Chaos Cipher (44 page)

Kyo looked
down and spotted the area where he was sure they lived as they
ascended higher into the sky and finally left Cerise Timbers. From
so high the aftermath of the fire in Hangar-Fifteen didn’t look so
bad, but he knew first-hand the destruction within its charred
shell. He watched as the towns below vanished under the stealth
material mimicking the impression of a seamless forest where the
city was and he looked on at the vast frozen planes of Siberia’s
mountains.

The engines
whirred softly, sending dull vibrations through the vessel and Kyo
sat back and did his best to enjoy the ride.

*

It still
wasn’t too late to make an evening call to Pierce Lewis, no matter
how besotted he was with alcohol. She was sure Laux might have
given her an evening C.A.L.C time by which he was sure Lewis was
also sticking to, but it wasn’t relevant. The day was not
over.

Enaya stood
alone in the main office of East B’ One Federal building and waited
for the Q-net’s peer-to-peer connection service to find reception
at the Lewis residence. It was her third attempt and nobody had
answered. She was just about ready to give up and acquire mercenary
assistance to guard her while she paid him a personal visit when
the screen began to change. The call made it through and Hattle
stood at the other end, his crude face dotted with perspiration, he
breathed heavily, clearly effeted by the physical task of
training.

‘
Hattle
Lewis,’ she said austerely. ‘Is your father around?’

‘
Somewhere,’
he said, breathing heavy through his nose.

‘
Would you
fetch him?’

Hattle huffed
for air a while, his face too close to the visual camera to reveal
more than a half. He looked back over his shoulder and cleared his
throat.

‘
What’s this
about?’

‘
There was a
fire last night,’ she said. ‘Edge Fenris is claiming it was you who
started it.’

‘
I don’t know
what you’re talking about.’

‘
Right, so
let me make this crystal clear,’ she said stepping forward. ‘I’m
talking about bringing the local militia and mercenary down to your
so called property and forcefully evicting you unless you face the
accusation head on and show us you have a credible
alibi.’

Hattle looked
sullen. He told her to wait and the screen shifted to a
screen-saver mode. Hattle was gone for almost four minutes but the
connection remained valid, and the next time the visual screen
reactivated it was Pierce Lewis, who answered.

‘
Do you think
you have the right to call us with these accusations?’ he started
explosively, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

‘
You’re aware
of the fire then?’

‘
Yes, I’m
aware of it, so is half of East B’ One, but they’re not under any
suspicion.’

‘
-Because you
have had dealings with Edge Fenris.’

‘
Dealings?’
Pierce said smiling, ‘I’ve scarcely spoken with the
man.’

‘
You’ve had a
run-in with Pania and Edge, and of course Pania Kedash believes you
have motive. It’s no secret she vandalised your property and we
believe you have sought your own justice on this
matter-’

‘
That is
simply, categorically, absolutely untrue,’ he said
steadily.

‘
Edge Fenris
believes he can prove it was you,’ she lied soberly, watching for
his reactions carefully. ‘There’s evidence.’

‘
What utter
nonsense,’ Pierce insisted. ‘Bring me evidence. Go ahead. I am
deeply offended by this…’

‘
Why are you
deeply offended?’ she asked sincerely, ‘aren’t you flattered you
have enemies? Doesn’t it assert your direction?’

‘
I have no
idea what you’re talking about…’

‘
The fire,
was it you?’

‘
No!’

‘
Then, it was
Hattle, is that what you’re admitting to?’

‘
You will not
snare me-’

‘
I wouldn’t
dream of snaring you.’

‘
You’re very
clever Miss Chahuán-’

‘
Enaya!’ She
corrected.

‘
-Very
clever, and I find it regrettable that you can’t see the obvious.
We stand together here in Cerise Timbers, but Edge isn’t from these
parts is he? It’s Edge who is to blame for this; you see the way he
smokes. He just wants to shift the blame.’

