by Dusks, Rydre
I shook my head as I stood and began to walk away from the group. Va’th leapt to his feet to follow. "He’s on to something. Something more than just what he’s revealed. You know what his creation told me this morning? He said he wanted to take over the world."
"Who, Dentrin?"
"No. Sylvain. He asked me to side with him, and I flat-out told him no. He’s got... No, not just him. All Saydea has connection to me, and it freaks me out. It was me whom Dentrin decided to tell about his military plans. And it was me whom he decided to pull back into Saydea to get uncomfortably cozy with his Project."
Click passed by us, and Va'th ruffled the robot’s hair. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, Crow, but the Strejca are worried about the amount of stress you're going through right now." He lowered his voice. "Especially Insidd and Phazer."
"Oh, bullshit."
"No, really!"
"Why? What stress? Do you mean Kajaru?"
"Well, yeah. I know you guys celebrate his birthday every year still, and it can be quite a strain on your family. We all miss him, too."
"I'm not freaking out because I'm mournful, Va'th. I've just... somehow gotten myself wrapped up in this Saydea thing, and honestly I'm not sure why it happened in the first place. But now it needs to end."
"Oh no, I get it, Crow. I do. But you know us Strejca. We treat each other like we're family. Even Phazer." He pulled me aside, next to the door leading into the house, and lowered his voice. "She’s been muttering about how you’re going to be the death of everybody."
"That’s typical of her."
"She calls you Crow when she’s not around you."
I raised my eyebrows as I attempted to avoid looking over at the prickly woman Va'th spoke of.
"So she’s got some secrets--we all do. What are you implying? That she likes me?"
Va'th smirked.
I rolled my eyes. "Phazer is aggressive, rude, quick to judge, and apathetic. Give me the name of one Strejc who likes her for more than just her body."
Va'th paused in thought for a moment.
I grinned. "See?" I turned away from him to look for Stelliot, only to suddenly catch sight of his little legs kicking as someone dressed in dark clothes dragged him over the fence.
The world froze that second, the sight burning hard into my mind as I tried to gather up and make sense of what I'd just seen.
"Stelliot!" I shouted, catching the attention of many of my co-workers. My reaction had been delayed by a couple of seconds. Another Strejc had seen what had happened, and her response was to run and pull her own child into her arms.
"Oh, Sol!" Va'th exclaimed behind me. It was obvious that he'd seen it, too. He sprinted out toward the fence immediately, hurtling over chairs. "Go get your stuff, Crow! I’ll chase him down!"
I whipped around and ran into the house, everything suddenly a blur. The trip to my room was quick, as I knew exactly what to get. I should have known that something would happen. Sylvain had even warned me. Why didn’t I think that it could have centered around Stelliot?
Seizing my coat that still carried most of my equipment, I threw it on and was about to head out the front door, but a hand grasped my shoulder before I could get too far.
"What happened to Stelliot?"
I turned to Toanwar's startled face. "Didn’t you see it?" I demanded. My voice was shriller than I'd meant. The anxiety in my stomach threatened to consume me. "Someone just picked him up and pulled him over the fence! Va'th ran after the bas--"
"Alright, I understand your panic. Take a deep breath and get in your car. Don’t chase whoever it is on foot."
I nodded. "Tell the Strejca that we’ll have to delay our mission plan until I get back."
Toanwar gave an affirmative sound. "Now go get Stelliot."
I tore out of the house and jumped in my car, starting it up and pulling out onto the street. I didn’t make it too far before Va'th could be seen chasing after a tall person in the same dark clothes. I recognized my boy hanging off the man’s shoulder and was suddenly fueled with an immense rage.
I caught up to Va'th quickly, who glanced my way and did the unexpected. He leapt upon the hood of my car. I didn’t question his actions that much--I knew what he was going to try and do. Speeding up, I was almost level with the kidnapper before Va'th jumped. He tackled the man, but just as he came in contact with the kidnapper, the man and Stelliot vanished completely.
