by Gavin Zanker
‘We won’t be too long,’ Aiden said. He noted a frown on Ellis’ face. ‘Something wrong?’
‘No. Well maybe. I don’t know yet. Leave me with this and I’ll have an answer when you get back.’
‘Oh, I forgot. This might help,’ Aiden said, reaching into his pack and pulling out the ID card he found in the bunker. ‘Found it in the same place as the artefact.’
Ellis took it and gave it a quick glance. ‘Goofy smile, terrible haircut, he looks like a scientist all right. This could be useful, yeah.’
‘I’ll leave you to it then.’
Ellis was too absorbed to reply, so Aiden left him and stepped out into the street where Leigh and Hitch were playing in the morning sun.
THE BROKEN AIRCRAFT carrier loomed high above the waves lapping against the beach. Fishermen dotted the sand, mending nets and casting their lines into the surf. Strong winds blew in from the ocean, saturating the air with the smell of fish and salt.
As Aiden neared the hulking metal ship with Leigh and Hitch at his side, he noticed how much the hull had eroded since his last visit here a few years ago: wide swathes were coloured a dull red, and holes littered the metal surface. HMS Hermes was printed along the half-exposed hull in faded white paint. A gaping hole in the side of the hull, flanked by a couple of guards who could’ve just been fishermen dressed in their overalls, served as an entrance into the ship.
‘Do we need to pay to get in like the city?’ Leigh asked as they made their way along the wooden pier.
‘No, Carson Waters is a bit more honest about their dishonesty,’ Aiden said. ‘As long as we buy something inside, we shouldn’t be bothered.’
As he expected, they passed through into the ship’s interior without so much as a glance from the guards. The inside of the ship was open, many of the decks above had been knocked through or had rusted away entirely, leaving an area that housed the bulk of the market. Deeper inside, the corridors and cabins were used as various inns and bars, as well as the homes of some of the town’s more wealthy residents.
The three of them strolled around taking in the sights and the sounds for a while. The place was busy, already in full swing as merchants and customers bustled back and forth plying their trade. The buzz of the crowds and the cries of merchants advertising their wares cascaded together with the waves to create an ever-present white noise in the background. The goods for sale ranged from fried fish to exotic spices, the piles of red and brown granules costing more than a day’s wage here.
Aiden overheard snippets of different conversations as they meandered through the decks: traders squabbling over prices, workers gossiping as they gutted their hauls of fish. A couple of bearded fishermen were sat on a bench talking about the weather, one proclaiming that the fish were scattering lately because of the coming storm.
Leigh followed Aiden closely, wide-eyed and a little jittery. She was constantly looking around, checking Aiden and Hitch were close. He got the impression that she disliked crowds more than he did and he pulled her aside into an alcove near a seafood stall to take a break.
‘How’s business?’ he asked the merchant.
‘Terrible as usual,’ the bearded man said. ‘No one is out fishing with this storm coming.’
‘Big one, I hear,’ Aiden said.
‘Aye. Makes you wonder how many more the old gal can weather before she finally keels over.’
‘You think the Hermes is going to fall apart?’
The merchant scrunched up his lined face. ‘Everything wears out eventually. If it’s not the storms, it’ll be those Syndicate city-folk turning their greedy eyes this way.’
‘I didn’t think there were any Syndicate here in Carson.’
‘They’ve been sniffing around lately. There’s talk of them wanting to buy out a lot of the traders here and take the place over, but we won’t stand for losing our independence to those city dwellers. No way it’ll happen while I’m still breathing, I can tell ya.’
‘Thanks for the food,’ Aiden said, paying for some newspaper-wrapped crab sticks. He turned to Leigh and handed her one. ‘So what do you think?’ he asked.
‘The ship is so big,’ she said, sniffing the crab stick warily. ‘I can’t believe people built this.’
‘It took a lot of people and a lot of money.’ Aiden took a bite of his food and winced, wondering if there was actually any crab in it. ‘You want to head back to Ellis’ shop then? You’re looking a little nervous here.’
‘No, I’m fine. Let’s not head back yet. It’s boring back there.’ Leigh pointed at a rack of clothing and equipment hanging from a nearby wall. ‘Everyone wears strange clothes here, they don’t have all the bright colours like in the Rim.’
