“But we haven’t even looked for her yet,” said Den feeling confused.
“Come on Den you can’t really think that I’m actually going to go after someone in Carlton’s lair? That girl wasn’t kidnapped. She’s there by choice. Besides, her Father doesn’t even want her back.”
“What are you talking about? He just paid us to look for her.”
“Did you see his neck?”
Den turned back towards Akatski in surprise. “His neck?”
Akatski picked up a cup and began cleaning it. “The red marks on the side of his neck. Those are from Carlton’s VR machines. Mr. Dark is well acquainted with Carlton and his practices. If he wanted his daughter back, then he could have just paid him whatever she owes.” Akatski pulled Evelyn’s picture from Den’s cache. The 3D representation of Evelyn spun in the air between them. “A girl like that is a dime a dozen. I doubt Carlton could make more than 50k even if he sold every organ in her body.”
“So why was he here then?” It doesn’t make any sense, thought Den. Why go to all the trouble? When the realization came to him, anger filled him.
“He’s just paying us so that he can say he did something,” confirmed Stella. “He doesn’t actually want the girl back.”
“What kind of Father…”
Stella shrugged, “Does it matter? It’s an easy 25k so why question it?”
“Because it’s wrong.”
Stella laughed again, and Den felt his cheeks heat.
“If you’re going to have heart palpitations every time you hear a sob story on Rocquamport then you’re in the wrong place. Stop questioning it and come get some cigarettes with me.” Stella waved her hand towards the door, “The party is on me tonight boys, we’ve got 25k to blow!”
“Amen to that!” cheered Tan. “I haven’t had a real meal in weeks.”
Den stared at Evelyn’s picture, unable to turn away. How could they be so callous? Not even her own Father wanted to save her. The picture disappeared.
“You coming, Den?”
He felt his anger rise, “How can you just go out now that you know this is happening?”
Stella’s face darkened, “Fine if you want to stay here and pout then I won’t stop you. This is Rocquamport Den, not Earth. Mommy’s not going to hug you and say everything is going to be all right.”
The door slammed behind them and the mansion grew quiet. Den turned the image on again, examining Evelyn’s face. Even though she was smiling for the picture her eyes looked empty, dead. He shook himself, you’re reading too much into this Den. Stella’s right, this is Rocquamport, you have to let it go.
It might be Rocquamport, but you’re still from Earth. The thought lingered at the back of his mind, as Den began to walk up the stairs to his room. Just leave it alone, he told himself, trying to push his conscience back down, but the thought refused to leave.
Burn me, he thought as he got to the top of the stairs. Stella might be right about Rocquamport, but that didn’t mean he could look away. You’re not that person anymore, he told himself. You left that behind when you left Earth.
Tan’s words filled his memory, “You can come to Rocquamport, but no one ever truly leaves their past behind Atlas.”
Screw it, he thought. Maybe Tan was right. Maybe he hadn’t learned anything. He pulled out his black combat uniform from beneath his bed. Either way, what he was about to do was probably very stupid, he thought, stepping into the rubbery embrace of the regenerative armor.
He shoved his pistol into the holster at his hip and sent the GPS coordinates of Evelyn’s position to Stella’s car. They weren’t going to be back for a while, so it was the perfect time to bring her back before anyone noticed. Not even Stella could say no to the extra 25k they’d get for delivering her. Making one last mental check of his gear, Den adjusted his pistol one last time and hurried down to the car. Every minute Evelyn remained in Carlton’s hands, her danger rose.
He stepped out the back door and then stopped.
“Going somewhere?” Akatski leaned against the dented hood of Stella’s car.
Den swallowed, “You can’t stop me.”
Akatski raised an eyebrow and pushed himself to his feet. “I can’t stop you from being stupid if that’s what you mean.”
Anger flooded Den, “Don’t make this about me. I’m talking about the girl!”
Akatski raised his hands, “I’m not here to keep you from going if that’s what you really want. I just thought it was time you learned something.”
“About what?”
“About people. Just listen, it was three years ago. One of our first jobs together. Stella got a contract to retrieve a boy who’d gone in over his head on Tantor at the brothels. Of course, rather than come clean, he started selling himself to pay for his indulgences.”
Akatski leveled his gaze on Den. “Stella went right in, broke up the brothel and pulled the boy out. He begged us to let him stay, but it didn’t matter. We were being paid to deliver him, right?”
Den nodded.
