The Circuit: The Complete Saga

by Bruno, Rhett C.

  “CP card,” the bouncer groaned from beneath his tinted visor. With his unarmed hand, he held out a scanner.

  Talon handed his card over. It didn’t cost anything to get in, but in any colony under the Ceresian Pact, the cards carried more than money. They were a person’s identity.

  “Talon Rayne.” The bouncer nodded and began stretching his gun-wielding arm. The loose parts of his battle-worn pulse-rifle clanked together. His marred left ear was woven over by a hearing implant.

  “Welcome to Dome 534. Please remain behaved or force will be necessitated,” one of the androids advised in its monotone voice.

  These were newer bots than the ones on Kalliope, though that was difficult to tell considering their shoddy construction. Each of them wielded a pulse-rifle. Androids were no good in a firefight, every Ceresian knew that, and Talon better than most from his old job as an enforcer. That was why they used shotguns.

  They could hardly move without causing a racket, and outside of serving bars and other menial tasks, they were essentially useless. Not quick enough to avoid return fire, nor were their targeting systems efficient enough to both aim and calculate for the unpredictability of human movement. But they lasted long enough and were content doing the grunt work humans didn’t appreciate, free of charge.

  Talon remembered what Zargo Morastus used to tell him whenever he complained about one of the hunks of synthetics. “The Tribune’s genocide against robotics set us back a hundred years in the science,” he’d said. “There are a few experts here and there, afraid of what to do next until we see who’ll rule this Circuit of ours.”

  “Move along,” the bouncer said.

  Talon winced as he was nudged in one of his fresh bruises by somebody pushing past. He started to say something, but decided it was better not to start another brawl so soon. Instead, he breathed in the musty air before peeling open the canvas enough so he could squeeze in.

  A pungent mixture of sweat, blood and sex greeted his nostrils. It was probably enough to make newcomers nauseous, but after the first inhalation, Talon reaccustomed to it. Sometimes, he feared that he even liked it.

  The club was buzzing. Patrons were shouting, drinking, dancing, fighting and fucking. Electronic music pulsed through blaring speakers, with vibrant lights following the beat. Talon felt the heat emanating from all the hundreds of bodies. A stark contrast to the frigid mines on Kalliope. It was good to be back.

  “Tal!” Julius yelled from the bar, so tall he stuck out over everybody else. His grin stretched ear to ear as Talon shoved his way across the busy dance floor.

  “Julius,” Talon said. He returned the grin and gave his friend a light embrace. “Where are the others?”

  “All turned in already. Buncha pansies. But there is somebody here for you.”

  Julius stepped aside, revealing a six-year-old girl waiting patiently behind him. Elisha was small but well fed. No missing limbs or cyber parts like a lot of the children growing up poor here. Her rosy red cheeks accentuated her dark, messy hair, and she wore the kind of smug expression a child wears when they know their plan worked.

  Talon’s eyes lit up before he rushed to her. He fell to his knees and threw his arms around her, pulling her to his chest until her small voice became muffled. Her tiny hands struggled to wrap around his waist, but she reached as far as she could.

  It didn’t matter how much his bruised sides hurt from her efforts. He held her there for as long as possible, and in those moments knew that he was the happiest man in the Circuit.

  “Her mother’s been takin’ care of her. Hasn’t she, Elisha?” Julius asked her.

  Talon could hardly hear a word she said in response since she began muttering endlessly into his chest. When she was done, he held her at arm’s length and stared into her big blue eyes.

  “How are the mines, Daddy?”

  “It’s… uhh.” He flashed a grim look toward Julius. He’d done what he could to make sure none of his bruises were showing and that the blood was washed from his mouth and lips. “It’s great, Elisha, but I missed you.” He pulled her head closer and gently kissed her forehead. A cut on the inside of his lip still stung a bit.

  “Where’ve you been?” Elisha questioned. She crossed her arms. “Julius said he’d teach me how to play cards.”

  “I said I’d let you watch!” Julius laughed and hopped back onto his barstool. “I swear, Tal, the girl’s as crafty as you sometimes.”

