by McGill, Brie
“If I can create a body fully in their image, I can pass into their society unquestioned, and they will accept my rule along with the technological splendor I have to offer.” She turned her back and sashayed toward the cylinder, heels clicking. "They will worship me for what I have to offer.
“Our previous attempts at blending with the surface dwellers' society were met with hostility, especially after it was discovered our offspring were unlike any other creatures on this earth. So many of us were forced to take refuge underground, due to deformities resulting from inbreeding. Many were tall, too tall. Though I've worked out most of the kinks with my current generation of experiments, I can't seem to get rid of this blasted finger." She wiggled her pinky.
Her pinky-pinky. Her extra finger.
Ninkasi trembled.
“There is another problem with my current form.” Echidna wiped her forehead. “It can only be replicated with the inferior process of cloning. I require a body that can reproduce on its own.” She raised her hands into the air. “That is this facility’s entire purpose.”
Aleister snorted.
“You and your sister have proved to be an utter waste of time.” Clawing one finger beneath Orion’s chin, she raised his head.
He violently jerked his head away.
"My creation process is still imperfect; that awful surface creature gave you both a weakness of mind.” Echidna placed a hand on her chin. “It is possible that if I continue to breed the girl—”
Orion lunged forward and grabbed Echidna by the throat, smashing her against the cylinder.
“Careful.” She gently lifted a hand to caution him. “It’s depressing living underground, you have no idea. Resources are limited." She brushed Orion’s hands away and slinked from his grip. “In the interim, if I can control the public health sector, I can personally see to it that the surface dwellers' population never climbs out of control. I am also free to experiment with reengineering them, so they will accept an exalted being when it appears in their midst.” Echidna clicked her nails together.
Hearing an electronic chime, she reached into her pocket and glanced at her RCU, tapping its screen with her thumb. Placing a hand on Orion’s shoulder, she smiled warmly. “Your sister needs me. If you value your life, you’ll cooperate; Andrealphus will arrive any moment to extract the other two from the premises. Think about it, dear; I know you know your away around this place. No one could truly forget his own home.”
Echidna exited, slamming the silver door behind her.
Aleister darted across the room and skidded to a halt in front of the tank, narrowing his eyes with a fervent intrigue, rapping on the glass. “Orion, say the word.” He reached into his pants, fumbling for something unseen strapped to his thighs.
Ninkasi opened her mouth to protest. “Aleister, what are you—”
He retrieved handfuls of dark bricks, made from an unknown substance, each the size of a deck of cards. “Say the word, Orion.”
Ninkasi scuttled to Orion’s side, and gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Orion?”
Orion refused to make eye contact with her: eyes transfixed with the floor, he peeled her hand away from his body and discarded it.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Aleister shook his fist in the air, and stomped a foot. “Silence is consent, Orion! Speak now, or I’ll blow it all to hell!”
Orion didn’t move.
Ninkasi pressed her lips together, turning to Aleister with a worried stare.
To her horror, Aleister knelt beside the cylinder, fixing the bricks all over the glass. He opened a slim panel and knit his brow, plunking in entries on a portable keypad with determination.
“What are you doing?!” She threw her hands in the air. “Shouldn’t we get out of here?”
“Ninkasi, darling, I’m sorry.” He spoke with two wires clenched between his teeth. “When I’m finished with this, in another minute, there might not be another way out of here.”
Her mouth hung open. “You’re blowing it up?”
Aleister removed the wires from his mouth, pinching them. Squinting, he tilted his head sideways, in annoyance. “Let’s take a moment to examine the situation, shall we?”
She blinked, stunned. “You’re going to blow this whole thing up. Right here.”
Poking frantically against the glass, he shook his head. “Do you see what is inside here?!”
Ninkasi quickly glanced at the winged creature in the tank, and then averted her gaze.
Wrinkling his nose, Aleister pointed a finger in her face, lecturing. “Do you think it is responsible to let a creature like this roam the planet unchecked, plotting the destruction of humanity?”
She bit her lip and prayed she wouldn’t cry.
“Do you think it’s wise to allow this being limitless regenerative capacity?” Aleister planted his finger under her chin.
Orion stood near the exit, arms crossed, back turned to his friends. “So blow it straight to hell.”
“Finally!” Aleister threw his arms into the air. “Someone is talking sense!”
Ninkasi glanced at the door through which they entered. “But if we blow it up. . .”
“Yes, sugar beet.” Aleister resumed tinkering with the wires. “We have to find another way out.”
She frowned. “Do you think there’s another way out?”
“I'd like to avoid Andrealphus if possible.” Affixing one wire to the panel emitted huge spark; he cursed and shook his hand. “There has to be another way.”
Three flights of metal stairs ended abruptly on a plated precipice, overlooking a brown crater so deep into the earth that none could see the bottom.
“What the heck?” Ninkasi squatted, touching the oddly shimmering earth surrounding the crater: it was soft like fur. She jumped to her feet and yelped, lifting her hands in the air.
Aleister shrugged. “Looks like we have to—”
Orion lowered himself from the platform, and climbed into the crater, anchoring himself against the wall with huge fistfuls of fur.
