Hell Is Empty

by Travis E. Hughes

  Rex waved his hand and the Red Scarves and the Amazons all pulled back. Rex climbed on Ed’s bike and drove away. Ed and the Red Scarves on the sidewalk backed away until they came to the corner and then they turned and left.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Always hated bullies,” Wild Bull said as they gathered in the boardroom. Out the window a dozen Red Scarves milled about the sidewalk, looking up at the building.

  “We just keep getting pushed out of places,” Roslyn said, pounding her fist on the table. “I’m sick of it.”

  Talbert sat quietly to the right of Roslyn, staring off into space. Dr. Gonzo had given him something for the pain. Judging from his high tolerance to bug juice, Roslyn assumed it was something quite strong.

  “Frank,” Roslyn said, turning to the man wearing white gloves. “What do you think we should do?”

  “If we run now,” Frank said with a shrug. “We might as well pack it up and all go find jobs else where. Our credibility will be worth squat.”

  “So we stay and fight them?” Roslyn asked.

  “We fight him?” Hattie said, more specifically.

  Roslyn once again glanced at Talbert. His eyes were slow to follow the conversation. Besides the hand cast, his ribs were wrapped tightly; her best fighter taken out right before the war. But, she thought, she had Wild Bull now.

  “What if we can get to Kidd Wylie?” said Siringo.

  “And do what?” Roslyn asked, having an idea where he was going.

  “We have him switch to lethal, right when he gets his gun back from the promoter,” Siringo said.

  “As much as that would…” Roslyn trailed off. She could tell several people liked the idea. “We can’t do that.”

  “I agree,” Hattie said.

  “Why not?” Siringo asked. “This is war.”

  “War’s ugly,” Talbert said with a slight slur. “Blood.”

  “The stun duel needs to become an institution,” Roslyn said, trying to remain impassionate. “If we undermine the integrity of it… Right? I mean I invented the idea… What does that say if I’m the one promoting… If people start cheating and killing each other again…”

  She could feel the mole curling up to the base of her spine, clawing his way into her mind.

  “Okay,” Frank said, holding up a white glove, palm out.

  “Besides, if Rex wins and finds out that Kidd turned his gun back to lethal. He’ll kill him on the spot,” Roslyn said.

  “We use the event to strike,” Frank said.

  “A lot of innocent people could get in the way,” Roslyn said.

  *

  Talbert decided not to drive his bike home, instead he walked. The breeze and the exercise would push the sedatives out of his blood. Despite the pain, he needed to be sharp. He returned to the list of names that he could pull up in his mind. General Wong’s wife, Sunny and Amanda had always gotten along. But the idea of Amanda and Emyah living in the same house as Howard Wong, didn’t fit right in his mind. That craggy old, uncouth bastard would drive Amanda crazy. That wouldn’t last. So Talbert crossed off that name.

  There had been a captain he’d served with in the early days, back on Fort Trump. Amanda had kept up with her through social media. Talbert could picture the basic shape of the man’s face but the name wouldn’t come. Small, distant memories, of drinking together in a pub in Fort Trump, danced about in his mind. He remembered playing darts with him and his wife. Amanda playing a song from her transponder to the speakers with the flick of a finger. Captain… What the hell was that guy’s name?

  “Excuse me,” said a female’s voice to his left. It came from a table outside of a pub. The sun was setting and the streetlights had come on. Talbert wouldn’t have noticed it, but it felt oddly familiar.

  “Bill?” the voice said again. This time he stopped and turned. It was Amanda’s voice, only it didn’t belong to Amanda entirely. What he found most unsettling was that it came from a woman who resembled Amanda. She had the same shiny auburn hair and the high majestic cheekbones, but the mouth was fuller and the eyes were a sharp steel blue. Amanda had soft, green eyes.

  “Excuse me,” the woman said. She could’ve been in her late teens, now that he focused on her more closely. “Is your name Bill Talbert, by any chance?”

