On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance (9 page)

“Tie his hands up,” Nero ordered, and one of the other men hastily grabbed some plastic restraints, fitting them on Col’s hands without any resistance.

“Let him walk,” Nero said calmly.

Nate and another man grabbed Col roughly by the arms, and dragged him towards the entrance of the cave, leaving a trail in the dirt.

Without a word, everyone followed the grim party of three out, passing through the cave where the shuttles were kept, up the large tunnel that ascended to the surface, and out of the cave system, into the arid desert that surrounded the mountains. There, the two men dragging Col let him go, allowing him to slump to the ground in a barely-moving heap.

“You will walk, Col. You will keep walking until you are far from here, and you cannot see these mountains. You are never to return here. Do you understand, Col?”

Nero waited for a response, but didn't get any. “Get him on his feet,” he said, and watched as Nate roughly pulled Col up onto his feet, where he stayed this time without assistance.

“Walk,” Nero repeated. The defeated man then moved his left foot forward one step, his right following, and slowly he walked forward. He walked off, into the arid desert, with his mouth sealed shut and his hands behind his back. He slowly disappeared into the dusty haze.

Nero turned around, and strode back into the cave, his men following close behind, none daring to say anything to the man who had just turned his friend out to meet his death.

****

“It was hard on him. He was close to Col, as was I,” Talyah was saying. She was stood next to Nate in the dim cave, looking at the boxes of augmentations they’d unloaded from the ships. That seems so long ago now, she thought.

“Nero’s a tough piece of shit, Tal. He’ll be fine. Just needs a bit of time to recover. I still can’t believe it myself, actually. I mean, Col! I liked the man.”

“We all did, Nate. Perhaps that is why we were all so blind to it.”

Nate agreed, nodding his head. “Well, no sense thinking about any of that now. We did just pull off a rather successful job. I say that calls for a little celebration, dontcha think, Tal? I did promise myself some fun tonight, and I’m a man who keeps his promises.”

“Yes, I think you are right, Nate. We could do with a distraction.”

“I know a great little place in the city. We can all have a little bit of fun there, Tal. Even you, I daresay.” Tal raised an eyebrow at Nate. “I’ll go talk to Nero,” he finished, standing up.

“No, Nate. I believe it would be better if I talked to him. You can be a little bit--”

“Exuberant?”

“I was going to say rambunctious, Nate, but yes.”

Talyah walked across the cave, passing a few dejected men and a few exhilarated men. It’s good to remember which men are which, she thought as she passed. If she was ever selecting men to go on a mission, she’d think carefully about bringing the men who enjoyed seeing one of their own punished.

She reached Nero, who was stood on his own, watching the other men in the cave. Talyah couldn’t tell what he was thinking, which was a rare experience for her. She paused when she reached him, and stood in silence for a time.

“I think,” she said eventually, “it would be a good idea if we forgot this situation, and celebrated instead. It doesn’t pay to think too hard about things like this, and we do have something to celebrate.”

Nero looked into Talyah’s large, golden eyes. She looked into his eyes in return, but still couldn’t work out what he was thinking. He seemed to be keeping his emotions buried well below the surface. “Yes, of course you’re right, Tal,” he said. He returned his attention to the men in the cave, most of them looking rather down. “I think the men need to forget this, too.”

“Nate says he knows a good place in the city, and I’m inclined to follow his advice.”

“You want to follow Nate’s advice?” Nero asked, quirking his eyebrow at Talyah. “Well, that’s a first. Alright then, let’s see where that leads.”

****

The skies had opened, and the rain was pouring down out of the darkness when they arrived in the city. Nero was flying, doing it himself as usual, without the assistance of the AI computer. He felt freer, more in control, when he flew the ship. It was one of the rare occasions when he could truly enjoy himself.

As he flew down some deserted streets, he saw an out of the way alley, large enough to fit the shuttle, and brought the ship down to land there. He killed the engines, plunging the alley into darkness, and hoped they hadn’t been spotted. A strange ship, landing on a city street, might raise questions that he’d rather not have to address.

