by Nathan Lunn
Douglass stopped and turned around, noticing the larger wings drooping down to her ankles, a deep shade of aubergine, the feathers flared in some form of defence and bristling in anger. Hands out, palms flat, he explained, letting Kye and Eddie move away and into the building ahead. “I’m very sorry ma’am, we have had a little accident with our friend here and we are taking her to this hospital. She’s in particularly grave condition.”
The woman’s feathers smoothened as she straightened her back, drawing back an air of control. She stuck her hand out to offer it to Douglass, speaking quickly, but warmly as she did so. “My apologies. You can never be too careful during these darker hours! I’m Vera, though I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” Douglass shook his head, casting an impatient glance back at the hospital. “Vera Wilson?” Douglass’ confusion only served her to continue talking, instead of stopping. “I am the third inheritor of this EastMeri Carrier, my parents contributed to the production and design of the very city you stand on. You must be from out of town.” She chuckled at her joke, and wiped away a fake tear from her eye. Glancing down at Douglass’ arm, she corrected herself. “I suppose that would have been a giveaway! Still, you should read up on your history, you know.”
Douglass nodded, gave her a placating smile and muttered, “I really must get going, you see. Just that my colleague is in grave danger, and we really don’t know what the conditions are like around here – insurance and so forth.” The woman waved her hand again, pulling Douglass by the elbow in the direction of the hospital, taking a slow walk and speaking softly to her side.
“Nonsense, nonsense. I am always encouraging newcomers to come back, and if something as simple as paying your bill would do it, I am more than happy to! It’s just such a shame an accident has happened.” Startled by the stranger’s generosity, Douglass was speechless – he performed a quick sum in his head, and entered the hospital.
Like the other buildings on the carrier, the hospital was a clean white plastic structure on both the outside and the interior, a brightness that was oversaturated by the consistent fluorescent bulbs placed overhead at regular intervals. The clean look was complemented by a bleached smell in every corner and item – disinfectant was laid on the tools and the people like a second skin, and the manufactured scent was disgusting in such large doses. Moving through the rooms, ignoring the robot placed at the reception area, Douglass and Vera had to look through multitudes of abandoned wings until they found the room the rest of his companions were in.
Next to a second-generation CADuceus, Julie was lying down, her leg enshrined in swathes of cloth-covered padding, glowing with slick blue liquid underneath. A pulsating red line had extended from the face of the machine, connecting with her arm in the same vein the oxygen supply had done, now discarded on the floor as its use had been spent. Diagnostics had not only been run, but the results printed out onto a paper pad – which Kye and Eddie were currently poring over. As Douglass and Vera entered the room, they looked up, hands grabbing for weapons which weren’t there.
“It’s alright, guys, this is Vera, she’s helping us out.” Settling themselves, they moved and made introductions, before passing the pad over to Douglass to see the damages. Julie’s leg was going to be okay, given time, but the cost presented at the bottom was quite severe. Passing the pad to Vera, Douglass winced, speaking plainly, “You don’t have to pay, honestly, it’s a rather large sum.”
Squinting at the bottom of the page, Vera gasped, her feathers rustling and mouth dropping open. “Oh my,” she spoke. “Well, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t keep my word. Trust me, these funds are no worries, I can get the hospital to waive the fee, let me speak to the reception bot.” Peeking at the pad again, a muddled look flashed across her face. “This is a pretty substantial wound, how did it happen?”
Eddie and Kye looked to the floor, as Douglass avoided the question,
“Yeah, she’s pretty badly knocked – you can get the fee waived? How come?” His subversion worked, and Vera answered, moving to the side of the room and muttering, too preoccupied in her own thoughts to properly answer.
“Yeah, I own it, so I can just allow the fee to be ignored. Looks like we’re almost empty tonight, so I can slip it by pretty easily.” She stopped in the doorway on her way out. “I’m surprised, really! We had a terrible incident yesterday afternoon, that unfortunately resulted in two tragic fatalities – a pair of shopowners, in fact!” Sorrow washed over her words, “Even their business was destroyed.” Her sorrow changed to thought again as she looked over to Julie. “She was injured in the destruction?” Douglass nodded, if only to get her out of the room. “How sad!” A final pout bookended her speech, as she moved off to the reception, leaving the group alone with a sleeping Julie.
