by Marty Chan
“Bully for you. Where’s your paperwork?”
“I’ve never needed any before.”
“Well, shine my shoes. That’s because you came during regular hours, but since you’re here after hours, I’m going to need to see some paperwork. You’re welcome to come back tomorrow during regular hours, but if you want to go down the hole now, I need the right paperwork.”
“Forget this nonsense.” Ehrich stepped toward the funicular. The redhead blocked his way.
“Like I said—you produce the paperwork, I’ll let you go down and do whatever you want for however long you want to do it.”
The freckled boy’s attempt at a shakedown was as obvious as his unruly mop of red hair. Even if Ehrich had the extortionist’s money, he wouldn’t pay. Instead, he asked, “What’s your name?”
“Brian. Why? You plan to report me to Commander Farrier? Go ahead. Might as well be throwing water in the Mississippi.”
“No,” Ehrich said. “Did you hear what happened to one of the hunters?”
Brian said nothing, but one of the teens behind him piped up, “I heard someone had a run in. Had half their face torn off.”
A cross-eyed teen shook her head. “No, a demon bit his head clean off.”
The others added bits and pieces of gossip. Stories had a way of distorting when they were passed down the grapevine, and Ehrich used this to his advantage.
“Never saw anything like it. It wasn’t so much that Louis died; it was more how he died.”
Brian sneered. “You know the risks when you take the job.”
His comrades agreed.
Ehrich shook his head. “Thing is, Brian, the illegal reanimated a dead woman to do his dirty work. The woman drove a pipe into Louis’ stomach. He suffered right until the end.”
The guards fell silent.
“The illegal who did this wasn’t alone,” Ehrich lied. “We think there are at least seven others roaming New York. We’re thinking we need some bait to lure them out, and my squad leader needs a volunteer.”
Ehrich fixed a steady gaze at Brian, who blanched, but didn’t budge from his position. He wasn’t about to lose face.
Ehrich smiled and nodded at the cross-eyed guard. “What’s your name?”
She shrank back. The others stared at their boots.
“Well, Brian, I’m sure I could lose your name as easily as you lose your need for paperwork.”
The young man glared at Ehrich. “Don’t break your neck climbing into the hole.” He nodded to one of the teens, who jogged into the guardhouse.
Ehrich strolled to the funicular and climbed on the platform. He perched on the giant angled risers of the cable car. “You’ve been a great help, Brian.”
Brian glared at him as the funicular jerked forward on the tracks and slowly rolled into the tunnel. The funicular angled so that Ehrich was now sitting upright on the platform’s tiered risers. Harsh gaslights lined the tracks, illuminating the long descent into the prison area. After what seemed like an eternity, the cart reached the bottom. He stepped off and headed through the prison’s corridors. Each cell was lined with the fine-wire mesh used in Faraday Cages. The mesh nullified any devices that relied on energy. In addition, the walls were reinforced with iron bars thick enough to withstand dynamite blasts. Most of the illegals in the cells were desperate newcomers trying to find a new life in this dimension, but a few were what Farrier called class-nine Dimensionals: beings with malicious intent or abilities considered dangerous to the citizens of New York. The engineers had constructed the cells with these types of prisoners in mind. Each spartan cell had a cot to sleep on, a bucket for filth, and a tray for food. The prisoners glared at Ehrich as he passed.
He slowed when he reached his destination. The glow from the arc lanterns affixed to the stone walls shed enough light for him to see Ole Lukoje perched on a hard cot inside his dank cell. A filth bucket sat near the bars and the sharp reek punched up Ehrich’s nose. The raggedy man hissed as soon as he noticed the husky, brown-haired teen, but he looked less intimidating minus his metal gloves and dust-laden overcoat.
“Have you come back for my other arm, fles-s-sh bag?” Ole Lukoje hissed.
“I need some information.”
“Then you have come to the wrong plac-c-c-e.”
“I know what you do, Ole Lukoje. You’re a parasite looking for hosts and when you run out, you move on. I have seen where you’ve been, and I know that angry people want to get their hands on you. I might let them know where to find you.”
