City of Darkness

by D P Wright

  “How far to the plasma field?”

  “About another fifteen minutes further down the tunnel.”

  Doc stepped closer to Kessler and whispered, “We will not have long if we are to make it back.”

  “I know.” Kessler fell to his knees, any energy he had left seeming to evaporate in an instant. “It’s no good. No one could survive down here. She’s lost.” Kessler shook as he spoke.

  Doc knelt beside him. “Take it easy Kes. It’s the withdrawal talking, you’ve been through a lot. I have nothing left to give you to mask the pain so you will have to just grit your teeth and get the job done.”

  “It’s no good.” Despite the heat of the tunnel Kessler shivered as a chill swept over him, “It’s all for nothing.”

  “Mr Kessler, you’re wrong. If it was not for meeting you and the doctor, Bendle and I would not have the chance to escape. You’ve given us hope.”

  “No.” Kessler turned his back to the others and slumped against the wall.

  “No, sir!” Opek spoke with a sudden intensity, “Have faith sir. We will fix this Tech shaft and you will find her. Now go on, soon we’ll escape this place. Have faith,” Opek urged.

  “Faith,” Kessler repeated. He raised his shaken, weak form up from the floor and spoke, “Doc and I will go down and look for Beth, we’ll be back in one hour, maximum, with or without her,” he gave Doc a sideways glance, “you two stay here and get this damn thing operational or else we’re all done for.”

  Opek lowered himself down from where he was working, “Here, take this.” He took something from Bendle’s helmet and handed it to Kessler, “Its a short-ranged com. I would normally use it to keep tabs of Bendle when we’re at work. It will allow me to keep you informed of our progress.”

  *

  The journey down into the plasma field took the fifteen minutes Opek had said but to Kessler it felt much longer. The vast size of the tunnel soon closed in on them from all sides and the constant wailing which travelled up from the depths grew in intensity striking Kessler to the pit of his stomach with a fear that sapped what little energy he could muster. Together they travelled through the wall of searing heat and down through the thick crimson mist lost in their own tired, disturbed thoughts, their minds teetering on the brink as they continued down deeper and deeper.

  The tunnel came to an abrupt end and immediately Kessler and Doc stumbled back as they were greeted with an awesome sight. They dropped to their knees as they took in the majestic spectacle through their protective visors. The floor was a great sea of white hot plasma. It churned, bubbled and careered in bright reds and yellows, thickly flowing in vast rivers across the cavern floor. Large flows of the liquid also burst out of the walls hundreds of feet above their heads and rained down flecks of light from above.

  Kessler had never seen anything like it before. He smiled in awe, before all this began he had only ever travelled as far down as D2. It seemed like years ago, like another lifetime, when all he was used to was a world of plastisteel and carbonized iron, now he was surrounded by rock from the ancient world only heard about in stories and myths told to children. Now the destructive force of the Council was replaced by this ancient world’s own natural power.

  “Wonderful isn’t it?” Doc croaked. He leaned against the tunnel’s entrance and wiped his visor, “Who would have thought something so destructive, so chaotic, could be so beautiful.”

  “We’ve seen so many strange sights on this journey.” Kessler peered into molten fire as it danced below him.

  “Well, let us get this over with and live to tell the tale.”

  A large gust of the scorching gale enveloped the two. This close to the plasma field, the shrieks now became more clear. Amongst the wails, individual cries and sobs could be heard. Every so often the infernal wind would bring with it a snatched word or phrase of despair.

  “Can you hear it?” Doc stood up and listened.

  Kessler took out his view finder and Doc peered through his scope. Hanging from the cavern ceiling, hundreds of cages rocked from side to side in the wind. Each cell contained piles of scorched bodies, some lay prone while others hung limp between bars screaming into the inferno.

  “They are alive,” Doc gasped, “at least some of them are. They have been given some kind of primitive breathing apparatus by the looks of things but they don’t appear to be wearing any suits, the rads will soon kill them. ”

  “Why have they been brought here? What good are they to anyone?” Kessler spoke with exasperation, his ears filled with cries from above.

