Chaos Cipher (74 page)

-57-

E
naya Chahuán had been with the
local schools most of the day. The art classes were learning to
paint geographical regions in interesting new ways. Today’s class
had been about expressing countries, tropes and stereotypes. It was
common knowledge that Atominii society had wiped out a lot of
cultural individuality for sameness, variations that only existed
in the mirrored universe of digital representations expressed in
the quasilands. Most hardland cultures were survivalists. The
students usually referred to history books to get their
imaginations going. She’d also visited the mathematics schools. The
students in those schools, similarly, learned about other subjects
through mathematics skills, and she had seen how students played
music using algorithms, and art using angles. The pupils and
students were laughing and joking as she walked around looking at
paintings and then someone began shouting. And a child screamed.
Enaya hurried to the commotion as Berengar stalked into the
building, and a man was trying to hold him back.

‘
Enaya!’
Berengar shouted at the teacher, ‘not you!’

‘
Get that out
of here!’

Berengar was
carrying something in his arms. And he dumped the carcass of a dog
across a table already set up with oils and pastels, and a spill of
rainbow colours spread across its fur.

‘
What the
hell are you doing?’ Enaya cried angrily as some of the children
began to whimper and the older kids squalled angrily.

‘
GET OUT!’
They yelled.

‘
Oh my God!’
Others cried. ‘Is he crazy?’

‘
That is for
you,’ said Berengar the Bear fiercely. ‘A gift from your friend,
Edge Fenris.’

‘
Get that dog
out of here this instant!’ Enaya flared, gnashing her
teeth.

‘
I can’t,’ he
replied, an insincere smirk upon his face. ‘The dog doesn’t walk
because it was poisoned. Maybe you should talk to Edge. We want him
out.’

And the Bear
looked down on the younger members of the group and
smiled.

‘
That’s
right, kids,’ he said, ‘your teacher is protecting
dog-killers!’

‘
Get out!’
Enaya snapped. ‘OUT NOW!’

And a series
of voices chimed vocally, screaming Berengar away. But The Bear was
already leaving, absorbed in a proud countenance, carrying himself
on a confident stride that evinced graciously in the reflection of
the corporeal bomb, he’d just landed in the art studio. It took the
whole day to calm the younger children down. It wasn’t usual to
have the carcass of animals dropped in their presence, and the
vulgarities made even more disturbing by the Bear’s overwhelming
size, aggression and threatening demeanour. She herself had been
deeply disturbed by it all, and sought Daryl’s council later in the
evening. Daryl had been brushing up on his language skills. In his
spare time, he found it pleasurable to learn old languages left
unused by most of the world, which were once common across Europe.
Languages once very popular and used around these parts called
English, French and German. He’d considered it part of his
diplomatic position in Cerise Timbers, in case people from the
hardlands came from these regions. Language was not as common in
the Atominii since the neurophase fulfilled communication services,
a stream of information delivered instantly which expressed
reasoning via neurological-network strengths. Daryl didn’t know
much about it, since he’d never had a neuro-linguist explain the
complexities and there was no printed literature on it. However,
he’d heard that stronger networks won out on the neuro-reasoning
aspect, so when two opinions conflicted, the weaker reasoning would
surrender to the mind with stronger reasoning power. This,
apparently, was how the Atominii functioned, shifting consciousness
to a singularity that was primed, from the start to be a tailored
reasoning, a programmed pattern that was simply taken as correct
because it was a popular premise, and who knows, maybe they were
correct. Try and argue with anybody from the Atominii that their
exclusive life-styles come at the cost of pain and suffering to
others, they would say the price was more than necessary for
reasons the hardlanders and those not wired up can ever understand.
It was a consciousness that won by default. For Daryl, he was
hoping quite nostalgically to preserve some memory of language,
some culture and way of thinking that was neglected, in the hope of
finding some knowledge that may save humanity from their miserable
state. He’d come across some wonderful words in his
time.

