Neon Blood (Neon Helix Universe Book 3)

by Nik Whittaker

  “No problem, Walter,” Xander called out, taking out his gun as he watched the old man closely.

  “Is that Alexander?” the man lifted his head, his eyelids flickering open, revealing milky white eyeballs of the blind man.

  “Even after all this time, you remember my voice?” Xander chuckled.

  “Pfft, never forget a good for nothing like you, Alexander,” the man laughed back. “Where you been?”

  “Oh, here and there, you know how it is. How’s life treating you?” Xander placed his revolver in the box, which closed with a firm seal. The box dropped into the podium to be secured in the vault below the precinct.

  “Ah, you know, keeping an eye on things,” the two orbs flew over to Walter and settled on the nodes on his temples.

  “Good to hear, Walter. You stay out of trouble, okay?” Xander reached out his hand, which Walter took and gave a firm shake, the orbs moving slightly as they relayed visual information to him.

  Xander continued to walk into the building, looking around at the rows of desks scattered with papers and officers working hard. Yeah, Xander thought, I don’t miss the paperwork. Seeing a man waving up ahead, Xander recognised it was Duggan, who was leaning out of his office, beckoning Xander over.

  Duggan’s office was small, about two metres square with barely enough space for the desk and two chairs inside, nevermind the cabinet that was propped up in the corner. The space, however, was at least private in comparison to the open-plan desk space that took up most of the floor outside. Duggan gestured for Xander to sit as he entered.

  “What can I do for you, Xander?” Duggan asked as he poured a cup of coffee for them both from a glass flask. Xander could smell the subtle aroma of whiskey mixed in the liquid.

  “I need to go to Blackwater,” Xander said bluntly before taking a sip, his eyes locked with Duggan’s.

  Duggan started to laugh, putting his coffee down as he looked at Xander, his eyes searching for confirmation of the joke and finding none

  “Wait…you’re serious?”

  “I am,” Xander nodded.

  “Why? That place is a black hole. I can’t even remember the last time anyone went there other than to be locked up,” Duggan leaned forward in his seat.

  “Pri- Peter Henshaw,” Xander had to stop himself. He wasn’t ready to explain the clone situation to Duggan just yet. He wasn’t even sure he could explain it.

  “Henshaw? What about him? I thought you’d be happy to see him finally locked away.”

  “I would, only, I don’t think the man you sent to Blackwater was Henshaw,” Xander said, unfortunately seeing the inevitable clone conversation was coming anyway.

  “It was him. We had DNA evidence from the original case, the murder weapon, fingerprints, everything. The AI judges didn’t even blink when sentencing,” Duggan squinted. Xander could tell he wasn’t happy with the accusation.

  “I know, I know, but I know the man you sent away, and he wasn’t Henshaw.” Xander sighed, sitting upright and tried to form his own thoughts before speaking. “You heard about the Fall, right?”

  Duggan nodded, letting Xander continue.

  “Well, it wasn’t just CyBio’s nanotech that was involved. There was a...I can’t believe I’m saying this...an army of clones involved too,” he paused, waiting to see the reaction.

  “I heard a rumour about that,” Duggan raised an eyebrow, “reports saying bodies found in the clean-up all looked similar like they were relatives, or twins, or something. The whole thing was covered up by top brass.”

  “Covered up?” This was news to Xander. Questions raced through his mind. Who would have wanted it covered up? And who even had that kind of power? He filed the questions away. He needed to prioritise on Prime and get Duggan on his side now.

  “So let’s say I believe you about the clone thing,” Duggan said, “you’re telling me that we sent a clone to Blackwater?”

  “I am,” nodded Xander, “I know it sounds crazy, but the man you sent away was a clone of Henshaw, one made before Henshaw became the killer we know.”

  “You do know that he attacked the transport when he was taken into custody, right? Broke several armed bones on guards and nearly gave one of them brain damage before he was restrained, and you’re telling me he isn’t Julian Travitz’s killer?”

