by Dusks, Rydre
She shot me a quick look. "I didn’t do research. I have relatives who work here." Her tone was snappy.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering why the hell I didn’t take Va'th’s job instead.
Discreetly I felt my gun inside my coat and bit my lip, pondering that strange sensation that had grown in my chest from the moment we’d met Dentrin.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you’re in over your head?" I wondered.
"Don’t get friendly with me," Phazer hissed.
"I’m not getting friendly with you. I’m simply stating that I think Saydea--"
"Don’t," she warned as the doors opened. She walked briskly out, and I followed as the cool, underground air of Saydea’s restricted sectors filtered through several vents just ahead of us.
I wasn’t about to argue with her. According to Insidd Phazer was the best leader. Besides… I didn’t need to be gutted on the job.
As we approached the largest door a small, electronic buzz sounded as the lock clicked. The red light to the right of the door changed to blue. I assumed Dentrin followed us on the surveillance cameras above our heads.
The door slid open as it sensed our presence, and I took the first step in. The only light splayed across the misty metal floor of the new room came from several rows of milky, eight-foot-tall, glass tanks, covering the area with a tint of blue ambience. Seeing that Phazer had her gun out, I drew out mine.
"This is... weird," I breathed, stepping lightly through swirls of haze. The sight astounded me. With the blue lights filtering through the hazy tanks, the high ceiling, and the long stretch of walk, I felt as if I were entering a horror film. I'd never seen anything like this. What was with the tanks? Were they holding human-sized specimens of some kind?
"Weird?" Phazer questioned. "Keep your guard up."
"Yes, ma'am," I muttered grudgingly, only after making sure I was well out of punch-range.
A metallic creak caused me to slow down and listen. As I scanned the room Phazer did the same. She moved closer to several of the capsules, inspecting them, and I inched further into the mist, stopping about halfway before noticing something up ahead. Before I could approach the tank that looked out-of-place, there was a low metal hum sounded from up above me, inside a vent.
"Phazer," I called quietly just as she turned to look up as well. We both positioned our guns up toward the vent, listening intently.
Another metal drone came from further up ahead.
"It’s moving to the next room," Phazer stated, hurrying past me. Her swift movements stirred up the cold air, prickling my skin.
I followed her, only to stop by the tank that had seemed strange compared to the others. The entire left half of it was shattered, the inside empty--and the chemical water had washed out and dried on the floor. The only reason I couldn't see it before was due to the mist exiting the tubes that had once been connected to the capsule.
"Hightower, what are you doing?" Phazer demanded from up ahead.
Grinding my teeth from her agitated tone, I tightened my grip on my gun and met back up with her in haste.
She gave an exasperated sigh. "This is why I hate working with you."
"The only other times you’ve worked with me were when I applied as a hunter, and the time I took down a MetalArt," I argued. "How could you learn to hate working with me when we've rarely--?"
"If you’re done getting distracted, I'd like to continue. Dentrin is probably wondering what the hell we’re doing."
"A shattered tank strikes some serious questions, doesn't it?" I prodded with a raised eyebrow.
"Keep your eyes open and you'll be fine. We'll talk to Dentrin about it after this is over. Our job concerns a hackerbot--not that. C’mon." She tapped my arm, and I pressed on with her.
A cold rush swept past us as a large door on the opposite end of the room opened. As I stepped inside, the sight before us left me breathless. A green glass tank placed in the center of the room was a good fifteen feet tall, cords upon cords running to and from its base and top, all the way down into the murky liquid inside. There were screens along the sides of the area, all displaying numbers, pulse monitors, and fast-moving script. My fascination with the capsule in front of me took me away from the mission, but I only registered this when Phazer nudged me as she walked past the tank to peer deeper into the corners of the computer-filled room.
"Hightower, pay attention. Listen for that sound again," she ordered.
