The Cleanway

by Tim Niederriter

  “Do you know who that aeon on the high street was?” I asked, unable to grasp my beautiful friend’s intended meaning. I got to my feet. “He recognized you.”

  “I didn’t know him. I know the type.”

  “He’s a rogue star.”

  “Not quite,” she said, “though some rogue stars are insane aeons, that one is something even more dangerous to us. He’s half-mad, but he serves another aeon, maybe one with all her faculties. Half-mad aeons can project fear. I know you felt it.”

  “The teeth…” I murmured.

  Rebecca nodded. “I met a few like him before I was cleaned. I need to tell you, I also met people like Carol and the others back then.”

  “People like Carol?” I frowned and looked out the window. The rest of the renegades were still out there. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t think they’re ordinary soldiers. Sure, the military employs people with their skills, but…” She took a step back from me and ran her fingers through her tousled hair. “I think those four used to work for Sudhatho directly.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I remember some of their files from before.”

  I took a step toward her. “Where did you see them? For that matter, where did you meet half-mad aeons?”

  “Fully sane aeons have an aversion to harming humans, similar to their aversion to old-world technology. Listen, Jeth, the more an aeon’s sanity erodes, the more this aversion decays, at least in the case of violence. Half-mad aeons serve other aeons as enforcers, but they operate strictly off-the-record because the sane don’t think humans would trust them if they knew the truth.”

  I looked into her eyes. “You’re serious. How do you know all this?”

  “Because of what I did for Yashelia. Aeons need human agents to do things they can’t, especially in the absence of any partially mad members of their own kind.” She broke her gaze from mine and looked at Thomas. “I mean some people barely need a push to stop trusting.”

  “You worked for Yashelia back when she was sane.” I touched her chin with my fingertips, trying to get her to raise her eyes. “What exactly did you do?”

  She inclined her head to meet my gaze. “Espionage. Sabotage. I don’t remember. I still can’t place precisely how or why I was cleaned. I think my final mission for her had something to do with it. I’ve been trying to put it together. That’s one reason I’ve been keeping my distance, Jeth.”

  Tears threatened to spring up in my eyes. “You could have told me.”

  “I wanted to know for myself first. I thought I could keep you safe.”

  I sighed. “So you were some kind of agent for Yashelia, and then she cleaned you, but we don’t know why.”

  “When I worked for her, I uncovered some internal files for Sudhatho’s organization on a mission. All four of the renegade soldiers out there right now worked for him back then.”

  “They did the same kind of work for him as you did for Shelly.”

  “Yashelia.” Rebecca nodded. “Seriously, Jeth, that name is not going to catch on.” She gave me a small, but natural smile.

  I shook my head. “If we can find out who that half-mad aeon on the high street works for, maybe we could find out where Elizabeth is. Right now, the renegades don’t matter to me. We need to help her.”

  “I know,” said Rebecca, “I care about her too, Jeth.”

  “Rebecca.”

  “She’s only been kind to me. I don’t care that she’s your ex.”

  I nodded. “Then we’re in agreement.”

  Thomas stirred in the chair. He turned toward us and groaned. “Could you two keep it to a dull roar?” He still sounded mostly-asleep.

  I leaned my head closer to Rebecca. “Breakfast?” I asked. “We can give him some space, and we need to eat.”

  “Alright.” Rebecca picked up the jacket she had worn over her dress when she had come to Lotdel Tower the previous evening. “We should reach out to Ryan. Find out if he knows anything we don’t.”

  “He’s gonna be pissed. We went out there without him and his team.”

  “He’ll understand, but I’ll be honest. If he were me, we’d both catch some hell for what happened.”

  “Seems reasonable.”

  We left the apartment and took the elevator to the restaurant below. The place was the same as ever, set up for breakfast, except for the security notes about strange cleans left on the wall by the entrance. As we sat, I sipped a sip of ichor. The doses were getting to be unavoidable, given the troubles going on around me. As soon as I networked, a news bulletin flickered through my head.

