Chaos Cipher (33 page)

‘
And don’t
you think people are capable of making difficult moral decisions?’
Malik asked.

‘
Yes,’ said
Vance, ‘people like we Eternals. But no…not others.’

‘
And what
makes you so fucking special?’ Malik seethed stepping
forth.

‘
You are a
man of chaos Malik,’ Vance laughed, his pearly white teeth
immaculate like the keys of his piano. ‘And chaos is born in
conflict. Those anarchists were building a world of peace. One
simply cannot control others in a world of peace. Power for all is
power for no-one. Imagine all those great figures of history,
everything they pushed for…lost to a world of peace, with nobody to
take their glorious mantle. Truth is we don’t need the Nexus to
manipulate people’s thoughts; even idiots in the hardlands are
fighting one another to get back into the Atominii. Fear does most
of the work, you see. We don’t need technology to control the minds
of people, but it helps.’ Vance began clicking his fingers to pull
a thought from his mind. ‘What is it now…what is that phrase
Machiavelli said about fear?’

‘
It is much
safer to be feared than to be loved.’ Malik answered.

‘
Ah yes,’
Vance chortled. ‘It is safer to be feared than to be loved. Homo
homini lupus, Malik; man is a wolf to his fellow man. We call
ourselves the Eternals for good reason. Because we don’t intend on
going away.’

Vance got to
his feet, shoes crushing the broken shards of glass and imminent
chaos Malik had created since his arrival. He was simpering with
growing confidence and he put his arm around Malik, leading him to
the elevator doors.

‘
You are
doing fine Malik,’ he assured. ‘Those pills I gave you are special.
The nanoctors should have finished the viral contamination by
now.’

‘
What did you
do to me?’ Malik said scathingly.

‘
Relax,’
Vance chuckled as the elevator doors opened. ‘The nanoctors
promoted your neurons with a light sensitive protein, ready for
your neurophase.’

Vance joined
him in the elevator, a small circular space, with red velvet carpet
and walls panelled with mirrors and golden rails.

‘
I don’t want
a neurophase,’ Malik assured.

‘
Oh you won’t
be saying that once you’re wired up to the Nexus I
promise.’

The doors
behind them slipped shut and Malik felt the elevator move. ‘Your
every neural command will operate doors around the city. You’ll
have high grade access to the most luxurious parts of the Atominii.
It’s a privilege most people don’t get believe me. We shut down
their neural activity if lower grade individuals dare to pass onto
an Eternal’s property. Link up to the Nexus and your every dream
will be realised. But until we can map out the nanoctors you’ll
have to wait for the optical introduction before you can neurophase
into the quasiland. In the meantime…I have other hardland
activities you can be getting on with.’

The doors
parted and Malik beheld a dimly lit room. The space was wide, with
coliseum pillars standing to support higher and darker levels. He
saw fires burning in golden vases, a selection of fine wines
half-drunk with bottles spilled around in whatever throes of
passion had landed them. And he saw people sauntering around, their
naked skin barely visible. He heard the gasps and breaths of an
orgy in procession. He saw the smooth milk and honey of sinuous
flesh writhing over quilts and within sheets lay around on large
sponge supports, a bed fit for twelve. Malik was approached by
three naked women, their skin and hair dark, their breasts ripe and
pushing gently against him. He felt the warm skin of their hips
brush his knuckles as they enclosed. The middle woman slipped her
fingers gently behind his head as the other two caressed him,
removing his clothes.

