by D P Wright
After a long moment of silence, he looked up from his thoughts to see Doc standing over him. In his hand he held the detective’s plasma carbine, “You dropped this.”
Doc smiled and brought the weapon closer to Kessler who took a large breath of Ox before taking hold of it, “Thanks.” Doc nodded.
“So, any ideas on how we get into Acheron?”
Kessler looked at his weapon and brushed his gloved hand across the gleaming metal casing, pausing to stare at his reflection, he smiled a toothy grin and holstered the carbine. “Ok. Let’s get this done.”
“Good. Glad you are back with me. Now, a plan?” Doc repeated.
Beck’s final words were still branded to his thoughts, “We have to stay out of the shadows, stick to the light to avoid anymore surprises.”
“Yes, it is astonishing how they just appeared. I would never have believed the Dreg’s story about them appearing from the darkness, I thought he was just scared.”
“Yea, he was scared,” Kessler sighed and stared at the red and yellow glow on the horizon. “Keeping out of the shadows is going to be difficult. Between the bursts of light from the storm there’s no escaping the darkness.”
“And Acheron?”
“Beck said it was full of Seekers.”
“There has to be a way.”
Kessler picked up a purple cloak from one of the dead creatures, “Keep it simple. They can’t see us so we’ll just walk right in.”
“It won’t work. They may not have the use of their eyes but they have an enhanced sense of smell, they caught our scent from across the cavern, they seemed drawn towards us.”
“Then we will smell like them.” Kessler bent down and cloaked himself in the long purple robes and, after a brief pause as he braced himself, plunged his hand into the bloody corpse of the creature, deep into the weeping mass of torn flesh, guts and oozing blood. He took hold of the still warm gore and rubbed it all over him, gloves, cloak and helmet, all the while gagging as the intense sweetly sick fumes assaulted his senses.
The sporadic lightning storm overhead cracked again throwing a shock of blue light onto the grim scene. Standing amongst the dead bodies of the Seekers, Beck and the Venters, Doc stared in silence at Kessler who now looked like a wild, feral animal covered in the carnage of its prey. The large hood partially obscured his respirator which protruded like a snout and his heavy breathing hissed and wheezed. “Its monstrous, I cannot do it. Disgusting beyond words. Who knows what disease these creatures carry.”
“I’m not asking you to drink their blood just use its scent to hide us. It’s our only chance.”
“I fear the deeper we get ourselves entangled in this horror the more we lose ourselves.” Doc looked down at the bloody corpse and gingerly began to rub its blood over his suit.
“Well, like you said. We do what we must to survive.” Kessler stooped down and picked up the other Seeker’s cloak and gave it to Doc, “Take this and cover it in as much blood and gore as you can bear.”
Doc doubled over in a fit of coughing as his body retched uncontrollably.
“Remember your own advice. Easy breaths.”
Gasping between words, Doc composed himself, “You look ridiculous.”
“You don’t look too hot yourself.” Kessler laughed.
Doc bent down and picked up something from the floor, “Well, well. A cap of Lux has survived the assault.”
Kessler’s body tensed at the thought of the chem. Lux was no good, even he knew that. Doc threw it back to the ground and stamped down hard bursting the soft plastic cap, its contents sizzling as it came into contact with the hot rock of the cavern. “Let’s go,” Doc said as he donned his cloak, picked up his bag and, after taking a quick moment to gaze at the horizon, began to march towards the distant glowing dome that was Acheron.
Kessler took a few moments to stare at what was left of Beck. In a city full to the brim of the worst kind, Beck, in the end was sorry for what he had done. He was just doing what he had to do to survive, like everyone else on Dis. He nodded his goodbyes to the innkeeper from Baron’s Town and quickly marched up to join the doctor.
*
The journey across the cavern was uneventful. With Council chemicals coursing through his veins, Kessler walked with ease but spent most of his energy trying to wrench his thoughts from the sim he had lost. Doc kept pace beside him in silence, most of his time spent staring at the light from Acheron and, at times, looking up at the electrical maelstrom playing out overhead. The closer they got to the furnace town, the more bodies they passed. A couple of times they spotted movement in the distance and on one occasion Doc could see a group of Seekers through his scope gorging on a particularly large pile of corpses but, unlike before, they did not register their presence.
