Ajax_Rebirth

by Gavin Magson

  The captain stood up and gave him a strong handshake and a gruff slap on the back, which rocked Ajax on the spot. The hug from Ilya was a lot swifter this time, no lingering at all.

  Ajax battled his way through the crowd once more and was soon out of their sight, the brief light that came through the doorway was the only way they knew he had made it out the other side alive.

  Chapter 12

  “You know, I'm really going to miss him.” said Duke, swigging on the beer bottle he held in his calloused hand.

  “I'll admit he has grown on me, ever since he saved your life.” mulled Ilya, her glass of wine slowly being drained.

  “Aren't you glad we unfroze him now?” Duke checked the clock. “Shouldn't you be off to meet Greg and Lev soon, you know how long it takes those idiots to pack their stuff away. Any head start would be an advantage with those two.”

  Ilya downed the rest of her drink, disappointed by how little was left in the cheap imitation crystal glass. “I suppose you are right, they are worse than I am. You know that I could not cope if something happened to you, even if it was your own idiocy that was to blame. Of course I don't regret bringing him back; without Ajax you'd be dead and I'd be lost. Do you think that he will be all right on his own? He hasn't had very long to get used to this new life of his.”

  Duke took a long, thoughtful pull of his beer until the cool drink was all gone. “You should have seen him kill those men, Ilya, I have never seen anything like it. It was efficient, brutal and swift; I am more than confident that he will be just fine. The same cannot be said for those foolish enough to make an enemy of him. When we get back he'll probably be running this place.”

  Her captain’s faith in Ajax was reassuring, even if Ilya was worried whether he could take care of himself in an unfamiliar, alien world. She rose from the table, manoeuvring gracefully into some relatively unoccupied space and turned to grab the coat she had been sat on. A fight almost broke out whilst she tried to get her arms into the coat, which resulted in her fist skimming a woman's face who was stood behind her. With a few apologies everything calmed down and Ilya headed for the door, giving Duke a quick wave above the crowd before she was out of sight.

  The courtyard was once more bustling with yet more people, you were never far from a crowd in this city. Ilya turned right and headed for the narrow alleyway between the buildings that circled the courtyard, it would cut her journey time to the apartment building significantly and avoid a lot of the stalls that attracted scores of customers.

  Lev always joked that should she ever leave the mining business there was a promising career as a taxi driver just waiting for Ilya in his attempt to try and compliment her sense of direction. A few times he had chosen the wrong moment to mention it and barely escaped unscathed, normally receiving a verbal barrage for his efforts.

  At the end of the alley Ilya stepped out into a quiet street, comprising mostly of residential buildings. She navigated the maze of streets with ease, no need for a map. Ilya slipped between buildings and following her regular route from memory, allowing her to think further on what has happened to the crew in the span of a few days. She had been so certain that leaving Ajax behind on his ship was the right decision to make; she could not have been more wrong.

  When Duke had left her room after returning from his meeting with Rine Ilya had struggled to sleep, the thought of what could have happened if Duke had been alone that day haunted her. She knew that without Ajax this man, who had taken her from poverty and a life of crime, would be dead, murdered over his debt. She had called for them to leave Ajax in stasis; if Duke had listened to her it would have been his death sentence.

  In no time Ilya found herself outside one of the many apartment blocks of the sector, only the individual graffiti could truly tell this one apart from the identical buildings surrounding her. Twenty floors of grey, drab apartments that housed a wide selection of the sectors inhabitants.

  The access code for their building had not been changed in all the time she had known Greg, who only recently had Lev move in with him. They had struggled to keep the relationship a secret from Ilya and Duke, though neither had cared about it and had known for a long time. They weren't the type to judge someone from their sexuality, unfortunately the same could not be said for some of the couple’s neighbours.

  Once the door unlocked Ilya stepped inside the foyer and headed for the elevator, she pressed its call button and braced herself for an aural bombardment. She wasn't in the mood to climb twenty flights of stairs to probably wake up those idiots, yet the discomfort she would have to suffer was almost enough to change her mind in taking the elevator.

  There was a quiet noise that signified the elevator had arrived, followed by the faded golden doors juddering opening. A woman and her two children exited in a hurry, leaving Ilya an empty elevator for the journey up. The family had looked green in the face and relieved to have reach the ground floor, not an uncommon sight.

  The stench of alcohol, urine and vomit was heavy inside the enclosed space, with yet more colourful graffiti painted on its walls that failed to lift her spirits. Ilya made a mental note to try and convince the boys to move somewhere a little more pleasing to the senses, or at least learn to wake themselves up for once. When the elevator came to a stop it could not have been any sooner, Ilya was almost turning blue from holding her breath.

  The floor Greg lived on appeared to be the same as any of those below, just like all the apartments were laid out in repeating identical pairs. Ilya walked along the corridor, checking the numbers on the front doors to make sure she did not walk past their apartment.

  Ilya looked ahead and noticed a small group of children huddled around a door, instantly anger rose up within her. There was no need to guess what was going on, she would have seen the paint cans from here if it was more graffiti. When she silently stood behind the group she could see one of the young boys trying to ignite a small paper bag; such a timeless classic, she thought.

