Dreadmyre

by J A Raikes

  “Then just replace the vial, grip-end first and you’re set. Shouldn’t take more than a moment. Just pay attention to the level of transformer fluid you have left and you shouldn’t run into any problems.” He clicked the same vial back into place and the liquid lit up once again, electricity zipping between the sets of metal prongs.

  “Finally,” he added, turning the gun over in my hand, “if you get into real hot water, you can set the charger to overload and use the weapon itself as an improvised explosive.” He motioned to a set of two buttons on the grip near to the chamber.

  “If you press these two simultaneously for four seconds, you’ll see the charge in the barrel begin to light up brighter than normal and you’ll have roughly four more seconds to toss it before it detonates. If you go this route, make sure you throw it a good distance and still duck for cover. The blast is determined by the remaining amount of transformer fluid left in your current canister. Obviously, the more fluid you have, the larger the blast. The average blast radius of the detonation is about 15 meters, if you have used up several shots. So that means you could take out a decent size squad of goons on your tail if need be. That radius could grow or shrink depending on if it is a full or almost empty canister, but that’s the average. Either way, be careful and find cover if you choose to detonate the charge. But remember, that’ll leave you unarmed and so should really only be a last resort.”

  “Thanks Kingsley,” I said, shaking his hand. “This will help immensely. Speaking of finding cover and protection, I’d better find some real clothing and get ready to go.”

  He bobbed his head up and down, his wild hair flopping crazily about him then simply turned and walked away.

  Harris took me to a room just outside the Council chambers to find a change of clothes. Above the door, a small illuminated sign stated this was “The Depot.” The room was small and lockers lined one wall. On the far end, a small arsenal of weaponry waited behind cages guarded with keypads and physical padlocks. A few generic standard issue uniforms were folded and put away in the locker marked “spare uniforms,” farthest from the entrance. I grabbed a set and changed quickly. They fit alright but it wasn’t a perfect match. It certainly wasn’t the comfortability of denim and polyester, either. The only clothes they had for me were a loose fitting linen shirt, a set of the dark heavy combat fatigues and a jacket that the guards on duty throughout the Council area had been wearing. The fatigues itched and were slightly too small for me. The pants in particular were uncomfortably short and rode up very unpleasantly. Being tall and lanky doesn’t usually lend itself to easily finding clothes that fit. But, given that we were looking to head back out into a terrifying hellscape of impenetrable darkness, running around in medical robes seemed even less practical.

  I suited up and returned to the Council chamber. Eva looked up from the table and I’m pretty sure I saw her stifle a laugh as I strode into the room. Percipity either didn’t notice or didn’t comment because she finished gathering her belongings and headed straight for the door. Harris had also changed from his attire to a similar combat suit, except his fit him perfectly. He was a head shorter than me, but he was significantly better built than I was and the fatigues seemed to accentuate his musculature, making him look even more like he could beat the pulp out of you if you crossed him. He was not, however, wearing the jacket. Instead, he wore a tight fitting, black cloth shirt that had the appearance of being reinforced somehow, a small diamond pattern glinting off the light if you caught it just right. His right arm was exposed and the contraption bracing his arm twisted its way to his shoulder and ornately wove around his arm, with thick stems of metal interlaced around his forearm and wrist with cogs and sprockets at his joints so it could move and gave way to looser strands of metal the higher up it went on his arm. He had two side arms locked into place in opposing shoulder holsters. I’m pretty sure that if I had met him in any other circumstance, I would have worked hard to not cross him.

  Eva also looked ridiculously intimidating. She had the gun I saw her holster earlier under her coat, but also had a long staff strapped to her back and another gun in her right hand. Percipity was the only one who didn’t change, still dressed in her long golden dress from earlier with her katana fastened across her back and a small device coiled around her ear. She pushed open the Council chamber doors and headed for the lift entrance.