‘
We’ll speak
again in the morning, brother.’ Vance said, stepping back into the
depths of the elevator. And as the doors closed, the woman pressed
her lips to Malik and she touched his member, feeling it grow, she
slid her hand firmly around his inner thigh, and Malik responded
without restraint. He took her in his arms, pushing his tongue
hungrily against hers, their lips clashed and his hands like vices
around her head. They led him through the darkness, the pounding of
flesh and the whispers and gasps audible in the darkness where the
sweet smell of sex stirred with soft tones of jasmine. For the rest
of that night, Malik Serat lost himself in a powerful lust he had
not known existed within him. He didn’t learn the names of his
lovers. Their faces were a blur, galvanised by the bouncing of
breasts as he penetrated them, sliding from one to the next and
arriving multiple times. And no conversations passed, no words
spoken save the orgasmic cries and gasps of god and fuck. Yet there
was no satiating his desire. The men and women of the dark and
lascivious room were drawn in by his libidinal craving. They would
slide their hands around him as he worked, goad him harder and
faster. He grappled with their hips, penetrating some from behind
as they played at his side, their hands snaking over shoulders and
voluptuous bodies. The blur of coitus was hot and slippery with
sweat, skin and bodies sparkling in firelight. And the heat of the
fires burned on in the dark as Malik reached his last climax and
thought of Ode to Joy and even felt a little sick with hatred and
loathing at the mix of it all before languorous gravity stole him
of any vigour. And in the dark he lay, diluted among the sleeping
and prurient strangers.

-24-

T
he huge sack filled with sandbags
looked like it was going to burst as it hung like a lead weight
from Hangar-Fifteen’s door. Edge Fenris had attached it to the
gantry just inside the door and they’d opened the shutters wide.
Laux was indignant about the level of light coming in from outside.
It set his teeth on edge and he wasn’t used to getting so much
exposure these days.

Pania flung
her fists at the heavy sandbag, practicing her sidekicks as Edge
Fenris sat in his boxer shorts and boots smoking a large cigar. He
found a place to rest in the afternoon light on a sun chair. The
weather had been particularly hot all week. Meantime Kyo was
instructed to hold the bag still from the other side as Pania
battered two shades of hell out of it.

‘
I got a
joke,’ said Edge suddenly doling up a large smoke ring to the sky.
‘Which do you prefer sex or chess?’

Pania
launched into a kick and huffed out her breath as Kyo held the bag
in place.

‘
Sex for the
fitness,’ she said ‘chess for the sharpness of mind.’

‘
Really?’
Edge asked hitching his head.

‘
No you
idiot,’ she laughed.

‘
Well…in
either case, doesn’t it depend on the position?’ he
smiled.

Kyo laughed
at that one, ‘pretty good,’ he said. ‘Got anymore?’

‘
A few,
Biter’ Edge claimed laying back his head and puffing the cigar.
‘What do the Syridan Atominii army have in common with pussies? One
slip of the tongue and you’re in deep shit.’

Pania laughed
and stepped it up.

‘
What’s that
useless piece of skin on a penis?’ she asked, ‘-the
man.’

‘
Nice,’ Edge
complimented. ‘Why do vegetarians give good head?’

‘
Why?’ she
asked, punching the bag a few times.

‘
They’re used
to eating nuts,’ Edge answered and Kyo laughed a little.

‘
Lame,’ Pania
shrugged.

‘
I got one,’
Laux declared from within the cool dark hangar, polishing one of
his instruments with a dirty cloth ‘a photon checks into a hotel
and the bellhop asks him if he’s - ’

‘
-What’s a
bellhop?’ Edge cut in.

‘
Yeah, what
is a bellhop?’ Pania added, catching her breath in the
sun.

Laux looked
confused, hung on a punch-line that he felt only necessary to
finish.

‘ –
he
was…he’s travelling light.’

‘
Who the
bellhop?’

Pania kicked
the bag and Kyo almost fell over, not ready for the
attack.

‘
You okay?’
she asked.

‘
Yeah fine,’
he nodded, adjusting his grip ‘alright, my turn! I got a
joke.’

‘
Let’s hear
it Biter.’ Edge encouraged.

‘
How do you
stop a dog from humping your leg?’

‘
How?’

‘
Pick him up
and blow him.’

Pania burst
into laughter and snorted,
gross,
and Edge hitched his head again to show his
wrinkled smile.

‘
Where the
hell did you hear that one?’

‘
I think I
read it somewhere,’ Kyo smiled, overtly pleased with
himself.

