And Vance stopped playing his composition and saddled over the bench to face his brother, face convulsing with subtle twitches.
‘This is our fate, Malik. This is our prescribed utopia. Ideology of this kind must addict its users, you see. And people like me are the servants of this system. We give the people all that they desire, make their lives as best as possible. We work hard to keep them interfaced. Drop-outs are a great disappointment. They’re the ungrateful ones. Precariat bigots!’
‘What about the mind of mankind?’ asked Malik, walking around the piano, sliding his hand across the untarnished black surface and admiring the finish of the ebony polish. ‘What is the use in thinking if the mind is not free? Is there not a little madness in creativity?’
‘They are free to think,’ said Vance, ‘they have to be in order to be innovative and competitive, so long as they think within terms of the game, that is. Otherwise we have to make sacrifices, Malik. The herd must remain occupied and bewildered. They must be afraid; their primal fears must be stimulated, with flashing lights and entertainment and misinformation…they must be kept occupied and want nothing less than the Atominii, all to prevent anarchy…’
‘So what is the Atominii?’ Malik asked, ‘Freedom? It’s a clandestine government as you said. The invisible will of the people, invisible because it isn’t real. And I can’t help but note that when you say anarchy you’re really talking about chaos. Anarchy is a structural idea of that without hierarchy…but allow me a few short moments Vance and I will tell you all about chaos.’
Indignantly Vance tightened his jaw and took a moment to reposition his imperious authority, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets.
‘We use it to protect them from making difficult moral decisions.’ Vance explained.
‘And don’t you think people are capable of making difficult moral decisions?’ Malik asked.
‘Yes,’ said Vance, ‘people like we Eternals. But no…not others.’
‘And what makes you so fucking special?’ Malik seethed stepping forth.
‘You are a man of chaos Malik,’ Vance laughed, his pearly white teeth immaculate like the keys of his piano. ‘And chaos is born in conflict. Those anarchists were building a world of peace. One simply cannot control others in a world of peace. Power for all is power for no-one. Imagine all those great figures of history, everything they pushed for…lost to a world of peace, with nobody to take their glorious mantle. Truth is we don’t need the Nexus to manipulate people’s thoughts; even idiots in the hardlands are fighting one another to get back into the Atominii. Fear does most of the work, you see. We don’t need technology to control the minds of people, but it helps.’ Vance began clicking his fingers to pull a thought from his mind. ‘What is it now…what is that phrase Machiavelli said about fear?’
‘It is much safer to be feared than to be loved.’ Malik answered.
‘Ah yes,’ Vance chortled. ‘It is safer to be feared than to be loved. Homo homini lupus, Malik; man is a wolf to his fellow man. We call ourselves the Eternals for good reason. Because we don’t intend on going away.’
Vance got to his feet, shoes crushing the broken shards of glass and imminent chaos Malik had created since his arrival. He was simpering with growing confidence and he put his arm around Malik, leading him to the elevator doors.
‘You are doing fine Malik,’ he assured. ‘Those pills I gave you are special. The nanoctors should have finished the viral contamination by now.’
‘What did you do to me?’ Malik said scathingly.
‘Relax,’ Vance chuckled as the elevator doors opened. ‘The nanoctors promoted your neurons with a light sensitive protein, ready for your neurophase.’
Vance joined him in the elevator, a small circular space, with red velvet carpet and walls panelled with mirrors and golden rails.
‘I don’t want a neurophase,’ Malik assured.
‘Oh you won’t be saying that once you’re wired up to the Nexus I promise.’
The doors behind them slipped shut and Malik felt the elevator move. ‘Your every neural command will operate doors around the city. You’ll have high grade access to the most luxurious parts of the Atominii. It’s a privilege most people don’t get believe me. We shut down their neural activity if lower grade individuals dare to pass onto an Eternal’s property. Link up to the Nexus and your every dream will be realised. But until we can map out the nanoctors you’ll have to wait for the optical introduction before you can neurophase into the quasiland. In the meantime…I have other hardland activities you can be getting on with.’
