***
‘That… did you… whoa.’ Simon couldn’t string together a coherent sentence after watching Zhe’s performance.
It would seem that Zhe couldn’t quite believe it herself either as she stood among the three dead bodies. Dead bodies she had made. Blue and Simon watched as she looked down at her hands before focusing in on her right hand: the one that was covered in blood and still holding the gun tightly. She glanced upwards seeking something as her hands started to shake.
‘She’s going in to shock.’ Simon had finally found his voice.
‘Who'd blame her,’ Blue said, eyes riveted to the screen.
‘Thought you were prepared for this? Didn’t you just tell me she'd be able to do that?’ Simon asked.
‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind, lad. Besides, thinking it was possible and seeing it are two very different things, it seems,’ Blue told him.
‘She’s going to go to pieces,’ Simon observed, but no sooner had the words left his lips than Zhe stopped her wide-eyed staring and shaking. She stood straighter, closed her eyes and pushed her arms down by her sides, making a fist with her empty left hand. She stood like that for a moment or two, her lips barely moving in speech, but no sound seemed to issue from them, at least no sound that made it to the control room of the Coelacanth.
‘What’s she doing?’ Simon asked in confusion.
‘Giving herself a good talking to, it looks like.’
The talking to seemed to work, for she opened her eyes, checked the area, holstered her gun when she found nothing to alarm her and bent down to frisk the bodies. She came back up with her own knife, which she, along with her hand, cleaned on the dead man’s clothes. She also picked up another gun and two more knives from the other two bodies.
Blue and Simon watched again in disbelief as Zhe performed this task with precision and no sign of the horror she had displayed only moments before.
‘You thought that possible too?’ Simon asked.
‘Ah… not quite, lad.’ Blue acknowledged.
‘How do you reckon she does it? I mean I’m pretty sure we picked up a terrified slave girl last week, not a fighter.’
‘It’s like she’s two different people.’
***
Zhe would’ve agreed with Blue’s assessment if she had heard it; that was exactly what she felt like. She picked up her pace through the passageways and kept her eyes sharp. Whatever it was that had helped her back there was insisting that she keep moving. It was a strange sensation to feel that there was something inside her head whispering instructions to her, but that was what it felt like. She’d felt this before, back when she was still a slave, but acting upon its advice never helped; it usually resulted in a beating. So, she stopped listening and gradually it faded away. But now it was back, even stronger than before, and it seemed to help. She paused that train of thought to consider the body count; it was racking up. She wasn’t quite convinced this voice was a good thing, but, at the moment, it was all she had. She also pushed aside the disturbing thought that she was slowly going mad and focused on her task; she had to get to the power plant and she was running out of time.
***
Duncan similarly felt the pressing of time as he staggered out into the passageways, Wilks right behind him.
‘Which way?’ he asked urgently. ‘Which way?’
‘Left,’ Wilks croaked.
‘Shit! They’re right behind you!’ Duncan yelled pulling Wilks forward, causing him to stumble.
Wilks shook his head and tried to regain his feet as Duncan slammed a hatch closed behind them, wedging the wheel with a piece of piping.
‘Come on!’ Duncan grabbed a handful of Wilks’ shirt and started pulling him along.
‘All right, all right!’ Wilks batted his hand away and started moving under his own steam, still staggering every few steps.
‘Damn it, where are Kristoff’s men when you bloody need them?’ Duncan asked in frustration as they tore down the passageways.
‘Right behind you.’ A voice called out in answer.
‘Wha…’ Duncan stopped and turned to see five of Kristoff’s men step out of one the passageways they’d run past and level their weapons at him.
‘Point them the other bloody way!’ Wilks shouted as their attackers came hurtling around the corner.
‘Shit!’ Duncan dived for cover as a hail of bullets rained down.
Once the sound of gunfire had died down, Duncan looked up to see Wilks standing above him holding out his hand. Duncan grasped it and was pulled to his feet.