Once out of the ship, it was Nate who took the lead, walking quickly to get out of the rain. “You’ll love this place,” he was saying, “gambling, drinking, girls. It’s awesome.”

A few blocks away they came to a rather grimy alley. There was trash littered on the ground, and the faint whiff of dried urine mixed with puke lingered in the damp air. Part way down this alley, which was lit by a few glowing orbs of light on the walls, was an open door that led down to some steps. The garish coloured lighting above the door proclaimed the place to be the ‘629 Club,’ a name that rung a bell for Nero. He couldn’t recall why, precisely, but he thought it was a hotbed for crime and indecent behaviour, even in this city of crime and indecent behaviour.

The group of them, numbering almost fifteen, descended the stairs to the cellar, where the club was housed. A smell of strong drink and fragrant smoke increased as they descended, masking the other less pleasant smells, and there was thumping music that increased in volume too. They emerged into a large, dark room, filled with perhaps fifty other patrons, most of them slumped on cushions strewn haphazardly on the floor. The red lighting gave the place a rather calming atmosphere.

“Welcome to the 629 Club, chaps. The grottiest, dingiest place in the city. But the most fun too,” Nate announced, as they stood in the entrance. Very quickly, seeing the potential customers, a group of young girls approached them, some that couldn’t be much older than sixteen, though joined by some that couldn’t be much younger than fifty. They strolled over in the fashion universally recognised as advertising carnal pleasures, accentuating the movement of their hips, with sultry looks on their faces.

Most of Nero’s men quickly picked a woman, and went off to find some vacant cushions on the floor, whilst the women in his group went to the bar. Nate managed to snag two of the women, placing his arms around their shoulders and strolling off to the bar for drinks.

“You’re not in the mood for this tonight, Nero?” Talyah asked, still standing next to Nero near the entrance, carefully watching his face.

“Yeah, come on man,” Jerad urged, “I hear they have that qiameth here. It’s pretty fun. I tried some the other day with, erm, well...” He trailed off. “Anyway, you coming?”

Nero stood watching the people sipping their drinks, kissing women, both human and alien. “No, I have some things to finish tonight. I might join you when I’m done. Otherwise, I’ll see you at the shuttle in the morning.”

Talyah grabbed his arm as he turned to leave, her golden eyes boring into Nero. “What are you going to, Nero? Where are you going?” He hated it when she did her mind-reading trick on him.

“It doesn't matter, Tal. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Just try to enjoy yourself,” he said, glancing towards the crowded bar. “That guy’s been staring at you since you came in. Maybe you can have some fun with him.”

Talyah glanced at the man Nero was indicating. “Just don’t do anything stupid, Nero. I’m getting a strange feeling from you today.”

“See you later, Tal,” Nero said, turning around and heading back up the stairs, leaving Talyah down in the basement with the rest of his team.

He wasn’t actually planning on doing anything stupid. He’d been planning what he was going to do for a long time, ever since he had started planning the operation to steal the augs, but he knew that Tal wouldn’t really approve. That wasn’t going to stop him, though.

Nero emerged from the club, coming back out into the odorous alley. Turning left, going back the way he’d come, he made his way past a number of run-down buildings before he returned to the ship. He pressed the panel that opened the rear ramp, and climbed back in. Instead of going to the cockpit, though, he opened the access to the cargo area at the rear of the ship. Inside, amongst the oddments that were never cleared out, were a few gleaming boxes of augmentations.

He placed these on a small hover-board, and then pushed that out onto the rainy street, making his way down a few alleys and backstreets. Entering the more run-down area of the city, the sort of place he’d grown up in, he arrived in a predominantly residential area, with living quarters built in the cellars underneath the vast Scrapers. The alley Nero was standing in had a number of doors leading down, into these homes. He looked carefully at the markings on the doors, and walked along until he found one with ‘Chirurgo’ scrawled on it.

