The Lostkind

by Matt Stephens

  Heavy silence.

  "Germany." Yasi said. "VonGunn knows more than he let on."

  "Who?" Vincent asked.

  "He's in charge of the Berlin Underside." Yasi explained. "He was the one that put us onto Owen years ago."

  "You knew all this time?!" Connie exploded.

  "But I stopped them." Vincent protested thinly, knowing it wasn't that easy. "I stopped the Fiber-Optic deal..."

  "And when you did, they started a new plan." Archivist countered. "Vincent, the point of Gill's suicide attempt wasn't to get someone close to you. It was to get him into your office."

  Vincent paled. "Oh no... Yasi, he's been there for two years!"

  "And in that time, he's gotten a pretty good idea of all the ways he could expose us at will."

  "Why now?" Vincent asked. "If the whole thing was a setup to remove Gill and get Owen into the City Planner's office, why wait two years to wrap up the last loose end?"

  Yasi pulled out a new photograph. "There was another lull in Raids this week. Given that the last one followed a message on the walls down below, I figured it was worth checking. We found this."

  EUREKA! 44-B L4-18

  "We don't know what it means, but we do know that it's only been here a week." Yasi summed up. "The last one was connected to you, and given that you were targeted..."

  "Sorry Yasi, I'm afraid I can't help you." Vincent shrugged. Yasi deflated a little.

  Archivist was moving. "Well, you two should get some rest. I have to talk to Keeper. Something is going on, and I don't like where it's leading."

  "I'll go with you." Yasi agreed. "There's something I want to discuss with you both."

  "How do you summon one of the basket elevators?" Connie asked Archivist, but the older man had already leaped out into the open space beyond their chamber. Yasi leaped after him, using her sheathed sword as a grip, taking the rope as a zip-line.

  Connie let out a breath explosively as they were left alone.

  Vincent stroked his thumb over her hand. "So, how are you holding up?"

  "Well… I think I'm getting used to the fact that this isn't a dream… But Yasi scares me." Connie told Vincent. "She scares everyone in this place. Did you see them on the way here from The Chapel? They all look away, they step aside. I don't know whether she's the Top Cop or a Mafia Don, but nobody here wants her to notice them." She noticed the hammock hanging above and went looking for a way to lower it down to them. "Except you."

  Vincent sighed, feeling an edge creeping into the conversation. "Connie, what did I just say? I haven't seen or heard from any of these people in over two years..."

  "She asked... if you told Owen about her." Connie said carefully. "Yasi. Her exact words were: 'Did you ever tell Owen about us? You and me?'"

  "Connie..." Vincent started to say, but she wasn't finished.

  "You've been smiling ever since we got here. Don't get me wrong, you have a great smile, and I love seeing it... except that you've just been severely beaten. Why the hell are you smiling so much?"

  Vincent was forced to concede that point, but still shook his head. "There's nothing going on between me and Yasi."

  "I know that. I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about this." Connie waved a hand out of the chamber at the Secret City. "How can you be so… into all this?"

  "Connie, before we're taught anything in school, we understand that there's more to the world than we can see. Every kid can see it, and we stop looking when we grow up and focus on our own lives. Look around; we're through the Looking Glass. We're in Narnia."

  "Vincent, when I moved to New York, my mother nearly fainted. The city is dangerous... and down here, if something happened to us... they wouldn't even find our bones."

  Vincent sighed. "I wish you loved the Secret City."

  Connie smiled, just a bit. "I love you. It's enough for me."

  Vincent smiled back at her, and gave her a soft kiss. Connie turned, putting her back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind. She tilted her head back and nuzzled into his neck. "I feel like I've been running for a million years." She whispered. "It's nice to stop for a minute."

  "Yeah it is."

  "It's a beautiful place." She admitted softly. "But it's not our place. Our world has questions and the longer we're missing... We have to get out of here and go home."

  Vincent glanced over at her sharply. He schooled his expression quickly, but it was too late. She'd seen the look, and they'd practically had the conversation. They'd said it all in that one quick glance.

