Dead Planet, page 23
part #4 of Star Rim Empire Series
"Fine."
We continued up to the top of the tower, climbing up the ladder at the top of the stairs to access the clockwork room.
There we encountered an unwelcome surprise.
There was no sign of the door out.
"This can't be happening," I muttered as I moved along the wall, feeling for any hidden doors or passages. "It was here. I remember coming down a few steps right here."
"Let me see your lamp," the Sean bot said.
I handed it over and he directed the lamp's high-powered beam all along the floor where it met the wall.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
"There's a lot of dust in this room. If someone removed the stairs, we should be able to see where they had been."
"Yeah, it all looks dusty to me."
"Me too. No stars. No door."
"No way back," I said. I couldn't believe this. I kicked at the wall in anger.
"Take it easy, Jannigan. Let's just think this through. There might be a reasonable explanation for this. No reason to panic."
"I'm not panicking. I'm just pissed off that we got ourselves in this mess."
We spent the next hour up in the clock tower, trying to find the way back. We even removed sections of the wall at various points around the edge of the chamber and confirmed that there was nothing but open sky surrounding us.
The Sean bot activated the Pridor as well, but couldn't detect any data networks.
I slumped down against one wall as despair washed over me. How were we going to get out of this?
"Jannigan, get some shuteye. I'll keep watch."
"I'm fine."
"No, I can tell you are tired. And you're no use to anyone when you're exhausted. We're in a protected area. Just shut off your audio input so you don't have to listen to this infernal din and get some sleep. I'll wake you in a few hours."
I protested some more, but eventually got bored enough that I must have drifted off into slumber.
I dreamt of being back home in New Torino. I was in my own bed in my own domus. Unfortunately, Lir was there in bed with me, too. But she was actually nice to me. Not the typical Lirala.
In the dream, we went strolling along Barrow Green, my favorite park. Lir was wearing a white dress and smiling at me as we walked, hand-in-hand, along the wide boulevard lined with massive ceaon trees.
"So, Jannigan, why are you here?" she asked.
The question struck me as odd. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you've clearly moved on."
I was still having a tough time understanding what she was getting at.
"You've moved on from all this," she said. "New Torino. Your friends. Me."
I didn't know how to answer that.
"I wasn't good enough for you, was I?" Lir smiled at me wistfully. "After all we had been through."
I struggled to answer. "We're just different people now, Lir." That sounded lame.
"How do people change so much in one month?"
"It's been more than one month."
"No, it hasn't, Jannigan. You left me exactly one month ago. The day after your birthday. I was worried sick."
"I have a hard time believing that."
"It's true."
"If I recall correctly, you had Preity to console you."
"Pretty was never for me. I told you that. She was for you."
"And I told you a million times that I am a one-woman man."
"Like your father? So old-fashioned."
"I can't help who I am, Lirala."
"Fair enough," she said.
But I could see in her eyes that she didn't really believe that.
"I can't help who I am either." Lir took both my hands in hers and turned so that we were looking into each other's eyes.
"I get that." Her stare was very intense. But I had to be strong. "We're our own people. And neither of us should have to change. That's why we're better off apart."
"No, no, no, Jannigan. You're way off." She pulled me closer with surprising strength. "We're better off together. And I need you."
"You really don't, Lir. You're a strong woman. From an excellent family. And you're going to inherit a big deal horse ranch soon. You have your whole life ahead of you."
"Which would be so boring without you." She moved her face close to mine---so close that our lips were almost touching.
I tried to pull away, but there was something hypnotic about Lir's gaze.
"The truth is, Jannigan, you cannot leave me. I simply won't permit it. You and I will be together forever, understand? Forever."
And then her lips met mine, and she kissed me. Hard. It wasn't a loving kiss. It was a devouring kiss.
28
When I awoke, I was alone. There was no sign of the Sean bot.
A jolt of panic hit me as I climbed to my feet. I quickly searched the chamber, but all I found was the crate with the Pridor.
Son of a bitch. He ditched me.
"Where the hell are you?" I yelled into my comm. But there was no reply. Just dead air.
Next I checked my Aura's scanner, hoping that the Sean bot would show up. But then I remembered that he was a bot and not a guy in an exosuit equipped with beacons.
Swearing to myself, I made sure my own beacons were active and transmitting. Then I hid the Pridor in a space beneath one of the gear mechanisms. I grabbed my KHG and headed down through the hatch and down the spiral staircase.
I couldn't believe that the Sean bot had actually left me alone. It went against all sorts of Beck Salvage mission protocols. And it was dumb as hell.
The window halfway down gave me my first look at the city in daylight. From this vantage point, I could see how dense everything was. The city spilled chaotically for a few kilometers in every direction, with a tangle of alleys and buildings jammed up against each other and hundreds of chimneys and smokestacks---all oozing smoke. It was like some giant spiderweb.
As I looked further, I could make out a thick city wall that seemed like it had tried but failed to contain the sprawl. Directly ahead of me, in the distance, a wide, dark river ran. With my suit's enhanced vision, I could make out sailing vessels of all sizes and shapes dotting the river's surface.
