by Nathan Lunn
Danny sniffed, and Douglass peered out of the window to his right side, his murmurs fogging up the glass. “Nothing here.” There was a pause, as the car levelled out. The beauty of Zobel’s Island came into view as they skimmed over the surface of bright green trees swaying lightly in the breeze. Its edges were rimmed with the brightest white sands Kye had seen, and they blended seamlessly with the lapping teal waves that pushed up on the shore in little white advancements. The landscape was fairly flat, with only a few ridges sticking out nearer to the centre where a sprawling mountain lay and a large looming cliff face could be seen on the far south side.
“Try the shortwave, maybe they’re back in range now?” Kye started to speak, tapping at his temple and scanning the horizon. “Julie? Are you there? Julie, can you hear me?”
Danny let out an exasperated sigh, leaning forward a little to speak to Kye for the first time since they had gotten in the hovercar. “You could at least pretend to worry about Eddie?” He leaned back as Kye glared through the wing mirror, tensing his shoulders in frustration. “Asshole.” Danny turned to the window, speaking under his breath, before perking up and wiping away the condensation on the inside of the glass. “Look over there!” He pointed with his finger pushed against the window, before Kye tapped his temple and rolled it down, leaning over to his side to look at what he was indicating to. His eyes dried up as a burst of hot air rushed into the cabin.
Nestled underneath a clustered shroud of palm trees, sticking out halfway up the side of the central mountain, was a lavish and luscious building. Its sleek and modern design set it apart from the nature surrounding it – a large forward facing glass window curved and caught the light of the soon-setting sun. Flawlessly smooth wooden panelling encased the building’s corners, flooding out of the front in a combination of deck and garage – a shining silver hovercar sat next to an empty space, and a hidden stone staircase cut into the mountain below, leaking down inconsistently until it dissolved into the jungle.
“Should we drop down there? See if we can gather up some MediPacks?” Danny asked, wincing as his hand pushed against the door.
Kye replied, manipulating the controls to push them towards the house, “I’m not hearing anything.” He tapped his temple. “I suppose we should. Nearly out of fuel anyway, not much of a choice whether we set down or not.”
Douglass let out a hum, and a quick nod, gripping the seat as they dived quickly and then flattened out. A short whine emitted as the car hovered for a moment above the decking, then it dropped in its place and the engine cut out, leaving just the sounds of the island to flood into the vehicle. Distant crows of exotic birds floated on the wind; nearby insects buzzed in the humid air. The doors hissed open and they limped out onto the hot decking, squinting as they pulled an arm over their brow to protect from the lowering sun. Kye kneeled at the ground and squinted. “That’s carbon scoring. Some heavy vehicles came through here, not long ago.” He looked up. The sparse clouds above their head, a deep orange like breaking embers, provided little to no coverage, and as a result of this, they were quick to head over to the window to search for an entrance.
"How is it so bright? It's only setting?" Danny complained, wincing his eyes shut.
“Ah shit, here’s a handle.” Kye grabbed the metal pole and pulled, hearing a mechanical clicking as the window opened up, the glass slowly bending and rotating around the curve. “Not unlocked.” He wiped his brow again, surprised at how quickly the humidity had got to him, and walked into the cool shadowed breeze of the building. Douglass and Danny followed behind, shoulders squared and knees bent.
As soon as they walked in, it became undeniably apparent that they were inside a house of some sort, and were currently situated in the main downstairs living quarters. A fire was lit and blazing away silently in the large stove in the corner – a long furry red couch sat opposite it, adorned with various plush pillows and thick throws. This carpeted sunken area was separated from the rest of the open plan room by a single step up, and a change in flooring. Like the decking outside, waxed floorboards ran along to the wall here, spreading all the way into the dining area, where an old oak table sat, laden with plates loaded with half finished scraps of food and drinks. It had been set for a great number of people – Kye could count at least 20 laid plates, and they had all been eaten from. A shock ran through him as he sensed some movement – and an even greater one when he realised his holster was empty – but he quickly calmed down when he realised it was just a few personalised SerfBots. Three gleaming white robots, humanoid sized and compact, rolled out from under the balcony, their light blue eyes gleaming as they started to clear away the mess.
