City of the Falling Sky

by Joseph Evans

  “I’ve told you already, I don’t know where the worms went,” Seckry said. “Please let me go, let me go back!”

  “It’s not about the worms, this time Mr Sevenstars, there’s something even more disturbing about your visit that has come to our attention.”

  “You can’t take me anywhere,” Seckry said defiantly, even though his voice was audibly shaking.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have an option, Mr Sevenstars. I mean, you can jump out of this car if you like, but . . . breaking into private property is a serious offence, we wouldn’t want the Patrol finding out about your little visit to us now, would we?”

  As they arrived at the headquarters, Seckry was led through a number of different corridors that he vaguely remembered and thrown into the same room as last time, in which Jenniver Layne was seated, almost like she had never left.

  “Seckry,” Jenniver said. “It’s good to see you again.”

  Seckry said nothing. He just shook his head at her in disbelief, breathing heavily.

  “The reason why you’ve been brought here this evening, Seckry, is that we’ve finally just managed to restore some of the security footage of you breaking in.”

  Jenniver stood up and wheeled a small TV towards him.

  “I want you to take a look at this. There is something very strange about the footage we are about to show you, and we’d like you to explain exactly what is happening here.”

  Jenniver pressed a button on the remote and CCTV footage appeared on screen. Footage of Seckry. It was strange watching himself and he felt incredibly uncomfortable.

  There he was, digging for the worms. But there was some distortion on the tape, some bright light beginning to bleach out the right hand side of the screen. He was looking at the light, moving towards it.

  It was where Eiya had been.

  “What is this light?” Jenniver asked.

  Seckry was silent, watching the tape.

  He was pulling the light with him. There was no doubt that this bright, blinding light was Eiya.

  “You took something with you. Something other than the worms. What was it?”

  Seckry was lost for words. Why was Eiya emitting light like that?

  “Seckry, whatever that bright light is, it made our security tapes melt. It could be something incredibly dangerous.”

  “I don’t know what that is,” Seckry said, his bottom lip visibly trembling. “I took the worms and left.”

  Jenniver turned the television off and leaned back in her chair.

  “Seckry, whatever you took with you that night needs to be brought back here. It needs to be brought back here and destroyed.”

  Seckry’s stomach did a back flip.

  “Destroyed?”

  “Yes, destroyed.”

  Something inside of Seckry erupted then, and he couldn’t stop himself.

  “What’s going on here?” he shouted, close to tears. “What is all this about? Why is it dangerous? I know that the white chip was a load of nonsense. You weren’t protecting us from leaked toxins, there was no leak. You were searching for helitonium, weren’t you? What are you doing? What is the Divinita Project? And why is the logo for it the same one that’s on that old painting of Seckraman?”

  As soon as Seckry stopped talking, he knew he’d said too much.

  “The Divinita Project is none of your concern,” Jenniver snapped. “And I’m not sure what you’re talking about in regards to the logo. That logo was designed by our graphics team here from scratch.” She pressed a finger to her ear. “Mr Darklight, sir, the boy knows too much, permission to use the hypnosis headset? . . . Thank you. Seckry, I’m sorry we have to do this.”

  “You’re going to hypnotise me?” Seckry said, aghast.

  “You know too much about proceedings here, I’m afraid. You shouldn’t even know the name of the Divinita Project, never mind be enquiring about it. The hypnosis tape will make you forget all of it, and then . . .”

  “And then what? You still need me to tell you what that blinding light is on the video, and how can I tell you if you erase my memory?”

  “And then we’ll find out what it is you took with you by breaking into your home and searching it.”

  “You can’t do that! You’re not hypnotising me!” Seckry said sternly and made to get up out of his seat.

  The four security guards stationed around the room suddenly had guns pointing directly at his head.

  “I’m afraid it’s not an option for you, Seckry,” said Jenniver.

  An employee entered the room with the headset, walked behind Seckry and fastened it tight onto him.

  Stay alert, Seckry told himself. Just stay wide awake and alert and you won’t go under. You can fight this.

  The first sound that Seckry heard through the tape was a mellow, ambient music, followed by an irregular pattern of clicks.

  But as Seckry was concentrating with all his will not to be affected in any way by it, the music stopped abruptly and there was silence.

  Then came a voice. Jenniver’s voice.

  “Seckry, I want you to stay calm and focused. Whatever you do, do not look alarmed. Nobody knows you are hearing this, and they cannot find out. I want you to listen very carefully to everything that I say.”

  Seckry’s eyes locked on Jenniver’s. What was this?

  “I have recorded over the hypnosis tape. You are not going to be hypnotised. I want to assure you of that before I tell you anything more. It is the only way I could think to get this message to you without Darklight knowing about it. If it’s got to the point that you are wearing this headset then my plan has gone accordingly. Just keep looking at me and listen carefully.”

  Seckry swallowed hard.

  “Seckry, the Divinita Project is almost at its final stage of completion and it must be stopped. I don’t know if you know what it is that’s going on here, but be assured that the project should never have come into existence. What I’ve said about the worms is true, they are incredibly dangerous, but if they’re found they should not be returned to Endrin, they should be destroyed immediately. The worms that were living in the cultivation unit were serving a very specific purpose, they were consuming toxic waste produced by modified helitonium radiation in the Divinita chamber, which is situated directly beneath the soil you visited. I’m surprised you didn’t get sick and collapse whilst you were digging. The light, whatever it is, may also be dangerous.

  “Seckry, what I need you to do is find Ropart Sanfarrow. Find Ropart Sanfarrow, Seckry. He is the only one that can explain all of this to you, and he’s the only one that has a key to the Divinita chamber aside from Darklight. He is in hiding somewhere, but he would never leave the city. He is here in Skyfall but I do not know where. If you have been looking for Kevan Kayne, you should stop now. Kevan Kayne is dead. He was murdered here at Endrin by Darklight.

  “Before you leave, I’m going to give you a locket that you have to give to Sanfarrow when you find him. This locket will earn you his trust. I’m going to take the headset off you now, and you need to act as though it has worked, for your own safety, okay? When I remove the headset, ask me where you are, and pretend that you have no idea what you’re doing here.”

  Jenniver suddenly stood up and removed the headset from him, slipping the locket silently into his pocket as she did so.

  Seckry said nothing for a moment, taking in everything that he’d just heard.

  Then he said, “Where am I?” his eyes still locked on Jenniver’s.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  The List