by Ian Williams
“I have to. You heard them, if I don’t find The Sentient Collector in twenty four hours I’m dead.”
“I think what Ruth is referring to, Elliot, is that you can’t go near the police at all. What if you walk out of here and straight into a patrol? That device will kill you.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do then?” Elliot said.
After another brief moment of silence, Graham turned. “I’ll find him for you,” he said. He could see no alternative. He had to do it. There was no-one else who could – or so he thought.
“I’m going too,” Ruth said, to Graham more than Elliot.
“No you’re not. You’re staying here with me,” Elliot snapped back.
“I’m not staying here if I can help. What do you want me to do, wait here and watch you die? No thanks. I’d rather be out there looking for a way to save you.” Ruth threw her arms around Elliot before adding: “I won’t let you die.”
Her comment caused a tremble of Elliot’s bottom lip that Graham only just caught. She had hit a nerve, bringing about an unexpected halt to the conversation. An uncomfortable silence was left in its wake as each now appeared unwilling to speak.
The outside world presented an obvious distraction for Graham as he waited for someone else to speak. He knew full well that there was a chance he could be required to break the silence, however much he did not want to. With the two taking the chance to embrace after a worrying time apart, there were no signs of either continuing the conversation. There was still a lot to be discussed. For now each appeared to enjoy a few minutes of peace.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, he took to counting Mag-Lev cars as they raced by his window. Each was on their way to a day of normal rituals like travelling to work, or school, or even on trips out. Only a day or so ago he was one of them, without as much as a hint of worry or concern on his mind. Then in such a short amount of time his life had turned a darker shade of shit. He now faced the prospect of losing his friend to an unknown man’s device, which still flashed red to remind them of the deadly deed it waited to carry out.
By now the silence had claimed at least five minutes of daylight, edging them just that bit closer to Elliot’s possible demise. This was not lost on Graham as he watched the world tick by second after second.
It fell to Elliot to speak first. “I’m sorry for lying to both of you, I really am. But the fact is we’ve got less than a day to find The Sentient Collector and I haven’t got a clue where he is. I’ve never actually met the guy. All I have is an idea of where to start. If we stay in contact through our wrist screens, I can help you.” Elliot allowed himself a second to catch his breath. “If I’m honest I don’t think I can walk far right now anyway.”
Ruth moved from hugging her husband to holding his arm and resting her head on his left shoulder; she had found where she wanted to be. “So how do these D-Stims fit into all of this?” she asked.
The question had gone unanswered and Graham had failed to even realise. Elliot was either much more equipped at withholding information or he had forgotten too. There was a huge hole that this one answer would fill, yet it had nearly gone unnoticed entirely. The delay that proceeded Elliot’s answer suggested that he had indeed been steering the conversation away from this one question.
“I’ve struggled to sleep without them, have done for years. The guy I get my D-Stims from, calls himself Dino, he’s who I hand the MARCs over to. I guess he hasn’t got a clue what they are, because he never asks about what I give him. Either that or he just doesn’t care. Somehow The Sentient Collector found out I was working for Simova, so he made contact through Dino. I’ve sent a reply to him every time I’ve captured new MARCs.”
“You mean every time we’ve captured them,” Graham added.
“Sorry, I meant that. He’s always sent me to different locations to make the drop-offs. He’s extremely paranoid. Seems he’s right to be, since I was grabbed straight after making the last exchange: D-Stims for MARCs. I don’t know where The Sentient Collector is, but I know he uses the D-Stim supply routes to transport his new MARCs. To locate him we need to start there. I can message him and set up another exchange with Dino. Where we go from there depends on getting the guy you meet to tell us who he takes them to.”
“Then I guess that’s what we should do. One thing though. Why put yourself in such danger? For a collection of dangerously faulty programs?”
“If you could only see one for yourself, G. They’re incredible. You’d realise straight away just how different they are from what we capture. Given half a chance they become fully sentient beings.”
“You’ve seen one then?” Ruth asked.
Elliot swivelled in his seat to address the more reticent audience sitting next to him. Graham was unintentionally displaying an unwillingness to go along with him. “Oh Ruth, you wouldn’t believe it. The Sentient Collector allowed me to keep one for a few months, just to show me what they can do if left alone. The thing was beautiful, like a newborn child. After it had worked out the cages mechanisms it hacked its way out and explored the house.”
“It was free in here?” Graham said with a nervous look about him.
“Yes, but I still took it to The Sentient Collector. We share the same views about what the MARCs represent. The problem is that many others don’t. And as for the people running that warehouse, I have no idea what they want with them. I’m not sure The Sentient Collector does either.” Elliot sat back in his seat and idly stared at the wall for quite a few seconds before continuing. When he did, his tone had become much lower and nearer to the volume of a whisper. “But my guess is it can’t be good.”
* * *
Stepping through the line of people queuing for a Mag-Lev car proved difficult for Phoenix’s smaller stature. None of them cared about shoving her to the side in order to be the lucky one jumping aboard the car she arrived in. On the other side of the crowd she found herself at the mercy of a chilly breeze as another car sped by. The one person to stop from pushing her away only did so to sneer at the strange girl with the red Mohawk, who clearly did not belong among them.
