by Rohan Healy
“Keep it comin' Wolf! We got a 25% bonus from the boss man today,” said Ryker excitedly.
“Shit, is he tryin' to kill ya?” Wolf jested. “Tell ya what, palm me fifty creds and I'll let you keep the bottle.” Without hesitation, Ryker placed his right hand on one of the credit transfer terminals on the bar and completed the purchase.
“Thanks boys, now if you'll excuse me, I have other customers to attend to,” Wolf said with a wink accompanied by her usual smirk, and she turned her attention to one of the busy bar’s many other patrons. Ryker took the bottle of Raxxin and poured Miles and himself another shot each. Miles was prepared this time, he quickly downed the drink without too much discomfort.
He looked around to witness a club full of the most diverse and colourful group of people he’d ever seen in any part of Elissa. Up on the brightly lit stage both men and women danced sensually and suggestively to the loud electronic music as some of the patrons watched on.
As the night continued and the Raxxin slowly depleted, Miles began to tell Ryker about his four year old son, Chet. This was the first time Miles had discussed his personal life with anyone since losing his job at The Energy Department.
“He sounds like a good kid,” Ryker said sincerely.
“I just wish there were some way I could talk to him again, just to tell him his father will be home soon, to let him know that everything's going to be alright,” said Miles, burying his face in his palms.
“Can't you call his school or something?” Ryker asked.
“He was transferred to another school after I was sent down here and I'm blocked from the data network so I can't find him or make any calls,” Miles replied, frustrated.
“That sucks man,” Ryker said, pouring them another shot of Raxxin. But then Miles had an idea.
“Wait a minute,” he said turning to Ryker, “you could access the network for me! Please Ryker, you have to help me out,” Miles begged.
“Sorry Miles, I'm blocked too. Four months for possession of illegal substances.” As the words left Ryker's mouth the brief spark of hope inside Miles was extinguished.
“But,” said Ryker quietly, closing the distance between him and Miles, “there could be a way...” Ryker's expression was deadly serious, “it could be dangerous though, like stuffed-in-a-shuttle-and-shipped-to-Gyaros kind of dangerous.”
Miles probably should have stopped listening right there and changed the subject but if there was a way to contact Chet he needed to know.
“Just tell me Ryker,” he said looking Ryker straight in the eyes.
“Okay, so Mr Grayson has a network terminal in his office, if we could put him to sleep, then we can use his prints to access the network.” Miles thought about what Ryker just said.
“Put him to sleep?” he asked, confused.
“I know a guy who can get me some dreamscape.” Miles knew exactly what dreamscape was, it was the street name for a powerful sedative drug often used on patients undergoing surgery. It also served as a pain killer with the inadvertent side-effect of giving the user vivid and powerful dreams while under its influence.
“Do we really need to put him to sleep? Couldn’t I just ask him to access it for me?”
“Come on Miles, he’s not going to risk his business helping someone banned from the network talk to his kid who he’s banned from talking to.”
Passing up another opportunity to end the dangerous conversation, the intoxicated Miles continued.
“When can you get it? The dreamscape.”
“Tomorrow, on the way to work,” Ryker replied. The crazy, drunken scheme actually seemed solid, except for one detail.
“How are we going to get Grayson to take it?” Miles inquired. Ryker thought for a few seconds before coming up with a plan. He picked up the blue Raxxin bottle.
“Let's save him a little something to say thanks for the bonus.”
It all made sense, they had a plan and the means to execute it. Still, in Miles’ currently precarious situation, attempting something like this could mean instant exile to Gyaros without trial.
“Are you sure you wanna do this, man?” Ryker asked squinting, looking bothered and unsure. “You know if something goes wrong that’s it for you, man I don’t even know if I should be helping you do this,” continued Ryker, suddenly regretting his decision to suggest such a perilous plan. Miles paused silently for several seconds before finally answering.
“I don’t want to do this Ryker, I have to do this. I have to see Chet's face again, whatever the risk. I have to tell him that his father still cares, that I’ll be home soon. He can't spend the next six months of his life thinking that his dad just ran away, or died or who knows what Hellen told him! It’ll be fine Ryker, the whole thing is going to take a total of fifteen minutes. We’ll be in and out and Mr Grayson will just think he drifted off for a while and it won’t raise any alarms because Grayson isn’t under surveillance. Fifteen minutes and it’s done.”