More time slipped by as they walked lethargically through the heat. With every step the air around them felt heavier as it cracked and buzzed with static and all the while the light emitting from Acheron grew in intensity. Kessler sucked down hard on his water tube and it gurgled empty. His tired hands awkwardly fumbled for a replacement hydration pouch.
They continued to stagger forward. A flashing red light on Kessler’s suit drew his attention and told him that his Ox was running low when suddenly the cavern floor gave way. Doc stumbled and Kessler, with dulled reactions, just managed to grab hold of his companion’s flowing cloak. The doctor’s weight threatened to pull him down into the white molten plasma which churned and raged just a few feet below them. Sweat poured from Kessler’s body as he strained to find the strength to pull the doctor back up to the cavern floor. The detective’s legs flailed around trying desperately to find grip on the smooth stone and, just as he too was teetering on the brink, the cloak went limp in his hands. He got up to his knees and stared at the loose folds of cloth. His hands began to shake as he peered over the edge, “Doc?”
“Do I have to do everything myself?” A helmet with the strained, bespectacled face of the doctor appeared from below the ledge, “Well? Can I get some help?”
Kessler pulled him onto the cavern floor and laughed, “I thought you were gone.”
“Well, I’m glad you think it’s funny.” Doc panted and took a drink of water.
They stood up and Kessler peered at the plasma which had so nearly taken his friend, “Raw plasma, I have never seen it before.” The sheer brilliance of the glare was too much for him and he looked away.
“Yes.” Doc took a step back, “It’s extremely dangerous.”
Churning blue and yellow flows of plasma formed a moat around Acheron. Long tendrils of light wheeled and flowed up from the main body of energy making Kessler all too aware of his vulnerability standing so close to such a destructive force. Beyond the swirling light stood the furnace town itself. Huge pistons, gigantic pipes, tubes and cables rose up from the haze and disappeared into the electrical storm and the roof of the cavern high above.
“Not a sight you see every day.” Doc was staring, transfixed, at the plasma and the town beyond.
“Acheron. One of the furnace towns that drive the machines of Dis, all of the city’s energy comes from towns such as these.”
“Truly amazing.” Doc pointed at the large metal pistons hanging over the moat, “I believe these are used to gather the plasma and pump it to the furnaces for processing.”
“Yea, well they’re not doing much processing now. They’ve all stopped, the town looks dead.”
“Where’s the crossing?” Doc raised his voice against the roar of the plasma below them.
“Not sure, Beck never said. I think we’ll just have to make our way along the edge until we come across it.” Kessler peered into the distance at Acheron’s walls beyond the bright glare but his twitching, itchy eyes, a constant reminder of what he most craved, struggled to see. “I’m finding it difficult to focus with this light, can you see any sign of this ferryman up ahead?” Kessler passed Doc his view finder.
“Adjust the settings on your visor, it will filter out m
ost of the glare.”
“No. It’s my eyes. They hurt.”
Doc nodded knowingly, “Ok,” and took the viewfinder from Kessler and peered along the edge of the moat in both directions.
“In the distance, I can just about make out what appears to be an entrance in the town walls. Perhaps the crossing is there?” They pulled the large hoods down over their helmets and walked along the moat’s edge.
As the plasma crashed and churned just below their feet, Doc spoke, “What if we can’t get across? I fear that any ferryman working here, with everything that has happened, may have disappeared long ago.”
“Yea, we’ll find out soon enough, I guess.”
Before long, out of the shimmering horizon, two large poles came into view, their tattered, charred flags billowing in a hot wind which seemed to come from the very depths of the plasma field. Battling against the extreme elements they approached what appeared to be a jetty, its hardened cadermite struts extending out to hover precariously above the burning light. A large platform, wavering back and forth, hovered above the moat and was tethered to the jetty by thick, heavy wire.
