The Metal World: A New Beginning

By James Gaughran

Set in a world where daylight is a luxury and thousands are living obediently there are a contingent that want to know more, that want to find out why they are not privileged enough to go to the top and who generally feel they are being lied to. Are they right? Only time will tell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781326936778

Book preview

The Metal World: A New Beginning

The Metal World Trilogy:

A New Beginning

Prologue

The sun hung low in the sky, it was early evening and the last of the days rays of light were flooding through into the small oak furnished office. In the office hung ornate and glamorous ornaments and decor, it was clearly the office of someone of importance. A young man sat behind the desk sitting deep in thought, he had dark brown hair and a brown neatly trimmed beard that ran along a chiselled jaw. His eyes, one grey, one blue seemed hazed and it wasn’t until there was a knock at the door his concentration seemed to return.

Come in, The man shouted, his voice gentle and welcoming.

A tall slim man entered the room, he was dressed immaculately and quite stylish, he had a cheeky smile on his face which made him look like someone always up to a bit of mischief. He walked over to the man and they hugged briefly.

How are you brother? He asked.

Not good J-Mac, Was the response.

Have we heard anything from the Lunar Site yet?

Nothing, I’m extremely concerned now, The man replied.

What was the last transmission we received? Could it be Afantic? J-Mac asked. The man shook his head. He tapped away at a small touch screen keypad at his desk causing a second screen to rise.

This was the last thing we had.

The screen illuminated and then a dark image appeared, it was a recording and showed two men as they stepped from a Lunar Rover. The image was from the perspective of one of the men so all they could see of him was his arms raising every now and again, they were outside a large cave and were slowly moving towards this.

J-Mac watched quietly as they entered the cave and he could clearly see the shadows of other creatures, hundreds of them, all motionless. He gasped out loud as one or two of them turned to face the new arrivals.

What are they? He asked the other man.

We do not yet know, we managed to get one back to Earth the other day, The man told him.

And you didn’t tell anyone? J-Mac snapped angrily. This is of Global significance!

While the world is not united I will not share anything with anyone other than our own continent!

But we’re resolving the issue with Afantic, J-Mac snarled, he was about to continue but was cut short by what was now happening on the screen, all the other creatures seemed to turn their heads in unison and face the two men. Their eyes were large Black pupil less eyes that looked evil and all on them on the two men was intimidating enough.

All the creatures suddenly seemed to move at once, the image was spun around in chaos as the man turned to try and run. He fell and there was a moment of blackness then the image of the creatures all around him before just static. J-Mac stood looking at the screen in horror.

What does this mean? He asked.

We are at war with another species, The man replied.

Chapter One

Some people take for granted the feel of a cool breeze that softly blows through their hair and gently strokes their cheek. Some people take for granted the warmth of the sun as it’s glow hugs them in its embrace making all it looks upon glow. Some people take for granted the feel of falling rain that soaks into their skin refreshing their whole aura, but there are some people that don’t. There are some people that dream of the day they will see the true sky and watch as the sun slowly climbs to the top of its zenith before resting once again. There are some people who cry through the night at the memory of what living outside The Walls is like and what it feels like to watch as the clouds crawl through the sky, very few but they cry none the less. There are some Most people who have never even known this, where snow, sun and rain are all just something from fairy tales, a myth that is passed from generation to generation.

A war had made these people live this way and they believed a war was what was needed to give them a chance to truly experience nature again, a chance for them to live on The Top, for them to be treated as people again instead of the forgotten scavengers they had near enough become. The Top, it was said, was full of beauty that rested high above the smog that had been the cause of its creation. The smog was all that kept those on the ground from attempting to reach the top due to the way in which their metal prison had been designed in three layers, The Ground, The Smog and then The Top. There was one way up to The Top and that was through The Cargo Elevator which was only used to recruit young soldiers. Of course with being a soldier the only way to have a life on The Top many of the young lads dreamed of becoming soldiers.

The Ground wasn’t the nicest of places to live. As with anywhere it had its rough and posh areas. The ideal place to live was near to The Cargo Elevator which is where The Ground Prime Minister lived and The Ground Chamber was based, the best and most expensive lad’s school was also based in this area where many of its top pupils were chosen as soldiers for The Top. This upper class area around The Cargo Elevator known as A1 had the best of houses and light. Tall three or four story buildings made of brick, streets of tarmac and concrete with grass and flowers all kept neat and tidy, primed and trimmed to perfection. Street lamps that managed to light up the area with a bright white glow as strong as day that was dimmed at night to give the impression of difference as though the sun were changing like it did on The Top. This was the snobby, posh part of town. They were so pretentious they had actually built a wall around them keeping the Riff-Raff out, only a small one as brick was very precious however it was one that was guarded by members of the lad’s school that didn’t make soldier, and there were two gateways either side that could be entered through, though rarely ever exited out of.