“Looks like we missed the buffet. Shame, I was kinda peckish,” Danny said, grabbing a plate from one of the robots and throwing it to the table again after a quick examination. “What do you think happened here?”
They started to spread out to different corners of the room, Kye levitating up the staircase and Douglass onto the couch – Danny stayed in the kitchen area, weaving around the robots as he poked and flicked at them. “Who lives here anyway?" he projected. "The island caretaker?”
Kye shouted down as he exited one of the two upper rooms, holding a photo frame aloft in his hands, “I’ve got a good idea who.” He threw the photo down to the lower floor and into Danny’s outstretched hands. “It’s a Croft lair.”
Danny sneered a scarlet grin, before quickly looking away and passing the photo to Douglass. Douglass mused, his voice weak in comparison to the others, “Ah, young Alexis. And his daughter, Morgana. Explains the flash design, I would think.” He placed it down on the couch next to him, moving to open the deep plastic box he had found in his investigations. Laying out the contents, he pondered on them, before proclaiming, “Got some MediCare here.” He tailed off muttering to himself, “And a few other weird things too.” He looked down at the couch and the contents of the box: 5 MediCare Packets, 3 Flare guns, a single bottle of corked malt whisky and an assortment of various sleeping and tranquilising darts were spread across the red fur.
Danny slapped the final bot on the back of its head as they retreated to their cupboard. The room was now spotless, and the small table at Douglass’ feet had been prepped for drinking. Two glasses, one long and thin, and the other short and fat, stood next to two different drinks, both topped off with a self-coolant seal. Douglass moved to reach for one, then thought better and leant back into the couch, relaxing himself as he spoke again. “I have been tapping and retrying but I can’t seem to get any sort of response from my commlink – shortwave or not.” Danny echoed his feelings, admitting that he too, couldn’t get a signal of any kind. Kye tapped his temple to test the theory, attempting to privately call Julie, but heard no response on the other side – not even a dial tone was ringing in his ear.
“Well, that’s great,” Kye spoke, joining them both in the middle of the room once more. “We’re gonna have to go around on foot.”
The fire crackled and Douglass jumped, gripping the couch with fright. He looked up at the two men, and meekly smiled. “I’ll have to pass on that, gentlemen. If it’s alright with you both, I can wait near here – in the Ghost outside. I’ll have it running idle in case something happens.” He flicked his gaze between the two of them, judging their hostile posture to be safe enough. “You had better go look for Julie and Eddie though, and get them back to a rendezvous.”
Kye protested, pointing towards his temple, “How are we gonna get in touch though? Commlink is down between us all too.”
Douglass grabbed the flare gun from the couch seat and handed it to Kye. He passed another to Danny, and closed the box with a resounding click, explaining as he did so, “Fire one of these off and I can drive to the location. Try to stick together though. Here’s the MediCare you wanted.” He passed one of these to Danny and sat back again. Danny looked at Kye, and started dressing the wound on his head – Kye spoke again at Douglass, wary of his tone, “Alright. I concede. But if too much t
ime passes we’re gonna fire ours anyway. Okay?”
Douglass nodded, and Danny stood, swiping another packet and two of the sleeper darts from the couch.
“Fuck it,” he said. “Let’s go.”
21
Danny tailed Kye down the stone stairs, taking caution not to trip as he held onto the rusted metal handrail.
“You know you should watch yourself on that,” Kye spoke backwards, as he bounced down the stairs a little faster. “Tetanus may be easy to fix but not whilst we’re on this island. There’s patches for a few hundred miles here.”
Danny scoffed, raising his hand from the railing, and replying back with a snide remark, “Oh, you care about my health now, do you? That’s rich.”
Kye rolled his eyes and kept walking.
“I’m just saying,” he spoke. “If you were to get hurt, I would have to drag you all the way back. So keep yourself safe.”
