door, his was the only space that appeared complete. He recalled the proceeding day’s events, moved from the detention cell after his breakfast he was escorted by two guards to central administration and told to wait in a small bare room with just one chair.

After what seemed about an hour the door opened and an admin assistant stepped in, Beresford? John nodded, the assistant moved closer and read the identity card on John’s coveralls. Follow me, he turned abruptly and stepping through the door led him down a short blank corridor to another door, he pressed the intercom and spoke into it.

The exchange was inaudible but door locks clicked open as the assistant turned to John, Go straight in and stand to attention in front of the desk, do not speak other than to answer questions, he held the door open and John stepped inside.

Three men sat behind the desk, the man in the middle looked familiar but he could not recall where or when he had seen him, the man seated on the man’s left queried John’s identity and briefly moved from around the desk to read the identity card using an electronic device, John noticed that although he had no sign of rank he carried a Proctor’s side arm, Identity confirmed he said and resumed his seat.

There was a long pause and then the man in the middle spoke. This court has been convened for the sole purpose of passing sentence on the prisoner namely John Beresford found guilty in another place, he paused and looked up at the condemned man. Well Beresford you have caused some trouble, unprecedented in fact and we have been at a loss to know what should be done with you.

The seriousness of your crime cannot be stressed enough and cannot be rescinded, you have been found guilty of murder of a citizen which has never been given in living memory and even though it carries the death penalty with no reprieve we have no facility or wish to carry this out.

In view of this and also that a death sentence could have serious repercussions it has been decided to amend the sentence to imprisonment for life and you will be required as part of your sentence in various work designated by the Admin Section, you are therefore now designated as a special prisoner and your rank is zero, all credits you hold, your personal possessions, documents and your living accommodation are confiscate.

You will be moved to the admin accommodation section in the late evening tonight as we do not wish upset the general public with the sight of prisoners being transported on public transport. You will report daily to the Basic Services Section and given your duties . Initially you will be kept in isolation but after a trial period of three months you will be allowed to live in the main admin dormitory, your working week will consist of five eight hour periods with a one hour break mid period, one four hour period with no break, the remaining time you may use as you wish as long as you remain within the admin confines.

Bringing himself back to the present he quickly swung his legs out of bed and stepped into his one piece green coverall that bore the legend on the back of P in large white letter and glanced at the clock on the wall, there was no time to have a wash or food he had just two minutes to report to the central control.

Remembering the directions given to him on his very late arrival he headed through the door and turned right into a short corridor that had several doors in the right hand wall with a line of darkened windows on his left, the door he wanted was immediately ahead carrying the sign Restricted area authorised personnel only. He moved quickly to stand in front of it, raising his right hand he placed it on a panel in the door and waited, there was a buzz and the door clicked open, obviously he thought they had got his details sorted quickly as his palm print was read without trouble.

He found himself in a single cubicle as the door behind him closed and locked with a click, in front of him was a TV screen which glowed into life automatically and a disembodied voice spoke flatly, State your name . He replied equally flatly John Beresford, State your section and rank, Technical section, Grade 8, he replied, there was a slight pause. It is an offence to give incorrect information your reply is incorrect, state your section and rank.

He sighed, Special Prisoner, zero grade. The machine hummed briefly, Stand still while your status is verified, the machine started to quickly scan him, You are verified, you have dressed improperly, 5 credits are deducted from you account. He glanced at the mirror alongside the machine, one button on a breast pocket was unfastened, with the authorisation complete a further door opened to his right and he stepped into an empty control room as the door also closed and locked automatically behind him.

In the centre of the room was the all too familiar sight of a large transparent box in which were displayed small lights moving along pre determined lines, he recognised it immediately as the standard three dimensional display of the twelve level city rail system with the observation balcony above it.

He realised that he was in the main workshops of the rail system’s control room deep down on the second level where he had started as an apprentice so many years ago. Standing motionless he stared blankly ahead as his mind went back to just a few weeks ago.

From a distance the city looked like a huge pile of jumbled boxes which on closer examination were seen to be large pale yellow protection sheets of thin plastic hung or suspended over the entire building’s structure, in some places many had slipped or fallen away completely due to lack of attention.

Built as a walled city some ten miles across it was approaching about seven or eight hundred years old and had four levels underground which were a legacy of nuclear days and a further seven levels above ground, with the exception of a few scattered sheds in the surrounding countryside few people lived outside.

Three punitive nuclear wars had decimated most of the major centres of the world, and few capital cities escaped total destruction, the ones that did or at least their major command centres were the only places where a very small amount of the population survived protected in deep underground complexes. For several hundred years the human race teetered on the brink of extinction but by slowly modifying their living area and way of life and importantly finding ways to grow food again mankind survived.

Many of the cities left did not survive, the lack of sustainable facilities and local epidemics were too much to contain and due to the isolation brought on by vast areas of the earth too radioactive to cross no help in any quantity even if offered could be reached. The isolation increased as oil and gas stocks held in the few places that could still function could not be distributed efficiently because of the very high levels of radioactivity separating the populated areas.

Long distant transport was almost non existent, there was no commercial air transport but there was some very cautious co-operation between a few cities who shared the same seaboard if not in a contaminated area, goods and services were traded by stepping back in time and using sail, cautiously because there were many pirates and also foraging raids made by one city on another in their need for survival.