  He felt his limbs tingle as all the blood receded from them at once. A lump larger than a plumb filled his throat. He tried to clear it, lest he not be able to reply.

  “I – That’s my…” Talbert finally managed to clear it and turned his head to spit, but swallowed instead. He gave one last throat grunt.

  “I’m Bill Talbert,” he said, offering his hand, unsure what else to do. She shook it with a crooked grin.

  “The same one people call Devil Bill?” she asked releasing his hand. She took a slight step back. Talbert blinked at her a couple of times and falsified a smile.

  “I suppose so,” Talbert managed to answer. “And you are?”

  “I think I’m your daughter,” she said with a forlorn look in her blue eyes. They spoke of a troubled life, of struggle and despair. It tore his heart into a thousand pieces to look into those eyes. She was tired. She had traveled a long way.

  “What’s your name?” Talbert managed to find some sense and not to break down and give it away lest this be some cruel trick.

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d tell me,” she said, a tear forming in her eye. It rolled down her cheek as her thick bottom lip quivered. It took everything he had not to grab her and hold on to her for the rest of eternity. But he reminded himself that eternity never ends and so he braced himself to focus. He’d need to vet this one hard before giving her his heart.

  “Why don’t you know your name?” he asked, putting back on his detective’s hat.

  “Is there some place we can go and talk?” she asked, looking around.

  “Uh, there’s the park over there,” Talbert said, pointing down the block. Half a dozen teenagers were playing a futbolito match. This girl could have been out there playing, she was the right age, once he compared. Which also made her the right age to be his Emyah. He trembled as they strolled across the street and found a bench that overlooked a swing set and another futbolito field where a group of adults played a game that looked far less graceful or intense.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The fluttering of his heart had cleared away most of the sedative from his blood stream, but the throbbing of his hand was far from his mind.

  “Can you answer my question?” Talbert said, watching the game. A tall skinny boy with a bleach-blonde mohawk kicked the tiny ball just right of the small net. His other two teammates razzed him for always shooting wide.

  “I don’t remember my real one,” the girl said. Her head bowed forward and her shoulders shook.

  “Why not?” Talbert said, trying to hide the anxious frustration. Again time had stalled and he willed it forward.

  “I was just a toddler when we headed toward Earth,” the girl said.

  “What happened?” Talbert said eagerly, his pending impulse made him want to grab her by the shoulders and shake the information out of her.

  “I don’t remember,” she said, sniffling. Though he desperately wanted to believe this story, his detective brain pressed the brakes. Too many holes.

  “Then why in the hell do you think I’m your father?” Talbert said, crossing his arms and turning his head toward her.

  “All I remember was they told me Mommy was dead,” she said, covering her eyes with her hand. “I was too young to understand what was happening.”

  “Who told you?” asked Talbert.

  “The woman on the ship,” the girl said. “I guess there was an accident. I was never told the real story. The older I get I suspect someone killed her. Either tried to rob her or rape her or both. Luckily there was a nice widow who could never have kids in the cabin across the hall from ours. She took me in and back to Earth to raise me.”

  “Yeah, that is lucky,” Talbert sighed. “But s
till doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Oh, the widow, Mrs. Silva, we used to call her Silva Back,” the girl smiled fondly at the memories.

  “Who did?” Talbert asked.

  “Me and my friends, her nieces,” the girl said. “She told me I was the daughter of a famous war hero who was killed in battle. A General William Talbert from Athena.”

  “What did she call you? Why didn’t she use your real name?” Talbert asked.

  “Oh, she called me Araceli, because she’d always dreamed of having a daughter,” the girl said with a grin. “It was her favorite aunt’s name, I guess. They were close before the aunt died when she was just a teenager.”

  The lights above the futbolito pitch came on just as the teenagers were having trouble seeing the size one ball. The game resumed with parents and friends cheering them on from the bleachers. It may have been a championship game for the enthusiasm being spent on it.

  “Are you thirsty?” Talbert asked as a vendor’s cart passed by them. “Two waters.”

