Zero-Point

by T J Trapp

  34 - Veranzo

  “When is this winter festival?” Erin asked.

  “November-Fest? It’s Thanksgiving Day Weekend,” Daniel answered, then remembered that Erin probably did not know what Thanksgiving was, or when. “In five days.”

  “Is ‘Thanksgiving Day’ a time to honor and thank your ancestors?”

  “Um … well, yeah, something like that.”

  The weekend arrived before they had a chance to even slow their pace.

  “It is cold out, and you are not getting enough exercise,” Erin chided Alec. “You are spending too much time lost in wizard things. It is only a few miles from our rooms to the festival – we should walk to it.”

  “Yes, dear.” Alec put on his coat and they started towards the festival. Late-afternoon dusk had settled in and the streets were almost deserted. Erin smiled and waved to the clerk from the next-door coffee-shop, and he smiled and greeted her in return as his driverless pulled up to take him off.

  After they left the main road, the streets were poorly lit and the sidewalk littered with broken glass and debris. They had gone several blocks when Erin prodded Alec. “There are some people around the next corner,” she said in Thelandish. “They are waiting for someone. Perhaps they are waiting to attack us – be ready.”

  Around the corner, four people were standing in the path. A thick-set man stood directly in their way, and the other three men stood a little behind him. He has a death-rod, Erin thought to Alec. A little one, strapped to his belt.

  “Excuse us,” Alec said politely. “We need to pass by.”

  The man in front did not move, but looked Erin over closely, then Alec. After a long moment, he spoke. “You are pretty far off the main road,” he said. “I need to check your identification. There aren’t many people out at night this time of year.”

  “Certainly,” Alec said. His jacket has the logo for our neighborhood protection service, he thought to Erin. However, he could tell that she was still wary of the men.

  Alec extracted his cell from his coat pocket and held it up. The screen lit up and a hologram of Alec appeared.

  “Okay, Mr. Thelander,” the man said. “Where are you headed?”

  “My wife and I are walking to the November-Fest.”

  “Didn’t take a driverless, huh? Your ID does not show any address for you.”

  “We don’t have a permanent address,” Alec replied. “We are staying in a rooming hotel back on the main highway. We recently purchased one of the businesses in the industrial park, and we haven’t found a place to live yet.”

  One of the men in the back quietly addressed the front man: “They are all right. My cousin works for them.”

  The lead man nodded to acknowledge he heard and gave Erin another look. “Well, have a good night. We’re just out tonight doing our job – keeping everyone safe.”

  “Yeah,” the second man added. “Hope we didn’t bother you too much. Not many people out on foot on a cold night like this unless they’re homeless, streetwalkers, or crooks – and we have orders to take all of those kind in.”

  “Thank you for keeping us safe,” Erin said, in her best English.

  The November-Fest was held in a large venue space that was apparently often used for community gatherings. Erin still marveled that people could build rooms as large and grand as these. It was full of things that Erin had never seen before – blinking colored lights, black boxes with music coming out of them, colorful round things that floated, and foods that she had never before tasted.

  “There’s Daniel,” Alec said, waving at the young man.

  Erin had not been around this many people in a happy crowd since before she left Theland. Daniel shepherded them around the festival, introducing them to his many relatives and friends; he had grown up in this neighborhood and seemed to know almost everyone there.

  In one corner some musicians were performing on instruments that Erin had never seen before; the music was melodic and very rhythmic with a loud, pounding beat. She was beginning to get used to the sounds of the ever-present music in Alec’s world, and even enjoy some of it.

  “Come on, boss-lady, let’s dance,” Daniel said, and stepped out onto the floor amid the several dozen people dancing.

  “I don’t know how,” Erin giggled, but Daniel wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

  “It’s easy!” he said. “Like this! Just do what I do!”

