Utopia: A Dark Thriller: Complete Edition

by Adam Steel

  The sliver doors slid open and he boarded to the booming announcement of the train’s loud speaker system which called:

  “PORT OF UTOPIANA:

  PRIMARY DOCKING STATION

  WELCOME CITIZENS OF UTOPIA

  ANOTHER FREE JOURNEY FUELLED

  BY F2-GENIE PROJECT

  FREEDOM AND EQUALITY TO ALL

  ENJOY YOUR DAY”

  On the wall of the carriage, an Info-Com screen displayed the same map as the one in the main station. The train’s route was high-lighted in orange.

  Max jammed a finger at the screen on a point in Sector Six: Coney City.

  The Dog’s Diner bar wasn’t far from the station. Nothing in Utopia was ever very far from a monorail station. On screen, it informed him that the journey time from the Port of Utopiana station, to Sector Six in Coney City, would be 2 hours 24 minutes and 50 seconds. The watch on his wrist helpfully stored the information and began the countdown to arrival without being instructed. Max ignored it and slouched down in one of the seats next to the screen.

  With the absence of further interaction the Info-Com returned to displaying an advertisement about the new Edikitt education system that was being implemented.

  The train left the station and gathered speed as it hurtled towards Coney City.

  Max’s eyes were heavy and he began to doze.

  A cry from a small nursery child on the screen next to him infiltrated his thoughts. He drifted back and relived his murky past. He’d had a little girl once and a young wife. It seemed like a lifetime ago since he’d first joined the military and it felt like last week when he’d been booted out, or reassigned, as they put it. He’d been excited at the prospect of being a young dad; his other squaddies back in training had jibed at him for it.

  At sixteen he’d gotten Sandy into trouble: a fact his old drill sergeant, Samson, never let him forget. The shouting about him being more proficient with his dick than his rifle still rang in his ears. As soon as his training was complete he’d been deployed; sent overseas into a war zone to fight in a murky conflict. It was hell, but he’d had a purpose and a beautiful new wife and daughter back home. That was, until the news came of the Day of Reckoning.

  The desperate, garbled, retreat orders had come through, vague and confusing. What was left of his unit was packed up and shipped back. The conflict they were fighting abandoned and forgotten.

  They came home to find that everything had changed. His wife Sandy and their daughter Sophie, were gone, wiped out by some catastrophic event that no one understood.

  He’d been recalled back to Arethusa along with the rest of his unit. His old commanders were replaced by the strange black and red uniformed officers. They’d established a defensive perimeter and held their ground. He’d been among those soldiers first sent into the ruins of London in the early weeks after the disaster. They had to wear masks because the smell of death was so overpowering. They’d been tasked, initially, with providing security for teams to go in and remove the bodies.

  There were thousands of burnt corpses around the outskirts, but there were no bodies left in the inner city, just dust and ash covering the ground.

  Max had lost the rest of his unit in the years that followed. Some had gone mad, unable to cope with the resounding despair of the situation. Others had been killed in action fighting against the gangs and fractured warlords that had appeared in the abandoned cities. New soldiers had joined with him and some had been ruthless, gunning down anyone they discovered messing with the emerging Coney City and its ambitious construction projects. Some of those soldiers were in TALOS now. Max had seen them go. As the masons took control and the two cities were built up, the threats became less. Soldiers, like Max and Falkner, were reassigned to guard duties at the Port of Utopiana, while the newly emerged TALOS units took control of the patrols.

  When the CURE was formed he was officially drafted into its Security Services Department and they’d taken his gun. It was the last thing that truly mattered in his life. All non-TALOS personnel were officially no longer in the army and were reassigned with TALOS standing alone as the new military. Soon after that, came the first decent bars. When the reconstruction gathered speed, things began to slowly return to a sense of normality. Those first bars kept Max busy. They still did.

  Max pushed the old memories aside. He returned to the present. He hadn’t known Aya long, but she made him feel better, if he could just blot out the memories of Sandy. He found it hard to truly care about anything anymore. Aya had one hot body and an arse that didn’t quit, but he couldn’t honestly say that he loved her. He wanted to, but the voices in his mind wouldn’t let him go there.

  Max ached for a cigarette. His eye twitched again. As soon as he was done with Aya he’d make a pick-up he decided. His special supply of memory-suppressants was out and he just couldn’t face things without them.

  Dog’s Diner and Aya were sounding very good to him about now, anything to stop him from being left alone in his own thoughts.

  The train raced along towards the distant city with its troubled cargo.

  On the Deck of Utopiana: Utopia’s shores

  Aarif was standing on the decks of Utopiana when the ocean going liner approached the Port of Utopiana. He had been on the liner for nearly a month and despite his opulent accommodation aboard the ship, he was keen to get on dry land and complete the journey to finalise the business transaction he had been negotiating the past few years, and to meet his future wife, Aya.

