Chaos Cipher

by Den Harrington

‘Is the gene-freak among us?’ he asked.

  ‘That one is special,’ Krupin offered a wide smile, pointing over to a large metal facility in the yard. ‘Let me show you.’

  *

  Krupin led B’Two’O down the stygian murkiness of the prison halls, through the several caged gates which opened with the jingle of metal keys as the guards took to each gate lock attentively.

  When they arrived at the cell Kyo retreated to the back of it, curled in his blankets, his one eye swollen over with bruising. He was gasping for breath, insipidly glaring at Krupin from his good eye. The cell’s gate swung open and Krupin entered.

  ‘Still not eating?’ he asked, looking down at an apparently scattered mix of soup and dry bread.

  Kyo glowered, a mix of fear and hatred, but he didn’t answer. He then became aware of B’Two’O’s presence. The lank shadow bowed beneath the gate and entered the light, its fearsome expression sending pure fear through Kyo’s bones. He backed all the way up against the far wall as B’Two’O came face to face with the boy and placed down a small black suitcase. He had moved like he was floating, those endless black pits returning Kyo’s own gaze. And B’Two’O allowed a harmonious smile to inch widely over his thin pastel lips, an unfitting and unsettling smile for his otherwise sinister demeanour.

  ‘Have these men been treating you badly?’ he asked benevolently.

  Kyo hung his head forward, breathing heavily, his good eye darting suspiciously between Krupin and this new tall and vacuous stranger. B’Two’O realised something was on the floor, a piece of paper posted from the cell beside Kyo. The creature stared into the darkness as though he could make out the person on the other side and the prisoner turned on his bed, pretending to sleep, pretending he hadn’t seen the fearsome apparition of Krupin’s clientele.

  ‘You have made a friend,’ he noted, leaning over to pick up the crumpled paper. B’Two’O took the slip and stared at it, the congenial smile on his face abiding.

  ‘Oh that is very nice,’ he told Kyo. ‘Want me to read it to you, little one?’

  Kyo could only stare. He could not even bring himself to answer less this monster found the sudden caprice to bite his head off his shoulders.

  ‘It says… You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.’

  Kyo would have appreciated the note. He suddenly realised whatever he had feared of the person in the other cell, his fears were deeply misplaced. All that he should fear now manifest before him, a thing no longer human, not even doing a good job to resemble anything close. The monster stood nearby, removing a cloth from his inner pocket to dab the boy’s bleeding lip and eye, staring at the wounds with some feigning compassion, retaining a convivial tone. ‘We’re both bound by our mutations, you and I. I’m told you are from a city of anarchist misfits, is that true? I’m an anarchist as well, did you know that?’

  Kyo found the courage to look up with his good eye but saw nothing compassionate about this creature and recognised nothing of his brotherhood in it.

  ‘I think anarchism is a very interesting practice. I believe in freedom too, people should be allowed to do as they want. Especially, if they’ve the means. That’s what we have been struggling to do. We’re trying to free the world. I don’t like governments; thankfully such things are in the past. I don’t like state authority, they hold back the miracles of powerful neuro-commerce associations, they should be allowed naturally to flourish and evolve, free to provide services, to share if they choose and to be charitable out of free will. Freed this way, we grow in power, an unmitigated market, unregulated to make our own rules. What could be more human than that?’

  ‘It’s not the same,’ Kyo whispered dejectedly. ‘Markets are not about compassion. I’m from a place of compassion and play not deception.’

  ‘Compassion?’ B’Two’O questioned with a smile. ‘Compassion is an individual feature something of an outlier, a statistical anomaly that must be ignored for the average norm which, in the Atominii, is simply about individualism. Compassion is for empaths! Besides, this is freedom I’m talking about, something much more important.’

  ‘I know the difference! It isn’t freedom, when a few people decide the lives of others. It isn’t freedom, if your decisions destroy communities without recourse, or are too cowardly to communicate their intentions’ Kyo argued. ‘And your individualism is uniformed. You keep people in prisons like this one, or torture others. And no billionaire humanitarian ever prevented poverty with charity. I was always thought that poverty is a systemic violence. I am from Cerise Timbers, and we believe in democracy! I was participating in freedom! I was free to play, to be creative and to think laterally.’

