The Family

by Saxon Keeley

  Precariously he searches for his footing on the ladder. With every step down, the same neon red darkness engulfs him. Following his descent into darkness is a trickle of dust that runs over his head.

  At the other end of the tunnel is another opening. No door, no station. Just an opening overlooking the crater.

  Daniel approaches the edge and is met with a refreshing view of a clear sky, rocky earth and an almost illusionary golden shimmer that glistens in the morning sun. The geological scar is ancient, the meteor having hit Jotunhiem hundreds of years before humans colonised the planet.

  Thanks to the clear air, Daniel feels as if he has clarity of thought and for the first time since he has woken up he feels sober. Sitting in the middle of the impact is the mining colony. Though a sizable settlement, it pales into insignificance compared to its surroundings.

  Clambering down from the protruding rail system, Daniel lands hard on the rocks below. His fall is cumbersome. With no one around, he saves himself any embarrassment.

  Shaking it off, he begins to map his way down to the centre. The rocks are loose and every so often Daniel disrupts the unstable earth, which slides out from under him. Much of his decent is comprises of skating uncontrollably, only just maintaining his balance.

  The crater’s rim is tall enough to hold back the winds that drag the dust across the land. The difference is uncanny. The whole landscape seems to feel unnatural and out of place. It is something that never cases to perplex Daniel, the diversity of each world he has visited. But to seek the reason why, does not interest him. Even if it did, he is convinced that he would not be able to understand it.

  No cloud of dust means that the atmosphere cannot retain its heat. Daniel’s breath becomes viable. Despite the sudden chill, he perseveres without doing up his coat, welcoming the cooler temperature.

  Walking in the middle of the street, a sense of unease washes over him. The colony is totally lifeless. The lack of wind means everything hangs static. There is no humming of machinery; no hustle of trade; no boisterous cheers from the local; no lights on in people’s homes. The colony has no pulse.

  The cerement buildings look identical to the other colony, only cleaner. The uniform layout is comforting to Daniel. Already he has assumptions of where things are. It is the same as any mining colony in the Outer Core, pre-planned and systematic.

  Building after building, nothing. Daniel attempts another home. He grabs the handle of the front door, already knowing it’s not locked. There are no signs of forced entry, distress or resistance. Everything has just been left there.

  The people who lived here clearly took pride in themselves. Next to the sink all the dishes are stacked neatly. Their sofas facing towards one another rather than at the television screen. Each tablet in its charging dock ready for the next user. Daniel picks up an electronic frame, it has little charge left, but he can just about make out the family photos flickering on the screen. Mother, father, daughter and son.

  Daniel’s ears twitch as small footsteps patter about at the front door. Turning to face them, he is surprised to find no one there.

  Throwing the frame onto sofa, he runs outs of the house and searches the street. Daniel stops to find a small girl scurrying off around the corner. Without question, he follows.

  In the centre of town, he comes across three children in the middle of the empty street. Two of the children are playing a game which no longer seems to excite them and the third is trying to warn them about the stranger. Despite his efforts to approach them quietly, they notice him straight away.

  “Hey mister! Do you want to play with us?” the eldest one asked.

  Daniel is unsure if the child is male or female. The boyish features could belong to either sex.

  “Hey! He’s the one I was just telling you about,” said the girl.

  Clearly the middle child, her hair blonde and she wears a beautiful pink and green dress. A style of dress no longer worn, belonging in books regarding Germanic history.

  Ignoring the protest of the girl, Daniel joins the children. Each of them are scarred, as if whole veins have been cut out from under the skin. Red vine like scars ascend from their body, up their necks and fade as they reach their face. It’s a sight all too familiar in the Charted Systems.

  “What game are we playing?” Daniel asked the eldest child.

  “Marbles. I found them in my Dad’s old chest. He said it was passed down to him from his Grandfather who was from Earth. Can you believe! I’m related to someone from Earth,” he said with a revitalised enthusiasm.

