The Last City

by Nina D'Aleo

  Her name grew ill-fitting. She wore it uncomfortably for a time, if only because the echo of Ismail’s voice still lingered on the words, but the change was inevitable. She wasn’t the same person anymore. She had no home to return to; she had no future to reach for, so she wandered from one desert outlaw town to another, stealing what she needed to stay alive, and only barely that. If let alone, she left alone, but if attacked, she struck back without mercy. She destroyed. There were men along the way, many faceless no ones. She felt nothing for any of them. It was just biology, a raw and ugly grappling, a momentary escape. As deceptive as any of the quick fixes. It washed through her and out, leaving her emptier than ever. People drifted across her life without making any difference, until in the town of Tinder she met treasure hunter Marshall ‘Spartan’ McHenry, with his long white hair and ice-blue eyes that saw straight to the heart of everything. He’d made every difference.

  Ev’r stepped out of the Murk into real time and faced Eli and his big, hopeful stare.

  ‘It’s all gone. There’s nothing left but ashes.’

  The imp-breed soldier cursed. He turned away from her and peeked around the corner of their hiding place, back down to where his shelter had been. Coils of thick black smoke rose from the spot. It joined the industrial pollution hanging like storm clouds in the sky. The United Regiment had gone overkill, as they always did, reducing the wrecked house and underground bunker to nothing more than a rubble-filled crater. Keets knew that if she had shut the trapdoor the shelter most likely would have survived the attack. If Eli was thinking this as well, he didn’t say it.

  ‘I hope that bunker didn’t take you long to build,’ she said, knowing it was a cruel dig.

  He blinked and said, resigned, ‘No, not long – just my whole life.’

  ‘So what now?’ she asked, hating that she had to ask him that question, hating that her weakness, her fear of death, now tied her to this person. The smashed vial had deleted her final hope and she could already feel the beast re-building inside her.

  Eli had promised to help her. The hope was as slender as spider’s thread, but if anyone could produce a cure for her condition, she knew it would be this one. He had a shimmer of undiscovered greatness about him, somewhere underneath the bumbling, stammering imp exterior.

  ‘Well,’ he said. ‘All my equipment is gone, all my supplies – pretty much everything I own. We have nowhere to hide. We have nowhere to work, and there are soldiers everywhere hunting us down —’

  ‘I already know the bad news,’ Ev’r cut in. ‘Now tell me the good.’

  ‘The good news?’ Eli said. ‘They don’t understand how we think.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So no one will be expecting us to return to Headquarters, but for me it’s the only option that makes any sense.’

  ‘How does walking back into the military centre of Scorpia make any sense?’ Ev’r demanded.

  ‘Most soldiers will be out in teams looking for us. We can slip in undetected.’

  ‘Not through the Murk, we can’t,’ Ev’r said. ‘Your Headquarters’ walls are insulated with a blocker. Believe me, I know.’

  ‘I didn’t mean the Murk.’

  ‘Then how?’

  ‘I designed the security system for the newer parts of the building and I know all the hidden pathways in the walls. That’s my world. I can get us in,’ Eli said.

  ‘It’s risky.’ Ev’r considered it.

  ‘And suddenly the legendary treasure hunter, Ev’r Keets, is afraid of risk.’

  The corners of her mouth twitched upwards at this unexpected jab. ‘Fine, let’s do it.’

  She held out her hand and Eli grasped her arm without a word. He set his jaw, and even though she didn’t like him, she had to admire his nerve. Without the proper training, travelling through the Murk was agony. He’d taken the pain without making a sound.

  Day had started to give in to night and the buildings threw long shadows over the streets. The lantern lights flickered on, one by one, as they caught the sense of darkness. Ev’r followed Snack-size along the back wall of a building neighbouring the military Headquarters. The imp-breed paused, looking out over an open stretch of transflyer parking lot. He darted out to the first craft. She followed and they weaved their way to the back of Headquarters. Eli moved with stealth, scurrying along the wall to a set of stairs leading up into the building. He hid in a damp-smelling space beneath the stairs and Ev’r pushed in beside him, crouching on a multitude of discarded cigarette butts.