  Nageddia herself addressed the residents of her buildings, with what appeared to be a pre-recorded message. The last time she had sent such a communication was during a late summer hurricane that almost reached our latitude a few months ago.

  She started with an image of Elizabeth. “This woman, Elizabeth Ashwood, is a resident of Lotdel Tower and is currently missing, as of last night. If anyone has information related to her location, please contact one of my assistants. Thank you, and we hope she is found safely.” The message ended.

  I looked at Rebecca. “Nageddia would probably want us to report what happened to her.”

  “We can’t,” said Rebecca softly. “She’s part of Sudhatho’s group, and I don’t trust any of them right now.”

  “Likewise,” I said, “but we could use the help.”

  “When we know what’s really going on, then fine,” said Rebecca. “Before that it’s too much of risk.”

  “Alright,” I said. “I’ll get in touch with Ryan.”

  Unregistered Memory, Elizabeth Ashwood, Unknown Location

  Elizabeth woke with a gnawing hunger in her stomach and pain coursing along her spine from skull to tailbone. She was lying on her side, her back to a cold, rough column, a tree trunk. Her jacket and conservative skirt felt heavy, and the chill air stank of decay as well as something else—ashes.

  A gray sky was visible through gaps in blackened branches, burnt by some recent fire. She rolled onto her back, hoping the carpet of leaves could cushion her aching back. Flickers of gold traced a net in the air above the treetops. Elizabeth remembered the only place she had seen the cage deployed before. Her ichor containers were gone.

  She sat up fast, ignoring the pain.

  Yashelia’s garden surrounded her. Elizabeth shuddered. A glimpse of morning sunlight burned through the clouds to the east.

  A short distance from Elizabeth on the forest floor lay a still woman in a form-hugging black motorcycle suit. The cracked helmet was gone, and hair radiated from the renegade soldier’s head in dark strands. Her eyes were closed, but the wound on her side where the van had hit her did not look serious. She breathed shallowly.

  Carol did not stir as Elizabeth got to her feet with agonizing slowness and then looked around. They must be near the center of the garden, for the trees had not lost their summer green. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked toward the only other human she knew to be in the garden.

  Elizabeth reached down to shake Carol by the shoulder.

  The woman’s eyes opened slowly, then filled with fear when she saw Elizabeth. “You? Where are we?”

  Elizabeth drew back, surprised by the absolute horror in Carol’s eyes after how she had acted the previous night.

  “A garden where a rogue aeon lives.” Elizabeth’s hushed tone turned the last word into a hiss.

  “Yashelia,” said Carol. “Damn it. Not yet. I’m not ready to meet her.”

  “Neither of us can fight her.” Elizabeth shuddered as she remembered the scenes of blood and gore she had witnessed through the network during the incident. “We need to find a way out.”

  Carol blinked and then pointed up at the glimmers of gold in the sky. “We can’t. That’s a light barrier. Should prevent anything alive from leaving.”

  “Maybe it should, but we got in here somehow. So there must be a way out.”

  Carol scowled
and started to sit up. “You may have a point. But if I can contact my team—”

  “Not before I contact mine,” Elizabeth said, surprising herself with her angry tone. “You started this.”

  Carol shrugged. “You don’t have to tell me.”

  A rustling came from the branches a few meters away. Elizabeth turned, apprehensive. A squirrel raced into the remaining foliage nearby. “Don’t scare me like that,” she said under her breath. She offered Carol a hand.

  The renegade soldier gripped her wrist tight and pulled herself to her feet.

  “Keep away from the green and the center, and keep your eyes open. We could have a chance to find the way out,” Carol said, then took a step and gasped. Her side ran with trickles of blood. “Damn it. Your idiot friend just had to try and ram him.” She clutched her wound.

  “We should bandage it.”

  “Do you see a first-aid kit anywhere?” Carol glared at Elizabeth. “Let’s go.”