‘
Do you know
what the word uitwaaien means?’ he said reflectively, his frowzy
hair shifting as he run his palm through it to cool his head. She
told him she didn’t and shook her head.

‘
It’s Dutch.
It means to walk in the wind,’ he explained, ‘to take a break and
clear your head. I think it’s a beautiful word.’

‘
Well, I
don’t need to clear my head,’ said Enaya, sitting beside him. ‘I
need to help mitigate a growing problem. Do you think Edge Fenris
killed the dog?’

‘
For
revenge?’

‘
Yeah.’

Daryl Sanders
didn’t know, and shook his head. ‘Possibly. Why?’

Enaya pointed
to the wall screen opposite them and smiled invitingly at
Daryl.

‘
Open the
Q-net, see for yourself.’

Daryl stood
up and operated the screen from his Quantic-W, and she guided him
through the various personalised sites of administrations, schools,
clubs, events and not-for-profit businesses and voluntary
placements. He landed upon Niraj Mohad’s home page and was greeted
with a welcome and a playback of some of Niraj’s past lectures. He
knew he was a scholar of History and War, and Niraj had been
speaking quite eloquently about Edge Fenris in his recent video
logs. He pointed to the most recent one titled The Truth about Edge
Fenris.

‘
Edge Fenris
is a dangerous immigrant,’ he began. ‘It’s no secret to those who
know him that he is a layabout and a none-contributor to the forced
voluntarism and social slavery paradigm of this system. If you do
not impose your work routine on him as you do to everyone else,
then you cannot expect him to do any less than occupy his time
plotting against you, burning your buildings, killing your
animals.’

‘
What is he
on about?’ Daryl squinted.

‘
He reasons
that we’re a labour camp,’ Enaya smiled. ‘That we’re not volunteers
but forced to work for free.’

‘
He’s
insane,’ Daryl laughed.

‘
Well, he
puts together argumentative comparisons,’ she smiled, ‘not
convincing ones, but they are deceptive. Except the misery and
deprivation people experienced in labour camps obviously aren’t
experienced here. He explains that we so called captives of Cerise
Timbers do not realise its prison bars.’

‘
He’s got a
few followers,’ said Daryl with raised brows. ‘A couple a’ thousand
by the looks of it.’

‘
Yeah,’ said
Enaya, ‘despite his rhetoric and biased opinions, he’s a capable
scholar and people enjoy his history classes.’

‘
Guy’s got a
chip on his shoulder.’

‘
Well you
should check Edge Fenris,’ she offered, ‘he’s posted a response
video log.’

Daryl didn’t
find a website, but a basic profile on the Q-net’s digital
guest-book for new comers looking to establish themselves and
network with others in Cerise Timbers.

‘
That
ineffable monstrosity doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking
about!’ Edge Fenris raged in a plume of his own smoke, rabid teeth
grinding at the cigarette tip. ‘Twice I’ve been assaulted and
dragged out of my own damn bed! I’ve a right to rest, goddamnit!
They tried to burn me alive and I only just survived. Sure, you
wanna know about the dog, huh? Yeah, I poisoned a security dog with
sleeping pills, a dose that wasn’t enough to kill it. It was
measured to put him under for an hour, while I broke into Pierce
Lewis’ home to dig up evidence that he was the one who caused the
fire. Yes, I’m guilty of that much. But if you wanna know who
killed the dog I suspect it was that insufferable golem Berengar,
the one who’s been helping Lewis and his cronies to ride roughshod
over all you idiots! Now, just look at Niraj Mohad’s damn video. He
makes me sound like I’m suffering from idle hands. I’m a greater
asset to this place that he will have you believe. I screwed up in
the past, I’m not perfect, but unlike him, I won’t pretend
otherwise. And unlike him, I won’t attack someone’s character on no
logical basis and without evidence. My doors are open Niraj! Come
get your damn evidence, if you want it. You’ll find nothing here
that could kill a dog except professor Laux’s whiskey. And as for
your condescending title, the truth about me? You don’t know me you
ass-hat! And if you people gotta be told what the truth is, then
you’re not interested in looking for it.’