  Daniel smiles at the child amused.

  “My Mum said that Earth deserves to have gone dark because they abandoned us here,” the small one stated.

  The third child is small and fragile, unkempt and underfed. Though the child must be no more than seven, he does not act so. In fact, none of the children act as children.

  “I think you have to get the small ones closest to the big one,” explained the middle child.

  “You know mister, a lot of people have come here since it happened,” said the eldest child.

  “Since what happened?” Daniel fainted ignorance.

  “Since…” the middle child began. Her eyes begin to swell with tears, both the other children notice her reaction, but are somewhat apathetic to it.

  “Shhh…” interrupted the youngest child, trying to continue their game.

  Daniel decides not to pursue the issues, he already knows none of the children would have any knowledge of what happened to them. Instead he watches patiently as they continue to play their game of marbles.

  The colony is still. Silent. Despite this Daniel feels as if they are being watched. Before he can ask anything, the youngest child looks up from their game and gives Daniel an unsettling look.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Don’t be so rude,” snapped the eldest.

  “But why are you here?” continued the middle child.

  “Everyone who comes here dies,” explained the youngest.

  “It all started when we woke up,” the middle child muttered despondently.

  “Shut up, he’s here to play with us. Don’t make him leave,” said the eldest irritably.

  Daniel attempts the defuse the situation by taking a marble and rolls it towards the largest marble, knocking several other marbles out the way however gets nowhere near the large one.

  Accepting himself as a novice at the game, he looks up at the children.

  “I’m just passing by,” he lied.

  “Why are you here?” the youngest asked again, ignoring Daniel’s messily attempt to deceive them.

  “Why are you here?” repeated the middle child.

  “Are you here to play with us?” asked the eldest hopefully.

  The youngest interrupted, not giving Daniel a chance to speak, “It’s dangerous for adults to stay here.”

  “Some nice people tried to take us with them,” continued the middle child.

  “But they died too,” said the eldest.

  “He will kill anyone who tries to take the Golden Ring,” finished the youngest.

  “Who will?” Daniel asked unexpectedly captivated.

  “He is albino,” said the middle child.

  “He is the reason why we have food,” said the youngest.

  “He looks after us,” admitted the eldest.

  Before they could continue Daniel interjected with a half honest question, “My friend knew someone who used to live here. Said he was an amazing inventor. Don’t suppose you knew anyone like that?”

  The children look at one another.

  “You should go,” said the middle child. She opens her clenched fist and drops the marbles she was concealing. Rising to her feet, she turns her back and begins to walk off.

  The eldest looks back and forth between Daniel had their friend. Eventually she nudges Daniel.

  “Psst…I know where you can find his home. He was a strange man. Most the other children in the town never li
ked going around there. I can take you.”

  “He will die,” warned the youngest.

  “Mister, will you die?”

  “I haven’t yet,” explained Daniel with a good-humoured confidence.

  “Good, don’t die today.”

  They leave the youngest vacantly starring at the marbles.

  Skipping through the streets, the eldest child seems to have reverted, acting too young for her age. Following her, Daniel cannot seem to match her pace, every step he takes seems to be out of sync. Occasionally he falls behind, sometimes he races ahead.

  Coming to an abrupt holt, she points to the house across the street. Instinctively Daniel knows it’s the place. A three-storey building standing out from all the rest. Turning to thank the child, she has already gone.

  Inside, nothing has been disturbed since the Purge, just as with the family home. The ground floor is basic. A single armchair. A kitchen with basic facilities. What is striking are the real paper books on the shelves. Something Daniel has seen before, but an unusual sight on such a colony.

  Walking over to the kitchen, he tests the taps. Not much more than a dribble of water comes out. Daniel then places his bag down on the coffee table and begins searching for the blueprints.

  Heading upstairs to the second floor, there is shift in the weight of the air. Daniel becomes cautious of his surroundings. The whole floor is one room. Boards are littered with diagrams and designs, while desks have calculations spalled across them.

