Mardock Scramble

by Ubukata, Tow

  Boiled was about to open his mouth but said nothing. His words were swallowed up by the annihilation that he exuded, turning into so much nothingness.

  “You’re nothing more than a shark who has smelled blood. A shark brimming full of curiosity, searching for the perfect weapon.”

  Seeing that Boiled had nothing to say, Faceman spoke his final words quietly. “And now art thou cursed from the earth, and a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be… Go then, on to the East of Eden…”

  Boiled did just that.

  04

  –So, for a wine cellar storing eighteen years’ worth of brain tissue, it’s quite a fancy little thing…

  Tweedledum was muttering to himself. He looked up at Balot, who was now standing beside the edge of the pool, and asked,

  –Are you going, then, babe?

  He tilted his silver-sunglass-covered face as if to say he’d be lonely without her.

  –Yeah…

  Balot put her white robe on and knelt down beside Tweedledum to touch his face.

  –I think I’d like to come back and swim here again one day.

  –Well, if the outside world becomes one with this pool then you’ll be able to swim here freely.

  Balot gave a small nod.

  –If the world ever really does become a kinder place then I will come here.

  –Well, that’s why you’re heading back out into the world, right? To try and make your little piece of it good, at least. But you do know that the moment you step foot out of Paradise you’ll officially become a suspect of crimes against the Commonwealth. Don’t you regret it?

  –No regrets. I’m glad I did what I did.

  –Well, break a leg, babe.

  Balot kissed Tweedledum’s forehead gently.

  –Thank you for swimming with me.

  Tweedledum cried out, a hollow, beautiful cry.

  –Hurry up, now. We’ve got a rough customer in the building who’s kicking up quite a fuss looking for you.

  –Thank you.

  Balot stood up quickly.

  –And all the best with Oeufcoque, Tweedledum said, and she smiled at him one last time before running off, still barefoot.

  Balot left the forest, leaving Tweedledum there in silence.

  Before long a mass of icy death emerged from another corner of the forest.

  –The angel has already flown the nest, big guy, Tweedledum informed him. He had snarced the PA system around the pool.

  “Tweedledum, is it…” Boiled muttered, pointing his gun at the dolphin.

  –You know that as a Living Unit I’m considered a vital component of this information terminal, right? You kill me, big guy, and it’ll be seen as a serious act of sabotage against this here system. The Commonwealth Government has thrown bucketloads of cash at this thing. You want to end up an outlaw?

  “What was she investigating here?” He pulled the trigger back, noisily. Tweedledum just gave a short peep, as if he were laughing.

  –Why don’t you ask your own employer? Or is he the sort of boss who doesn’t tell you anything?

  The gunpoint erupted in flame, and one of the poolside speakers was blown into small pieces.

  –Hey, big guy, why are you trying to stop me from speaking?

  Tweedledum’s voice emerged from a different speaker, sounding very unimpressed.

  –You know that the person you’re here to see will have left the facility shortly? Once your suspect has left, your jurisdiction’ll be revoked and you’ll only have the same privileges as an ordinary Joe. You’ll be violating the law just by being here, big guy.

  “You’ve learned to talk the talk, Tweedledum.” Boiled lowered his gun. “In any case, we’ll now be able to put in an official request for full disclosure based on the fact that Rune-Balot was here.”

  –Yeah, but the girl will have solved the case by then. With her Oeufcoque.

  “My Oeufcoque. I’ll hold him in my hand again before long.”

  –Hmm… A love triangle, eh? Tweedledum responded, somewhat taken aback.

  Boiled now had no eyes for Tweedledum. He scanned the area quickly before correctly sniffing out the path that Balot had taken. He started heading down that way himself.

  –Truth be told, big guy, I was surprised when I heard what you did to them sharks. “The Rusty Gun is pretty keen to prove his usefulness,” I thought.

  Boiled stopped for a second and looked back at Tweedledum. But he said nothing and soon disappeared into the forest.