Ryker sighed, “alright Miles, but however unlikely it is, you could get shuttled for this, you have to understand that man,” said Ryker seriously.
“I understand, and I'll take full responsibility if things go wrong. But they won't, we can do this, and once it's done, once I've talked to Chet I can get on with counting the days and playing it safe. No more messing around,” Miles replied.
“Now, I know you don't believe that I was ever on Gyaros,” Ryker said as he began to reach into his backpack, “but even if you think I'm lying, I want you to take this,” he pulled out a small metal cube and placed it in Miles hand.
“This plan should work Miles, but if we fuck it up somehow, if you end up on Gyaros one way or another, whether it’s in a week or ten years from now, I want you to remember this,” Ryker paused briefly before continuing, “get to New Fortune and find someone called Mesa, show them this, they might be able to help you out. I know it's a stretch, but it'll be your best chance.” Ryker spoke so seriously that Miles actually began to believe him in his drunken state. Though still sceptical, Miles took the silver metal cube and placed it into the top pocket of his shirt. Ryker took the bottle of Raxxin and poured another two shots.
“But we can worry about that tomorrow, we still have the whole night ahead of us,” he said with his usual carefree expression.
And that's the last thing Miles could remember about that night.
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Chapter 6
Miles painfully opened his eyes, expecting to see the familiar ceiling of his small hotel room as he did the previous three mornings. Instead he found himself laying awkwardly on a cold wooden surface. Ryker was lying next to him and was still asleep, snoring loudly. With a painful headache and a ringing in his ears, Miles looked around at the dark environment. It wasn't long before he realized exactly where he was. Miles and Ryker never left the bar! They had spent the night on the stage of Wolf’s Den where only a few hours ago the dancers performed their act. Miles and Ryker both had pillows under their heads and big old leather jackets covered their torsos, presumably something from the lost and found.
“Okay boys, party's over,” Miles heard a piercing voice call from a doorway marked Staff Only. He looked around to see Wolf dressed in nothing more than a white tank top, a pair of underwear and some fluffy slippers, her hair even more scruffy than it was the night before. She stretched and yawned as she walked casually through the room turning on several lights and picking up a few empty bottles to throw in the trash. Apparently, Wolf didn't just own the bar, she actually lived there too. Miles' body felt so stiff that he could barely move but with a great effort, he struggled to his feet.
“We've been here all night?” he asked, rubbing his red eyes.
“Yup,” replied Wolf, “you guys got seriously fucked up,” she added with a chuckle. Ryker was still passed out on the hard wood surface of the stage. Wolf strolled over to him.
“Come on sleeping beauty,” she said poking Ryker with her foot.
“Uuuhh...wut
hufuck?” Ryker mumbled as his eyes slowly opened.
“You guys should probably get to work, right?” said Wolf, Miles frantically searched the room for a clock. He ran to the till where the time was displayed in a bold digital font. It was 9:42. Miles and Ryker had less than twenty minutes to get to the cinema!
“Shit!” exclaimed Miles, “Ryker, we have to go right now!” Ryker hastily stood up as Miles made his way towards the door.
“Let me open that for you,” Wolf took a key from behind the bar and unlocked the heavy wooden door. Miles looked back to see Ryker packing the blue bottle of Raxxin into his backpack and he was suddenly reminded of the hair brained plan they had hatched last night while under the influence of the powerful alcohol. Butterflies flittered about his stomach as the details of the drunken plan came flooding back. He was about to yell to Ryker to tell him that the plan was off, but visions of his young son quickly reminded him of why he must go through with it. He swallowed hard and readied himself to put the scheme into action. ‘I have to do this, for Chet.’ Ryker quickly zipped up his bag, threw it over his shoulder and rushed out the door with Miles.
“Do you have time to get the dreamscape?!” Miles asked in a muted and panicked voice.
“I think so, head to the cinema and I'll meet you there!” Ryker shouted as he started to run down the street. Miles’ heart was beating furiously. Not only was he hung over and almost late for work, he was about to drug his boss in order to access the data network. Miles’ head was still pounding as he walked briskly through the narrow lanes and alleys back to the cinema. The heavy rain falling on the umbrella above him sounded like machine guns being fired inches from his ears and the various bruises and cuts from the previous day’s fight forced him to limp and wince in pain.