  Ilya pushed the gaggle of children out of her way and grabbed the back of the boys head, shoving it into the bag with a satisfying squelch. The child let out a scream as excrement ran off his face and onto his clothes, trying to wipe it out of his eyes whilst just achieving to further smear it on his body. Ilya caught the last of the fleeing group by the arm, swinging the girl around.

  “Not so fast. You, take this boy home and make sure he knows it will be worse next time. Now get the fuck out of here before you share his fate.”

  Eyes flared wide with fear the girl hardly managed a nod, she just grabbed the flailing boy by his shirt and dragged him towards the stairs, following her rapidly disappearing friends.

  Greg opened the door to a red faced, furious Ilya and a carpet covered in shit. If it had been the first time he would probably have been shocked, instead he turned his head and called for Lev to bring the scoop and a bag. Ilya gave his quizzical look a nonchalant shrug.

  “You have to stop doing this, Ilya, one of these days a parent is going to show up on our doorstep. Probably with an angry mob and pitchforks, knowing my luck.” said Greg. Lev appeared around the corner and passed the items to his partner, who knelt down and started to scrape the worst off the carpet.

  “I hope they do, then one of you will have to grow the balls to confront them. These stupid kids are targeting both of you for being different and all you do is stand and watch whilst it happens. It is exactly because of your attitude that their behaviour goes unchallenged; no doubt their idiot parents are fuelling them with false reasons to target you. I won't sit by and let them torture you, you can moan at me as much as you want for it.”

  Lev broke tradition and managed to grumble a sentence together. “It's all right for you, this place is hostile enough with us just trying to live a normal life. How are we meant to deal with our neighbours if you keep rubbing their kids’ faces in shit each time you visit?”

  “We are agreed then, this place is a dive. Move out, I've been telling you both for so lon
g that I am sure you are fully aware of the wonders on offer outside of these piss soaked walls. Sal is thinking of buying some of the houses on the street behind his tavern and using them as extra lodgings, you should ask him about getting on a waiting list. Anywhere is better than here, people vomit in the elevators and shit on your doorstep. Why stay here?” she asked, her face reddened by anger. Ilya could not understand why her friends seemed so indifferent to their treatment and unwilling to improve their lives.

  Greg's shoulders sagged and he shook his head, losing yet another battle with the fiery Ilya. “Just come inside before someone throws a grenade in here, from your description that is the next step from our neighbours.”

  The apartment was surprisingly spacious, given the cheap rent and unpleasant surroundings most people would expect a box room and a tent, with pillows optional extras. Beyond the door was the living room, made up of four chairs around a small table and an open kitchen to her left. Ilya enjoyed the view offered by the wall length windows opposite, she was always captivated that you could look down on the busy street below and study the scurrying inhabitants of Sector Four. Greg offered her a seat at the table and brought over three beers from a short fridge whilst she and Lev got comfortable.

  “Apart from saving us from the local children why have you decided to grace us with your presence today?” asked Greg, offering Ilya an open bottle.

  Ilya took a big gulp of her beer and let out a satisfied sigh. “Captain sent me round to check up on you two, to make sure that we would not be held up because someone hadn't finished their packing.” a few more mouthfuls and her drink was almost finished.

  Lev let out a long chuckle, only stopping to take a pull of his drink. “One time we were late, and you know that's because Greg overslept. Are you ever going to let that go?” he knew the answer before asking.

  The familiar grin flickered across Ilya's face, confirming what Lev suspected all along. “You know how important it is to get back out there and land a big haul this time, especially after all this loan trouble the captain is in.” her grin quickly vanished at the thought of Rascas, the blank stare of his cold, dead eyes once more in her mind.

  A knock on the door interrupted as Greg began to speak. Neither he nor Lev were fast enough to stop Ilya answering the door first, arriving a split second behind her. The boy was back, along with the stench and escorted by an enraged man.

  “Are you the woman responsible for the state of my son?” he asked accusingly, his tone suggesting there was no way she could deny it.

  Ilya took a step outside of the room, barely a hairs breadth between her face and the man's. She could smell stale sweat, mixed in with cheap cigarettes and even cheaper spirits. He grinned, several teeth missing, the rest rotten and blackened. Quite the fine example of Greg's fellow tenants.

  “I think you are mistaken, you are responsible for this snivelling wretch of a boy, not me. He should not go leaving shit on someone's doorstep, trying to light it and make these men suffer. I was doing you a favour since you weren't around to discipline him.”

  Most people would have tensed up as the smile left the man's face, replaced by a snarl of anger. Instead, Ilya grabbed his shirt with both hands and pulled to give more momentum to the head-butt that connected with a wet thud. The following uppercut sent the man sprawling, leaving a dent in the corridor wall as he rebounded off it and landed in a heap on the floor.

  His stinking child was ashen, rooted to the spot with fear. The father struggled to his feet, clutching at his bloodied nose and not bothering to look for the lost tooth Ilya had seen fly from his mouth. Father and son made a hasty retreat from Ilya's wrath, not looking back in fear that she would attack again. A few choice curses sent them on their way.