Ninkasi swallowed. “Climb down. . .”
“Alright, sweetheart.” Aleister slapped a hand against her back. “You go first. I’ll keep watch to make sure no one follows us.”
Wrinkling her nose, she watched Orion disappear into the blackness. “It’s fur.”
“I don’t care what the hell it is.” Aleister stuck his toe into the fur.
It squished.
“It’s a way out of here.” He planted a hand on his waist. “Cupcake, let’s go.”
“I know. . .” Ninkasi lowered her voice. “I know it’s fur.” Grimacing, she lowered herself off the platform and gingerly dug a toe into the wall of fur. “But, why is it fur?”
“That’s the spirit.” Aleister climbed after her, sticking his feet into the strange wall. “I’ll go out on a limb and say you’re better off not knowing the answer to that question.”
The crater was incredibly dark: she hoped nothing more terrifying lurked below. “Right. . .”
Orion’s hands found her waist, steadying Ninkasi’s landing when she finally released her last handful of fur.
Lifting a hand to his shoulder, she opened her mouth to thank him.
He turned away.
She couldn’t understand what was with the distance.
Aleister dropped through the crater, landing beside her. Brushing his hands against his coveralls, he wrinkled his nose and surveyed the area.
The crater dispatched them into another metallic hallway, identical to the ones above.
“There’s only one way to go.” Ninkasi pointed down the hall.
The hallway was doorless and spanned a great distance. It ended abruptly in an exit with one circular doorway, locked by a biometric scanning box.
Orion silently stuck his hand inside.
The doors spiraled open with a squeal, leading to a large, honeycomb-shaped scaffolding.
Ninkasi followed Orion onto the lighted platform, suspended in an open cave.
The edge of the platform was enclosed with simple handrails, and nothing more.
Tiptoeing to the platform’s edge, she peered over the handrail and into the darkness.
The lights on the platform flickered; it jerked once, and began a whizzing descent into blackness.
“Going down!” Aleister lifted one hand above his head.
“Downhill, maybe.” Orion stood at the opposite end of the platform.
“You know—” Aleister narrowed his eyes, taking a menacing step toward him.
Ninkasi tilted her head back. “This is really weird.”
Aleister pivoted to look at her.
“There’s no ceiling.” She shrugged. “No ropes, no wires, no pulleys. How does this thing work?”
Aleister shook his head. “This place is filled with technology we could only hope to remotely understand.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“We count on sharp guys like you to figure it out.” Orion paced around the platform.
The elevator slowed, the squeaky crunching of metallic gears becoming increasingly audible.
Ninkasi scampered to the edge of the platform, leaning over the rail.
Trudging behind her, Aleister grabbed Ninkasi by the shirt and pulled her back. “Might not be wise to stand so close to the edge.”
The squelch and slip of oily gears grew louder, with the clicking of cogs, the whining of wheels, and a thunderous thumping sound.
The platform lowered into what resembled the inner workings of a giant clock tower, valves hissing, pistons pumping, a dizzying bramble of machinery. Hordes of naked men, with shackles around their wrists and necks, ran uniformly in giant metal hamster wheels, maintaining an athletic pace. The further they descended, the more enclosed wheels Ninkasi spotted everywhere, with hundreds of men running, sweating, toiling—for what purpose, she could not discern. They ran with the machines.
The harrowing uniformity of their movements suggested they had become one with the machines.
Ninkasi’s mouth hung open in genuine alarm. “Where are we?”
The platform ground to a halt.
“We’re here.” Orion exited brusquely.
Aleister shoved her ahead. “Let’s go!”
Ninkasi ran ahead several steps, slowing her gait to gawk again at the caged men who powered the wheels with their endless marathons.
Orion stood at the train station, tapping his foot and waiting impatiently for his friends to arrive.
Ninkasi took a few steps, froze, walked, and froze again, gawking in horror at the senseless, mechanized human labor surrounding her.
Aleister goaded her along.
A train squealed in the distance.
Orion whistled with two fingers in his mouth, signaling his friends.
They scampered toward the train station, just in time to catch the arriving car. Everyone scrambled inside, doors slamming shut behind them.
The car was sparsely dotted with well-groomed businessmen, wearing antiquated clothing and seated alone.
Orion sat at the back of the car, face pressed against the window, staring into the caverns.
After much hesitation, Ninkasi selected the seat diagonally across from him.
It was the seat furthest from him that she could reasonably choose. He felt the fear, the consternation inside her.
Aleister stood in the walkway, clutching the bar that ran along the ceiling, airing his sweaty, cinnamon armpits for the world to smell.
Orion buried his face in his hand.
Hanging on the bar, Aleister leaned toward them. “When is our stop?”
He kicked his feet out in front of him and crossed his ankles, wagging his toes. “Fucked if I know.”
Aleister lurched back and forth, like swinging on the monkey bars. “You’re supposed to know.”
Orion slammed his hand against the window. “Why am I supposed to know?!”
Ninkasi inched backward in her seat, observing him with fright.
He relaxed his shoulders, snorting with frustration.
Aleister straightened his posture. “Because you’ve been here before!”