As Miles approached the cinema he could see Ryker sprinting down the street from the opposite direction.
“I got it,” said Ryker quietly as he tried to catch his breath.
Acting as naturally as they could, Miles and Ryker walked through the doors of the cinema and greeted Mr Grayson.
“Looks like you two enjoyed your bonus!” Grayson laughed before returning to his office behind the counter. Ryker and Miles chuckled nervously until he closed his office door behind him, their faces suddenly becoming dead serious. Ryker opened his backpack, pulling out the almost empty bottle of Raxxin and a small plastic bag containing three round, white tablets.
“Are you sure this stuff will work?” Miles whispered as he tapped the counter top anxiously.
“Well it should, this shit's expensive,” Ryker replied as he crushed the tablets into a fine powder by rolling the bottle back and forth across the bag. Ryker opened the bottle and carefully poured the white powder into it. He screwed the lid back on to the Raxxin bottle and waited a while for the dreamscape to fully dissolve before looking at Miles.
“Alright, you wait here and I'll go give this to Grayson.” Ryker approached the door to Mr Grayson's office nervously and knocked.
“Come on in,” said Grayson cheerily from behind the door. Ryker looked back at Miles one last time before entering the office, giving an almost undiscernible nod. Miles' heart began to beat even faster as he listened to Ryker presenting the bottle of Raxxin to Mr Grayson, who seemed quite pleased with the gift. After about a minute and a half, Ryker returned giving another small nod to Miles as he closed the door behind him.
“We should just get to work like normal, I'll let you know when he drinks it,” said Ryker quietly.
“Are you sure he'll drink it at work?” inquired Miles.
“I don’t see why today would be different to any other.”
‘Yeah, good point,’ thought Miles remembering Grayson’s affinity for strong spirits. And so Miles began to work just like any other day, cleaning the various rooms of the building and making sure everything was in working order, except today his stomach churned and his armpits sweated profusely as he anxiously waited to hear from Ryker. ‘What the fuck have I done? I am so screwed! Oh God, I never should have gone through with this!’ Hundreds of thoughts flooded Miles' head as he scrubbed the heavily stained carpets of the cinema floor. Miles knew that there was no turning back now, Mr Grayson had the drugged Raxxin in his office and it was only a matter of time before he consumed it. ‘What if the drugs aren't strong enough? What if he notices them?’ As Miles started to sincerely regret everything, he suddenly remembered why he was going through with all of this. It was to speak to his son, to let Chet know that his father is okay, that he still loves him, that he misses him and that he will be coming home soon. Miles had to do this, there was no choice involved.
He was cleaning the floors of cinema 2 after an afternoon showing when he heard the door open behind him. He looked up to see Ryker standing in the large doorway, gesturing for Miles to follow him. Miles dropped what he was doing and hurried out into the lobby.
“Okay man, Grayson's out cold. We gotta do this now,” whispered Ryker nervously. Miles' heart picked up the pace once again, this was it; the time had finally come. He reassured himself that Mr Grayson would remain unconscious, dreamscape is used to put patients under for serious surgeries after all. Miles and Ryker looked at each other silently for a few seconds before slowly opening the door to Grayson's office. They found him slumped over his desk, unconscious, snoring loudly. The large blue bottle of Raxxin was now completely drained of its contents and sat on a shelf behind Grayson. Ryker stepped through the door first, carefully approaching their comatose boss, Miles joined him soon after, walking on the tips of his toes. On the desk sat a small computer terminal, much older than any Miles had worked with during his previous job.
“Do it man!” breathed Ryker, panicking. After almost a minute of hesitation, Miles gently lifted Mr Grayson's limp hand onto the scanner pad.
‘Scanning, please wait,’ read a message on the terminal screen accompanied by a green progress bar that filled from left to right.
