On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance

by Alex T. Kolter

  When no other sounds followed, he edged slightly further forward in the confined space, and then, with impressive agility, he spun onto his back, and grabbed hold of the slight lip above the vent. He then pushed the rest of his body out of the vent, and once free, dropped quietly down onto the storage unit below him. “I’m in,” he called out.

  “Well done lad,” he heard Mal say.

  Ryate’s more serious tone followed. “Look for general medkits, Nero. Field dressings, pain relief, healing gels. Put them in this bag.” Nero glanced back at the hole, and saw a black bag come flying through, to land on the floor next to him. He bent over and picked it up.

  When a glance into some of the nearest storage units didn’t reveal anything of immediate interest, he walked over to some of the larger units on the far side of the room. Behind the glass fronts, these were illuminated, and showed shelves stacked with a variety of medical supplies. Many Nero didn’t recognise, and were therefore ignored, but he did recognise the general medkits, having seen some on rare occasions before. He pulled open the door of one of the units with these medkits, and started filling the bag with them.

  Once he’d picked up a good number, he looked at some of the labels on the other products in the medical unit. Many sounded useful to him, so soon the bag was bulging with things like fracture fluids, neurostimulator gel, artificial skin spray and healing gel. But even when the bag was full, Nero saw, it was almost impossible to tell anything had been taken from the units. They were still so full.

  He put one last medkit in the bag, closed the storage unit, and then heaved the bag up off the floor. With a deal of effort, he carried it back to the vent, and placed it down on the storage unit beneath. He then climbed onto the unit himself, and managed to push the heavy bag into the air vent above his head, pushing it in as far as he could reach.

  “Mal?”

  “Yeah?” came the slightly muffled voice from next door.

  “The bag’s in the vent. Can you pull it out?”

  Nero heard a couple of grunts from the far side, presumably as Mal leaned into the vent to reach the bag, and then he saw it disappear. “That’s great, Nero,” Mal said after a moment. “This’ll last a long time. Can you climb back into the vent?”

  “I think so. Hang on,” Nero replied, looking up at the hole above him. He grabbed onto the edge of the vent, and was about to try to pull himself up, when he heard a faint noise. He froze. It sounded as if it was coming from just outside the room he was in.

  “Mal!” Nero whispered, urgency in his voice. “I think someone’s coming into the room.”

  “Shit! Don’t panic Nero. Can you get up into the vent?”

  “No!” The sounds had peaked, and paused just outside the door.

  “Okay, put the vent cover back in place if you can, and then find somewhere to hide. Can you do that Nero?”

  Not bothering to answer, he grabbed the vent cover and hooked it back on, fumbling slightly but managing to do it on the second attempt, and then jumped down and crouched behind one of the metal units. Just as he ducked, heart hammering in his chest, he heard the faint sound of the door sliding open, and then two voices in conversation.

  “What did the boss want?” one said, as the main lights in the room turned on.

  “A few doses of neurostim, and some pain meds.”

  It sounded to Nero as if they were approaching down the left side of the central units. Risking a glance, he stuck his head out briefly to the right. There was no sign of them. He slowly edged around the corner of the unit, and then moved as fast as he could, still crouching, and without making any sound, towards the door.

  “Did you ever speak to him about that raise?” the first guy continued, as Nero moved.

  “Yeah, I brought it up yesterday. It didn’t go down too well mate. He just looked at me, and then completely ignored me. I was so tempted to just sock him one, but, well, I need this job.”

  “I know what you mean, man. I tried asking him for a couple of days off the other month, to visit my family in Scraper 17. No luck.”

  Nero heard the sound of one of the units being opened behind him as he reached the door. He risked a glance behind him, and saw the two men stood with their backs to him, looking into one of the units at the rear of the room. They were entirely unremarkable, but then Nero’s eyes were drawn to one of the men, who looked like he had a pitch-black arm. He looked closer, and saw that it wasn’t an ordinary arm. It gleamed slightly, and even from this distance, Nero could see the glow of a display that looked integrated into the arm. The whole thing looked like a piece of machinery, attached to the man’s body.