I pulled my eyes away from the tank to concentrate, though an unnerving, mental pull tempted me to look back at the green water. There was a figure in there, no bigger than the size of a youth, and vaguely human in appearance. I wasn't able to see it clearly, but it was definitely a person. A wild tangle of tubes ran from its body. It was pale, and there was a thin shroud of red hair on its head.
I didn't hear the metallic hum in the vents again.
"Hightower!" Phazer urged, shoving me a little after noticing what I was doing. "What’s wrong with you? I need you to pay attention, dammit!"
"Quiet," was all I said, walking back to the front of the capsule. "Look at this, Phazer. There's a kid in there. Why would Saydea need a fifteen-foot tank to hold a kid?" I knelt a little to read the plate at the base of it. Most of it was a series of scrambled numbers, but I managed to read Te Jai Saydea Porjusha. The High Saydea Project.
A foot on my shoulder pushed me nearly to the floor. "Wake up, you idiot. Mission," Phazer insisted. "Remember what I said back there? Get up and follow me."
I wondered what I was doing. I was never this distracted. Work was my thrill--my entertainment. And here I was growing increasingly nervous as I felt that there were so many dangers hidden in Saydea. I wasn't about to just let this slide.
A loud clang and sudden undefinable snarl sounded from around the other side of the massive capsule. My heart leapt.
"Hightower, get up!"
I scrambled to my feet and kept my gun at the ready, telling my nerves to calm themselves as my eyes darted around the room. "What was that?" I finally questioned.
"Something came out of the ventilation system, but there are too many computers in the way to see what it was." Phazer hissed my direction. "Be on your guard--no messing around, got it?"
"I haven't been messing around at all, Phazer," I grumbled. "You're always bitching about me, I swear."
A sudden commotion behind one of the machines quieted our quarrel. I rounded a computer, my gun at the ready. The gargled snarl arose a second time, and Phazer left my side to circle the tank. Her gun blast was loud inside the closed-in space, and I heard it ricochet off something and strike one of the ceiling pipes. Whatever she was aiming for, she'd missed it.
"It's headed your way! Cut it off!" she shouted.
The green glow of the tank was almost too dim for me to see clearly in the room, but I circled the machines and headed for the growing noise. What I saw was clearly not G'tavei the hackerbot.
Standing nearly seven feet tall and lumbering after me was a hunched beast with the mangled head of a human. It was ruddy in color and bore an angry mouth of blunt, yellowed teeth. Its growls had been so inhuman that I'd pictured it as some kind of wild animal--not a terrifying giant of a man who'd been scientifically ruined beyond recognition.
The sight startled me so much that I stalled, gun feeling heavy and useless in my numb hands.
"Hightower!"
Phazer's shout was enough to shake me out of the frozen state of shock. I lurched backward just before the creature could bash me hard with its taught-fingered hand. Two nails raked over my cheek as I stepped back on my coat and tripped. I landed on the floor and watched the beast pass over me, heading for Phazer instead. I collected myself and stood back up, legs wobbling, turning around to follow. My heart pounded with adrenaline, and my brain felt numb with disbelief.
There was a second shot from Phazer's gun, then another wet growl from behind one of the machines on the other side of the room. A thump and crash blared, followed by more h
eavy padding of bare feet. I finally made it around the machines to spot Phazer against the wall and on the floor. Her gun had skittered across the tile when she'd been hit, and the monster approached her like a big, hungry predator.
"Hey!" I called.
It was enough to get the thing to turn its head my way. It had a bullet wound near its collarbone. I swallowed, pointed at the creature's face, and squeezed my trigger.
Juxa, what I held, were firearms specifically designed for moments like this--ripping through tough material and exploding into billions of tiny sharp fragments half a second after impact. They were made specifically for taking down hard-cased machinery and were rarely used on biological beings, as a single bullet from a Jux could easily shred a human to messy bits if shot in the right place.
The monster moved before my finger could fully pull the trigger back. The shot barked out, but it slammed into a variety of tangled cords above Phazer's head and exploded. The wires sizzled as bits of metal fibers, rubber, and plastic spread out over a long distance. Phazer ducked her head and missed the majority of the commotion. She dropped and rolled out of the way as the wires covered the floor, snapping and popping.
