‘No, I think you won’t report me. Besides, I give him good home, feed him well, train him to fight and look after himself. Why rely on hopeless fools who care not to fight? ey? You don’t care if his muscles go soft?’
‘You’ll condition him to be a killer!’ Sonja growled standing and pointing. ‘You would have him murder precariats!’
‘To be assassin only,’ he promised, leaning forward, ‘he would be perfect for it. Our Atominii need good assassin leaders.’
Sonja dropped into her seat and shook her head, her skin overcome with a sickly pallor. ‘You are a bastard, Krupin.’ She said. ‘And I am a doctor. I must clean up the shit you leave behind. Sickness I can handle. Most of the times the body can manage, it’s just a matter of guidance. But war…you bastards turn suffering into a game and run away from the responsibilities of cleaning up the mess.’
‘Yes,’ coach Krupin nodded.
‘Why are you doing this to us?’ Dak implored, taking Sonja into his arms.
‘Because you people make me sick,’ said Krupin suddenly. ‘You fight like animals, you live like animals. Now you are even breeding like animals. Gene-freaks. Make me sick.’
‘Oh my God!’ Sonja incredulously chortled and huffed, and Enaya Chahuán was soon by her side as well. ‘We are the animals? You monsters in the hardlands and Atominii are sending cyborgs here to kill our way of life…’
‘Transentients!’ Krupin corrected.
‘Cyborgs!’ Dak shouted. ‘Transentients aren’t all murdering bastards!’
And Sonja held Dak’s hand firmly to remind him not to let his anger get the better of his reason.
‘It’s our land!’ Lyov called. ‘We’ll send out whoever, wherever there is need. And at least we have laws, and rules. You fucks have none, and you fight just like you have none…’
‘The fight was won!’ Daryl reminded sharply. ‘If you cannot accept your losses, you should not show your embarrassment with the potential destruction of an entire culture. If you feel Hattle cheated you, take it up with the Lewis family, not us.’
‘Is more than that,’ said the coach brazenly. ‘We get to take back mines for the Atominii. You would no longer be protected by our international consensus. All Precariat cities will be destroyed. But you can stop it. Hosting gene-freak breaks all accepted rules. We in hardlands at least accept rules, but when you abandon rules then you are outlaws and will be treated as such. And one rule is…gene-freaks off the planet! As far as I can see…these mines already are belonging to us…’
‘We’d blow those fucking mines to hell before you ever see them!’ Sonja growled taking a step towards Krupin. Then Dak took her arm and slowly walked her away.
The coach sat back, legs wide apart and distended stomach bloating over his belt, a mink overfed frog tonguing his bleeding gums with an avaricious smile.
There was a moment’s silence when suddenly Daryl Sanders dismissed the guests to talk with the family alone.
‘Good,’ said coach Krupin conceitedly, getting up and leading Lyov from the proceedings. ‘I’m glad you are seeing reason. I’ll give you time to think about handing over the boy and Cerise Timbers could just well survive this.’
‘I’ll have someone escort you out,’ said Daryl dryly.
Once they’d left the room, Dak began the debate with ‘We won’t give Kyo away.’
‘We won’t!’ Sonja added sternly.
‘Do you know what is at stake here?’ Daryl reminded.
‘We have to inform the...’ Enaya Chahuán started but was curtly interrupted.
‘NO!’ Dak shouted. ‘This doesn’t become a democratic issue.’
‘Need I remind you both that this city...the entire city will be put at risk?’
‘I know!’
‘The Atominii will have all the ammunition they will ever need for gaining momentum and support in crushing this place to the ground. Like it or not we still play to their rules…’
‘Why?’ Dak almost screamed, ‘and how the fuck does that work anyway? With so many people out there desperate to get back into the Atominii, why are they so mystified by it even while denying its responsibility for their suffering? At least here we’re trying to move on. Why? Why can’t they join us?’
‘Dak…’ Enaya Chahuán tried.
‘…and we freed ourselves!’ Dak continued, ‘supposedly, but yet we still answer to them! Why? What the fuck is that shit about? We still gotta see eye-to-eye with the blind from the motherfucking Atominii?’