  “He said that, did he?” Talon asked. He took the stool beside Julius and lifted Elisha up onto his lap. “Trust me, you don’t want to learn from him,” he whispered into her ear. “He’s terrible.”

  Elisha giggled. “You teach me, then! I’ll take all his credits like you do.”

  Talon hurried to shush her, but glanced up to see Julius pursing his lips.

  “Steal my money, do you?” he said. “How ’bout you use some of it to buy me a drink, then! I’m parched.”

  “Fine, fine.” Talon motioned to one of the androids behind the bar. “Two synthrols, a water, and what kind of pills do you have today?”

  “We are currently serving nutrient supplements A2 and 3,” the android replied.

  “I’ll take two of each.” Talon place his CP card in a slot on the top of the bar. When he removed it, the screen beneath it read 30 PICO. The android then went to retrieve his order. Talon watched it move with aversion, tapping his finger on the bar as he thought about how much faster he could have readied the simple order.

  Good-for-nothing bots…

  “Did you eat today?” Talon turned to his daughter and asked.

  “With Mommy before her shift,” Elisha said.

  “That’s hours ago.” The android returned with a glass of water. Talon pried it out of its grasp and handed it to her. Then he lifted two elliptical pills from a small tray that rose through a duct in the bar. “Take these.”

  Elisha wrinkled her face and shook her head defiantly.

  “It’s good for you,” he implored. ‘C’mon, Elisha. I’m too tired to argue.”

  She reluctantly opened her palm for him to drop the pills on, and he watched as she took them one at a time with exceptionally long sips of water. The glass was so big that she needed two hands to raise it to her mouth.

  The android then served two shots of synthrol. Talon shoved his own pills into his mouth and snatched his drink. He and Julius clanked their glasses together before tossing the synthrol back as quickly as possible. It tasted like engine fuel.

  “Not often that Talon Rayne buys me a drink,” Julius said, wiping his lips. “How much did you win back on Kalliope?”

  Talon stayed quiet. He stroked Elisha’s hair, wishing he could remove his gloves to feel it, but she didn’t know about his disease. He wasn’t sure how to tell Julius about what had happened with Zaimur, so decided it would be best to come right out and say it.

  “It’s not that,” he said. “Zaimur Morastus made me an offer.”

  Julius’ eyes went wide. “The prince? I thought you were done with them?”

  “I am. I mean, I was. But…” Talon lowered his voice so that his daughter wouldn’t hear him over the music. “Julius, I don’t have that much time.”

  “Don’t talk like that!” Julius whisper-shouted.

  “I’m just being honest with myself… finally. I guess it took what I did to Bavor to realize that.”

  “The bastard got what was comin’ to him. You know that. We all know that.”

  “I don’t care about Bavor,” Talon snapped. “I care about her.” He glanced down at Elisha. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, glass of water balanced between her hands and legs. She’d probably skipped a nap just to greet him. He gently pulled the glass away and let her head fall to rest on his forearm.

  “Ain’t that why you stopped servin’ his father in the first place?” Julius attempted to shake one more drop out of his drink, probably to mask his worried expression.

  “Things—” Talon stopped. He noticed El
isha’s birth mother, Vera, approaching over Julius’ shoulder. She wore a vibrant dress, so skimpy that she might as well have not been wearing anything. “Things change. We’ll talk about it when we’re alone.”

  Vera smoothly swept around Julius to place a kiss on Talon’s lips before he could deny her. She had an undeniable grace, even though she was so thin her ribs showed, making the implants on her chest seem a bit too unnatural.

  Short, tidy, black hair fell just above her shoulders to frame her face. Heavy black eyeliner only accentuated its strong bone structure. But as beautiful as she appeared, her outfit told the whole story. She wasn’t Talon’s wife. The only bond they had was the daughter they’d made, despite their best efforts not to. She was a prostitute, and a good one too. There was a lot of competition in a city like this.

