Rebel Lexis (3 page)
This worldwide flooding only strained what little resources were left, propagating more war. In only a short period of time, the Earth’s population shrunk to one third. Starvation, disease, and war, had plunged the world into absolute chaos. One by one, the countries of the world failed, giving rise to the Corporation suzerainty.
The Thirty-Third Century echoed in a time of peace and cooperation. Mankind adapted through technological advances, and they became masters of off world flight. Realizing the Earth would one day be an unviable place to live, Mankind looked to the stars.
Through Terraforming, a thriving colony was established on Mars; years of planet cultivation, genetic modifications, man had turned the red planet into a green planet. Many of the Earth’s extinct fauna ran wild there, and most importantly, water existed in great quantities. This success spread quickly, and by the end of the Twenty-Fifth Century, Mankind multiplied throughout the Galaxy.
For nearly eleven hundred years, several Corporations jointly ran the Galaxy until the Sun belched again, depleting nearly half of the Earth’s Ozone. This upheaval drove the entire population of Earth underground when the surface became a dead zone. War broke out between the Corporations, and divided mankind. However, peace only appeared again when a winner emerged; the Polaris Corporation and for over a thousand years, the Galaxy Sovereigns ruled with absolute prejudice.
Destroying the silence in which Jason relaxed, Sofia spoke. “Jason, you have two low priority transmissions in the queue.”
“Who’s calling?” he asked from the comfort of his overly soft chair.
“Parnetia A’levin and Corkain Plaskett,” she replied.
“I don’t want to talk to Parnetia, please put her into the message bank…however, place Cork up on the small monitor.”
“Greetings from the Chameleon.”
“Hello there,” Corkain Plaskett said while fingering through his red hair.
“What can I do you for?” Jason asked amicably.
“Listen, I need more of those souvenirs…my nephews are begging me to ask Uncle Jason for more…if you know what I mean?”
“Cork, I’ll see what I can do but I can’t make any promises.”
“They’ll be highly disappointed if they don’t get anything on this trip… I’ll make it worthwhile.”
“No promises, Cork…see you in a few days.” Jason then ended the transmission with the touch of a finger.
“Sofia, let’s see what Parnetia had to say.”
Parnetia A’levin’s video message popped up on the screen, and Jason could easily see her hard nipples pressing against the tight lingerie top she wore. Her dark hair was slicked back, and contrasting her milky white skin, the bright red lipstick vibrantly popped.
“That woman will drain me dry.”
He thought about how she loved to go shopping with his money, on their dates.
With a touch of desperation, and smothered in sexual overtones, she spoke. “Jason… I’ve been waiting for you to come…over for two weeks now…I miss you! Please call me immediately when you get this message.” She then leaned forward and kissed the camera before hanging up. The screen read, “END OF TRANSMISSION.”
“Who is that woman?”
“She’s just a friend on Level Three.”
“Are you slumming on Level Three?” Sofia suspiciously asked.
“For your information, Parnetia A’levin is a respectable lady.”
“Respectable slut by the way she looks.”
“Sofia, change of subject.”
“My pleasure, Jason,” she replied obediently by then saying, “Corkain Plaskett, he seems to be talking in code… It is as if you two have suspicious business dealings.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” evasively he responded.
“According to Corkain Plaskett’s voice analysis, the inflections on ‘souvenir,’ and ‘nephews,’ are cryptic in nature. The true meaning is lost…”
“Sofia! Please stop…” he said wearily.
“Yes, Jason.”
“Change of subject, Sofia.”
“My pleasure,” she softly replied.
“She’s driving me crazy…maybe it was a bad idea, changing out the old operating system,”
Jason thought to himself as he listened to Benny Goodman’s, “Star Dust” play over the ship’s sound system.
“Sofia, please turn up the volume by ten percent.”
“Yes, Jason.”
“Also, I’m tired of looking at the empty wasteland…please display on the Observation Skin, Program Aquarium Life.”
“Would you like whale sounds included?”
“No thank you, leave the Jazz program on.”
Deep blue water, teaming with a plethora of sea life, slowly filled the large observation Skin. Sea turtles lingered about, schools of brightly colored fish darted sharply to avoid a dangerous Hammer Head shark. Silvery-scales of tuna glistened, and danced on the inside of the observation deck when they raced through the aquatic medium. He thought such aquariums might exist on Level Nine back in Polari but it was only a speculative notion in nature.