Aiden saw the gas-masks and old army fatigues hanging in the store. ‘There was an invasion near here a long time ago,’ he explained. ‘The fighting lasted for months, and lots of people died. After it was over, big areas of land to the south of here became uninhabitable because of bombs and chemicals left behind in the soil. Later, when the town sprung up around the Hermes, people scavenged most of the stuff that was left behind and repurposed it.’
‘I never heard that.’
‘No one really teaches history these days,’ Aiden said. It occurred to him that Leigh had never had the benefit of an education. Maybe he should try to find her some textbooks to read.
‘Looks like useful stuff. Can we take a look inside?’
‘Sure. You go in, I still need to pick up a gift for Ellis.’
Leigh rammed the rest of the crab stick into her mouth, chewing it with bloated cheeks, then marched off. She threw a glance back at Aiden and waved as she entered the shop. He waved back, then stopped himself. Why was he bothering to wave when she was right there? He cursed himself under his breath and tossed the rest of his crab stick to Hitch.
‘Come on, boy, let’s go grab a bottle of something for Ellis, then we’ll make sure she doesn’t get us into too much trouble.’
AIDEN PICKED OUT a bottle of vodka for a few tokens from a nearby bar, then made his way back to the equipment shop. He entered through the hatch door to find a metal-walled room with a strong musty smell, crammed wall-to-wall with rails of clothing.
‘I didn’t break it!’ Leigh shouted at the hook-nosed woman who was looming over her.
‘Yes you did, you little miscreant,’ the woman spat, waving a flashlight in Leigh’s face. ‘I saw you touching it with your grubby little hands and now it’s broken.’
‘What’s going on?’ Aiden demanded, striding forward and stepping between them.
‘This old witch grabbed me from behind and made me jump. Now she’s blaming me that this flashlight got knocked over!’
‘I did nothing of the sort!’ the woman stormed, her hands planted on her hips. ‘You’re this girl’s father, I take it?’
Aiden nodded, staring silently as his anger grew.
‘Well you shouldn’t leave her alone. She was trying to steal from me. Now look what she did. Didn’t you teach her not to steal? You should be ashamed.’
‘I was just looking when she grabbed my arm and made me bump into it,’ Leigh protested. ‘I swear I wasn’t stealing anything!’
‘And another thing,’ the woman said, stabbing a bony finger towards Hitch. ‘I don’t like having filthy animals in my shop. If you-’
A low growl emanated from Hitch’s throat causing the woman to take a half-step backwards and her eyes to widen.
‘I’ve heard enough,’ Aiden said. ‘You’re being unreasonable, and you’re singling out a kid to try and make a few easy tokens.’ He stepped closer and pointed his finger directly in the woman’s face. ‘I don’t like bullies.’
The woman took a few more steps back, surprised by Aiden’s sudden aggression. ‘Well unless you intend to pay for the flashlight then…’ the woman paused for a second as her mind raced, ‘then I’ll go get security to sort this out. You’ll find I pay my rents here and they’ll be more than happy to turn out trouble-c
ausing riff-raff like you.’
‘Excuse me?’ Aiden said, struggling to keep his voice level as he took another step forwards.
The woman stuck out her chin and pressed her lips together tightly. She clearly wasn’t going to back down, and if security got involved, they would inevitably side with a resident rather than strangers.
‘Fine then. Here,’ Aiden said, reaching into his pocket and tossing a handful of coins at her which scattered over the floor. ‘I hope you break your back picking them up.’ The woman’s mouth fell open in shock.
Leigh stomped forward and snatched the flashlight out of her hand. ‘I think this belongs to us now,’ she said with a scowl.
Aiden whistled Hitch and the three of them left the shop, making their way back through the market at a quick pace.
‘Sorry,’ Leigh said, struggling to keep up.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you,’ Aiden said, the heat of losing his temper still coursing through him. ‘I know it wasn’t your fault. Bullies like that just make my blood boil.’
‘I wanted to punch that stupid look off her stupid face for lying,’ Leigh said sullenly.