  She wanted to leave the Underside and go back to her life. He wanted to stay.

  ~oo00oo~

  "Did you get anything from the prisoner?" Keeper asked as Yasi and Archivist came in.

  "Afraid not. He's got an edge we don't know about. Nobody's that cool without an ace."

  "VonGunn is on the line again. He's jumping up and down, trying to get us to answer him. He might be willing to offer more information now we have a prisoner."

  Yasi steeled herself. "I want Vincent in on the investigation."

  "Yasi-"

  "First of all, shut up; it's not that. Second of all, I think the Prisoner wants his chance to crow. Vincent knew we existed, and still didn't notice a spy in his office. Owen will want to gloat."

  Keeper bit her lip. "No."

  Archivist spoke up. "I vote yes. We're only going to get one crack at getting any answers out of VonGunn, so let's make the most of it."

  "Two to one. I'll get Vincent."

  ~oo00oo~

  "Owen won't talk to us. But he's spent two years posing as a co-worker, watching you out of the corner of his eye." Yasi explained. "He's following the supervillain playbook, serene smile, patient looks... But I think he wants to rub your nose in it. I think he wants to gloat that he managed to fool you for two straight years. He might give up something that'll help. It'll help us figure out what's going on here, and if we figure that out, it'll help you."

  Connie sent Vincent a look. He was weighing it up, thinking it through...

  "Also... I want you to listen in on this conference we're about to have." Yasi said. "We're on the edge of getting some answers, and I don't want to screw it up now." She sent Connie a bare glance. "Once before, I asked you for help Vincent, to protect this place." She held her hands out, palms up. "I need your help again, my friend."

  The delivery was flawless, and Connie looked to Vincent, already knowing what she would see. He looked eight feet tall, even lying prone on the hammock.

  "Yasi..." He answer, rolling her name off his tongue like a prayer. "Of course I'll help you." He rolled off the hammock, landing gingerly on his feet. "Let's go..." He was halfway to the door, when he remembered himself. "Connie, are you coming?"

  Connie bit her lip. "Um... no. Ran into Tecca, and he mentioned that Wotcha helped out at the school here, before she started staying up top. I figured I might see if I could lend a hand there." Plus, I would rather have a spider lay eggs in my hair than spend an hour playing third wheel to you and Princess Yasi.

  Yasi met Connie's gaze, not fooled, but not really caring. Vincent however, was thrilled, glad to see his girlfriend settling in.

  ~oo00oo~

  "Connie's not wrong y'know." Vincent said as the basket moved. "We didn't just step out for an hour; we fell off the world. I haven't seen the sun since we got here, or a calender, or a clock. We both have jobs, we volunteer regularly... If we're going to be here much longer, we need to call people." He sent her a look.

  "There are no communication lines between here and the city above." Yasi told him, as the basket came in to settle on the ground. "Obviously, cell phones don't work down here, and phone lines don't come this deep."

  Vincent grunted a little as he settled his weight on wobbly legs. "You just cut yourself off completely?"

  "We could tap the phone lines, but too many ways to talk back and forth would make it more likely someone would find out about us."

&n
bsp; "Then how do you talk to each other?"

  "We send messages, we have our own phone lines, circa 1910."

  "No, not to each other... to other Undersides." Vincent tried. He saw her reaction, and shrugged. "I figure if there are people out there who found their way here, then... New York was the first Megacity, but there are hundreds of them now. Lots of places out there with tunnels and abandoned buildings. If people like you live between the cracks in the world, there have to be other places out there..."

  "There are." Yasi confirmed, leading the way down one of the endless tunnels. "Anywhere that people are forgotten, they have to go somewhere. And why not? Nobody else wants them, it's natural they drift together. To some degree, it's an organic process. It's funny, but every metropolis seems to have it's own Lostkind. They have different names for it, settle in different spots..." She shook her head, getting back on topic. "But to answer your question, it's always an event when we find out about another Underside; but other than that we tend to keep to ourselves. When we do have reason... We talk to them in this room."