Jason stared peacefully at the incredible interior of the Chameleon, which now resembled the inside of an aquarium, and with sentimental tears, he thought to himself,
“What irony I live… I float across a dead sea floor, viewing an extinct sea world.”
And no matter how many times Jason must have watched the Aquarium Life Program, he was completely awe-inspired by the realism and beauty of the projected imagery.
While Jason Bjorn’s mind filled with many different thoughts, the hours passed as the Chameleon soared toward its final destination, Fissure Point. According to the Polaris Corporation, Fissure Point was merely just a dot on a map. Sanctioned by the Polaris Corporation, Fissure Point was colonized by a small contingent of people who survived the Corporation Wars. They were all of what was left of the Fissure Price Corporation, the second largest Corporation in the Galaxy. After the war, the Polaris Corporation proclaimed the title absolute, and deemed that only one sovereign people could hold the title. Henceforward, the Fissure Price Corporation became Fissure Point, a Polari outpost.
F
ISSURE
P
OINT
“Jason, ten minutes to access Fissure Point off site,” said Sofia in an informative tone.
“Thank you, Sofia.” He eagerly showed gratitude. However, he was ready to climb out of the Chameleon but fast.
The journey across the Texican Salt Flats and through the Mississippi Basin Pipe was without incident. Delivering the high value medical supplies was an essential run he routinely made every six-months. Only thing that was not routine about this run was Sofia. Beside the boredom and confinement aboard the ship for the last twenty-four hours, she drove him stir crazy. He craved drink more than he normally ever did, and he knew right where to get some: Dronski’s Café.
“Hail John Grier, Sofia.”
“The same John Grier you call every time you arrive at Fissure Point?”
“That’ll be him.”
“Be my pleasure, Jason.”
“Jason, you old dog… How’ve you been?” said the spry man who popped on to the display.
“Grier, I’ll be at Dronski’s tonight.”
“Fantastic! You can buy me a drink,” John Grier grinningly mouthed.
“Sure but I need a favor from you…souvenirs for my friend’s nephews. You think you can pick me up a couple?”
“Well, I don’t see why not… I hate to break their tiny little hearts.” Grier smiled into the camera.
“Would you throw in an extra for me…? You know how much I love them,” Jason asked while monitoring the ship’s speed as it decreased for Fissure Point exit.
“Yes, I know how crazy you get over those trinkets… Hey, are you gonna share one of the twins with me tonight?”
“See you later at Dronski’s, my friend.” Jason rolled his eyes after quickly ending the transmission with Grier.
“Jason, please buckle your harness for full deceleration,” Sofia motherly requested.
Jason fumbled with the spider harness before saying, “Give me a visual of the Pipe.”
The heads-up display blinked and the tunnel popped in view giving Jason nearly a one hundred and eighty-degree view as the Chameleon slowed to a near stop. Jason could not help but notice the scrolling communication along the entrance wall. “THANK YOU FOR USING THE FISSURE POINT PIPE… WE HOPE YOUR TRAVEL WAS SMOOTH AND ENJOYABLE… HAVE A NICE STAY, JASON BJORN…”
“Jason…”
“Here it comes…”
thought Jason before responding. “Yes, Sofia.”
“Are you going to share one of the twins with John Grier tonight?”
“No, I’m not going to share anything but laughter and drink with my old friend tonight.”
“Jason…”
“Yes, Sofia.”
“Does that mean you are going to sleep with both of them yourself?”
“Change of subject.”
“Yes, Jason,” Sofia softly replied.
“Sofia, drop me off at the Custom’s Control Agents Station…you’ll then deliver the payload, and wait for me at the docking door.”
“Yes, Jason.”
The ship hovered to a complete stop in front of the Machiavellian looking entrance and Jason gladly acknowledged Sofia by saying, “We made it…good job, Sofia. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“Jason, be careful of the Fissure Point’s underworld, they will rob you blind.”
“I’ll be very watchful, and thank you for the information…”
“Good God! Maybe I will have Sofia looked at when I get back… I didn’t ask for the Jealousy Program,”
Jason thought to himself after exiting the Chameleon.