  But before Nero could study the arm any more, the man reached up and shut the storage unit he was stood in front of. Nero whipped around and pressed the panel to open the door, praying that the men weren’t looking, and ran out, half-crouching, into the corridor. He continued running and came up to the adjacent door, to the Dispensa 3 room, and hit the glowing green panel to the side. It slid open, and he stepped inside. The door slid closed behind him, and breathing heavily, he rested his back against the door.

  “Shit!” Nicko said, startlingly Nero slightly. “You did incredible there. That was almost a disaster!” He must have watched the feed from the drone, Nero realised.

  “Perhaps you’re a natural at this,” Ryate said in his usual gruff tone, as he walked over. He paused in front of Nero, arms crossed. “We’ll have to get you doing this more often.”

  Nero smiled, quietly pleased with himself. They finished loading up the bags, leaving everything as close to how they found it as possible, and made their way back out into the corridor. They didn’t encounter anyone else, and climbed back into the tunnel system, Nero already thinking about what the next job might involve.

  CHAPTER TWO

  FOUNDATION

  Five years later

  He walked in silence as he passed through Section 106. Despite the dangers in this area of the city, more so than most areas, Nero liked walking here. It gave him a thrill, and besides, there were no mothers with crying children here, no hobbling old men, just a few gang members that could be avoided if necessary. He could think when he came here.

  A noise made him glance left, and he noticed a dilapidated shelter, propped up against one of the more permanent buildings. The noise didn’t come again, but the structure made him think of his old home, the one he and his mother had lived in. But that had been five years ago now. It was time to move on, he chastised himself. He increased his pace a bit more. Ryate had given him a job to do, and though he was only fourteen years old, he had a responsibility to Ryate, and to the rest of the group.

  He put the other thoughts out of his mind, and glanced up as a momentary burst of sunlight broke through the smog above. It didn't last long, and he continued walking, thoughts returning to the job in hand. The area he was walking through used to be relatively populous, with traders at their stalls, and people either staring hungrily at the food on offer, or buying it, if they had enough money. Now, though, there was no evidence of habitation here. The streets were abandoned, the only movement coming from the occasional bit of rubbish that drifted lazily in the gusts of wind that blew down the streets.

  Nero stopped, and looked up at the building towering above him. The ground floor was open to the street, though the rest of the place was tightly locked down, he knew. A glance around the street didn’t reveal any threats, and so Nero carefully stepped into the building. It was dark in here, but that wasn’t a surprise. He waited a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust, and looked around. No one here, he thought, confused, before spotting a door at the back of the room. It was slightly ajar.

  Silently, he made his way through the outer room, past broken hulks of furniture, and approached the door. He listened intently, wary of anyone waiting on the other side of the door. Very faintly, he thought he could hear the slightly harsh sounds of someone breathing, but if so, it sounded like just the one person in there. Whoever it was didn’t wan
t to be found, though, as no light was on in the room, and only blackness was visible through the crack between the door and the door jamb.

  He paused to savour the moment, feeling his heart beating quickly in his chest, and the adrenaline pumping throughout his body. This was his favourite part of the job, just when you didn’t know what might happen. When there might be a load of people beyond the door, all armed and ready to attack, and he would have to make a split-second choice to run or fight. He edged closer to the doorway, and without hesitating, pushed the door hard. It opened fully, and Nero stepped into the room as he hit a button on his sleeve. Bright white light illuminated the dingy room, the light strips in his jacket banishing all of the shadows.

  With just a brief glance around the room, he knew he wasn’t in any danger. It looked like an old office, with a collapsed desk at the far side, a broken holodisplay on the floor, and various boxes strewn about the place. To Nero’s right, stood behind one of the boxes, was an old man, eyes averted from the sudden bright light. He was hunched over, and looked about as dangerous as one of the old boxes he was stood by. Nero raised the stun gun he always carried, and casually aimed it at the man.

  “Who are you?” he demanded, in an authoritative tone.

  “Wait!” the man yelled in return. “Wait! I’m no one, I was just staying the night. I’ll leave.”

