Chaos Cipher
Page 24
And she stepped back and hurled her fist as hard as she could into the sandbags, making the sack swing back and forth. Pania dumped her gloves disappointedly aside and roamed past Laux, climbing the ladder and vanishing to her personal space somewhere on the wing support.
‘Is she mad?’ Kyo asked, raising his head and squinting in the sun.
‘Absolutely fucking insane,’ Edge smiled with a wink. He knew that wasn’t what Kyo was implying but he felt the need to express some wit. ‘Say…you’re a responsible drinker, right?’
*
‘Let me tell you a story about the good old Olympian Genetics!’ Edge Fenris declared after his second chaser. Kyo had talked him into getting changed before they left. It seemed no matter how comfortable Edge felt in his boxers he was apparently the only one. They were out in the Meadows by a small café. Many of the buildings were like domed concrete bubbles painted with frescos and individual pieces of art. Some of them were spectacular indeed and far too psychedelic to have been done without the assistance of hallucinogens. The café was a real bohemian place and Edge’s favourite, filled with eco-punks who turned their spikey hair into plants and wore daisy chains contrasting with old worn leather. Everything here, from tables and chairs to glasses and mugs was made from mycelium plastics. Even some of the chairs spores mycelium sponges for extra padding. And they were indeed comfortable. They’d chosen some chairs and a table not far from the bar and drinks were coming out fast from a recently brewed batch of mead. Kyo held onto his mug with both hands, tail swaying like a contented feline as he listened to Edge’s story. Edge rolled a cigarette and popped it between his uneven teeth, then sparked it up with a little nano-flint paste. He pinched the gum between his fingers, stretched it into a long string until it reddened like hot wire. He set his cigarette alight on the cooling putty until it hardened to ash and disintegrated on the table.
‘I’ve heard this story,’ Kyo said. ‘I know about the Olympians.’
‘Not from me you haven’t,’ Edge assured, ever the purveyor of new and exclusive knowledge. ‘So wise up.’ He uncapped one of Laux’s flasks and poured himself another chaser. Edge offered one to Kyo but he declined. ‘A long time ago,’ Edge drank, and down went the cap with a slam. ‘The so called civilised world held great competing events called the Olympic Games. Today you might know them as the Atominii Grand Tournament. Wanna know what happened?’
‘I’m listening.’ Kyo nodded, tasting the syrupy mead.
‘Investments, that’s what happened.’ Said Edge Fenris slamming his fist down hard on the table and sending a wave of tintinnabulations around him. His eyes were fire and brimstone, smoke fuming from his nostrils. ‘Those greedy bastard ass-hats!’ He bawled. ‘State and corporate, part of a bio-transitions movement, a sect of belief in bio-hacking and bio-engineering which overstated our mastery of biology, genetics and disease to spur humanity’s evolutionary path, making us smarter, faster, stronger. It was all arrogance, kid! All of it in the name of science, reasoned by the same insane logic of that time, the same logic that discovered how to make stars become black holes, a manufacturing process they call quanti-magnus. All that’s going on right now in space but you won’t hear a whisper of it nowadays. Did you know we have a colony on another planet! It’s true, somewhere in Cygnus. Anyway, the same logic sent people out into black holes and called them Chrononauts. The logic to know all things, for ultimate knowledge and power no matter the consequence! These twisted bastards got some athletes signed on to the Olympian program. They donated a sample of their genetics for a small token of course. Those samples were then tampered to create test-tube babies; the next fastest, smartest, bounciest little SOB’s to ever come into existence. Imagine a soldier that never sleeps, never eats, and simply takes a single pill for everything. Imagine a creature that was psychic, able to communicate with others without the need of a Neurophase, or a creature that could heal very quickly.’
Edge lurched forth and removed Kyo’s plaster, and he yelped as it tore away from his skin revealing his nose to be restored.
