Utopia: A Dark Thriller: Complete Edition

by Adam Steel

  Ellie recalled feeling a tilting sensation. They had been going down a steep incline and a kit bag had inched its way down the length of the transporter. The sensation had lasted for several minutes before the transporter had levelled out again. The transporter had stopped and the guards readied themselves to exit the vehicle. The doors had been flung open and Ellie had looked out. They had arrived in a massive underground complex where there had been no sign of any natural light. She had had no idea where they were. There had been other transporters and lots of TALOS officers milling around in the underground complex. Two new guards had come to escort her away from the entry area and further into the complex. They had walked briskly down corridors and through rooms until they had arrived at the examination rooms. Ellie had been completely disorientated by the time she had arrived at the examination rooms. Once inside, she had been thoroughly examined and her clothes and personal effects taken for inspection. She had been ordered to wear white, paper, overalls and the thinness of the paper outfit had made her feel very vulnerable.

  The Synth-Skin fingertips (that had floated in the palm of her hand like paper boats in Kristoff’s cooling blood) had been confiscated ‘for tests’.

  As soon as the examination was over she had been immediately escorted to an interrogation room. It had been laid bare except for one chair, one desk and one camera. A large mirror had run the length of the room. She had guessed that it was a two-way mirror and that she had been watched from beyond the room. Two TALOS security officers had remained in the room with her at all times and they had taken it in turns to question her. The questioning had been thorough and gruelling. How did the man seem? When did you first see him? What did he say to you? Tell us exactly what he said. Everything he said.

  Ellie’s questions back to the interrogators had gone un-answered. Where are we? Where are the others? Is Mason Henson okay? Who was that man? What happened to the real Kristoff?

  Her job as a plastic surgeon had made her interrogation longer. They had wanted to know all about her experience with Synth-Skin and changing people’s appearances. They had wanted to know who, if not her had transformed the unknown man into Kristoff. Ellie didn’t know. Eventually they believed her. When the interrogation was over, she had been taken to a large open room. Jon Li and Victor had been waiting for her. They had been wearing the same temporary outfits. She had thrown her arms around Jon Li and she recalled that she had never been so happy to see someone in her life. The three remaining tour members had been de-briefed together.

  TALOS called it an ‘incident’

  Ellie and Jon Li had other words for it.

  They were told not to speak of the incident to anyone, or even discuss it with each other. Matters relating to the masons security were not to be made public. It would start a panic and a public relations nightmare, if the people knew that one of the masons might be a target for a clandestine group. An assassination of one of the masons would cause a tidal wave of fear and panic.

  They had all agreed. Ellie had felt she hadn't had a choice.

  She had been almost relieved. She never wanted to think about the incident again, much less discuss it with someone.

  They had been allowed to leave the same way they came in although this time they were allowed to ride together. Ellie had not known what facility they had been questioned in, but she had had an idea that it was in the bowels of Arethusa (the headquarters of TALOS.)

  She shuddered at the thought.

  She had sensed it in the walls – the smell of the place. It had been a distant, yet lingering sense of fear and dread. It had seeped into her bones, as they asked the questions. She had been glad she had never seen the outside of the facility. She had never wanted to lay eyes on it again. For her it had been the house of a thousand painful memories and the ghosts of her past had stalked its dark, metal corridors. It had been late evening by the time TALOS had released the group into the monorail station. They had exited the same way they had come in. Victor had shuffled off into a private waiting car.

  A silver limousine had waited behind it and it had been no small shock when Ellie had realised it was waiting for Jon Li. His personal chauffer had waited patiently beside it. Jon Li had looked almost apologetic when he had seen that she had realised it was waiting for him. He had offered her a lift home. Ellie had gratefully accepted.

  It had taken her the entire journey back, to work up the courage to ask Jon Li to stay for a drink. She hadn’t wanted to be alone. That night her apartment would have been a place of nightmares. Men with peeling faces would melt from the shadows with sharp, silvery fingers. Dead soldiers would stalk the corridors of her mind: footsteps echoing across the floors of imaginary interrogation rooms: asking questions: endless questions.

  Did you plan to kill Mason Henson?

  Do you really think anyone could ever, really love you?

  Jon Li had kept her company. She would never forget how he had reacted to the incident. His swift actions had surely saved Mason Henson’s life. The enormity of it stunned Ellie. He had shrugged it off as being something that any decent citizen of Utopia would have done.

  Ellie had admired his modesty, although she had her doubts about that idea.

  That night there had been no dead soldiers, or men with peeling faces. There had only been Jon Li; his warmth; his compassion and his love, filling every part of her apartment and then her body.

  Jon Li had not left that night.

  Jon Li’s love had washed away the shock from the incident in a soothing comforting wave. Ever since the incident they had bonded in a way that no other couple could have. The experience they had shared was truly unique.

  After a week, Ellie had noticed the incident had left its own personal mark on her. Her hair was slowly, but steadily, turning white. She had regarded it with bemusement when she had first seen the streak of pure white hair that ran from her forehead down the length of her long blonde hair and mingled like an icicle. She had thought of dying it blonde to match the rest of her hair, but Jon Li had dissuaded her. He said he liked it and his extra zest in bed that night had convinced her to keep the pale intruder.

