“darkness” is a web series based on the novel grydscaen: dark. It follows the characters and the storyline after grydscaen: dark ends. This web series will run a few weeks and post on the grydscaen blog. copyright (c) 2018 natsuya uesugi.
grydscaen: darkness – episode 9
Dragging himself down the tunnel, Rom’s shuffled his feet, energy waning. The deep cut at his side leaving a trail of bloody footsteps as he walked. His breathing labored, he kept pushing forward. He had to get there.
Rom grasped his wounded hand holding it close to his chest as he nursed the deep cut hiding in the abandoned subway station. He was making his way laboriously to the Packrat Sprawl. He didn’t dare teleport because the shadow that was after him had found him in the drug squat. The only thing that meant was the person after him was psychic and knew how to follow a teleportation stream. Rom rounded a corner and put his back to the wall resting for a moment. His hand throbbed, the cut dripping profusely leaving a trail of blood droplets as he walked. He closed his eyes for a moment gathering his strength and then pushed off the wall and continued down the tunnel.
Raven was still at Hell’s Hearth, he had abandoned the woman smoking the cigarette. She was no help. He was still doing the rounds. The clientele had changed coming in and out attending to their business. Raven was sitting at the back taking in the smoke filled room as the door opened and the drug dealer Wraith with the white hair on top and black in the back came in and looked around. He watched Wraith go and sit at the bar, black bag in hand. He figured he was selling. Raven walked over and sat down next to him on the stool.
“Fancy seeing you outside The Soul Deep,” chimed in Raven trying to keep it light knowing Wraith would not want to see him let alone talk.
“Go away…” Wraith whispered as he motioned over the bartender robot and requested some juice with ice.
“I thought dealers only sold drugs didn’t actually do them?”
“You have no idea what goes down here, do you?” Wraith scolded him.
The bartender robot brought the drink and Wraith took his handheld out of his pocket and waved it in front of the robot’s outstretched hand. His little finger had an intake on it. Wraith held out his handheld and the bartender ran the intake through the slot on his device and ripped off the credits for the drink. The robot bartender, with supple skin, and lifelike hair looked almost human except for the slight tint of metallic rivets around its eyes. It walked off to help another guest.
“I need to go dark,” whispered Raven leaning in.
“Can’t help you…” said Wraith as he sipped on the drink.
“A hacker named AYOR seems to have dropped off the gridscan. He is always on. Have you heard anything on the streets about that?”
“AYOR is online all the time. Just got in touch with him a few days ago. What do you mean he is no longer online?” asked Wraith turning to look Raven in the eyes.
“Don’t know. He’s gone silent.”
“You talk to him? I bet you fucked him up the arse or some government shit,” barked Wraith as the door to the club opened and the person who entered whistled. Wraith looked over to the door and eyed the person nodding. The person came over and put a hand on Wraith’s shoulder.
“Talk to the guy in the mitre cap. He might be able to help. I’m out. Got a sale…” said Wraith and took his drink and the bag and walked to the back of the club with the patron. Raven watched as the two of them sat down getting down to business.
Raven spun the stool around and scanned the room. He looked for the mitre cap. There was a man in the back hugging a pint of beer fitting the description in black with shiny white shoes, white mitre cap to match. Raven looked him straight in the eyes. The guy stared right through him and then took a sip. Raven keyed in and walked over. He pulled out the chair and sat down.
“I need to go dark…” Raven started hard.
“What are you looking for, my friend? Something illegal maybe, government spook?”
“How did you know that?” asked Raven perplexed.
“Clocked your body language the minute you walked in the door. You been trained by the Psi Faction. Been watching you make the rounds. Everyone you talked to has just been toying with you. But now, well, you and I might be able to do the do, if I smell something legit.”
The man took a large gulp of beer and Raven pulled out one of the credit cards with 2 million credits on it and set it down on the table. He pushed it over to the guy who put his pint over top the card and dragged it to the edge of the table dropping it in his hand. He ran the card through his handheld.
“2 million credits gets you in the door, 2 more I give you a hint….”
Raven produced another card and held it up. The guy snatched it and hid it away.
“What you need?”
“A hacker named AYOR disappeared. He is always online. I spoke with him and then he vanished. Looking for iodine pills, the new ones. Drug trial data, ZenZen and George Shimazuri. Want to know what they are into. I need to go to the source,” whispered Raven.
The man took another sip. “AYOR is everywhere. Then he is nowhere. He has been offline for 24 hours. Rumor is he got spooked by some government arsehole breathing down his neck. Was that you?” the guy sneered.
“Yes, I went and saw him.”
“Bad idea. AYOR could have got you in the underground. You definitely played that wrong. Rumor is someone took him out for squealing.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Raven confused.
“What exactly did you have him do?”
