by D P Wright
Bethany moved in the back and let out a short sigh from her slumber and Kessler wondered what she was thinking. Surely her anger and want for revenge, or God’s justice as she called it, would come to nothing? Revenge was a dangerous business. He had seen it destroy people, make citizens take bad choices. There was always going to be someone meaner, someone nastier that would always beat down on good citizens like Bethany. Dis was full of them and he was not sure that she had what it took to kill anyone, never mind those that were behind her uncle’s death.
Kessler knew what he needed. Behind every thought, every action, there was always that constant weight pulling him down. There was only ever one thing that he had faith in, one thing he could always depend upon. It called out to him from somewhere in the depths of the darkness making promises that everything would be ok. It was a warm blanket which could shelter him from the choking air, the filthy rain and the clawing, desperate existence of surviving this city. The Excalibur juddered as it sped over a large part of broken road, the noise jarring Kessler from his thoughts. He looked down at his hand and noticed that he was holding one of the vials of Lux that he had taken from Judecca’s room. It was soft to the touch, the malleable plastic of the capsule bending out of shape as he pressed down on it. It was such a familiar, calming feeling, toying with the supple cap, the excitement beginning to creep up his body over what lay within. He stared at the cloudy dark chemicals as they swirled around the vial. What made this chem different than any other sim on the street? Kessler’s eyes followed the liquid as it danced, pirouetted and pranced before his eyes. He brought it closer, his stare intently fixed on the cap and spoke quietly to himself, “Why would anybody take such bad chem? What makes this stuff better than the rest?” Something Judecca had said stuck in his mind. He mentioned that they had taken Brother Rothery as they needed help making it but what did a priest know about making sim? One thing he was sure about, all these questions had their answers deep down in the depths of the city, somewhere out there in the darkness. He closed his fist over the cap and brought his hand to his mouth and took a deep breath, “Just a couple of hits to clear my mind, help me think what to do next, that’s all I need…”
“I do not think now is the time or the place for you to indulge in your chem habit,” Doc spoke flatly.
Kessler did not realise he was speaking out loud and quickly changed the subject as he peered out of the canopy and into the murk surrounding them, “Have you ever been this far out from the Core?”
“No, I hear the Fringe, the edge of the city, is a wasteland full of Mutes and Dregs who want to be left alone. Society’s cast outs.”
“Well at least we won’t have to worry about running into any Vents this far out,” Doc sighed as he spoke.
“Perhaps. A few hours ago I wouldn’t have expected to see them below the Rim so who knows, besides, there are far worse dangers than the Dis Police Department to worry about where we are going.”
Doc’s anger clung to every word but everything he said Kessler knew to be true. He did not know much about the city’s edge down in the lower districts of Dis but what he did know was not good. The Fringe of Dis lay far out from the central sectors of Downtown where millions of Dregs crowded around the city’s Core, the central spine of Dis, all clambering over one another in desperate hope they could gain access to the Pipe and the city above. Far away from the chaos of these crowds, by the Fringe, the citizens of Downtown were more sparsely spread throughout the wastes. Citizens living this far out lived there for a reason. Kessler had heard stories of criminals, Mutes and even whole towns of Dregs and outcasts riddled with all kinds of plagues who had been forced away from the heavily populated areas. All just stories, Kessler hoped.
The detective rolled up his sleeve, wetted his thumb with his tongue and rubbed away a patch of dried blood that covered his bioware. They had been driving for five hours and his eyes were heavy with the need for sleep but he knew that was impossible as images from his nightmares flashed across his mind. “Hey Doc, you have been driving for awhile now, you must be tired. Want me to take over so you can get some sleep?”
“No.” Doc peered out at the road through squinting, watery eyes.
“You sure?”
“I’ll be fine, besides, you look shattered.”
Kessler spoke quietly, “Yea. I keep having the same damn nightmare, over and over again.” Doc nodded as he spoke, his expressionless stare never losing focus on the road ahead. Kessler continued, “I can still hear the voices.”
For the first time since they had left Morbus Sector Doc turned to look at Kessler and the car’s speed slowed, “What were they saying?”
“‘Lux Ferre’. The words which I found hacked into the priest’s desk and again on Judecca’s door. It means Light Bringer in some old language Beth knows. I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Kessler rubbed his eyes before continuing, “Strange.”
“Yes. Very strange.” The Excalibur’s speed picked up.
A cough from the back made Kessler turn to see Bethany now awake. Her eyes, still heavy with sleep, stared into the distance. He cleared his throat and, realising he was still holding the cap of Lux, quickly put the sim back inside his coat pocket. She shakily spoke, “I hate the darkness, I always have.” Bethany pulled over her coat and wrapped her arms around her and shivered slightly.
“Are you cold? I can adjust the temperature of the cabin?”