The raggedy man said nothing. His nose whistled as he breathed.
“Now, I could be persuaded not to share your location if you were to share some information with me,” Ehrich said.
“What do you wis-s-sh to know?” Ole Lukoje asked.
“You visited a dimension where green-skinned people lived. Remember?”
“Those fles-s-sh bags had already given up their lives-s-s when I took their peepers-s-s. You can’t hold me res-s-spons-s-sible for that. No one can.”
“You saw a dark-skinned girl with an old man. She tried to shoot you with a crossbow. Who was she?”
“Ah, yes-s-s. Her kind likes-s-s to pick up s-s-strays-s-s.”
“What do you mean?” Ehrich asked.
“All thos-s-se people already dead. S-s-so few s-s-strays-s-s to s-s-save.”
“Stop playing games.”
Ole Lukoje drifted deeper into his cell. “A total was-s-ste. Dead peepers-s-s are s-s-stale and dry.”
“Are you going to tell me or not?”
“Free me and I will tell you all you need to know.” The raggedy man leaned back on his cot, his nose whistling. “No? What a s-s-shame.”
A dead end. Ehrich sighed and walked away from the cell, lost in thought. He turned a corner and took a few steps before realizing he had gone the wrong way. As he came back around the corner, he saw a prisoner that stopped him in his tracks.
A giant crimson-skinned creature with black, braided hair rose to his feet and approached the barred door of his cell. Two tusks extended from either side of the giant’s flared nose. He wore black trousers and an emerald vest that was open to reveal his developed chest and abdomen. Hanging around the creature’s neck on a leather strap was a jade tael, just like the one from Amina’s device. Indecipherable symbols were etched around the square hole of the thick green ring. The prisoner looked like the girl on the device, right down to the magenta eyes, black ponytail-styled queue and the tusks protruding from either side of his nose.
“I have a complaint about the quality of the food you have been serving.” The red-skinned man spoke in precise, formal English but with an exotic, drawling accent.
“I am s-s-surpris-s-ed at you, Ba Tian. S-s-speaking to a Hunter like that. Tissk tissk!”
Ba Tian scowled at Ole Lukoje, and the raggedy man fell silent.
Ehrich stepped to the red-skinned prisoner’s cell door. “Why are you here, Ba Tian?”
“I’m a humble merchant trying to peddle my wares.”
“If you were that, you wouldn’t be here. Ninth Circle is for the illegals.”
“This arrest is a misunderstanding. I had goods that needed to be shipped here immediately and your bureaucratic protocols would have had my shipment tied up for months. I was attempting to expedite the delivery for my client. I will gladly pay the fine or whatever I must do to be returned to my world.”
Ehrich feigned a smile, trying to get on the prisoner’s good side. He gestured to the jade tael necklace around the man’s neck. “Interesting amulet you have there. I think I’ve seen it before.”
The red-skinned prisoner raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Where?”
“Must have been on one of the Dimensionals who came through legal means. Those markings are interesting. What do they mean?”
The crimson man held up the tael. “In my people’s language, it is our credo. Death before dishonour.”
“I didn’t realize exporting was a deadly business,” Ehrich said.
Ba Tian’s eyes flashed anger, but he smiled. “Yes, we are a serious people.”
“Are there many peddlers like yourself?” Ehrich probed.
The man shook his head. “Tell me where you saw the other tael. Perhaps it is a fellow citizen who can vouch for me.”
Ehrich shrugged. “I can’t seem to recall exactly where I saw her, but I know she had cleared immigration. Maybe there’s a place in America that your peddlers are told to go when they arrive.”
“I go where the money is,” Ba Tian said, stone-faced. “Unfortunately, your people are an insecure lot. You are happy to buy wares from my kind when the goods are cheaper than your own merchants’, but as soon as you make the purchase, you want us banished from your sight. Your people value the wares more than the relationship, but you don’t understand they are linked.”
“What is it that you sell, Ba Tian?”