“We should get her out of here soon,” Kye said, looking over the CADuceus machine as its arm retracted, removing a syringe from her leg with a hiss. “Back off the Carrier.”
Douglass disagreed. “No, no, I think we need to wait. It may raise some alarm if we don’t let Vera know we are going, and she has been very kind to help us out.” Eddie remained quiet, sulking near the back of the room. Douglass looked over at him and spoke towards him. “We should get back to the car soon though, I can’t be sure for how long the bots’ll leave it alone. Things don’t generally stop in the Commerce Port.”
With a sigh, Kye stood down, agreeing curtly. He tapped his temple, still connected to the CADueceus, and it shut down, with a beep.
Coming to, Julie slowly blinked and sat up on the table. A dull ache echoed through her leg, swamped and overwhelmed by the plush cushioning it was swaddled in. Blinking herself out of a haze, she shut her eyes to a slit, diluting the bright white that surrounded her.
“Julie! You’re up! How's your head?" Kye rushed to her side, cradling her skull with his hand. She pushed herself up on her elbows, then to her hands, moving Kye’s hand off her head. Kye stood by her side, as she spoke, her voice hoarse.
“I’m okay. Feels a little dense though. We still on the carrier?”
Douglass moved forward and spoke, filling her in on the details. “Yes, we are in the hospital of the carrier, a woman named Vera is with us, but she is out of the room right now. She is waiving your bills as she believes you were damaged in the oxygen shop’s destruction – stick to that story.” Overloaded with information, Julie patted the side of her head and swung up.
“Alright?” She wearily spoke, looking to the door as Vera walked back in, the pad in her hands.
“Oh my, you’re awake! Well, hello, I am Vera!” She pushed her hand out to shake it, giving Julie an awkward introduction. Her face switched from kind to confused. “I can’t seem to find any of your details on the database, my dear, I’ve searched a few times and it’s come up blank.” Her blood turning cold, Julie snuck a glance at Kye, the only other Shadowwalker in the room. Vera continued, unfazed. “It’s just, in order to waive the fee, it first needs to be in the hospital’s archives, for tax reasons and such, you know?” Julie feigned confusion, scratching her head again and looking up to Vera, unfocusing her eyes as she stared up at the woman.
“Huh?” Julie spoke. The room was tense behind Vera, who was standing directly in front of Julie, her wings flexing and filling the room, providing almost an impenetrable curtain in front of her. Kye lost sight of her as he moved over to the table, hand poised over his temple.
“What is your name, dear? Why did no result come up on the CADuceus machine?” Her wings had almost fully extended as her tone turned more pressing, losing its kind lilt. She grabbed Julie by her shoulders and shook her. “Dear, look at me, what were you doing near the Oxygen shop? Did you cause the damages?”
Kye tapped his temple, and the CADuceus reanimated, whirring to life and plunging a sleep-liquid filled needle into flesh in one swift movement. Vera only had time to mutter out an, “Oh…” before the liquid was inserted and took effect. Her legs giving way, and her wings dropping down beside her, she fell to
the ground, pushing over a nearby metal cabinet as she reached out in a vain attempt for balance. Julie reeled back as best she could on her single foot, pushing the table away from the collapsed woman and the CADuceus machine. She spoke. “What the fuck, Kye?”
Kye, whose face had just turned from pride to incredulity, responded with equal savagery. “What do you fucking mean? Did you not see how aggressive she was getting? We had to stop her before something happened to you!”
Eddie laughed, a pained chuckle, from the corner of the room, as Douglass stepped forward and checked Vera’s pulse.
“She’s okay. We should probably get out of here, and back to the car anyway,” Douglass spoke, standing and walking out of the room.
“Did you fucking have to, Kye?” Eddie shouted, spotting his moment whilst Douglass was out of the room.
“Did I have to what, Eddie? Save Julie’s life?”