  Ilya turned around and marched past the stunned couple. When they finally came to their sense and re-joined her Ilya was sipping at a fresh beer. Greg decided it best to avoid talking about the conflict, it was a lost cause when Ilya had her own opinion about a subject.

  “That reminds me, how is Ajax? We didn't have a chance to thank him before he disappeared last night. Have you seen him at all today?” asked Greg. Her scowl was all he needed to know that everything was not all right.

  “Someone got in contact with him yesterday, a woman named Aiko; that's why he ducked out early in the evening. It's all to do with his and the captains agreement with Rine to pay off the debt. Ajax was involved in two underground fights last night; somehow he managed to win both, though he had to kill his second opponent before the man could kill him. I could not believe the state of him, his face looked like he had been mowed down by a hover. To top it all off he's heading for Sector Six as we speak, another job he's juggling working for Steiner.”

  “Steiner, as in The Butcher? Didn't he set fire to an entire apartment building just to kill one guy who tried to steal a budget augment from him?” asked Lev.

  “There aren't many like him to get confused with, I'm sure there is more than a little truth in that story. I was too late to warn Ajax off, he had already accepted payment from Steiner and is tied into the job. You should have seen how much fire power he was packing in the tavern, I don't think Ajax was a simple farmer in his past life. One gun and enough ammunition to last out a fucking siege, god knows what Steiner has asked him to do. Fuck!” her curse hung in the air for some time, real emotion behind it.

  “The kid will be all right, he's tough and, like you said, has enough weaponry to back himself up with,” said Lev, returning from the kitchen with fresh drinks. “We will come back to find him acting like a native. How long are we likely to be off planet for?”

  “Captain thinks it could be six weeks until we are back this time, Greg couldn't see anything on the long range just before we docked. Duke said we might need to get closer to Believer territory on this run, we have little choice really; it's this or bust.”

  The mood darkened as she mentioned that name. Greg let out a quiet curse and made a gesture with his hand, Ilya was shocked that he even knew the symbol for evil. They all had heard about the barbaric race of the Believers, it was common knowledge that trespassing into one of their systems was either a death wish, or an act of war.

  “Okay, that is enough talk for now before I resign and become a street sweeper. Lev and I had best get packing, otherwise you will be correct about us holding up our departure this time. Lev, make sure to remind me to talk with Sal about a room when we are at the Haven; thanks to Ilya I don't think we'll be welcome here for much longer.”

  Ilya scrunched her face and poked her tongue out, it was a real rarity for her to act so childish. Greg could not help but laugh.

  The train station was smaller than the transport hub that he had landed in only a few days ago, which was surprising since it was considerably busier. Ajax had to constantly fight the powerful current of the crowd he was trapped in, all the time trying to read the boards overhead to tell him which train he needed to catch. It was proving to be near impossible.

  After several unsuccessful attempts to move upstream Ajax managed to burst out of the throng and find some sanctuary next to a bin by the wall, which gave him an opportunity to survey the train station uninterrupted.

  High above his head was a domed glass roof, growing moss and decorated in decade’s worth of guano, and the only source of lighting in the open-ended building. There were lamps everywhere, he guessed either these only came on at night, or were broken through lack of maintenance.

  He could see several trains that had recently arrived were now departing, and with them the rush of people started to thin. Ajax made his break for it, crossing over to the penultimate platform. He had seen even from the safety of his wall the notice displaying “SECTOR SIX” and was not going to be stopped. Those already waiting on the platform were visibly poorer than Four's inhabitants, most of them were clothed in worn out hand me downs and shoes that barely fit them. He fought back the urge to hold his breath when an elderly man stood next to him, reeking of stale sweat.
<
br />   The opposite end to the train stations entrance was a solid wall, all of the tracks dropped away into underground tunnels as they approached it. He only had to wait a few minutes until the next wave of trains pulled over the crest and glided almost silently into their platforms.

  Ajax looked down at the tracks and saw the train approaching him did not come in contact with the rails, it was hovering just like the taxis he had ridden in, except he could recognise the magnets for what they were. It was certainly impressive, if a little daunting when he considered how nearly everything inside the city he had seen was in disrepair.

  Only a few people got off the train, its multiple carriages seemed almost empty when Ajax looked through the foggy windows. The awaiting passengers began to queue up as they slowly boarded the train. Ajax kept an eye out to watch how they paid the fare, getting caught carrying the unlicensed gun did not sound like a good idea.

  When his turn to board came Ajax was confronted with a raised circular console on his right as he stepped through the doors. He rolled up his right sleeve and rested his forearm on the pad, a display showed, “A. Frost”, and told him five credits had been deducted. The person behind Ajax gave him a gentle push when he had been staring at the technology for too long.

  His choice of seating on the long, dimly lit carriage was limited to torn, soiled, or a combination of both, so Ajax opted to stand. He was surprised that there were no ceiling straps to hold onto so he grabbed hold of an overhead luggage shelf for support. There was an ingrained background smell that worried him, but he did his best not to think about its putrid origins. When the last passenger had sat down the doors closed and the train started to move forward, picking up speed quickly.