The doors parted and Malik beheld a dimly lit room. The space was wide, with coliseum pillars standing to support higher and darker levels. He saw fires burning in golden vases, a selection of fine wines half-drunk with bottles spilled around in whatever throes of passion had landed them. And he saw people sauntering around, their naked skin barely visible. He heard the gasps and breaths of an orgy in procession. He saw the smooth milk and honey of sinuous flesh writhing over quilts and within sheets lay around on large sponge supports, a bed fit for twelve. Malik was approached by three naked women, their skin and hair dark, their breasts ripe and pushing gently against him. He felt the warm skin of their hips brush his knuckles as they enclosed. The middle woman slipped her fingers gently behind his head as the other two caressed him, removing his clothes.
‘We’ll speak again in the morning, brother.’ Vance said, stepping back into the depths of the elevator. And as the doors closed, the woman pressed her lips to Malik and she touched his member, feeling it grow, she slid her hand firmly around his inner thigh, and Malik responded without restraint. He took her in his arms, pushing his tongue hungrily against hers, their lips clashed and his hands like vices around her head. They led him through the darkness, the pounding of flesh and the whispers and gasps audible in the darkness where the sweet smell of sex stirred with soft tones of jasmine. For the rest of that night, Malik Serat lost himself in a powerful lust he had not known existed within him. He didn’t learn the names of his lovers. Their faces were a blur, galvanised by the bouncing of breasts as he penetrated them, sliding from one to the next and arriving multiple times. And no conversations passed, no words spoken save the orgasmic cries and gasps of god and fuck. Yet there was no satiating his desire. The men and women of the dark and lascivious room were drawn in by his libidinal craving. They would slide their hands around him as he worked, goad him harder and faster. He grappled with their hips, penetrating some from behind as they played at his side, their hands snaking over shoulders and voluptuous bodies. The blur of coitus was hot and slippery with sweat, skin and bodies sparkling in firelight. And the heat of the fires burned on in the dark as Malik reached his last climax and thought of Ode to Joy and even felt a little sick with hatred and loathing at the mix of it all before languorous gravity stole him of any vigour. And in the dark he lay, diluted among the sleeping and prurient strangers.
-24-
The huge sack filled with sandbags looked like it was going to burst as it hung like a lead weight from Hangar-Fifteen’s door. Edge Fenris had attached it to the gantry just inside the door and they’d opened the shutters wide. Laux was indignant about the level of light coming in from outside. It set his teeth on edge and he wasn’t used to getting so much exposure these days.
Pania flung her fists at the heavy sandbag, practicing her sidekicks as Edge Fenris sat in his boxer shorts and boots smoking a large cigar. He found a place to rest in the afternoon light on a sun chair. The weather had been particularly hot all week. Meantime Kyo was instructed to hold the bag still from the other side as Pania battered two shades of hell out of it.
‘I got a joke,’ said Edge suddenly doling up a large smoke ring to the sky. ‘Which do you prefer sex or chess?’
Pania launched into a kick and huffed out her breath as Kyo held the bag in place.
‘Sex for the fitness,’ she said ‘chess for the sharpness of mind.’
‘Really?’ E
dge asked hitching his head.
‘No you idiot,’ she laughed.
‘Well…in either case, doesn’t it depend on the position?’ he smiled.
Kyo laughed at that one, ‘pretty good,’ he said. ‘Got anymore?’
‘A few, Biter’ Edge claimed laying back his head and puffing the cigar. ‘What do the Syridan Atominii army have in common with pussies? One slip of the tongue and you’re in deep shit.’
Pania laughed and stepped it up.
‘What’s that useless piece of skin on a penis?’ she asked, ‘-the man.’
‘Nice,’ Edge complimented. ‘Why do vegetarians give good head?’
‘Why?’ she asked, punching the bag a few times.