  “I do not know. I do not know anything anymore.”

  A loud horn blared out from across the cavern, sounding six times before going quiet. Doc again looked through his scope, “There is movement on the far side, I can just make it out through the fire.”

  Kessler adjusted the focus of his viewfinder and stared through the bubbling plasma towards a large outcrop of rocks upon which stood a metal structure which was joined to the platform high above them by a tube which swayed in the thermals. All around the building huge containers were stacked in tall columns; each one had the yellow sun symbol printed on its side. Small creatures scurried back and forth. They reminded Kessler of the Seekers with black scales and beast like faces, only these were smaller, tiny critters which frantically scampered around working levers, pushing buttons and carrying boxes. Within seconds thick black smoke billowed from large stacks, pistons hissed and lights flashed and, on a huge conveyor belt, hundreds of boxes, came pouring out of the building. “A factory producing Lux. The burning sun is all over the boxes.” Kessler muttered

  “All the way down here? I don’t understand.” The sounding of the horn seemed to give a terrible energy to the wails of those caged as their shrieks and moans grew frantically louder.

  “Will you be ok?” Doc spoke with concern as Kessler stopped peering through his viewfinder to see his friend staring at his shaking hand which rattled by his side.

  Kessler stretched his fingers out for a few moments, cradling them in his other hand and spoke, “Like I said, let’s get this over with.” He made a fist and punched the ground.

  Right on the edge of the tunnel there was a ladder that scaled up to a series of platforms above them. Doc slung his rifle over his shoulder and went first but after one look at the churning fire below stepped back and looked up at Kessler, his visor reflecting the orange and red flames of the plasma. “I’ll be ok. Just need to take a breath.”

  “How’s the leg?”

  “Fine. Worry about yourself, I’ll be ok.”

  Kessler put a hand reassuringly on Doc’s shoulder, “I know, I’ll be right behind you.”

  Doc took a long breath and with a shrug of his shoulders began climbing up to the platform above. Kessler followed, his own tired limbs struggling to pull his weight up each rung at a time.

  At the ladder’s summit, Doc stopped and peered down from the top, his visor and bespectacled face apearing above Kessler who coughed and groaned as he climbed up the swaying ladder. Doc reached out an arm and helped lift his large frame up and onto the metal grating.

  Cages hung either side of the walkway swinging on chains that were secured to the ceiling far above their heads. The cells bobbled about in scorching gusts constantly hitting against the walkway. Kessler gripped the rail tightly as the platform lurched sideways after each clatter from the cells. He glanced down at the molten lake below and took a deep breath. He had already drawn his Luther and Doc followed with his Lazarus rifle, as they looked down the long passageway and took in the sheer scale of the task that lay before them.

  Against the dull orange glow from the fire far below and that which fell perilously from above, a constant low hum of despair and anguish came from the cells, waves of cries and moans where hope had long since been abandoned enveloped the pair. From the two cells closest to them bodies, all scorched and blackened, lay draped like rag dolls across the cell floor. Limp, lifeless limbs hung out between the rough-cut
, jagged bars. Kessler stood rooted in place, transfixed by the sight. Doc leaned close, “Come on, let’s see if Beth’s here and then we can get out of this nightmare.”

  Kessler’s stare remained fixed on the cages ahead of him, “I’m not sure if we’ll ever wake up from it.”

  Doc put his arm around him and urged the detective forward, “We are nearly there, Kes.”

  The stench of human waste stung their nostrils. Grey lifeless eyes in red, burnt faces looking out over crude, ancient respirators became alert as soon as their presence was discovered. A shriek was quickly followed by a flurry of frantic hands which desperately reached out from the depths of the cages, all trying to grab hold of them. Doc stumbled back onto a cage on the opposite side and was immediately crowded by a mass of blackened, thin, bony arms which grabbed hold of the folds in his suit and pulled him hard against the cell. Kessler reached over and heaved the doctor towards the middle of the walkway.