This city was much bigger than I thought---which would make finding the Sean bot even more of an impossible task.
I sighed and continued down the staircase. At the bottom, I eased the door open and stepped out into a bright, smoky haze.
A half-dozen people turned to stare at me. They looked like ancient villagers---actually not that much different from the Obaswoon on Yueld. But these beings were clearly human. Some of them wrestled with hand carts, others carried sacks. There were some women and even a few children. Most crossed to the other side of the plaza when they saw me. Probably because I looked a little intimidating in my suit. Maybe more than a little intimidating.
I didn't really know where I was going or even what I hoped to find---other than the Sean bot.
The clock tower dominated one end of a plaza where five streets converged. A noisy little marketplace had been set up on the other end of the plaza opposite the tower. Cramped stalls with ratty-looking awnings stood amid stacks of crates, barrels, and other refuse. Shoppers crowded the stalls, loudly haggling about the prices. I also saw a fair number of grubby little kids running around, stealing stuff from the stalls, begging, or, in some cases, hauling baskets of goods around for their mothers.
All kinds of things were offered for sale---but much of it was food: produce, baked goods, meats and fish, even spices. I was hungry and curious and wanted to peruse the stalls, but I could tell my presence was kind of freaking out the locals. I didn't blame them. I probably looked like some kind of strangely armored knight or even a statue that had come to life.
"Help!" A woman's voice cut through the din of the marketplace. "Someone help me!"
I turned to see a bald man dressed in red robes grappling with the woman. No, not grappling. He was wresting a toddler from her arms as she tried to fight him off, shrieking at the top of her lungs. Several bystanders were close enough to aid her, but they all turned away.
I couldn't understand it. Why wasn't anyone helping the woman?
The man in the red robes changed his tactic. Instead of trying to extricate the baby from its mother's frenzied grip, he hauled off and smashed her in the face. Blood sprayed from her nose and she fell back, screaming in agony.
That was too much for me. I knew all the rules and good reasons for not interfering with local cultures. But this was not going to happen.
By the time I made it over to the woman, the robed man had finally succeeded in taking the toddler from her. But even though he had his prize, he wouldn't let the woman go. He kicked her viciously in the ribs and began stomping on her arms.
"Hey, asshole," I yelled. "Leave her alone! Now!"
The robed man turned, and I saw his eyes widen in surprise at the sight of me. Then he scowled.
"Begone, golem!"
"No way. Put the kid down---gently---and step away!"
"Know you not who you dare interfere with?"
He made a slight motion with his shoulder, like he was shaking out his arm to warm up some tight muscles. In one quick move, he reached into the folds of his robe and withdrew a wicked-looking blade that was curved like an Umbani scimitar.
I wasn't at all prepared for his attack. It was impossibly fast. And if it weren't for my armored exosuit, he would have done some serious damage. Luckily for me, the ceramlar body armor was rated for medium blaster fire, so a non-powered blade weapon just slid off it.
The robed man looked surprised for a second. And then even more surprised when I gave him a taste of his own medicine and back-handed him across the face. Even though I was hitting with just my natural strength---no aux kinetics---I heard the crunch of his nose breaking as his head jerked back. He staggered and lost his grip on the screaming kid. I snatched the toddler up as the red-robed man collapsed.
The woman launched herself at me, screaming bloody murder.
"Hey, take it easy. Your kid's fine." I passed the toddler back to the sobbing woman.
The robed man lurched to his feet and tried to yell something menacing at me, but found it difficult through a mouth full of broken teeth. He was persistent. I had to give him that. He clawed at the toddler again and I hit him again. This time, I juiced my punch a tiny bit.
My armored fist connected with his jaw, a nice solid hit. And he dropped like a bot who had been suddenly deactivated.
I turned to the woman. "Are you okay?"
"Do you know what you've done?" she asked between sobs.
"Saved you from that freak. That's what I've done."
"Maybe so, and I thank you for it. But now, you're a dead man. And I am a dead woman."
I didn't know what the woman was talking about, but I guessed that she might be hysterical.
"Where do you live?" I asked. "I'll make sure you get home safe."
"Nowhere is safe from the Ecclesia of Thect."
"Well, this street isn't safe," I said.
And it wasn't. A knot of men were moving in our direction and they didn't look particularly happy that I had interfered.
"We need to leave now," I told the woman.
She looked at the men advancing towards us and must have got the same vibe as me. "This way."
We hustled down one of the narrow streets---which was more like an alley, cluttered with piles of refuse and puddles of sewage. Here and there, planks of wood served as a rickety path through the muck and excrement.
The woman stumbled and almost fell, so I ended up holding the kid in one arm and helping her along with the other.
It almost seemed like we were following a random route with no actual destination, but the woman limped along, glancing over her shoulder and mumbling to herself. Eventually, we arrived at a dilapidated narrow wooden building wedged between two brick structures. It rose five stories. There was no front door---just a piece of what looked like tattered sailcloth nailed to the door frame. The lower-level windows had been boarded up, but I saw gaping holes in the upper stories.
