Emergent: An Aes Sidhe Prequel

by A. Omukai

  The connection came over his FaithNet system, not the rogue chip. He’d have known whose call this was, even if his system hadn’t shown the caller’s name.

  He was surprised the church did even still bother calling him. He opened the connection and took the call.

  “Daniel!” His Excellency stared at him with a mix of anger and sadness. Whether either of them were authentic, he didn’t know, but he appreciated the fact that the bishop made the effort.

  “Bishop,” he replied.

  “I don’t think I have to tell you that the church has decided to excommunicate you.” The strange sing-song voice felt nostalgic, in a strange way.

  “That’s a necessary sacrifice.”

  The old man shook his head, and his sadness seemed genuine.

  “You know what will happen next.”

  Daniel knew. The church wouldn’t just ban him. They couldn’t take the risk to have him stay alive with all he knew. That didn’t matter anymore though. He answered not to men, but to a higher power.

  “I shouldn’t warn you, but you’ve been something like a son for me for over a decade. I wanted to see you one last time, to say by goodbye, and to express my hopes you’ll find your way back to the flock. May god have mercy on your soul.”

  Daniel nodded.

  The bishop ended the call. There was nothing left to say, for either of them.

  When his attention returned to reality, Nadya looked him straight in the face, her head cocked slightly.

  “My boss just told me I’m fired. Not unexpected.”

  “What do you mean, not unexpected?”

  He shrugged. “He told me to return to Gilead immediately for another mission, but I refused. This was his third call. You don’t refuse to obey orders, under any circumstances.”

  “Then why did you do it?”

  “I’m on a mission from god. There’s bigger things than man.”

  She laughed.

  “For all your devout talk, you act like a pretty normal guy. So what does that mean for your mission?”

  “It means you should leave me and go your own way, as long as there’s still time.”

  She scowled.

  “I’m not done with this, and you know it. Also what do you mean as long as there’s still time?”

  “There has been an inquisitor on my heels since I departed. I managed to shake him off before I entered my submarine here, but there’s no doubt he’s still after me. Agents are always accompanied by an inquisitor, and now, he will have special orders.”

  He saw on her face that there was no need for explanations.

  “So there’s two options,” she said.

  Now it was his turn to be confused. What was she talking about?

  “We can go on and finish this, hoping your friend won’t catch up with you, or we wait for him and ambush him when he shows his face.”

  Daniel shook his head.

  “You don’t just ambush an inquisitor. He will come prepared. Inquisitors are… less than human, and more.”

  “Explain.”

  “Inquisitors are augmented, biologically and mechanically. They’re not born to women, they’re products of the vat, grown for one only purpose. Soulless, disposable killing machines.”

  Nadya fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

  “I see. But that doesn’t change anything. What’s your plan anyway?”

  “You should go, Nadya. This is going to get dangerous.”

  “This has been dangerous all along. And how do you rectify letting me run if you don’t even know if I hide another copy of that AI you’re so obsessed with?”

  He didn’t know how to answer.

  He couldn’t rectify it. If there was only a small chance that somehow, somewhere another copy existed, all this was in vain. Going through with the mission, against direct orders, meant damnation, and he couldn’t make up for it by finishing it all, because that one potentially existing copy alone would invalidate it all.

  But it felt right.

  He couldn’t even explain this to himself.

  “You will die,” he said.

  “I don’t care,” she answered.

  “You’re a stubborn woman.”

  “You knew that when we first met.”

  He couldn’t maintain eye contact with her and lowered his gaze.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  He needed time to think, but he didn’t know how much he had left.

  “The chip in my skull will lead him to me, no matter where I am. There’s no time for surgery now, I will finish this mission first. Apart from that, I can’t access the church’s resources anymore now.”

  “Let’s take this step by step then. Next on the list is that employee the gangster wants us to kill.”

  “Let’s meet with him and see what he has to say. Step by step, as you say.”

  He needed clarity. The path before him had changed into a labyrinth, and he wasn’t confident he could navigate it anymore. One step after the other, seemed like a good idea.

  Inquisitor, AI, Nadya.

  And then there was the war, hanging over their heads like Damocles’ sword.

  Another call announced itself, this time over his rogue chip. He exchanged a look with Nadya. They both had received it, and they accepted at the same time. Uehara.

  “Hello. I’m calling you to let you know we were lucky. Our informant could get us the intelligence we need.”

  “Let’s hear,” Nadya said.

  “There’s a park in Nishihirai. Look at the attached file, I sent you navigational data! We don’t have an exact time, but we estimate he will be there at roughly six o’clock tomorrow morning. Unless my men get him first. In that case, consider our deal expired.”

  “In that case, we will visit you anyway,” she answered, and her smile didn’t look friendly.

  The old man raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

  “We are just doing business. No need to get excited just yet. I’ll let you know in case anything happens.”

