I found myself on the very edge of the Sunset District, right by the stretch of grass that separated the Ring from the Cages. There was no way to quickly make it home, so I looked around until I saw an alley with a green “X” painted on it. I rolled aside a dumpster, praying to find something useful underneath it. There was a t-shirt, a thick coat, some long pants and a little bit of food. I put the shirt and pants on to cover my dancing clothes, but I left the coat and food there for someone else before leaving the alley.
I walked past a rusty sign on my way down the street. “Welcome to the Shining Ring”. A dank would get strange looks walking around here alone and the Grandfather always told us to never stay out after dark. I needed a place to sleep and I needed to find it soon. Unfortunately, there was only one place that I knew would take me in.
It was in one of the richest sections of Jamestown, and was easy to find thanks to the high glass tower that rose from its roof. Its lavishness stood out, even when compared to the rest of the Sunset District. It was the Omniscients’ monument to good breeding and narcissism, constructed of iron, glass and neon.
“Why my sweet little girl, are you alright?” a frail woman came up and asked me. Like the others who worked at the Temple she was old, but looked like she may have been good looking, years ago. She was also very kind, but I knew that that would change if she knew I was a Truand and not just a random homeless Sapien.
“Yes. I was just looking for a place to sleep,” I told her, flashing my biggest and saddest puppy-dog eyes. “It’s so hard living out on the street, and all I want to do is get married, have babies, work for a nice Omniscient family and then have more babies. Would you help me?”
Her eyes lit up. “That’s wonderful,” she exclaimed, eating that shit from the palm of my hand. “You know, you are so pretty and you seem smart too. We need to make sure you pass those genes on. You would have adorable children. Please, come right this way.”
The Temple hadn’t changed much since the last time I had stayed here, except that a few of the residents seemed a tad more senile.
The woman led me to a man who wore robes that seemed different than the others. They were much more ornate.
“Father Frollo, this young woman would like a place to stay.”
My heart raced when I heard that name. I hadn’t expected to see the leader of the Men of the Temple. Frollo was the king of the crazies.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Vera.” I was very proud of that name. My mother had named me after herself, so it was one of the few things I never lied about.
“You have a lovely name and you’re a beautiful girl. Be sure to pass those genes on. You would have adorable children.”
“Thank you,” I said to him. I had forgotten how strange it felt being on these people’s good side. Most of my encounters with them involved being shouted at, chased, pelted with rocks and being called a freeloader. They really loved that word.
“We would be happy to give you rest for the night, although we do ask that you submit to a physical examination first. We just want to be sure you don’t have any obvious genetic abnormalities.”
“Of course.”
The woman led me to a stark white room where another old shiner took a sample of my blood, before poking and prodding my arms, legs and everywhere else I allowed him. I made sure to not let my dancing clothes show. They would have made it pretty obvious that I didn’t plan on following their ways.
When his exam was done, and the blood sample turned out clean, the old woman gave me a big smile and walked me back to Father Frollo.
“This young girl is as healthy as a horse.”
“Fantastic. I was hoping for good news. Be sure to pass those genes on. You would-”
“I plan on having children,” I said, cutting him off. "And I'm sure they'll be adorable."
“Great. It’s like you read my mind. You can have a room upstairs. Feel free to stay as long as you need to. We are also going to have a lecture in about an hour and would love for you to join us.”
“Thank you so much. That sounds fantastic.” There was so much sarcasm embedded in those words that I’m still amazed they didn’t hear it.
"Great. I suppose we'll see you there." Frollo turned to the woman, and spoke to her, directly. "Linda, would you be a dear and go get me some tea? I'm feeling a bit hoarse."
"Of course, Father."
"Thank you so much. And you, Vera, would sit with me for just a moment?"
"Um, I suppose I could do that."
"Fantastic."
The two of us sat down at one of the pews that lined the main hall, but even once we were there it was still a few moments before Frollo finally spoke.
“Listen, Vera, I know that you think we look down on your race and I wish I could say that that wasn’t true. The policies of the Men of the Temple are anti-Truand, but we only oppose the Truand lifestyle. If you, as an individual, choose to work hard and follow the law, then we believe that you should have the same opportunities as everyone else. If you can rise above your race, I promise to give you every opportunity we can provide, so please, don’t think of us as your enemy.”
I wanted to smack him for assuming my race was something I needed to rise above, but at the same time I almost wanted to trust him. Who was this man, who made me want to believe that the Men of the Temple were here to help me? Where was the man I had been warned about by the Grandfather? Was he standing behind Frollo, ready to pop out and yell “I fooled you”? Was he just a myth or did he lie somewhere beneath the winning smile and charming personality?
“Thank you, Father. I’ll remember that.”
The old woman led me up to a very small, but private room. There were dozens on this floor just like it. I sat down on the bed, remembering that I still had the rolled up hat with all my money in it. I was halfway through counting it when I heard Frollo’s lecture echoing through the building. I opened up my door to let the sound in as I kept counting out the bills and coins.
