23.
The call came at half past one, just as Alixs was about to settle in for a night of research and ‘net games. He just wasn’t a night owl. Unlike many xenos who kept running around until sunrise, sneaking just an hour of down time before starting the day, Alixs generally stayed quiet into the night, ready to retire by 3am.
‘Got time to check out a new bar I found?’ It was Andrw, unaware of Alixs’s preferred routine. But Alixs didn’t mind too much. Andrw was a fun one to hang out with.
“Okay,” Alixs answered, noncommittal, but not particularly reluctant.
‘Great! I’ll be there in twenty...’
“Hang on! What kind of place is—” He stopped short when he realized Anrdw was already gone. This was typical. That xeno was non-stop. Wired, even.
Now Alixs had a problem. He had no idea what kind of place he was going to, so there was no telling what would be appropriate to wear, or even how much credit to load up. His student account was paltry in the best of times, and he left little budget for socializing. He transferred fifteen percent of his monthly allowance to the card just in case, wondering if he’d have enough left over if the night ran long.
Town & Sounds was strictly off-limits outside of freevo business. Liam had made it clear that he didn’t want too much attention on the place, nor its owner, who’d been thus far sympathetic to the cause. In terms of other options, Alixs knew there weren’t too many that didn’t cost. In a xeno city, there wasn’t much to sell, so whatever they did offer had to be expensive in order to keep the lights on. Aside from a small handful of dives, all of which Alixs knew and disliked with the exception of ‘Sounds, the remaining options around town were more appropriate for businessmen with expense accounts than a mere student such as himself.
IT TURNED OUT ALIXS had been mistaken. There was a dive bar he was unfamiliar with. And this one was impressively sleazy, with a clientele that made him nervous before they’d even sat down. Violent crime was almost unheard of in Tera-Prime, but there was a criminal element nonetheless. Organized crime, mostly, but the occasional high-value kidnapping was not unheard of. Not that Alixs would be valuable enough for such a transaction, but he still felt uneasy. He also felt disoriented by the lack of light and the roar of blared music, which was forceful enough to shake plaster off the dingy walls with each bassy thud.
“Jeez, Andrw, you couldn’t have found a crappier hole? This place is a jump-junkie’s paradise.”
“Yeah, I know,” he answered, the pitch of his voice higher than usual, “isn’t it great?”
Few establishments prospered catering to xeno wants or vices, since they had none but two. The first was an ingestible stimulant called splice, illegal in the city and just about everywhere else, and the only known narcotic to affect xenos. For humans, it produced a mild icy sensation in the throat and stomach, with some pleasant caffeine-like effects that didn’t last long. But for a xeno, it was a powerful hallucinogenic and stimulant. Very few dared to try it, as it was as addictive as heroin and twice as destructive.
The other, legal intoxicant was pure energy. In an odd twist, the lifeblood of xeno existence was easy to overdose on. Normally, they just recharged when their reserves were low, but in this case there was a more elaborate ritual to follow. First, they fight through the discomfort and panic of being on the verge of unconsciousness. If they got that far, the sensation that came next was a warm, heady rush, then a depressant low. If reserves were allowed to drain enough, they would experience a drunken euphoria that was highly pleasurable. In keeping with the spirit of entrepreneurship, bars that served alcohol and food to the rare human customer also ‘served’ helpings of energy, in carefully measured doses, designed to allow a xeno to remain in their stupor for extended periods. Edge-jumping, as it was known, was a dangerous pastime if done alone, but turned out to be a somewhat benign social activity outside the home, one that had taken on a life of its own in recent years.
Apparently they were here to do some edge-jumping, which Alixs didn’t much care for, but he was no teetotaler either. A social jumper, really. And if that was what Andrw wanted, he was game.
“You’ve never been here before?” Andrw shouted over the loud music and conversational din. One side-effect of jumping, much like its human twin booze, was to diminish inhibitions, and that usually led to noisy displays of bravado and one-upmanship. Apparently Andrw was getting ready for it ahead of time.
“I’m pretty sure not,” Alixs yelled back, glad of the fact that he’d not recharged before getting the call from his adventurous friend. If he’d come in here fully refreshed, it might have been a long night. As it was, a few quick edge-jumps got him feeling pretty good, and he relaxed into his chair for the first time since they’d entered. But his companion had other ideas.
“Be right back, okay? Save a jump for me.”
Before Alixs could call out a sleepy, “S‘alright wit me,” Andrw was gone, heading for the far end of the room where he stopped to talk with a particularly shady looking human. And ‘particularly shady’ was impressive in this place. A human? Alixs thought, yawning as he enjoyed his buzz. What’s he talking to him for?
Alixs never found out. After a long while — which at some point involving Andrw disappearing long enough that Alixs considered actually leaving without waiting around — they jumped twice more. Then Andrw jumped up and stretched. “Call it a night, buddy?”
Alixs was just getting into the place, really, and could’ve stayed longer. But he wasn’t about to stick around by himself. They both stood up to leave, Alixs staggering a bit before Andrw reached out a hand to steady him.