Kessler began to reach over to the console as she replied, “No. I’m fine.” She rested her hand against the canopy and peered outside, her breath causing the clear plastic to mist up, “My uncle always used to tell me that the Devil hid in the shadows. When people started to disappear I thought they were being taken by him. He would make me remain always within the light of the church, never venture beyond it. Now here I am going deeper and deeper down into the city so far away, getting darker and darker and the church now gone.” Her words caught the back of her throat as she spoke, “Who knows what lies out there waiting for us?”
Doc despaired, “Your uncle seems to have had some sense, something we are severely lacking.”
“Now Doc, that’s enough. No need to scare the girl.” Kessler turned around in his seat. Bethany sat with her knees brought up to her chest making her look like a frightened child. “Listen, Beth, Doc does have a point, I have to be honest this is not going to be easy. It’s going to get a lot worse the deeper we go. I need to let you know what is in store for us. The darkness may be just as bad as your uncle told you.”
“It’s no place for a young girl. What am I talking about?” Doc began to shake his head from side to side,“It’s no place for any of us. Bethany, let’s turn back, from the little I know of your uncle, he spent his life protecting you from the dangers which lay all over this damned place. He would want you to be safe.” Doc looked in the rear view mirror, “He would want you to come back with us now and leave this place.”
“Doctor Galloway, God has not forsaken this city, at least not entirely.” She leaned forward, “Don’t you understand? There is no one left at St John’s to continue God’s work, there is only me. My uncle spent his life in God’s service and he looked after me for the sole purpose that I could continue in it when he passed. He died trying to protect our community, trying to stop this chem killing people. It has taken Brother Rothery, tempted Brother Glaxon down into the depths of hell and destroyed a church that had stood as a House of God for many, many years. This Lux is the Devil. It destroys lives, threatens our very humanity and we must stop it.”
The doctor glared at Kessler and with a frustrated sigh returned to concentrating on the road ahead. The detective looked up at Bethany and shook his head at the determined girl who sat with fists clenched. He was usually a good judge of character, during his time he had seen all types but he kept getting Bethany Turner wrong. Her naive and vulnerable exterior hid a strength which burned inside her and if he knew about anything it was strength and its value in surviving the city. “Ok. So th
e plan is that we stay at The Crow’s Nest for a night, we can get some rest before our descent to Downtown 5.” The prospect of getting some peace to rest his tired body and close his burned out eyes brought about a giddy excitement. “Before we leave we will purchase provisions with the cred you gave me Beth, get enough Ox for the journey, respirators too.”
“That’s your money. I’ll pay you back.”
“It’s ok, the cred from that ring will be more than enough.” Thoughts and plans of what he was going to do with the payout filled Kessler’s head and, for a brief moment, distracted him from his wounds and the dangers that lay in the dark.
A faint haze began to grow on the horizon and then, after a short while, gradually separated into distinct, dull spheres of a sickly yellow light that very slowly began to multiply and fan out across their field of vision.
“This must be it.” Doc gave Kessler a firm nudge with his elbow breaking the detective’s waking trance.
Blinking his heavy eyes repeatedly, Kessler squinted into the distance, “I’m so tired.” He gasped as he tried to focus his senses on what he had to do.
“I can give you something to help you sleep if you want?”
“To knock me out? No. I need to be alert for whatever awaits us in Baron’s Town.”
Doc nodded silently, “I can give you something for that as well.”
“There’s only one thing I need right now.”
Doc rummaged around in a compartment under his seat and eventually pulled out a small tube of orange pills. “Here, take these. Does not exactly have the kick of sim but will take the edge off and keep the tiredness at bay.”
“Thanks.” Kessler knocked back the tube’s entire contents.
Doc leaned forward and scrutinized a wall of glowing red text which appeared hovering above the console. He tapped a couple of buttons and squinted his eyes in concentration, “The air has high concentrations of sulphur oxides and nitrogen dioxides. It’s pretty awful out there so keep your inhalers to hand. It’s hot as well, ambient temperature is forty degrees, keep water bottles close by, we need to stay hydrated.” With another click of a button more text appeared throwing its red light around the cabin. “The rain is heavy, keep your faces covered and hoods up.” From the compartment he produced three surgical masks, “Here take these.”
Kessler picked up the mask and stared at it through tired eyes, “We’ll be fine.” He had forgotten how paranoid the doctor could be.
“Doctor Galloway, you forget, I’m used to living in Downtown. I am aware of the dangers.”
“Near the Core maybe, but the further out we go the more treacherous the conditions. With the rising heat, the bad air and the worsening rain it will get more and more hazardous. Breathing difficulties, infections, lethargy will become more and more of a problem. The rads will increase the lower we go and we’ll eventually have to wear heat suits for protection.”
“Jimmy’s guy will have them,” Kessler interrupted.
“He better, otherwise we are done for before we even begin.” Doc cleared his throat before continuing, “Now, I have gloves if anyone needs? I would not recommend allowing your skin prolonged contact with this rain unless you wish to develop mutations, cancers and a long list of brain defects at some stage in the near future.” Doc spoke in a cold monotone and held up a pair of latex surgical gloves.