"This is it," the woman croaked. "Upstairs."
Inside was dark and gloomy. My suit's visor automatically shifted to low-light mode, and I could make out a narrow wrought-iron staircase rising through a central shaft. I helped the woman up the stairs, startling a roosting bird in the process.
We continued up to the top floor, and then most of the way down a garbage-filled hallway. The woman motioned to a doorway with a broken door. "In there."
Her apartment was a wretched little room with no windows and a ceiling with a gaping hole in it, open to the sky. Beneath the hole was a large metal bowl which held the cold embers of a cooking fire.
The woman collapsed onto a rough straw mattress on the floor and reached out her arms. "My baby, please, Sir Knight."
"I'm not a knight." I stooped down and carefully handed the toddler to her mother. The little girl seemed unusually quiet.
The woman murmured to the baby, soothing it---or maybe trying to soothe herself. She was banged up pretty badly. Maybe with some broken ribs. Now that I had the chance to look at her closely, I saw she was young. Maybe ten or fifteen years younger than me. But she had obviously been through a lot. Her light brown hair was matted and her face smudged with dirt or soot. Her clothes were no more than rags. But despite everything, she had shown some real courage standing up to that freak who was trying to steal her kid.
"Whoever you are, I fear I have dragged you into a horrible morass," she mumbled.
"The man in the red robes?"
"Yes, Wirrha."
"Who is he and what did he want with your baby?"
She shook her head. "You do not want to know, Sir Knight."
"My name is Jannigan and I do want to know."
The woman struggled to sit upright, gritting her teeth against the pain. I reached out a hand to help her up.
"I'm very grateful, Sir Jannigan. But Wirrha is a formidable foe."
"He didn't seem too formidable to me. I basically tapped him a few times, and he folded like a berdopp."
"I think he was surprised that you even dared to engage him, Sir Jannigan. Most people wouldn't have stood up to a High Priest of the Ecclesia."
"What's the Ecclesia?"
"The Ecclesia of Thect."
"So why was he trying to kidnap your baby?"
She didn't answer me directly. Instead, she looked me up and down. "I can see that you are a stranger to the city."
"Yes, absolutely."
"How quickly can you depart Euna and return to your own land?"
"What's Euna?"
"This is Euna. This city."
Right. Now I remembered. The guard had mentioned Euna. "That's what I'm trying to do," I said. "Find my way back to the surface of Vinaoth."
"Vinaoth? Is that where you are from?"
"No, but that's where my ship is."
"So you don't have a ship at the North Docks?"
"No, why?"
"Nothing. It was a foolish hope."
"What was?"
"I hoped you might take us with you. Away from Euna and the Ecclesia."
I spent an hour with the woman. Her name was Laelynn Dal and her two-year-old daughter was Silbra. Her story was intriguing.
They were from a small town to the north, a few days away by train. Her daughter had been chosen by the Ecclesia of Thect, which I gathered was some sort of religious order. Apparently, it was an enormous honor for kids to be invited to join. The parents would be paid a stipend as well, which was especially welcome in Laelynn's case because last year her husband had died in an accident at the factory where he worked.
Nearly a week ago, Laelynn Dal had traveled to the Ecclesia of Thect's temple here in Euna and surrendered little Silbra. As she told this part of the story, Laelynn broke down in tears.
"It's okay," I said.
"It's not okay. It's horrible, giving up your daughter. What kind of monster am I?"
"I thought it was a good thing. Something special for her."
Laelynn shook her head. "Lies. All lies."
She explained that Wirrha had given her train fare and a small purse of gold. She was told that she could return to the temple in a year's time to visit little Silbra, but between now and then, she was not permitted to have any contact.
"Seems a little harsh," I said.
"That's just the way things are done."
"So obviously you didn't go home."
"I got as far as Umberleigh Station. But I just couldn't do it. I couldn't leave my baby."
I had a feeling I knew where this story was going. "Let me guess. You tried to get Silbra back?"
"I did, Sir Jannigan."
"And it didn't go well."
"No, it didn't. I was driven from the temple. Beaten. And warned never to show my face there again."
"How did you finally get her back?"
"It took me several days to come up with a plan. I observed the temple, noted who came and went. Early this morning I disguised myself as one of the women who cleans the temple. There are nearly one hundred brought in every day before dawn. Most work until midnight. I thought that would give me enough time to find my daughter."
"And you did."
"I did---and it was chilling. Let me show you something." She gently turned her daughter over and lifted the back of the toddler's frock.
I winced at the sight of Silbra's back. There at the base of her spine was a horrible oozing wound. It was circular, almost like a bullet wound, and probably three centimeters in diameter. Around the wound, the baby's flesh was bright red and puckered. This wasn't good.
"What happened to her?"
"I found her in a so-called nursery. There were rows of cradles and cribs, all filled with young ones. And each had a tube attached to their backs."
"A tube?"
"As thick around as Silbra's arm. They ran into immense glass tubes mounted on the ceiling."
I was having a difficult time understanding what Laelynn had seen. It just didn't make sense. "For what purpose? Were they collecting blood?"