‘Just like that.’ He pointed out. ‘These people were using nano-cybiology to make such things happen. Early tests proved that these specimens with progressive healing abilities would not neurophase with the Atominii Nexus. Every introduction of the algae virus into the neuron failed, the Olympian genetics were too strong. The viral introduction couldn’t touch them. So, researchers went back to the drawing board, and on every level of neurophase introduction those Olympians just wouldn’t integrate. You’re probably thinking so what? You’re probably wondering what the problem is. Since the Olympians could simply use non-invasive means for computer to brain interfaces there shouldn’t be an issue, right? WRONG!’ And Edge Fenris pivoted back on his chair, boots up on the table.
‘Those Olympians accidentally exposed the biggest social control program in human history. The bio-transitions research program was undoing the Atominii’s own political and structural ideology. By not integrating into the system’s Nexus, Olympians proved themselves to be free thinkers. Their demand for non-invasive neural headsets was making people question why they needed invasive neurophase methods at all since noopic drugs could make people just as smart. So…the Atominii leaders started to have them assassinated. Then came…pardon my vernacular kid, the gene-freaks. These Olympians were experimental. A second generation that could be recognised in society should they ever leak into social circles, an inevitability considering the abilities of these creatures. The optogenetic department of the bio-transition’s genetic research, wanted to see if it was possible to integrate an Olympian with a neurophase kit. These bastard neuro-evangelists toyed with them. They blended everything from animal DNA to genetic diseases into those poor bastards. There was still no success in neurophase. Many of the subjects were incinerated…but some of the security personnel working in the labs had bonded with the subjects in a way the scientists and investors had overlooked. Despite their neurophasing, these security teams felt empathy and sympathy for these creatures. They fought to get them out. Some of them escaped.’
Edge filled his cap with whiskey and pointed to the kid. ‘Just so you know…they’ll tell you this was about science and discovery. But in truth the whole thing was about torture, depravity, systemic violence against a so called race of people that was soon understood to be a subhuman specimen. They hated their creations.’
‘That I did not know.’ Kyo said wide eyed and ironic.
‘No you didn’t!’ Edge said. ‘Well, maybe you know about some idiots hating so called gene-freaks but they’re usually racist about other cultures as well.’
‘You must have had a crazy life in the hardlands, huh?’ said Kyo, drinking some of his mead.
‘I’ll tell you a story about my friend Karla.’ He smiled. Edge Fenris sat forth, suddenly growing reflective, melancholy. ‘She was a dancer. She had physical differences similar to yours, the tail, the teeth, those eyes. In the hardlands, they called her the Chimera Girl. She knew she’d never make it in the Atominii, the cyborg cops at the Syridan military would send her to the fires. I knew her from her late night shows in the red light districts of Soho. They call them the satin streets. In those alleys…anything goes.’
Edge Fenris looked to his side, almost envisioning the Chimera Girl as though she was sat next to him and for a moment Kyo felt the vision, he almost saw her too. And she would smile warmly and take Edge’s hand like in the old days and he’d swoon and tease.
‘Her clients knew her as some late night object of perversion and God knows I’m not without my own intemperance. She knew that. She knew a lot. But she didn’t judge me for it.’ And Edge would kiss her cheek and tell her he was a friend. Slowly, his smile unpursed as the rest of it came flooding back. ‘She knew the meaning of friendship and I had the pleasure of hers. But then some sick son of a bitch took things too far one night. I heard it was one of her clients.’
Kyo watched Edge grind his teeth and he thought he saw a tear
in the man’s eye.
‘They branded her,’ he explained softly. ‘Marked the poor girl’s skin, scarred her forever with that name. The Chimera Girl gene-freak. An object of dreams. Not a person. But she ended things on her own before I could find out about any of this. Another broken piece of property to some titty bar out in the debauched streets of the hardlands. Who cares right? Nobody wept for the Chimera Girl.’ Edge would have kissed those wounds away. And softly she would smile in her bashful way and share with him a part of her transqualia, that eminent warm empathy that resonated not from the mind like many in the Atominii presumed, but from the memory cells of the heart. He felt her yet, occupying his heart, a part of her that never went away, living forever in pulsing patterns, the part that didn’t die. All at once his daydream was over, the Chimera Girl’s smile fades from his memory, and kissing his ear she’s gone. ‘And a lone wolf carries his own broken heart into the Siberian tundra, seeking a myth and expecting to lay his bones on the stones beneath the ablating sun.’ And Edge took a long draw on his cigarette.