  Yasi opened a door and led the way into a rather ornate room with a large round oak table. The table was big enough for twelve people, but had only three seats at one end of the oval. There were television cameras that looked thirty years out of date at regular intervals around the room, mostly pointed at the head of the table. The room was brightly lit, with banners lining the walls. Vincent studied them and noticed each brightly colored banner was a marker of a city. The names he recognized.

  New York, Sydney, London, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing...

  "My God, how many?" Vincent asked in awe.

  "Getting a good look?"

  Vincent turned back to the door as Archivist and Keeper came in. They looked worried. Even a little scared. There was a great feeling of gravity in the room, like stepping into the Throne Room of King Arthur, or the Oval Office...

  "What do you think Vincent?" Archivist boomed, taking the leftmost seat at the table.

  "I think..." Vincent struggled for words. "When I first came in here and saw the cameras, I thought that maybe this room was for making announcements, like a press conference for the whole Underside. But now that I think of it, I haven't seen a single screen in any room I've been in."

  "All three of them." Keeper commented blandly.

  "There's something about this room." Vincent finished lamely. "Something that makes it important."

  "Oh Bravo." Keeper clapped slowly. "Holmes, you astound me."

  "Be nice, Keep." Yasi told her, taking the seat on the right.

  "Be nice? It's not right." Keeper snarled slightly at Yasi, before turning on Vincent. "This is a big deal, and you're so completely ignorant of how bloody big a deal it is; that you just take it in stride. Today on the tour, the freaking Round Table! And you get to be here for it. You have any idea how many people come into this room at any given time?"

  "No." Vincent said honestly.

  "THREE!" Keeper exploded. "There have only ever been three people ever in this room! The Arbiter, the Scribe, and the Shinobi Captain. The three highest ranking people in The Underside only. When it wasn't us, it was still the people in those same three jobs. Today there are four. You have any idea how many times we've even used this room in the last fifty years?"

  "No." Vincent said honestly, stepping back unconsciously from her wild rant.

  "TWICE!" Keeper exploded again, drifting toward him slowly as he retreated. "Exactly TWICE! You have no idea what a big deal this is! Mr-What's-on-CNN-let's-check-Facebook-and-find-out! We don't do this sort of thing very often y'know! And we've done it twice in three years because of you and your pal down in our basement!"

  "Me and my pal? He tried to have me killed." Vincent protested, but by this time she had gotten right up in his face, having backed him against the wall.

  Keeper shook her head in disgust. "I was this close to letting him. You're... things are changing Vincent; and you're in the middle of it. I don't know what the hell Yasi hopes your presence will contribute, but no King in his Throne Room ever had to worry about the Court Jester getting into the middle of..."

  The lights went out suddenly. The room went dark.

  Keeper got right in his face, breathing harshly in his ear. "Stay exactly on this spot. Pretend that if you say anything or step forward, a dragon will eat you."

  There was a hushed silence to which Vincent wholeheartedly contributed. Keeper left him and settled into the middle chair, holding court at the head of the table.

  Vincent looked around in confusion. The light was coming from the slide projectors, both of them shining a plain white light at the opposite end of the table, so that the light intersected.

  Yasi flipped a switch on her left, and one of the Underside's omnipresent clockwork machines puttered to life, churning out soft puffs of white smoke from the floor at the opposite end of the table.

  It's a smoke machine. Vincent realized. Like on a movie set.

  A moment later the two devices that looked like slide projectors flared to life, drawing an intersection of light at the other end of the Round Table. The two beams both projected an image in the smoke, and having two of them gave it three dimensions. The shape was that of a man.

  It's a hologram! Vincent realized and struggled not to shout with glee at the crazy wonderful thing. Two images projected into smoke and mirrors at angles that met in the middle of the smoke. It was a trick that any stage magician could do a hundred years ago to make ghostly apparitions appear; but here in The Underside it was used to hold holographic international teleconferences.

  Any child-like wonder he felt at the sight of the machine vanished once the image cleared and the conversation started.