  They heard the door above them screech open and Eli gasped. Ev’r held her breath. Boots clomped down the stairs in front of them – boots and big canine paws. Eli squeezed further back into the darkness. The soldier and his dog stepped off the last step and headed out into the parking lot. The man paused to light a cigarette. He unclipped the dog’s leash and let it free. Another soldier appeared from around the corner and came up to the man. They spoke in sign language as the dog checked the transflyers, sniffing at each one, moving with highly trained confidence. Ev’r watched the animal carefully and saw it pause, pick up their scent and run towards them. She drew her blade, but Eli grabbed her arm and shook his head. The big shaggy beast pushed its head under the stairs and stared at them. It didn’t bark or snarl as she had expected, as the guardian dogs usually did. It just stared at them with knowing yellow eyes.

  ‘KC,’ Eli whispered. ‘Please, buddy. Let me go. We’re innocent.’

  The dog cocked its head, and Ev’r swore it was considering what he’d said. It gave a little moaning whimper, backed out and ran to check the other craft, carrying on as though it had never seen them. Soon the man finished his conversation, stubbed out his cigarette and called the dog to his side. They went back up the stairs, the animal snuffling at the gaps all the way to the top. Eli exhaled and Ev’r nudged him.

  ‘I’m calling you Dogman from now on,’ she said.

  ‘Anything’s better than Snack-size,’ he replied with a shaky grin.

  He led her out from beneath the stairs, along the building, until they reached a grate. Eli took a systems scanner out of his pocket and moved it over the grate, making visible the hidden security bars and a holo-screen keypad. He typed in the override code, then removed the clasps of the grate and pulled it away. He nodded to her and she crawled in, the tunnel scraping against her sides. Eli followed her, replacing the grate behind them.

  ‘Keep going,’ he whispered, then pinched her on the backside.

  ‘Do that again and I’ll kill you,’ she said.

  He sniggered in a decidedly impish way.

  Eli’s office was a wreck – tables upended, machinery shattered and scattered, written word ripped up and discarded. Everything was everywhere and Ev’r felt the slightest tinge of pity for the imp as she watched him sift through the wreckage of his precious things, trying to hide the fact that he was searching for his pet.

  ‘They must have been looking for something,’ he said.

  He paused over a piece of equipment and lifted it up. A red light flashed on the side of the machine. He activated the message and a holo-screen opened. Words spread across the screen.

  ‘It’s the metals report I was waiting on,’ he said. ‘The scan of Christy Shawe’s ring that the commander found in Moris-Isles. Not really sure what it means.’

  ‘Give it here.’ Ev’r snatched it from his hands and read through the words. ‘It’s saying the ring was made of meterodoro, extinct gold, which means it’s old – very old – probably from the Black Sun era.’

  ‘The Galleys wouldn’t have been around during that time, would they?’

  Ev’r snorted. ‘No, nowhere close.’

  ‘But the ring belonged to Christy Shawe’s father. It had the Galley insignia on it.’

  ‘Obviously it belonged to someone else first and Ironfist stole it and stamped it with his mark. The man was a thief at best.’ Ev’r thought about where it could have come from, and the answer came to her. ‘The Mazurus Machine.’
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  ‘What?’ Eli said, the words obviously triggering some kind of meaning for him.

  ‘The Mazurus – it’s an ancient telescopic device. When it was shipped from the Galleria Minora to the Galleria Majora after the building restorations about forty or forty-five year-cycles ago, a piece of it was stolen. The focusing core – the apex of its functioning.’

  ‘The ring?’ Eli raised an eyebrow.

  She nodded. ‘I’d say either Ironfist thieved it himself or took it from the person who did.’

  ‘Ev’r, the Mazurus Machine itself was stolen from the Galleria the night we were all attacked. Commander Kane went to investigate.’

  Ev’r’s mind turned over the information like puzzle pieces to slot into place. ‘So the Skreaf took the Mazurus, but they also need the ring to make it work,’ she said. ‘Explains why they attacked Shawe.’

  ‘But what would the Skreaf want with an outdated telescope?’ Eli asked.

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Well, we have to find out. I know a rare written word dealer who could have some information on the Skreaf.’ He saw something on the ground and snatched it up.

