by K. C. Finn
“Damn you Julius, I know what I’m doing!” the chubbier man insists, “I just hadn’t anticipated how much damage Lucien’s device has done to your arteries. We should have cut in higher.”
“Don’t waste time man,” Julius snaps, keeping his terrified eyes fixed on the ceiling of the cavern, “Just get the bloody thing off.”
Cae can’t imagine treating his own limbs as things that could just come off. He wonders where this new nerve has come from in his father, a man who used to come whining to Cae’s mother if he split his finger on a broken test tube. But when Julius’s eyes flicker down and meet those of his son’s, Cae thinks he understands his father better than he ever has. This is a man who wants to pay for his transgressions, something Caecilius Rex knows all about. For the first time in hours of being in the mountain lab, Cae gives his father a small, stiff smile.
“You’re going to have to hold the new leg in place for Howard to attach it,” Julius said, “Have you got a steady hand, son?”
Cae nods a few times too many. “I have,” he mumbles, the words coming out choked.
Julius looks back up at the ceiling, a strained grin on his face.
“That’s my boy.”
For the first time during the procedure Cae really has to look at what’s going on rather than focusing on Howard’s movements or his father’s face. As he follows Howard’s instructions and places the robotic leg at the correct angle, the sight of the bleeding stump where Julius’s calf once was sends a wrenching agony into Cae’s gut. Howard is right about the effects that the binding gadget have had; the unsightly blackness of septicaemia has spread inside the leg as well as all around it. Cae spares a sickly glance for the discarded leg that Kendra is now coolly disposing of a few feet away, grateful at least that most of the poison is no longer attached to Julius’s body.
Cae fumbles over the words that want to come from his mouth, but eventually he manages to speak as he watches Howard attaching tendons to wires and fusing metal to bone. The young detective can feel his lip trembling as he speaks.
“Dad?”
Julius looks at him immediately, serious and forlorn.
“I’m glad you’re doing this,” Cae continues, “But how do you expect to be able to help us so quickly? Surely this mess is going to take weeks to heal.”
His father smiles more warmly than Cae ever remembers from his past. Kendra comes back to his right side and rests her hand on his shoulder as he beams at his son.
“Don’t underestimate your old dad,” he says, his voice strained from the operation still underway, “I would never have dared to delve into bio-andronics if I hadn’t developed a good accelerant for healing. I don’t just make drugs for junkies, you know, there’s a lot here that can help people after we finish our business here.”
Cae can’t help the words that tumble out next.
“You’d have to help a lot of people to make up for what you’ve done,” he says.
Julius looks away again, his smile fading.
“I intend to.”
Later Cae sleeps on the floor beside his father’s bed, anxious to hear him call out if something has gone wrong with the op and Julius needs aid. His watch tells him it is ten a.m. outside, but within the cavern everything looks exactly the same as it had in the depth of night. In the moments when he wakes temporarily from his turbulent sleep, the young detective wonders how satisfying it will be for his father to see the sky, even if it is one filled with poisonous smog. Perhaps they could take him back to Dartley on the military boat and Cae could show his father the stars as Kendra had done for him.
An uneasiness at that thought stops Cae from going back to sleep. He sits up, watching Julius slumber on peacefully, content that the healing drugs are doing what they should be, but disturbed by the sight of the professor so at ease. How can he sleep so well knowing all those awful things that he has done? Should Cae be considering taking him home to play happy families when really he ought to atone for the crimes he’s committed under The Face’s iron thumb?
Cae hadn’t forgiven Flash Morgan for the very same thing; in fact he would have let Kendra shoot him if circumstances had called for such a move. And Cae certainly can’t forgive Redd Richmond, the conning little rat, for convincing him so soundly that he is the cause of every misery and horror that Cae has ever faced. Could he forgive Angelica for sticking by her father and his principles?
Would he be just as bad as her if he were to do the same?
24.