  Talon hated leaving Elisha with her since she worked so much, and sometimes even brought her along to clients’, but he didn’t have a choice. All he could hope for was that the miracle sitting on his lap wouldn’t grow up having to use her body to make a living.

  “Hey, handsome. Didn’t know you were back so soon,” Vera said before kissing Julius’ cheek. The giant man blushed, and Talon couldn’t blame him. Vera’s touch was as addicting as synthrol, and as toxic as uncontained gravitum.

  “Vee, I like your outfit,” Talon said.

  “Shut up.” She slapped Talon playfully on the arm and then embraced him around the back. She brought her moist lips so close to his ear that a tingle ran down his body all the way to the tips of his toes. “You fuckin’ love it.”

  Talon tried not to smile, but seeing Julius’ attempt at trying not to get caught staring drew it out of him. “C’mon, Vee. Not in front of Elisha.”

  “Don’t think you’re gettin’ lucky just ’cause you just got back.” Vera let go of him and slid over to position herself between him and Julius. “I’m too tired anyway. Those Morastus thugs sure know how to handle a lady.”

  “Better than me?” Talon asked.

  “Always fishin’ for compliments.” She leaned over, stopping just in front of his face so her warm breath hit his lips. “You were the best.” She pretended she was going to kiss him, but before they touched, she reached down to pick up Elisha, who’d totally dozed off. “Now let me take her off your hands. My shift is over. I’ll let you two lovebirds enjoy your first night in paradise.”

  “We won’t stay long,” Talon said. He laid a kiss on Elisha’s forehead for as long as he could manage with his cuts before releasing her fully into Vera’s arms.

  “Stay as long as you want. And don’t be shy.” Vera jutted her chin toward the cages hanging from the ceiling throughout the club. Naked men and women danced inside them—all of them for hire. A few had artificial limbs, even an entire jaw, and weren’t shy at all about showing them. On Ceres, there was something for every kink.

  “I’m sure they’ll be gentle,” Vera said before sauntering away, leaving all of the men and women along the bar who happened to get a glimpse of her gawking. She had that kind of effect.

  “Damn.” Julius marveled until she disappeared through the reveling crowd. “When are you gonna tie that girl down?”

  “She’s all yours if you want her,” Talon said, shrugging. Unlike everyone else, he was already facing the bar, staring into his empty glass. He didn’t hate Vera, not at all, but he knew enough not to fall for her again. Why she worked so hard no matter how many credits she made. Why she covered her eyes in makeup to hide the bags around them. There wasn’t a drug in existence she wasn’t addicted to.

  Julius laughed and wrapped his arm around Talon’s shoulders. “Have I ever told you you’re the best friend a man can have?”

  He flashed a grin. “Not enough.” He waved for the android bartender. “I’ll get us another round. We can talk about the Morastus business tomorrow after we’ve settled in. See if you can get Vellish and Ulson to come too.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  16

  Chapter Sixteen—Sage

  Sage stood on the conduit station above Ceres, watching as the shimmering golden sail of the solar-ark she’d arrived on faded into the void of space. Her head still throbbed so excruciatingly from the disembarking process that she had to stop on the landing platform to lean on the railing. Her human thumb and forefinger pressed on her temples to try to alleviate some of the pain.

  It wasn’t her first time aboard one of the ancient solar-arks interweaving the Circuit, but it had been many years. She’d forgotten how strenuous it was to get on or off one. The arks went so fast they could reach Pluto in nine days from the sun on a straight run, so she wasn’t surprised that her brain felt like it was going to tear through her skull.

  The technology the Ancients had developed to sustain a human body through the transition continued to amaze Sage, despite how much it hurt. Somehow, a blend of magnetic and gravitum-induced systems had brought her from aboard a ship moving at a fraction of the speed of light, to a complete halt on the station. The concept was enough to make her head spin if it weren’t already pounding so intensely.

  Her newly repaired executor implant dulled it a bit, but only enough to make it somewhat tolerable. It didn’t help that her legs were sore from remaining almost completely still aboard the solar-ark for five days. They weren’t much in the way of luxury, and being confined to a tightly secured seat didn’t make her shoulder feel much better either. Every time she moved it too much, it stung as if someone were gradually sliding a thin blade in to pry it apart from the artificial arm.