“Well before we left the planet the vindictive little bastard managed to find out that the Tantorian Guard had a bounty out for Stella and tipped off the locals as to where we were. They came at us in the night and we were separated during the action. I escaped but Stella was captured. She spent the next twenty days locked in a Tantorian detention cell before I could figure out where they were holding her. And you know something?”
“What.”
“They don’t have laws against torturing foreigners on Tantor. Stella never told me what they did to her, but we haven’t tried to rescue anyone from their own mistakes since, ever.”
“What happened to the boy?”
Akatski shrugged, “Stella was so angry when she got out that she went straight to his place ready to off him, but she was too late. Turned out the proprietor wasn’t too happy with the boy for what we’d done to his place when we pulled him out. So, the next time he showed up, his body made its way to the dumpster out the back.”
Den swallowed, “This is different.”
“Perhaps,’’ Akatski shrugged. “But you can’t save people who don’t want to be saved Den. Stella is right. Carlton doesn’t kidnap anyone. He doesn’t have to. Once he gives them a taste they are more than willing to sell themselves to him piece by piece.”
“That’s why I have to go. No one should be given that opportunity.”
“I thought as much,” said Akatski, stepping away from the car door with a shrug.
“You’re not going to stop me?”
“Some things can only be learned by experience.”
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Author's Note
Great ideas don’t happen in a closed box.
I’m so glad you’ve taken the time out of your busy life to read my story. I hope it’s benefited you in some way or given you a few hours of quality entertainment. At least that’s what I’d like to think anyway.
I wanted to take a moment to write to you, my reader because the idea behind The Captain is quite unique and I thought that it could do with some explaining.
It all started when I saw a copy of The Inferno by Dante sitting on my shelf. Now even if you think you haven’t heard of Dante, you’ve probably heard of The Inferno. It’s that story about Hell, actually the story of a soul passing through all nine circles of Hell.
Anyways, it got my story engine started and I began to think that there might be a story there. However, I didn’t want to send my characters to Hell literally as Dante did. So, I set upon the idea of The Captain’s Inferno. Rather than sending my characters to Hell physically I’m going to send them to He
ll on an emotional and spiritual level… by showing the effects of sin.
What!?
Let me explain it.
Dante originally conceived of Hell as a giant funnel reaching towards the center of the Earth and inside the funnel there were nine circles or levels. Each circle represented the suffering of souls who were put in Hell because of a specific sin. For example, lust, violence, greed, fraud, and those kinds of things.
Where The Captain takes place is what Dante would call the “vestibule” or entrance to Hell. In other words, you’re still standing at the lip of the funnel.
But what do the affects of sin have to do with this? Well I believe that you don’t have to go to Hell to begin to experience it here on Earth.
Let’s unpack that.
Hell is a place of punishment, but we don’t have to be there, to begin to feel the affects of our sins… If you think about it, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
It’s that voice in the back of your head. The one that says you’re not good enough, not thin enough, don’t have enough. It’s the voice that speaks when you give in to your fears and insecurities. It’s the silent shout that screams at you to continue falling into the one vice that is destroying your life.
My friends, there is a darkness inside all of us, and the question behind The Captain’s Inferno is simple.
What happens when you feed it?
I can tell you this now, the lower you climb the louder it whispers. There will be at least one episode of The Captain’s Inferno for each circle of Dante’s Hell. I’ll let you dream of the rest.
Regards,
Jordan
…While you’re waiting, I’ve included the first three cantos or chapters of The Inferno. Being that this was my introductory Episode it is less closely related to The Inferno than the rest of the series will be, but I thought you might enjoy seeing how Dante introduced his characters and setting in the original Inferno.
I’ll be including the applicable cantos from Dante at the end of all future episodes so you can follow along and see what inspired my writing. Don’t worry though the text attached has been made available to the world free of charge by Project Gutenberg, so we’re not breaking any copyright laws by including it here.
If you’re interested in the exact translation I read to research The Captain then look for the one by John Ciardi, I believe it is quite good.
Enjoy!
The Inferno
Canto I.
In middle of the journey of our days
I found that I was in a darksome wood
The right road lost and vanished in the maze.
Ah me! how hard to make it understood
How rough that wood was, wild, and terrible:
By the mere thought my terror is renewed.
More bitter scarce were death. But ere I tell
At large of good which there by me was found,
I will relate what other things befell.