  “I did not know that, but…I don’t know. I don’t think it was him. That’s why I need to get to Blackwater. I need to speak to him, find some answers.”

  Duggan leaned back in his chair and sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

  “I don’t know Xander, the legalities alone of getting someone over there. It’s unprecedented…”

  “Well, I thought about that,” Xander leaned in. “Can you get me a hearing with the AI Judges?”

  “You sure?” Duggan scanned Xander’s face.

  “I figure if I can cast doubt on their own verdict, then perhaps they will grant me access, they’d hate being wrong.”

  Xander watched Duggan closely as he waited for a reply.

  “You’re serious about this. It’s not a pleasant experience meeting the Judges, from what I hear. You have to see them on their own ground, jack into the simulation.”

  Xander already knew this, and it wasn’t an experience he particularly wanted to go through, not after the situation with Donovan, but it was the only choice he had. He owed it to Prime.

  Duggan sighed, as he saw the conviction on Xander’s face. “I’ll send the request and set up the tank,” Duggan drained his coffee, and stood.

  “Thank you, Mike.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Mollie

  Laying on the floor, Mollie could only watch the events unfolding as her body remained paralysed from the electric shock Koenig had hit her with. Laying on her back, Ava had moved to her side and lifted her head up to rest on her lap.

  From the angle, Mollie could see Vladamir had walked up to Persephone. She wanted to call out, to warn him of who Persephone was, but her body refused to move.

  “I can’t have you coming down here and causing all this trouble. The disruption is…well it is disrupting,” Vladimir stood leaning forwards on his cane, his hands crossed over its ball-top.

  “I don’t have time for this or your little Krovoz issues,” Persephone sighed, rolling upwards and beginning to turn away.

  “Ah, I think you should maybe listen,” Koenig spoke up, hesitating to make eye contact with Persephone.

  “You should listen to your Doctor,” Vladimir smiled slyly. “It is good for your health.”

  Mollie was starting to get some feeling back in her limbs, her fingers twitched, and she was able to move her head slightly. Turning, she could see Vladimir with his two bodyguards standing alongside him. The large Russian threw her a quick glance and a subtle nod. She knew it meant that she was under his protection now. She felt both relieved and terrified.

  “Doctor, explain why you would be so willing to advise against my own choices? Quickly now,” Persephone glared at Koenig, who seemed to shrink under the gaze.

  “Well, you see, Vladimir here, he was...well...” Koenig stuttered.

  “What he’s trying to say is that before you and all your clone consorts existed, the Doctor here worked for CyBio or CyberBionic as it was called back in the day. They had several branches of…experimentations, as I’m sure you’re aware. Some were more successful than the others, and one, one was a roaring success, wouldn’t you say Doctor?” Vladamir glared at the Doctor, his eyes flashing red.

  Koenig held his hands up as though in surrender as Vladimir’s eyes narrowed.

  Mollie rolled slightly to get a better look at Koenig, who was grasping at his head, the muscles in his face scrunched up.

  “What are you doing to him?’ Persephone asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

  “Now, that would be telling,” Vladamir smiled politely at Persephone as Koenig relaxed, the pain he was experiencing subsiding.

  “What is it you want?” Perseph
one asked, locking eyes with Vladamir.

  “Well, this here,” Vladamir raised a hand, leaving the other on the cane, and gestured around him, “the Underpass. This is my domain. I’m happy for you to do as you please up on the Boulevard, but you do not interfere down here.”

  “I see,” Persephone considered for a moment.

  Mollie tried to sit up. The feeling had almost completely returned to her body. As Vladimir lowered his hand, he subtly raised it towards her, an unspoken gesture telling her to stay down.

  “Very well, I have no qualms with you down here. What of these two?” Persephone replied, her voice sharp.

  “They are under my protection. I have a claim to this one that extends long before any quarrel you may have with her,” Vladimir pointed to Mollie.

  “I see. As long as you deal with them accordingly, they’re yours. I have more important matters to attend to,” Persephone nodded and turned to leave.