The fresh air — as fresh as a domed environment could provide anyway — did them good, and Alixs soon felt more alert.
“Call you a cab? Or are you good?”
“What?” Alixs was taken aback now. He figured they would head back together, but apparently his preoccupied friend had other ideas.
“Yeah, I’m actually going the other way. But you’re okay, right? You can get home from here?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure I can. Catch you next ti—”
“Yeah, see you at the meeting!” Andrw called back, already hoofing it at a decent pace in the opposite direction from whence they’d come. Thinking nothing of it, Alixs shrugged, and started for home.
THE PARTICULARLY SHADY looking human had never re-entered the club. Instead, after his transaction with the xeno, he made a beeline down a series of twisting alleyways and backstreets until he came to a corner where a beat up vehicle was parked obnoxiously across most of the sidewalk and some of the street.
“Get in,” a voice called from inside. The shady human looked around, then did as he was told.
“He bought it?” asked the occupant of the car.
“Oh, yeah,” said the punk, “he bought it, and asked for more. Just like you figured.
“Alright, good. Here’s the next package,” he handed the punk a vial, which the kid immediately held up to the light and shook. It was a smoky liquid, and the smoke swirled around before settling down to the bottom.
“That’s the last time you get your mitts on splice, under any circumstances. Got it?”
“Yeah, chief, I know.”
“You’d better. And don’t go sampling the wares, either. That’s for your target, not for you.”
“I know! I don’t need that shit. It ain’t nothin’ for real people anyway.”
“Uh huh. And that’s why you got caught with enough in your possession to screw up your life forever.”
“Sales, man. Sales. I ain’t no junkie!”
“Whatever. Meet up with him one more time, same place, same time, in two days. Got it?”
“Yeah. Got it.”
“He’ll be out by then and dying for another fix. So you won’t have any trouble. Don’t try and upsell him or anything stupid. Just do the job, and your record will be expunged.”
“Cool. Got it. Hey, thanks man.”
“Man?”
�
�Sorry, I meant chief.”
“Damned right. And let this be the last time you ever have to see the chief of peace of this city, too, or believe me you’ll find yourself behind bars until you’re grandkids get sent up there with you. Now get out.”
The punk didn’t need to be told twice. He jumped out of the car and hightailed it back in the direction of the club zone. Cain watched him go with a strong sense of derision. They were so predictable, punks like these. He had no doubt the kid had work to do back in the club zone, and more than one vial in his pockets to offer his lowlife customers.
24.
Attendance at the impromptu gathering was light, and those that did show up sported resentful expressions. They disliked this disruption to their routines, forced to waste time listening to this unknown, junior fellow Liam, barely more advanced academically than they were. Still, a sizable enough number had shown up, and that was a start. Once word gets out, Alixs thought, looking around the room, the followup will be packed.
Instructor Liam took his place at the lectern and motioned for quiet. “Thank you all. I realize many of you have made adjustments to your schedules in order to be here—”
Mutterings of discontent reverberated. The instructor waited for it to subside, then launched into his introduction.
“Friends, I come here today to reveal something shocking, something our leaders have known about, and have kept from us.” Liam gave a quick glance around the room, then took a breath. “They, and their human counterparts, have been aware of how to solve the decohesion problem. They’ve known this for some time now. Decades, in fact. And they suppressed that knowledge. Wiped it out, covered it up, and denied you your rightful advancement. This in favor of their own power and comfort. They’ve conspired with the humans from the beginning, to keep the xeno-sapien race from prospering. And they’ll continue to keep us down, unless we stop them!”
Having heard his mentor deliver the speech in rehearsal, Alixs had assumed the term something shocking would carry some weight. But apparently not. The room reacted with a dead silence, and Alixs felt his gut churn. This wasn’t going nearly as well as they’d hoped.
Undaunted, the instructor pressed on. “Throughout our history, we’ve been laboring under the assumption that our leaders had our best interests at heart. Now we know that nothing could be further from the truth.”
The crowd remained silent. Alixs felt a pull of empathy, an urge to rush up on stage to help. He tried to make eye contact, to show that there was at least one sympathetic soul in the crowd, but Liam was focused down the middle, ignoring his supporters along each side.
“Our leaders have been pulling the wool over our eyes from the beginning. And they are well aware of the fact, that we will remain subjugated, as long as we continue to suppress our minds. And they are well aware of the fact, that the advancement of Xeno society will remain stagnant as long as the quantum decohesion problem remains.”
You could have heard subatomics knocking together, it was so quiet, but it was a different kind of quiet now. No longer disengaged, he seemed to have captured their attention. All eyes were on the lectern, and the bored expressions had morphed into something more along the lines of outright hostility. Alixs felt his reactionary subroutines go into overdrive. No backing out now, finish your speech, he thought, mentally urging his instructor on. He couldn’t tell whether they were angry at the leadership, or at Liam himself for making such accusations — but either way, he had their attention.