  Elizabeth took a step back, and thought better than to press the issue. She led the way from the clearing where they had awakened, trying to follow the burnt and dead parts of the forest toward its edge.

  Unregistered Memory, Ryan Carter, Military Command Center Alpha

  Ryan sent his complete report to Colonel Cannwald after everything went to hell in the night. Evidently, a network report was not good enough. The colonel summoned him, and this time his entire team to waste time traveling north to meet in person.

  After the network attack against him and Conner, he had lost track of events completely for the night. When he came around early in the morning at a medical facility in Lotdel Tower, Alesia and Conner were still with him, quickly joined by the message from Cannwald.

  Evidently, the colonel had some additional information. Of course, he couldn’t have just filled Ryan in the first time. Officers of the military tended to be tight-lipped when dealing with civilians, but it was always frustrating to be on the dark end of such information barriers.

  Alesia and Conner seemed about as pleased as him to be riding a train north while their investigation languished under the scrutiny of domestic security forces. She kept checking an antique time-piece on her wrist. He sat with his eyes glazed and a concentrated grimace on his face during the whole train ride, as he delved into the sensory layer of the networks.

  As the train pulled into the station near Command Center Alpha, Ryan finally got a connecting message from Jeth. He immediately sent back a connection. The two of them started conversing while he followed Alesia and Conner down the street.

  “Are you alright?” Jeth asked.

  “Of course I am. I didn’t go off chasing a wanted criminal on my own.”

  Jethro’s wisps of thought looked stormy for a moment. “Sorry. Thomas and I thought we could catch her.”

  “You probably should have listened to Elizabeth,” he said. “Doesn’t she tend to have a cool head?”

  “She does…” Jeth related the events on the high street the prior night. “Do you have any idea where a rogue aeon would go?”

  “I only know one other rogue star still alive in this city. And I don’t believe in coincidence, Jeth.”

  “Yashelia.”

  “Yes.” Ryan stopped walking outside the security checkpoint just outside Command Center Alpha’s front doors. “Look, Jeth, let me get back to you. I have a meeting, an important one.”

  “As soon as you know anything—”

  “I’ll let you in. I trust you, Jeth. Don’t worry about that.”

  Ryan broke the connection, then submitted to the scans and security checks necessary to let him through to see the colonel.

  After breakfast, it only took a quarter of an hour for Sarah Harper to contact me via direct network messages.

  “Mister Gall,” she said, “I heard about Miss Ashwood’s disappearance on the news this morning. Are you alright?”

  Rebecca watched me silently as I responded through mental vocalization. “I’m not well,” I said, “but I’m working with public security to find out what happened and what I can do.”

  Sure, the last part was a lie, but I did not know what else I could say.

  “Have the kidnappers sent an ultimatum?”

  “No. I have no idea what they want.”

  “You two are a promising duo,” said Sarah. “Let me know if there is anything my company can do to help.”

  “That’s generous. Thank you, Miss Harper.” I knew I sounded subdued, but I hoped far from ungrateful.

  “Understood. Good luck, Mister Gall. Please know, I have my own private security looking into things already.”

  “You do? We only just met!”

  “Like I said before. You and Miss Ashwood are worth the investment. I only hope it is enough. Goodbye for now.”

  She disconnected.

  I looked at Rebecca with a perplexed expression. “Harper says she’s got people out looking for Elizabeth.”

  “That’s good.” Rebecca nodded. “I have a feeling they won’t have much luck, though.”

  “Do you have any idea who that aeon was, back on the high street?”

  “Just guesses, but I’m sure the renegades used to work for Sudhatho. If they’re operating outside the law the way they are now, it’s possible that’s no longer the case.”

  "Rebecca, are you thinking the way to find Elizabeth is to follow the renegades?"

  "I think it's a better idea than nothing. We need a plan."

  I nodded. "I don't like it, but I don't think we have a choice."