  A frame on one of the shelves catches his attention. It contains an actual photograph. Interested in such a rare find, Daniel, on closer inspection, realises who is in the picture. On the right is a man, early fifties, rough and Scandinavian looking. He assumes this to be the man whose home he is currently in. Embraced in his arms is a man with fiery red hair, it could not be mistaken as anybody other than Loge, but much younger, before Daniel ever knew him.

  Concluding that this job is not as simple as he had first anticipated, he is disrupted by the cold click of the hammer of a gun being pulled back.

  Unthreatened, he turns to face the gun. A solemn smirk stretches across his face as he discovers a child on the other end. No more than a teenager, the Chinese boy’s skin and hair is washed of colour. The kid wears a black raincoat with highlights of red and gold. On his left arm is a band with the PeaceSeeker emblem. A red and gold circle with two smaller ones orbiting it, one in the top left, the other in the bottom right, in the centre is the Chinese character for ‘peace’. The fact that the boy has not already pulled the trigger let’s Daniel know he will be walking away alive.

  “You are Daniel Hayward?” the PeaceSeeker asked nervously in Chinese.

  Silence as they stand there, neither one willing to move. The boy tries to work out Daniel’s smirk.

  “Fuck…I cannot believe they allow kids to become PeaceSeekers now. What has Bình let it become?” Daniel mocked.

  Another moment of silence follows while Daniel waits for a response.

  “Do not tell me. She promised you that if you could kill me, she would make you into some great hero of the Loyalists. Or better yet, you came from some backwater colony that just so happened to be chosen to be Purged, and she gave you an out. In exchange for my death, you get go to Maia and undergo training to become one of them?” Daniel rambled on.

  The PeaceSeeker re-steadies his aim. “They said you talk.”

  “You do not?” retorted Daniel.

  “You are Daniel Hayward,” restated the albino child.

  Before the kid can even react, Daniel grabs the barrel of the gun, repositioning it directly at his own forehead. Having closed the gap, there is now very little distance between them. Calmly and vigilantly he watches the boy for any slight twitch.

  “Would it even matter if I was not Daniel Hayward?” he asked.

  “No.”

  The gunshot is deafening.

  Not used to the sound of gunfire in an enclosed space, the albino child squints as the ringing in his ears causes him immense discomfort. Eyes closed, he tries to pull back the pistol. But the more he tugs, the more resistance he encounters.

  Daniel holds the gun high above his own head, totally unscathed by the bullet. The kid tries his best to wrestle it out of his grasp, unable match Daniel’s strength. Keeping Daniel preoccupied, the albino throws out a kick, using all his weight to try and separate the two of them.

  Stumbling backwards, the child is about to fire off another round. But before he can take aim, Daniel has already run up to the PeaceSeeker and lays his fist into the kid’s chest.

  Winded, the kid is too stunned to fight back and Daniel takes his arm, twisting it in an unnatural manner. Something in his arm pops and the gun falls to the floor with a thud.

  The PeaceSeeker reaches with his free hand for a small hidden blade in his boot. Swinging into the pain, the albino plunges the knife between Daniel’s ribs.

  Manically the child sneers as he forces the knife upwards, but Daniel feels nothing. Confused the boy sees that his blade has not penetrated the coat’s material. Daniel smiles cheekily, then strikes the albino with the back of his hand.

  His feet try to carry him away, but he only gets so far before realising his other arm is still in Daniel’s vice like grip. Unable to escape any farther, he thinks to kick his way out. Before he can even fully extend his leg out, he is pulled in towards Daniel. His only leg on the ground is swept away and his face connects with Daniel’s fist. The albino slams to the floor.

  “Stay down,” Daniel warned the child, still twisting his wrist.

  The pistol is right beside him and the PeaceSeeker grabs the gun, firing wildly at Daniel. It is kicked out of his hand before he can unload a few lucky shots.

