The Beacon
Part One: Humanity's Last Hope in the Dark Days
Green light pierced through the darkened halls on the Beacon, in the middle of the night as Shane slowly strutted down the halls not to wake his daughter, who slept soundly in her large room.
Against the opened bedroom door, he rested slightly against the frame as he sighed and watched the green light turning slowly outside in the cold restless night. It turned like a carousel, rhythmically flowing like an endless wave, roaring through the vast ocean.
The emerald beam turned on its axle as it spun around the dark world bringing transports and ships to its hideaway. But it was also a sign of hope as it signaled the end of the Dark Days, filtering hope in a despairing land.
Shane couldn’t possibly sleep, not with the last few days bringing agonizing mundaneness along with its ugly head, boredom.
At least it’s not like last year.
Everything had gone smoothly this year with no mishaps, resulting in Lord Shane Hatch retreating to his own hideout in his secluded courters along with his wife and daughter. There was not much to accomplish, this was the slow season, but the days, being endless nights, meshed together like perforated metal sheets.
Oh, how Amelia had grown since she had been born in the walls of the Beacon, the last hope humanity clung so tightly to. She had brought hope back into Shane and Esmeralda’s lives. They had married older and Esmeralda was thought to be barren after years of losing child after child, but with the arrival of Amelia, their lives had changed.
He remembered holding her and saying to himself, “I have so many things to learn, now.” He had to unlearn everything, about life as a Lord of a Beacon, a mayor of a massive tower indoor empire that held within it, armies and politics.
He had to be a husband, and now he had to be a father. How simple the other Beaconites had made being a parent. “Oh, you’ll do fine.” But he didn’t feel fine, especially following the first few years.
But now that Amelia was about to turn eleven, he loved her to death. He loved conversing with her and teaching her life on the Beacon, turning out to be just like her mother. Stubborn and strong-willed, never backing down from competition and a noble fight, but sensitive to the ones closest to her.
But Amelia was still a child and was scared of the darkness. Darkness that enveloped the world, the darkness that enveloped every human’s soul in these days. It was the darkness that blinded Shane’s lonely and doubting soul, doubting any sign of hope or faith in this godforsaken world.
Amelia stirred in her tiny bed as she abruptly shot up, terrified of who was watching her. “Who’s there? Go away!”
Shane rushed to her side, reassuring her, “Honey, it’s me. Daddy. Don’t worry.”
Shivering, she pulled her covers up over her head. “Don’t do that. Why’d you do that?”
“Sorry, I know sometimes you can’t sleep. I’m here, it’s OK. It’s just me.”
She pulled her blanket off her brown head and said, “Dad, does that light have to flash like that, all the time?”
“Can you not sleep with it?”
“No, it’s… always on, just flashing constantly.”
“Well, we can close your shade. How ‘bout that?” Dropping the drapes, the blazing green died out, leaving the room black. “Is that better?”
“Just darker.”
“Alright, get some rest, honey.” He said leaving to go.
“Dad?” Amelia said, anticipating him to leave but he halted.
“Yeah?”
“Why…” She hesitated, wanting to ask something but was afraid to ask her real question. He could sense something wrong.
“What is it?” But he didn’t press her.
“Why… why is the light green?”
Flat like an even driveway, fake but smooth, Shane passively said, “Green is the symbol of earth, the way it used to look. The way it ought to look. It brings us hope.”
She gulped and waited patiently for her father to comfort her but he didn’t.
“Well, how about we turn on your night light? OK?” she nodded silently.
Shane went over to her left side and said, “Light, on.” It turned on after a moment, shimmering until it shined an orange hue across her scared face. Lines came across his face as he emotionally, distant, stared at her.
“It’s OK, to be scared, alright? It’s what you do with it that matters.”
She looked from him to the darkened drapes and finally said after a moment in the eerie silence, “OK.”
“OK? Goodnight, sweetheart.” And he kissed her on her forehead as he slipped out into the hallway.
Red specks lighted up on the floorboards of the hallway, guiding him to his aimless destination. He wanted to be alone tonight and was restless. But he didn’t know why. All he knew at that moment was that he needed a cigarette.