  ‘Democracy?’ Krupin laughed. ‘Play? The liberty of a few must always depend upon the restraints of others. Let me simply say this. Two wolves and one sheep wanting something to eat. There’s your, democracy my little empath.’

  ‘In a democracy,’ Kyo scowled, ‘there are a hundred sheep and wolves deciding how best to coexist. And the wolf is not an animal of destruction like you, but of harmony. You’re no wolf! You act more like parasites to me. And I’ve never seen a sheep bow to any wolf.’

  ‘You will show respect two, one, nine.’

  ‘What’s the boy’s name?’ asked the monster with a delighted laugh. ‘His spirit is phenomenal.’

  ‘They call him Kyo.’

  ‘Oh my poor boy,’ B’Two’O said stroking his face with the back of his long skeletal finger, the claw like talon scratching his brow. ‘Do you have any idea the peril you are in? Wakey wakey, Kyo. The only one keeping you here so far is you. I’m sorry to tell you child, but nobody cares for a people’s anarchism. It has never been applied because nobody really believes it can work. It is a nice idea, but too utopian, you see. Humanity is too fickle to undergo utopia without technological instigators and without the reminder of violence. Nobody wants real equality…humans are vain creatures, far too narcissistic and self-interested to care about equality. It’s human nature that orders you into hierarchies, it’s your genetic characteristic.’

  ‘I don’t believe in your terms of human nature,’ Kyo managed, gulping fearful breaths, heart racing.

  ‘I will tell you something very true now Kyo about your micro-city. When your anarchist friends overtook their old managers and professionals, they were quite violent with them, which made for an interesting analysis. What do you think they sacrificed for your little utopian project? Hmm? When they organised Cerise Timbers differently into their federations, syndicates, three circle ideologies and factional republican militia, do you know what Moscowai did? They allowed them to have their freedoms, they allowed them to feel they had earned something and won it, they allowed them to celebrate, and do you know why?’

  Kyo glared with his good eye as the monster drew a circle in his palm with his clawed finger and then clenched a fist.

  ‘A happy worker is a productive worker, all enclosed in a super-factory. The experiment worked beautifully and it costs the Moscowai Atominii nothing, while Cerise Timbers still has all to lose. They’re a petri-dish for resources…all hardland trade to control the poorest of your kind, almost ready for harvest. The best thing is, we’re amused at how you busy yourselves believing you’re free. But you’re not, child.’

  ‘That’s not true…’ Kyo whispered.

  ‘We don’t even need you anarchists. Do you really believe we need your mining product when we can simply compile carbon-nano material from the air? Let me assure you, we don’t. What we need is for hardlanders to keep fighting and squabbling over hardland resources so they can keep fantasising over access to the Atominii. So knowing that, how long do you think your little paradise can last? I know you people must have spoken about what to do when the mines become empty. But, we’re finally getting bored of your little experiment.’

  Grinding his teeth, it was anger
that now overcame Kyo’s fear; it was bilious hatred at what he was hearing.

  ‘Today, we the corporate anarchists are the New Oligarchy, because nobody stands in our way. Nobody can stop us child, we are the future, and we are Utopia prescribed via neuromancy. And you?’ B’Two’O chuckled, a light clacking at the back of its throat like wet stones tumbling down a canyon. ‘I’ll tell you what Cerise Timbers is. It’s a Theme Park. It’s a tourist attraction. Your whole ethos is a lie…anarchist boy!’

  ‘BULLSHIT!’ Kyo screamed, spitting and scrambling back to the wall, shocked at his own performance. B’Two’O took a deep breath and sighed as Kyo glared back at him. The monster with the endless eyes was indeed humoured, laughing off the kid’s explosion of rage. It wiped the blotch of spittle from the collar of its suit and regarded the young anarchist again.