Doc began to walk out onto the platform when Kessler raised an arm barring his way, “Wait, someone is over there right by the jetty’s edge.” Nearly completely enveloped in the plasma’s swirling strands of light, a tall, hunchbacked cloaked figure could just be made out standing on the edge of the dock with its back towards them. It seemed to be unaware of the dangerous plasma which raged around it.
“A Seeker?” Doc took a step back.
“I don’t think so. It’s standing still, and not making a sound. Those beasts are always twitching, moving, and howling.”
Kessler put one foot onto the dock and immediately the creature turned. Its face was partially obscured by a huge black hood. An eyeless socket stared back at them and rotting skin hung in grey shreds off of white bone. It carried a large staff that bore a pointed metal hook at one end. It made two large strides towards them before the creature was halted by a heavy chain clasped to a leg and tying it to the platform. It seemed to stare at Kessler and Doc for a few moments before speaking, “This way.” The voice vibrated in a deep resonate tone as if carried by the waves of flowing light which danced around them. It stood to the side and pointed towards the platform.
With lowered heads, they both shuffled onto the ferry that bobbed slightly as it took their weight. Doc held onto Kessler’s robe as he tried to keep his balance. The large hunchback creature followed them, one foot straining to drag the heavy chain which noisily scraped along the cadermite dock. The three figures stood silently as the plasma storm raged all around them when suddenly the ferry came to life with a pulse from its hover drive and began to very slowly make its way across the maelstrom. A beautiful collage of colours, blues, reds, yellow and greens exploded from the energy field in cracks and pops. Kessler wondered how such a magnificent spectacle could come from something so violent and dangerous. He stared at the wonderful patterns made by the churning energy and, like Doc, seemed transfixed.
“Careful. Many have lost themselves in the plasma fields never to be seen again.” The ferryman spoke with slow, rasping words.
Both Kessler and Doc looked up at the creature from below their hoods, not knowing how to respond. After a moment’s uncertainty Kessler spoke, “What are you, creature?”
“I am the ferryman of Acheron.” It paused as if lost in thought before continuing in a ponderous tone, “All furnace towns have their ferrymen.”
Doc cleared his throat and shouted through the noise of the plasma, “Are you citizen or machine? What keeps you alive?” Kessler glowered at the doctor who shrugged his shoulders.
The ferryman continued to stare out into the light, “Plasma. It binds us all.”
The platform juddered from side to side as a wave of light flared from below. “You’re chained to this ferry, who keeps you prisoner and forces you to perform this task?”
“If you stare at the plasma long enough it reaches out to you, becomes part of your very being. Once inside it calls to you. Most that succumb to the beauty of the fire follow it to their end, those few that survive are forever tied to the light.”
“How have you survived here, amongst the Seekers?” Doc spoke in exasperated tone.
“Many travellers use my service.” His voice, devoid of all emotion, hung in the air.
“Do you know of anything that has happened within Acheron? Of what is happening throughout Dis?”
The ferryman remained quiet, as if taking his time to gather his thoughts, “The plasma coils and caresses the flesh, does it not? Its fire burns ever so brightly.”
Doc pulled on Kessler’s robe, “He’s completely gone. Just like his flesh, his mind has been warped by the plasma.”
The far side of the moat eventually came into view, eventually revealing itself through the glare, “Would you like me to end your pain?” Kessler raised his sidearm, “It would be quick. No one should have to endure what you have suffered.”
“I am eternally tied to the ebbs and flows of the plasma, it is a part of me. I cannot leave it.” He took three large strides forward, dragging his bonds as he went and, with his staff hooked the ferry onto a tether and secured the platform to the jetty. With a skeletal hand which emerged from the folds of his robe he pointed for them to leave.
Doc leaned close to Kessler’s ear, “Leave him, he is no longer one of us. No citizen could survive what he has endured. He is not of this life.”
“You don’t sound your usually scientific self.”
“I have seen many strange things on our journey, I just cannot explain what is happening.”