  Erin let her mind flow into the music, and the dancers, and soon was moving with the same rhythmic cadence. She threw back her head and laughed as she cavorted enthusiastically to the strange music – the first time she had laughed out loud since before the quest. Such happy people, she thought. This is fun.

  “Leon and Ari would have enjoyed that,” she said to Alec when her dance was over. “Maybe we should introduce dancing to Theland when we return!”

  After dancing, and eating, and trying ice cream, and looking at vendors and booths and exhibits, it was time to go. Alec called a driverless and they went outside to wait; Daniel tagged along after them.

  “You look concerned,” Erin said. “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes,” Daniel said. “Mrs. Theland, you always seem to know when I’m worried about something!”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I was expecting my sister Becky to be here, and she wasn’t. She used to always come to parties, but I didn’t see her. Nobody has seen her for a couple of days.”

  “What could have happened to her?”

  “My sister has … issues,” Daniel said, haltingly. “She uses drugs, and sometimes, when she’s on a binge, she gets really high and wanders around the streets.”

  Like purple mushroom, Alec explained to Erin. Makes you high and rots your brain.

  Daniel swallowed hard. “Lately, the city has been arresting all the people they find on the streets – the homeless people, and the druggies. I’m afraid that something has happened to her and she’s been arrested.”

  “Well, we can just check with the city – the Community Protection Service people – and see if she’s in jail, and then we can go bail her out,” Alec said.

  Daniel gave Alec a strange look. “You are behind the times. She won’t be in any nice warm jail. The Community Protection Service people take anyone they don’t like the looks of, or who doesn’t have the right documentation, and send them off to somewhere – supposedly for trial – but most of them are never seen or heard from again. No one knows what happened to them or where they went.” He swallowed hard. “My sister had her share of problems, but she is my sister and I am worried about her.”

  “Have you tried talking to the head of the Community Protection Service?” Erin said helpfully. “I think his name is ‘Veranzo.’”

  “Hah!” Daniel exclaimed bitterly. “No one would dare to do that. He’s tough. And on the take, if you know what I mean. If you go to talk to him, you might not come back.”

  The driverless pulled up, and Alec turned to Erin. “My love, I think we should have a little drink before we retire for the night – perhaps at ‘The Crow’s Nest.’ It would be a good way to end the evening, and Daniel should come along with us.”

  ✽✽✽

  ‘The Crow’s Nest’ was an unexceptional bar just off the main thoroughfare, with a busy parking lot out back and the roar of motorcycles as they came and went through the lot and down the street. The three of them stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door. Erin flinched at the noise and the lights and the smell, but carefully sensed her surroundings and walked confidently to the door. Alec focused and prepared for anything. Daniel looked around nervously, checking every shadow.

  The well-scuffed front door swung open with a creak as they stepped inside. The place was busy, but not packed, and no one gave them more than a passing glance. A long bar covered one wall; it had a long glass mirror behind it, framed by stacks of bottles – mostly beer and cheap whiskey. Tobacco smoke from years’ accumulation hung heavy; the walls had faded
to an indistinguishable color. A single musician was in one corner playing some sort of instrument with wires coming out of it and singing an undecipherable tune. A few people were dancing on the small dance floor next to him, but Erin noticed that they did not convey the joy she had felt from the dancers at the festival. Most people were sitting at small tables, clustered in disorganized clumps, and nursing drinks.

  Erin sensed the crowd. That must be Lord Veranzo over in the corner. I recognize one of the people with him, Erin thought to Alec. Some of our locals.

  They walked over to the table in the corner. “Can we join you?” Alec asked politely. “I see you have extra chairs.”

  A weathered man with a slightly haggard look, Veranzo hardly glanced up from his drink. “Join us if you want to buy the next round for the table. Otherwise, leave us alone and go find your own table.”

  “We would be glad to buy the next round,” Alec said, and the three sat down. Veranzo motioned to the bartender, who soon came with a new round of drinks and looked at Alec expectantly.