The red-skinned man smiled. “Ice. I understand that your people are fond of keeping things cold. But if you have any particular desires, I’ve travelled to many places and have contacts everywhere.”
“In your travels have you come across many symbols? Flags? Crests?”
“Many. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
Ehrich looked over his shoulder. They were alone. He reached for the medallion under his shirt. His fingers hooked around the metal gears. Dash’s voice flashed in his mind like the imprint of a fading nightmare: “Ehrich…No!”
Ehrich shut out the accusation. “Are you familiar with this?” he asked the prisoner.
The Dimensional’s eyes narrowed when he examined the medallion dangling from Ehrich’s hand. He took in a sharp, short breath when he saw the chimera on the back cover.
“Well?” Ehrich asked.
“First of all, the crest is of a proud people from the Vena system,” Ba Tian said.
“Who are they?”
The red-skinned man cracked a thin-lipped smile. “Information is currency. What will you give in exchange for what you seek?”
“You said you wanted to be deported. I might be able to make that happen,” Ehrich lied.
Ba Tian smiled. “Can I take another look at the medallion?”
Ehrich held it up by the strap. “Who are the people of Vena?”
“They are dust,” the crimson man laughed.
The Dimensional knew more, but he wasn’t about to tell Ehrich without something in return. Unfortunately, Ehrich had nothing to offer.
The boy stuffed the medallion under his shirt. “I’ll remember your helpfulness to the commander.”
Ba Tian stopped chortling. “Wait, wait. Tell your commander, whatever the fine, I’ll pay. As long as I can be sent back to my own dimension.” He plucked his jade tael from around his neck. “This tael is worth more than any of your precious metals combined. It could mark the beginning of a fruitful relationship.”
Ehrich ignored the offer and walked away from the cell. Thoughts swirled around his mind. Was the medallion’s original owner from Vena? He had to go back to his only real lead—Amina’s book.
Tesla in Trouble
Ehrich crossed the bridge that spanned the two islands and ran to Tesla’s tower. By now, he was a familiar enough sight that the guards didn’t stop him as he pushed through the doors and bounded up the stairs to tell Tesla about his first lead.
He headed to the upper levels to search the labs for Tesla. The first lab was filled with copper wires, stators, iron tubes, gears, and various other items that would make an engineer giddy. A second lab looked like a zoo of mechanical animals. The coils of copper wire looked more like a snake aquarium, and the giant machines with gear heads were like trophy heads from a safari. Ehrich wasn’t sure if these were confiscated devices or Tesla’s own inventions.
When he reached Tesla’s AC coil demonstration lab, he was stunned to see the room’s condition. Someone had ransacked the place. Equipment was broken and scattered, and the coil towers had been knocked down.
He leapt up the stairs three at a time until he arrived at the top level where he heard a shout. Through a set of double doors, there came the crackling sound of electricity. Ehrich followed the sound and flung the doors open.
There, in the centre of a trio of electrical towers, a disheveled Tesla stood with his arms raised. The doughnut-shaped rings at the top of the narrow towers discharged electricity which the scientist caught in his thick, mesh-gloved hands. Then he hurled a blue sizzling ball at a figure at the corner of the room.
Amina! She rolled out of the way of the lightning ball and it seared the wall behind her.
“I want my Codex back!” she demanded.
“I would not come any closer,” Tesla warned. “You will regret it.”
Amina crouched low, tensing as if to spring. The scientist summoned the electricity from his coils and hurled ball after ball of energy at the girl. She dodged them deftly, rolling across the floor and moving closer to Tesla until she was nearly on top of him. He threw one last ball of energy at her, but only succeeded in charring the marble floor. Amina dove across the floor and picked up the book device at Tesla’s feet. Then with a leg sweep, she knocked him down and sprinted to the doorway where Ehrich blocked her exit.
Amina launched herself into the air and fell on him with her full weight. He rolled as soon as he hit the floor, pushing his feet against her belly and flipping her over. She landed with catlike grace. He sprang up and spun to grab Amina before she could turn around, but she unleashed a mule kick at Ehrich’s chest. He staggered back into the room.