  It seemed to her, that she had filled a lifetime of love into those precious few weeks since the incident. Mr Right had well and truly landed in her world with such intensity that it threw her into blissful turmoil. The love she felt for Jon Li was wonderful. She had difficulty believing that he felt the same way. That was despite the many times that he had told her, during their nights of passion, that he was hopelessly in love with her.

  The incident had ruined her plans for telling Irene and Bridget about the mason’s personal invitation for her to see Genie. It felt impossible now, to tell them without mentioning the tour’s tragic end. Ellie thought it best to say nothing at all. She concocted a story about how she had met Jon Li while she was ‘out,’ to which Bridget had sceptically replied that Ellie never actually went ‘out’.

  Irene had been delighted that she had finally met someone and was desperate to meet the perfect Mr Right to see if he ‘measured up’.

  “I know you’ve been single for a long time Ell,” she had said.

  “…But I really didn’t think the sight of a naked man again would be that shocking to you!” she had remarked, while pointing at Ellie’s whitening hair.

  Ellie had managed to put off the particular meeting so far. She had thought that perhaps Jon Li wasn’t quite ready to meet Irene. After all, she didn’t want him to have a matching hair colour to hers, and his fear of women in general could only be exasperated by a detailed grilling from the red maelstrom.

  A week ago, she had decided to take the relationship to the next level and move in with Jon Li permanently. It had felt right. Her apartment was empty without him and she had grown to loathe it. When she had told Bridget her response had been predictable. A very expensive bottle of champagne, delivered to the penthouse by courier, and bearing the label: Champagne Excellence from the Garden of Eden. It also came with a brochure of
new apartments in Eden City. The champagne went on the table and the brochure went in the trash.

  When Irene had got the news that she was moving in with Jon Li, the response was even more predictable. Irene in her usual ‘Irene way,’ got things a little mixed up. Ellie had answered the door of the penthouse to a pair of old legs carrying the most enormous bouquet of flowers which had been addressed to the wrong building. The old gentleman (who had had the dubious pleasure of becoming a delivery man for Irene) had handed her the flowers and sneezed. Ellie had apologised, looked at the label and had smiled as she read: To Mr and Mrs Right.

  Ellie glanced around the extravagantly spacious penthouse. It took up the whole of the top floor of the building. Jon Li’s taste in décor was nothing short of perfection. The rooms were mostly white with beautiful natural wooden floors. The furniture was hand made in an oriental style from natural woods. The large sumptuous, settees were white and soft and finished with exotic silk cushions.

  His collection of bonsai trees was every bit as extensive as he had described during their visit to Genie. They filled the conservatory that ran the whole length of the penthouse. He had told her that some of his bonsai trees were over a hundred years old. He had brought them over from his home in America, when he left for Utopia to start a fresh life following the death of his father.

  Jon Li liked to cook when the fancy took him and his kitchen was a wonder of his own cultural traditions. It was full of jars and odd looking ingredients, the like of which she didn’t recognise. Every utensil had its own unique place and was of the finest quality. In one cabinet there was a fine collection of Japanese teas and a most delicate set of tea cups that were embellished with a rich Japanese design.

  She smiled to herself when she recalled teasing him about his compulsion to have everything so ordered and he had looked surprised as though everyone lived like that. That was something she loved about him, he was so naïve.

  Ellie got up from the floor and wandered barefoot around the penthouse. The whole place had a distinctly oriental feel to it. She paused in front of two double doors. This was the one room that she felt unable to enter, even though he had never indicated that to her.

  It was his sanctuary.

  This room was entered by two heavy wooden doors that had elaborate and colourful paintings of vines on them. They seemed to have a strangle hold on the entrance to the room and matched the ones that adorned the front door of his penthouse. The doors were slightly ajar.

  She peered around the crack.

  Jon Li was sat in the lotus position in the centre of the room. He didn’t turn around.

  ‘Please. Come in and join me,’ he said.

  Ellie jumped. She couldn’t understand how he knew she was there.

  ‘I didn’t mean to intrude…I-I know it’s your...special place,’ Ellie said hesitantly.

  Jon Li rose gracefully to his feet and turned to face her. His eyes were warm and trusting and his smile natural and full of kindness.

  ‘I told you before, didn’t I? This is your home now. If you want to come in…then do,’ he said in a gentle but firm voice.

  Ellie resisted slightly. She wanted to see it. But felt like she didn’t want to intrude on his private domain. She stood still, apprehensively waiting for him to make the next move.

  He stepped forward pulling the heavy doors open.

  ‘There…see…?’ he said.

  He put his arm around her waist and, feeling her hesitance, he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

  Ellie’s eyes widened as she looked into the sanctuary.

  ‘Oh! Jon…it’s lovely,’ she murmured.

  The floor of his sanctuary was made from dark wood and the ceiling was low. Lavish tapestries hung from the walls and the colour and light in the room was soft and red. There was a small altar in the room from which the trails of incense smoke emanated. The exotic smoke filled the room with a peace inducing aroma. On the wall above the altar there was a magnificent collection of Japanese swords. To one side of the altar was a glass cabinet the size of a man. It housed a life sized mannequin of a Japanese soldier. The mannequin wore the ancient costume of a Japanese warrior. In its’ hand was huge a gold handled blade. It was magnificent in its detail.