Enaya had
considered this at first, but for all his failings, Edge had a deep
respect for Laux and there was no way he would allow a fire to get
out of control this way.

‘
I believe it
was oil canisters that set off the fire,’ said Enaya,
‘intentionally done, spilled.’

‘
Oil
canisters on an air zone? What are the odds?’ Pierce shrugged
sarcastically. ‘Now, unless you’ve something a little more
concrete, I’d like to propose you drop these accusations ,or I will
also begin an investigation of my own into the practices or
malpractices of the Federal building of East B’ One.’

‘
We have
witnesses,’ Enaya challenged, ‘we have many people coming forward
against you Pierce Lewis, and for the way your son is mistreating
others in the city. Rest assured this will not reflect positively
on you.’

‘
I didn’t do
it,’ said Pierce, ‘end of story.’

The
connection abruptly ended. Enaya Chahuán dropped her head
dejectedly and cursed to herself. This was not the end of the
story, but it would seem that Pierce Lewis was going to make this
an ugly fight indeed.

-31-

D
aryl Sanders walked confidently
through the air zone and Artex Valdek followed by his side. Almost
eight hundred meters ahead of them sat the cadonavis vessel
Perigrussia Skybus. Its long silver chassis almost elliptical from
their lower angle, its nose tapered to a dull point below a dynamic
looking windshield. It stood on three powerful legs, the belly of
the cadonavis levelled down flat on the floor, a cargo ramp from
which they could see inside an arrangement of stock tightly
fastened, roped in and an electronic crane arm hung still, as
though ready to load more. A long stairway slanted from the cabin
further toward the front of the cadonavis, and the two bodyguards
stood motionless and ready.

‘
If those
boys wanna cause trouble,’ said Artex, ‘you know that, no matter
how good I am, I won’t be able to take them, right?’

‘
You and me
both,’ said Daryl. ‘But at least they won’t try
anything.’

‘
I’ve got Gus
aiming at us from the high-grounds,’ Artex said. ‘He’s a crack-shot
with a sniper and he’s locked and loaded. If shit does go down
there will be hell to pay.’

‘
Let’s not
think like that,’ said Daryl, ‘this is just a
precaution.’

They finally
arrived at the Perigrussia Skybus steps and the two guards held out
their hands and began scanning. A moment later Krupin arrived at
the top of the stairway, his usual confident smile revealing a
grill on his teeth.

‘
And you
didn’t bring the boy?’ he asked. ‘I hope you’re not thinking of
anything stupid, Mr Sanders.’

Daryl looked
at Artex for a moment and he put his hands up to reveal he was
unarmed.

‘
The kid’s
gone.’ Daryl said.

‘
Gone?’

‘
I believe
so.’

‘
Where’s he
gone?’ Krupin laughed heartily.

‘
I don’t
know,’ said Daryl. ‘Somewhere safe.’

‘
I think you
do know,’ said Krupin. ‘How did he go? Did he just walk? Wonder
alone into the Novus? I think no.’

‘
I don’t care
what you think,’ Daryl said. ‘The point is he’s gone.’

‘
Then…’
Krupin smiled and leaned on the rails of the stairway. ‘I have no
choice but to show evidence to the Atominii.’

‘
You do what
you have to.’ Daryl said. ‘Either way, the kid has gone and he’s
not coming back. And neither should you. You’ve outstayed your
welcome here Krupin. We’re putting an end to the competitive games.
In Cerise Timbers we better ourselves cooperatively, not
competitively. We are comrades. No root, no fruit!’

Daryl waited
for him to respond, but Krupin said nothing. Artex started walking
away and Daryl Sanders followed.

‘
Gus, keep an
eye on the guards,’ Artex spoke into his Quantic-W. ‘They make a
move, give them a warning shot into the asphalt.’

‘
Roger,’
Gustav came back on the receiver.

‘
Hey
Sanders!’ Krupin shouted from the Skybus.

Daryl turned
around and the paunch man hitched his belt and ran his finger
across the back of his sweating neck. ‘You’ve just doomed your
city, you realise?’