Danny didn’t respond to him, but he paused and looked out over the island. A contented sigh escaped his lips, and he spoke. “Cracking view though, mind.” The splashes of red and orange, like brushstrokes across the bright canvas, reflected off his eyes, giving Kye the impression that they were literally ablaze. Kye nodded, turned back, and passed underneath a long thin palm leaf, continuing down, his arms outstretched to help keep his balance. Danny noticed the flash of purple, and, in a weak-hearted attempt to make conversation, spoke.
“How’s that thing treating you then? Can certainly pack a punch.”
Kye laughed aloud, then caught himself and turned around to be face to face with Danny’s sour bruised look.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “It’s good, you know. Kinda still getting used to it, but it’s a lot of work and I suppose I’ll never fully be as close to it as I was my last arm.”
Danny cursed as he slipped down a step – his hand shot out to the railing for stability and he pulled himself back up. He spoke, very matter-of-factly. “Yeah, well at least you can control it a little better now.” He looked back up at the house. “Does its job.”
Kye forged forward. “Kind of. It thinks for me sometimes, like it’s making the decisions before I even get a chance to. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s saved my life a lot of times now, so I guess I should thank it.”
“A thank you to your own arm. Peculiar,” Danny said, rounding the corner in the staircase. “Do you think they use this all the time? They must have stacked legs.”
Kye laughed a little, shaking his head and responding, “No, I bet this is just for servicebots and emergencies. We’re probably the first humans to walk on it in…”
He trailed off as they came into view of the final stretch. The path had widened out a bit and the trees had disappeared from their right side, leaving a smooth and tall cliff face to accompany them down to the jungle floor – past the handrail on their left was the jungle itself, a bouncy ceiling of tumultuous leaves crashing into each other with the sound of a thousand rustling papers. The grey rock of the cliff face had been transformed by the multiple carvings and drawings etched into the stone, various names and dates were plastered at different heights and legibility, and a few choice drawings and icons could be spotted inbetween the mess of scrawled handwriting. Kye ran his hand over them, feeling the bumps and ridges as he read some of the names aloud.
“Arthur, Keith, Samara. Edward, Anna? What is this?”
Danny shrugged, moving instead to look at the handrail and its various additions. Tied around the upper metal rings were various personal effects: a single shoelace in a bow, a shred of clothing, a weathered watch tightened as though it were around a wrist. Self-lighting torches, darkened for now, were placed at regular intervals, and the weird expansions and carvings continued onwards, culminating at the end of the stairs and the start of the jungle as they reached the ground floor. A clean grey stone pillar sat alone in a clearance, surrounded by four unlit torches. Perched atop the pillar was a clear glass bowl, wide at the sides but tighter at the top and filled with a variety of small white and yellow beads – picking it up off the pedestal, Kye reeled back in shock and dropped it to his feet. Scatterings of different shaped teeth spilled to the jungle floor, as he stumbled backwards over his feet.
“What the fuck?” Kye shouted.
Danny laughed behind him, coming up to his shoulder to survey the mess he had caused. “That’s messed up, man.” He kneeled down and unflinchingly picked up a tooth, rolling it over between his thumb and forefinger.
“Put it down, Danny. That’s gross,” Kye said, shoving his shoulder and spilling him to the ground.
Danny scrambled up fast and rounded on Kye, yelling, “Do you fucking mind?”
Kye squared himself, and the sun dipped below the horizon, plunging the jungle into darkness. Almost to the second, the self-lighting torches came on, sparking flames all around them and heating up the area. They jumped, whirling in each direction and hands scrambling for their empty holsters. A moment passed, and the jungle remained still.
“We really gotta get some kind of weapon. I’m not comfortable without a handpistol,” Danny said, brushing the dirt off his elbows. Kye moved to a torch, and grabbed the pole, straining upwards to pull it out of its holder. Failing this, he sighed and moved back to the pillar, kicking at the glass bowl with his foot.
