"Do you believe in ghosts?" John quietly asked, looking at Alexa. It seemed that if he said it any louder, he would break the invisible barrier between our world and the otherworldly, unleashing all the horrors hidden in the Third District.
"Ghosts?" Alexa looked at him in confusion, lowering her voice.
"Do you mean what remains of a person when they die?"
"Yes, what remains after us."
"No. And don't think about it."
They walked on the scorched earth. The wind occasionally stirred up dust, but John did not breathe this destroyed past — the energy field of his suit protected him. The red sun illuminated the path they were walking— neither alive nor dead. There was nothing around but emptiness. There had likely been fields here once. Maybe something was cultivated. Now it was just barren land. The Wanderers, used to the sterility of the Compound, carefully stepped through the dust, leaving footprints that showed no hint of cleanliness.
What was once a flourishing paradise had become a semblance of hell. Or maybe it was hell. Jonathan pondered the people who had died here. Was it quick? Did they feel fear, the inevitability of death? In any case, now it was just dust.
Silence surrounded them. Only their breathing disrupted the familiar stillness. There were no smells. The air was so empty that it felt like they weren't even breathing. Alexa glanced up. The red sky looked like a nightmarish vision. Dark clouds made it resemble wine. What if they died in the crash of the Hawk and their souls now wandered in the void, believing they could escape?
"What if they do exist?" John suddenly asked. "Millions who perished that night might still be here."
"Damn it, John!" Alexa replied sharply, as if the invisible wall had cracked. "Can you not say that out loud? This emptiness already presses down like a factory press."
John smiled slightly as he looked at her. Alexa sighed and managed a faint smile in return.
"Don't think about the dead," her voice trembled slightly. It was clear she was asking that question too. "It's just dust under our feet. Literally."
They had been walking for over forty minutes northwest, but had encountered neither trees nor wreckage. Nothing.
"It's going to get dark soon," Alexa said. John already knew that. Time was pressing, and they needed to find something — wreckage of the Hawk, Ether, anything that could provide them with parts or open a way to the Cradle. Otherwise, they would have to turn back. And that meant the end of the project.
Suddenly, John noticed a building in the distance. A tower was visible beyond the hills. Its size suggested that it was the ruins of a factory or something similar.
"Look!" he exclaimed, pointing. "What is that?"
"An old building," Alexa replied, squinting. "Looks like a factory. If so, there might be Ethers or Hawks there."
"Anything is better than nothing," John breathed out in relief.
They moved toward the structure, which grew larger with each step. The bent metal walls could hide something valuable. The building looked ominous: rusty metal, shattered windows, and yet it had survived. The energy weakened at the borders of the Third District, preventing the Collapse from completely destroying it.
"It's not a factory," Alexa whispered. "It's a railway station. Interdistrict one."
"Even the tracks are still intact," John noted. "There might be a train inside."
"Wait..." Alexa stopped him, raising her hand. "It's a depot. A train yard."
"Do you think...?"
"Forward."
They hurried toward the building, descending the hill, and soon saw several railway tracks. A train stood on one of them. The damaged body and shattered windows indicated wear, but it could still move — at least, that's what Alexa thought.
"We need to notify the others," John said, pulling out the transmitter. His finger was already touching the contact button.
"Stop," Alexa halted him. "We're not alone. If they notice our signal, we'll be detected. We are over four kilometers away from the Hawk."
"There's no one here."
"You think so?" Alexa frowned. "Turn on the thermal vision."
John touched his wrist, activating the thermal vision. A screen flared to life before his eyes — twenty-five thermal signatures moved inside the building.
"Marauders," he whispered. "What do we do?"
"We go back, gather everyone, and storm in."
"Are you serious? We're just going to barge in?"
"These are marauders," Alexa interrupted him. "They don't care about life. Thieves and murderers who escaped before being sent to the Tenth District. Let's leave before they notice us. Activate camouflage."
They activated the camouflage. One could see a slight distortion appearing around them, like a shield being activated. But once it closed, their bodies dissolved into the air, leaving only emptiness behind.