Daryl turned
away and kept moving, Artex walked by his side.

‘
Are we in
the clear yet?’ Daryl said.

‘
Almost,’
Artex replied. ‘Keep walking, hundred meters.’

Once they
were away from the air zone Daryl picked up pace and hurried into
Hangar Twelve where a small team was set-up. They squeezed through
the partially opened doors and they slid shut behind them. Once in
the cool air of the hangar they saw a technician team assisting
Laux at a workshop table of computer screens and old hacked
laptops, reassembled to take on new purposes.

‘
Any luck?’
Daryl asked, leaning over Laux’s shoulder.

‘
I’ve been
able to get a signal,’ he said, ‘thankfully the Perigrussia Skybus
receives frequent updates for its C.A.L.C chronometers just like my
lab and it’s a perfect window to get into other systems.
Unfortunately, most of the security language in is
Cyrillic.’

‘
I can help
you out,’ Artex offered.

‘
No need,’
said Laux, ‘I already have a translation algorithm working out the
syntax formulas and in a couple of hours I’ll be rearranging some
of the security settings to my own liking. It’ll be faster since
the program doesn’t need to comprehend the information, simply
organise it. Once that’s done I’ll be removing anything I can find
on Kyo.’

‘
Good,’ Daryl
Sanders stated. ‘You really are brilliant aren’t you?’

‘
I’m afraid,
I’m not very responsive to flattery,’ he said awkwardly.

‘
Unless it’s
coming from Enaya Chahuán,’ said Hans Greiber, a forensics
technician who was well known around the garrison area. A playful
chorus of laughter prattled up from some of the workers helping the
scientist and Hans patted Laux playfully on the
shoulder.

Laux
momentarily stopped typing, transgressing to single finger punches
as though his brain was malfunctioning. He shook off the comment
and adjusted his focus.

‘
I don’t
think our guest has the Perigrussia Skybus connected constantly to
the Atominii communication network, otherwise the updates would be
unnecessary since information would be continuously trafficking.
Each time they connect, an update occurs. So, the fact that they
need occasional updates works in our favour. The problem is I now
have to shut down their ability to communicate without them
noticing.’

‘
Why?’ asked
Daryl.

‘
So I can
stop them from getting that data out of here before I have the
chance to erase it, of course.’ Said Laux, standing up and running
to another computer set up at a different workshop table and
pushing a technician out of the way.

‘
So what if
they try and make a call while you’re doing this?’ asked
Artex.

‘
They’ll get
through to an old address of mine,’ he smiled proudly. ‘And if
anybody answers, I can only expect the conversation to be less than
agreeable.’

*

The SkyLark
had nestled down somewhere in the overgrown thickets and reeds of
the surrounding fields of Onyx Waters. The steps leading up from
the Yenisei River had been demolished over the years by weathering
and the sprouting of vines.

When they
reached the city basin, Dak was surprised to see it had been almost
completely drained. Yachts sat broken far below on the crumbled
dried rocks of the enormous empty lake and they beheld a city now
strewn with wild vegetation and trees and all kinds of birds that
flocked in and out of the hollow structures. They heard the
crickets chirping and hissing in the undergrowth and the cries of
animals.

‘
Why this
place?’ asked Kyo as he lumbered the ruined steps carefully behind
his father.

‘
This is
where we found you,’ said Dak, smiling and playfully arresting him
in a gentle headlock. He rubbed his knuckles into his hair and
teased, ‘so we’re putting you back.’

‘
Oh good,’ he
said, pushing back playfully and jabbing Dak’s shoulder lightly.
‘Thought I’d never make it out alive.’

Kyo could
smell the forest around him, it’s sweet and damp fragrances potent
in the air. He made his way uphill through the strong scent of mud
and wood-rot and purpurea wildflower. Above, the grey brumous
clouds plated the heavens and the barren reach of leafless branches
ticked and snapped in the wind, moulting their autumn
leaves.