Kyo hadn’t said a word. He’d listened unblinkingly, his hands cupped around his half drunken mead. Edge Fenris sighed and smiled. He landed his elbow and leaned towards Kyo.
‘The most powerful commodity in the world is the ability to think for yourself!’ He told Kyo. ‘You might say…hey…no problem. I can do that. But how much about yourself do you really know? One should take what you learn with a pinch of salt and draw your own ideas on it. But test those ideas, don’t believe them. How much of yourself is not informed by those you’ve met? People have an influence on you Biter. Some touch your heart, others get a little deeper. Some you think you’ll know for the rest of your life and all of a sudden everyone you’ve ever known is gone.’ And Edge sat back, stubbed out his cigarette and sparked up another. ‘And that’s the saddest damn thing that can happen to a person.’
He took a pause. Kyo got the point, not to take things for granted. But he did it every day, how was it possible not to?
‘Wanna hear what happened to Laux?’ Edge said on a puff of smoke.
‘Hell yes!’ Kyo chirped, taking a big swig of his mead. ‘He’s gotta be the most mysterious man around here. And a genius.’
‘Well,’ Edge smiled. ‘That much is true. Laux has many secrets, shit that I don’t even know and I’m his buddy.’ And Edge thought about where to start. ‘So I guess I’ll start with how I met old Laux. Well that day I’d gotten myself into a real stir. The Syridan army had just surrounded an amateur back-street neurophase lab. I was there getting a certain investigation erased from my memory when out of nowhere…’
‘There you are!’ A familiar voice suddenly interrupted.
Kyo looked over his shoulder and stood as Dak walked over. He put his arm around his son and patted his shoulder.
‘I’ve been looking for you,’ he said, ‘I was by the hanger. Your quantics are switched off, Professor Laux helped me track you down, he said you’re with somebody.’
‘Uh yeah…hi pops,’ he smiled nervously. ‘Dak, this is Edge Fenris. Edge…my father.’
‘So, you’re the legendary Dak Gibson’ Edge said, leaning forward to shake Dak’s hand. ‘Pleasure to meet you.’
‘Same,’ Dak nodded, turning to Kyo. ‘Will you come home? Your mother and I need to talk to you.’
‘Family reunion!’ Edge suddenly interrupted. ‘You ought to go see your parents, kid. Seriously, I’m running out of pens…does this kid eat your things Mr Dak?’
‘Just Dak,’ he said.
‘Alright,’ Kyo nodded. ‘I’ll come home. Just…give me a second here, okay?’
Dak stalled.
‘Please pop, just two minutes.’
He picked up what was left of Kyo’s mead and took it with him. Kyo rolled his eyes and sighed.
‘Hey, thanks for today,’ he told Edge. ‘I’ll be round again soon.’
‘You bet,’ Edge tipped his flask. ‘I imagine for Professor Laux’s big unveiling, right?’
‘His what?’
‘Yeah,’ Edge knocked back another cap and gasped. ‘He said he’s unveiling a science show or something to promote his inventions to other areas around Cerise Timbers. He’s hoping some of the agencies would be willing to offer him working placement, lord knows they’ve been apparently knocking at his door since he got here. Now Laux wants to look at contracts and pick the most suitable.’
‘But we don’t do contracts here,’ said Kyo.
‘What?’
‘You can work anywhere,’ he shrugged. ‘Wherever your services are needed. There are no restrictions; you do what you’re passionate for.’
‘Oh,’ Edge said thoughtfully.
‘Didn’t you know that?’
‘Honestly I haven’t been paying attention,’ Edge shrugged, filling another cap and raising it to Kyo. ‘But I’ll be sure to tell Laux.’
‘I think you should.’ Kyo laughed.
‘Now beat it scamp.’
*
‘What do you know about Edge?’ said Dak.
Kyo followed at his side as they strolled under the city dome’s perimeter, under the convex shade of the large geodesic structure. Several gondolas travelled overhead on long cables, traversing the higher buildings of the dome back and forth and out into the fields and surrounding hamlets.
‘That he’s largely misunderstood,’ Kyo explained. ‘Look, I know he looks crazy but the guy’s had a crazy life.’