  Utopiana made long distance trips out of the Port infrequently and this particular trip had been to India, a trip which was only made once a year. Utopiana doubled as a passenger liner and a transport cargo ship. She was an eighty-thousand-tonne converted ship. Cruising at thirty knots, she could carry over two thousand passengers and five hundred crew members. The top and middle sections of her body retained the purpose for which she was originally constructed: as a luxury liner. The lower decks had been converted to hold tonnes of cargo; the sort of luxury cargo that could not be home-grown in Utopia.

  She was escorted by a TALOS military cutter on every journey. They called the TALOS cutters ‘Squids,’ because of their sleek, black bodies which resembled the shape of a giant squid. Low in the water, they were armed with four retractable gun turrets, each carrying 40 mm, 360 degree, laser-guided weapons. The Squids had other more secretive weapons that were used to protect the shores of Utopia and were known only to TALOS officials and entrusted operators.

  Aarif turned up the collar of his suit against the cooling sea breeze.

  A small group of passengers had gathered on the sharp, bow end, of the liner to get their first view of Utopia’s shores. Some of the passengers were there strictly for business. Others had bought their way in along with their rare and precious goods. A few would have received places in return for their specialist skills, but all of them would have passed the intense screening programme issued by Fin-Sen. If they were of no special value, they wouldn’t have been invited.

  The Port of Utopiana was built against a backdrop of high chalk cliffs in a narrow and secluded bay. The Squid veered away from the hanger doors and remained on patrol in the well-defended bay.

  Aarif could see the watchtowers on the top of the cliffs, and the breakwaters that went out either side of the port, protecting the shipping line like a cradle. There was another Squid hovering near the breakwater and the two cutters seemed to greet each other as they drew closer.

  He peered over the edge at the cold grey water and a shrill sea breeze ruffled his groomed black hair.

  Aarif was of Indian descent and had inherited a business empire that had made him obscenely rich. He had done well, very well but now the time had come to manifest his destiny. Across the waters lay the land whose secrets would soon make that a reality.

  He smiled at the rolling waves.

  He had finally received the invite from Mason Royale that had permitted him to come at last. Invite was perhaps the wrong phrase, summons
would have been more appropriate but Aarif didn’t like to admit to himself he could be summoned somewhere.

  He felt a pang of homesickness as the ship sailed on. The strange climate and sea air did him no good: his lengthy beauty routine had been doubled on the ship in order to satisfy him. Still, one day he would return home with all the wealth and power he could muster. Today would be the founding of his empire, he vowed to himself as he watched the rolling waters.

  The waves were choppy and the spray from the breaking bow hissed as Utopiana ploughed on towards the port. The liner shuddered and two-hundred-thousand horse-power of engine made loud grinding noises when they were engaged to slow the metal hulk.

  The port loomed up like a huge white wall as they cruised in slowly.

  Utopiana negotiated the narrow lane of water that would lead her into the gigantic hanger doors and home.

  Aarif took the photograph of Aya out of his pocket, and leaning on the rails of the deck, he studied the picture.

  Her mother Mada had already been contacted by his subordinates to inform her Aarif would be arriving to take possession of his prize.

  Aarif mused to himself as he traced the lines of her image. It should have been your sister Sara. Pity. Her death was an inconvenience. She was my betrothed, but she’s dead now, along with your father Kaleem. He was a good business man. Shrewd. Aarif admired that. It only served to remind him that he was shrewder. He liked seeing his own traits in others so he could compare them. His was always the more refined.

  Aarif had a low opinion of Kaleem, but in truth he never thought of highly of anyone else. Kaleem had been clever enough to convince his father to arrange the marriage between Aarif and one of his daughters. Aarif had to begrudgingly admit that was an impressive feat. His late father had been almost as shrewd as Kaleem.

  He could dimly recall Kaleem’s face and the likeness of both of his daughters Sara and Aya. You do look like her, a lot like her, he thought as he studied the picture. If my father wishes this marriage then it will be so. Our families will be tied together just like your father arranged and you will fulfil your pledge to me and give me the son that I need to carry on my business empire.

  In truth Aarif was continuing the marriage because his father had decreed he could only inherit the family empire if he did so. It was one of many contractual agreements in the man’s will. Still, Aarif had managed to turn the situation to his advantage by placing his prospective wife in Utopia. It would serve to be most lucrative indeed. After all he was smarter than his father and a little more cunning.

  Aarif continued to muse about the arrangements that had been made so many years before. Your mother Mada tells me what a lovely woman you have become. You are beautiful, an added bonus. She writes about you to say what a wonderful wife you will make. How good natured and respectful you are and how you have kept yourself pure for me. Soon we shall be married and you will truly be mine to do with as I will. You will make me proud. Mada assures me of that. She’s a good woman, your mother. Traditional.

  Aarif held much in the value of tradition especially when it benefited him.

  He smiled a sly grin. His dark eyes fixed on the photograph as though he already possessed her. Of course your career will have to stop when we marry. Your life will be mine and I will expect you to be a dutiful wife and mother. No more working for you Aya. Mada says you will miss that but you are willing and eager to please me and be the good wife that I deserve. Our wedding will be luxurious. Phoenix Palace is nearing completion and we will have that as the venue. No expense will be spared. You and your mother will be well cared for. You will want for nothing. Once I am done in Utopia no one will ever cross me again. Our interests will grow and grow and our heirs will carry my name for a thousand years. My life is going to be perfect.

