by Drew Cordell
“Fair enough. We’ll assess the value of your haul minus the value of the trucks themselves and use weighted averages to allow you to choose what you’d like to pay for your transit. We’re flexible, but the value has to add up to five percent of the total plus half a percent per truck.”
“And you’re certain you’re not open to negotiate that rate for a single pass to the Greater Lift?” Grez countered.
The man renewed his smile. “No sir. I don’t have the authority to haggle. The rates are straightforward, and the Greater Lifts are the only way to get to River’s Port if you plan on bringing your trucks with you. The other lift on the east side has the same fees as us, and it’s a few miles away. This lift has access to the western side of River’s Port and gives you better access to the market, warehouses, and wholesale distributors for you to sell your goods. I can’t bargain with you, but I can throw in a map of River’s Port.”
“Fine. Do your thing,” Grez said, motioning for the soldiers in our group to open the backs of the trucks and allow the Scavenger Guild men to appraise the cargo. The Scavenger Guild guards held their weapons at the ready but seemed calm enough.
“Nothing illegal, sir. Total value puts them at 406 economic units,” one of the workers with a datapad said after all the cargo was appraised and our manifests were confirmed.
“Can you please give us some insight on what an economic unit is?” Grez asked, frustrated.
“We’re largely on the bartering system in River’s Port, and we measure the value of goods in terms of economics units. It basically gives everything a weighted value and serves as a ghost to actual currency. In other words, it’s the currency conversion value of your merchandise without the use of currency,” the leader said, passing a datapad to Grez. “You’ll see the breakdown here. Our bioanalysis scanners show the crates of fungus you have are edible, is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct. And our water?” Violet asked. “I see we’re not being charged for it, only the barrels.”
“That’s correct. Water is abundant in River’s Port, so I’m only charging for the containers. It’s a courtesy I’m happy to extend to first time guests such as yourselves.”
“How generous,” Grez said, grumbling as he inspected the rest of the list.
“How would you like to pay your fee, sir?” the man asked.
Grez used the datapad, moving things around in the application to pay his fee. “I need to get something straight before I pay. With our fee, we’re given one free passage no matter what we bring back, correct?”
“That’s correct, sir. You will have up to an hour to load up the Greater Lift with your return items and an hour to unload when we reach the surface. The lift is yours for up to two hours fifteen minutes regardless of what you bring back.”
Grez nodded and eventually handed back the datapad to the man in charge. Payment was taken in the form of two crates of firearms and ammunition for old-style kinetic firearms which were surprisingly effective on armored targets like HKs. With payment settled, we were cleared to pass with a voucher for free return to the surface at a time of our choosing. We climbed back into the trucks and drove onto the lift, waiting for it to kick into action. I hadn’t expected it to move so slow, but then again, the thing must have weighed thousands of tons. It descended at the crawling speed of a few inches per second and would take 15 minutes to reach the bottom of River’s Port.
Surprisingly, there was a barrier of energy which lagged behind us the whole way down, trapping in the warmth of River’s Port to keep it from freezing. The view of the city from this height, even when looking out of the truck windows, was staggering. In a lot of ways, this city mirrored what life had been like in the Slums, but River’s Port was entirely self-sufficient, sustaining itself like an isolated system. Warehouses and factories on the edges of the river nucleated around the densely packed population of the multi-tiered city, all overseen by the Scavenger Guild. Seeing the city from the inside never gave this sense of massive scale, but I was seeing it now. By the looks on the others’ faces, so were they. We spent most of the descent in appreciative silence.
The platform brought us to an industrial park on the edge of the river, which was massive and spacious compared to the cramped portions of the city I had visited for the first time with Caeldra over three years ago. Since working with the Scavenger Guild, we had only used the smaller elevators down to the city, and they weren’t anything like the lift we had just used. And with the craziness of life without a stable society existing in the Slums, there was rarely time for leisure on the trips my squad had taken to the city.
Large warehouses lined the street all around us, and the Scavenger Guild men standing on the edge of the elevator platform motioned for us to drive onto the road and get off the lift so they could start loading it for its return journey. The city was sweltering compared to the cold air of the Slums, and we stuffed our heavy jackets we’d worn over our armor into our backpacks. Of course, there was the smell, too. No matter where you were in River’s Port, it was hard to escape the sometimes pungent aromas of the river system.
“We made it,” Violet said. “Now all we have to do is find a place to park and find some boats to buy or contract.”
“How long do you think we’ll be here?” Mary asked.
“The less time we’re here, the better. We want to get on the river as fast as possible,” she responded.
The trucks drove forward and parked alongside the road. A man wearing heavy overalls walked over from one of the nearby warehouses. Grez got out of the truck to talk to him. We watched them talk for a several minutes before the man walked back to his warehouse with a small bar of expensive metal.
Grez climbed back into his truck, and his voice came over the radio system. “That gentleman I was speaking with works for a river salvage company that leases this warehouse in front of us. They have a fleet of thirty boats with over seventy river salvagers, and they’ve agreed to lease us a fleet. This was easier than I expected, but we’re going to pay them now and they’ll start loading the boats. The man I just spoke to is one of the owners, and he’s going to make sure the other owners are all right with taking the job and prove to them we can pay. I’ll do all the haggling when we get inside, but for now we can park inside the warehouse while we wait.”