I cursed under my breath and chased after the creature. Now that I'd swallowed my fear I felt more adamant about stopping the monster from doing any more damage. I would see to Phazer once the beast was dealt with. Its footsteps led me back in front of the green tank. I'd backed it into a wedged space, keeping it from leaving out the large door behind me. I raised my Jux a second time, but the thing had calculated my movements, and with a quick duck of its head it charged for me and took me by surprise. The heavy force bashed into my abdomen as the monster hooked me over its shoulder. My fingers loosened around my weapon, and the gun clattered beside the project tank. I tried to writhe my way out of the monster's grip, but it soon let me go anyway, throwing me out the heavy door and across the rows of blue tanks that Phazer and I had previously inspected. I hit the ground with my back, and the shock left me breathless, trying to regain my bearings while listening to the beast approaching.
Movements seemed to take forever to achieve. In my startled haze, I scrambled to my feet and turned left to slink behind a few of the tanks. There was enough space for me to fit, but the floor was a mess of thick tubes and cords, and the monster had seen where I had gone. It pounded into one of the capsules, trying to break it loose from its cording to reach its thick arm behind the glass and grab me. I flinched back and waded my way to the left wall, coming out into another walkway. From here I was able to regain some of my breath. I was sore from being thrown, but the adrenaline coursing through my body was enough to keep me on high alert.
The being was smart. It had seen where I scurried off to, and it had already made its way around the many rows of tanks to corner me in the aisle I was now in.
It stopped at the exit of the walkway, blocking my path, and lurched forward into another run. I was ready this time. Riding high from the rush of the fight I ducked and slipped through the spaces between the tanks once more, making my way back to the large door leading in where Phazer still was. This slowed down the monster's progress, and I managed to secure my gun beside the project tank. I waited as my head pounded with my pulse, then aimed my trembling hands, clasping the Jux, toward the oncoming beast.
With a blast, the Jux bullet struck the monster in the temple, then burst. Heavy gore and blood splashed across capsules and walls as if the beast'd had a pressure bomb in its head. Then the muscle tension across its shoulders relaxed, and it dropped to its front in an unmoving heap.
I gave myself a few seconds to come back down from the high. With the Jux dropped back into a pocket of my coat, I laced around the monitors to seek Phazer out. She wasn't near the wires, but she was still in the same area in the corner, her breath coming in weak shudders.
"You’re turning white," I commented as I took her arm and slung it over my shoulder. "We need to get out of here and get some help."
I had confidence when facing machines, but that was the first time that I had ever been attacked by anything that resembled a biological threat. My body still trembled from the surprise and shock, but Phazer was my new concern. I didn't see any blood on her. Her demeanor spoke of pain, however, and she didn't answer me after I'd spoken.
Dentrin surely would have seen what had just happened on surveillance, and yet he hadn't sent anyone in to help us. The most I could do now was pull Phazer back to the elevators and get her medical attention. I struggled to drag her out of the room and across the next. "I don't know what that was, but we need to get you some help," I said as we entered the elevator.
"Sh-Shut it," was all she managed. Her clear attempt to cover up her embarrassment with a tough attitude was expected, but I decided to stay silent for the trip up to the record room.
I opened the door after swiping Phazer's card and entered the record room with some effort. Phazer whimpered before I stopped several feet in front of Dentrin, and I helped her brace against a computer desk.
"What the hell was that?" I demanded. I watched as Phazer gripped her ribcage with one hand and use the other to keep herself upright. "What was that?"
Dentrin didn’t seem startled at all. "Calm yourself, Hightower."
"We were attacked," I snapped. "And I'm sure you saw. Whatever you nuts are doing in here, you ought to keep better leashes on your pets. Phazer got struck, and that thing nearly knocked my head off."