Julie and Eddie both laughed, as Douglass returned into the room, his hands clutching an autonomous leg brace.
“You didn’t save my life, Kye. She wasn’t going to hurt anyone, she just wanted to help,” Julie retorted, grabbing the brace from Douglass and affixing it around her expanded leg. It clicked together and booted into life, straightening her leg and pulling her up into a standing position.
Kye persisted, “Oh yeah? And what was going to happen when you couldn’t answer her question, huh?” They fell silent. Kye waved his hand at her rested figure. “She’s fine, anyway! Let’s just leave before she wakes up.”
“Oh yeah? And she won’t remember? She’s just gonna raise suspicions!” Julie yelled back.
“I’ll just set the CADuceus to Trauma mode, it’ll remove her past few days of memory and we’ll be fine! Sorted,” Kye replied, tapping onto the console. Electricity surged through Vera’s body as it lay on the floor. “There. Now, let’s get back to the car, and get off this Carrier.”
“We would have been fine to do that, had you not knocked out this lady, you idiot! That's still suspicious!” Eddie yelled, presenting his hands at the body on the floor. Kye’s purple arm tensed, growing in size as he took a step towards Eddie.
“Enough!” Douglass snapped, silencing the bickering. “Kye, place her whole body on the table. Eddie, wipe down our prints from all metal surfaces and burn the footage. Julie, start walking with me, take the pad with you. We’re getting away from here.” Following his instruction, they moved together, quickly and efficiently, with many irritated side glances at one another. Placing Vera’s hand over her stomach, Kye walked out of the room, leaving Eddie to his own task.
Leaving early, he didn’t notice Eddie snap the syringe off the machine, slip it in his pocket and continue out.
26
Thankfully, though the service bots had cleaned the exterior of the car up, loaded it with fuel and repositioned it towards the push-off point, they had not opened it or taken it away from the Commerce Port itself. Unlocking it fast, and driving off faster, the mismatched group had left the carrier, the unceasing whining of the massive engine behind their backs and forgotten about. Fully fueled up, they had the opportunity to make it to Danny’s preferred place of burial in just one trip. It was long and arduous, but the clear day breaking made for some spectacular views as they pushed up over the placid Philippine Sea, a stretch of water that looked more akin to orange juice in the early rising sun.
Continuing past the Isles of Japan, the Asiatic landmass came into sight. Their weather overhead and around them changed instantly, blanketing the towncar in a thick shroud of restless dark grey cloud. Occasionally, on their left and right, they felt the rumbles of an electrical storm, but it never got close enough to strike the car. Dropping into a controlled dive, the car’s sensors alerted them of the rising temperature, but Julie waved it off, checking her altimeter as her sight was completely compromised. Flashing on the headlights revealed the reds mixed perfectly into the greys, but did nothing to serve the mounting sense of ambiguity about their location. A consultation of her internal map alerted Julie that she was near the ground, and a few miles out laterally from the small town of Wuhan. As the car dropped out of the cloud cover, this estimate was confirmed: the brown, and largely-barren wasteland sprawling before them was dotted with various structures, increasing in size the closer they got to Wuhan. Once a vast city, coveted for its overwhelmingly tall skyscrapers and cutting edge technology, its razing had left it a shadow of its former glory. The rubble was cleared, and what little buildings remained standing were added upon, giving the small town that was left a little boost in height and grandeur. Still, the final result, like most of the areas in the Asiatic Landmass, was underwhelming for those who knew what came before.
Touching down outside the Wuhan Information Booth, the car came to a stop with a blast of dust, exploding outwards off the tyres in the shape of a flower. Before they had left, the vehicle was coated in a thin layer of ash, blocking the windows and rendering the entire interior dark.
“That’ll help us keep Danny invisible,” Julie said, leaning forward to peer out of the window. More ash had fallen, and it was almost pitch black inside now. “And maybe the car.”
“I’ll say. We’d best get out and get inside one of these shops,” Kye added, pointing at the display on the dashboard of the car. “Maybe try this place to the right here, the…” He leaned in and read out the name. “Atomic Cafe? Is that the right translation?”