Our driver drove us through the huge doors of the warehouse, following behind the other trucks. The inside was packed with colossal piles of scrap, and there were several men and Junker robots working to sift through it and pack their findings in cheap plastic crates. We all stepped out of the turbo trucks, and the drivers cut the engines. After a couple minutes, the man Grez was talking to returned with a disappointed, apologetic look on his face.
“The look on your face suggests you’re about to tell me something I am not going to like,” Grez said.
The man nodded as he came to a stop in front of us, handing the bar of metal back to Grez with clear disappointment. “Unfortunately, my colleagues weren’t quite as excited as me about the arrangement and felt the need to call the Scavenger Guild in on this one. We’re an official member of their alliance and can’t really take jobs like this without their approval. Jones called it in with the Greater Lift crew, and they informed us you’re first time guests in River’s Port. Also, there hasn’t really ever been someone looking to contract boats for transports down the river, not the way you’re wanting to go at least.”
“Why is that any of their concern?” Grez asked hotly. “I want to pay you for a private venture that doesn’t have anything to do with them.”
The man sighed and rubbed the skin between his eyes, apparently trying to decide the best way to deliver bad news. “You’re new, so you might not realize the sort of influence the Scavenger Guild has here and in all of New York. After the stunt the Champions pulled at the Docks, the Scavengers are the most powerful organization in New York, second only to Olympus. We’ve always had superior numbers here; it’s just been a matter of learning h
ow our city exists independent of anything else.”
He clearly wasn’t aware or didn’t want to talk about how the Scavengers were taking handouts from the Omniscience Engine. Maybe the people didn’t know the true extent of what was or had happened here.
“That’s a bold statement,” Grez said, throwing the bar of metal back to one of the soldiers in our group and gripping his assault rifle while still keeping it lowered.
“Bold or not, we’re done here. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything else we can do to help you. If you want to contract us, we’ll be happy to take your payment after you meet with the Scavenger Guild and get their seal of approval for your venture. Whether or not you get their approval or decide to go with someone else, I assure you we will not discuss your business with anyone else.”
Grez’s mood darkened. “And if we decide to take your boats right now?”
The man in front of us stiffened but held his resolve.
“That’s not going to happen,” a voice rang out from behind us. Armed men swarmed in from the entrance, surrounding us with superior numbers.
9 ACCOMMODATIONS
∆∆∆
The Scavenger Guild officer and mercenaries circled us but kept their weapons lowered. There was tension, but it didn’t feel like an all-out firefight was imminent. The officer of their group stepped forward with a datapad raised and introduced himself. It was Jack, the man who had sold out Caeldra and me to the Omniscience Engine all those years ago. He was cutthroat, but I knew he could be reasoned with and his palm could be greased under the right conditions. I needed to let Grez know that somehow without giving away my identity. It had been over a year since I’d last spoken with him, but I still needed to lay low in case he recognized me. The last thing we needed right now was for the Scavengers to know who we really were. It was foolish to think it would be easy to get boats without drawing the attention of the Scavengers.
Jack appraised our group with calculating eyes. “What I can’t understand is why you want to go North using the river system in the first place. Unless you have access to a large structure in the Undercity out there, it seems like a strange trip to take. You see, even if you were trying to spin this off as a scavenging trip on the river, you’re loading your boats down to the point where you won’t have the room to bring back anything, unless of course you’re planning for a very long journey and somehow have a way through the Maze. No one has a way through the Maze.”
“It’s our business,” Grez said. “We paid your fees to use the Greater Lift, now we’re attempting to purchase charter for a private venture. As long as we pay the fees, there shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know what this Maze is; we’re only trying to establish a new scavenging base.”
Jack approached our caravan with a cold, calculating gaze. “How has your group survived this long? You don’t look or act like Champions of Liberty, but it’s strange you’re only just now coming out of the shadows.”
“We’re a hardened group. Like you, we had the location and means to survive,” Grez replied. “As I said, we’ll pay your additional fees and be on our way.”
“We can’t speak for the independents of the city, but there’s no way you’re chartering any boats from our key partners. I’m issuing a city-wide warning on your party declaring you the highest risk factor in terms of trust. Basically, until you talk with us and work out a deal, you won’t be leaving River’s Port on the river system unless you buy your own boats from the market which I wouldn’t recommend.”
“How kind of you,” Grez said, fixing a fake smile on his face.
I walked over to Violet and whispered in her ear. “I know someone in the city who might be able to help us out. I haven’t seen him in over a year, but he might be our best shot at getting around these guys.”
She turned to face me, studying my face before whispering back. “We’ll see. Let my father try to make a deal here.”
I nodded and returned to my place, facing forward.