It wasn’t the chorus of boo’s that spurned Alixs into action, but the feeling that the angry crowd might begin hurling objects at his mentor. Despite the fact that Liam was still attempting to reel them in, Alixs put his own body between Liam and the crowd, taking the brunt of the still-verbal abuse while attempting to urge his leader to safer ground. Reluctant though he was to stop, Liam finally saw the wisdom, and followed Alixs out of the hall. The boo’s and catcalls were still audible even as they made their way to the waiting vehicle.
“YOU HEAR WHAT THAT counter-culture revolutionary had to say this morning? He needs to be stopped!”
“He must be broken. Some time in the med-bay would do him a world of good.”
“Work him over, find out what he knows, then lock him up and throw away the pattern. Can’t be making any more the likes of him!”
None of this was spoken aloud. Instead it was transmitted, lightning fast, all around the city and to the far corners of the world. As commentary and input wormed its way through the communication grid, the most common sentiments were compiled and disseminated. Everybody could get the gist of what their fellows were thinking, without the need for downloading heaps of irrelevant data. Summary opinion was all that mattered in their content-rich society—one voice to speak for all. One angry voice.
Alixs heard it all, being patched into the pulse of the city like everyone else, but he tried his best to ignore it. He couldn’t shut it off entirely, not without disconnecting. And to do that was to risk missing vital information about any plans that might crop up against them. It seemed an insane thing to contemplate, but the population was in an uproar, and the threat of nonconformity did strange things to xeno minds.
Trying to speak out too soon had been a grave error. Alixs realized that now. And now they needed to figure out what to do next. A public apology? Disavow their own words? Or take the opposite approach, continue to insist the people pay attention, stop going along with the leadership like so many sheep?
None of those options appealed to him, though he hadn’t come up with any better ones. Perhaps if they simply ignored the aftermath, and went about their business like nothing happened, it would get pushed aside in time. Except things didn’t work that way in Tera-Prime, particularly when it came to revolutionary thought and threat.
The only other option was to leave. With a heavy, aching feeling, Alixs realized that was probably their best course of action.
25.
If he’s not there, then what? Should I wait for him? I can’t. They need me over there, I can’t let them down either. Please be there, Ahmis. I have to be sure.
Feeling a surge of panic, realizing it meant he cared for the old archivist more than he’d realized, Alixs broke into a run. At full-tilt, he counted off the indiscriminate numbers down the long hallway for the fourth time in his life. You’ve got to be there. I don’t have time...
Pulling up at the archive door, he jumped back suddenly when he realized the door was not only ajar, but askew. Looking more closely, he saw that one of the hinges was bent, the other one missing entirely. Feeling his internals slamming against his chest from the exertion, the sight of the door made his fluids run cold.
Pushing the door gently, he shuddered as the room opened up in front of him, a complete shambles. Like a bomb went off, that’s how thoroughly ransacked the place was. He thought to call out, but checked himself. Even if there was no peace force presence within, they’d surely be monitoring the place remotely. He glanced around the hall, but didn’t notice any obvious cameras. But that didn’t mean they weren’t there anyway and just well hidden.
He knew the Ahmis was gone, or worse. He wouldn’t be here at any rate. With a sigh, Alixs turned away and settled back into a run, carefully pacing himself this time so he could make up time without draining himself. It was more important than ever that he reach that broadcast tower in time.
THE TEAM HAD ALREADY begun infiltrating the facility when the first thing went wrong. A minor issue, a communications break down with the base. They didn’t necessarily need to be in constant contact — they could pull off the mission without any outside support — but it wasn’t a good way to start.
Jem hesitated, considering the wisdom of a last-minute scrub before they got in too deep. But the rest of the team looked ready to go, and he didn’t want to have to go through the prep all over again. It’d been difficult enough the first time, getting them all up to speed and ready for action. Besides, they had expected snags along the way — thi
s was just one of them. A very early one.
He motioned for his team to press on, and waited for them to pass one-by-one before taking up his position in the rear. Having served in an infantry unit, the only one of the group to have done so, he felt a keen sense of responsibility. These were students, not soldiers. Despite the brave faces, they weren’t accustomed to anything like this.
Moving from point of entry through the substructure, they wound their way around the corridors slowly, checking around each corner for security. The communication breakdown forced them to be even more cautious than planned, since there was no monitoring equipment to rely on, and no command center to fire a warning. They finally made it to their first checkpoint, a section of the facility that was rarely occupied, and they took a breather before beginning the arduous climb.
“Think we’ll see any action once we get in?”
Jem answered his subordinate calmly, attempting to calm not only the questioner, but the rest of his team at the same time. “Probably not,” he drawled, intentionally making his voice sound unconcerned, “they won’t know what hit ‘em, most likely. Still, be ready.”
The questioner nodded, and slumped against the wall. They hadn’t been able to get here by normal means, and they were all feeling fatigued from the long effort. But it would only get more difficult from here. The only access to the broadcast facilities that wasn’t under surveillance was straight up the maintenance ladder.
A relic from the second cold war, during the toxic attack scare that prompted so many building designers to add escape routes that could be made airtight and separately ventilated. Seldom used, they remained a curiosity that often drew the attention of foreign tourists, but little more than that. Until tonight.
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