In the distance, a few armed men were visible. They looked dirty, as if they had forgotten what a shower was. Though it was no surprise: water had ceased to flow here after the Collapse. They were likely collecting rainwater. "And is the rain also red?" thought John.
An hour later, they returned. Where the Hawk had been, there was only a pile of burning metal. Amanda stood nearby, bandaging her arm.
"What happened here?" Alexa quickened her pace.
"Short circuit, fire, and explosion," Amanda said, cutting the bandage with scissors. "Fortunately, I was just thrown back by the blast wave. But I managed to unload weapons, portable radar, and most importantly —this little guy," She tapped her foot on the metal box.
"What is that?" John looked at the metal cube with holes.
"Energy source. Emergency, modified," Amanda sat on the cube as if it were a chair. "It's designed for emergencies. If there are many Convergence Points around and no exit is found, it will emit radiation that closes them. We'll have enough time to get out.
"Can they be closed?" John asked, surprised.
"Not for long. Just for a few minutes. That's how the Rift Gates were closed. The explosion created a powerful impulse that sealed the rift. This cube will only generate temporary radiation to close the Convergences. Once we leave the area, they will reopen."
"At least there's a plan..." Alexa began, but Samantha and James approached. In the distance, the figures of Manuel and Ivan appeared.
"How's it going?" Amanda asked, lighting a cigarette.
"Poor hawk," Manuel sighed. "Nothing lasts forever; even birds have their final flight."
"It's empty there, nothing," Ivan added.
"Same for us," James said. "We found debris from the Ether, but nothing valuable. It doesn't even matter now."
"I hope your situation is better," Amanda addressed John and Alexa.
"We found a depot," John said. Amanda extinguished her cigarette and moved closer.
"Where?"
"Five kilometers away. But there are marauders. About twenty-five of them."
"Damn."
"Not the first time," Ivan replied.
"They can be easily taken down," Manuel noted.
"Are we going to be that ruthless?" Samantha asked. "They're still people."
The commander paused for a moment, assessing the chances of success. Considering that the marauders were holed up in the depot... There might be something useful there.
"Not anymore," Amanda replied coldly. "They are no longer citizens of the Consolidated Nation, which means they're a threat. Given that they will shoot first, we must beat them to it." She lit another cigarette. "Are you sure the train is operational?"
"We haven't checked, it's too dangerous," Alexa replied.
"Bad," Amanda said.
"What are we going to do?" James asked, ready for any outcome.
"We have two options," she said, sitting on a crate. "First: Ivan and Manuel will set up an energy field emitter around the Hawk, activate the radars of the Convergence Points, and we'll rest. At dawn, while they're asleep, we'll attack. The Wanderers will infiltrate using cloaking systems. One group will clear the way to the main control block and open the gates, while the other will deal with the rest. Ivan will go with you," she nodded to Manuel, "sorry, but he handles weapons better. While you fight, Manuel and I will start the train."
"And the second?" John hoped for a peaceful solution.
"Second," Amanda looked at him, "is to leave now."
"Now?" John was exhausted, like everyone else.
"Yes," Amanda pondered, her gaze resting on the emptiness between two hills. "They're near the border. They probably have tracking systems, so they've already spotted our Hawk. The only question is when they'll find it. We can't wait."
"So they know we're here?" Alexa asked.
"I don't think so," Amanda inhaled from her cigarette. "If they knew, they would have already attacked. They're looking for us. It's been three hours; they'll be here soon, maybe just over that hill."
"I agree. We can't wait," Ivan supported.
"Wait," John intervened. "Are we really going to kill them? Isn't that a crime?"
"John," the woman approached, "I understand you've spent your whole life among green trees and metal towers that reach the sky. And I don't think you've ever held a weapon, let alone shot one before the Fracture Project. But don't forget: you are one of the Wanderers, venturing into other worlds. What awaits you beyond the fracture won't care whether you want to live or die. It will just kill you. It doesn't matter if it is human or another being. It will kill you. And the choice to kill it first or not will only be yours. The end of your journey will depend solely on you," Amanda patted him on the shoulder. "So what will you do? There," she pointed toward the hill, "live people who survive through murder and robbery. They only care about themselves. They'll shoot you in the head without a second thought, just to take your suit and sell it through their channels in the tenth district. They don't care about you. To them, you're meat wearing a something useful, and..."