  The android vendor stopped and gave them two bottles of water. Talbert slid a pink chip into the slot and received two grey ones in exchange.

  “How did she remember you were the daughter of a general in the war named Talbert?” Talbert asked, poking at all the holes carefully. He cracked open his water and took a long swig, swirling the cold liquid around his mouth, wetting the corners, before swallowing it deeply.

  “She looked it up,” Araceli said, taking a sip of her bottle. “We looked it up together, actually. I was turning sixteen. I had always asked questions but we did a report in school about the war and I began to get curious about my real parents.”

  “How did she pin-point it was me?” Talbert asked titling his head and frowning.

  “From the manifest of the ship,” Araceli said. “She dug around and found out that Amanda Talbert had booked passage to Earth and that she had also been found dead on the ship. It never mentioned the cause of death, which I find odd.”

  “That is odd, yep,” Talbert said with a grunt. “Among other things. Why didn’t it have your name on the logs?”

  “I guess mother didn’t buy me a ticket. It just said she was traveling with a young daughter. But, yeah, she found a report about General Bill Talbert’s decisive victory of East Montgomery, among others,” Araceli said and then pursed her lips.

  Talbert tried to conceal a grimace. They both took water breaks and watched as the blue team put together a nice round of possession before sending a perfectly weighted through ball to Blonde Mohawk who once again sent the ball wide to the right. “Come on, guey!”

  He longed for access to the network. He would have looked up Amanda and found out if she’d been reported murdered on a passenger ship from Athena to Earth. But that information was only available to people in Sol’s system.

  “So she figured Amanda Talbert had to be Bill Talbert’s widow?” Talbert said, stringing random thoughts into patterns.

  “Yeah,” Araceli said, with a shrug. Her eyes had dried out and she looked up at him. There was something painfully familiar about her; that much he could not deny. Icy fingers reached around his heart and squeezed. His stomach twisted into a tight knot. Could he allow himself to believe her?

  “She found a report that mentioned you were from Athena instead of Earth. Since the bridge jumper was from Athena to Earth, it just made sense that you were my real father. Only everyone on Earth thinks you’re this famous dead hero. Well, that is until the news feed of your duel with Wild Bull finally reaches Earth next year.”

  “Is that how you came to find me?” Talbert asked. He thanked Hattie for suggesting the notion and providing the means.

  “I was on Athena when I saw your fight with Wild Bull and read the story,” Araceli said.

  “What were you doing on Athena?” Talbert asked. “How old are you, by the way?”

  “Well, to answer the second one, I’m around twenty-two or close to it. I don’t know my exact birthdate, but Mrs. Silva thought I was about five years old or so when I first met her,” Araceli said. It was the right answer. “The first question, Mrs. Silva passed about two, two and a half years ago.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” Talbert said. “I haven’t been around many children, but don’t most five year olds know their birthday?”

  “Thanks,” Araceli said in response for his condolences, and gave a sad smile. “Mrs. Silva didn’t believe in celebrating birthdays. She was old and a bit weird about stuff like that. No Xmas or anything like that. She left me a few bytes when she died. I was supposed to use it to go to college, but…”

  “But what?” Talbert asked, feeling a sudden fatherly impulse.

  “But I had to come out and see the galaxy first,” Araceli said with a side laugh. “Right? Go on adventures, fall in love with a space pirate. Right? Who knows, maybe find my childhood home on Athena. Which turns out, belongs to some rich cattle baron now. In case you were wondering. I was in my hotel room in Grandby when I saw the clip of your gunfight. You are really fast, Dah… sir.”

  The near miss of her calling him Dad gave his heart a start. She was proud to be his daughter in a way. It confused him. He’d always assumed his family would have been disappointed in what he’d become. But she was just a kid, glorifying a situation.

  As this reasoning settled in his mind, a new emotion began to rise. It was fear. It was unlike anything he could remember. No, that wasn’t true. He’d felt it once before, but now it took on fresh meaning. He’d first felt it the day she’d been born. But now it had a palpable texture to it. She made him vulnerable. If what she claimed were to be true… This other fear of it not being true also swam in the same murky waters. If this really was Emyah, turned into Araceli, then he couldn’t imagine what would happen if Rex or any other of these dangerous and vile fiends took her away from him.