“Champion life not treat you two well?” Jack asked loudly, walking forward through our party to inspect Mary and me. “I thought I recognized you two. The Champions are trying to spy on us now? They really should have thought to send people we haven’t worked with before,” Jack said, almost as if he was disappointed. “But perhaps they’re running out of pawns to send since almost all of you were killed at the Docks. It was quite funny to hear about, honestly. I’m embarrassed for you. It seems we gave the Champions too much credit in your aptitude for intelligence and military prowess. We’re not living in your shadows anymore. No sir.” He grinned and laughed a low throaty sound.
I gritted my teeth in anger, doing my best to keep myself from running up and jamming my knife through his face.
“We’re not with them anymore, and you don’t get to say that. A lot of men and women died to try to give us all a better life,” I said, breaking the silence as the tension built.
Grez was glaring at Mary and me, but Jack wasn’t relenting. “That’s interesting. I say good riddance. You pull your forces from our city and order them to the Docks only to die. I’m surprised my superiors haven’t decided to cut you off or invade and kill you all. We’re the future, and you’ll have to accept that if you want to live in the new world. You will serve us and be thankful for our forgiveness.”
Grez stepped in, placing a firm hand on my chest to calm me before I snapped. “I assure you I knew nothing of their affiliation prior to joining our group. I hired them on as specialists after they demonstrated their skillset. The Champions have nothing to do with our relationship, but you should respect the fallen. We’ve all lost people, and it’s painful enough as it is without you cutting into old wounds.”
Jack smirked. “Regardless, the fee for lowering your risk factor just tripled. It’s going to be one half of your total haul here, and we’ll remove that pesky risk factor modifier and send you on your way with a nice sticker to commemorate your visit to our beloved city.” Jack renewed his smile and reached into his pocket, producing the sticker he had mentioned and dangled it in the air in front of us. ‘I visited River’s Port’ was printed on the front under a smiley face.
Grez was not having any of it. “Cute, but I think we’ll settle on a nice even five percent and you can go extort someone else to make it look like you do a good job for your superiors. I know your kind, and you won’t make it in this world much longer if you decide to mess with the wrong sort of people who won’t be bent so easily. See, with people like me who have seen the best and worst humanity has to offer, I’m prepared to die at any moment knowing my legacy will live on. Can you say the same?”
Jack set his jaw but seemed off balance now. Apparently he couldn’t say the same, but he didn’t relent. “Friend, the deal is half or you’re on your own. Oh, and you’ll be under very close watch. One wrong move and our law enforcement will move in, and you won’t like what happens.”
“Pack it up!” Grez called over his shoulder before turning to face Jack. “I’m not going to be intimidated or robbed by the likes of you. We’re not paying your ridiculous fee, and we’ll happily take your risk modifier and arrange different accommodations within the city. I also would like to extend a heartfelt invitation for you and your men to—”
A harsh mechanical sound sounded from farther out in the factory drowning out Grez’s heartfelt sentiments, but the message was clear enough.
“Good day,” Jack said, chuckling to himself as he and his men left the warehouse.
“You need to leave,” the man from the warehouse said. “Unfortunately, we don’t want your business.”
“You believe the risk factor? It’s just extortion,” Grez grumbled.
“Call it what you want, but we’ll incur a huge penalty and lose a lot of goodwill and our standing with the Scavenger Guild if we take your business,” the man said, turning around and walking back into the office. The workers in the warehouse continued their work, but it was clear they were watching and listening to us with gr
eat interest.
Suddenly, Grez stormed over to Mary and me, fury burning in his eyes. Mary stepped out of the way, and I took a step forward to shield her. He shoved me in the chest with both hands and I stumbled back, almost losing my footing and falling to the ground. The hit hurt, even through my armor, but I recovered quickly, pulling in a deep breath of air to compensate.
“What did I tell you about not drawing attention?” he roared, swinging an armored fist at my head. I sidestepped the swing and countered with a swipe of my wrist, using his momentum to throw him off balance and mess up his stance. Even with the opportunity, I resisted the instinct to launch a counter blow to his face when the opening was available. He recovered from my counter and swung again, but I ducked under it and stepped away from his next lunge. Grez was all power—a lot stronger than me with his extra bulk, but he lacked my speed.
“Stop! I can arrange transportation,” I shouted, trying to quell his anger.
One of the soldiers grabbed Mary’s hair from behind, yanking it up into the air. Mary cried out into pain, and the soldier shoved her to her knees on the pavement. My blood ran cold, and I bared my teeth, punching one of the soldiers who was trying to block my path to get to Mary. He went down and reached for his gun, but I didn’t stop.
Grez walked over and drew his sidearm, placing the barrel on the side of Mary’s face. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Marwin was screaming with me, and Grez continued to huff in anger, his finger hovering over the trigger.
“I’ll arrange transportation!” I screamed, resisting the overwhelming urge to draw my handgun and shoot Grez in the head. If Marwin or I made a move, Mary was dead. I was losing control—giving in to the unrelenting panic slashing at my mind.
Grez suddenly lowered his gun and returned it to the holster. He nodded at the soldier holding Mary’s hair and he let go, lowering his own weapon.
“I advise you to get results for me. Don’t, and I have no trouble killing all of you. It might even be fun.” Grez smiled. “Now, let’s talk about this transportation.”