Kessler put his arm around the doctor’s shoulders and reassuringly spoke to him, “Never worry, I generally don’t understand most things in life, welcome to the club.” Kessler, with feet securely back on the hard rock of the cavern floor turned and helped pull Doc up from the ferry, “We have witnessed some unusual things, old friend.”
“It has been awhile since you called me that.”
“This city, it gets into your very being, corrupts everything. Sometimes it makes you forget yourself.”
Doc looked back at the swirling plasma, “Dis can be an awful place but if the Malebranche continue to spread Lux amongst our citizens then we truly are lost.”
Kessler turned to the ferryman who stood stock still continuing his watch over the churning fire, “Thank you for the passage,” Kessler rummaged to find some creds in his bag.
“I require no payment.”
Kessler nodded, “Then farewell.” They turned and began making their way towards Acheron’s gates leaving the ferryman to his lonely vigil over the broiling light.
AN ENGINE OF DIS
Leaving the intense heat of the plasma fields behind them, Kessler and Doc approached the towering walls of Acheron. Metal sheeting and twisted plastisteel girders were compacted together with a jumbled assortment of old bots and all manner of ancient and unrecognisable tech to create a colossal structure which stood guard around the town’s perimeter.
Doc stood right up against the metal boundary, his dark purple cloak a hunchbacked silhouette against the deep orange rust which covered the ancient walls. He could not take his gaze away from the crumpled optics of some ancient droid. Shattered and smashed, it stared at them from its crushed prison of discarded plastic and metal. Its guts, a mass of blackened spindly wires, spilled out as if trying to escape.
“Come on, we don’t have time to stand here and stare.” Kessler put his hand on Doc’s shoulder and tried to wrestle his focus away from his distraction. “Just a short distance along the wall I’m sure will bring us to the town gates.”
Doc’s attention remained on the old bot for a few moments, ignoring Kessler’s demands to move. Eventually he turned and pulled down his hood, his heat suit still caked in the Seeker’s blood and guts. He squinted through his dirty glasses and with an otherwise blank expression spoke in a quiet monotone, “The horr
ors of this place are indescribable and I fear that we have not seen the worst of it.”
Kessler had to bend down and bring his ear close to Doc to hear his mumblings, “We keep moving, stick to the plan. I promise you, we’ll be alright.” He reached behind Doc’s head and pulled his hood back up, “Careful, old friend. We do not know who or what is near. We must remain hidden behind this grim disguise until we’re safe.”
“Safe? All I want is to be back in my lab, installing re-breathers, implanting bioware, heck, I even miss treating Toxics and Mutes.” Doc shrugged his shoulders and with a sigh began to walk along the wall, “I never thought I would miss it all so much.”
Kessler looked around him and subconsciously felt the reassuring metal chrome of his Luther still holstered by his side hidden beneath the folds of his pungent robes. The chems Doc had given him still flowed through his system, enough for him to feel no physical pain however every step and every quick breath of Ox was taken knowing that an insatiable need simmered below the thin veil of control he managed to convey. He closed his eyes and wished he had taken some of the sim back at the Merryll lab when he had the chance. Now they were gone. The detective punched the wall in frustration and walked quickly to catch up with Doc who lumbered on ahead of him.
Eventually they came upon the entrance to Acheron. Two huge cadermite gates lay half open as if some mighty wind had blown the great doors ajar. Doc looked up at the gigantic entrance, “I have never seen so much cadermite in one place. Such a rare metal, where did they get it all from?”
“We’re standing on rock, remember. They probably took it straight out of the ground.” Even now, after all they had seen and been through, Kessler was still amazed at the thought of standing on ancient ground. The people of Dis were used to recycling old metals and creating synthetic materials from chemicals, the pure materials from the old world, from the ground itself, were extremely rare. “They must have access to a lot of it, this cadermite is ten inches thick.” Kessler mused, “I remember the old stories. These towns were built by the original architects, built around the furnaces that tunnel deep into the ground in search of plasma to fuel the city. Who knows what dangers they have encountered, we know so little of these lower reaches.”