“We would have them with us if you didn’t go all psycho!” Kye yelled, causing Danny to bristle again. “Alright, whatever, let’s just keep moving. I don’t wanna think about what’s in here at nighttime.” Danny stuck his hand into his pocket, pulling out his nearly shredded pack of cigarettes, and lit one on the flame of his nearest torch, taking a deep inhale. He shuddered as the nicotine ran through his system, and exhaled – the smoke floated off into the night sky, catching the last of orange light before it dispersed. He kept smoking, wordlessly offering one to Kye, who accepted and lit up. He coughed as he inhaled, spitting to the floor and spluttering. “Why do you like these, they’re horrible.”
Danny shrugged, mentioning, “I suppose it just calms me. I don’t know. Still, the smell should help cover our tracks.” Kye pondered this, then agreed and suggested they head towards where the sun had set.
They moved slowly through the jungle, picking their way around the difficult tangle of roots and vines with caution. The ground was particularly uneven, and it made it difficult for them to move through the jungle area quickly. By now, any semblance of sunlight had completely disappeared, though the looming and dense trees also served to block out the moonlight, so they were moving around in what was almost complete darkness. This had resulted in a few scratches when feet were misplaced, and a lot of unexpected collisions with trees, rocks and mostly each other. Danny had perked up a little once the light had been removed, repeating how the darkness was better for his healing eyes. Kye, on the other hand, had not yet gotten used to the dark and was growing more aggravated as time went on. After he rolled his ankle over a gnarled root, he paused and sat, cursing as he rubbed it better, “Fucking trees. Hang on, hang on. Let’s break for a moment, okay?”
Danny sat down on a tree root opposite his, and started flicking at some of the mud tracking up the inside of his legs.
“Not a fan of being outdoors?” Kye could hear the smirk in Danny’s voice, and just sighed.
“Ugh, it’s not my favourite. But I wasn’t remotely prepared for this.” A high drone whizzed next to his ears and he flinched, waving at the distant insect in anger. “Maybe we could camp for the evening? Set up some fire, I don’t know.”
Danny shook his head, standing back up again, grunting. “Don’t think I’ll be able to get sleep anyway. Hard to with one eye open.”
Kye glared at his shadow and stood with him.
“Fine, let’s keep moving. We must be closer to the beach by now.” As they walked, the trees started to thin out, and more moonlight managed to leak out onto the ground – silver slivers popped up at random moments, and the patchwork blanket of black and blue sky increased in visibility. Eventually, the gro
und below them started to change, roots and rocks disappearing and giving way to a light sprinkling of sand. This sand built up until the trees were gone, and they walked out onto the beach, fully clear of cover and stretching endlessly in both directions.
“Blimey,” Danny breathed, tracing his eyeline across the far horizon. The opalescent seas calmly rose and fell, coming to a soft diminuendo in small lapping waves breaking onto the shifting white sands. A sharp drop at the edge of the beach showed a quick dip into deep cold waters and unknown sea creatures and foliage, many glowing beneath the crashing waves – the clean sands themselves were not blemished by weeds or pebbles and reflected the full glow of the moon back, giving them an almost ethereal, self-lighted quality. Kye looked to Danny, then back to the island behind them, noticing only the tips of the peaks far over the head of the trees and the flash of the large front window where Douglass was staying. The dark shifting shapes of the island hovered over him, filling him with a sense of mounting dread. Danny, meanwhile, had sat down on the embankment and was lightly dipping his feet into the water, leaning back on his palms and content – his shoes and socks in a little bundle to his side.
Floating up irregularly out of the trees, all over the island, were little clouds of smoke, melting together above the jungle into a large grey cloud mass. Kye only noticed the first, before he turned back to Danny and yelled, excited, “Hey! Over that way, look!” He pointed, and Danny turned around, standing up out of the surf.
Lazily he pointed in the opposite direction to Kye, and said, “Over there too. Which do we go for first?” Kye noticeably deflated, as he realised the issue. Danny saw and rolled his eyes in disgust. “That’s just fucking brilliant.” Danny started marching in the opposite direction, pausing after a moment and turning back. “Are you coming?”