Howard goes out a few more times for supplies during the next day, but each time he returns he looks more haggard and terrified than ever. Stealth work is not his forte, that’s for sure. To Cae’s great surprise Julius gets up on his feet in the mid-afternoon and starts testing out his new limb. Though it’s clearly a struggle from the amount of white powder he’s shovelling down his throat, the professor looks physically capable despite his awkward motions.
“How does it feel to be part bot?” Kendra asks him with a grin.
“Better than I thought it would,” Julius replies, using his new foot to stamp out a beat that echoes up into the cavern. “It’s a strong fuse, this. Good show, Howard.”
The rotund doctor hardly acknowledges the thanks, buried instead in a small collection of firearms in one section of the cavern. When Kendra spots the guns and other arms she moves eagerly to join him, leaving Cae and Julius a few feet apart in the centre of the echoing space. Julius limps across, reaching out his hand for Cae’s shoulder. When it lands Cae doesn’t even mind the pain of the contact on his raw skin.
“It gets dark about seven here,” Julius says, “So we’ve not got long to wait before the three of us can set off.”
“Three?” Cae asks, looking back to Howard and Kendra at the weapons store.
“I don’t want to take Howard with us,” Julius says in a lower tone.
At first Cae doesn’t blame him, the overweight bag of nerves would certainly slow down their progress. It’s going to be bad enough having the limping professor leading the way. But when the detective turns back to Julius’s expression something serious is crossing it, more serious than a simple consideration of practicality.
“You don’t trust him, do you?” Cae asks.
Julius shakes his head slowly. “He’s been acting differently from the minute you and Kendra arrived off your boat. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him right now.”
Cae leans in closer to his father’s ear.
“Perhaps he’s just scared of standing up to Angelica and her resources?” he suggests.
“I hope that’s all it is,” Julius replies.
After Angelica and Redd and their perfectly tailored lies, Cae doesn’t relish the thought of having another traitor in the mix. He watches Julius glugging down more of his healing and pain relief powders, a wicked idea entering his mind. He points a gloved finger at one the professor’s bottles.
“I think I’d like to make Howard a cup of coffee,” he suggests, one dark brow quirked.
His father twists one corner of his mouth into a grin. He begins to step over to a space reserved for a small stove and some provisions. Cae follows swiftly, close by to hear Julius’s quiet words.
“I think I can show you where the coffee things are,” he offers with mocking courtesy.
“Tell me Dad,” Cae replies with the same joviality, “Does Howard take sugar?”
At the stove Julius reaches into a cupboard beneath the bench, pulling out a little white tube labelled TRUTH. He holds it close to the kettle with a smirk.
“He does now,” he replies.
The special brew of coffee is delivered whilst Kendra and the good doctor are still loading weapons and checking sights and safeties. Howard takes his mug with a mumbled thanks to Cae, hardly noticing when the detective crouches down on his other side to join in the inspection of arms. There’s a surprising amount to choose from, probably all acquired from the base above ground, but Howard is particularly interested in some of
the smaller explosive devices at his feet.
“Planning to blow something up?” Cae asks.
Howard takes an absent-minded sip of his coffee before he replies.
“Not me personally,” he answers.
“Who then?” Cae presses.
Another sip.
“Miss Forsyth.”
Howard lowers the cup slowly to the ground, looking at Cae with widened eyes. His balding head slowly beads with sweat even as he rises to his feet. Cae picks up the coffee mug and hands it back to him forcefully, some of the hot liquid spilling out to spit at the doctor’s hands.
“Drink up Howie,” Julius says, crossing to his friend with a serious look, “And tell us what you’ve been up to.”
The doctor looks down into the mug with a quivering frown. Kendra slaps her thigh hard and turns on him with a frustrated groan.
“For pity’s sake!” she cries, “Is there anybody around here who actually tells the truth without narcotic incentives?”
“I severely doubt it,” Cae says, his own guilt tainting the words on his lips.
Howard Fowler gives her a sad look, then downs his hot coffee until his face is glowing pink from the heat. He shakes himself out and looks to Julius first.