  Nadya quit the connection without further words.

  Daniel looked at the man, but couldn’t make out any emotions.

  “I hope we will get to an agreement, because the alternative would be unpleasant,” he said. Then he dropped the connection as well.

  They would have to take care of this man, one way or the other, and he knew that the other side was thinking the same about them.

  30

  Makoto

  Hotel Tsubaki looked exactly the same as it had the first time I saw it. A black block before a black backdrop, with pink letters blinking, a colourful room menu on the wall and a sign trying to lure in the aspiring adventurer. It was a book perfectly judgeable by its cover: An over-the-top kitschy sex theme park. I could see how that could be appealing to people living grey lives in a grey city, slowly bleeding colour themselves. That being said, it was also an extremely clean place. I hoped the staff hadn’t attempted to clean the room I had rented for the week. What few things I had bought, I had put on my bed openly. Love hotels didn’t usually have a lot in the sense of storage.

  Maybe, if things died down a little, I’d take Daisuke up on his offer anyway. I didn’t want to think too far into the future. For now, surviving would do.

  Despite the late hour, there were no customers around. No one entered or left the place. I stood on the street, took a deep breath, then moved onwards.

  I entered the love hotel and something felt different. What was it? I didn’t figure it out immediately, but after a few steps, I noticed the deserted desk. The clerk wasn’t at his place, even though customers could come at any time.

  I didn’t bother thinking much about it. My room was at the end of the hall, last on the right side. None of them were connected directly, they all were their own little ecosystem, their closed fantasy world. Mine was the sugary sweet world of pink romance, complete with cute pillows, plush carpets, a big bed to sink into and enough space to blow off steam. I smiled and reached for
the doorknob, when a faint sense of premonition struck me, like a deja vu. I shook it off, called myself stupid for being so anxious, opened the door, and my smile froze in place.

  ***

  What I was looking at was, first of all, the barrel of a gun. Following the pistol with my eyes, along the hand, followed by the arm. Whoever it was I arrived at, his face didn’t look friendly. I hadn’t seen the killer the first time, at home, so I didn’t know if it was the same person. I assumed he was. Would he let me escape again?

  I reflexively smashed the door shut and started to run.

  Two, three shots hammered into the wood of the door. The noise startled me. The other day, the gun shots hadn’t been quite as loud, probably thanks to the capsule’s chassis. Next I noticed that all the doors of the other rooms were left ajar just a little, maybe as a sign that they were available. Interesting, what kind of things one noticed in situations like this, as if all my senses were heightened, and normally irrelevant details jumped out, which I wouldn’t see otherwise.

  The door flinging open and crashing into the wall felt almost as loud as the cracking gun shots, even though I probably got that wrong. I hadn’t even made one third of the distance to the reception yet. The killer didn’t speak with words, he spoke with bullets. I jumped into the room on my right side without thinking, and shut the door, locked it, took cover behind the wall just in time.

  The overwhelming noise of shots threw me into the next shock. Several of them went right through the wood of the door, bullets passing me by. I could follow their flight, while my heart went into overdrive. No way I’d get out of this alive. One of the bullets hit the metallic frame of the bed and ricocheted unpredictably, first against a wardrobe, then into the wall right next to my face. Too close.

  I felt something warm inside my pants running down my leg, but it didn’t register.

  A loud bang, and the door shook in its frame. And another. Splinters flew, a third bang and the door gave way. The silhouette of the man appeared in the frame and I ran into him, headfirst. He wasn’t so massive. My bodyweight rammed him against the frame and catapulted him out of the room. We fell to the ground together, his right hand hit the wall, and two more shots went off. Then a third, click, a fourth, click. I butted my forehead into his face and heard something crack, then jumped up in blind fear and broke into a tumbling sprint, speeding up as I gained balance. I pushed the door open and flew through.

  The cold of the night hit me in the face and made me feel the sweat on my skin.

  My mind went blank for a second.

  What was I here for?

  Then I heard footsteps closing in on me from behind and pushed the door in his face. Whether it actually hit him or not, I didn’t know. I was running again, my pulse drumming, a slight tinnitus from the gunshots, eyes not used to the twilight yet. Stumbling, I ran into a trash can and lost my balance. My head hit a metal backdoor, then the man crashed into me. His weight rushing into me, air shot out of my lungs in a muffled Uhhh. Shredding over the street, through a puddle, I could feel my skin drag hard on the asphalt. I flailed wildly, aimlessly, no idea if I was even hitting him. He did though, with his fist. First my temple, causing a silent explosion of light. Then the jaw.

  I grabbed his wrist in desperation and bit him. Bit, and bit, and bit. His screams echoed from the walls. Warm, metallic blood gushed into my mouth and I swallowed it reflexively, then gagged.

  He howled, tried to rip his hand out of my mouth, but I dug in deep and bit even harder. I heard something crack, then rip, then spit out flesh.