  Veranzo wrapped his hands around his new drink. “The only ones who come here want something from me,” Veranzo said flatly, looking at the table instead of at either Alec or Erin. “Today has not been a good day. I will get it over quickly: the answer is ‘no.’ Don’t waste my time asking. For anything. I don’t want to have to kick you out. On the other hand, some of the people here would love to see a good tussle.”

  “I do not look for trouble,” Erin said sweetly.

  “We just came to have a drink,” Alec said.

  “We didn’t really have anything in particular we wanted,” Erin said, smiling at the man with her most disarming smile, “but … we might trade a drink or two for some information.”

  “Sex is free, talk is cheap, information is expensive,” Veranzo intoned. He unobtrusively motioned to a man sitting at a nearby table, and the man came over and stood behind him.

  “I think you are sitting in my chair,” the new man said to Daniel. Daniel looked at the man, wide-eyed, and started to get up.

  Erin put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “No. This is my matter, not yours,” she said quietly.

  Erin stood up and looked at the man. He was bigger than she had realized – a head taller than Alec and weighing half again as much. A big scar ran across his forehead, and he wore a bandana tied around his shaved head. “I would have offered you my chair,” she said, “but you are not very polite.”

  “Don’t want your chair. I want that one,” and he pointed at Daniel.

  Erin sighed audibly. “I don’t like bullies. Now move along so that we can talk to Mr. Veranzo, here, without bullies in the way.”

  “Hah!” the man snorted. “Bitch! Your men are trying to hide behind you! That is the best I have heard all night! They don’t think I will beat a woman to a pulp.” He laughed long and loudly, showing his golden teeth. “That only means that I will have to teach them a lesson after you, or everyone will make fun of me.”

  In the other corner of the bar, the man playing music leaned over and increased the volume of his amp.

  Erin looked at the tough guy and said evenly, “I do not cover for them. It is for your benefit that I warn you. They are not as good warriors as me and would end up killing you – but I will only maim you – unless you beg for me to finish you off.”

  The man laughed long and hard at the thought, then suddenly grabbed Erin’s arm. Erin let him pull her arm up and then she twisted the lines around him – thinking of the little red stone gave her added strength against his greater bulk.

  The man felt his hand become exceedingly hot, and he let go of her arm with a scream. He stepped back holding his hand in pain; his hand started to turn red and swell. She stepped inside his grasp and slapped his chin with her hand. She wasn’t big enough to do any serious harm, but she twisted the lines as she slapped him and the lines spun in an intense and painful manner; the intense pain caused him to almost black out. As he started to collapse, she turned forcefully and kneed him in the groin – more for show than anything else – and let his momentum carry him to the ground in a heap, groveling in obvious and excruciating pain. As everyone in the bar turned to stare, Erin put her foot on top of him and let the pain continue to throb through him for a few seconds. Then she twisted the lines and he passed out.

  A sudden stillness rippled through the noisy bar, as even the man hiding behind the mic stopped and stared. Then he cautiously resumed playing his instrument.

  Veranzo looked at the fallen body, and then at Erin, and laughed. “You have made your point. I didn’t like him anyway. I guess that I am willing to talk to you!” Veranzo sipped on his drink and then looked at Erin. “Your nickel.”

  Erin looked at him earnestly. “Daniel’s sister is missing. Becky. We want to know what happened to her.”

  Daniel called up her picture on his cell and Veranzo stared at it.

  “Was she a druggie?”

  Daniel stammered, and then said, “She was addicted to some of the new junk. We tried to get her to go to treatment, but she just wouldn’t.”

  “Yeah. She was probably picked up with a bunch of others.” He set his drink down. “Sorry, I had orders and a quota. I hate it, but if I don’t meet my quotas I got trouble – if I don’t make the numbers I will be replaced with someone who will.”

  “What happens to the people you … collect?” Erin asked.