  Aarif touched the photograph and then put it carefully back into his suit jacket.

  He was thinking about the boxes of cargo in the hold with his emblem on the side. His own men were paid handsomely to guard them day and night for the whole journey. Each one was full of rare silks, spices, seeds, perfumes, gems and Aya’s priceless, wedding dress. Several of the boxes were destined for trade as rare. They were worth millions of credits in this new world he was approaching and he would use them to buy a lifestyle that would be incomprehensible to even the best-heeled citizens of Utopia.

  The immense hanger doors inched open on gigantic cogs and swallowed Utopiana into the holding dock.

  The speaker system echoed loudly inside the metal hanger. It announced:

  “Attention

  Attention

  Utopiana docking complete

  All staff, proceed immediately to arrivals

  Prepare for security checks”

  It screeched and clicked as its operator flicked the switch.

  Aarif turned and walked back to his first class cabin to collect his briefcase.

  Standing by the door of his cabin was his personal body guard. He was a broad shouldered man of short stature, with a stare that could hypnotise a cobra. His name was Ajit. It meant invincible, and it suited him. He had guarded Aarif for the last ten years, and in that time he had killed several would be assassins with his bare hands. He had also disposed of an indiscreet young woman who had threatened to embarrass Aarif. He spoke only when asked and then only very briefly.

  Ajit bowed, arms folded and stepped to one side of the cabin door.

  Aarif went inside and picked up the black leather case lying on the bed. He unlocked the room safe and took out his entry papers and a small velvet box that held Aya’s engagement ring. He flicked the box open and examined it, checking to see if it was still there.

  The ring was stunning.

  It was made from white gold and it was set with a huge sapphire of the deepest blue colour.

  He smiled to himself and shutting the box with a sharp flip, slipped it into his pocket next to the photograph of Aya.

  He could feel the ship shuddering as she ground to a halt against the side of the hanger platforms. The motion of the ship ceased and he felt a floating sensation that made him feel momentarily dizzy. There was a massive ‘thump’ coming from the bow, and then two more from the stern, as the docking clamps attached themselves to the body of Utopiana and holding her fast in the dock. Aarif caught the side of the cabin door to balance himself as the ship lurched a few inches forward.

  Ajit unfolded his arms, but a glance of Aarif told him not to assist.

  Ajit followed Aarif up the passageway and down the ramps that led onto the hanger platform. By the time they reached the platform, the hanger doors had closed in on the ship. The metal hanger amplified the footsteps and voices of the passengers as they hurriedly disembarked down the folding ramps.

  The loud speaker clicked and screeched.

  “Welcome to Utopia

  We hope you enjoyed your journey on Utopiana

  Freedom and Equality to all our visitors

  Enjoy your stay”

  The Port of Utopiana was bustling with workers and security. Robotic un-loaders had already started prizing the precious cargo from the belly of Utopiana with precision swiftness. The noise was deafening inside the hanger as the machines whizzed back and forth carrying crates of cargo and stacking them neatly onto waiting transporters. The crates were mostly destined for Coney and Eden City, but some of them were stamped across the sides with the wording,

  TALOS: TOP SECRET

  ARETHUSA

  Those crates would be heading up to Arethusa, along with an armed escort.

  Aarif watched as his personal cargo was unloaded and under the watchful eye of two of his own guards. It was allocated its own container before disappearing with his other guards into one of the cargo holding areas.

  The passengers were streaming towards the numerous arrivals checkpoints and the waiting check-in, security staff.

  Aarif and Ajit glided towards the first class checkpoint on the automated conveyor system. A handful of businessmen were walking on the conve
yor system with Aarif and Ajit. Aarif returned the smile of a man wearing a blue suit and cream cravat. He had met him for lunch several times in the first class restaurant and sealed one lucrative deal before the ship had docked.

  A CURE security guard was waiting for the imminent arrival of Aarif and Ajit and when he saw them approaching, he unclipped his radio and spoke into it.

  ‘Aarif and his body guard have arrived. I’ll take over from here,’ he said, full of bravado to the young girl who was behind the glass on the check-in desk.

  ‘Welcome to Utopia. This way Sir,’ he said, smiling and clipping his radio back to his shoulder pocket.

  He went to offer his hand but Ajit stepped in the way.

  ‘Aarif does not touch the un-gloved hand,’ Ajit snapped.

  The security guard withdrew his hand and hesitated. He smiled falsely before ushering Aarif and Ajit through the body scanners. The scanner alarmed as Aarif passed through it and Ajit became agitated. The guard looked apoplectic at the prospect of searching one of Mason Katcher’s ‘special guest’s.’ The last person that had tried it, had been instantly dismissed, even though they had worked there for many years. He decided that his career was simply not worth the trouble.

  Aarif turned on the guard. His eyes were full of rage.

  ‘What is the meaning of this?’ he demanded.

  ‘Please, please…take no notice. It’s just a formality. It does not apply to you,’ he said in a panicking voice. His face was full of concern and worry.