D
RONSKI’S
C
a
f
é
Jason warily eyed a sketchy tattooed individual, who was weaving up against the wall outside Dronski’s and as he approached, the inebriated man seemed determine to get his attention when he earnestly spoke. “Psst, hey you… Psst! You, pssssst!”
“Don’t fucking Pssst me!” Jason hesitantly replied while trying to walk by the gritty looking man.
“I noticed your boots.”
“So, what about them?” Jason asked while he simultaneously thought,
“I can’t believe it I’m sucked into actually having a conversation with this street urchin.”
The stupefied drunk suddenly lunged out grabbing Jason violently by the shirt, before answering, “Listen… the wearer of those boots, walks a tight rope.”
Jason stepped back to the side, and watched the crazy man slip from his own drunken momentum. The tattooed man smacked hard, face down, on to the inflexible surface.
“Boy, that had to of hurt,”
he thought before mouthing, “Some people can’t handle their drink.” He then stepped over the now bleeding man and only felt pity for him.
On entering the dimly lit café, Jason noticed a fine layer of dust covering all surfaces. Discolored gray walls, concrete support beams, and a honeycombed shaped ceiling, rendered the structural design functional. However, the low hanging light fixtures, rusted metal tables and chairs, are what truly defined the patina of the space.
The walls and floor are all covered in a durable synthetic bioluminescent smart membrane called the Skin. Its micro sensory nodes can detect someone’s presence through biometric facial recognition and algorithmic wave points. The technology can identify, determine, and distinguish between each and every individual. Through this recognition technology, the Skin can determine what that individual would like to watch or not. Commercials, news and weather related reports, all dominate the visual spectrum; the membrane is also used for face-to-face communications, however people mostly prefer their personal communicator for privacy’s sake.
Based on hive technology, the Skin is considered the city’s lifeline. Albeit delivering mass media and general information to the populace, the interconnected membrane gathers information on the entire colony. Temperature, moisture content, energy, water usage, structural integrity, and security, are the hive technology’s less seedy directives.
Decades before, an upheaval occurred when hackers found evidence of Population Control Programs layered deep within the system. Fissure Point Council refuted all such claims and they squashed the popular uprising by locking down the area where the hack took place. Then the Secret Police moved in and people began to disappear, never to be seen or heard of again. After, the Council improved Systems Security and created a preventative response program; this was done by discontinuing all access to the portal area being attacked, and since the systems upgrade, not one rebellion has reoccurred, but to this day, there has been uneasiness between the residents, and the Fissure Point Council.
“Sorry about the mess… damn ventilation filters must be clogged at the source again… It usually takes a while for them to fix the problem”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way… it gives the old place character, Marge Dronski.”
“When are you going to marry my two daughters?” she asked Jason who now stood at the bar.
“As soon as I divorce your sister,” Jason joked before laughing aloud.
“Funny but she’s too old for you or is she? Let me ask you a question, Jason, how come you look as fine as you did, twenty years ago? How old are you?” Marge asked while pouring the weary traveler a drink.
“He’ll never tell you his real age…he’s a genetic freak,” John Grier facetiously spoke from a barstool.
“Keep on talking, loud mouth,” Jason inanely replied.
“While my looks fugaciously disappear, time seems to stand still for Jason,” John Grier jealously added.
“The devil’s dealings, it must’ve been a doozy of a bargain,” Marge bantered before pouring John Grier another drink.
“Why don’t you ever let me pay for my own drinks, Marge?” Jason asked trying to change the focus of the conversation.
“You’re family, that’s why.”
Jason almost regretted taking a pull from the metal pint. His social graces stood less of a chance when inebriated, and his ongoing affair with Marge’s daughters, put him in a conundrum.
“Here’s your souvenirs.” Grier shoved a small duffle bag into his midsection.
“Extra, like we discussed?” Jason questioned.
“Yes, and when are you going to reimburse me for said souvenirs?”
“After I get it on my end… Why do you pull this shit every time we do this?” Jason bitterly asked.
“Hey, when it comes to money…”
“Bullshit, Grier, you like to bust my balls, just to see my blood pressure elevate.”