  “Please proceed into the Conduit as quickly as possible.” A soothing, feminine voice spoke over the speakers. “The docking airlock will be released in five minutes.”

  As much as she didn’t feel like rushing, Sage had no desire to be sucked out into space either. She used the rail to pull herself along, wincing with every step until she caught up with the crowd.

  The Ceres Conduit Station wasn’t as clean or polished as Midway Terminal, but it was at least double the size. There were no projections of Tribunes rising through the many atriums to instill hope either. Like Midway and its adjoining Conduit, each level bustled with merchants from across the Circuit. But unlike it, there were dozens of subsidiary terminals and localized shuttles. For the Ceres Conduit wasn’t just the hub of a single planet, but for all the asteroid belt and Ceresian space.

  Sage wasn’t sure which way to go, so she stayed with the largest group of travelers that broke from her platform, assuming that most people would be heading to Ceres Prime.

  Programmed holos at every corner told her what she needed to buy. Merchants shoved their wares in her face from every direction. She kept her head down and ignored them. One wrong slip of the tongue, and she had no doubt that any worthy trader would be able to see right through her false identity. These were the types of places Agatha Lavos had grown up in.

  It proved a difficult task. One merchant pushed his stand in front of her to offer custom tableware. She almost banged into it, but the pain throughout her body lessened with each step, and she managed to avoid it.

  Another merchant offered hover-chairs fashioned from fused scraps of broken-down ships. She couldn’t even believe they stayed upright. Another peddled strings of synth-meat that smelled so foul she had to cover her mouth, or nutrient pill boxes.

  In fact, all of the wares she saw being sold were unequivocally mundane, but they were things she never imagined needing to purchase—a plate to call your own, essential pills, or even a strange-looking statue made out of seemingly useless materials. In her unit on New Terrene she had a mattress, a light, and a locker to keep her belongings, all provided by the Tribune to all citizens. Sure, the older, established families populating upper New Terrene had more than they needed, but that was their choice. They never had to scavenge.

  Though, as she looked around, even she couldn’t help but be impressed by Ceresian ingenuity. As much as she hated to admit it. Turning trash into useful items was a handy skill for th
ese poor, overpopulated settlements. She just didn’t understand why they wouldn’t willingly join the Tribune, who’d provide everything needed to survive.

  The crowd led her down a wide set of escalators. At the bottom stood another merchant stand that stopped her in her tracks. A handful of powered-down androids hung from racks. Before she knew it, she found herself standing right in front of one’s expressionless face, analyzing it from every angle.

  “Aye, that one there is an old service bot,” the merchant out in front said. “Won her in a game of cards on Fortuna. Probably been around since decades before the Earth Reclaimer War, but she can still help you with repairs on whatever you’d like.”

  Sage didn’t bother responding. Just the look of the abomination sent a shiver down her spine. She had heard that there were many androids that survived the Tribune’s warranted cull during the war, but she’d never seen one in person before. The way its metallic frame tried to mimic a human body was enough to make her feel sick. Its mouthless face seemed to be staring at her with dull, white-panel eyes as if it were innocent.

  “You interested? She’s yours for ten thousand pico.”

  She? Sage thought to herself. She wanted to smack the man for referring to the abomination as if it were alive. As if the Spirit of the Earth could possibly connect with hunks of metal and wire like they were human. The only thing she found herself interested in was finishing the work of the Tribune and tossing the merchant’s entire stand over the railing.

  Reaching out with her artificial arm, she grabbed it by its artificial neck. Then she froze. The coating of both her hand and the android were of the same shade. Her lips began to tremble.

  “Buy something or move along,” the merchant grumbled.

  “Just looking.” Sage pulled her arm back to her side and quickly brushed past the stand. Destroying them would just get me caught. She justified it to herself, but as she continued onward, she couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting toward the synthetic hand sticking out from beneath her armor.