  –Oops. That didn’t end up buying them much time, did it…

  Tweedledum sighed as he watched the figure disappear.

  ≡

  The silver egg was floating above the rooftop of the facility.

  Activated by the Doctor’s voiceprint and key card, the shell cracked open to form a gangway. The Doctor was loading a giant capsule into the egg with a pushcart when he saw Balot running toward him, out of breath. “Barefoot, eh?” he asked, eyes wide open in surprise.

  Balot snarced the stereo system of the Humpty-Dumpty.

  –I was in a hurry.

  “Sure, but are you all right? What if you stepped on something rusty and got tetanus?”

  –I’m all right. And even if I did get something, I’d have you fix me up in no time, Doctor.

  “Right…” The Doctor nodded meekly, before asking somewhat hesitantly, “So, uh, how did it all go…”

  –I found it. The hiding place for that man’s past.

  “Have you, now?” The Doctor nodded, visibly relieved, but he still looked apprehensive. “But I’ve thought about it, and I can’t have you become a Commonwealth outlaw. Oeufcoque would be furious with me.”

  –All that’s happened is that I’m now on equal footing with you guys. With Oeufcoque , Balot answered back, primly. There was an unusually wide grin on her face.

  Something called out to her.

  –You’re going, are you?

  The stereo broadcast in a different voice.

  Balot turned around to see the solitary figure of Tweedledee. Both she and the Doctor looked on in horror at his puffed-up face and the dressings that covered the space where his hands once were.

  –Oh, don’t worry about this. I just got a little frisky, thinking I might try and experience some pain for a change. Also, something like this needed to happen in order to trigger security. But I’ll be fixed up in no time.

  –I’m so sorry. It’s all because of me.

  –Really, it’s fine. If this is what it takes to become your friend then it’s worth it.

  Balot seemed shocked when she heard this, but then she nodded.

  –Thank you—I’m glad to have you as a friend.

  Tweedledee smiled sweetly.

  –So long, Balot. You can’t write me or email, but it’d be nice to meet again one day.

  Before long the Humpty-Dumpty was in the air, and the opening in the shell wall was closing.

  Tweedledee watched the silver egg as it rose into the empty air. Suddenly a large man appeared on the rooftop behind him.

  Balot started when she saw him. The Doctor was startled as well.

  Boiled lifted his gun up at the Humpty-Dumpty.

  “Stop it—do you really want to become an outlaw from the Commonwe—” The rest of the Doctor’s sentence was obliterated by the gunshot.

  The bullet smashed into the shell wall right beside Balot, scattering a shower of sparks every which way.

  The shell wall was strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a missile. A bullet would never pierce it. Balot knew this, and Boiled knew this.

  “He fired…” the Doctor muttered in amazement.

  This was Boiled’s new declaration of war.

  Now Boiled—just like Balot—was a potential suspect of crimes against the Commonwealth, and everything would come down to how each of them went about solving their case.

  Boiled held his fire. He just kept his gun trained on the silver egg as if in acknowledgement of the fact that the only way
to solve this case now was to take Balot’s life.

  Balot raised her left hand toward the very same Boiled.

  She pointed her index finger at him and raised her thumb—and mimed a gunshot back at Boiled for him to see clearly.

  I won’t be killed a second time—I’ll fight back.

  Even without speaking, her message was loud and clear.

  The shell wall closed tight, obscuring Balot from view.

  The Humpty-Dumpty sped up and rose high into the sky.

  Boiled watched its ascent with cold, dusky eyes and an upturned mouth.

  –Are you smiling, Boiled? Tweedledee spoke, snarcing the speakers embedded in the rooftop.

  “What…?”

  –You’re smiling. The sort of smile you get when you’ve just made a new friend.

  Tweedledee grinned himself.

  Wordlessly Boiled returned his gun to his breast pocket and turned around. By the time his back was to Tweedledee, his face was devoid of emotion again.

  –See you around, Boiled. Drop in anytime you like.

  Tweedledee felt a twinge of loneliness as he watched him go.

