The Shepherd’s Path, Part 10: Exodus
As the Church began to dissolve, many of the middle-level members were torn on what to do. The upper-level leadership was embroiled in what looked to be the start of a religious civil war, while many laborers and workers were taking to the streets over various issues. Small groups began to form, which linked up to larger groups aiming to escape the coming devastation. These refugees needed a place to flee to, and to find that place they raided the Church archives. Using passcodes stolen from Church officials, they dug deep into the records of the Church. What they found was surprising and concerning. The Church had been hoarding much of the technology and equipment that it had acquired by selling Jerusalemite products to the rest of the Concordat. Scores of warehouses and depots full of advanced technology, medical supplies, and even weapons were scattered across the planet. Each warehouse was well hidden and had numerous layers of security to keep out the unwelcome. Later analysis would reveal even more irregularities in Church finance and other related areas. The refugees fleeing the collapse saw these places as safe havens and places where materials and resources could be acquired; things they would need to survive what they believed was coming. They downloaded as much as they could and deleted everything on the Church’s data servers. No one would be able to follow them.
The next decision faced by the refugees was where to go. Many possible sites were excluded for various reasons, but one site had potential. Far in the northern polar region was an isolated facility. Based on the data it was quite large, and far more material had been shipped there than to many of the other facilities, including agricultural hardware and technology for hydroponics. The polar region was also uninhabited, as its cold climate was unsuited to agriculture and the permafrost made mining too hard. There was little reason to go so far north, which made it an ideal hiding spot. The implied size and materials that seemed to be present also made this outpost a viable place to support a population. With their destination set, the refugees fled. Contact was made with other groups as they moved out and away from civilization, towards what they considered their only means of survival.
The government buildings on the northside of Adrian’s Landing had so far escaped the worst of the damage. Crowds of people could be seen down the straight line streets that led south, east, and west. Columns of smoke dotted the cityscape as gunshots echoed in the distance. Newscasts had been running for hours now. McAllis was dead, as were many of his immediate supporters. Hundreds of Church officials were dead as well, and the images of the ones that had been burned at the stake still stuck in people’s minds. All around, the world was coming down. A group of perhaps 300 had collected in the central government office building, where the Assembly and Pope had led New Jerusalem. Now it was abandoned. A team of 5 had spent the past thirty minutes digging through whatever Church archives they could find. The archive had been locked down, but they had been lucky enough to stumble upon the body of one of the caretakers. Using the body’s handprint, they opened the archives and looked around for anything that could save them.
“Look at this!” a man by the name of Joseph exclaimed. He pointed to a map that he had found within the archives. It showed New Jerusalem and dozens of small red dots scattered all over it. It was obvious to those around him that the dots did not match up with the locations of any settlements. Joseph selected one and touched it with his hand. The map display changed to highlight the red dot. A series of letters and numbers—likely its name—came up, and then a list appeared. Joseph looked at the list and was confused. High-tech hardware, medical supplies, autofactories, raw materials, even weapons. “I don’t understand…” His voice trailed off.
Another man, named Kain, came up to him. “The Church has many secrets. This was most likely a storage point for things the Church deemed dangerous. That place could be a goldmine” he said. Kain pushed his finger on more of the sites, each one was much the same. “We should flee to one of these sites. They have food, supplies, and almost everything we need to survive.” Joseph reached out and touched one more red dot. This one was so far towards the top of the screen that it was easy to miss. It pulled up more than just a manifest and a name. Kain and Joseph looked at the display. Joseph was in awe while Kain was impassive, almost as if he expected to see something like this
“That’s…” said Joseph, his voice failing him.
“That’s our destination.” Kain said with great force. “We'll need to secure transport and whatever supplies we can. We have a long journey ahead of us. Before we go, we should delete all these records.” An explosion outside punctuated his words. “If we don’t, that will get a lot worse. Go ready the others. I’ll secure the archives.”
As Joseph left the room, Kain looked at the screen one last time, staring at the single red dot that sat at the top of the north pole. Kain smiled, pleased he hadn’t had to point it out to Joseph. That would have been telling.