“A society is built on people, and thus society must have the best people to be at its best. The Temple has been spreading this message for decades now, and we are continuing to grow every day. It is our duty to spread the value and the truth of evolution, so that as Jamestown grows in size, so too will it grow in beauty, until nothing on earth can match the unblemished purity that is our city.”
The applause was so loud that it was almost deafening.
“Many say that we favor certain groups, but that is not true! We love humans in all forms. Whether Homo Sapien or Homo Omniscient, it does not matter. We will cut away the impurities from every human sect. I will now read a published statement written by yours truly, which illuminates the cornerstone of what we believe.”
‘Our Brother race is as a rose bud; full of untapped inner beauty. It only needs a firm root, water and a wise gardener to bring it to its full potential and unlock its boundless splendor. We must be the hands of that gardener and cultivate our brother race until he has reached a level of purity and beauty equal to our own, while still maintaining the differences that evolution has blessed them with. We who did not have to struggle, and were simply born in the favorable eye of both evolution and social class, must take it upon ourselves to bring others to our level of consciousness, and help them attain higher civility and intelligence. This is our burden and we bear it with pride.
I was once again deafened by applause. I had to admit, Frollo was a very eloquent speaker. I tucked the bills in my pocket and started to walk towards the lecture hall. I felt drawn to his voice, like a moth to the flame, but at the last moment, out in the hall, I saw something move in the corner of my eye. It was a person, quickly ducking into a stairwell.
I walked further down the hallway, but stopped when I heard the stairs squeak. I looked around the corner. There were no lights on, so I could only make out a small neon lamp and a twisted shell that looked somewhat human before it turned and started up the next flight. I wouldn’t have
followed the creature, but I heard something... Weeping? Mumbling? I swallowed my fear and started to follow it. On the ninth step I slipped and the weeping instantly stop. The creature began to race up the stairs, stopping only to shout threats like “Stay away” and “It’s not safe here”. The threats were made ineffective by his choked voice, and with every step he made both a loud squeak and a metallic clank. I chased after it for reasons I still don’t fully understand. Maybe it was destiny pulling me forward or maybe it was just reckless stupidity.
The last flight of stairs was pitch black. The ambient light from the halls below no longer reached up to me. I was going to turn around, after all this person could have been a psychopath for all I knew, but then the top suddenly became bathed in red light.
“Who are you?” asked an oddly mechanical voice.
“My name is Vera. I saw you crying and I just wanted to know if you were ok.”
“You came to see if I was alright?”
“Yes.”
I heard heavy footsteps approaching and the creature strode out of a shadow in the center of the room. He had a severely hunched back, and heavy metal plates were grafted to his arms and legs. Tubing and wires came from his head and ran down to his back and chest. Other wires ran all over the length of his body. Dirty hair hung down into his face, and he only had one eye. Well, he had one normal eye, and a metal one that glowed the same changing neon colors I saw in the Sunset District. He had no mouth, but instead a metal plate covered the lower half of his face and a round speaker was grafted where his mouth should have been.
I wanted to run away at the sight of him, but he didn’t seem to mean any harm. In fact, his tubing, metal plates and wires made up most of his size. Without them he would have been quite small and frail.
“Would you like to see my lights?”
“Um… what does that mean?” I asked him.
“Here, I’ll show you.” As quickly as he could, he moved over to a far wall. I noticed that his right leg was completely mechanical and was the source of the squeaking and clanking. He flipped a switch and the red room disappeared. The only light was his glowing eye, which I watched slowly move to the other side of the room, bobbing with each step.
A soft light came up and brought the room back into focus. As the darkness ebbed away I saw his finger sliding along dimmer switch, that caused the walls to glow with intricate patterns in the most beautiful blue-green color I had ever seen. Each wall was completely different, but all of them gorgeous. Then, the lights on the floor, which I had assumed were just garbage, glowed in pink and orange and soft blue. The baby colors all played off one another and wove into a beautiful pattern across the ground.
“Did you build all of this?”
“Yes. Do you like it?”
“It’s amazing.” He seemed to take my compliment to heart. He might have danced with glee if not for the machinery weighing him down.
“I have more to show you.”
He ran back over to his original hiding space, which I now saw held some kind of extensive control board. He motioned for me to come closer and I did. He pressed a button and we rose up off the floor. We went up and up through the glass tower to the highest point in the building. It was just a small room with clear walls, but below us stretched the entire Sunset District. I had never been up this high and I had never stayed out in the Sunset District this late at night. It was so pretty, the way the neon lights danced under the night sky.
He put his hands on two disks in the middle of his control board and the light in his eye went out. Then, to my shock, all the neon lights in the Sunset District went out. The billboards on the high buildings all changed to 12:00 AM and switched off. Omniscients crowded the streets and looked out their windows. The whole city was black. Everyone stopped to watch.