  “Excellent,” Vladimir called out as she made her way into the tunnel entrance, Koenig following close behind without a glance behind him.

  Once they had passed into the darkness of the tunnel, the metal door closing behind them, Vladamir motioned to his bodyguards to help Mollie up.

  “Thanks,” Mollie smiled, testing her legs for support as the two guards lifted her.

  “What have you gotten yourself involved in, little one?” the man said, approaching her. His hand rose to caress her cheek like a father comforting a child. “Come, we shall talk more once we are rested.” He turned and began to walk away. The guards stepped behind Mollie and Ava, giving them no choice but to follow.

  “What’s going on?” Ava asked as they walked. She had remained quiet throughout the exchange, but her eyes kept wandering to Vladamir.

  “It’s okay. Vlad is an...old friend,” Mollie replied.

  “I know exactly who he is, and now that I know this is who you wanted to talk to. I’m not sure this plan of yours is the best idea,” Ava hissed.

  “What do you mean you know him?”

  “I have the entire CyBio database in my memory, remember? I know all about-”

  “Ladies, it is rude to whisper behind people’s backs, especially the back of those who just saved your lives. Come, let us speak together if discussion cannot wait.”

  They were all approaching a large brick building that lacked any distinguishing features, which Mollie knew was the Krovoz’s base of operations and Vladamir’s home.

  “Thank you, Vlad, apologies for the disrespect.,” Mollie gave a subtle bow.

  “Ah, you are part of the whole once again, little one, we look after our own, remember. Now, who is this beautiful lady that you have as your companion?” Vladamir smiled at Ava, taking her hand and gently brushing his lips across it.

  “My name is Ava, Ava Owens,” Ava emphasised the surname.

  “Ava Owens? There’s a name I wouldn’t have expected to hear, though now I do see some resemblance of Maxwell’s poor departed wife. A synth, I presume?”

  “Correct,” Ava's lips drew back in a tight smile.

  Mollie watched back and forth between the two, the tension thickening with each word.

  “I hope there is no bad blood between us, metaphorically speaking, of course,” Vladimir raised his eyebrow.

  Ava paused, looking at the man. “No, I have no issue with you. The experiments back then were...prototypical, the results equally so.”

  “Good, I’m glad you see it that way. Also, I am very sorry to hear of Maxwell’s passing. I was fond of him. He…he was the best of us,” Vladimir bowed to Ava.

  “Thank you,” Ava placed a hand on Vladimir’s shoulder as he rose, “I know he saw you as a friend first and foremost, despite what may have transpired.”

  Mollie, who had continued to watch the event unfold, stepped forward. “Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Ava and Vladimir turned to her, smiling.

  “I’ll explain later, there is much we need to discuss,” Vladimir said, “please, let us talk over food. There is someone here I think you will be most interested in meeting.”

  The group entered the building and made their way into a large banquet hall located, Mollie knew, in the building's centre. Long wooden tables ran through the room with benches alongside that could sit over a hundred people, though currently, the space was empty apart from one seat.

  At the end of the centre table, a man sat, his head bowed as he ate delicately from a plate of food in front of him.

  “Mollie, Ava, I think you have been acquainted before with my other guest here,” Vladimir raised a hand to the man who turned to look at them.

  A smile across the elderly face of the man as his eyes lit up.

  “No...it can’t be...” Mollie whispered.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Xander

  The Telepathic Artificial Network Chamber, or The Tank’ as it had become known, was a small spherical room with a single chair in the centre. Xander ducked into the room, his steps echoing in the metal chamber as he turned to close the door behind him. Once shut, the room was a perfect sphere with no seams or identifying features other than a small flat square on the floor for the chair. Xander carefully sat down, the space was small enough that if he reached forward, he could touch the curved wall in front of him, and there was no way he could stand up comfortably.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” he called out.

  From outside the sphere, Duggan who was monitoring the system would pull a level on the tank’s control panel to activate it.

