BioShock: Rapture

He had a half-formed plan. Roland Wallace wanted out too. They’d talked it over: Wallace was authorized to pass through an external-access air lock. There was a minisub in bay 2. Wallace could pretend to be doing repairs on it, then slip out with it through the air lock to the open sea.

Wallace would get the little sub to one of the old sentry launches, still tied up behind the lighthouse, and bring the launch around to its entrance. Bill could get his family out through the lighthouse, which had a single cable for its cameras and turrets. He could unhook that cable. If the camera were out, the security bots wouldn’t be activated when he approached the lighthouse shaft. No one but Ryan was genetically authorized to be up there—the bots would attack anyone else.

The water was rough, over Rapture. They’d have to wait on the escape; wait for better weather, in late spring. Fewer ice floes. Then they’d escape, take the launch to the sea routes, ride the currents, and flag down a passing ship.

If they could get through to the lighthouse at all—not only was Ryan’s security in the way, there were rebels and rogue splicers. Atlas now controlled about forty percent of Rapture, including Apollo Square, Artemis Suites, and Neptune’s Bounty, his strongholds. Lamb was mostly tied up around Persephone and Dionysus Park. They’d all have to be skirted. Bill thought about trying to make some kind of deal, on the sly, with Atlas, but he knew he couldn’t be trusted…

As if reading his thoughts, the PA system hissed with static, whined with feedback, and then a woman’s voice announced: “Atlas is a friend of the parasite! Don’t be a friend of Atlas! Ignore the lies of Atlas and his parasites! Rapture is on the rise!”

Another hiss of static became: “We all have bills to pay, and the temptation to break curfew to make a little extra ADAM is forgivable. Breaking the curfew is not! Stay on the level, and stay out of trouble!”

A whine of feedback, and then: “Wanting an item from the surface is forgivable! Buying or smuggling one into Rapture is not! Attention: a new curfew will be enacted on Thursday! Citizens found in violation will be relocated! The parasite has his eye on Rapture—keep your eye on the parasite!”

Bill pretended an interest in the grain-based “meat” at the farmer’s market “butcher’s stall.” But his mind was full of questions. Could he and his family really escape from Rapture? Was it possible while this war was going on? Probably too dangerous to try.

There was one other possibility. Having a couple too many glasses of Worley’s brandy, he’d even recorded that possibility on an audio diary: “I don’t know if killing Mr. Ryan will stop the war, but I know it won’t stop while that man breathes. I love Mr. Ryan—but I love Rapture. If I have to kill one to save the other, so be it.”

He had to erase that tape immediately. He’d be a dead man if someone found it.

“Seen Diane lately?” Ryan asked, too casually, as he picked up a rather withered apple from a stand. He smelled it, made a face, and put it back.

“Diane McClintock? No, guv, not in person, like. Last I heard she was… ah, that Doctor Steinman did some work on ’er.”

“He was working on her in more ways than one, Bill. Your delicacy is appreciated. Yes, I was actually quite bored with her, and she became very narcissistically tiresome after the New Year’s Eve attack. Whining about her scars. Went gadding about with Steinman—but he’s thrown her over, I understand. Last I knew she was spending a lot of time gambling in Fort Frolic…”

The security bot flew past again—it was on watchful patrol status in order to protect Ryan—and Bill noticed little Sophie watching it with big eyes. Frightened of the thing that was supposed to be protecting her.

Sophie saw him looking at her and came running to him, throwing her little arms around his waist. Elaine followed, with a strained smile, nodding to Ryan.

Ryan looked down at Sophie and smiled, patting her on the head—she shrank away from him. Ryan looked startled at that.