‘…Dak…’ Enaya Chahuán tried again.
‘…Enaya, I hear you girl, but you gotta admit this is bullshit! Why do we still pander to these motherfuckers? Diplomacy? Fuck that! Diplomacy! Policy! Policy is exactly what somebody said earlier, a rule put onto people by a group who think they know better how to manage everyone’s lives. Just like law…They know shit about respect, they know shit about loyalty!’
‘Dak they wouldn’t think twice about erasing us off the map,’ she said. ‘The only reason they do not is because they want to see us collapse on our own without hardlanders becoming aware of us. That, and we sell them something useful from the mines, which we threaten to melt down they attempt anything. We are sitting on one of the biggest graphite resources on the continent, that’s all they are interested in, their quantic electronics.’
‘So?’
‘So having an Olympian here changes the game if they become aware of him,’ said Enaya. ‘You have to get Kyo out of here.’
‘Where?’ Sonja asked.
‘Anywhere away from here.’ Enaya stated. ‘Take him away. Get him out of here. We’ll keep in touch. We’ll tell Krupin the kid left and that we’ll deny he was ever here should he attempt to rat on us to the Atominii.’
‘He’s got evidence,’ said Daryl. ‘Those oculars…’
‘Leave that with me,’ Enaya said, ‘I think I know someone who can get rid of the evidence.’
*
Laux shambled through the ashes of his workshop and grimaced. There was nothing on the canister, no evidence of finger prints and no trace of the vandals. Laux booted a bunch of burned out cables and wires from under his foot and sighed.
Above him, Pania walked around the wing support, stepping over the holes that had burnt into the alloy and peering down at the reticent scientist as their emotions tacitly filled the space of their destroyed home. Kyo sat at the top of a ladder with his head in his hands chewing on a pencil.
‘I can’t believe it’s all gone,’ he said. ‘How long will it take you to build everything back up, Laux?’
‘Oh-’ he started, shrugging, pulling out a random figure ‘about eight or nine months depending on the scarcity of supplies.’
Pania looked around at the burned out mattresses, the springs and wires, the charred tables and chairs.
‘If he was in here then there should be some bones, right?’ she said. ‘What temperature does it take to burn away human bone?’
‘Somewhere between fourteen thousand to twenty thousand Fahrenheit.’ said Laux, picking up a blackened machine from the floor. ‘It wasn’t that hot in here, possibly a little hotter at the back of the workshop, but not enough to completely disintegrate a person.’
‘So where the hell did he go?’ Pania said.
‘Laux,’ Kyo said, jumping down from the ladder. ‘If there was a sudden fire in here where would you go?’
‘Well there’s no escape really,’ said Laux, ‘the fire started at the front of the hangar and it’s the only entrance and exit. Relatively small area, it would burn fairly fast.’ Laux started shifting fallen panels and burnt out machines to clear a path to the back of the workshop. ‘I think if I’d hide anywhere then…’
Laux stopped himself short and thought again.
‘Wait a moment,’ he said, snapping his fingers. ‘There is somewhere.’
‘Where?’ Pania said.
Laux was suddenly in a hurry, kicking loose items and pushing away fall gantries still not yet cleared by the
volunteers. He hurried to the back of his workshop and Kyo and Pania chased after him.
‘Laux, what’s going on?’ Pania asked.
Laux made it to a burnt out dust cover that had been half drawn over a large machine and he pulled it away, the cover falling to pieces in his hands like fragile aged plastic. Pania and Kyo arrived to find him staring at a huge machine with incinerated thermometers and pressure gauges and pipes surrounding a large bronze coffin.
‘The nanome cultivation refrigerator,’ he said, kicking the tub hard. The lid suddenly popped up and a great splashing of water frothed from the basin as arms and legs kicked away in shock, and a voice was screaming:
‘YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE YOU BASTARDS!’
‘Edge!’ Pania gasped with delight, reaching into the basin to steady him. ‘Edge it’s me! It’s us! You’re okay!’
Kyo was laughing with a mix of relief and hysterics, and he hurried over to help Edge out of the tub.