I slammed on the breaks in shock as Va'th stood up in confusion. He glanced around for a minute before suddenly pointing across the street. I auto-opened the passenger side door, and the Strejc got in.
"He’s way over there, Crow. I can see him!"
"How the hell did he get all the way over there?" I started forward again, turning left to follow the same man who held Stelliot.
"No idea, but he’s headed for the inner city. Like toward the Tower."
Every time we came close to the man, he was gone in a fraction of a second, only to appear somewhere further up ahead.
"It’s like he’s leading us somewhere," I uttered. "Did you see what he looked like?"
"Pale skin and white hair. That’s all," Va'th answered.
I didn’t know of anyone with white hair. Nothing seemed to make sense until both Va'th and I made sounds of knowing the moment we neared our destination. We knew it was where the kidnapper headed.
"Saydea…" Va'th uttered.
I stopped the car in the parking lot and pulled myself out. "You see what I mean about me having a connection to this place?" I exclaimed as I ran toward the doors with Va'th close behind me.
We entered with haste and made our way to the elevators, ignoring the robotic receptionist in the front. She paid equally as little attention to us.
"Who are we meeting up with?" Va'th questioned as I slammed a fist against the elevator button.
"Dentrin first. He kept bringing Stelliot up in conversations with me, and I swear if that sick bastard has a part of this, I’m going to rip him to shreds.”
Va'th seemed amazed at my ties with the industry. I saw the awe on his face as his eyes searched me.
The doors opened, and I was about to enter before noticing it was already occupied, and one of the occupants was covered in blood. Seeing my hesitation, an uninjured man inside the cart beckoned for us to come in anyway.
Va'th and I entered just before the doors closed. I was about to press on the button to the critical conditions level that Dentrin had taken me down to earlier, but it had already been lit up.
The bloodied scientist across from us had his hands over his eyes, and was sniffling quietly. My worries about Stelliot seemed to mute slightly as I stared at the other elevator passenger. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He’d probably been caught in a glass explosion, as his throat and face had been ruthlessly lacerated. It amazed me to see that he was still able to stand by himself.
The other scientist spoke up after taking a view of my tail coat. "Going to the Critical Zone, Strejc?"
I nodded, tearing my eyes away from the man’s bloody partner. "We need to meet up with Allan Dentrin and his High Saydea Project."
The uninjured scientist lifted his head. "Oh, that little creation. He’s not down there anymore. I believe Dr. Dentrin took him down to the testing labs in Zone Fifteen."
"Is Dentrin with him?" Va'th questioned.
The man shook his head. "I don’t believe so. Not anymore. You guys seem in a hurry. Here." He reached into an inside pocket and withdrew a small, rectangular strip of plastic. As he handed it to me, I noticed it had SNC and bar codes on it.
"That’s my key card for the testing labs. Can’t get in there unless you have one of those."
"Oh… Thank you." It seemed like a rather generous thing for this man to do, seeing as how he didn’t know us and didn’t seem to care what our intentions were.
The injured scientist next to him sniffed once more and spoke, surprising Va'th and me both. "Would one of you h-happen to be A-Anli?"
> Va'th glanced at me as I answered. "I am. Why?"
The elevator stopped. "Once you’re d-done with your business… Would you m-mind finding me? I n-need to talk to you."
"And I’ll need my card back," the other man stated as he held open the doors and began to lead the bloody man outside. "I’ll be here too."
I hesitated as I watched the doors close. Va'th leaned over and pressed the buttons for the fifteenth basement level and for the upper office suites.
“I’ll take the basement Zone while you go confront Dentrin,” he explained. “I’ll look for the creation.”
"What would that guy want with me?" I uttered mostly to myself.
Va'th examined the key card after taking it from me. "Not sure, but you do keep saying that you’re linked to this place. It’s probably important. Let’s focus on finding your little kiddo for now, though."
"Right," I breathed as the lift made its long descent. "Stelliot first."
Va’th left the elevator, and the doors closed to send me back up to the higher floors. I remained vigilant while stepping out into the new hall, searching for Dentrin’s office. A security guard on this floor tried to stop me, but I pushed past him and raced to a door with Dentrin’s name on a plaque, bursting it open.