  ‘It’s my communicator,’ he said. He turned the machine over to look at a screen on the back of it. ‘This is the locator. No one’s on the map except for me.’

  Ev’r saw his eyes mist over for a moment, but then he controlled himself. He picked up another locator screen and connected it with the communicator from the shelter that he already had clipped to his belt. He adjusted the settings.

  ‘Here.’ He handed it to her. ‘It’s an older prototype, but it still has the same kinds of functions. I’ve overridden the fingertip recognition, but remember, don’t try to dismantle it or it’ll explode.’

  ‘Great,’ she said, taking the machine. It lit up under her touch and she saw another grey spot appear on the locator lens beside Eli’s mark.

  ‘That’s you,’ he said. ‘Now if we get separated we can find each other.’ The little imp-breed tapped the screen.

  ‘Planning on ditching me, are you?’ Ev’r said darkly.

  ‘Why would I give you the locator if I wanted to ditch you?’ Eli asked. ‘Really, don’t be so paranoid.’ He glanced at the holo-screen he’d set up to monitor the hallway and said, ‘I think it’s time to go.’

  Ev’r turned. The screen showed a soldier just down the hall from where they were, opening each door in turn and checking inside the rooms.

  ‘So much for hiding out here,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Eli said, stuffing as much as he could into a bag and slinging it over his shoulder. ‘There’s somewhere else here we can go where no one will find us. Follow me.’

  He dashed out of the room and led her down the corridor in the opposite direction from where the soldier was approaching. Eli cut through a hidden door in the wall. It took them into a stairwell. The imp-breed paused and looked around the shadows of the steps.

  ‘Nelly?’ he called softly.

  He scanned the area then turned away, heading up the stairs. Ev’r saw a little furry face emerging timidly from a crack in the wall. She snapped down and grabbed up the little creature – Eli’s pet otter. She stuffed it into her jacket pocket and zipped it up all but a fraction so it could still breathe, but couldn’t squirm. It would be a good bargaining tool when Snack-size turned on her.

  Ev’r ran after him up many flights of stairs until he opened another concealed door. He looked left and right and then slipped out, leading her onto a much higher level of the building. The hall was silent, but Keets noticed Eli continuing to click a piece of machinery in one hand, blanking out the security spyers embedded in the walls and ceiling. They headed along the corridor until they came to a set of double doors. Eli pushed them open and they entered into a portrait-lined hall. Ev’r glanced at the painted faces as they passed. She recognised a few and made the connection.

  ‘Oscuri commanders.’

  Eli murmured a response without taking much notice. They reached the end of the corridor and Eli knelt down in front of the security holo-screen. He started hacking the system, his forehead creased in concentration. Ev’r looked over the final few paintings hanging on the wall. The last pictured commander, the last Oscuri leader before Kane, was Sammael Sy, and before him, Oren Harvey. The famed commander stared down at Ev’r with hardened, formidable eyes and Ev’r thought, not for the first time, that Harvey would have been a worthy opponent, maybe even a friend if their life-paths had matched up. Harvey had been an oddity, a radical, a revolutionary at heart, fighting the system from the inside. She was the first ever female Oscuri commander and the struggle of that showed in the hard lines of her face. And yet, as one damaged woman looking at another, Ev’r saw she was beautiful – perfect in imperfections. Her daughter was growing to look exactly like her.

  ‘She looks like her,’ Ev’r said aloud.

  ‘Who?’ Eli asked.

  ‘Silho.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, distracted. ‘Someone’s been trying to break in, the system’s all jiggered, but I’m almost there. Okay – we’re good.’

  He stood and the security lasers ran up and down his body. The system’s voice said, ‘Welcome, Commander Kane.’

  ‘You wish,’ Ev’r said. ‘I bet you have little fantasies about being him – don’t you, Snack-size?’

  ‘I do not,’ Eli said, but his face flushed into bright red splotches.

  Ev’r laughed at him.

  The doors slid open in front of them and they entered Kane’s living quarters. Ev’r stared around the walls at all his weapons. Her heartbeats quickened. Some of his pieces were priceless. Her eyes zeroed in on one blade.