He stopped, and knocked loudly on the door. The sound echoed loudly in the alley, but was quickly muffled by the steady dripping of the rain on the ground. He waited a few moments, and then knocked again when no one answered. On the verge of giving up, the door finally cracked open a few centimetres, revealing an old man with a crooked nose, face pressed up to the crack to look out into the darkness.

“Yes, who’s there? What do you want?” the man demanded.

“Are you the chirurgo?” Nero asked.

“Of course, of course. Are you the customer? You don’t look ill.”

“Yes to your first question, no to your second. May I come in? It’s rather wet out here.”

“Yes, very well.” The old man’s face withdrew, and he pulled the door open more, revealing a dimly-lit passage down to the building’s basement. Nero followed the man down, pulling the hover-board behind him. They arrived in a small room at the bottom of the steps, with walls that had obviously been built cheaply to divide up the large space down here. On the other sides, Nero guessed, there must be other people living, away from the dangerous surface.

“What’s wrong with you, then, boy? Ah...” the old man said, noticing the hover-board Nero had for the first time. “Where did you get those, I wonder? Never mind, never mind. Not my business. That is what you want then, is it?

“Yes,” Nero answered. “I’ve heard you’ll do this sort of thing, and not many others will.”

“For a price, yes, I will. For a price...” the old man said, looking significantly at Nero.

“I have plenty of bonds, old man,” Nero replied. “I can pay.”

“Very good, very good. Let’s get on with this, then. I was eating my dinner when you disturbed me. I wish to continue soon, boy.”

The old man beckoned Nero to follow him, and led him through the dingy room towards the back, where there was an old mattress, placed upon a table. Next to this, on a smaller metal table, was a tray of medical instruments and tools. Nothing advanced, but it would do, Nero thought, and it looked like the man had pain meds.

“On the table, then. Clothes off,” the man ordered. He wasn’t a very social man, Nero thought.

He did as he was told, stripping down to just his plexlon underwear, getting uncharacteristically nervous at the thought of what he wanted the old man to do. “You’ve done this before, then?”

“Fitted these? Of course, of course. Usually the limbs are already gone, but we can fix that, can’t we? Yes.” The old man proceeded to open up the boxes Nero had brought with him, taking a look at all of the augs. “Very nice pieces here. Look easy to fit. You want all of them, yes?”

Nero nodded. “Including that prototype one, the stabilization aug. You think you can manage that one?”

The old man grabbed the box marked ‘prototype’, and roughly opened it up to look inside. “Yes, has instructions. Can’t be too different from the others. Looks like it interfaces with this chip,” he said, studying it in more detail, and pointing towards the cognitive chip Nero had brought. “Stabilization, hmm, sounds fun.”

He turned back to face Nero. “Alright, boy. Lay down. I’m going to give you these drugs,” he said, holding up a couple of syringes. “They send you to sleep for few hours. What you want doing with the old limbs? You want to keep them?”

Nero considered this. “Um, yeah, I think I will.” He was thinking of his DNA and fingerprints; he didn’t want them being spread around more than they had to.

“Alright, alright,” the man said, a slight look of disappointment coming over his face. Perhaps he’d wanted to sell them. “You’ll be nice and new when you wake up,” he said, reaching for the syringe with the drugs in. “Nice and new.”

As the man injected the drug mix into Nero’s system, his vision started to go blurry, and images began swirling about in front of his eyes. He thought he saw Talyah there briefly, looking at him with a disappointed expression on her face, and then Col’s face swam into view. As his vision was fading, by his side he could just make out the old man reaching for a tourniquet and a laser saw from the small metal table. The faint hum and smell of ozone was the last thing that Nero was aware of before he lapsed into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER FIVE

RED PILLS

In the 629 Club, the music was thumping, the drink was flowing, and the patrons were high.