‘
Strong
words,’ said Daryl, closing the screen on a blurred freeze frame of
Edge’s angered snarl.

‘
Edge is
losing this one,’ she sighed. ‘People are following the logic of
better the devil you know. Edge Fenris doesn’t have an established
reputation outside getting drunk and being involved in trouble in
one way or another.’

‘
But what
about Laux?’ Daryl reminded. ‘Professor Aldous Laux has made
significant changes since coming here. And he’s here with Edge. If
the community exclude someone, it has to be for a good reason, and
we don’t know how Laux is going to take that.’

‘
Difficult,’
she uttered plaintively. ‘I hope they can resolve this amicably.
Otherwise, I fear somebody is going to go. Be it a scholar or an
engineer, either would be a great loss.’

‘
What about
Berengar?’ Daryl asked.

‘
The kids
from the art school wanted to bury the dog,’ she smiled faintly.
‘They said it was disrespectful to the animal what he had done.
Berengar has retreated back to the Lewis home.’

‘
Best place
for him,’ Daryl replied. ‘I’m not a betting man but I think some of
the Mercs will want to beat a few of his teeth out for that
move.’

-58-

P
awel quickly shut down the
Alcubierre field after making the velox out of Jupiter’s orbit. The
engines powered down, its many rings spinning and rotating around
the body of the starnavis once more realigned into a singular band
and shrunk quietly down, tightening around the vessel’s waist like
a large metal belt. A thermal purge unit sucked up the excess heat
from the shuttle’s core and released the long glowing hot cylinder
quickly into space behind it, spinning endlessly out of
sight.

‘
Safe
distance acquired,’ Pawel stated nervously, reposed in his inertial
bed. ‘Saltus-carousels are folded. Excess thermal energy purged.
Cruise thrusters only.’

Nitro Harbeck
breathed a sigh of relief and sat up slightly, facing the giant
Olympian warrior, now hovering in the micro-gravity.

‘
You can
relax now,’ Nitro assured. ‘We’re on our way to Earth.’

‘
Thou
thinkest me a fool,’ he gnashed. ‘Only when I see the planet
beneath my feet, will I bequeath this Starnavis unto its rightful
owners.’

‘
What is it
you want?’ Nitro asked.

‘
Thou needs
only concern thyself with getting me to Earth.’

‘
Because we
are happy to take on another Olympian warrior,’ he disclosed. A
moment of silence passed before Nitro began to explain
himself.

‘
You see the
Shield of Spheres are special ops. Where the work is we go and
we’re in search of talent all the time. This starnavis was of
interest to us and its team are quite professional and elusive
individuals. All be it a little sloppy, some training is still in
order. But you…well you coming along is an absolute gold mine. And
a Chronomancer as well?’ Nitro looked over at Avenoir and she held
tightly onto her inertial seating, a worried look on her diamond
freckled face. ‘I have to get you interested. We could help each
other out here.’

‘
I have
already told thee Titan,’ Raven remarked. ‘I am not interested in a
bargain. If I feel my own mission to be compromised I will invest
the final moments of my life destroying this very Starnavis.’ And
Raven’s eyes pulsed with a luminous green hue. ‘Do not doubt that I
can do it.’

‘
Why us?’
Kelly asked from her inertial cushioning, unfastening the harness
and netting. ‘Why
this
vessel?’

‘
I did not
appropriate
The Griffin’s Claw
on my own demand,’ Raven disclosed, ‘but because
of the acute visions of the Chronomancer.’

Kelly looked
over to the young girl and patiently awaited some response but she
said nothing.

‘
Her name is
Avenoir,’ Raven told.

‘
Yeah, I had
heard about the kid,’ said Nitro. ‘The authorities are calling her
Cassandra.’