  ‘Solace,’ she breathed. She rushed to the knife, but didn’t raise a hand to touch it. ‘Oren Harvey’s blade. How the hell did a hack like Kane get this?’ she asked, her eyes exploring every inch of the famous knife.

  ‘He’s not a hack,’ Eli said. ‘How can you judge him when you don’t know him?’

  ‘Easily,’ she said, still studying the weapon. ‘Is it hot in here?’

  ‘Not as hot as when you dragged me through the desert.’ Eli gave her a look.

  ‘What can I say?’ Ev’r said.

  ‘Sorry is always a good start.’

  She snorted. ‘Don’t believe in the word.’

  Eli went to the large, black desk placed in one corner of the open living space. Ev’r noticed he chose not to sit in the chair, as though it were sacred or something. While his back was turned she took a cloth from her jacket, wrapped it around Harvey’s blade and pushed it into her pocket.

  Eli activated Kane’s system and three holograms flickered up – Silho Brabel in the centre, with Englan Chrisholm and Oren Harvey on either side.

  ‘Looks like the commander was running a face match,’ Eli said examining the systems’ records.

  Ev’r nodded, mildly impressed. ‘Kane’s a complete gadfly but he’s sharp, I’ll give him that. She didn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Eli looked up.

  ‘Silho Brabel is the daughter of Englan Chrisholm and Oren Harvey.’

  Eli laughed. ‘No she’s not. She’s an orphan. Her parents died when she was young.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘But . . .’ She could see through his eyes, his mind wrestling with the facts, trying to figure it out. He looked back at the holograms and the matching points that the system was listing.

  ‘This is not good,’ he said. ‘If the commander finds out . . . I mean, Diega’s sister and . . . it’s not going to be good for Silho.’

  ‘She thought her father was innocent,’ Ev’r said.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I met her in the desert when she was a kid. She was living with an ex-Oscuri Tracker from the generation before Harvey’s – a guy by the name of Hammersmith. Burnt-out old Blue-Ten junkie.’

  ‘And Silho told you?’ Eli asked, staring at her wide-eyed.

 
‘In a way,’ Ev’r said, remembering the moment, how Ismail had read Silho’s mind the way he had read all people. He had been highly skilled. He had been many things.

  Scratching sounds came from outside the apartment door. Eli erased the pictures and shut down the system. He grabbed a device from his pocket and swept it over the floor. The sounds from outside continued, growing louder and more insistent.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Ev’r hissed. ‘We have to get out of here.’

  ‘There will be a trapdoor somewhere in this room. I just have to . . . Here it is.’ He pointed inside a diagnostic chamber that led off the main area. ‘Come in here.’

  He ushered her in and shut the door, then activated the holo-screen inside the room and swiftly punched in a series of codes. Ev’r didn’t even bother trying to follow the speed of his hands. She stumbled as the floor shifted beneath their feet, gradually sliding down like an elevator.

  ‘The boss’s secret laboratory,’ Eli whispered.

  ‘If it was a secret, how did you know about it?’ she asked.

  ‘I didn’t.’

  ‘Then how did you know there was one?’

  ‘Because I know him.’ Eli glanced at her. The floor shuddered to a stop and he pushed opened the door. They stepped out into a large underground workshop. Ev’r looked around the space. It was extremely tidy and organised in the way she’d expect the workshop of someone as anal and controlling as Kane to be, but a terrible stench was stifling the air.

  Eli rushed over to a cluster of smoking equipment, turning off switches and removing objects. Ev’r came to stand beside him, waving the smoke away from her face.

  ‘He left it running. I guess he thought he would be back sooner,’ Eli said sadly.

  ‘What was it?’ she asked surveying the burnt-out machinery and vials.

  ‘I think it was his flesh and blood experiment,’ Eli said, looking at a holo-screen set up beside the equipment. ‘It was something he wanted my help with – producing synthetic flesh and blood that had real properties.’

  ‘Why – was Kane secretly a Midnight Man?’ Ev’r smirked.

  Eli stared up at her, his eyes stretching wide. ‘The man in the desert, the cross-breed, maybe this is for him. Maybe the commander was helping him. He must have seen me with Copernicus. Why else would he have followed us?’