  Jon Li brimmed with pride as he showed her the room.

  She stood, awestruck.

  ‘One of my ancient ancestors fought at the battle of Nagashino over 500 years ago. He was a samurai warrior who fought with the Tokugawa clan to fight off Takeda forces that had laid siege to Nagashino castle. It was one of the most famous battles in Japanese history,’ he explained.

  The tapestries that adorned the walls depicted the story of his victory. His ancestor stood on fields of blood surrounded by bodies. He had a grim expression and was depicted drenched in blood. He held his enormous sword in hand, the green tinted head of an enemy in another. The warrior’s armour and weaponry had been in Jon Li’s family for generations, carefully preserved. It was his most prized possession.

  ‘It’s a link to the past,’ he explained.

  Ellie had been shocked at the violence depicted in the tapestry scene.

  Jon Li gestured at the swords lining the walls and explained their significance.

  ‘These are Tantos,’ he said, pointing to the smallest blades.

  ‘They are daggers worn by Samurai-Japanese feudal warriors. That’s a Katana,’ he continued, pointing to a longer curved blade.

  Ellie knew little of feudal history, especially from other countries.

  She was fascinated.

  Jon Li continued to surprise her with his intimate knowledge of history. It was a rare day and she felt like such a novice. His naivety didn’t extend to all areas it seemed.

  ‘What’s that one?’ she said, pointing to the huge sword in the mannequin’s hand.

  She almost stepped forward into the sanctuary to get a closer look but corrected herself just before her foot stepped across the threshold. It didn’t seem right to enter there. She felt as though her presence in his sanctuary would be a violation of Jon Li’s personal holy ground, as if one could only enter if he, or she, believed, or had his faith.

  Jon Li ushered her forward lightly.

  ‘This one is a Nodachi,’ Jon Li answered.

  The sword was huge. She estimated it to be at least four feet long.

  ‘This is his personal weapon of choice. Few can wield it because of its great size,’ Jon Li said proudly. ‘My ancestors fought overwhelming odds to unite the fractioned Japan under one rule and by the end of the Sengoku period (a time of civil war in Japan lasting almost 150 years, she later discovered) they brought peace back to the troubled nation,’ he explained.

  He showed her all of his most wonderful possessions and with great pride in his voice said. ‘That’s what working for the masons is like: re-uniting a broken country and bringing peace.’

  He had made her laugh when he had joked, “Although these days I don’t carry a sword! I have a pen instead.”

  Ellie had smiled back at him and her reply had been, “Haven’t you heard the pen is mightier than the sword?”

  Ellie knew that this was Jon Li’s inner sanctuary – where he came late at night, to sit in front of the altar in the lotus position, and meditate: sometimes for hours. Jon Li had an inner peace about him that Ellie found intriguing. She guessed part of it came from the thought he was continuing his ancestors work. Perhaps that was why he had come to Utopia, she mused.

  He was steady and strong and everything she needed to make her feel whole again.

  Jon Li finally noticed her shyness at being so close to his personal space and the invisible barrier of his sanctuary. He laughed as he approached her, throwing an arm around her.

  ‘Hey it’s okay, that’s enough history for today,’ he said, kissing her again on the cheek.

  ‘Let’s put away the swords for now and help you settle in.’

  Ellie smiled as he closed the doors of the sanctuary.

  He made her a
pot of tea and settled into his favourite chair flicking up a crisp copy of the Daily Utopic on the table as he did so. She watched him performing his daily ritual and thought about his position at Fin-Sen working for Mason Royale: a situation she wasn’t comfortable with. Ellie immediately took a dislike to Royale the moment she had first seen her on the huge glittering Info-Com screens.

  It got her thinking about the other masons. The incident with Mason Henson was something she worried about a lot. Seeing the Coney Twins had been nothing like she had anticipated. Their robotic movements had given her the creeps. She had seen more of the masons up close than most Utopians. She had seen Henson and the Twins at Genie and Deckler years before at Arethusa. She had also attended a medical conference headed by Mason Paul De-Barr some years ago. He was every bit as brilliant as she had anticipated, but his personality seemed a little off. Strange. She supposed that being under such pressure did to a person.

  Each mason had achieved immeasurable things that no other person could manage in a lifetime, but to her, the ones she had met seemed very distant.

  In the weeks she had known Jon Li he never once mentioned the incident, or work. She knew where he worked, of course, but he didn’t offer to discuss it.

  “It’ll only bore you,” he had said. “It’s all just finances. Number-crunching. It’s long, complicated and on-going. Of course, if you’re that interested…”

  Ellie had assured him that she wasn’t.

  The only time his work infiltrated their home lives was when he read the paper. Every day before he left for work he had a crisp perfectly folded copy of the Daily Utopic on his coffee table, courtesy of Agatha, his maid. He would flick to the finance section and sit there digesting the day’s news with a cup of herbal tea.