Dentrin watched the both of us curiously without speaking, almost as if analyzing our behavior. Phazer finally sank down to her knees.
"This is… This is…" I started, not sure where to go with it.
"You’re in shock," Dentrin stated.
I scowled. It felt as if the monster down there was turned loose on purpose before we showed up. Surely Dentrin would have known about a broken experiment tank before sending a couple of people down there, whether they were armed officers or not. He would have warned us, said something... anything. It had to be a setup.
"I'm in shock? What about my partner here? Where the hell is Va'th? We need to get Phazer help!"
Dentrin lifted a hand, closing his eyes for a moment in a calm manner. "I ordered to have your Strejc partner come back in. I will call for medics, Mr. Hightower. Please calm down."
"Another thing…" I hissed. "What is this High Saydea Project? Another messed up creature like the one I shot down there? Are you doing illegal experiments on children now? I’d like to know just what is going on in this industry, Dentrin. I believe this hackerbot you have us chasing is the least of our worries." If it is even real at all, I thought.
Dentrin shook his head. "This hackerbot that you are chasing will expose that Project and every other bit of information to the outside world. It is already risky enough that I’m letting you hunters uncover our secrets."
"Answer my damn question," I demanded. "At this point I'm tempted to let that hackerbot expose everything anyway."
"Hightower," Phazer started. Despite her obvious pain, her eyes were hard. "That Project isn’t any of our business."
I glanced at her. "You were injured by whatever was down there. So yes… this is our business."
"Hey! Tell me what’s going on," I heard Va'th shout from the doorway. Within moments he was beside us.
"Something ambushed us down below and hurt Phazer. Dentrin's dancing around it," I explained.
"Excuse me," Dentrin spoke up, sounding offended.
I couldn't remove the scowl from my face. "Va'th, Phazer's pretty injured. She needs a hospital trip. Think you can take her there and let Insidd know what's going on? I'd like a personal chat with this doctor."
Va'th hesitated. "What about you? Maybe Insidd should deal with this, Crow. Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm not. I'm just pissed off."
"Right, right. I'll get going. I know what you're like when you're angry." He stooped to help Phazer up, who didn't resist. "See you at work."
"Thanks, Va'th." I watched him assis
t Phazer out of the room before turning back to Dentrin.
His eyes hadn't left me. "Mr. Hightower… Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"
I eyed him warily but kept silent. I'd been the one who wanted to ask the questions, but I'd let him get away with this one.
"You come from the Gasaidiatt forest, correct?" Dentrin went on. "How was life back there?"
I searched his face. He obviously guessed my lineage from my dark appearance. "That has nothing to do with our previous subject."
"Yes it does," Dentrin countered. "Just answer me, please."
Thoughts of my dream returned to me. I must get out of here. I need to escape my crimes... "It was okay… but I left as a teen due to family conflict. Why do you ask?"
Dentrin raised his eyebrows at this. "Because I didn’t want to say this with your associates present, but I know who you are, Crow. May I call you by your first name?"
It didn’t surprise me as much as it probably should have when I heard this. "Well if you know me, I don’t believe we’ve been properly acquainted."
"We haven’t," the scientist replied with a thin grin. It was a look that simply shrugged off the entire issue that had occurred with Phazer and me. "And we were never introduced directly."
"What are you getting at?" I demanded. "If you’re wasting my time, I’d like to call my boss and go home. I have a bust mission I don't know how to deal with on my own, and a couple nicks to clean."
"I’ll assure you that I am not wasting your time. You want to know about the High Saydea Project?"
"Of course I do. If that's an illegal subject down there, you have just risked everything and are on the road to arrest."
"Calm down and listen." Dentrin cleared his throat. "At the moment, I can’t explain to you all that you would like to hear, but I can do my best. That creation of mine is the second addition to a quickly growing series of them. I am modeling beings after the Crei of Kairenz."
I stared at him, dumbfounded. "…Why?" The Crei of Kairenz were supposedly the accumulation of gods that had helped create the planet and all life.