Tesla extended his hand to summon more electricity from the towers, but Amina picked up the heavy cable on the floor and yanked it out of the base of the crackling tower. The loose end sparked with deadly energy as she advanced. Ehrich stepped in front of Tesla to protect him from the brunt of the attack, but Amina did not deliver a killing blow. Instead, she threw the cable at the window. Cold air rushed into the room. Ehrich turned in time to see the girl dive out the open window. He rushed to the ledge and poked his head out. She was gone. Far below, there was no body on the ground. It was as if she had vanished.
In the distance, the lone caw of a seagull echoed over the water.
Hunter No More
The battle had left the lab in ruins, but that was nothing compared to what its aftermath did to George Farrier’s temper. While Devil’s Island guards combed the room for clues to help them track Amina, Farrier limped toward Ehrich, the wood of his peg leg thudding on the marble floor.
“Explain to me exactly what happened.”
“A Dimensional escaped from Devil’s Island and came here to retrieve a device we had confiscated from her.”
“Impossible. No one can leave my facilities without my guards knowing it. She must have come from outside the island.”
“Commander, I recognized her as one of the new arrivals.”
“My security is airtight. No one gets out of there without my knowing.”
“I don’t know how she slipped out, sir, but she did.” Ehrich couldn’t believe that the commander was being so thick-headed.
“No, Mr. Weisz. There is no way anyone could have left.”
“Sir, I think she’s meeting someone here.”
“Tarnation. A Dimensional breaks out of my facility just so she can meet someone,” Farrier said. “Aren’t you the wellspring of useless observations?”
Tesla interrupted, “I believe she is looking for a red-skinned girl. This second girl has interesting taste in jewellery, including a jade coin with a square in the centre. You wouldn’t be able to miss her. She has tusks on either side of her nose.”
The commander asked, “How do you know all this?”
“I examined the Dimensional’s device, and it brought up the image of a red-skinned girl.”
“Tarnation. Now I have to look for two Dimensionals instead of one.” He turned to the guards. “Search this island and find the fugitive. We have ourselves a bug hunt.”
“Commander, I�
�d like to join the search.”
“No, you’re still on administrative duty, and I don’t think that was supposed to include running out to this island. You want to tell me why you were here in the first place?”
“He is working for me,” Tesla explained.
“Well, shut my mouth. Mr. Tesla, in all our time together, I’ve never once seen you ask for help from anyone.”
“Mr. Weisz brought me the item belonging to the fugitive to examine, and he has been providing a valuable service ever since. I would like him to continue.”
“I’d like my right foot back, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.”
“Mr. Farrier, if not for this young lad, the damage could have been much worse. Can you imagine the Demon Watch without weapons? I believe I will need to conduct a thorough test of the arsenal now to assess the damage and make sure she didn’t tamper with anything before I caught her in my lab. It might be weeks, even months before you receive any new weapons. My work would go much faster if I had help.”
Farrier glowered but said nothing.
“I’m in this boy’s debt. Without him, I’m sure I would be dead right now.”
“Mr. Tesla, I can post more guards at your research facilities.”
“The same ones who allowed the woman to escape your island, Mr. Farrier? No, I’ll keep my own security, thank you.” He turned to Ehrich. “Young man, I am promoting you to my personal bodyguard.”
“Absolutely not. I forbid it,” Farrier said. “He is under my command.”
“Not any more. He transferred to my facilities as an apprentice, and I’m loathe to lose him.”
Farrier rubbed his salt and pepper beard, eyeing Ehrich. Finally, he spoke. “Good riddance. You are no longer a hunter, Ehrich Weisz.” He hobbled out of the lab, moving swiftly on his peg leg.
When they were alone, Ehrich found he could breathe again. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. There’s a mess to clean up.”
“Me? I thought I was your security.”
“Yes, you are, and the next time my lab is attacked by an inter-dimensional being, I fully expect you to be there to defend me.”