‘Well, I vote we don’t do that again,’ he said as he regained his footing.
‘Agreed.’
‘Just what the hell happened to you two and where is Graves?’ asked one of their “rescuers”.
‘We were attacked, that’s what happened,’ Wilks said testily. ‘They took Graves, who knows where. We need to get back to Kristoff.’
‘He isn’t going to be pleased that you’re coming back without her.’
‘We only just got out alive; there was no time to search for her, but if we get back to HQ, we can plan a search properly, Captain,’ Wilks growled, grabbing the gun off him.
‘Yes sir,’ the captain responded dutifully before organising his squad to escort them back as he radioed in that he had found them.
Duncan watched Wilks closely on the march back to Kristoff’s HQ, so much so that Wilks turned to him suddenly and demanded to know what he thought he was doing.
‘Nothing,’ Duncan said raising his arms in surrender. ‘You just took quite a beating back there is all.’
‘No more than you.’
Indeed, Duncan did look more than worse for wear, with blood stains trailing down the side of his face and onto his shirt, but he just shrugged off his injuries and they spent the rest of the walk in silence.
***
‘Well?’ Kristoff demanded as they crossed the threshold into his office. Everyone in the office had watched the group’s progress back on the screen; each trying to work out what had happened between Duncan, Wilks and Melanie being forced into that building and then reappearing two hours later, five passages over, bruised and bloodied, and without Melanie.
‘We were attacked, sir.’
‘Yes, I can see that. What happened afterwards?’
‘We were taken somewhere, I don’t know where. We woke up in a cell.’
‘Graves as well?’ Kristoff cut across.
Wilks shook his head, ‘No, I didn’t see her after the attack.’
‘And you? Did you see her?’ Kristoff turned his attention onto Duncan, but before he could answer Wilks stepped in again.
‘He was out longer than I was.’
‘But he was awake when you were taken,’ Kristoff stated impatiently.
‘We carried Wilks in and out of a series of passageways, but then they knocked us both out as well. I think more masked goons were waiting for us. Next thing I know, he’s shaking me awake,’ Duncan explained, nodding to Wilks.
‘So, neither of you saw anything and neither of you know anything?’ Kristoff demanded irritably.
‘We checked the other cells before we left, but she wasn’t in any of them; we didn’t have time to check everywhere. The alarm went up almost as soon as we cleared the cells. Damn, it was just luck that we got out.’
‘Told you that you were the lucky one, Dunc,’ Ben chipped in, grinning as he clapped him on the shoulder, which disguised his movement closer to Kristoff who had been careful to keep him at arm’s length so far.
Kristoff looked sceptical at Wilks’ explanation, but, as it was Wilks telling him everything, he had to admit it was probably true, not to mention Duncan’s presence ruled out it being an escape attempt: he wouldn’t have come back with anything less than an army. Still, he didn’t like having lost his
tech expert; she was going to be difficult to replace, as so few measured up to her skill, not to mention how easy it was to control her. But no one was irreplaceable and he'd heard promising things about Cannon’s tech.
‘I’ll organise a search party; we know where to look now,’ Wilks volunteered.
‘No.’ Kristoff disagreed.
‘No sir?’
‘No. You will resume your previous task. We need those disks and you will retrieve them.’
‘But what good are they without Graves to decode them?’ Wilks asked.
‘Are you questioning me?’
‘Ye— no sir.’ Wilks shook his head before rubbing his eyes. He looked around at Duncan, seemingly perplexed.
Using Kristoff’s concentration on Wilks and Duncan as cover, Ben signalled subtly to Sophie and Ash to get ready. None of the crew of the Coelacanth had been idle during Wilks’ explanation: Duncan and Ben had moved closer to Wilks and Kristoff in case they should need to attack. Sophie, having the same idea, had drifted behind Kristoff and Ash had moved to cover the main door, guessing that would be where reinforcements came from.