“Told him to broadcast about Kaizen the Immaculate working for the Corporation. Seems he resurfaced…”
“Die in dead…” whispered the man and then went silent. He quickly glanced around the room and then motioned Raven to lean in. “Behind The Hole x-rated magazine shop. There is a door in the alley will take you to Clannet, the black market dealers. Watch your step with them. They are in with the Black Holes, the data pirates. You fuck them, you die. You ask the wrong question, you die. You stay too long or get up in their business, you die. You got your AYOR friend killed. Rumor is hackers have started dying again. AYOR is just the tip of the iceberg,” said the man and then finished off his drink.
“How do I know this info is real?” asked Raven.
“You smell like government. Everyone here knows that. No one will help you. This is the black market. There is no real….” The man swiftly got up and walked away.
Raven sighed. This was the only lead he received all night. He figured it was the best he was going to do. The rest of the room having virtually blown him off and dicked him around.
The bouncer came over and stood over Raven. “Time for you to leave, government!” He grabbed Raven’s arm and dragged him to the front door and shoved him out of Hell’s Hearth slamming the door behind him. Raven stumbled slapping the wall to keep from falling and then walked up the stairs back into the night.
Rom tripped over his feet and fell to his knees. The left side of his trench coat was caked in crimson, he sat down, back against the tunnel wall and pulled his coat away from his body lifting up his shirt. The wound was deep and he was losing a lot of blood. He had to get to the Sprawl quickly. He put his wounded hand down and pushed off the concrete standing up then teleported out to the Acolyte Forward Base and fell out on the floor in front of Faid.
“Rom!” Faid called out and got down next to him. He motioned Acolyte over and saw Rom’s hand bleeding and the blood stains on Rom’s coat. “Get the healer Aseth here, head of the Prophets. Notify Iin, the Trance Channeler that Rom is hurt.”
Faid picked up the semi conscious Rom and carried him to his sleeping mat at the back of the living quarters. A moment later Iin, Rom’s mate pair came running into the room and sat down next to him putting Rom’s head in her lap.
“What happened to him?” shouted Iin.
“I don’t know,” answered Faid as he sat Rom up and pulled off his coat and shirt. Rom had a huge gash in his side which was coated in crusted blood.
A moment later the healer Aseth came in the room.
“Heal him and keep him calm. I need to find out what happened,” Faid waved to Acolyte to follow him as he passed him at the door to the living quarters and they went back to the Acolyte Forward Base.
Faid threw himself down in the chair.
“How did he get like that?” asked Acolyte bringing up a dark search window.
“I don’t know,” responded Faid. “Can you check the gridscan?”
“If I were you, I would check with Jester,” said Acolyte and nodded.
“You are probably right. I’ll go.” Faid vanished to the Jester hacker guild and authenticated inside. He went to Jester’s office.
Jester was in his office alone laying down on the couch. He was holding a black cat over his head and looking it deep in the eyes. He set the cat down on his chest and the animal curled up in a ball and started cleaning its face.
Faid came in and leaned up against the desk. “What’s with the cat?”
“It is a stray. The bouncer left the door open and it wandered in. Didn’t have the heart to kick the poor thing out. It is starved,” replied Jester and picked up the cat putting it on the floor and sat up on the couch. “What you got for me at this hour?”
“Rom got hurt. You know anything about that? Looks like he got stabbed with a knife.”
“He was chatting, I saw the traffic. Someone sent him die in dead, death in red… I told him to get off the board and go to the Sprawl. Stay off the streets. That phrase die in dead, that was the call from the Night Hacker Killer who was killing hackers years back. Rom was inquiring about AYOR before I shut him down, and Kaizen.”
“You mean Kaizen the Immaculate?” asked Faid trying to act surprised.
“Yes, the same.”
“Is AYOR still online? He is always connected, has his hands in everything.”
“No, I inquired after I caught Rom asking. AYOR has been offline for 24 hours.”
“That can’t be right.”
“I don’t know,” said Jester. “Is Rom alright?”
“The healer is looking after him.”
“Kaizen is up in ZenZen and those new iodine5 pills,” said Jester. “Do you think these incidents are connected somehow?”
“Could be. Maybe I can locate Kaizen,” Faid raised an eyebrow.
“Kaizen has been disappeared for years. Doubt anyone could find him. He went offline shortly after the Night Hacker Killer murders stopped.”
“I got to try. If this killer is targeting hackers again he will not stop until he gets Rom. I need Rom. We have to help him.”
“I’m in. What do you need me to do?”
“Search ZenZen and these iodine5 pills. Try to find a link there. I am going to Jazz. See what he knows. His jock rig should sort it.”
“Okay, check back when you get something and we can compare notes,” agreed Jester.
“On it,” said Faid and teleported to The Soul Deep.
To be continued…