‘Edge you’ve had us worried sick!’ Laux commented as Edge Fenris stood in the basin, soaked and coughing up the water he’d just swallowed. He gasped for breath, wiping his eyes, face still stained blue from spray paint.
‘Pan!’ He pointed, his teeth grinding. ‘It’s been god knows how many hours, but I’m gonna need a cigarette and immediate access to your weapons locker!’
‘Why didn’t you shout to us?’ Kyo asked.
‘What?’ he said, fingering water from his ear. ‘I’ve had half my head submerged in that gross soup. I couldn’t hear a damn thing in there.’
‘And what happened to your face?’ Pania asked.
‘That’s exactly related to why I’m gonna need your guns!’ He simmered as she passed him a cigarette. ‘I’m gonna open up a hail of lead on that sonva-bitch!’
‘Who?’ Kyo asked.
‘Lewis!’ said Edge, slogging out into the charred hangar, ‘that meat head Pierce Lewis and his idiot son Hattle.’
‘Wait, it was Hattle who did this?’ Pania raged.
‘You’re god damn right it was!’ Edge said as she sparked the end of his cigarette for him. ‘But they just declared war on the wrong shitbags! I’m all for the virtues of peace, but as long as that bastard is around here then it’s never gonna work.’
‘I love it when you’re serious,’ Pania smiled.
‘Don’t even think about going all Krakatoa Edge,’ Laux warned, ‘we have to keep a low profile.’
‘A low profile?’ Edge said calmly.
‘Yes.’
Then Edge Fenris suddenly erupted like his best impression of Krakatoa had been personified. ‘I’VE BEEN COUPED UP IN YOUR REFRIDGERATOR FOR WHAT FEELS LIKE A DAY! IT DOESN’T GET LOWER THAN THAT!’
Laux backed up as Edge moved closer, smoke fuming from his nose like exhaust from an overworked engine.
‘Meanwhile your exposure’s doing just fine professor. Build a few machines here and there and show them off at a festival. But while I’ve been locked away I’ve had time to contemplate. It was soothing…relaxing…even had a little epiphany during my whole sensory deprivation, a sort of window into the mind. And then it hit me. I’m gonna cut the little bastard’s FINGERS OFF…!’
‘But if you enrage Lewis any further…’
‘I don’t care about that shit anymore Laux,’ Edge said cracking his knuckles. ‘Our cover is blown. We’re here and everybody knows it. And now it’s on!’
Shadows shifted in the daylight by the front of the hangar, silhouetted figures approaching in a steady stride.
‘Kyo!’ Dak’s voice sailed. ‘You gotta come with us.’
‘Why, what’s happening?’
‘It’s not safe here,’ said Sonja.
‘The understatement of the week!’ Edge added smoking his cigarette deeply.
‘There’s a problem.’ Sonja continued, lightly taking her son’s arm. ‘We have to get moving quite fast.’
Enaya Chahuán and Daryl Sanders entered with them and Enaya suddenly realised Edge Fenris.
‘My god, you’re alright.’ She said slightly aghast.
‘Is that how I look?’ Edge snapped, ‘cos I’m feeling pretty fucking nettled if I’m honest.’
‘We found him in the nanome refrigerator,’ said Laux, ‘back from the dead. Luckily the machine wasn’t working and I never got around to fixing the temperature setting, otherwise he’d have been out of the fire and into the ice so to speak.’
‘A better fate than cooking to death,’ Edge muttered. ‘At least if I’d have frozen, you’d all get to see my gelid mug one last time. Maybe I’d have done so in a funny pose or something to lighten the grim discovery.’
‘We also learned who did this to us,’ Pania added.
‘Tell em Edge!’ Kyo said.
‘It was the Lewis posse,’ said Edge, sucking in the last few tokes and throwing down his cigarette before ironically vocalising the ta-dah sound.
Nobody looked too surprised. Daryl sighed and shook his head as though all his suspicions had been confirmed.
‘I didn’t think he’d go this far,’ said Pania. ‘I’d have just cleaned up the stupid painting if I’d have known he would try and kill one of us.’