  ‘Like I said, you have spirit, so...I will make you an offer. You seem to find nobility in suffering and I would not wish for it to go to waste. Therefore, I will make you the camp’s entertainment, the main feature. What do you think about that, Kyo? We’d have a dance performance before your feature presentation. We’d have a dazzling trapeze act for the interval, while we prepare you for the next showing, scalding you with hot water, boxing you to death, whatever the crowd cheer for, now that’s democracy. We’d even turn it into a nice quiz show for you. We’d arrange to get in our best comedians. Make a spectacular performance; yes just think of your family. Remember why you’re suffering. I can even arrange to have their photographs displayed on the projection units during the event, all your family and friends suspended around your altar of pain.’

  Trembling, Kyo’s guts stirred and he thought he might vomit with fear. Palpitations pounded at the back of his breastplate and he thought his heart might flee, but stay calm Kyo, you’re teetering on the edge of this creature’s mercy by a hair thread, but don’t play all your cards, your friends are coming for you! Kyo looked away from the abyss of the pale creature’s sable eyes. And B’Two’O keeled low until its eyes were level with the doomed young prisoner who shrank away and began to sniffle, fighting to hold back his emotional anguish. Kyo turned his head to the light above him, away from the monster. He’d look at anything but those unfilled eyes.

  ‘We can start setting something up right away,’ the creature continued frostily, ‘just utter the word and I’ll arrange it. We can call it... The spirit of Cerise Timbers?’ he offered, ‘yes, that ought to remind, you what you’re suffering for. Perfect. Perfect, we’ll call it that.’ And he nodded, apparently pleased with himself. B’Two’O then rose to his full height and his head almost found the high bars above, casting a long and solid shadow.

  ‘Tell me you want this.’ The monster offered. ‘Follow through with your proclivities, Kyo. Tell me you believe this is justified…or betray your spirit for the path of least resistance and learn to be my Blue Lycan.’

  Kyo bit into his lip until his fangs broke the skin and drew blood. He was scared as hell and he wanted to let Krupin have his victory, just to alleviate the future pains that he might endure. It was starting to dawn on him now that perhaps these Blue Lycans were working for this very monster, that everything he was saying was true. He wanted to surrender and promise to behave and fall in line. But he saw Krupin’s fear of B’Two’O. He wouldn’t give in to the monster; he wanted Krupin to see it now more than ever. He looked at the fat man and remembered why he was here. He remembered they were coming for him.

  I won’t live in fear! I will not live in fear! Anger is better. I hate you! I hate you for what you’ve done to me! You took my dignity, my passion, my hope and my family and I’ll never forgive it!

  B’Two’O watched the boy muttering under his breath as he glared up into the swinging dull bulb above: ‘Is that a prayer?’ it asked slowly, apparently able to recognise fear and madness without being able to feel much and it offered out its bony mandible and said ‘-Would you like this bit of paper? Maybe you can read it again?’

  And the monster drew close to Kyo and whispered lightly in his ear, giving one last push to see if he could get the kid to finally break and finish the job that fat stupid fucking Krupin couldn’t hack.

  ‘Do you know I once ate a child’s heart? About your age, I believe. Very tender meat when killed properly, one should have very good knives for such a meal, you see.’ And B’Two’O smiled tauntingly, dark sharpened incisors gleaming with all the qualities of steel.

  Krupin didn’t doubt the story, and he backed out of the cell as B’Two’O continued to push Kyo’s buttons, testing his limits. He was impressed the boy hadn’t broken yet, his teeth were still clenched, there was a fight going on within him.

  ‘Better to steam the meat, makes the tendons nice and loose. This is always an option; I’m sure Olympian flesh will be much tougher.’