‘They’re used to eating nuts,’ Edge answered and Kyo laughed a little.
‘Lame,’ Pania shrugged.
‘I got one,’ Laux declared from within the cool dark hangar, polishing one of his instruments with a dirty cloth ‘a photon checks into a hotel and the bellhop asks him if he’s - ’
‘-What’s a bellhop?’ Edge cut in.
‘Yeah, what is a bellhop?’ Pania added, catching her breath in the sun.
Laux looked confused, hung on a punch-line that he felt only necessary to finish.
‘ – he was…he’s travelling light.’
‘Who the bellhop?’
Pania kicked the bag and Kyo almost fell over, not ready for the attack.
‘You okay?’ she asked.
‘Yeah fine,’ he nodded, adjusting his grip ‘alright, my turn! I got a joke.’
‘Let’s hear it Biter.’ Edge encouraged.
‘How do you stop a dog from humping your leg?’
‘How?’
‘Pick him up and blow him.’
Pania burst into laughter and snorted, gross, and Edge hitched his head again to show his wrinkled smile.
‘Where the hell did you hear that one?’
‘I think I read it somewhere,’ Kyo smiled, overtly pleased with himself.
‘Yeah, Edge’s personal diary.’ Said Pania, and Edge sniggered at her. ‘Seems like some nasty behaviour of his.’
‘I’ll remember that. You’re gonna watch your back now,’ Edge playfully chided.
Laux shouted: ‘To understand recursion you must first understand recursion!’
‘When is it right to kick a dwarf in the balls?’ said Pania launching another kick at the bag as Kyo held tight for support.
‘I don’t know, when?’ Kyo said.
‘When he tells you your hair smells nice.’
And Edge roared into laughter; ‘Was that a joke or an anecdote?’
Pania simpered and stuck up her middle finger. ‘Hold tight Kyo,’ she said, ‘ready?’
‘Yup.’
And she kicked hard and grunted as something sprained in her leg.
‘Ah…fuck!’
‘Nah…you’re technique’s all wrong,’ Edge Fenris instructed.
Pania scowled at him irritably as she hobbled a little on the hurt leg. Pushing her long thread of hair back behind her ear she caught her breath and challenged her so called boxing guru.
‘You wanna take a swing at this hotshot?’ she threatened, straightening her shoulders and touching her chin.
‘Nope,’ Edge declared, ‘I wouldn’t mess with you. I much prefer my face as it is. And my testicles.’
‘I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, since you’re a total dick!’ Pania said, ‘think a little-’ and she punched the bag hard almost knocking the wind out of Kyo ‘-re-constructive surgery could do you some good.’
‘You’ve proven your point,’ Edge said, standing up and walking over to Pania. ‘But I’m not the one you’re going to be fighting with.’
‘All men have the same physical weakness,’ said Pania, looking down at Edge’s crotch and grimacing at his hideous shorts. ‘Some are more modest to hide it than others.’
‘Or maybe that’s what men want you to think.’
‘No it’s not!’ Kyo agreed from behind the bag. ‘If Pania kicked me in the balls, I’d never walk again.’
‘Hmm,’ Edge rubbed his chin, ‘you’re right about that Biter. I kind’a feel sorry for that dwarf all things considered. But Hattle Lewis is a skilled boxer…’
‘No, he’s a thug,’ Pania reminded, ‘he broke all the rules in that fight. He should have been disqualified. He’s heavy handed, ham-fisted, without skill and egotistical. But if he rumbles with me I’m going to take him to the grave.’
‘I’ve a better idea,’ Edge Fenris said, hands proudly at his hips.
‘What, you gonna put some clothes on before you make me permanently myopic?’
‘After you’ve heard my plan!’
‘Okay, let’s hear it.’
‘First, you stop pretending to be something you’re not,’ he said. ‘Leave the boxing and Thom-thuggery to Hattle. You’re a maniac who likes machine guns and art, a woman after my own heart I swear to god!’