  Eva was quick on her heels and Harris beckoned to me and we pulled up the rear. The Proterezar chamber doors closed heavily behind us and we loaded into the elevator, not entirely sure what we would find.

  The lift kicked into motion and I piped up, “Does anyone know if we have gotten any contact from any of the other groups yet?”

  Percipity’s mouth tightened at the edges and she spoke quickly, “No, we haven’t, unfortunately. Our first priority is to get to Dr. Fleming and the others and find out what happened at Thornsby’s. Then, we’ll assess the situation and move on to find the others.”

  It was silent for the remainder of the ride down from the Proterezar. The air was thick with anticipation and, at least on my part, fear. I wasn’t thrilled about going back out to the streets where the Voidkin were roaming. But it wasn't really a matter of preference at this point. From the sound of things, this was going to be the “new normal” if we didn’t do something. And I didn’t even know what normal was here! So, I wrestled down my fear and put on my game face. If these guys could keep it cool in the face of danger, so could I. Just think Finn, you stared down a mountain lion and lived to tell about it. That should be enough to bolster anyone’s confidence.

  The lift descended for several minutes. I wished I could see the city. Fear and adrenaline aside, my curiosity was as active as ever and I wanted to explore this mysterious place. For now, though, there was nothing but pervasive darkness pressed against the glass of the lift.

  “I think it would be better if we took the Network and worked our way toward the Rigsturn Ward that way,” Percipity said, breaking the silence.

  “Sounds good,” Eva said, staring blankly ahead. I couldn’t tell if she was just really focused or was having second thoughts about this whole expedition.

  The Ekorius nodded to Harris and the young man pressed his hand against the control panel. Blue-white sparks leapt from his hand to the console and our descent quickened. We passed the ground floor and continued underground. From what I could see, there were no controls in the cabin of the lift which would’ve allowed us to simply navigate there by pushing a button. I got the sense that the Network was designed with the intention of being a useful tool for those who could access it, and a mystery to those who could not. Or at least it was not as accessible to everyone.

  The lift doors opened and I saw a dimly lit metal hallway like back at the Dragon’s Burrow. Corrugated metal lined the walls and sparse light bulbs hung from wire overhead every fifteen feet or so.

  Percipity strode into the hallway first. Eva followed the Ekorius. Harris and I followed behind, allowing the Ekorius Emerson to lead the way. We progressed down the passage and turned left at the first junction. The hall before us stretched on and I was confronted with the thought that this was not going to be a short trip.

  “So how far away is the Thornsby estate?” I asked.

  The Ekorius replied without looking, her deep voice calm and factual. “Navigating the Network is tricky, but will likely be the most direct route considering the state of the mass transit of the city. We cannot risk trying the Lightrail for fear that we may experience a similar attack that you three endured on your way out of Etherborough. We also do not have a guarantee that there aren’t other unused units on the track and it would be a suicide mission to go that way.”

  “Right...but how far away is the Thornsby estate?” I asked, unable to mask my sarcastic jab.

  Percipity shot me a glance and then her expression smoothed. “If we are fortunate and don’t run into any snags along the way, we should be able to make it just over an hour.”

  �
��We’re lucky it isn’t Etherborough or Caperhallow,” Harris added. “Those would probably take us days to navigate.

  “Indeed, that would be quite unfortunate,” Percipity offered.

  I nodded my thanks and allowed the silence to once again fall on our group.

  I just couldn’t get a handle on the Councilwoman. On the one hand, she was direct and polite. On the other, she was this calculating menace who looked legitimately terrifying with her katana and fancy dress. But the pitch of her voice never wavered or betrayed much emotion whatsoever. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was an impressive killer robot instead of simply a well-spoken, composed woman. Although now that I think about it, I don’t know better. In the span of the past day or so, I had learned that there was such a thing as magic, although they didn’t call it that, and humans can manipulate electronics with the sheer power of their will and there is some sort of portal contraption that can yank you from one dimension to another and there are literal, real manifestations of evil out there. Who's to say they didn’t also have really awesome killer robot women, too?