He went through his sunroom and then through his large dining room in the empty mansion where his family dwelt.
Finally, he opened the door to the outer portion of his apartment-like house and crept downstairs which led to a giant staircase with multiple landings and different stairs, leading to varying places. The platforms and stairs were held up high, towering over him as he looked up at them in awe for a moment.
Descending, he found a door to the Core where all the mechanical clogs, bells, and whistles held the machinery for the power generators. They were old and rusty, ancient machines built over two decades ago.
They hadn’t been updated for years, maintenance was becoming more infrequent with the passing years as older mechanics were becoming unable to perform the tasks and duties necessary to sustain the entire system. Others were dying out. In the expansive city of the Beacon, there weren’t enough people to train to become mechanics so competent workers with the proper training and expertise needed were available.
Slowly becoming obsolete, newer technologies were making it easier to overlook complicated materials and gadgets that were designed during the peak of the Beacon’s prosperity.
As he squirmed his way through the many machines, Shane pushed through the door leading outside to a serene, nice-sized balcony that few knew existed. As he took out a cigarette and lit its tobacco end with his blow torch lighter, he saw his best friend, Hue.
“What the hell are you doin’ up,” Hue asked, sarcastically sitting in a chair. “Come for a midnight cap?” he said blowing smoke and raising his flask with a gesture of camaraderie.
“I came to escape from you. Thanks,” he said taking the flask and sipping some. “Damn, that’s brutal.”
“It’s gotta be strong, just like our spirits.” Hue gestured to the wooden chair next to him. “How’re you doin?”
“Miserable, as always.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad?” He lit another cigarette.
“I’m just tired,” Shane said, rubbing his face. “I can’t sleep, Hue.”
“That makes two of us. Es, is gonna miss ya.”
“Yeah well, she can live for a few hours.”
“How is she doin’? How’s Amelia,” Hue asked, sincerely.
“Better than most. Es, is a gem. She’s got a good disposition for what she’s been through. Amelia… Amelia’s scared. I don’t know… I don’t know what to tell her.”
“You know what my father used to say?”
“Yeah, that’s what I tell her, ‘It’s OK to be scared. It’s what you do with it that matters.’”
“Doesn’t that work?”
“Hue, it’s not that it doesn’t work, it… It confuses her. She doesn’t believe it. I don’t know what to say to her. Nothing I say comforts her.”
“Shane, that’s not true, you have what it takes. You’re the Lord of the Bradford Beacon, nothing stops you. I never known you to be frightened by anything.”
“It’s different, man. My days just go by in staleness now. I feel so disconnected from everything.”
“Cabin fever.”
“Maybe,” Shane said, rubbing his luminous brown beard.
“You gotta stop stayin’ in your courters so much.”
“I know.”
“You don’t visit the men like you used to. I noticed this session, you’re more distant. Come down for meals, maybe lodge with me some times. Stop by. You, Es, and Amelia can always stay for dinner. You know that.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Even at the end of the world, you can still enjoy things.”
“I know, Hue, I just see nowhere out of this ridiculous place.”
“Sir, with all due respect, no one told you to sign up for this but yet, here you are, here I am, and now we’re in this mess for the next six months together. So buckle up, bud.
“It’s just started, relax. You’re just readjusting. And who knows maybe after this, you take a little break? Back home, they make Lords take sabbaticals. This your third one, right?”
“As Lord, yeah, but I’ve been aboard many different Beacons for years.”
“Yeah, you need to take a breather, man.”
Opening his flask again, he swigged his last drop as he sighed. Hue looked out into the green light again that circled on a swivel on top of them. It shined its mighty powerful beam around the entire vicinity of the Beaconite’s abode.
Shane looked out at the horizon where a little bit of sun shined through and over behind the Mountains, where Ultimum Spes, the East Coast’s last known civilization, was hidden away a month’s journey back home. The sunshine peeked through, coming into the men’s conversation for a moment and then disappearing faintly into the darkened skies.
The beginning of a new series, The Beacon.