‘User identified as Ellis Grayson. Full public data network access approved.’ With access to the network, Miles quickly brought up the student registries of several schools in the Elissan Green Districts. Going through one school at a time Miles read through hundreds of names of students, glancing back at Grayson every so often to make sure he was still out cold. Ryker stood by the door, nervously checking for customers as Miles frantically scanned through the names,
Sorola, George K. – 6 years old
Stafford, Ada L. – 4 years old
Stanley, Edward P. – 5 years old
Stanton, Chet W. – 4 years old
Miles' eyes stopped suddenly at his son's name, he was in Korinthos Elementary School, Elissan North Green District. Miles quickly began trying to establish a video call with the school, but before he could hit enter a soft groan came from behind him. Miles froze, 'no...this can't happen now!' he thought to himself in horror.
“Ryker!” Miles whispered, in a panicked tone, “I think he's waking up!”
“No, he can't be, he should be out for at least twenty minutes!” But as Ryker moved across the room to check on the sleeping man, Grayson brought his hands to his face and began rubbing his eyes. Miles and Ryker froze, unable to move or form a sentence.
“What the hell's goin' on here?” Grayson opened his eyes to find his employees both in his office. His eyes moved down to the monitor and he noticed that Miles had been attempting to access the data network through his personal terminal, using his user ID. He quickly jumped to his feet and picked up the spiked bat under the desk. He wobbled slightly, still recovering from the influence of the drug, with no idea of what was going on.
“What the fuck are you two doin' in here?!” asked Grayson, confused, groggy and very angry.
“I, well, you see Mr Grayson…” Miles trailed off. He was stunned, there was nothing he could say to his boss that could improve the situation in any way. He couldn’t think of a lie and telling the truth would only make it worse. After several seconds of silence, Ryker finally spoke.
“I-I tried to stop him!” Miles turned and looked at Ryker with an expression of pure shock.
“What?!”
“He was trying to contact his kid! He made me help him out, he said if I didn't do it, he'd bust me for possession. You gotta believe me man!” Ryker held his hands in the air and looked as innocent as he possibly could.
“That lying son of a bitch! He was the one who brought up this idea!” Miles protested angrily pointing at Ryker.
“You're a fuckin' maniac, Miles. And to think, this is the thanks I get for giving a job to a down and outer such as yourself,” Mr Grayson said, still holding the bat with a firm grip, his round face now bright pink. “I'm alerting the authorities!” Grayson once again reached under his desk, this time to sound the alarm. A loud siren rang through the cinema and a signal was sent to The Security Department. It was over, The Enforcers were on their way.
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Chapter 7
Without thinking, Miles sprinted out of the building and onto the wet streets as fast as he could, he took a left and continued to run with no idea where he was going or what he was doing. In the distance, Miles could hear the loud sirens of Enforcer Patrol Vehicles drawing closer and closer. He knew there was no use in running now, eventually The Enforcers would catch up, and when they did, Miles knew exactly what would happen. He couldn't fool himself anymore, he couldn't pretend that everything was going to turn out okay, that he'd be given yet another chance. Not anymore. ‘Why, why did I have to push my Goddamn luck?!’ And so he ran, fast, through dense crowds and unforgiving rain. Images of Hellen and Chet flashed before him. Miles needed to see his family one last time and he knew that there was one way back to his home, large monorails that travelled between the Yellow and Green Districts each day. Boarding one of them legally took a lot of paper work or an occupation which required frequent travel between districts, but Miles had nothing to lose. He could see the monorail track above his head as he ran, his only option was to follow it and hope to find a station before The Enforcers caught up with him. The terrifying sound of Enforcer sirens seemed to grow louder with each step Miles took as he rushed through the streets of the Yellow District, keeping his gaze locked on the tracks above. Upon turning a corner to his right, Miles saw what looked like a small station less than fifty meters down a busy road, but in the corner of his eye, several blue and red lights flashed violently in the distance. Miles started to run even faster than before, faster than he thought he could, forcing his way through hundreds of pedestrians as he frantically rushed up a long flight of steel stairs to the platform of the monorail station, taking two steps at a time. As he reached the top of the platform, Miles could see a monorail quickly approaching from the east. ‘Thank God!’ The train was coloured bright white with sky blue borders and didn't look like something that belonged in the darkness of the Yellow Districts. Miles hid within a large crowd of people waiting to board the train as Enforcer Vehicles screeched to a halt down below. The platform shook heavily under Miles' feet as the monorail pulled into the station and stopped.