  “I don’t know. I just follow directions.” He finished his drink and motioned for another. “As long as I follow directions and keep things quiet, life is good. For everyone. If I don’t, life gets tough.” The bartender set the new drink down with a thud. “I get a quota every week. I have to bring in that many people – or else it’s my hide.” He took a big swallow. “The quota has almost doubled recently. At first it was easy to meet – we’d just go collect the homeless people. So many of them. Especially in this part of town. No one noticed when they vanished. Now it is getting harder because the homeless are depleted. We try to take the useless parts of society first, so the druggies and the whores are the ones we go after now. Probably next we’ll start in on the Institute kids.”

  “And where do they go?” Alec asked.

  “We used to take them downtown, to HQ, but for the past few weeks we have been instructed to leave them at the ‘House.’”

  “The ‘House?’”

  “The ‘House of Servitude.’ It’s one of those new-age touchy-feelie places springing up all over the country. I don’t know why they want us to send them there. I guess it’s some sort of rehab place. So they can be better citizens and all that. They don’t want them to get back on the streets, so they put up all those security fences. Keeps them in.”

  That’s the name of the place where the clutchmen wanted me to go, Erin thought to Alec, with alarm.

  “Where it that?” asked Alec.

  “It’s just a few blocks from here,” Veranzo said.

  “Then what happens?” Erin asked.

  “No idea. They have a receiving bay. We open the bay and put people inside and close the door and leave. Later, when we return with the next batch, they are gone. The cuffs that were holding them are usually left behind.”

  “I think that you should show us this place.”

  “Come by tomorrow and schedule it with my people.”

  Erin reached over and touched Veranzo’s arm. “I was thinking about tonight, like right now,” she cooed.

  ✽✽✽

  Veranzo’s driverless didn’t have far to go before they came to a gate behind the loading dock of a nondescript warehouse building in a row of other nondescript warehouse buildings. The only thing that was unusual about the place was a double-row security fence with loops of concertina wire along the top.

  “Here we are,” Veranzo said. “The ‘House of Servitude.’”

  “That? It looks like a warehouse distribution facility,” Alec said. Or a prison.

  “That’s the back gate – it’s large enough to let
a bus or a semi inside. They spent a lot of money to put up that fence all around this place and put up that gate. But I’ve never seen it in use. We take our collections to the receiving bay on the other side.”

  “Then let’s go look at the place where you leave people,” Erin said, and twisted the lines gently.

  “Good idea,” Veranzo said.

  They went around the corner to a small loading dock facing a side alleyway. Veranzo walked up and pushed a button. A door slid open, revealing an inner bay about fifteen feet across. Veranzo looked at the empty area.

  “This is where we leave the people. We put them in here and cuff them to those holders on the wall. Then we push the button that closes the door and leave. After that who knows what happens? I guess society is protected from them while they go through rehab.” He pointed to the wall. “Look – those empty cuffs must be from the last five people we brought here, just a few hours ago.”

  Veranzo walked over to recover the cuffs. Erin walked over to dock. “What button do you push? This one?” She pushed the button and the heavy door started to slide closed. Both Veranzo and Daniel jumped, startled, and tried to scramble clear of the door, but it closed shut before they could make it. It became intensely dark as the door closed but Alec lit his cell. The four of them looked at each other.

  “Why did you do that?” Veranzo hissed at Erin. “You idiot!”

  “I wanted to see what is on the inside,” she said sweetly, ignoring the insult. “I can sense that there are a lot of people inside this building. One of them is probably a clutchman. Several are probably drones. And I can sense that there are a lot of very frightened people – probably your contribution.” She looked towards the inner wall of the bay. “Someone is approaching. Be ready.”

  Alec turned off his cell and they waited in the dark. As the inner door started to move a glimmer of light flowed into the bay and they could see a man peering into the dark. When he saw them, he looked surprised to see four unchained people. Before he had a chance to react, Erin stepped forward and spoke to him in Elvish.