The area around this known as A2 was drastically different. It was made up of two large shanty towns and tucked away in the corner was the home of the merchants, there was also a market place a small school and The Farms.

The Farms were where all the food and power for the whole of The Bottom came from. Where fruit, vegetables were grown and also meat and fish was battery produced as this was actually the only way that meat was available. The merchants got the first pick of all things produced in the farms as these were then sold inside A1 at extortionate rates that made the merchants quite rich. They were the most respected by the ordinary folk of A2 as they could pass in and out of A1 as they pleased and every now and again, when a merchant had made enough money, they would move into A1 and get the chance to give their children an opportunity to move to the Top.

This meant that Merchants were the ideal prospective parents for children in The Grounds only orphanage. Regardless of where a child was born they ended up in this orphanage which was an extension of the school in A2. This orphanage knew not many of the population in A1 really cared for adopting these children and a lot of people in A2 already had large families generally and those that didn’t couldn’t usually afford the costs involved in adoption and then afford to maintain a child anyway which meant that Merchants were pretty much the only people that would and could but adopted mostly only those from birth. This meant that a large percentage of A2 was actually born and raised in the orphanage.

It was in this orphanage that a young woman, not even yet an adult, fell pregnant. She never told anyone who the father was and he never stepped forward to claim responsibility but she still wanted to have her child. She had never felt love in her life, her mother had been a drug addict and her father she had never known. He was rumoured to have been an important Merchant that had eventually moved into A1. He but had not wanted anything to do with her mother when he found out she was pregnant as he already had a family of his own.

This love child was called Lucy and now she too was in a similar situation to her mother, single, pregnant and in care. Although only 17 Lucy seemed years beyond her age, she hung around The Pits which was one of two places in the whole of The Ground that was licensed to sell alcohol and for gambling but without a proper police force to monitor the area there were several Illegal places that also offered these services. Lucy drank and smoked and acted like a rebel without a cause, she loved the attention from the men that could be found in the pits and especially the failed soldiers that walked round them promoting the law and making sure nothing unseemly happened as any legal establishment was require to employ soldiers to monitor this. One failed soldier in particular caught Lucy’s eye and his name was Denta.

Lucy was slim and had long blond hair that reached far down her back, she had a fine jaw structure and blinding blue eyes, they looked like two deep blue oceans and seemed to be able to capture the heart of any man. All Lucy felt she had was the attention of the guys in The Pit who now she was pregnant weren’t interested in her, it took her a long time to realise that this child was a blessing. She now had focus and direction but most of all she had a child that would love her and depend on her like nothing else. This very thought raised her hopes and her heart and filled her with a sense of joy but sadly things weren’t to be as happy as she had hoped.

The first seven months of the pregnancy ran as smoothly as could be, she pottered along slowly growing larger and getting together all her baby essentials. The orphanage she was raised in provided her with a small house in one of the shanty towns for her to live in. They moved her into the one furthest away from the pits. This shanty town was considered the better of the two as it was located less than five minutes from the gates of A1 and was also in between the school and the market place meaning she had all she needed in close proximity.

It was a quiet night, as far as night could be distinguished in The Ground, Lucy was busy cooking her dinner. Her home was only one room so she lay on her bed whilst her diner slowly stewed over an open fire, the news played through a radio in the corner of the room but Lucy paid it no attention and it was just an inaudible noise in the back of her mind. A car drove past the shanty town which quickly shook Lucy from her daze at the same time on the radio a name caught her ear, Mock.

Mock was Denta’s brother though there were no two people so completely different. While Denta had become a Guard when he had not been chosen to be a Soldier Mock had taken the opposite path, he hung round the Pitt’s and become one of the top gangsters in the area. He had a nice brick house among the Merchants and made a lot of money selling drugs and running illegal bars, Lucy had been drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He was rough, wild and fearless but what she enjoyed most about him was that he was powerful. He was the type of person that could make a room fall silent just by entering it, that although he had to large bodyguards with him at all time he didn’t really need them as no one was brave enough to touch him, even the Guards that policed the pits and the entire Ground wouldn’t touch him, though he would give them little pay off’s to keep it that way and also for inside information on raids and such like. He was unofficially in charge of A2 and it was even considered he had a huge amount of control on A1 and even the council itself.