  “What’s your name, old man?”

  The man gave Nero the slightest of questioning glances, as if reassessing who Nero was. “Some call me Gabbett,” he said slowly, watching Nero intently.

  Nero lowered the weapon to his side, though he kept it in his hand. “Excellent. Ryate sent me here. Said a man named Gabbett had some information for him. I’m not very patient, so what’s this information, Gabbett?”

  The man walked out from behind the crates, more confident now that he knew Nero wanted something from him. “What will Ryate give me for my information?” he asked.

  “He doesn’t know what information it is, Gabbett, and neither does he know the reliability. You tell me what it is first, and how you know, and then I’ll tell you what we can give you.”

  Eyeing the stun gun that Nero still held, Gabbett conceded. “Alright. But I want a guarantee that you’ll give me something...” Nero nodded. “Well,” the man continued, “I was, um, borrowing some items from a building a few blocks away, when I heard some noises. Naturally, I hid, and into the room walked a few men. I risked a peek at one point, and these weren’t human; they were vacsos. Aliens.”

  Nero raised an eyebrow in surprise. He thought he could see where this was going.

  Gabbett continued. “I think they were Nostra. They were dressed like they belonged to the Nostra, anyway. Well, I heard them talk. I didn’t catch everything they said, but I got the important bits. They were talking about Ryate, I think.”

  “Ryate?” Nero asked, surprised. “Did they mention his name?”

  “No,” Gabbett said, hesitantly.

  “Well, how do you know they were talking about him?”

  “Well, I don’t, for sure, but they were talking about a gang near Section 90, one that was becoming an annoyance. I think they’re planning to do something about Ryate.”

  “Right. And is that it then?” The man called Gabbett nodded. “Okay, well, Ryate thanks you for this information, Gabbett. However, it’s hardly much to go on, is it? Were these guys just chatting about a grudge, or were they actually planning something? If so, what, and when, and to whom?” Gabbett shrugged, and shook his head slightly. “Well,” Nero continued, “Ryate would like to offer you some protein sticks for your help.”

  He retrieved a small stack of the sticks from his belt, and offered them to the old man.

  “Is that it?” Gabbett asked, with slight whine of disappointment in his voice. He looked dejectedly at the small amount that Nero was holding out.

  “I’m afraid you haven’t been reliable in the past, Gabbett, and it’s not like you have anything definitive for us. This offer is very generous. I would take it and leave if I were you.”

  Grumbling under his breath, Gabbett reached out and took the sticks. Nero knew that he would. A man as emaciated as him would never turn down even this small amount of food. Leaving him to his meal, Nero turned and swiftly left the room, switching off his light as he went. He didn’t want to draw undue attention on himself as he made his way back to Section 93.

  As he walked, remaining conscious of his surroundings, Nero pondered what the man had told him. The Nostra, he knew, was a ruthless mob, mainly comprised of alien species, which ruled the surface of the planet. Nero, Ryate, and everyone else living on the streets only survived if they stayed well below the Nostra’s notice. If the Nostra were taking an interest in them... well, it was bad news. But, he thought, he had severe doubts about Gabbett’s story. The Nostra probably didn’t even know they existed.

  ****

  “So, some aliens - who may or may not be Nostra, and who may or may not be simple lackeys - were annoyed at a gang some distance away from us. Is that the essence of the information, Nero? Or am I missing something here?”

  “No, that was about the gist of it, Ryate,” Nero said. “He didn’t have anything definitive. Just a guess.”

  “I’m surprised you gave him those sticks, Nero. I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” the gruff older man said. “Still,” he continued, “I’ll warn everyone to be vigilant for a time; it doesn’t pay to take risks with the Nostra.” Ryate looked back down at his desk, and the holodisplay sat on it.

  Nero took that as his cue to leave, and walked back out of the small cave. He stepped into the tunnel that connected it to the vast network of caverns and tunnels that sprawled out beneath the great city above. Ryate’s group controlled a few kilometres of tunnels at most, and a total of six caverns, including Ryate’s small one, but the tunnel network was much more extensive than that. No one knew just how far the tunnels stretched, but there were certainly many hundreds of kilometres of tunnels down here under the city, built at what time, and for what purpose, again, no one knew.

