1.5 The
Call was heeded
The land was not all wasted by the war; there are
pockets of it that people could still live in. More so, where there was water
to be found; abundance of it from under the ground or pouring into the breaks
in the stone walls. Mankind was greedy but they were not stupid. Nuclear
warfare was ruled out years ago, but the stealth of Mankind came up with
sustainable alternative warfare tools; that would damned the land for eternity
but ravished it for a period.
‘Starved the enemy, or deplete their resources but
keep it safe when the conqueror takes over’. It was not a foolish aim, as it
was done for centuries before until the emergence of nuclear capability. For
fifty years, the world held onto their sanity that no one would be insane to release
that bomb, although we had many scares with it. Finally, they all relented and
gave up on that, and resorted to the above concept.
Sustainable warfare created new bombs; new army and
new methods with biological and chemical advancement but it still yield the
same results; total destruction and loss of lives. The result was only one
fifth of the land on Earth was spared, with the rest reduced to wasteland or
radiated land with time as its caretaker. Man's new form of warfare did not
break the land it ravished but made it suffered for years.
What was once the main continent of United Europe
was now left with sporadic settlements like the one here. It was once a proud
city of Saint Petersburg; founded in 1703 by the Great Tsar then, lived through
the two World wars, destroyed by the Third before it was left to decay to this
day.
Saint Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia
until 1918, when the central government bodies moved to Moscow. It had a
population of over 15 million just before the war. It was a major United
European cultural center, with annual festivals and events held there. The
United Europe displayed their cultures there for the world. Great monuments
were built then to made it more prominent to the other nations. All that came
down during the war and from a dense fifteen million, now only remained less
than two millions lived in fright and starvation. They are safe there with the
regular patrols provided by the protector of the city; the Orthodox Faith
Division of Saint Petersburg. There the two million or so inhabitants were fed
with the crops or hunts that the protector undertakes for them, besides given
them security protection from bandits or wild creatures. They had formed
boundaries which the inhabitants are kept safe and each day that boundary was
expanding to meet the new intake of refuges or once they have cleared the space
of bandits.
The Protector of the re-born Saint Petersburg city was
the members of the sect that occupied the Peter and Paul Fortress at the Neva
River. The fortress that sat on the island by the Neva River; had six bastions
initially with its walls built of clay and then brick walls were added later.
It also houses the Peter and Paul Cathedral
which was the destination of the machine rider.
The rider rode over the bridge that linked it to the
island where the fortress sat, with fully auto-rotary laser cannons embankment
build on it. The fortress was out of bound for the outside inhabitants who
camped across in the ruins of the once great city. The once flourishing river
was now a low laying river with rancid water in it.
"Welcome back, Geranium." The sentry at
the bridge greeted the rider when she stopped to identify herself. It was not
necessary but protocol must be heeded.
"Thank you, Senior Thaddeus." Geranium
lowered her helmet field and smiled at the older guard there. Thaddeus have
been a sentry there for over thirty years before and after the war. He wore his
uniform of the green shades shirt with matching pants tucked into a dark knee
high boots. There was a streak of red band that was seen as a vertical down the
right side of his shirt. The emblem of the cross was on his left side of the
shirt. The sentry had on his waist belt, the phaser similar to Geranium, and on
his back was the rifle version of it.
There were four others in the sentry post but they
were busy monitoring the bridge for any intrusion.
"Raise the defense shields now." A series
of defenses shields were deactivated while Geranium rode her machine to the
Fortress. She had to swerve her ride as there were embankments build there to
prevent anyone driving a vehicle in directly. They learned enough from the
suicides attempts made before.
Geranium parked the machine at the designated place
in front of the cathedral. She dismounted and was met by another dressed in the
simple priest robes.
"Good day, Brother Sergei. I would have
expected you to be busy with Father Timon burdening you with works."
Geranium taunted the good servant of the Faith with her sarcastic remarks.
"Yes, my dear Geranium. He burdens me with more
of his translation, but he adds onto me the works of bringing you to him upon
you arrival." Brother Sergei was a tall man with a narrow expression on
his drawn face with his middle age looks. He served the Faith since his youth
when he forego all materials of Man and embraced his love for theology.
"I am sure I can find my way to his
chamber.....alone.... And safe." I smiled at the priest who was lead me
there.
"True, but your route seems to take a longer
time and he ...how may I placed it; strained his concept of patience." The
priest wished to rush me, but he was bound by rules not to grapple with another
gender, more so one like Geranium who may break his spine with two moves of her
own. He was full aware of her fighting skills which had made two instructor
regrettably 'retired with grace'.
"Hush, hush my dear..." Sergei pushed her
on with his hurried words.
"Patience is the companion of wisdom...”
Geranium quoted Saint Augustine' words to Sergei who frowned at her.
"Quote me not, and haste is on thy feet."
Sergei ignored the lady and walked himself back inside the Cathedral. Geranium
followed close and then she adds to his words.
"Am I really a burden?" Geranium recalled
the earlier lines of the priest. Sergei stopped in his tracks and turned back
to looked at her.
"I have read in Plato and Cicero
sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of
them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden."
Sergei smiled as quoted the Saint Augustine words this time. And then add on.
"Yes, you are. Come now, child."
Like
the obedient child, Geranium followed the older man.
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