  05

  The capsule that the Doctor had brought on board was filled with a blue liquid.

  Oeufcoque slept inside it, bound hand and foot by a number of cords and folded into layers.

  The capsule was placed in the bedroom on the first floor. Touching the glass window in the metal piping, Balot thought about Oeufcoque’s death. About what Tweedledee had told her. How this complicated synthesis of flesh and metal would eventually grow bloated and die, crushed under its own body weight.

  She thought about how Oeufcoque might consider his own inevitable death and tried to see if she could comprehend it in the same way. She thought of the words that he had once said to her. That he was burnt out and projecting his world-weariness onto the city.

  The Doctor knocked on the open bedroom door. “I’ve just made some fresh coffee.”

  Balot pulled away from the capsule and accompanied the Doctor back to the dining room.

  “We’re at an altitude of 18,000 feet. Just offshore from the city. Aren’t you cold?”

  Balot shook her head and took the cup that was offered.

  It was café au lait. She took a sip and snarced the satellite TV to communicate.

  –It’s good.

  “I’m glad.”

  –I’ve never really thought that coffee tasted good until now.

  “Ah, there’s a certain skill to grinding the beans and boiling coffee properly, you see. A bit like preparing a test tube.” The Doctor mimed dispensing some medicine.

  Balot glared at him.

  –Suddenly it doesn’t taste so good anymore.

  “You are a cruel one,” the Doctor grumbled. Balot laughed and drank her coffee. Then she sensed that the Doctor was about to tell her something.

  He was about to explain their next course of action, she realized.

  –Is there going to be another trial? Balot asked. The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and fell back into his usual habit of pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.

  “There’s not much point in another trial at the moment. Not until we understand exactly what’s behind their movements and we’re ready to move in for the checkmate. As things stand, if we were to make our move now they’d be able to get themselves off the hook one way or another.”

  –Their movements? What do you mean?

  The Doctor seemed relieved that Balot was jumping into the conversation. “The wedding.”

  –Huh?

  “That is to say—he’s getting hitched to this woman from the upper classes. We knew he was planning something like this for a while…and now he’s finally putting his plan into action.

  –Shell’s getting married?

  “Uh, yeah, that’s about it.” The Doctor spoke as if he had a bitter taste in his mouth. Balot couldn’t have cared less about this news, but it seemed like the Doctor was expecting her to react, so she thought she’d better say something.

  –Will you tell me about it?

  “Sure. I hope this isn’t too hard for you. Basically, Shell is asking for the hand of one of OctoberCorp’s director’s daughters. Using the data on his dodgy dealings as a pretext.”

  –That doesn’t make much sense. What’s that got to do with marriage?

  “Well, uh, exactly, that’s the point. There’s a reason why the director in question can’t refuse Shell’s request. Or rather, maybe better to say that he doesn’t need to refuse.”

  –I still don’t understand. What do you mean?

  “It seems that the woman he wants to marry is mentally handicapped.” The Doctor seemed troubled. Balot’s eyes opened wide.

  “The whole household is full of distinguished individuals—other than the woman. She’s been confined indoors all her life, apparently. A matter of keeping up appearances. Such an old-fashioned way of thinking. Deplorable, really. They knew about her condition long before she was born—and before you ask why the mother didn’t have an abortion, the answer is because their faith didn’t permit it. But really it wasn’t about faith at all, just about saving face. They had to take into consideration all their political affiliations—what their supporters would think, that sort of thing. Now, I don’t know how Shell got hold of all this, but he did. He learned about the girl’s existence and said something to the effect of ‘I’ll take care of her if you take care of me’—in other words, make sure he’s treated as one of the family with all the social benefits this entails. With the unspoken threat left dangling there that if the father didn’t allow the marriage then Shell would reveal the girl’s existence to the outside world. How the family has treated her, all sorts of things they wouldn’t want seeing the light of day.”

  Balot put her cup down on the table quietly.

  –I feel like killing them.