‘So have I,’ Dak reminded, ‘and I’m cautious about people like Edge. I think he’s a complicated person who doesn’t even understand himself. I want you to keep some distance.’
‘Oh come on pops,’ Kyo groaned. ‘Pania likes him. I like him. I like Laux too; they’ve always been really nice.’
‘It’s not that,’ Dak sighed. ‘We miss you. You hardly visit, you’re out all night. You never tell us where you’re going; you never answer our quantic messages-.’
‘But-’
‘Now I know it’s that age thing,’ Dak cut him off, ‘everything’s a new experience and stuff. And if you were hanging out with anybody else I wouldn’t mind. What I don’t like about Edge Fenris and Professor Laux is that they are still new here, they don’t really know yet how things are, and I’ve heard stories. This guy’s had many names and identities. You’re probably thinking that’s not unusual for new comers but I heard he’s been involved in some questionable agencies of the Atominii.’
‘He used to be an investigator, that’s why.’
‘I don’t know if I believe that,’ Dak said. ‘And why didn’t you come to us about Hattle Lewis?’
‘Well I did if you remember,’ Kyo folded his arms. ‘Are you really going to give me a hard time over this? I just wanna forget it.’
‘You’re gonna let this go?’
‘Damn straight!’ Kyo smiled.
‘You sure.’
‘Yup!’
Dak smiled and put his hand on his son’s shoulder. He took a moment to check if he was serious and Kyo held his countenance assuredly.
‘Alright,’ Dak chuckled. ‘If you can let it go then so can I.’
‘Good.’
‘You make me happy, Kyo,’ Dak said pulling him in. ‘You got intuition. I trust it. If you say they’re good people then I’m sure they mean well.’
‘Ah get off!’ Kyo pulled away snickering. ‘Let’s just go home.’
*
When Kyo arrived at the communal gardens of his home, he found his mother Sonja, sat drinking tea with her friends. She stood to hug him and they shared their apologies. Boris patted Kyo hard on the back, always a burly man with a friendly smile. He sported a beard now; something Dak thought suited him well. Boris crouched down to one of the crop lids and twisted the handle on the five foot wide circular plate. A moment later, the mechanism sprung and a vertical farming tower raised fifteen feet from the ground where it had been bathing in UV lighting. And Boris picked from the contained nut-tree and passed around walnuts.
‘There are people here,’ Sonja had said in her soft contralto, ‘who think Dak and I made a mistake bringing you here. They think we decided for the community, that we put the city at risk, that we made a choice without consulting our democracy on a decision that was dangerous.’
‘I know,’ Kyo nodded, familiar with the story.
‘But I didn’t decide to threaten our city,’ she explained, regarding him with a warm and filial smile. ‘I decided to help someone in need. I decided to show them love, to love him with all my heart unconditionally, even given the odd chance of them being unable to return it. And I do still. You are my son. If the Atominii see that as a threatening gesture then it is their own humanity they must revise, not mine. It’s their own laws they should mind. And I believe we were always threatened by them with or without you involved. That’s why they call us precariats, because our situation, no matter what we do, is precarious.’
Kyo smiled and she squeezed his hand affectionately.
‘Thank you,’ he said tenderly. ‘Sorry I ran out on you before. And I’m sorry if I showed you any disrespect. I was hurt. But I know you’re worried.’
‘It’s alright,’ she assured, ‘another thing, you’re not the only one Hattle’s been bothering,’ she divulged. ‘Quite a number of people have come forward, do you know?’
‘Like who?’ Kyo asked, leaning his elbows on his knees to listen.
‘Well,’ she sighed, ‘a boy who had his arm broken for using sports equipment that Hattle was claiming belonged to him. He was in the hospital for a while. As you know we don’t believe in such things here, one person has no leverage over the property of many. Hattle seems to have some sort of craving for power, I assume considering his upbringing it’s not hard to understand. He assumed his identity is about what he owns, not what he learns and contributes. Well this false sense of self makes him believe he has the right to protect this claim. Also, there was a young woman who said she had been harassed by Hattle, called some terrible and hurtful names.’