“You’re welcome,” she said over her shoulder to those fortunate enough to have boarded her car.
The cold often caused her more of an annoyance than others, she had grown up feeling it more times than not. Her natural inclination would be to button up her green duffle coat. Why had she left it with that Elliot guy? Was it out of guilt? She struggled to decide. All that mattered was that he had her coat and she did not.
Walking down the stairs of the Mag-Lev station to the street, she set her mind on finding a new coat to replace her old one. The green duffle coat had been an easy take, straight from the back of a chair in a restaurant. Even if she had the money to buy new clothes, she rarely did. She chose to steal them instead, out of habit of course. City people could afford more.
For now she had to make do with rough and ripped jeans, and an orange woollen jumper with quite a few holes in it. Each hole highlighted its ragged look and revealed glimpses of the white t-shirt she wore underneath. She definitely needed a few new garments – as well as a hot meal or two.
Rounding a corner, she spotted a black leather jacket swinging slightly in the breeze, while it hung from a rail outside a small shop. Its buckles sparkled provocatively at her. It was too easy. Regardless of the lack of any real challenge, she took it and was away seconds later with a new coat. Being a nobody after all meant no-one would know where to look for her. So half way down the next street, she was already wearing it and zipping her beaten up jumper away, hiding it from the world once more.
Less than ten minutes later and her theft had become a distant memory. Now only one more road remained between her and Anthony’s main hide-out. This was where he did his planning. The warehouses were where he carried out some of them. This place also served as the residence of a select few of his followers, such as Freddy the psychopath, whom she had met earlier.
She had chosen not to tell Ant
hony she was coming, even though she knew he always hated this. Recent events, however, meant she needed some reassurances. She wanted to be absolutely sure he was not keeping her out of things, and that he still planned on helping her find her brothers. It had begun to seem like Anthony was deliberately refusing to help. His reason of being short of people was nonsense.
The doubts had been building since she had dropped Elliot off at home, and they had refused to slow their pace at all. Anthony had one more chance to prove he was truly intending on helping her. If his answers were not compelling enough, then she would leave him to go off on her own. That, she knew, would be a massive risk. His reaction could go either way. He could let her go without another thought, or have her dealt with. She was under no illusion about how far he could go if it suited him.
With the large office building Anthony had taken residence in coming into view, Phoenix readied herself mentally. Outside the front entrance were a pair of guards, eyeing her suspiciously as she approached. At the behest of the smaller of the two, she stood and waited while he searched her new coat. As far as she could tell Anthony was almost entirely anonymous, yet he insisted on this level of security. Even when dealing with her.
Once happy she carried no hidden weapons, the man waved her through with a crooked smile that hinted he was thinking bad things about her. Not many women came through here. The ones that did were all among Anthony’s followers. Whether they were members of a cult, she could not be sure. They certainly looked like it to her.
The inside of the building quickly left its office look behind in favour of a more moody place-of-worship type of decor. All windows had been covered up with black boarding to keep the invading sunlight at bay. The halls too had little in the way of lighting and depended on large candles to illuminate the way through the bowels of the first floor. The levels above were probably the same, although she had never been allowed above this one to see for herself.
Along the walls were strange pictures, all of which contained odd lettering that she had no understanding of. Weird symbols danced around the many numbers that were strewn across each pattern. Whatever they were they were saying something, like a formula or even another language.
Ahead she could hear movement behind two large double doors. This ordinarily would have led to the main office floor, but was now an inner sanctum for Anthony’s followers. She could make out a voice above all the others as it spoke with a drawn out and exaggerated rhythm. Anthony was preaching again.
She pushed the left door open as slowly as she could, so not to disturb proceedings. Except those inside were either so engrossed by Anthony’s robed form or swaying from side to side after another drug induced sermon, to be of any concern to her. She could have burst in at full pelt and none of them would have cared. Her entrance did little to disrupt them at all – if it were even possible.
Anthony stood at the front of a gathering of roughly fifty people, all of who wore the same basic grey clothing. She found it hard not to see them as lambs following the lion which was Anthony. Cult or not, she realised she did not particularly care. The one thing she had in common with these people was their reliance on D-Stims. Of course, Anthony had tampered with their supply to suit his needs. Included in their inhalers were extra compounds to promote hallucinogenic properties. In their more receptive states he could then manipulate and suggest images they would dream during sleep, and see when awake. And from the look of the crowd, he had just finished another round.
“Please, take a moment to consider what you all experienced during your last journey into the subconscious,” Anthony said.
The hood of his robe hung around the back of him. Phoenix struggled to see his face clearly. The lack of light provided enough cover to make him appear between worlds. She guessed that was the point. “Many of you have told me of times when Isaac has spoken to you. He wants you to listen to him, to allow his influence to wash over you. Only if you let him will you be granted a place by his side upon his return. Do you wish that?”