Pania cocked her brow suspiciously, wondering where he was going with this. She folded her arms and let him continue.
‘Second,’ he said, ‘we snare that son of a bitch using the tentative arts of entrapment.’
‘Edge, what the hell?’ Kyo groaned stepping away from the dangling bag of sand. ‘You’re going to entrap Hattle, how?’
‘I’m an investigator!’ He claimed.
‘You used to be,’ Laux’s voice echoed slightly from the hollow hangar. ‘Now you’re nothing more or less than a Cerise Timber citizen, a precariat who followed a rumour and discovered an anarchist city in the vast tundra of nowhere. You went looking for death and found life, remember? It’s your second chance Edge, don’t screw that up!’
‘It’s true,’ Edge said broodingly, eyes narrowing out as he recalled that fateful day. ‘Venturing out into the wastelands of the Novus, the unknown sun scorched rocks unrolling forever towards a horizon where I expected my story to end. But the lone wolf Fenris found his clan, like a true investigator he followed his lead right to the last thread!’
‘Did you not hear what I was saying?’ Laux said, standing from his lab chair and hurrying over. ‘No more exposure Edge. We can’t get up to old tricks here.’
‘Like you’ve been keeping a low profile with your gadgets and gizmos!’
‘I have a compulsive disorder and you know it!’ Laux shouted.
‘So do I, you lab coat wearing scarecrow!’ Edge shouted back, pulling Biter reluctantly under his foul smelling and sweat slickened arm. Kyo tried to squirm away but Edge seized tighter. ‘And I’m about to use my skills to save this young man’s dignity.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ Pania asked.
‘We use Biter as bait.’ Said Edge, ‘flush out Hattle. Catch him assaulting the boy. I’ll publish the pictures on the Q-net and BAM! We leverage the democratic consensus to get his ass exiled.’
Kyo stepped back nervously, pacing around and scratching his head.
‘That’s wrong. Just forget it,’ he said at last. ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore. Let’s just call it a day and go have some fun.’
‘You’re giving in?’ asked Edge. ‘You let Pania do all that demonstrating without trying it yourself?’
‘Look the guy’s an ass-hat and we all know it. But what’s done is done. He isn’t interested in me anymore and that’s great. I just want to get on with my life.’
‘You sure kid?’ Pania asked.
‘Yeah, I’m sure’ Kyo nodded. ‘Remember the old story in Cerise Timbers, the one about the swamp monster? A creature so greedy it devours people. It eats and eats and even when it has its fill it just keeps on going. Well, the way I see it is Hattle is kind of like the swamp monster.’
‘What, you mean his belly will burst and out pops a beautiful egg which hatches into a paradise for all?’ asked Edge, confused.
‘Metaphorically,’ Kyo nodded, ‘yeah. His stomach will burst, or something bad will happen, and he’ll learn from it, and things will get better. Or
he’ll kill himself continuing to be a dick.’
‘Well I think Kyo’s a remarkably intelligent boy,’ Laux said sallying forth and shaking a tangled shoelace from his boot. He kicked the spare shoe and thread back into the Hangar and nodded resolutely. ‘He’s right. You all could make things worse and not just for him. The last thing I want is to draw any more attention to our whereabouts.’
‘But if he does come at you again-’
‘Then what?’ Kyo said falling backwards into Edge’s sun chair. ‘I can’t stop it. If he’s gonna bring it he’s gonna bring it. So what? I’m not scared of him.’
‘So what?’ Pania gasped. ‘So he can’t do it.’
‘Look, we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it. Maybe I’ll get lucky and kick his ass. But I’m not gonna be scared. Screw that guy. I don’t want to be scheming!’ Kyo said, leaning over his knees. ‘I don’t want to be planning and wasting my time thinking about him. Okay? I’ve got a life Pania! Let’s just…y’know…move on. Look at me, I’m okay now.’
‘Alright,’ Pania sighed. ‘It’s your life.’
Chaos Cipher Page 23