‘You were awake; you were with them!’ Wilks seemed to suddenly regain a memory and turned to accuse Duncan.
Sophie took this as the signal to move and swung a bronze statue, which had previously been sitting on the desk, at the back of Kristoff’s head. Wilks spun around at the sound of Kristoff’s body hitting the floor, presenting his back to Duncan, who clipped him with the butt of his gun, sending him to the floor as well. The action was over in seconds, culminating in each member of the Coelacanth’s crew drawing their guns and covering the doors.
‘I think we’re in the clear,’ Duncan said after a couple of moments during which no more soldiers had come bursting through the doors.
Ben nodded. ‘Keep an eye on the door, Ash,’ he ordered before turning to Duncan in time to watch as he knelt by Wilks, rolled him over and then plunged a syringe into his neck.
‘Duncan, what are you doing?’ Ben asked, certain that his first mate hadn’t lost his mind, but completely at a loss as to what was going on.
‘You’re not going to believe me,’ Duncan stated with no attempt at humour.
‘How about you try us?’ Ash suggested.
‘All right,’ Duncan agreed as he flopped down onto the settee. ‘We were attacked, like Wilks said, but I stayed awake for all of it. It turns out I did make a friend last time we were here. Ben, you remember that whore, Estelle?’
Ben thought for a moment, ‘Skinny, little alley cat?’
‘That’s the one, except she isn’t a skinny, little alley cat anymore. Seems she took what I told her to heart and is now running the Bliss Houses, which is apparently a lucrative business that acts as neutral ground here in Abantos.’
Everyone stared at Duncan for a moment after that pronouncement. Not only had he made an ally but a damn good one as well.
Ben broke the silence with a laugh, ‘I told you that you were better at this friend-making lark than me,’ he told Duncan jovially, not quite able to believe their luck.
‘But where’s Melanie? If they were friends of yours what did they want with her?’ Sophie asked in a rush.
‘Don’t worry, Soph, Melanie is fine. She’s off to decode the disks at this very moment, in fact,’ Duncan explained.
‘You know, when I asked for an explanation, I was kind of hoping for something that made sense,’ Ash grumbled from his post.
‘Let’s go from the beginning, Dunc, but make it quick; we still need to get out of here,’ Ben decided.
‘Sure, as I said, it was Estelle’s men who grabbed us and took us to Bliss HQ it would seem. After a bit of catching up, Estelle said she wanted to help us. So, we set about devising a plan. After concocting half a dozen or more that were more than ludicrous – Ben, you would’ve been proud of some of them – Estelle produced a secret weapon… of sorts.’ Duncan paused. ‘And, guys, this is the bit you’re really not going to believe.’
‘Just get on with it.’
‘It seems that our dear Republic had decided that it wasn’t happy with mere physical domination of the people, but wanted mental domination too. Now we’ve all heard the stories of brainwashing and the shit like that going on in Bedlam, but it seems they just may have succeeded to a degree that none of the horror stories have even touched on.’ Duncan paused, gathering his thoughts; this was a hard concept to get your head around, and he'd had only an hour or two from hearing it for the first time to explaining it to the others. ‘Best guess is that the Republic’s scientists have come up with a dual procedure for complete mental control. First is a drug that can suppress memories and, in large enough doses, reacts with the brain chemistry to change the way someone thinks and behaves. Second, and altogether more frightening, is a way to implant new memories – they can completely change who you are. Now I know that bit sounds pretty farfetched, but there’s your proof, for the first stage at any rate.’ He gestured to Wilks, who was still out cold on the carpet.
‘Memory altering drugs,’ Ben repeated numbly.
‘Yeah.’ Ben and Duncan exchanged a significant look, which was lost on Sophie and Ash, who were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice.
‘Doesn’t work very well though does it?’ Ash pointed out. ‘I mean he remembered.’