The crowd cheered and whistled in a disturbingly excited manner. Some even began to hug the person next to them, just to add to the creepy nature of the event. Phoenix felt a pang of disgust at the group’s unhealthy reaction to Anthony’s words. She had heard people mention this Isaac before, but had never learnt his real importance – or who he was. Anthony had made it clear on many occasions that they were waiting for his return, but from where?
She doubted Anthony truly believed in any of it, though his deliberate use of religious connotations was hard to ignore. If her analogy of lambs and lions was true then he only used his cult-like group for his own ends. In which case the D-Stims were his control mechanism, and the belief system his tool.
“We have received a new batch of fragments that must be re-joined. Gather around and watch as Isaac absorbs his missing pieces.” Anthony ushered over a man waiting to the side that Phoenix had missed seeing. He carried a large wooden box with a polished and gleaming latch at the front made of gold. The slither of light that flickered around the room brought out the colour of the lock and drew the audiences gaze in toward it. Being no different, Phoenix found herself caught up in the glow and spectacle of the sight as the ceremony continued.
The box was then opened. It let out an authentic creak from its hinges that hinted of great age. Anthony retrieved two smaller boxes from inside, made of boring old brushed metal. A collection of blinking lights in their sides told of a more technological purpose. The large case was just for show and was quickly taken away again. He turned back to the watching crowd before raising the boxes up to show them. “Two fragments, each with the life-force of Isaac contained within. Their essence will be removed so Isaac will again rise. Join me in casting out their corrupted coding and saving the fragments inside.” Anthony turned his head to the side and spoke to someone off to the side. “Switch on the holo-display.”
Suddenly the area just in front of Anthony’s podium burst to life with the floating image of a large cube. The crowd obviously expected the appearance of the shape as they moved aside seconds before. They all surrounded the image, watching and waiting for something to happen.
Phoenix struggled to see what was going on. All she could see was the dense formation of people in front of her. With only the top of the cube in view she could see little else. The holographic shape appeared to be made up of a 3D grid of smaller cubes inside it. Being the only light of worth in the room now meant the display took centre stage. All eyes were on the image, with all of its lines shimmering slightly as dust floated through.
While the others gawked at the blue holographic image, those running the show continued to work on the two boxes Anthony presented to the room. She watched as he plugged each into a wall mounted device at the back of the room. Each took a cable exactly like the one she had seen the Simova guys using.
Anthony reappeared on his podium. Seconds later and the holographic cube was joined by two strange lights floating inside. They moved in a flowing motion with nothing in the way of purpose or intent. She considered it all nothing more than pretty to look at, like an eye catching advertisement. Certainly not worth all the attention. This is what the fuss was about? she thought.
“Begin dismantling these demons. Remove the evil,” Anthony said with increased volume, and he was performing for the crowd once again.
A man at the wall mounted device started working on the small display he held in his hand, which wirelessly controlled it. The glowing emanations then began to move with a growing urgency as the process began. Where before they were exploring the cube in a random pattern, now they kept to a corner and took on a single form. Whatever was happening they were reacting to it.
The floating cube was a cage, Phoenix quickly realised. These shapes were not simply a light show, they were something else entirely. She watched as each began to act in a way suggestive of a will to survive. The more the man tapped at his screen the more they moved about, to find a safe place within the holo-display
.
Slowly the room filled with a deep humming sound. Her first thought was that the watching crowd had taken to warbling or something, then she noticed how none of them were moving at all. The sound was coming from the forms flying around inside the cube. Their shapes had begun to distort and stretch out in all directions. Noises accompanied every thrashing movement they made, with each shape now taking to attacking the perimeter of the cube.
“There, look,” Anthony said. He pointed to the more disjointed of the two shapes as its chaotic appearance only worsened. “Watch as we tear these abominations apart.”
Only one of the shapes was able to continue now. The other hurtled about the hovering display, bouncing off one side and then the other. Each time it smashed against the holographic cage it sent a flash of light around the room, followed then by a loud electronic crackling noise like it was burning upon contact. This continued for almost a minute until the shape finally gave in to the overwhelming pressure of Anthony’s procedure.
The crowd jumped back as the room became fully illuminated by the outburst of energy the glowing shape released. It shattered into hundreds of neon shards that flew away from the centre of the explosion and rattled around the inside of the cube. Some even hit and destabilised the second shape, which now began to repeat the same reaction as that of the first.
Phoenix found herself unintentionally standing on tip-toes just to see the spectacle for herself. She was mesmerised by the display of power. Anthony had an almost tangible hold over the crowd. A power only compounded further by the visual aid playing out for all of his followers to see. They were witnessing his control over life and death – albeit the life of an unknown intelligence. The MARCs she had helped him capture over the past three years now seemed much more to her.
Finally the last of the shapes followed suit and expelled its insides about the room in a dazzling sight. The shards this time carried right across the cube’s interior as nothing remained to inhibit it. All that remained was a floating mess of computing code that mingled and bunched up, like a glowing letter soup. Somewhere, contained within the jumbled coding, lay the reason behind Anthony’s years of planning and preparation.