I saw one hand move just slightly and the whole district glowed brighter than before, but the soft and perfectly blended colors somehow drew in your eye. The other hand moved and a haunting musical tone carried across the city. Both his hands moved in perfect unison. He traced different symbols with each individual finger and somehow they translated into gorgeous lights and music. The city had a heart that was beating, and the red and orange colors grew brighter and softer with each thump. Then it moved like an ocean as the sounds of a haunting melody rolled over it. Then it was the forest. Animals ran through the thick green grass, as cold rain streaked through the canopy. The Sunset District changed a thousand times in those 60 seconds, when this lonely creature held a piece of civilization in his hands.
When he was done the people’s lives continued. They put their heads back inside their windows, went back to their walking and the trams and billboards started running again, and the colors settled into a dim haze of red, orange and yellow.
"These are my favorite colors," he told me, as his hands moved away from the controls.
It was so beautiful that I was saddened that I hadn't seen it before.
“My name is Nearly.” Once he told me, I realized that I hadn’t even bothered to ask the poor creature.
“I’m Vera.” We were lowered slowly back down into his attic, where his lights were still shining. When we reached the bottom I stepped off the platform, admiring the four walls, all so intricately created. “You really are an artist.”
“Not really. I just make what I’m told.”
“By Frollo?”
“No. He doesn’t like my lights, but I listen to him. I always listen to him. I even sneak downstairs to hear his lectures sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s my father. When I was born, I was born bad and they had to fix me. Now, I always obey him.”
“What does he make you do?”
“He makes me control the lights, but I would do it anyway. He says that having the lights makes people happy and making the lights change makes me happy.”
“Well, you’re father is a terrible person, but I’m glad you’re happy.”
His one real eye looked like how an eye might look when smiling, I think. It was hard to tell when he didn’t have a real mouth. I went back to the walls, tracing the green lights with my eyes. They were amazing.
“I was never much of an artist. I tried sketching, but I never knew what to draw.”
“I just listen to what the voices tell me.”
“The voices?” I suddenly became concerned
“Yes. They tell me all kinds of things. It’s nice to hear from them because I get pretty lonely up here. I write down the things they tell me. The things they say. I create it. I put it in my patterns. The voices are in my lights.”
He still seemed harmless, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to take chances. “Ok. I have to go to away now,” I told him while backing away slowly.
“Oh. Will you come back to see me tomorrow? Or maybe later tonight? I can clean up if that would make you more at home. I’ll do anything.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow. Goodbye, Nearly.”
“Goodbye, Vera!” he said, waving one of his weak little arms.
I didn’t really plan on coming back, but the little guy seemed so excited that I felt bad. I didn’t want to tell him that he was crazy.
Chapter 11 - Scott Vale
“Thank you so much, Mr. Howitzer. Your resources will be in good hands,” Frollo said, speaking to one of the Temple’s wealthiest donors.
“If it’ll help you teach these kids to drive off the freeloaders, then it’s all worth it.”
“I’m glad to know that you understand our cause. We’ll send an agent tomorrow afternoon. Please feel free to stay for our six o’clock lecture, if you would like.”
“Will you be giving the lecture?”
“No. We’re giving one of our younger members a chance to put his public speaking skills to the test. I have business to attend to elsewhere.”
“I’m sure you do. The Sunset District would fall apart without you.”
"I’m aware.”
As the other man walked back towards th
e main hall, I ran after Frollo.
“Mr. Frollo!” I called, catching him before he could start up the stairs.
“I’ve told you before, Scott, please call me Father.”
“Father Frollo, I need to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
Now that I actually had the opportunity to ask, my nerve was gone.
“It’s just…I…”
He reassuringly put a hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me like a wise mentor looking upon his protégé.
“If something is troubling you, you can tell me.”
“I wanted to… I need to know why I’m here. I mean, I’m grateful for everything you’ve given me, but why are you giving us weapons? What is this all for?”
“You’re not the first person to ask me that. More than once I’ve caught Thomas sneaking into areas where he’s not supposed to, probably looking for the same answers you are.”
“So, what is the answer?”
“To be completely honest, it’s far more mundane than you might think. You see, Scott, I once had a dream in which I was leading Jamestown’s youth to a brighter future. A voice told me that I should work to create a better generation.”
“You listen to your dreams?”
“Don’t be ludicrous. Dreams are only fantasy, but I liked the idea and so I made it a reality. I’m creating a new and better Jamestown where discipline and duty are the most important qualities one can have, and you boys and girls are where I’m starting.”
I couldn’t help but be filled with a sense of pride as he told me that. I was just some stupid kid who’d been living in the street. Now I was part of a plan to make the city a better place? It was mind boggling.
“Thank you, Father. I’m honored to be able to help.”
“Don’t thank me, Scott. You earned the right to be here, just like everyone else. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something upstairs.”
I stood at the bottom of the staircase for several seconds, feeling very… I guess it was a feeling of accomplishment, but I didn’t know it then. It had been a long time since anyone had been proud of me.
Black Light: The Deplorable Savior Page 4