  We turned to leave the restaurant. Thomas stepped out of the elevator ahead of us. I wondered what to say that could possibly make them feel better about what happened. Nothing presented itself. That had happened all too often, lately.

  Thomas looked at me and said, "I think I have an idea. Those renegade soldiers will be looking for Carol."

  Rebecca glanced at me, then said, "I suppose you're right. Funny how we all thought the same thing, isn’t it?"

  I almost smiled. Rebecca's tone might be light, but the situation was serious. If we didn't find Elizabeth soon, who knew what would happen to her.

  Lines of other residents flowed past us, heading in and out of the restaurant. The three of us went to the elevator. Thomas waited downstairs while Rebecca and I went up so I could change clothes.

  I put on my long coat and stashed the small revolver Thomas had given me after the incident in one pocket. I didn't know what good it would do if we ran into the half-mad aeon again, but I liked my odds better with it than without it. Plus, we were going after humans, not just aeons. I only hoped we would be ready for them.

  Unregistered Memory, Elizabeth Ashwood, Yashelia’s Garden

  Carol leaned against a blackened tree trunk, supporting herself with an outstretched arm pressed to the charred wood.

  “There’s no way out,” the woman said to the air, speaking low as if Elizabeth was not beside her to hear.

  Elizabeth frowned at the glimmering light barrier visible through the trees just a few meters ahead of them. Cold sweat crawled down her spine at the thought of being trapped within this garden until Yashelia found them. She scowled in concentration.

  “Even if we can’t find the way out, there must be some way to send a message to… someone out there.”

  “There would be if that lunatic aeon hadn’t take all our ichor.”

  “You’re the super commando. You’re telling me he found all of your containers?”

  Carol grimaced but said nothing. Elizabeth took the negative, but accepting their isolation left her feeling even colder than even the late-autumn day had any right. No ichor. Well, no ichor, except…

  Elizabeth snapped her fingers. “Carol, there is one way we could get some ichor.”

  “What are you talking about? It’s not possible.”

  “There’s an aeon in this garden, Carol. Yashelia, a rogue star. She was trapped here when the light barrier went up.”

  “That’s assuming Sudhatho di
dn’t just let her sneak out,” said Carol bitterly. “After all, he’s cheated every other law.”

  “You know about Sudhatho?” Elizabeth frowned at the light barrier.

  “Of course I do. The four of us were part of his wetworks operations.”

  “Wetworks? What does that mean?”

  “It’s an old term, lady. It means we took out his metaphorical garbage. Discreetly.”

  Elizabeth turned her deepening frown on Carol. “You worked for him? I thought you were military?”

  Carol glared at her. “We don’t have time for this. You have a point about the aeons, though. If you or I can get even a drop of ichor—I’d wager our odds of survival improve by a lot.” She sighed, her glare growing gentler. “Problem is, we don’t have weapons or any way of trapping a rogue star-level aeon. And that’s assuming there’s only one in here when there could be more.”

  Elizabeth inhaled deeply. “If there is an aeon here, they’d be aware of us already, right?”

  “Probably. I’m not sure the full extent of Yashelia’s powers, not the way she is now.” Carol bit her lip. “But most aeons would have us on their network radar by now.”

  “When the barrier set up, she was hurt pretty badly.” Elizabeth turned and looked toward the center of the garden. “Do you think that could help us?”

  “Aeons are tough, and they can heal wounds fast with help. But if she’s really been in here alone since the incident, what, two…three months ago? Well, that might give us a chance.” Carol pushed away from the tree she had been leaning on. Her hand came away pallid with ash.

  “Sounds like you have a plan.”

  “That’s because I do. Now.”

  “Tell me, please.”

  “It’s a long shot.”

  “I saw what she could do before. I know how dangerous she is.”

  “Risky at best, but if she’s still healing, I’d bet she’s still in the center of the garden near her tree. If one of us distracts her, the other may be able to sneak close enough to touch a wound and get some ichor.”