  “Quiet!” Kessler barked a whisper towards those caged. The desperate pleas for help were getting louder, it would not be long before whomever was guarding them would hear the commotion. He pulled Doc close and spoke, “There’s so many of them. You take the left side and I the right, just call out Bethany’s name.”

  “That is the plan? We will surely be discovered.”

  “Best get on with it then, quickly!” Kessler coughed and took a breath to steady himself.

  The two split up and immediately began working their way up the walkway through pleading hands and manic cries for help. It appeared that the Malebranche did not discriminate who they took from the streets and homes of Dis. The rough, mutated faces of the lower districts, the delicate features of Hightown and the childlike Techs all were here, both young and old. All were desperate to be freed. “Bethany? Bethany Turner?” Kessler raised his voice above the prisoner’s pleas.

  “Help us! Please! I can pay!”

  “I beg you citizen, I have children.”

  “For the love of the Council, free us.” The mob pleaded back in a garbled mass of words. Ignoring them all, Kessler batted back the rush of hands to peer into each cage desperately searching for Bethany.

  Doc placed his hand on Kessler and shouted, “It’s no use she’s not here!”

  “Just keep looking!”

  Kessler returned to searching his side of the walkway and just as he had shouted out Bethany’s name once again into yet another cage his eyes met a familiar face. It had changed since he had last seen it. Red raw and scorched black from the fire, he had lost weight since their last meeting, his cheek bones sunk even deeper into his skull than before, the distinct sharp edges of bone appearing under his feverishly, glistening, blackened skin. His cap was gone, leaving a bald head with small beady ears, his distinctive grey uniform was barely recognisable. Ripped and shredded, his tunic hung limply from his emaciated frame. However, the distinctive cyberware remained. The red eye, its gyros and optics audibly twisting and turning as it focused and stared straight at him. Lieutenant Bane of the DPD sat a short distance away from the rest of his fellow detainees, his back propped up against the corner of the cage. One of his trouser legs had been rolled up to the knee revealing a dirty, bloody bandage that didn’t quite cover a huge wound that festered across his calf muscle.

  He coughed and spluttered, pain seeming to rattle his skeletal form, “You again, Bounty? Your garb is different, but I would recognise that carbine anywhere.”

  “Bane,” Kessler’s gaze lingered on the officer’s broken form before pressing his face to the cell bars and speaking low, “I’m looking for a girl, Bethany Turner.”

  “You should be locked up. Breach of Protocols 16, 40 and 107. That holo suit was illegal tech and is going to bring you down, there’s a warrant out for your arrest,” he coughed as he struggled to speak, “not that it matters anymore.”

  “Listen, I don’t have time for this, have you seen her? She’s Christian, you may have noticed her praying to her god.”

  “It does not surprise me that a Getta like yourself be associating with illegal cults,” he broke into another coughing fit, doubling over in pain, “you dishonour the name of whomever earned that Luther. It represents honour, principles too high for your breed.”

  Kessler gripped hold of the bars, pressed his face hard against them and continued, ignoring Bane’s barbed words, “She’s tall, long black hair, her skin is pale, a porcelain white. Green eyes. You would remember her if you’d seen her. She has a course, Upper Downtown, accent,” he frantically tried to think of the words, “but it’s softened with education? Please, have you seen her?” Kessler spoke in desperate rasps, looking down the walkway every few seconds expecting to be discovered at any minute.

  Bane stared at him in silence for a few moments, the cage lit up briefly in a deep orange glow as a huge, thick stream of plasma fell from above casting shadows over the ghouls that weakly clambered about the cage trying to get his attention, “I have seen no girl of that description, she may be in one of the other cells or she may already be gone.”

  “Gone?” Kessler batted away hands as they clutched and grappled him, “What’s happening here? Why are they keeping you in these cages?”