  The other jumped up, clutching the violated hand with his good one, jumping on the spot. I had no idea anymore where I was and what I did here. All I knew was, I had to get out of here, while the same word looped in my head like broken code without an exit function.

  Shit, shit, shit, shit, in a strange harmony with the beat of my heart.

  I ran and ran. Staying on my feet wasn’t easy. The ground was treacherous now, swaying like a ship, but I couldn’t stand still. The other was after me again. I didn’t know how I knew, but I could feel his presence. I wouldn’t get another chance to wiggle out of his grip.

  Blood ran into my eyes. There must have been a wound somewhere, but I didn’t feel pain through the thick layer of panic engulfing me.

  The sounds of our footsteps were hammering in the same rhythm. Neither of us got ahead or fell back, but the end of the alley came closer. With my opponent out of ammo, and unable to reload with one hand, he’d have to beat me to death in front of all the people on the main road ahead. That road was my only hope. I stumbled again, and he almost closed the distance, but not quite yet. I could feel his hand on my back, his fingernails on the cloth of my jacket, then gliding off, making a scratching sound.

  Only a few more steps. Almost there.

  With a large jump, I emerged from the alley, on the sidewalk, but my momentum carried me onwards, directly towards the busy street.

  This was my end. I ran, expecting the hit any moment. My breath came heavily now, but I didn’t care. Just a few more steps, and my knees turned to jelly. I sank to the ground — on the opposite side of the street, turning around to look for my pursuer.

  The man followed me, stumbled right on the road, and in front of a truck.

  He couldn’t evade.

  The truck couldn’t stop in time.

  I averted my gaze.

  I had enough of this, for now, for tonight, and for a lifetime.

  My heart was still racing, I could barely breathe, but I had to get away from here.

  I would meet Inoue tomorrow morning and see where this would lead me.

  Being on the run for an extended amount of time was not an option, but surrender wouldn’t save my life. We were too deep down this erroneous function already, there was no way back.

  The way ahead though wasn’t visible yet. It was time I planned for the future.

  My head turned around on its own, even though I had no desire to see what had become of the killer.

  Traffic had come to a complete halt, chaos had broken out, and too many vehicles and people crowded the street to see anything.

  I got up slowly and turned to go.

  I had no idea where I’d be going, but I couldn’t stay either.

  31

  Nadya

  Reaching Nishihirai took quite a while. A residential area of the city, it was out of the way, and not directly connected to the centre, from where they had come. Sure, taking a taxi would have solved the issue, but their resources weren’t unlimited anymore. They hadn’t touched the money she had received from that Uehara, for the AI, but she’d like to keep it that way, if she could help it. There was no telling when she could earn money again, now that she was without her gang. No idea even how to earn some in the future. She might not have to actually, the sum had been large, and she wouldn’t have to share it with anyone. Blood shot into her head and coloured the face red. A pang in her chest reminded her that this money was paid for in blood. Thinking about it would change nothing, what was done was done now. “Blyat,” a familiar voice said, and it took her a second to realise that the speaker was dead, and the voice a phantom.

  So, the train it was. That thought distracted her from the pain, and she was very aware of that fact.

  The Japanese part of Australasia relied heavily on trains. Stations were everywhere, and not far apart. A multitude of lines permeated the underground like blood vessels, performing a comparable function: transporting valuable things through a system and keeping it alive by doing so.

  They had switched trains twice and were finally about to arrive. It was early in the morning, rush hour was yet to come. Only few people rode the train at this hour, and fewer in the direction they were going. It made sense. The city centre was the seat of most businesses, while the outer areas were residential districts. There was another ring, further outside, and she could imagine what those looked like. Slums were slums, whether that was in Moscow, Frankfurt or Chiba.


  Collins seemed to still cling to his mission to destroy all copies of the AI he could lay his hands on, despite the fact that the party that had set him on that path was now his enemy, intent on killing him. Apart from that, the world was at the brink of war. She wasn’t much better, she admitted to herself. Still on the warpath, even though nothing could be won this way. Killing Uehara would not resurrect her dead friends, she would only put herself in harm’s way for a bad reason. But she felt that her destiny was connected to that of the American, for better or worse, and she still couldn’t forgive Uehara for what he had done to her friends. They had been her family. Now she had nobody, if she disregarded Collins, which she should probably do. He’d ask her for her copy and then disappear. Maybe.

  They got out of the train. Nadya opened her system and called up a map of the town. They would have to walk for a few minutes, but the streets were still deserted this early in the morning. The time display of her system said twenty to six. The employee would arrive at around six, if their information was correct.

  The area consisted of all small houses in endless rows, each different, but not enough so to make orientation easy. Small shops were mostly located in corner buildings, and most of those were convenience stores, the same three chains everywhere. The streets were too narrow to allow parking capsules. Most people here would commute by train.