  "Principal VonGunn, I bring greetings on behalf of the New York Underside." Keeper said with formality.

  "Arbiter Keeper, I bring you greetings from Berlin Beneath." VonGunn responded with equal formality. A moment later the veneer of polite conversation dropped instantly from his face. "I have been trying to get you people to answer me for over six hours!"

  "We've been busy." Yasi cut him off. "And I'm betting you know more about the reasons why than we do."

  VonGunn wasn't smiling. "I understand you have successfully located Owen Niklos. Have you been questioning him?"

  "Asking questions. It's actually been a very interesting time for us here." Keeper returned. "Now that we've got him, perhaps you'd be more willing to talk about why you've wanted him for two years?"

  "That is a matter of some delicacy." VonGunn said. "Suffice to say, it's a problem limited to our own territory. Regardless of what he may, or may not, have told you... it's a situation that is exclusive to our Jurisdiction. We have all the relevant information, the necessary background..."

  "Too bad you don't have Owen Niklos too, because he's in our Oubliette, so it's our problem now." Yasi put in.

  "A problem we'd be happy to take off your hands."

  "Finders Keepers." Yasi shot back.

  Silence.

  "Well, as it happens..." VonGunn said finally. "You've done us a good turn, and we certainly wouldn't let that go unmentioned. In fact, I'd say we owe you a favor in return... If there's anything you would like..."

  Yasi shrugged. "Nothing I can think of. Keeper, can you think of anything?"

  "Hard to say." Keeper agreed gamely. "Without knowing what Niklos is worth to them... We could ask for anything, couldn't we?"

  They smiled like sharks at VonGunn, who said nothing. Vincent could see the question in his eyes: What do they know? What has Owen told them?

  Owen had given them nothing, but Keeper and Yasi were playing it out to try and coax details from VonGunn, and doubt was beginning to grow in the other Lostkind's mind.

  "Principal." Yasi said silkily. "While Niklos was here, he was working in the City Planner's Office… That wouldn't be of any significance, would it?"

  VonGunn blinked. He seemed to think for a long moment, before speaking. "Perhaps."

&n
bsp; "Something else Principal." Keeper added smoothly, keeping her voice low and calm. "We have pretty strong evidence that Niklos wasn't working alone, or even that he's the one giving orders. The only one who seems to have an interest in him is you. Are you involved in the attempted murder of our people? The hunt for entrances to our world? Would you declare war on us?"

  VonGunn froze. "No, of course not."

  "Then who would?" Keeper pounced. "If you're not backing him, who is?"

  Long silence. VonGunn was looking for another card to play, and found none, before coming clean.

  "Very well..." He said, much softer now. "The truth."

  Long silence. Very long silence.

  "You don't seem to be saying anything." Archivist said after a moment.

  "Noticed that, did you?" VonGunn admitted ruefully. "All right. There are only four people who have the whole story. I won't be telling you all of it, but... For the past eight years, there has been a growing division in Berlin Beneath. I won't betray the full reason why, except to say that it started when we failed to live up to a long awaited promise, and... someone else was able to deliver in our place. This someone managed to do so, entirely without our knowledge, and since then, there has been a growing faction, gaining more and more... practical authority."

  Vincent was being very small back behind the table. It was not unlike listening in to the conversation at the grown-ups table, but it sounded as though VonGunn was describing a coup in the making.

  "Three years ago, we were able to identify the leader of our opposing faction... It took us that long, because most of the people willing to tell us anything were found dead before we could question them. You know what its like, rumors and secrets spread and multiply like nothing else alive."

  Especially in a place like this. Vincent thought quietly to himself.

  "After chasing shadows for months, we were able to get hold of some fairly usable intel, which led us to an Upsider, who had moved into Berlin recently. That man was Owen Niklos."

  "And so you want him back." Yasi finished. "To question him about who's plotting to overthrow Berlin Beneath."

  "No, we already know that." VonGunn shook his head. "We lost track of Niklos after someone tipped him off. We found that leak, and leaned on him. He gave us the only answer we needed."