  “Don’t you know? Every time the horn sounds he takes four of us to that doorway up at the end of the walkway. They go in and never come out again.” He spoke with no emotion, only a grim acceptance. “I have watched them down below, making that poison from that factory of theirs. Stacking their boxes high to be shipped up to the city above, creatures that have come from the depths to destroy our beloved Dis.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Bane forced a laugh, “You fool, they are using us, mere ingredients for their toxins.” Bane dragged his body closer to Kessler, “Their chem, Lux, is a plague that will destroy the city. The Council has been trying to stop it for months but…” he turned his face away and coughed blood onto his sleeve, “we cannot. Dis is finished.”

  “Ingredients?”

  “All I know is when the machine below stops, when Lux stops being produced, the horn sounds and down we go. Quick and easy. Soon black smoke bellows out of their chimneys and more chems are produced.”

  A shout from Doc further up the walkway alerted Kessler and he went to leave when Bane barked, “Wait!” He grabbed hold of a bar with his gloved hand, hauled himself up, grimacing in pain as his lame leg dragged dead behind him, “The city will fall to this scourge, millions of citizens will die, if not down here, then above us, to this Lux.” His body shook with the effort to stay upright but his voice was steady with a clear intensity, “The Malebranche must be stopped, you must stop them.” He looked down to Kessler’s Luther which he still held, “Perhaps something of what that stands for has rubbed off on you. The beast that keeps us will be here soon to take more down. Kill him, stop him, free us.”

  “The man who earned this and what he stood for died many years ago. There is no room on Dis for a man like him, not anymore.”

  Kessler moved on to the next cage and Bane fell wearily to the cell floor, “You Gettas are all the same,” he cursed.

  Doc’s voice sounded again, this time louder than before, “Kessler, quick, I’ve found her!” The detective bounded over to where he was waiting.

  Bethany looked like any of the wasted, broken bodies that lay within the cells. Her long black hair was thick with dirt and grime and her delicate features now disappeared into a skeletal frame that threatened to break through stretched, worn, blackened skin. However, her deep green eyes still blazed with life. They looked up at Kessler, tears freely flowing over her respirator, as she held tightly onto Doc’s arm. She wept, “Kes, I was alone…” words were forced between hacking sobs, “I kept praying for you but…”

  “We do not have time for this, Kes.” Doc, on his knees, reached through the cage with his free hand and put it around the sobbing girl. “Bethany,” he turned her head so that she stared straight into his bespectacled eyes, “we have to leave this infernal place.”<
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  “It… it,” her sobs raked her bony frame as the pain and despair freely flowed from her every pore, “holds all the horrors my uncle warned us about and more. The Devil keeps watch over us.” Her words trailed off into a sobbing whisper.

  “This creature, Minos is his name, is he near?”

  “Lucifer, Satan, The Father of Lies. He watches us, goads us. He tells us terrible things. Do you know what they do to us?” Bethany peered wide eyed at both of them.

  “It does not matter now, Bethany. We are going to get you out.” Doc continued to comfort her and hold her close.

  She continued to babble, barely coherent, “His words appear in our minds as he walks by and picks the sweetest of souls. He’s a demon.” She hacked a cough, “Our souls, what makes us human, they grind them down to feed them to us.” She burst out in manic laughter, “They are picky though, they only seek out the best for that privilege.” Her brief laughter returned to tired, exhausting sobs.

  Words failed Kessler as Doc continued, “Bethany, it’s going to be ok, we are going to get you out of here,” he repeated and looked to Kessler urging him to say something as she broke down.

  “Listen, Beth, remember back in the church when the fire nearly took us. I protected you then just like I’ll do now. You can always depend on that.” Kessler cleared his throat, “Doc and I are here for you, we’ll get you out. Everything will be ok.” Kessler reached into his suit and held out Bethany’s cross, “Here I have something of yours. It saved me out there when I thought all was lost.”

  She took a few moments to steady her breathing and stared at the sparkling silver cross as it hung from Kessler’s grasp. She placed it around her neck, wiped away a tear and spoke quietly, “Ok.” She coughed up blood and shook with the effort.

  Doc whispered to Kessler, “We need to get her out of here fast. She is sick from the rads, they’re killing her.”