  ‘You’re right!’ Kyo suddenly snarled, his nose almost touching the Titan’s own, eyes meeting in a sudden and unexpected stand-off of wits that surprised even Kyo, all things considered by gosh it did, and a moment of doubt might have surfaced were it not for the rush he got out of humiliating the creature. And Kyo, heightened by his pride at the challenge, heightened with adrenaline now to the point he could feel his lip tremble and he couldn’t control his breathing, like he was fighting with a hiccup. But he’d started now, there’s no turning back. He’d done it. He’d passed the barrier of his own fear and now stared right at the monster with vacuous eyes, still afraid, but a little less. ‘Olympian meat is tough! You would eat the hearts and minds of others. It’s because you have so little of your own to offer. You call me an empath…I’m calling you a shell…they didn’t even give you a name.’

  Krupin suddenly found himself nervously backing away from the cage, the tension between these two hostile foes made him wonder what violence would be inspired in B’Two’O. He’d never seen such courage from someone as young as Kyo, he’d never expected the boy to show it, thought he’d beaten it out of him before his client came here, yet clearly he’d failed. This was bad news for him, that’s for fucking sure. The prisoner was not supposed to be dissenting now! His conditioning always subdued the subject. What the hell is going on?

  ‘You can do your worst,’ Kyo challenged with a smile wide enough to flash his fangs at the Titan. ‘I at least know who I am…Titan!’

  ‘Good,’ said the monster. ‘Spoken like a true Olympian.’ And B’Two’O collected his black suitcase and he added ‘-today, we’ll give the camp a taster of the entertainment. I think you will do fabulously. I do love a good show.’

  -70-

  Vadim had been stalking around the yard where the Chinook soldiers were meandering around, chattering amongst themselves while the camp’s various factotums were still stood to attention in assembly positions. The watch-tower security carefully oversaw the situation and Vadim was on ground support duty with one or two other loyal inmates. He slipped his hand casually over his Mohawk as he stretched his legs, jaw working at some gum like the piston of a steam-engine. Vadim had his rifle slung over the back of his neck and he rested his hands over the length, as though he’d just jumped down from a crucifixion with both wrists still nailed. He looked about, rowing the rifle with his arms in bored motions, his head swaying around loosely.

  Just then the doors from the corrugated sheet steel facility fired open and Krupin stormed out holding the stasis diviner and Kyo was dragged along chasing his magneto-cuffs.

  Krupin ascended the watch-tower stairs to stand on the gantry looking down on the whole camp’s yard. Kyo was placed in the centre before the assembly of shaven, toughened men and women and the armoured soldiers straggling around the large open space. They’d dressed him in his dishevelled boiler suit. Kyo looked nervously around him. Not long after the pale, tall monster in the suit emerged onto the yard.

  ‘Everyone pay attention, look at this gene-freak!’ Krupin shouted into the yard. ‘Anarchist. They believe in voluntary participation. And he has volunteered to be your entertainment.’

/>   The soldiers in uniform laughed as Kyo stood shivering in the yard like some unsheltered and feral mongrel.

  ‘His first task will be betting game.’ Krupin shouted down to the boy. ‘The plank!’

  Kyo looked around in confusion, and the soldiers began to chuckle again and one of them stepped forward. ‘It’s like this, kid,’ he said, demonstrating ‘down on your elbows, face down. Balance on your tip toes, stomach tight, got it?’

  Kyo stared at the man, raised his eyebrows coy. The soldier got up, expecting the kid to follow his example. Kyo disobeyed. He flashed his fangs and pointed to Krupin.

  ‘This man has you all brainwashed!’ Kyo squalled.

  And suddenly an intense pain surged through Kyo’s body. It stirred through his abdomen with such intensity that he thought he might shit. Falling to his knees he screamed out, holding his guts as something fired within, like a water bomb filled with hot needles had exploded and was expanding through the hollows of his intestines. Over the pain, he heard Krupin’s howling laughter and in the next moment the pain subsided and Kyo was left gasping only with the memory of it, feeling quite sick down as he kneeled in mud holding his quivering arms over his stomach.

  ‘How do you liking it?’ Krupin shouted down to him. Kyo realised that one of Krupin’s guards was pointing a weapon down at him, a long cannon shaped lens, not a maser-breaker, but something a little less destructive. ‘Powerful pain it gives, concentrated ultra-sonic waves. Any more from you gene-freak and I will make a hole in your stomach.’