“I’m sorry old friend,” he sighs, “She didn’t ask me much really. She just wanted to know if Cae and Kendra were here yet.”
“Did you tell her who I am?” Julius demands, “Does she know that I’m Cae’s father?”
“No,” Howard adds with a strong shake of his head, “I don’t think Lucien ever told her and she didn’t ask me. She thinks Kendra brought Cae here to meet you, not the other way round.”
“So she’s here at Lachrymosa?” Kendra demands.
“In the other mountain,” Howard replies.
“Did you tell her we were going there?” Cae adds, his jaw tight.
The doctor nods shamefully, his eyes moving to the floor. “Yes, but not about the console. I haven’t told her any more than she’s asked to know.”
“How noble of you,” Julius spits, “I’m cutting my own leg off to help beat The Face for good and you’re sending her titbits to save your own hide.”
Howard’s head rises again then, a look of fury mingling with his shame.
“Don’t pretend you weren’t just like me, Julius,” he snaps back, eyes gleaming, “We don’t all have family that survived this mess to inspire us back to the good side.”
Kendra puts one hand out to Howard’s shoulder, gripping him firmly. He puts his hand over hers and smiles at her for a moment, but his mirth fades when she suddenly takes his other arm and wrenches it behind his back.
“That’s no excuse,” she states solemnly.
Cae watches as Kendra secures the doctor’s wrists and forces him down into a chair where they can keep him contained. When Howard is bound the detective leans over his sad, ageing face with a great deal of pity.
“So back to my original question,” he says, “What’s Angelica trying to blow up?”
Howard looks up into the caverns with a wince.
“The whole of Lachrymosa.”
25.
Julius leads the way up the dark mountainside with Kendra pushing at his back to keep him going. The second mountain is considerably larger than the one the professor has been hiding inside and its slopes are steep enough to fill Cae’s gasmask with condensation as he follows the pair upwards. He can feel the water from his own heated breaths escaping the mask at his jaw and trickling down his neck, a cold breeze freezing the droplets where they settle. He looks at Kendra, the sleeves of her black jumper rolled up as though she’s enjoying a brisk walk, and shakes his head with envy.
Night is crueller the higher the trio rises into the air and the barren mountainside offers no shelter from the biting wind. Cae clambers on breathlessly, relieved for a moment when his father stops and looks around as though he has found his way at last. But then Julius drops to the ground to rest and shakes his head at Kendra as she leans into his ear to speak. When Cae catches them up he can hear the despairing note in the older man’s voice.
“I’m sorry. It’s here somewhere. It’s just the altitude,” he pants, “The air’s too much for me out here.”
Seven months underground could hardly have done much to prepare him for this kind of trek. Cae comes to stand in front him and glances around too in the smoky darkness, spotting a suspicious looking path not too far away in the rocks.
“I’m starting to see where you get your sense of direction from,” Kendra says, her eyes narrowing in a smile above her mask.
“Let Dad rest for a sec here,” the detective replies with a nod, “I’ll walk along this ridge and keep my eyes peeled.”
“Stay where I can see you,” Kendra adds in a tone like a mother who knows her son isn’t listening to a word she says.
Following the sight that caught his eye, Cae moves off from the pair along a foot-wide level platform that curves around an outcrop of sharp looking rocks. As he walks in the darkness his keen eyes spot the spade marks and striations under his feet, signs that the level footing he has found isn’t there by natural formation. His father is right: the entrance to the mountain can’t be too far away.
He lowers himself to his hands and knees to inspect every crevice in the rocks along this pathway, gloved palms smoothing along the surface in case any of the stones are moveable. The rock is dry and icy in the black night, but as Cae struggles along on the ground his finger sticks in a cleft that doesn’t feel right. When he pulls his hand away from the gap it is covered in something sticky. The familiar black gloss makes him smile.