Scarce know I how I entered on that ground,
So deeply, at the moment when I passed
From the right way, was I in slumber drowned.
But when beneath a hill arrived at last,
Which for the boundary of the valley stood,
That with such terror had my heart harassed,
I upwards looked and saw its shoulders glowed,
Radiant already with that planet’s light
Which guideth surely upon every road.
A little then was quieted by the sight
The fear which deep within my heart had lain
Through all my sore experience of the night.
And as the man, who, breathing short in pain,
Hath ‘scaped the sea and struggled to the shore,
Turns back to gaze upon the perilous main;
Even so my soul which fear still forward bore
Turned to review the pass whence I egressed,
And which none, living, ever left before.
My wearied frame refreshed with scanty rest,
I to ascend the lonely hill essayed;
The lower foot still that on which I pressed.
And lo! ere I had well beginning made,
A nimble leopard, light upon her feet,
And in a skin all spotted o’er arrayed:
Nor ceased she e’er me full in the face to meet,
And to me in my path such hindrance threw
That many a time I wheeled me to retreat.
It was the hour of dawn; with retinue
Of stars that were with him when Love Divine
In the beginning into motion drew
Those beauteous things, the sun began to shine;
And I took heart to be of better cheer
Touching the creature with the gaudy skin,
Seeing ‘twas morn, and spring-tide of the year;
Yet not so much but that when into sight
A lion came, I was disturbed with fear.
Towards me he seemed advancing in his might,
Rabid with hunger and with head high thrown:
The very air was tremulous with fright.
A she-wolf, too, beheld I further on;
All kinds of lust seemed in her leanness pent:
Through her, ere now, much folk have misery known.
By her oppressed, and altogether spent
By the terror breathing from her aspect fell,
I lost all hope of making the ascent.
And as the man who joys while thriving well,
When comes the time to lose what he has won
In all his thoughts weeps inconsolable,
So mourned I through the brute which rest knows none:
She barred my way again and yet again,
And thrust me back where silent is the sun.
And as I downward rushed to reach the plain,
Before mine eyes appeared there one aghast,
And dumb like those that silence long maintain.
When I beheld him in the desert vast,
‘Whate’er thou art, or ghost or man,’ I cried,
‘I pray thee show such pity as thou hast.’
‘No man, though once I was; on either side
Lombard my parents were, and both of them
For native place had Mantua,’ he replied.
‘Though late, to the world I came,
And lived at Rome in good Augustus’ day,
While yet false gods and lying were supreme.
Poet I was, renowning in my lay
Anchises’ righteous son, who fled from Troy
What time proud Ilion was to flames a prey.
But thou, why going back to such annoy?
The hill delectable why fear to mount,
The origin and ground of every joy?’
‘And thou in sooth art Virgil, and the fount
Whence in a stream so full doth language flow?’
Abashed, I answered him with humble front.
‘Of other poets light and honor thou!
Let the long study and great zeal I’ve shown
In searching well thy book, avail me now!
My master thou, and author thou, alone!
From thee alone I, borrowing, could attain
The style consummate which has made me known.
Behold the beast which makes me turn again:
Deliver me from her, illustrious Sage;
Because of her I tremble, pulse and vein.’
‘Thou must attempt another pilgrimage,’
Observing that I wept, he made reply,
‘If from this waste thyself thou ‘dst disengage.
Because the beast thou art afflicted by
Will suffer none along her way to pass,
But, hindering them, harasses till they die.
So vile a nature and corrupt she has,
Her raging lust is still insatiate,
And food but makes it fiercer than it was.
Many a creature hath she ta’en for mate,
And more sh
e’ll wed until the hound comes forth
To slay her and afflict with torment great.
He will not batten upon pelf or earth;
But he shall feed on valour, love, and lore;
Feltro and Feltro ‘tween shall be his birth.
He will save humbled Italy, and restore,
For which of old virgin Camilla died;
Turnus, Euryalus, Nisus, died of yore.
Her through all cities chasing far and wide,
He at the last to Hell will thrust her down,
Whence envy first unloosed her. I decide
Therefore and judge that thou hadst best come on
With me for guide; and hence I’ll lead thee where
A place eternal shall to thee be shown.
There shalt thou hear the howlings of despair
In which the ancient spirits make lament,
All of them fain the second death to share.
Next shalt thou them behold who are content,
Because they hope some time, though now in fire,
To join the blessed they will win consent.
The Captain Page 7