Crossing his arms, Orion slouched in his seat. “I have not.”
Aleister’s jaw dropped. “You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t.”
“Then. . . you got on the train for no reason?!” Aleister stepped forward, lurching with the movement of the train. “You have no idea where we’re going?!”
“I do know. . .” Orion stared at the floor. “Echidna regularly leaves her facility to visit various settlements and other outposts run by others like herself across the globe. This train is the logical connector.”
Aleister curled his lip. “Uh-huh.”
Turning his back again, Orion stared into the window, catching Ninkasi’s reflection in the light. Even in her awkward-fitting robes, she was a radiant angel. She was vibrant, healthy, a woman that possessed the will to take the world by force; there was color from the sun in her cheeks, and her smile was effortless.
Different from Lilith—maybe—
He didn't understand what she wanted with him, a monster. Ninkasi was likely still in shock, unable to logically process the totality of their situation; when it finally hit her, she would abandon him, run as far away as fast as possible to the other side of the earth.
He didn’t deserve her.
He hadn’t even treated her well, holding her captive with selfish intentions, trying to make her something she wasn’t.
Yet, she had stood by him at his lowest moment. She came all this way to save him.
To save him!
Orion closed his eyes. He couldn’t get past the thought. . . to save him.
What, after the nightmare that ruined him, was left of his soul? What was left to save?
Aleister took a seat beside him, uncomfortably close, drenched with sweat. “You know. . .”
Orion eyed him with a neutral stare.
He cleared his throat. “Just because you were born in a place like this, doesn’t mean you have to—”
Orion threw up a hand. “Don’t demonize me.”
Aleister wrinkled his brow. “You didn’t even listen to what I was going to say.”
“Don’t demonize me.” He jerked his head away.
Aleister sighed. “Technically, to demonize you, I’d have to kill you.” He turned sideways, leaning over the chair, talking into Orion’s back. “The proper definition of a demon is the disembodied soul of a person born to—”
“Save it.” Orion tugged the hood of the cloak over his head, obscuring his face. “I want nothing to do with your esoteric blather. Save it.”
Shrugging, Aleister stood up, and crawled into the seat beside Ninkasi. “Hey, sweet pea!” He lassoed his arm around her neck and pulled her face into his armpit.
Ninkasi fought in vain to wriggle from his smothering grasp.
He grinned. “How long do you think we’ll be on this train, anyway?”
She spoke muffled words into his chest. “Hopefully not too long.”
Teslapunk Injections
XIX.
The train chimed, cresting to a smooth halt; doors rolled open. One gentleman seated by himself in the rear of the car pushed gold bifocals further up the bridge of his nose, folded a newspaper, and climbed to his feet, making a composed exit.
Without warning, Aleister stood, yanking Ninkasi by the wrist, and dragged her from the car.
Orion reluctantly climbed to his feet, trailing after Aleister in silence.
His head was clearing: he no longer felt soggy, drowned by his own emotions, but the journey inside his mind left him much to contemplate.
Ninkasi—his heart wrenched. She shouldn’t have come here. She would have been safest in her room, and Aleister would have released her soon enough.
He had to ignore his aching head and protect her. While Aleister seemed to be doing a perfectly fine job of it, Ninkasi hadn’t risked her life and traveled all this way for Aleister’s sake—<
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She had done it for him. Orion lifted a hand to his forehead. Why, it was still the eternal mystery.
He had to look after her; she didn’t deserve to seek refuge behind Aleister and his sweat-soaked suspenders.
Orion refused to hide behind Aleister and his sweat-soaked suspenders.
Though Aleister was an excellent protector, a truly admirable man, despite his insanity—this was Orion’s fight.
He shook his head, revolted by the crisp texture of his hair.
Its doors slamming behind them, the train spit the trio into a cobblestone station. Ornate posts connected by plush ropes of crushed purple velvet delineated a cobblestone footpath; decorative, wrought-iron streetlamps burned with crackling balls of blue electricity, casting eerie, flickering shadows over the landscape.
The stone path continued beyond the station, through a winding, earthen gulley, leading to the fringe of a town glowing in the distance.
Ninkasi paused, dismounting halfway down a shallow stair.
She didn’t turn around; Orion sensed she waited for him.
Glancing over his shoulder, Aleister spun around, planting his hands on his hips. “Let’s keep moving!”
Orion heaved a breath of annoyance.
Ninkasi looked at him nervously, wiping her forehead, then turned and approached Aleister.
“If there exists this degree of population beneath the surface. . .” Aleister ran a hand through his hair, looking back to the station, gesturing to the town ahead. “There has to be another way back to the surface. We should talk to everyone and see what we can learn.”
Orion snorted. “If you’re certain we’ll be met with a warm reception.”
Ninkasi flashed him a worried stare.
Aleister lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve never been down here before?”
He shook his head. “It would have been inappropriate.”
Aleister craned his head forward. “How?”
“It was forbidden to wander off the premises.” Orion curled his lip. “There were rumors of settlements populated by suffering persons, weakened by centuries of cloning.” He lifted a hand to his face. “I was forbidden to see them—probably because Echidna didn’t want them to see me, her experiment.”