"Enough," Alexa interrupted. "We all get it. John," she placed her hand on his shoulder, "the guns have a stun mode. The charge isn't strong enough to kill, but it's enough to wound them. I'll do the same. A burst of energy will injure, cause intense pain, and they'll lose consciousness." Alexa shifted her gaze to Amanda. "Is this how you always are?"
"Ha," the woman smirked, "only here. Together, where there's neither life nor death. Where there's only emptiness. And to survive here, I'm ready to break moral principles. Don't forget, the Consolidated Nation lies beyond quarantine. Its rules don't apply here." Amanda tossed the cigarette butt onto the scorched earth and stamped it out with her foot. "We move out in fifteen minutes."
Each of them scattered in different directions. A few minutes later, James approached John, trying to support him, but John refused to listen.
"I'm not the one to say whether it's right or wrong," James placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, "but it's what needs to be done."
"We're not killers," John replied. "We're Wanderers. We will pass through worlds. Our task is to reach the end," the young man was serious. "Yes, we can shoot, we're ready to shoot, but only if there's no other way. These people live here."
"We don't. But they do. They've killed, John. That's why the Tenth District exists, to contain them," James turned to Amanda. "In some ways, she's right. They will make their choice in an instant. And you?"
Jonathan was silent. Inside, he knew very well that Amanda, in her crude way, was right. What are you willing to do to survive? Will you sink to killing your kind if there's a chance to live? Looking at Amanda, John realized she had already crossed that checkpoint. She had crossed the line. He didn't know the circumstances and reasons, but she made a choice and paid for it. She had taken a life. And survived. By agreeing to this journey, John understood he would have to make choices. But he didn't think they would be like this.
Now he could lower the charge and just wound one of the marauders, but what then? Would he stand at the border between good and evil, where morality dissolves and ceases to exist? Would he cross that line? Could he? And what then?
While James was trying to talk to John, Samantha was reviewing the schematics of the Cradle. She knew that nothing remained of the Cradle, but they would have to navigate through the debris to reach the Rift Gates hall, where only a crater from the explosion was left in place of the Cradle. Preliminary estimates indicated that there was an energy disk stored there. They just needed to find it.
But if there was anything left of the Cradle, they would need to move quickly and carefully. The ruins were unstable, and any misstep could lead to a collapse of the remaining parts of the building, if it still stood.
What worried her most was the way back. The Hawk was destroyed; it would never fly again. As for the train... There was no guarantee it would be operational, but maybe some Ethers were left in the depot, and they could manage to escape, as they only had three days left to return. Martha wouldn't be able to hide the truth for long. Sooner or later, the Chairmen would find out what had happened, and then the project would be shut down. After years of searching, the chance to find answers and reach the Center of Being would be lost.
Amanda and her team were loading metal boxes onto a mobile platform that used gravitational field sliding. The woman felt partly ashamed and partly uncomfortable about the words that had escaped her in front of John. But who else would tell him what he needed to do? He had made a choice many years ago when he joined the Fracture Project, and now he had to accept the consequences of that choice. Even if those consequences brought him to a threshold few had crossed. And once again, it would lead him to a choice: to die or to survive. So many choices, and each subsequent one could lead to the end of his journey.
During one of her first visits to the Third District, Amanda encountered a marauder. He was interested in her Convergence Points radar. Under different circumstances, she might have given him her radar. But he had stabbed her in the side, hoping she would die. Fortunately or unfortunately, she did not leave this world.
Amanda drew a machete from her belt and beheaded him. That was the first time she had taken a life. With a knife in her stomach and bloodied machete, she left that factory. The body remained lying on the floor between the conveyor belts. And six months later, she returned there. The body had already decayed but was still lying there. Most likely, he was a loner. No one even knew he was dead.
She hoped that John would never face such a choice. But on the other hand, only such a choice would make him stronger and help him reach the Center of this strange Primordial Space.
Finally, everything was ready. The Wanderers and the Cygnus squad headed towards the ruined depot, where hope awaited them for the continuation of their mission. Each of them has their own path, and for some, that path will end in the Third District.