Lucy had loved the fast life, the power and security that he had offered, Mock showed Lucy the tiniest of affection but it was enough to keep her happy and he filled her with as much drink and drugs as she wanted until one day a new Guard came onto the scene, Denta. He stood up to Mock straight away and began dismantling his criminal empire and this caught Lucy’s eye. Denta would stroll around the pits and burst into an unlicensed bar without any planning or warning and just shut it down. Despite all this there was never once any rumour that Mock even offered Denta a back hander to keep him under control, it seemed that Denta was unstoppable to Mock as he would not be paid off and Mock never sent any of his men after Denta. Lucy slowly got to know Denta and became very affectionate of him as he did with her, Mock saw this and became violent towards Lucy until she eventually left Mock.

Weeks later the power was cut off in the Merchant town of A2 and in the darkness a mass raid took place and Mock was arrested and imprisoned by Denta. Immediately suspicion fell on Lucy as perhaps setting Mock up until Denta came forward with the shocking revelation that he and Mock were actually brothers. Outrage spread like wild fire through Mock’s gang that his own brother had done this to Mock whilst Mock himself not once touched Denta when he could have struck and destroyed him at any time before.

Riots broke out in the streets of A2 as and Guards struggled to contain this them. Innocent people got caught up but Guards struck everyone and anyone with the same ferocity, the enforced a zero tolerance policy until the riots died down, but now and most the people in A2 now both hated and despised the Guards, although they also now had less of a tolerance towards the Gangsters that had once run the Pits so for years all had been quite in A2, until now.

As Lucy listened to the news story being broadcasted her heart froze and panic soaked her from head to foot. She knew Mock like the back of her hand and he would bare a grudge whether it was for reasons that were true or not. He was not prepared to listen to reason or truth and so for this reason she had lived with fear at the back of her mind that Mock would one day come after her, fear that was suppressed by the knowledge he was in prison and would never be released, fear that had now peaked and was stabbing her violently in her stomach as the news reader was telling the whole of the ground that Mock had escaped from the prison.

Although the prison was situated far away in a corner of the secluded area of A3 Lucy knew that Mock would come looking for her. She frantically grabbed as much as she could from her shanty hut and shoved it all into a bag before she ran out and headed to the only place she knew she would have a chance of being safe, a pub called The Square Peg which was just outside the walls of A1 near the Eastwards gate.

One of the reasons she felt safe here was that one of her childhood friends, Blake, ran this place called Blake, she knew him well and he had eventually managed to set up his pub when he was 26, three years previously. Lucy had met him in the pits once and he had shown her away from the area to the safety of his pub when Mock had become violent one time. When he found out she was pregnant he had immediately offered to help her and on several occasions he had been down to see her and bring her gifts both for the baby and for her. He had his own set of failed soldiers that guarded his pub and would listen to him regardless of danger or hazard.

Now Lucy crept through the shanty town towards the pub as best she could. Soon the lights would go to their dimmest during the night and hopefully she would be able to get through the town and to the pub with as few people noticing her as possible. She wanted as few people as possible to even notice her skulk through the shadows to prevent Mock finding out where she was headed as best she could. Her heart beat three times as quick as usual and she already felt drained from the fear. She felt once she reached the pub she would be safe.

It took her two hours to get there which, considering she was pregnant and trying hard to avoid being seen by anyone, she felt quite pleased about. The pub stood tall in front of her, it was a four storey building made of large bricks and excellent well kept pinewood as decorative beams that ran across the face of the building, in large neon letters was the name of the pub. A light shone down from the building lighting up the door which was a large steel one and dressed in light grey were two men standing shoulder to shoulder blocking the way to the door, the pub’s guards, the bouncers, failed soldiers that had known Blake for years and had decided to work for him instead of following the majority of failed soldiers and becoming street Guards policing The Ground. These men were tall and muscular, they both wore long light grey trench coats which were The Square Peg’s trademark bouncer outfit. Both men had short bleached hair with a tattoo that crept out from behind their right ear. They eyed Lucy curiously as she approached the doors, Lucy felt slightly nervous as she had not met these two before.

I’ve come to see Blake, She stated nervously. These men were like two brick walls that towered above Lucy and prevented her from getting in.