The same paint that his father uses in the lab to stop the rock walls from absorbing too much toxicity from the air. Cae tries to shift the huge slab of rock in front of the paint smear but it hardly budges, so he leaps to his feet and scrambles back to Kendra and Julius. The professor is now standing once more but clutching his chest with one splayed hand. He flexes his new leg and it catches the meagre strands of moonlight breaking through the foggy atmosphere.
“I think I’ve got it,” Cae says, looking to Kendra, “but I need more muscle to open the doorway.”
Soon the three of them are gathered around the large slab as Kendra observes it, her head cocked to one side. The ex-sergeant slowly re-rolls her sleeves, her bare forearms thick and strong. She grabs the bottom lip of the rock, wedging her right arm under its heaviest edge. Cae and Julius stand and follow her orders, ready to grab the top ridge of the rock and roll it away when she gives them some leverage. A count of three is made, then Kendra gives a groan as she heaves.
The rock comes loose suddenly under her strength and, though Julius starts to pull, Cae is unprepared for the force of the motion. The glossy paint on his fingers forces the rock to slip from his grip and without the support of two men the slab slides rapidly back into place. Except this time Kendra’s forearm is underneath it. She growls like something inhuman at the sickening crack of the stone hitting her limb but immediately starts to heave the rock off herself once more.
“Get it, roll it!” she urges.
This time Cae is better prepared and forces every bit of strength into getting the slab out of the way. With a massive heave he and Julius send the rock flying out over the flat ledge. The sound of it smashing to pieces echoes down the dark mountainside. Cae rushes to Kendra who is holding her forearm in the shadow of the moonlight. The detective tries to pull her arm towards him for inspection but Kendra snatches it away, giving him a fearful look.
“Is it broken?” he asks.
“It’s fine,” she replies, teeth gritted.
Before he can give it another glance Kendra pulls the sleeve of her jumper down hard over the injury. She flexes her arm to and fro as if to demonstrate that there’s no harm done.
“Let’s get inside,” Julius pants, still holding his chest, “I’ll take a look at it under the lights.” Cae nods in agreement.
Kendra stands up straight and turns her bac
k on them both.
“I said it’s fine,” she hisses, marching with haste into the tunnel.
26.
Julius reaches up to his mask as the sight of a clean air partition appears ahead. Kendra stills his hand, shaking her head noiselessly. Cae watches the thin trickle of blood creeping out from under her thick, dark sleeve, a line of crimson against her brown skin. She tugs the sleeve down with her thumb to mop it up, catching his eye.
“If Angelica knows we’re here, she might be waiting to switch off the air filtration,” she breathes, “Masks on at all times, boys. Until the job’s done.”
The professor agrees with a wince, his flushed face making it clear that he’s still struggling. Cae considers suggesting that he ought to stay at the partition and keep watch, but seconds later Julius is obscured by the chamber’s scratched, plastic wall as he clambers through it. His voice echoes from the other side, sharp breaths between almost every word.
“Living quarters are below us I believe, so I’d say we head up from here.”
A moment later Cae joins his father in the clean air space. The tunnel is wider and better lit here with a narrow staircase descending to the left and a broad corridor-like structure on the right side. A buzzing lamp embedded into the wall catches the detective’s eye.
“We can follow the electrical wires,” he suggests, “there’s bound to be a generator. I’ll bet the heavy machinery won’t be too far from it.”
Cae turns to garner Kendra’s opinion but finds that she has not yet passed through the barrier. From this side of the distortion it looks like she is standing still, head bowed towards her injured arm.
“Did you hear me?” the detective asks a little louder.
“Shh!” Kendra says, righting her posture and shoving her way towards him. “Keep your tone low. This place echoes like hell.”
There’s a tightness to her lip that Cae doesn’t like the look of and, when she passes Julius and his haggard, heaving chest, Kendra doesn’t even spare the professor a backward glance. Her care and attention for him has vanished somewhere between the mountainside and the tunnel, but now isn’t the time to start prying into what’s bothering her.