Talyah sat on a cushion, her back resting against the wall, and put another small red qiameth pill in her mouth. The bass of the music, shaking the room, made her feel funny, as if the whole building was shaking, was falling down on top of her. She didn’t mind though, she was just unutterably happy. Happy to be alive, happy to be here. She no longer worried about where Nero had gone, or about whether they would be found by the Nostra. She was just watching the world through new eyes, marvelling at her heightened senses, at the way she seemed able to think through any problem, as if it wasn’t a problem. In fact, she didn’t have any problems in the whole world.

Nate, similarly, was resting on some cushions, lying down between the two women he’d found earlier. He didn’t remember their names, but what did that matter? He had them, he had the qiameth, and he had a drink. He didn’t need anything else, and was content to just lay there, watching the flashing lights and letting the beat of the music pulse through his body. Why hadn’t he discovered this drug before? It was amazing, he’d never felt so good, so alive. And he’d had hardly any of it yet. On that thought, he tipped another pill into his hand, and placed the amazing red object into his mouth.

He could feel the effects almost immediately begin to spread throughout his body, making him ultra-aware of everything that was going on, his eyes picking out every single detail in the room. Over there, by the bar, a middle-aged human male had just run his hand over his side, as if brushing a concealed weapon. And on the other end of the bar, a woman was glancing surreptitiously at the man next to her, an obvious tell that she’d just stolen from the man. Nate watched all this, and smiled to himself, happy.

Throughout the club, there were people taking the addictive drug, smiles spreading across their faces as they did, becoming new worshipers at the qiameth temple. Indeed, throughout the city, people were taking the drug, it being new, pleasurable, and addictive.

Nero, however, wasn’t taking qiameth. Instead, he was recovering from a different type of drug, one that had left him with a splitting headache, and stars drifting in front of his eyes.

He levered himself up into a sitting position on the bed, and raised his arms to his head, as if that would stop the headache. It did, momentarily. And then a coolness spread from his hands to his head, making Nero yank his arms away in haste. Coming more fully to his senses, it took a moment to realise what he was looking at. In front of him, where his fleshy arms had been before he went to sleep, were two new arms. They didn’t feel any different to Nero’s mind, but they looked different. They were a very dark grey in colour, almost black, made of a lightweight carbon-reinforced metal, and were attached to his shoulders.

He ran his hand over the seam, marvelling at the way the metal seamlessly blended into his skin, as if he’d been born with them - and at the way he could feel with his new, metal hands. It was astonishing. He looked again at the arms. The actuators and joints couldn’t be seen, but it looked like there were muscles rippling under the surface of the glistening metal, just waiting to break free. They looked good.

“Ah, you’re awake at last,” came the familiar voice of the old man. “Everything works good, then?”

Nero looked at the rest of his body. His old legs had gone too, to be replaced by units that matched his arms, again, seamlessly integrated into his body. His torso, though, was the same as ever, as was his head, at least from the outside.

“I fitted all your augs. Activate your glasses. They should link to the cognitive chip I put in your brainstem, yes?” Nero reached up to his head, and pressed the button on the small device implanted in the skin, next to his right eye. The unit began projecting a semi-transparent holoscreen just above his eyes, displaying various pieces of information. Apparently his heart rate was low at the moment, and all the augs were working fine.

The old man continued, explaining everything in a tone that suggested he was bored with the whole process. “The chip allows control of your new arms, legs and stabilizer. And it should generally enhance your cognition. Hard to test that, though. Try moving.”

The man stepped away from the table, allowing Nero room to stand up. He did so, and as his feet touched the floor, there was the faintest of muffled noises, his feet featuring some sort of material that prevented the clang of metal on metal. He stood, putting his weight on his new legs. They seemed fine, no different from his old legs. He started walking, and then jogging around the small room. It all seemed great, though no faster than normal. Then a small orange piece of text flashed on his holoscreen, suggesting he think about running faster.

When he did that, his legs sped up dramatically, carrying him in a circle around the room far faster than was normally possible. The display was telling him that he was only travelling at 43% of maximum speed though, due to the size constraints of the room. He stopped.

“Well, I think these work,” he said to the old man. Without waiting for a reply, he tried picking up the desk in a corner of the room, to test out the arms.