“I have my own, thank you.” Bethany quickly rummaged around in her shoulder bag for her gloves, took a deep breath of the cool air in the oxidized cabin and put on her mask.
Kessler threw Doc’s surgical mask over his shoulder to the back of the car, “Thanks for the info Doc,” and covered his mouth with his own. He adjusted his thick brown synth-leather gloves and securely fasten his coat when the Excalibur lurched forward suddenly throwing Kessler hard against the vehicle’s console. “Doc! Watch the road!”
The Excalibur juddered to a halt. Straight ahead of them, lit up by the dim glare of the vehicle’s headlights, large gates barred their way, either side of which, two Venter Interceptors could just be made out in the low light of the gloom. “Police? All the way out here?”
Kessler powered up his Luther and unlocked the canopy just as Doc leaned forward, grabbing him by the shoulder, “You can’t be serious? Threatening the DPD with that carbine is only going to get us killed.”
Kessler took a brief look at Doc before exiting the vehicle, “I’m just going to have a quick look, that’s all,” he spoke as he was drenched in the downpour and the dead air caught him in the back of the throat.
Taking a hit of Ox from his inhaler and turning on his torch, Kessler surveyed the scene. Large metal gates were sealed shut between two guard towers that disappeared into the gloom above. The town’s stone perimeter wall faded from view beyond the glow of their lights. Kessler crouched by the Venter’s vehicle closest to where they had stopped and found it to be abandoned some time ago. Most of its gleaming black panels had been ripped open and those that were left were dented and torn apart, its canopy was smashed allowing the rain to coat its insides in a thick toxic soup and the console had been smashed apart, spilling its guts out onto the floor. All tech of any value seemed to have been scavenged from the vehicle, leaving only its skeletal plastisteel framework behind.
A high pitch scream jolted Kessler from his investigation. He turned and peered through the murk, his optics enhancing the torchlight enough for him to just make out Doc’s white coat.
Running across the road, he found a whimpering Bethany being comforted by Doc, “What happened?”
Doc’s spectacles peered out at Kessler from his large hood, “Look in the Interceptor.”
Pointing his torch into the smashed canopy of the second DPD vehicle quickly revealed the cause of Bethany’s terror. What was left of a police officer lay slumped in the driver’s seat. Most of his plate armour was missing, revealing grey, emaciated skin riddled with red bulbous sores. The sleeve on one of his arms was rolled up to reveal more decayed skin, a syringe bearing the image of the burning sun still hung from a flap of long dead flesh. His helmet remained and through his cracked optics Kessler saw a horror that he had seen before. Eyes as black as tar stared lifelessly from a face frozen in its final, terrifying, depraved act. Kessler looked away in disgust.
Doc shouted over the din of the rain, “I recognise that symbol. It is the same as on that cap you gave me to analyse.”
“Yes.” Foreboding thoughts limited his response to a single word.
“And the same chem as was found in Bethany’s uncle? And now in this Venter?”
“Yes.”
Doc had moved away from Bethany and stood holding his long-barrelled Lazarus rifle in both hands with his bag slung over his shoulder, “What have you got me into?”
Kessler took a few minutes to calm the tempest of thoughts cascading around in his mind before walking over to the gate and staring at the obstacle before them. He pressed hard on the carbonised iron, “It won’t budge.”
“This trip just gets better and better.” Doc had followed Kessler and stood beside him. He pointed at the wall as he spoke, “This symbol, do you recognise it?”
Two wings either side of the letters ‘M’ and ‘L’ below a halo were stamped onto the centre of the gate, “Merryll Laboratories.”
“Yes, but below their logo you can see a skull.” The torchlight cast shadows of concern across his features, “This is a plagued site.”
Kessler wiped away the rainwater from his heavily-stubbled face before speaking, “A plagued site?”
“A site under corporation control which the Council deems too dangerous for citizens to access. They are most often set up when contagious diseases break out in an attempt to stop them spreading onto the next sector. Another reason for us not to be here.”
“This way, I have found a way through.” Bethany shouted over from where she was standing by the far tower, her torch frantically bobbing around in the dark as she waved for them to join her.
Kessler walked past
Doc, throwing him a quick stare as he did. Doc shrugged, “Unbelievable. What about the Excalibur?”
Kessler continued walking towards Bethany and did not turn around as he spoke, “Leave it here.” He did not have the time or energy to feel guilty and besides, he reminded himself, Doc owed him. Big time.
Doc took one quick look at the skeletal remains of the two DPD Interceptors and back to the gleaming fibreplas of his Excalibur. “Brilliant,” he cursed through gritted teeth and rolled up his sleeve. With a quick press of a button on his inked bioware panel an armoured shell encased the vehicle and, eventually, he followed Kessler to where he was waiting with Bethany.