  We traveled in silence. We worked our way down slender metal hallways and turned the corner each time to be greeted by the same exact view: metal walls and Edison bulbs. How any of them had any idea where they were going was beyond me. There were no distinguishing marks on the walls or any sort of indicators that would let the weary traveler know they were going the correct direction.

  “So how do you know where to go?” I asked, my curiosity breaking the silence.

  “The Network is a blessing and a curse to our great city. It is mostly used by the Proterezar and those on official city business, though there are sections where a few of the more seasoned residents of the districts above have managed to figure out the complex passageways,” the Ekorius offered.

  “It is not an easy place to navigate,” she continued, “but it gives unabridged access to most areas of the entire city. You could travel from one end of Emberwall to the other without ever having to access the surface. That kind of unrestricted access comes with a cost.” As she spoke, the councilwoman adjusted the strap holding her sword to a more comfortable position.

  “The cost of that access is knowledge. As it is with many things in the world, those who have the knowledge hold genuine power. Brute force is always something to be reckoned with, but knowledge is the true key to any amount of power. And so in ages past, a previous Proterezar Council deemed that the Emberwall citizens are free to wander the Network if they so choose, but it would be at their own peril. It is entirely possible to get lost without any sense of direction and never find a way back out.”

  “That seems intense,” I said. “Can’t everyone just get to the other areas of the city on the transit system? Or on foot on the roads?”

  “Not necessarily.” Eva chimed in, looking over her shoulder at me. “There are areas of Emberwall which are completely restricted from the general public, like Blackfort. It occupies several levels of Netherward and all access is restricted from anyone going there unless you work there. Everyone else has to take a different shuttle and it adds a fairly significant delay to those attempting to get around the Netherward. Well, it adds a few minutes to anyone’s commute but still, that can get frustrating at times.”

  “There are other areas that are completely off limits too, but you should know that by now young man,” Percipity added, not turning her head to look, her voice even and unreadable.

  Right. Forgot that the rest of the Council doesn’t know about my unique circumstances. I wonder why Kingsley bothered to explain the ins and outs of the gun to me in that case. Maybe I just look really dumb or something. Or perhaps he was being overly helpful. Yeah, I’ll go with that one.

  “Right, well it’s great to have someone so knowledgeable with us to help guide us!” I said, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing. I didn’t.

  The Ekorius continued leading our group down different corridors, turning left or right, opening and closing doors behind us with no real observable pattern. Every once in a while, she would take a small round disk out of her pocket and fasten it to the wall after a turn or entering a door. She was rather sly about the whole thing too. It took me a while of watching to notice her doing anything at all.

  After roughly fifteen minutes, we came upon a small box in the center of the passage we were walking down and Percipity stopped.

  “Wait a moment,” she said, putting a hand to the box and feeling around the edges. A second later, the metal box popped off the wall and revealed a smaller, wooden box phone similar to the one up in the Proterezar. This one wasn’t as fancy, but seemed to operate similarly. It was dusty and evidently had not been used for some time. The Ekorius picked up the ear piece and held it to her ear. There were several cogs interlaced on the front of the wooden box, all with alternating larger and smaller sprockets. Percipity twisted several of them in different directions until the larger sprockets were facing toward each other. Then she waited.

  Several long moments passed as she stood there, holding up the ear piece and listening. It felt as though we were waiting forever, when her face fell slightly and she replaced the receiver on the hook along the side of the wooden box.

  “No response from Central,” she said, her tone even and cool as always. “I imagine they’re still working on examining the extent of the damage to the communications system and the Network is likely low on the priority list. We know they’ve extracted the Scarab from the Thornsby estate, so we should continue on and attempt communication once again from there.”

  She replaced the metal box with a satisfying click as it lodged back into place over the phone on the wall. The Ekorius turned and continued walking as if nothing serious was happening.