Dentrin sat behind a dark wood desk with his eyes inspecting two black and white scans, looking prim and proper as usual. The rings under his eyes, though, showed me that he had been right about his ungodly research schedule. This man never slept. Despite his weird habits, his office was pristine. A couple potted plants rested in a corner, and a shelf behind him housed regular office supplies and a black printer. Several stacks of paper and a couple of files were beside it. Along the walls were two watercolor paintings and a strange depiction of a black skeleton with bionic limbs, which didn't seem to fit the rest of the room's mood.
The security guard behind me, and the condition of his office, though, were of no importance to me. “Dentrin!” I shouted, storming up to the desk. “Where is my son?”
Dentrin looked up in utter surprise, looking quite bewildered. “What…? Crow?”
“You tell me right now, you psycho!” I screamed, brandishing my Jux and pointing toward his face.
The guard seized a hold of my arm, trying to tear the gun away, but I turned on him and wrenched my arm back, bringing up my boot and kicking him in the gut to get him off. He unveiled his own weapon, but Dentrin raised a hand.
“Siddano, stop. Give him a minute to explain his actions.”
I glared at the guard for a moment before turning back to Dentrin. “My son, Dentrin. I just saw him get abducted, and the kidnapper took him here. What kind of disgusting trick are you trying to play this time?”
Dentrin searched my face, and for a second he appeared completely mystified. “Your son.. was abducted? I’m sorry, Crow, but I haven’t seen your son at all. But I do have something to show you here! Look at what we uncovered this morning.” Brushing away my issue completely, he picked up the two sheets of imaging and pushed them my way, pointing to two circled spots on brains.
“This one on your left was taken when you were in the Sendredin Hospital at fourteen, and the one on your right is the High Saydea Project’s. You both have the same type of growth! Isn’t that fascinating?”
I turned away from him, trudging past the recovering security guard and heading out of the office without another word. Dentrin didn’t have Stelliot, or he was covering it up. Whatever the case was, I wouldn’t get anywhere with him right now with the guard right there. I decided to go meet back up with Va’th. As thought-provoking as Dentrin’s information had been, I couldn’t care less right now.
Zone 15 was not what I’d expected to see. It was vast and round with a high ceiling. A large bevy of scientists were at computers, and in the center of the room was a massive Super Machine that was busy being tinkered with by three other human workers. It looked like a cylinder made completely of screen panels reading out masses of code. SMs like these powered the city, lead the military, and were designed and built by Era himself.
The floor had been unlocked, as Va’th had left the key card shoved into a slot beside the entrance. I pulled it out as I walked in, seeing if I could spot him.
“Over here, Crow!” he called.
I turned my attention further in the area and headed forward, seeing Va’th standing in front of someone I didn’t recognize at first. His appearance was almost ethereal. He was dressed in a shirt three times his size, and it hung so low that the shorts he wore underneath were barely visible. Eerie blue veins crept across his pale skin. A couple were very visible along his face, and so were several in his bare feet. His most defining feature, however, was a shock of tousled red hair.
"I didn’t expect you to bring a friend along, Crow,” the child greeted.
It was Sylvain. Now that I had a voice to match the hair, I was convinced. Va’th had Sylvain cornered, and a few scientists around the area seemed interested but remained out of the way.
"I see you’re out of your imprisonment," I noted. "Where’s Stelliot?"
Sylvain raised one very thin eyebrow. "Your son? Why… I have no idea. Did he run away, Crow?"
I felt like hitting him. "You should know! You warned me about enemies, and now Stelliot’s been kidnapped and brought here! Who took him?"
To my surprise, Sylvain looked genuinely confused. "I wasn’t speaking of your son when I said that, Crow. That was simply a warning. If Stelliot were in this building, I would be able to sense him. But he isn’t here." But then he paused. A look of enlightenment passed over his face, and he smiled slowly. It was eerie.
"Ah… I know who took your son, Crow Hightower." His grin spread to one of almost maniacal proportions.