Sorry love, we’ve been told not to let anyone in that we don’t know tonight so we can’t let you in. Besides you barely look old enough anyway. The bouncer on the right said. Lucy felt a bit panicky now, she did not want to be stuck outside and if Blake had not wanted strangers in she knew he must be worried about something. Blake and Mock had had a few run ins in the past, nothing too serious though or else Blake most likely wouldn’t be running the pub now or indeed anywhere other than in a shallow grave.

Please I need to see him. I can wait here if you want, one of you could easily keep an eye on me whilst the other gets Blake for me. Please he would want to see me because I am in danger. Tell him Lucy is at the door asking for him and I’m sure he’d let me in straight away, Lucy begged the man. The two bouncers looked at each other before turning around so Lucy could not hear them and began to quickly chat amongst themselves before they both turned back facing her in unison.

I’ll go and speak to him if you just wait here, The bouncer on the left told her as he stepped back and disappeared behind the door. Lucy was left alone with the other bouncer now in an awkward silence, she could see he was watching her though trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid not looking as though he was do it inconspicuously. She looked up at him and smiled.

After a few moments there was the sound of a distant voice before rushed footsteps could be heard coming closer to the door. Lucy stared eagerly in anticipation for Blake’s face to appear at the door. before On cue there it appeared, a round, balding head with a smile that beamed down on Lucy from cheek to cheek. Although Blake was not old his hair has slowly started thinning in his mid twenties till not much was not left, of what was left was still a deep hazel colour and wisped across his head. The corners of his dark brown eyes showed the beginnings of wrinkles, probably formed due to that fact he would smile a lot. He was a bit of a short stubby man and looked tiny behind the bouncer but he was surprisingly strong and forced the man out of the way.

Let her past! Let her past! This is one of my most treasured friends! Thank you! Blake was now ushering Lucy into the pub, Lucy looked about her at the familiar scenes and smells. Blake had a quick word with one of the bouncers before rushing after her.

Lucy let the smells readjust themselves back in her nostrils, the smoke and beer and smell of cooking food. The corridor was quite long and had three rooms that led off them and also as along with a set of stairs that led to the second floor lounge and then to the rooms in the inn. There were also a couple of rooms on the floors above them for private guests to drink and socialize with minimal interruption however Lucy never used these rooms, she preferred to be with all the friendly faces in the main bar room as they sang songs or told stories of times past or argued about the state of politics at the minute though Lucy was sure none of them really understood what they were on about.

This time however, Lucy wanted to be alone, somewhere she could speak to Blake without anyone else around and so walked past each room to the end of the corridor where the stairs were before she stopped and waited for Blake to catch up and show her the way.

The Stairs were quite steep and creaked loudly as though groaning with the effort of continually being used. Once at the top the upstairs lounge was to the left and to the right was another corridor that lead to a second staircase, numbered doors ran along either side of the corridor where guests could sleep until at the end of the corridor a door on the left was marked with the words Management Only on a silver placard and as they drew nearer Blake began to fumble in his pocket with his keys, trying to find the correct key for the door. He grabbed a large bronze key and shoved it into the lock which groaned whilst the key was turned before there was a loud click and the door creaked open.

The room Lucy looked in at now was smaller than the lounges which is what she had expected but it was still quite a large room, much larger than she had thought and much larger than the guest rooms, in fact nearly three times the size of the guest rooms. It had a beautiful chandelier which hung low in the centre of the room above a beautifully crafted oak table, along the far wall was a large seating area which consisted of a three-seater sofa and to comfy chairs, all were a deep blood red leather and in the middle was a glass coffee table. Along the wall closest to the door was a small bar which no doubt if a group of people had wanted a private drink they would be able to have a trustworthy bar staff to serve them. Lucy walked in and looked around the room, it was neat and tidy and had a small fire in one corner which Blake walked over to and put on for her.

Would you like anything to eat or drink my dear? Blake asked Lucy whilst showing her to the sofa to sit down and rest on.

Just a tea please Blake, She replied. Lucy now felt a lot calmer and much more secure now she was safely tucked away with Blake. Blake walked over to a kettle and flicked the switch for it to boil, he then walked behind the bar and grabbed two tea cups and a plate which he quickly set out an array of biscuits upon. He placed these onto the coffee table as the kettle hissed and clicked, he walked back and filled up the cups and grabbed a silver milk container and brought that over with him also.

I presume you’re here because of the news about Mock? Blake pried looking over at