Aiden looked down at her and laughed as he pictured it, feeling his anger start to dissolve. ‘Now that I would’ve loved to see. Come on, let’s get out of here quick before she causes more trouble for us.’
CHAPTER 30
AS AIDEN STEPPED inside the electronics shop, Ellis strode into the kitchen doorway with a glowering look on his face. ‘Where did you get this?’ he demanded, holding up the decoder. ‘And don’t even try and lie to me!’
‘What’s wrong?’ Aiden asked, frowning as he tried to understand what had sent Ellis into such a frenzy.
‘You know what this is, don’t treat me like an idiot!’ Ellis shouted, skimming something through the air which bounced off Aiden and landed at his feet.
Bending down to pick up the object, Aiden saw it was the ID card he had used to gain entry to the bunker’s control room. ‘Why the attitude?’ he asked, slipping it into his pocket. ‘You know I’m here because I don’t know what any of it means.’
‘Come here,’ Ellis said, turning around and disappearing into the kitchen.
‘What’s going on?’ Leigh whispered, holding on to Hitch.
‘Stay here a minute, let me deal with it,’ Aiden told her, then headed through to the kitchen.
The table was piled with books and sheets of loose paper. Ellis rooted through the pile, pulling out a spiral-bound notebook which he slapped down on the table. ‘That broken shield symbol? It was the icon of an old government protocol.’
‘Government? They were wiped out years ago.’
‘Right, but they left lots of their toys behind when the world went to hell.’
‘I still don’t see what the problem is.’
‘The Government mandated that in case of an unstoppable invasion,’ Ellis said tapping the notebook, ‘this protocol was to be activated as a final measure. Project Solace. A parting gift to any invaders.’
‘What sort of gift?’
‘Don’t be an idiot. It’s a weapon, Aiden. That map you found? It’s a classified document, and each mark is a bomb, probably a nuke, buried underground. With the bad blood and rising tensions with Shenai in the east, the old Government would have scorched the land rather than let them set one foot here.’ Ellis mimed an explosion with his hands. ‘The whole continent blown to an uninhabitable radioactive slag heap.’
Aiden frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. No wonder Blanc wanted to get her hands on it so badly with power like that. ‘All that from this tiny artefact?’
‘This decoder is the key that can set off the bombs and end all life on this entire continent,’ Ellis said. ‘So let’s cut the act. If you have the decoder then you must’ve seen Project Solace. I’m guessing you found it in some sort of control room, right? Probably somewhere safe underground.’
Aiden nodded, he saw no reason to hide information any longer. ‘Yeah, it was in a sealed bunker. But hang on, without the decoder, the bombs can’t be activated. We can just destroy it, problem solved, right?’
‘Try it then,’ Ellis said, tossing the decoder to Aiden.
Aiden dropped it to the floor and stamped his boot down on the metal cylinder. It didn’t even leave a scuff mark. He pulled out his pistol, but Ellis stopped him.
‘I’ll save you the trouble, and me the hole in the floor,’ Ellis said, picking up the decoder. ‘This thing was built to withstand the brunt of a nuclear blast. There’s no way we can destroy it with the tools we have. We’re going to have to think of something else.’
Leigh who had been silent so far spoke up from the doorway. ‘Can’t we hide it? Just… drop it in the ocean somewhere?’
Ellis rubbed his chin. ‘There’s no guarantee someone won’t find it.’
‘Look, as long as we have the decoder there’s no problem,’ Aiden said. ‘It’s not like anyone knows it’s here.’
‘Blanc does,’ Ellis said, his voice suddenly cold.
Aiden stared at him with a puzzled look. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I know she’s after you, Aiden, and now I know why,’ Ellis said, holding up the decoder. ‘She knows you’re here.’
‘You want to explain to me how she knows that?’
Ellis sighed and his shoulders sagged. ‘Because I radioed her last night after you arrived.’
Aiden’s hand drifted towards the pistol at his belt. ‘Why? Why would you do that, Ellis? I thought we were friends.’