“Seems a tad insensitive, don’t you think?” Eddie asked, fiddling with his fingers and avoiding looking to the back of the car.
“This whole place is insensitive.” Julie curtly spoke, shifting forward in her seat after tapping her temple. The car shut down fully, and she cracked the door open, hopping out with speed that delayed the ash falling into the inside of the vehicle. The rest followed, catching up to her as she reached the doorway of the Atomic Cafe (原子咖啡厅). Stepping inside the airlock, a fumigator blasted hot air onto her face, pulling the ash that had accumulated in her hair and shoulders into a pipe centred above her head. She waited a moment, and limped into the Cafe.
Reminiscent of the 50s, the Atomic Cafe was designed more like a diner – thick leather chairs dotted around sparkling clean plastic booths, bright blue and pink cutlery and dishes stacked on the till, steaming manufactured food printed at the back of the kitchen. Old soft-toned jazz was playing from a jukebox by the doorway, and service bots dressed up in aprons were zooming between tables, grabbing finished plates and serving hot unidentifiable chunks to waiting customers. Posters and murals dotted the wall, depicted explosions of nuclear bombs and exploded atoms, brightly coloured and peeling at the corners. The back half of the Cafe had been divided from the rest by a thin, low wall, behind which sat the gift shop. Towering, self-spinning metal racks holding postcards, trinkets and digital knick-knacks stood next to tables piled high with fake artefacts and useless survival tools, all advertised as essential to your time in the Burning Sea, but realistically all more likely to hinder than help.
The Cafe was surprisingly packed, but it was clear it wasn’t by residents – each person in the interior was dressed in some form of survival gear, hazmat suits and personal life-supports, an extra space was allowed next to them for the massive supply bag they had brought with them, mostly adorned with various clippings of water, food and medicines. The apron-clothed bots were moving full time to keep the people satisfied, beeping and lighting up as the occasional tip came in. Julie moved to the front table to order some food, pointing out one of the only available spaces to the group behind her.
“Go take a seat, I’ll get us some cold drinks,” she spoke, turning back to the till and surveying the menu. Baffled by its warm selection, she focused towards the cold, tapping on the pad in front of her to order four iced waters. Connecting to the sale, she allocated a tip for ten percent before moving back to the table and taking a weary seat, letting the feel of the leather sink in with the easy-listening jazz. As the service bot brought the iced water over, she grabbed her gla
ss and greedily gulped down its contents, easing her parched throat with the expensive liquid commodity. The others did the same, though finishing it at a lesser pace, before Kye launched into conversation.
“Well, it seems that we are doing quite well on our plan!” His optimism was met with disgust from around the table. “I mean, we only have Ellie, Lucille and Arthur left to take care of. We’ve nearly achieved our goal…” He tailed off as he saw Eddie looking at him, anger in his eyes and fists clenched.
“How did he die, Kye?” He spoke, barely a whisper, causing Kye to lean forward and force him to repeat himself. “I said, how did he die?” Eddie leaned in closer, hissing through his teeth. “How did my brother die? You haven’t even told me.”
Kye sat back up, and cleared his throat before continuing in hushed tones, “Of course. That was insensitive of me, I just didn’t want to dwell on it for too long. Danny fell to some kind of homemade trap in the jungle, which ultimately took his life. We were running, he was ahead of me and he fell before I could catch up to him. I’m really sorry.” The group sat in silence and thought, the jazz that was playing seemingly entirely inappropriate. Eddie followed up with a second question:
“Did he say anything to you?”
Kye stumbled over his words, looking Eddie dead in the eyes as he spoke, “Yes, he… said to tell you not to worry, and that he loved you.”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed and Kye cringed, realising the words might not have been his best choice.
“Oh really? He must have been quite shaken, ‘cause I don’t think I’ve ever heard my brother speak like that,” Eddie spoke, his fingers rolling on the table.
Kye backed up, distracting his lying by taking a drink from his basically-empty glass as he spoke. “That may not be right… I, I could have misheard him somewhat…”
Douglass chimed in, his voice in the same tone as Eddie’s,