  “How are you so calm right now?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” The taller woman asked, still not making eye contact and pressing forward without looking back at me.

  “Well, today has been a whirlwind of adventure for me with the whole ‘almost getting killed a couple of times by Voidkin’ thing. You are just so even-keeled and it’s like nothing ruffles your feathers.”

  “An odd analogy,” she replied, eyes scanning the hallway ahead of us.

  “But there is always a logical reason for what is going on and no reason for that to disturb our sensibilities. We have a task to accomplish and it is least helpful to allow mundane inconsistencies to alter that.”

  “Oh, well, when you put it that way…” I said, shaking my head and tossing a hand in the air in annoyance.

  Harris leaned over to me and tugged on my elbow, pulling me back a bit. We allowed the women to out-pace us by a few steps and he leaned in close to my ear.

  “See that mark on the back of Ekorius Emerson’s neck?” he whispered, pointing to the back, right hand side of the taller woman’s neck. I hadn’t noticed it until now, but that’s mostly because I wasn’t looking for it. I squinted and tried to get a better look at it. Just above the collar of her golden dress bobbed a small mark. It looked like a tattoo of a cog. In the center of the cog, though, an immaculately detailed eye stared purposefully outward. The level of detail of such a small tattoo was genuinely impressive and almost unnerving.

  I nodded to Harris, indicating I could see it and for him to continue his explanation.

  “That’s her graft. It’s kind of a sigil of her Ward. She is from Ivoryfell. One of the reasons she was elected as their Council representative is because she is the prime example of what the citizens of Ivoryfell prize in society.”

  “Which is?” I probed.

  “Logic and reason above all else. They prize intellectualism and are consummate perfectionists. If it isn’t logical and you don’t dedicate yourself to it entirely, then it isn’t a pursuit worthy of your time.”

  “So what is she so good at?”

  “It depends who you ask,” Harris replied, “I’ve heard she is a masterful strategist. She is one of the prime directors of the union initiative
for Emberwall, attempting to bring harmony to the various Wards. My guess is that she is that she’s also very good at using that sword.”

  “I see,” I replied. “So then her demeanor is simply the byproduct of her upbringing?”

  “In part, yeah,” Harris agreed. “But don’t let that frosty exterior fool you. She is a profoundly caring lady and I’ve seen her do a lot of good for the city.”

  “You sound like you’ve spent a good deal of time with the Council,” I added.

  “Well, I am Dr. Fleming’s apprentice, so I have to go with him when there are Proterezar meetings to ensure that his workload doesn’t get too overwhelming and that he is able to focus solely on the matters of the Council. I occasionally listen in on their conversations and have the rare opportunity to chat with the various Council members when they’re not busy in session.”

  “Well, hopefully she’ll warm up to me at some point -”

  “What’re you two whispering about back there?” Eva cut in.

  Harris straightened and looked about as inconspicuous as a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. His big eyes looked off to the corners of the wall and I just shook my head.

  “Politics,” I equivocated.

  “Oh?” she said, one eyebrow slowly raising into a questioning arch.

  “Oh yeah. With all these Voidkin running about we were wondering who would be elected to Council.” I offered matter of fact through an overtly cheesy grin.

  “Riiiiight,” she said, drawing out the vowels to indicate her tacit disbelief.

  The Ekorius stopped abruptly and held up a hand. We drew up short and nearly walked into her. Everyone paused and waited as she turned her head to the hallway in front of us, the intricate Aug on her ear toward the dim corridor beyond.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean anythin -”

  She cut me off with a sharp look and a hiss. I stopped mid apology and everyone remained silent and still.

  She kept her head tilted toward the hallway. Her expression remained the same cool, composed nearly deadpan look she constantly had, but a moment later she slowly drew her sword from the sheath. I tensed at the sight of her sword but waited for instruction.