  Nero walked along the tunnel that connected Ryate’s cave to the main cavern, where he was most likely to find either Mal or Talyah. Since none of the tunnels seemed to connect point A with point B, Nero was forced to take a slightly meandering route, making a few turns, before he finally came upon the main cavern. He could hear the people inside before he could see the place, and when he did at last step inside, he saw Mal at the far side, surrounded by a small group of people. It looked like he was just finishing telling one of his stories.

  “... rammed it up there, and none of them bothered me again,” he said as Nero approached. This was greeted with a few chuckles from those clustered around him.

  “Nero!” Mal called out, pushing his way through his audience. “How you doing, lad? Have any success with old Gabbett?”

  “Not really, he just had some vague rumours. Was that the chair leg story?” Nero asked, referring to Mal’s tale.

  “You like that one, eh? Yeah, some of these guys hadn’t heard me tell it yet. It seemed only fair to include them,” he said with a grin.

  Nero smiled. It was a rather violent story, but then, he always found those the most entertaining. “Do you know where Talyah and the others are?” he asked, after glancing around the cavern. There were only a few people around at the moment, most of them having been listening to Mal’s gruesome tale.

  “Can’t say as I do. I think they went out to do a job a little while ago. Do you have something in mind?”

  “I’ve got the rest of the day off. I was thinking about going to Jeralee’s, or something like that.” Mal smiled at the mention of Jeralee’s. That was an infamous club on the surface, which occupied the entire ground floor of one of the Scrapers. It was known for its loud music, strippers, and murders. If there weren’t at least two murders in a night, then the evening was generally considered a disappointment. Indeed, the club's owners had been known to start a fight on occas
ion, if things were looking a little dull.

  “I remember when I first went there, oh, maybe ten years ago now,” Mal said, reminiscing. “I think there were three murders that night, one of which was mine. I can’t remember the reason, but I got a free drink after that. Anyway, call me when you leave.”

  It was an hour later that Talyah, Jerad and Col returned. Jerad and Col were relatively recent additions to the gang, coming along after Nero had joined, but they were about the same age as Nero. Fully human, they were otherwise about as different from Nero as it was possible to be. Where Nero had a lithe, athletic build, Jerad and Col were both more heavily built, with dark skin to Nero’s paleness. This didn’t stop them all becoming friends though, and after an initial squaring up, Nero had emerged as the de facto leader of their little group.

  “Are we going to the surface, Nero?” Talyah asked, once again displaying her slightly strange ability to sense what others were thinking. Or she just guessed well.

  “No,” Nero replied, amused at the momentary confusion on her face. “Yes,” he corrected, “I’m going to Jeralee’s with Mal. Are you guys coming?”

  They agreed to leave come darkness.

  ****

  Nero reached the top of the set of steps, and paused, listening for any sounds of movement outside. Hearing nothing out of the ordinary, he eased open the cover for the tunnel system’s exit, which, from the outside, resembled a large air vent in the side of a building. Seeing nothing strange, Nero eased himself through the slightly-too-small hole, and stood up in the cool night air outside. The alleyway he stepped into was deserted, and he glanced back through the open air vent to Mal, Talyah, Jerad and Col, waiting for the all clear.

  “Come on then,” he said, and stepped out of the way.

  They followed, with Mal, as the last one out, replacing the air vent cover behind them. Unless you knew it was an entrance to the tunnel system, you’d never know it was there. Down the alley they walked, and at the end they emerged onto one of the busier streets in the city. This avenue boasted a number of shops and stalls, open all day, selling whatever it was you needed. That ranged from simple foods and drinks, to clothing, fuel, drugs and prostitutes. In some of the shops, even, Nero knew you could find real food, assuming you had enough money. The avenue was also known for its gambling dens, which attracted vast numbers of people from across the city, and which Nero had spent many an evening in himself.