I lunged forward and grabbed Sylvain by the collar of his massive shirt, pulling him up to my face. He let out a short whimper from the force as his head jerked back. "Tell me, or I’ll break your skinny neck."
Va'th put a hand on my shoulder. "Crow… Careful."
Sylvain stiffened but didn’t try to yank away. "Be nice to me, Anli. I could easily manipulate you if I wanted. The man who took your son is Velzae. Allan Dentrin’s other prize creation."
"I know the name," I answered.
The being nodded. "You ought to study up on the Crei. You would know more about SiyariDendo’s feats. He can pull himself from one realm to another with ease, Crow. Saydea calls it teleportation--we call it phasing."
I didn't know who "we" was, but I didn't care enough to inquire. "I don’t believe in the Crei," I admitted rather spitefully instead.
Sylvain almost lurched back in utter shock, as if he hadn’t expected me to say this. I didn’t understand his alarm.
"You don’t believe at all?"
"That surprises you?" I questioned. "I thought you knew everything about me."
"Of all things, Crow, I expected you to believe the most in the Crei. What stalls you from doing so?"
I glanced off at the rest of the lab for a moment before locking my eyes with the abomination again. "We’ve been rather forsaken as a human race, don’t you think? If there really were gods up there watching all this, you’d think they’d have a little sympathy for our unfortunate states."
Sylvain grinned again this time, then chuckled. I still held him off the ground, and his feet twitched. "Oh, I think they sympathize. I also think they have plans. I have some news for you, Crow," Sylvain continued. "If you want to find Velzae, you’d best figure out how to phase like him, because it's how he escaped his confinement here, and it's the only way you may even get close unless he lets you."
I glanced at Va'th for a moment before letting my grip on the creation slacken. I had a feeling that Sylvain was only going to tell me so much. He eased himself from my grasp the rest of the way as Va'th finally spoke.
"What do you want to do, Crow?"
"I suppose I better go learn why Velzae would want my child," I answered, keeping an eye on Sylvain. "What are you going to do, V
a'th?"
"Keep looking for your kiddo. What do you think?"
I finally glanced at him. "You can't. If this guy can teleport, what makes you think you'll be able to catch him?"
Va'th smirked--a crooked expression that stretched his lip rings. "I've got my ways." He changed to seriousness. "You focus on study. I'm going to call up Insidd on your behalf if that's okay."
"Whatever works."
Sylvain narrowed his amber eyes. "Am I to assume that your Strejca plan on coming in here to kill me?"
"That was the plan," I answered, "but for now I could use you." I hated stating it, but Sylvain had been helpful so far.
Hearing this caused the HSP to brighten as if flattered.
"Just... don't do anything weird, and I won't--"
"--Sic your dogs on me. I understand, Crow Hightower. Do what you must to find that insolent fool Velzae. He is planning something awful. I feel it."
I turned to speak to Va'th, but he was already on his way out another set of doors. Taking one more glance at Sylvain, I beckoned with my hand for him to follow me and made my way back toward the elevator. I figured I needed to get back to the digital record room where I'd first met Dentrin. If Velzae had been in Saydea, then he would hopefully be on one of the cameras.
An image of the bloody scientist surfaced in my mind, and I remembered what he'd said about wanting to speak to me. Seeing as how my plans were scattered the moment Stelliot was kidnapped, I followed my intuition and pressed the button on the elevator panel for the Critical Zone once Sylvain had caught up with me.
"Meeting someone?" Sylvain questioned.
"If you can read my mind, why are you asking?"
Sylvain grinned crookedly. "Call it selective intuition. I only read minds when I want something said or done."
I came out and was met with an unpleasant, medicinal aroma of the hallway. Taking a left, I began checking the plaques on doors, only frustrated further when I saw that they were all in the same numerical code I’d discovered on my first trip through the building. My irritation lifted a little, though, when I saw an open door further down the hallway, and finally noticed a thin trail of spattered blood leading to the entrance. I slowed to a stop at the door frame and peeked in around the corner, Sylvain keeping behind me and silent the entire time.