  “All systems go, Xander, have fun in there,” Duggan’s voice echoed around the sphere through hidden speakers.

  “I’m sure I wi-” Xander began to reply when the sphere suddenly expanded in all directions like a balloon being inflated. A feeling of nausea washed over him, like travel sickness, as his mind tried to process the change.

  “Here we go again,” Xander swallowed the bitter spit that was forming in his mouth.

  The room continued to expand until he couldn’t see the walls. Even the chair he sat in seemed to be floating in space, a fading darkness spanning into an infinity below him. His mind flashed back to his experiences with Donovan and the mind prison, but they didn’t reduce the nerves, just exacerbated them. A feeling of claustrophobia and panic snook into the edge of his composure, cold sweat accompanying the need to vomit. What if he got stuck again and couldn’t escape? Ava wasn’t here to help him this time, nor Mollie or Prime.

  He swallowed again, taking long deep breaths, trying to get his heart rate to slow down. Reminding himself that this was the Tank, Duggan was just outside, ready to pull him out. He was safe.

  A small platform rose from the depths below him and paused just under his feet. Another followed, placed just in front of the first, followed by a third until there was a narrow path leading from the chair and extended into the distance. Xander cautiously shifted his weight onto the first platform. It dropped a centimetre, adjusting to his weight, then remained solidly in place. Slowly standing, Xander let the first platform take his full weight. The first platform held him steadily, and he began to walk forward.

  “This seems overkill. All I want to do is talk to the Judges,” he whispered, unsure if anyone could hear him.

  “Welcome, Alexander Draven,” an elderly voice called out as the three judges flickered into view in front of Xander once he had taken several steps.

  They loomed over him. Images half faded like giant ghosts extending ten times Xander’s height and dressed in deep red robes, which seemed to flow beneath them and fade into nothing. Xander had seen the Judges before, back in his days with the MPD, and they hadn’t changed. They were still covering the same range of ages, sexes and ethnicities as before.

  “Hi,” Xander waved up at the figures.

  “You are here regarding the Peter Henshaw case?” the mixed-race female Judge stated, the voice echoing around him.

  “I am. I wish to investigate the case further.”r />
  “You question our judgement?” the youngest of the Judges accused.

  Xander felt his heartbeat rise. Questioning the judgement of the court was a crime in itself. He needed to tread carefully.

  “No question, your judgement was soundly based on the evidence at hand,” Xander said.

  “You are no stranger to evidence affecting the judgement, are you Xander,” the female judge spoke.

  “Perhaps you are acting out against being wronged in the original Henshaw case?” the elder judge's voice raised.

  “Not at all. That was in the past. I have reason to believe that the man imprisoned as Peter Henshaw is not Peter Henshaw, but a clone of him.”

  Xander held his breath as the judges paused, seemingly absorbing the statement.

  “A clone? What makes you believe this?” the younger judges asked.

  “He was the result of an experiment at CyBio several years ago, cloned from the original Henshaw long before he committed any crimes. I’ve known him as Prime, and he has proved himself to be a good man, and not the killer Henshaw became.”

  “If true, this is a unique case. There are no laws created to take into account the actions of a clone. By all physical evidence, he is identical to the man who committed the crimes, and therefore guilty in the eyes of the law,” the elder Judge spoke.

  “But if the man did not physically commit the acts, is he guilty?” the female judge replied.

  “What distinguishes him from the original if his DNA and body are an identical replica? At what level is he different?” the younger Judge retaliated.

  Xander watched as the judges discussed the situation, waiting to see if they came to a conclusion. It didn’t surprise him that there was no protocol for clones. Why would there be? If they couldn’t reach an agreement, he knew that they would stick to their original verdict, they would never admit to a mistake in judgement.

  “If I may?” Xander raised his hand, feeling like a schoolboy.

  The judges turned to him, silence instantly falling around the chamber.

  “My request was to ask for authorisation to visit Blackwater Prison to speak with the man I know as Prime,” he began.