  Daniel stomps his heel in the kid’s face to stop him from squirming about. Blood seeps from the albino’s gums. Placing a knee into his rib cage, Daniel leans in close.

  “Let me get what I need and let me leave. I do not want to have to kill you.”

  The PeaceSeeker pokes Daniel in the eyes with his free hand and the weight pinning him down shifts as Daniel, equally hurt as he is shocked, regroups from the attack. Daniel checks his sight. Though blurry, it will recover.

  Working on sound rather than his vision, he traces the child’s movement as they both climb to their feet. With his hands shielding his eyes, Daniel delivers a powerful kick. The force sends the albino flying down the stairs. The boy tumbles down one step at a time.

  Not allowing the PeaceSeeker to gain the advantage by finding somewhere to hide, Daniel makes his way to the ground floor. He can just about make out the child at the bottom step, already recovering from the fall.

  Before the child can get back up, Daniel’s foot lands squarely in the boy’s chest.

  “Stay down.”

  In defiance, the PeaceSeeker attempts to get back up. Again, Daniel kicks the boy. The blow hits the child directly in his face. Blood splatters across the room. The albino’s lip is split and his nose broken. Red dribbles out from his mouth.

  “Stay down.”

  Feeling convinced that he has put an end to the child’s fight, Daniel turns back to the stairs. But as soon as he turns his back, he can hear the albino charging at him.

  Spinning to meet the child with his fists, he is instead tackled against the fridge. The boy begins to swing madly at Daniel. Unfazed by each hit, Daniel simply overpowers the child and places him in a headlock.

  “Stand down,” insisted Daniel.

  The albino ignores him.

  “Stand down.”

  The PeaceSeeker sinks his finger nails into Daniel’s face. Feeling the burn as his skin brakes, Daniel tightens his hold around the boy’s neck.

  “Stand down,” pleaded Daniel to the child one last time.

  His finger nails find Daniel’s eyes. Enduring the pain for long enough, he recognises that the PeaceSeeker won’t give up. In one sharp jerk, Daniel snaps the albino boy’s neck. The body in his grasp goes limp. The hand clawing
his face falls away slowly. Only when Daniel is sure does he let go.

  Leaving the boy’s body resting up against the refrigerator, he heads over to his bag and finds out the bottle of whiskey. Taking a seat in the armchair, Daniel opens the unlabelled bottle and takes a huge swig.

  While he catches his breath, he watches the dead body on the other side of the room. Unable to think of any fitting words to say to alleviate the contradicting clash of emotions, he just sits there and takes another drink.

  Blood trickles down his face. Slamming the bottle down, Daniel heads over to the kitchen sink to clean his wounds. Only drops of water come from the tap, though it is enough to dampen a cloth with.

  Dabbing the scratches, he winces at the sharp sting. He catches his reflection in the window and is surprised at how deep the child had sunk his nails in. Doing his best with the little he has, Daniel knows he will have to seek more attention soon so it doesn’t become infected. As he wrings the cloth, red and grey droplets stain the sink.

  Upstairs again, he resumes his search for the blueprints, this time he has a good idea of where to find them. He picks up the photo of the stranger and a young Loge. After one last look at the photograph itself, he turns the frame around and opens it. Sure enough, tapped to the back is a memory card. Next to the card is a message:

  Our last hope that will end the reign of the one-eyed bitch, Jörmungandr.

  Daniel stands there confused, unsure of Loge’s alliance or motives. Unsure of the purpose of him being here. Concerned about the complications of his job. Instead of tearing off the memory card, he takes the photograph as well, placing it neatly into his pocket. Daniel decides he will need to confront Loge about the nature of these blueprints.

  The colony is silent. Static. As if time has stopped and the colonists vanished. The sun high in the sky. Despite this, without the blanket of dust trapping the heat, it is bitterly cold. The crater sparkles. It is as if he were in the centre of a golden ring.