‘He has motive,’ Daryl said, ‘that’s reason enough to accuse him and if you say he did it we can now challenge him on it.’
‘But right now,’ said Dak, ‘we need to get Kyo out of the city for a while.’
‘Our hardlander guests have issued a threat,’ said Enaya Chahuán.
‘What threat?’ Kyo asked.
‘They’re demanding we hand you over to them,’ Sonja explained, putting her hands on his shoulders.
‘Who is?’ Kyo said, his voice breaking with the inflection of surprise.
‘Vilen Krupin,’ Sonja explained. ‘The hardlander man you met earlier today. They’re demanding we hand you over or they’ll inform the Atominii about you. We don’t know what the Atominii will do then, it could start a war.’
Edge reached for Pania’s pouch and removed another pinch of tobacco and she didn’t blame him for smoking them up so fast. Rolling a fresh cigarette he lit the end and folded his arms.
‘Sounds like you better get out of here, Biter.’ He declared on a breath of smoke. ‘You don’t wanna end up in the hardlands, kid. It’s not safe for anyone there. People fighting over a drop of water. Cyborgs up your ass ready to kill for a promotion. It’s a place devoid of humanity and imagination.’
‘There’s one more thing,’ Daryl added. ‘Krupin has visual data on Kyo proving he’s been here. We need to erase that data.’
They looked over to Professor Aldous Laux and the man had been staring into space, nodding along half listening until it dawned on him at last the suggestion of the statement.
‘You want me to do it?’ he said. ‘But all my equipment is gone. I’ve nothing to work with.’
‘Tell us what you need,’ said Enaya.
‘Oh no it’s going to take time. I need to test, I need to build. It’s not that simple.’
‘Whatever it is we can get to it,’ said Daryl. ‘We’ve already got volunteers. We’re a gift economy, Laux. We don’t have workers we’re more of a ludic place, we’re all about design through play. And you’ve aroused some admirers at the other side of the city who equally want a good rep for their own genius inventions. You’re quite the inspiration to their businesses and they’ve been doing their best to match your creations, pulling together to compete with you. They said they’ve been following your work and they’re great admirers. If you want anything, you can bet they’ll have it.’
‘I know but I’m a man of habit.’ And he rolled up his wrist to check his Quantic-W and gasped with joy. ‘Gracious Atomagod my C.A.L.C link is still active! I can still acquire true time from the Atominii. That’s one scrap of fantastic news.’
‘Which means?’ Pania asked.
‘Which means I know the time,’ he smiled brightly, big white neat dentals wide on his wrinkly grin. ‘But completely off topic I appreciate.
So…’ and Laux clapped his hands, ready to get back to work, his mood elevating at last. ‘I’ll do it!’
‘Erase the data. We’re going to tell Krupin the kid left, never to return.’ Daryl explained.
‘But…I’m not leaving for good, right?’ Kyo asked.
‘No Kyo,’ Sonja said gently, ‘just for a few days, just until this all blows over.’
‘So…where will we go?’
‘I’ve a good idea,’ said Dak. ‘But we need to get moving.’
‘You wouldn’t be going to the Novus, would you?’ Laux said. Dak didn’t want to say where they were going. He barely knew Laux and he could sense Kyo now glaring at him expectantly.
‘I’m not sure, why?’
Laux dug into the inner pocket of his lab coat and was mumbling to himself. They watched as papers spilled to the floor with scraps and notes and rumples scattering to his feet. Laux seemed to find what he was looking for after a few more seconds of this, and then handed something to Kyo. It was a small pill, blue coloured. Laux peeped over his hand again to check he’d given him the right colour and smiled to himself assuredly.
‘Take that if you get into trouble.’
‘What is that?’ Dak asked suspiciously.
‘It’s a bio-hack,’ he explained. ‘A sudden boost of strength and adrenaline will help you run and get out of trouble. It stimulates the bionome gland, I’m afraid I only have the one and…since Kyo’s in need of it the most I’d suggest he stays with the booster.’ And Laux began digging. ‘For you, however, I have something that can help you see in the dark. But the method of application is a little irritating, sadly it’s not a pill but…’
Chaos Cipher Page 28