  But if it wasn’t true? He couldn’t accept it yet, either way.

  “Well, Araceli,” Talbert said, finishing his water. He looked around for a place to throw it out. A trashcan sat a few yards away, but it was over flowing with garbage and swarming with furry insects. “I’d like to take you to dinner and discuss this further.”

  “Okay,” Araceli said, smiling warmly at him. All of his organs slunk to his knees. “I’d like that very much.”

  “But we need to go someplace sort of out of the way,” Talbert said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, kid,” Talbert said. “Turns out your old man has some enemies, if you can imagine that. If they find out my kid is in town. Well, that’s not something I can gamble with.”

  He was playing along, not ready to believe her. Not yet. But it felt incredible to even pretend he did.

  “I’ll go back to the hotel and clean up,” she said, standing. “I’m staying at the Grand Mother Hotel.”

  “Swanky place,” Talbert said as alarms were echoing through the chambers of his mind. “I’d suggest trying to find some place else.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, with a cute grin. “I’m treating myself. I won big at poker back on Athena.”

  “It’s not the problem,” Talbert said. “Remember those enemies? Well, my biggest one owns that place. If he finds out who you are, he’ll take you. He’ll do horrible things to you, just to torture me. I know it.”

  “Elvis, Dad,” there she said it. “That’s one crazy life you’ve made for yourself.”

  “Yeah,” Talbert agreed. “Tell me about it.”

  “I’m so glad I found you, Dad,” she said. “Is that okay? Can I call you that?”

  “Uhm…” He tugged at his ear. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I don’t mind the sound of it just yet.”

  She laughed and stood.

  “Here,” he said taking her empty water bottle. “Someone needs to buy some sanitation robots and establish a dump outside of town. Problem is, this town grew up too fast and people only give a shit about their immediate selves to put anything into a collective fund to buy this shit. It
’s too close to paying taxes. And taxes, my dear, are for asses.”

  “Yeah, I saw the signs on Athena,” Araceli shook her head and grinned. “What’s up with that? You can’t do your part to make it a better place?”

  He stared at her. She reminded him of Roslyn. Those two would be best friends by the end of the week, he thought. A warm burn glowed in his chest. It was a dangerous door to open and he leaned against it to keep it shut for now.

  He let her walk away. He couldn’t be the one to do it. She turned a few times and looked back at him. She waved. He waved and smiled. To call the moment surreal would be the understatement of a lifetime. It was a dream. It had to be a dream. He would wake up now and it would break his heart all over again.

  Once she was out of sight, he sniffed. A hot wet droplet rolled down his face and he cleared his throat. Walking proved difficult at first, as his legs had turned gelatinous. But he forced them to move, one foot in front of the other, toward Dr. Gonzo’s cabin.

  “Can I get a DNA scan on both of these bottles, please,” Talbert asked, handing the wild haired doctor the plastic bottles.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Roslyn counted seven Red Scarves on her way home. All subtly watching her. Puff could feel her tension. He let her know by fidgeting on her shoulder and making guttural noises. She regretted bringing Puff along with her to the market. But she was out of brockdens and tofu and so an evening stroll to take in the crisp air was in order. She felt bad leaving him cooped up all day in her tiny apartment. He needed to fly and hunt.

  “Go ahead,” she said putting her head against his ribs. He placed his head on top of hers, craning his long scaly neck. “Stretch those wings, Puffy.”

  Her shoulder lifted and her back straightened as the dragon took to the evening sky. He circled twice and then headed toward the hills outside of town.

  “Pretty fancy trick you got there,” said a voice behind her. She turned to see Ed with two Red Scarves flanking him. She recognized the stocky one on the left from before. But the tall one on the right wore a red scarf with slight variations; even different from the ones in Yanker.