‘We were. Once. But that was a long time ago. Before you disappeared and left us all to face the realities of the Kinship splitting. I moved into Kiln Commons, got a job and met the most beautiful woman I ever saw. Her name was Sara, and we even had a kid together. We named him Anthony, in memory of Fenton after he headed north into the mountains.’ Aiden saw tears welling in Ellis’ eyes as he gazed down at his palms. ‘He was so young, Aiden. His hands were so tiny, and they would wrap around my fingers.’
‘I’m guessing it didn’t end well.’
‘No, it didn’t,’ Ellis snapped. ‘The Crimson Wolves picked up right where the Kiln Boys left off. One day a few of them came knocking at my door demanding protection money and I refused to pay. A stupid decision, I couldn’t fight them all, but I was proud and wanted to protect my family. Call it taking a leaf out of your book. You were an inspiring figure to a lot of people back then. All that blood and fire inside you.’
‘You’re blaming me for your life? That’s hardly fair.’
‘It was your fault!’ Ellis shouted. ‘You broke up the Kinship! I’m where I am now because of what you did! You’re the reason Sara was murdered and Anthony had his brains bashed out against a wall!’
A silence filled the room as Aiden’s hand still rested on the grip of his pistol. Hitch started barking and whining, not understanding the rising tension. ‘I’m sorry for what happened to your family, but it’s not my fault, Ellis,’ Aiden said, keeping his voice level.
‘I wanted to kill you for years,’ Ellis continued. ‘I could just never track you down. In the end I moved down here, away from the town that took everything from me. I drank myself numb, figuring you’d died in a ditch somewhere. And then yesterday you appear out of thin air. Well, it seemed like I’d finally get my chance.’
‘So why involve Blanc? Why not just shoot me in my sleep?’
‘I’ve never been a violent man,’ Ellis said, wiping his eyes, ‘probably why I fell in with a bunch of pacifists to begin with. Blanc on the other hand, she wouldn’t have a problem ending you, and the reward on your head would see me through a couple of years at least. Call it compensation for a destroyed life.’
‘Leigh, run upstairs and get your stuff,’ Aiden said, his voice cold. ‘We’re leaving. Now.’
‘It’s already too late,’ Ellis said, pointing out the windows at the front of the shop where an armoured SUV had pulled up in the street. ‘She’s here, and now she’s going
to get her hands on that decoder. Damn you, Aiden! Why do you always have to complicate everything?’
Leigh looked to Aiden. ‘Go,’ he said, nodding towards the stairs. She sprinted up to the bedroom with Hitch bounding after her. ‘If she gets that decoder,’ Aiden said to Ellis, ‘she’ll hold the entire continent to ransom. More people will suffer for it, people with their own families to lose. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Of course I know that!’ Ellis snapped. ‘If I had known you were carrying that thing, I wouldn’t have called the psychotic murderer into my home!’ He strode forward and locked the front door, slamming the bolts into place.
‘Is there a back way out of here?’ Aiden asked.
‘Yeah, out through the kitchen there’s an alley that connects to the main road.’
Leigh reappeared in the kitchen, breathing heavily as she carried her pack. ‘What about your sleeping gear?’ she asked.
‘Leave it, we don’t have time.’
Ellis opened the back door, then flung it shut with a curse. ‘They already have the place surrounded,’ he said.
‘What do we do?’ Leigh asked, crouching down and hanging on to Hitch who was still bewildered at the sudden whirlwind of activity.
‘No matter how you feel about me,’ Aiden said, ‘we can’t let Blanc get her hands on the decoder. Maybe we can fight our way out. Do you have any guns in this place?’
Ellis pushed his bulk against the table, scraping it across the floor. Leigh looked to Aiden with a confused expression as Ellis dropped to a knee and scrabbled around with the floorboards. He pulled a few of them up, tossing them across the room to reveal a cache of dust-covered weapons. Automatic rifles, a few handguns, even some grenades.
‘Quite a collection,’ Aiden said, waving the disturbed dust away from his face. ‘I thought you weren’t a violent man.’
‘I never used them, I just traded them for a while. How do you think I managed to afford this shop?’
Aiden tutted as Ellis passed him up a flare gun. ‘What am I going to do with this, light people to death?’ He tucked the gun into the back of his belt. ‘Hand me one of those rifles, and a grenade if they still work.’
