​    Niki and Trevor had, at last, come to the end of the path.

     And, of course, what they saw, mainly, was garbage.

     Although, here, it was garbage and something more.  

     They looked out over a huge, open plain. They no longer stood on a path dug deep into surrounding garbage piles. They saw roads, roads that led to homes, that led to shops, that led to towers and silos and massive metal tanks filled with...what?

     Yet, still, above them...

     that red, bristling force field that kept everyone below prisoner...

     and, through this force field, more garbage, more refuse, rained.

     No excrement. Nothing organic. Plenty of plastic, though, or something very much like plastic.

     "See any laser whips?" Trevor asked.   

     "Not yet," Niki replied.

     "Anyone coming towards us?"

     "Not that I can see."

     "Press on?"

     Niki looked at where they'd been, the pathway still crowded with those brandishing laser whips. 

​     "Do we really have a choice?" she asked.

CONTINUE