‘It seems it’s a delicate science and Estelle’s chemist isn’t quite proficient at it yet, plus we only gave him a small dose. I guess for a guy of his size it needed to be bigger; the trouble is, we didn’t want to addle him too much – all we wanted was for him to forget a few memories.’
‘Addle?’
‘Yeah, apparently it can mess with personality and motor functions as well as memories if too great a dose is used. Apparently, it’s best given in small doses continually over a long period of time.’
‘But that’s just…’ Sophie was unable to finish that thought aloud.
‘Pretty horrific,’ Duncan finished for her.
‘And now we’re using it,’ she added.
‘Needs must,’ Duncan agreed quietly.
‘Back to the matter at hand, though. So, you drugged him with false memories of what happened to make him believe you were on his side.’
‘Not quite, the implanting of new memories is a delicate procedure – you have to fabricate them first, for a start – and while Estelle’s chemist has managed to break down the first compound, the second is much more complicated and keyed to the individual. We just gave him enough to forget when he woke the first time and got some information he really shouldn’t have. I needed him as his own self to get me back in here without Melanie. We couldn’t sacrifice the time it would’ve taken for her to come back as well; we needed her out there to read the disks.’
‘You mentioned that earlier; just how is she going to manage that without them and without a decent computer?’ Ben asked.
Duncan didn’t answer immediately.
‘I’m not going to like this, am I?’ Ben asked already knowing the answer.
‘You’re going to hate it,’ Duncan confirmed.
‘Just spit it out then.’
‘Zhe is taking the disks to her and then they are going over to Ward Seven to Estelle’s best tech to decode them.’ The room seemed to hold its breath after Duncan’s explanation, waiting for Ben’s explosion at the news.
‘You did what?’ Ben demanded slowly through gritted teeth.
‘She was the only one Kristoff wouldn’t know to look for,’ Duncan defended his decision.
‘So, she’s out there alone?’
‘Yes, until she meets up with Melanie at the power plant.’
‘Damn it, Duncan!’
‘No other choice, Ben: she was it.’
Ben grabbed the back of the armchair until his knuckles turned white. He knew Duncan was right, but that didn’
t make it any easier, nor would ranting and raving at his first mate, who had made the only decision he could, not to mention that untold numbers of guards would storm the room before he'd finished his first sentence.
‘All right,’ Ben said after a few minutes of trying to get his anger under control. ‘We’ll catch up with them.’
Duncan simply nodded, deciding against contradicting his captain and mentioning that the chances of them catching up were slim to none.
‘What about Melanie – can we trust her?’ Ben asked, getting back to the matter in hand.
‘I think so, she has no love for Kristoff and seemed to be on our side, but you know how it is: appearances aren’t everything.’ Duncan shrugged, it was another decision he'd made that lacked any real choice; it was trust her or lose everything.
Ben nodded his understanding; he knew that Duncan had made the only call he could. ‘So we’ve got Estelle and Melanie, who we hope we can trust, and Zhe who we hope will make it, seeing to the disks.’ Duncan nodded. ‘And we’ve got you back here, with Wilks who may or may not remember he’s not actually on our side.’ Ben paused in his analysis of the situation. ‘I don’t suppose, with all your planning, you included a way for us to get out of here?’
Chapter Twenty-eight
‘Are you Zhe?’
Zhe spun around towards the voice. She had made it into the ward with no markings that the others had come through earlier; Ward One, as it had turned out to be. More importantly Ward One contained the power plant, which ran the entirety of Abantos and was situated right in the centre of the city, forming the connecting piece between the two sides of Abantos that had sprung up and being the only really neutral territory there was. The only thing it seemed the wardlords did agree on was dividing the maintenance and upkeep of the power plant between them. Any man, woman or child caught staking a claim to or fighting in Ward One was immediately executed. No one wanted to risk the only thing that kept them alive down here – without the power plant there would be no air, no light, no heat and, even more crucially, no pressure. Without it, Abantos would crumple into itself in seconds.
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