“You also have the back implantation,” the man informed him, as Nero was lifting the desk. “Should mean you can lift far heavier things with those arms of yours. Remember your back, and torso, are still mainly human, though. Don’t try anything too extreme.”

“Noted, doc.”

Nero thought about the prototype stabilization augmentation, and saw some information come up on his holodisplay. It was apparently integrated into his arms, in the hands, and would activate automatically when needed, or when Nero thought about it. He did so now. With a slight hissing, the metal on the palms of his hands retracted, revealing a glowing blue circle within. As Nero thought about it, the glowing got brighter, and he could feel the weight being lifted off his feet, until it was almost as if he was floating.

“I read the pamphlet, while you were sleeping,” the man told Nero, watching with a slightly amused expression as Nero tried out his augmentations. “Says it’s not powerful enough for flight, but will allow you to fall from heights without hurting. Nice, yes?”

“Very nice. You did some good work, doc. I won’t forget it.”

Having had enough of testing the augs out, and feeling in good shape, Nero decided that it was time to leave. He didn't know how long he’d been down here, but it was surely getting past time that he was due back at the ship. Indeed, as soon he thought that, the holodisplay brought up the time, telling him it was a couple of hours before sunrise. Neat, he thought.

He got dressed, which had the benefit of making him look like a normal human again, albeit with dark grey hands, and paid the old man. He also picked up the slightly unsettling cargo bag with his old limbs in, and left the man to his dingy underground home.

Before he made his way back to the ship, Nero looked around the alley, outside the chirurgo’s house. Seeing a likely spot, he placed the bag of limbs on the ground, and fetched his lighter out of its belt. Setting it to maximum, Nero gave the bag a good burst of flame, and watched as it combusted, a cloying smell of burning plastic and flesh reaching his nose. He didn’t like the idea of someone else having access to his DNA, but neither did he want to keep the limbs.

It didn’t take long to burn through, and shortly he turned and made his way back to the ship.

****

“That was unfair, Nate,” Talyah was saying, as Nero walked up the ramp into the shuttle.

“This is how we play, Tal. Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to know, this being your first time and all. Just hand over the bonds and we’ll start a new game.”

Nate looked up from the holoboard, noticing Nero standing in the entrance. “Ah, Nero. You deigned to join us at last. Where the hell were you? You missed a great night.” Already, Nate had turned back to the game he was playing with Talyah and three others, not wanting to be distracted. He took his game-playing very seriously.

“I had some things to attend to, Nate, it doesn’t--”

“Yeah, what were you doing, Nero?” Talyah interrupted. This was most unlike Tal, Nero thought. She was usually so cool, and come to think of it, he’d never seen her gambling before.

“Are you okay Tal? You seem a bit...” he struggled for the right word, “I don’t know, happier than normal.”

At this, she let out a slightly derisive laugh. Again, Nero had hardly ever seen her display any emotions before, and now this. “Yes Nero, I feel good. That qiameth really is, well, it’s great. Fantastic. We need more of it.”

“You should try some, man,” Nate added. “It’s incredible stuff. Only just arrived on the planet, apparently. Heard it was one of Zyras Greeta’s finds.”

“Zyras Greeta,” Nero asked. He had heard of this man before. Or alien, according to the rumours. He’d popped up onto the grid a couple of years earlier. By all accounts, he was a pretty low-level guy, not affiliated with anyone, but he had a hand in most of the drug deals in his part of the city.

“Yeah, no idea where he got the stuff, but I’ve never heard of something take off so quick. It’s all over the city, man. Everyone’s popping the red pills.”

“That sounds like an opportunity to me, Nero,” Talyah said. She was always quick on the uptake, even when slightly addled by drugs, Nero reflected. “Perhaps we should--” She stopped, her eyes fixed on Nero’s arms. “Hey, Nero. What the hell happened to your hands?”