‘
Yeah, Edge’s
personal diary.’ Said Pania, and Edge sniggered at her. ‘Seems like
some nasty behaviour of his.’

‘
I’ll
remember that. You’re gonna watch your back now,’ Edge playfully
chided.

Laux shouted:
‘To understand recursion you must first understand
recursion!’

‘
When is it
right to kick a dwarf in the balls?’ said Pania launching another
kick at the bag as Kyo held tight for support.

‘
I don’t
know, when?’ Kyo said.

‘
When he
tells you your hair smells nice.’

And Edge
roared into laughter; ‘Was that a joke or an anecdote?’

Pania
simpered and stuck up her middle finger. ‘Hold tight Kyo,’ she
said, ‘ready?’

‘
Yup.’

And she
kicked hard and grunted as something sprained in her
leg.

‘
Ah…fuck!’

‘
Nah…you’re
technique’s all wrong,’ Edge Fenris instructed.

Pania scowled
at him irritably as she hobbled a little on the hurt leg. Pushing
her long thread of hair back behind her ear she caught her breath
and challenged her so called boxing guru.

‘
You wanna
take a swing at this hotshot?’ she threatened, straightening her
shoulders and touching her chin.

‘
Nope,’ Edge
declared, ‘I wouldn’t mess with you. I much prefer my face as it
is. And my testicles.’

‘
I wouldn’t
be able to tell the difference, since you’re a total dick!’ Pania
said, ‘think a little-’ and she punched the bag hard almost
knocking the wind out of Kyo ‘-re-constructive surgery could do you
some good.’

‘
You’ve
proven your point,’ Edge said, standing up and walking over to
Pania. ‘But I’m not the one you’re going to be fighting
with.’

‘
All men have
the same physical weakness,’ said Pania, looking down at Edge’s
crotch and grimacing at his hideous shorts. ‘Some are more modest
to hide it than others.’

‘
Or maybe
that’s what men want you to think.’

‘
No it’s
not!’ Kyo agreed from behind the bag. ‘If Pania kicked me in the
balls, I’d never walk again.’

‘
Hmm,’ Edge
rubbed his chin, ‘you’re right about that Biter. I kind’a feel
sorry for that dwarf all things considered. But Hattle Lewis is a
skilled boxer…’

‘
No, he’s a
thug,’ Pania reminded, ‘he broke all the rules in that fight. He
should have been disqualified. He’s heavy handed, ham-fisted,
without skill and egotistical. But if he rumbles with me I’m going
to take him to the grave.’

‘
I’ve a
better idea,’ Edge Fenris said, hands proudly at his
hips.

‘
What, you
gonna put some clothes on before you make me permanently
myopic?’

‘
After you’ve
heard my plan!’

‘
Okay, let’s
hear it.’

‘
First, you
stop pretending to be something you’re not,’ he said. ‘Leave the
boxing and Thom-thuggery to Hattle. You’re a maniac who likes
machine guns and art, a woman after my own heart I swear to
god!’

Pania cocked
her brow suspiciously, wondering where he was going with this. She
folded her arms and let him continue.

‘
Second,’ he
said, ‘we snare that son of a bitch using the tentative arts of
entrapment.’

‘
Edge, what
the hell?’ Kyo groaned stepping away from the dangling bag of sand.
‘You’re going to entrap Hattle, how?’

‘
I’m an
investigator!’ He claimed.

‘
You used to
be,’ Laux’s voice echoed slightly from the hollow hangar. ‘Now
you’re nothing more or less than a Cerise Timber citizen, a
precariat who followed a rumour and discovered an anarchist city in
the vast tundra of nowhere. You went looking for death and found
life, remember? It’s your second chance Edge, don’t screw that
up!’

‘
It’s true,’
Edge said broodingly, eyes narrowing out as he recalled that
fateful day. ‘Venturing out into the wastelands of the Novus, the
unknown sun scorched rocks unrolling forever towards a horizon
where I expected my story to end. But the lone wolf Fenris found
his clan, like a true investigator he followed his lead right to
the last thread!’