Cities that survived did so because they were fortunate in having an uncontaminated area large enough to grow basic food, in fact without that and a super efficient recycling system it is doubtful if any city would have survived.

In this instance the city had managed partially because of the large extent of uncontaminated arable land available and the foresight of the authorities to demilitarise the whole of the country and re locate all defence systems to the outer islands, even this failed to avoid nuclear strikes and resulted in much of the industrialised and important centres of the country being decimated.

Originally called London the city became know as L1 which was also their radio call sign. Little of the

original city had survived, but the death rate slowly increased due to epidemics that developed in closed communities and also one phenomenon, a type of radiation that appeared during daylight.

It took some time to discover a shield which gave protection, but this brought on it’s own problems as lack of full daylight on the body caused more sickness and increased the mortality rate considerably.

Due to the closeness of the river and access to the coast the city managed a small amount of trading with other cities, mainly the importing raw materials when available, a few artefacts and some technological information were exported. A rail link was extended from the east side of the city to the dock area in order to transport materials to and fro and although the working areas of the docks were shielded and individual protection suits were used it was very difficult to urge people to work in this environment.

The basic power source was provided originally by boring deep holes and using the earth’s internal heat to provide steam for their turbines but even with solar panels there was always a lack of power. Even the use of wind turbines mounted high up on the roof of the city in the ever constantly blowing wind, the power supply was poor.

Lighting fluctuated as power demands changed during the day until by much experiment it was found that by using many large collector domes on the roof, daylight could be fed into the deepest levels using fibre optics with no ill effects on people. This had two advantages, a more healthy population and with lighting needs supplied this way during the day only a small proportion had to be supplied by other means.

By the time all this had been mastered the population had shrunk to a level where the demand for power was much less and so they managed to cope, and also they survived by closing off many areas of many levels of the city that were now unused.

In it’s hey day the city had wide open areas and avenues lined with medium rank and executive status accommodation, the higher the rank the higher the city level, the lower ranks and married couples were allowed accommodation in lesser popular areas while the lowest ranks lived in single cubicle dormitories with separate ones for both sexes.

Due to the falling birth rate all children from birth were kept in creches and looked after by medical staff to try and reduce the mortality rate, some small success had been found in using this method.

Parent’s were allowed unlimited access with mothers being allowed to live with the child as and when they wished until it was deemed safe to allow the child into general society.

Marriage or partnerships were encouraged although religious groups who conducted the appropriate ceremonies were few, very small, and played no real part in the city’s daily life. But marriages by them were still recognised although the civil authority performed the majority of ceremonies. All partnerships were entitled to joint living accommodation regardless of their grade but on breaking up they would have to revert to their former accommodation.

Working was necessary and compulsory, usually a person was allowed choose their trade or profession, while retirement was only granted when the person was not considered fit to work, all retired people moved into supervised accommodation either in double or single units.

There were also dormitories for lower grade workers, apprentices, special duties and other small groups.

Following death there was a final service, over the years called by different names, and afterwards by law the body was claimed by the city when the rather gruesome but a necessary function was performed, the retrieval of suitable organs and even limbs for future use took place.

John had married Rose Thackery a grade three technical records assistant quite late in life at the age of 28 , Rose was 25 at the time, it was five years before their first child was born, a boy, Samuel, who unfortunately died suddenly aged only two. They were finally successful a year later when Clara was born ,but Rose decided to move into the creche worried about the possibility of second fatality in their family and remained there until Clara reached the age of seven when it was compulsory for all children to be taught in a city boarding academy but allowed to make regular visits home.

The marriage suffered due to this partial separation, when Rose returned to the family quarters she was about forty and John forty three, the original closeness of the family unit had long gone, and they started to follow their own interests. But they remained together as the alternative was for both to return to single unit living or in Rose’s case possibly the female dormitory of the technical section, the next major hiatus in their marriage was to be John’s arrest and being charged with murder.

Originally all large squares were open to the sky, each square being wider than the one beneath to allow in air and daylight in as much as possible until the yellow peril as it became know took effect. Then the topmost square in each tier had to be covered over.

The twin track rail system was very intricate running around all the squares and avenues on one level before depending on the direction moving up or down to the next level. There was also a direct connection service to each level and special purpose inclusions all that needed a computer to control it.

Manufacturing units of all kinds, shopping areas, recreation and in fact everything you would find in any city were abandoned entirely or in part on most levels as the population diminished until from about three quarters of a million souls there now remained a few thousand at the most.

Below ground the rail track ran in it’s own tunnels but above ground they ran in the spaces between buildings but totally screened, the stations in the abandoned areas screened from the track as well as from the outside area. Due to the design although large parts of the city on many levels were now abandoned the system had never been modified due to the enormous cost involved.

The transport workshops along with many manufacturing units, metal casting etc were on the next to lowest level, the lowest being used for automated refuse collection.

Day one

Still gazing absently at the three dimensional display John thought back to how it had all started.

A normal evening shift, and as a highly qualified a senior transport technician section manager now responsible for design and modification of the computerised control system he had worked himself up from a basic workshop fitter to foreman and then technical manager over some twenty five years and when on duty usually was to be found in the upper control balcony overlooking the control centre floor. On this night he was standing in on the control room floor for the night duty controller due to the man’s sudden sickness.

Private transport was in the form of small two and four