And so she noticed. “It’s nothin’, Tal. I just went to see that chirurgo. He--” Nero didn’t finish, as Talyah jumped up and pulled his sleeve up, exposing his new carbon-metal arm.

“Shit! You know those surgeons are dangerous Nero! What the hell were you thinking? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Look, Tal. I’m sorry, but I knew you’d object.”

“I wouldn’t have,” interjected Nate. “You look pretty cool, man.”

Glancing appreciably at Nate, Nero carried on. “I’d heard about this chirurgo, he’s got a good reputation. Expensive, but good. And I need these augs, Tal. I need them. You’ve seen Scraper people who have augs. They’re stronger, they’re faster, they’re smarter. That’s how they get to the top, and that’s how they stay there. If I - if we - are to be successful, I need the same.”

“I know you have ambitions, Nero, but we’re doing fine as we are. Look at all those augs we stole.”

“Okay, so we managed one big job. Great. But now they’ll be expecting this sort of thing again. They won’t be so unprepared next time. Adapt to survive, Tal. Adapt to survive.”

“And how will those arms help you? Will punching people harder help you, Nero?”

She always cut to the point. “Intimidation, Tal. Respect. They’re powerful weapons these augs give me. Besides, it’s not just arms. I got legs, and a kick-ass cognitive chip. I’m a human two-point-zero, if you like.”

Talyah turned away from him, in disgust or despair, he wasn’t sure which.

“Well, I think they’re awesome,” Nate said. “You look real badass now. How you gonna break them in?”

Nero glanced towards Talyah, who still had her back to him, staring at the holoboard she had been playing on. He was grateful for the chance to change the subject. He respected Talyah’s opinions, and as much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t like it when she was disappointed in him. “I think Talyah had the right idea about the drugs,” he said. “If they’re as good as you say they are,” he paused when Nate pulled an expression as if to say ‘how could you doubt me’, then continued, “and I’m sure they are, then I think there’s an opportunity here. Zyras is an amateur. I don’t know how he got his hands on the stuff, but if we find the source, then I can see a tidy profit coming our way.”

“I like your thinking. It’s hellish expensive at the moment, too. We could easily undercut Zy, get a lot more hooked on it, then rack the price up a bit.”

Nero grinned at Nate. “Nice.”

“So, you want me to pay a visit to our friend Zy, or do you wanna?”

“I think we could both go. Have a little fun, maybe.”

Nate got that slightly evil glint in his eye, the one that often meant trouble was coming. It could be useful at times, Nero thought, and this might be one of them. With everyone else on board the small ship, Nero sat down at the controls, and punched in the cave as their destination. Engaging the autopilot, it took them about ten minutes to get back.

****

“Do you think anything happens after we die?” Nate asked sometime later, walking along the dark street beside Nero. Nero glanced over, wondering where the question had come from.

“Why do you ask, Nate?”

“No reason, just idle thoughts.”

After a moment of silence, Nero answered.

“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen any evidence to that effect. It’s just a myth spread by people who have no control over their lives; they want something better, and they invent this myth that things will get better after they’re dead.”

“Have you ever believed in it?”

“My mother used to tell me about it. I used to think it was a nice idea, and yes, maybe it was true. But then, well, she was gone, and I was left in this... world,” Nero said, glancing around. There was an old homeless man curled up on the side of the street, perfectly still. “So no, I never really believed there was some higher power that looked after us, sent us to a nice place after we’d gone. Or if there is, he’s a pretty mean piece of shit.”

They carried on walking along the street, idly looking at some of the glowing signs on the sides of buildings. Most were broken now, and just a few letters glowed fitfully in the gloom. It was a sad reminder of what the city might have looked like all those decades, or centuries ago.

After talking to a few of his sources, Nate had been told that Zyras Greeta could usually be found in Section 49 of the city. Apparently he operated out of a small building nestled in between a couple of the Scrapers, purportedly where he prepared his lines of drugs. Whatever the truth in that, the building itself was proving difficult to find. They’d had no luck so far, and had been looking for what felt like a very long time.