  She didn’t say who, but it was quite clear: anyone and everyone.

  The Doctor shrugged his shoulders as if to say Me too. Then, apropos of nothing, he changed the subject somewhat drastically. “I told you that I split up from my wife, didn’t I?”

  –Uh-huh?

  “I have a daughter. A little younger than you, I seem to remember.”

  Balot was genuinely surprised. The Doctor gave a wry smile. “I’m not sure if that’s the reason, but part of me is starting to think of you as a daughter. I can even feel your deep personal hatred toward Shell. The thing is, I don’t think my feelings are very healthy.”

  –I don’t understand. What’s wrong with them?

  “Doesn’t it make you feel uncomfortable? When I tell you that I feel that way?”

  –Not really—I don’t think of you like my father.

  “Well, uh, I’m sure you don’t. It’s just that I’m kind of acting out of self-interest when I’m guiding you toward your next step. I just thought you might feel a bit uncomfortable if, on top of that, I started imposing some sort of unwanted paternal affection on you…”

  –I’d feel very uncomfortable. Balot gave him a serious look. Uh…the Doctor was clearly flustered by her uncompromising answer, but Balot smiled a little to try and reassure him.

  –But I am very grateful to you. And I really want to help you. For my own sake too.

  The Doctor nodded. He was showing his own gratitude. “So, what do you want to do? After the case is solved, I’m thinking we do just as you like, really.”

  –I haven’t been able to find an answer to that question. I can’t really get my head around the idea of this case ever being over.

  She answered truthfully and followed up with a sudden question.

  –When is Oeufcoque going to die?

  The Doctor was taken aback. “Uh, I’ve just performed some maintenance tasks on Oeufcoque—it’s not like I’ve euthanized him or anything.”

  –Tweedledum was saying. Professor Faceman too. That Oeufcoque only really started to think about living when he learned that he was going to die.


  “Ah, I get it.” The Doctor’s face became difficult to read, and he stared into the air. “Five years, worst-case scenario.”

  His tone was breezy. “That’s if we discover a particularly malignant tumor that we can’t treat. In reality? I don’t know. Double that, or triple? He might even live on for another half a century. It’s possible. But—it’ll be tough for him.”

  –Tough?

  “His whole body will start swelling up. I’m not just talking about obesity due to extra fatty deposits. No—everything will get bigger: hypercorpulence, it’s called. His bones, his muscles, his internal organs—even his eyeballs. He’s okay right now because he can distribute his Living Unit across several dimensions, but even now his physical structure is already about the size of the pillow you sleep on. Eventually he’ll get to a size where he can’t even fit inside this Humpty.”

  Here the Doctor paused. His hand was now on his mouth, as if he were deep in thought, and after a while he continued. “The real question is not how long he’s going to live, but how. He’s made his decision—he wants to prove his usefulness. Like me. He doesn’t know when he’s going to die, but neither do I, and neither do you, for that matter. We don’t know how we’re going to die, either. All we know is that sooner or later we will die.”

  Balot nodded. She thought she understood what the Doctor was talking about.

  –I want to stay with him. Can I?

  “You can, if you want to, I imagine. Do you mean even after this case is finished?”

  –Is the work that you two do here rewarding?

  Balot deliberately asked the same sort of question Faceman had asked. But the Doctor didn’t respond immediately. After a pause, he stared at Balot’s face as if to try and work something out. “I’m content here. So much so that I can’t even imagine what else I could do.”

  –Do you think I could do it too?

  “Well, taking into consideration your natural aptitude and all the data we have so far, I don’t see any reason why not.”

  –I remember seeing these boys and girls, younger than me, working at underground Shows. Usually in the kitchen or as wait staff, but occasionally on the stage too, dancing.

  “Being a PI is a little different from working a Show, you know. You have to try and find ways of resolving situations where all these burnt-out, morally bankrupt people are fighting it out. It’s hard work. And I often feel that all we end up doing is projecting our own world-weary selves onto other people even as we solve our cases.”