“You know me too well.” Grier laughed.
“Look at what the cat dragged in!” A loud voice interrupted the two at the bar.
Jason turned around and landed into the embrace of a tall scruffy man. In turn, he welcomed the gesture, rousing an old friendship. They slapped each other’s back with rough bravado until a dust cloud began to gather. “Learner Rotterdam, I see you haven’t changed out of that filthy synthetic trench coat.” Jason spoke lightheartedly.
“We aren’t as lucky as you… And who said this was synthetic? Real leather, my friend.”
“Leather, this must be a rich Colonist standing here,” Grier snidely interjected.
“John Grier, haven’t seen you since I was sneaking out of your mother’s house with my pants around my knees”
“Fuck you, Learner!” Bar stools went flying when Grier jumped up to confront him.
“Not now, Grier!” Jason intervened.
“Let the piece-of-shit go…he’ll be eating his own teeth,” Learner replied with clenched fists.
“Settle down, you two… We don’t need the Secret Police in here,” Marge yelled across the bar top.
“Listen, this is business, and you’re about to destroy it over some bad blood,” said Jason holding on to the duffle.
“Don’t ever trust that fuck face, Jason. You know what he did at the battle of Titan. Learner, you know what you did!”
“That was nearly seventeen years ago…let it go, Grier,” Jason said while trying to defuse the hot-tempered man, and continued saying, “ Listen, do us both a favor, and leave… I’ll make it up on the next run.”
“Yeah, he’s not worth it…” John Grier turned, and walked out of Dronski’s Café without incident.
Learner begrudgingly spoke. “I haven’t seen John Grier in five years, and he’s still pissed about the War.”
“He gets that way when he drinks… We lost a lot of good men on the intelligence you were feeding us.”
“You don’t think I’ve lost sleep over the whole thing? It eats me up inside more than you could even imagine,” Learner said emotionally.
“I know, let’s forget all about the War, and talk about something new.”
“Fair enough,” Learner replied.
“What’s the Council charging for water now? Because, my friend, you need a bath.”
“Ha, you don’t even want to know… Look at you, clean as a whistle.” Learner smiled at the insult.
“Learner, Polari living has its benefits,” Jason said with a smirk.
“My two daughters say his Land-Ship is more luxurious than the finest of homes here in Fissure Point,” Marge added to the jovial conversation.
“It sure is, he even has a Gravitational Remediation Sleep Chamber,” said Marny as she entered the bar area from back.
“Hi, girls!” Jason said with some enthusiasm, and continued, “Brought you something real nice from Polari.”
“I’m sure you did,” flirted Lara, the other twin.
“Marny, I see you’re excited to see me.” Jason felt her nipples poke through her shirt as she hugged him.
“She’s not as happy as I am!” said Lara when squeezing between Marny and him before whispering into his ear, “I’ve been wet for days just thinking about your arrival.” She then groped his cock.
Jason hugged her back when he breathed into her ear, “You’re so insatiable, Lara.”
Lara pointed at Marny’s chest, and earnestly spoke. “Look at your erect nipples.”
Looking at Jason, Lara’s twin Marny nodded before saying, “I hope they’re not the only things erect tonight.”
She then slowly leaned and kissed Jason’s bottom lip before Learner interrupted. “Ladies sorry to ruin all the fun but please let me borrow Jason for a few minutes…”
“Jason, come sit with me…I have a proposal you’ll want to hear,” Learner said with confidence while pulling on Jason’s arm.
“Learner, I’m not sure about your proposal, I just arrived in the Colony.”
“Trust me, you won’t regret it.”
“I got a feeling I already do… Ladies, give me a few minutes to hear out my friend.”
“I’ll give him right back,” Learner placated while the two men walked away and grabbed a corner table.
Learner placed a smooth oval electronic device between the two, and clearly spoke. “Activate protocol, 21466.”
“IDENTIFY?” the device asked in a monotonous voice.
“Learner Rotterdam, Madnet 5150.”
“IDENTIFICATION ACCEPTED.”
A soft blue laser formed a spherical grid, encasing them in an electronic shield. The anti-eavesdropping device ensured the Membrane would be completely oblivious to their conversation.
“What’s up with all the secrecy?” Jason frowned.
Learner leaned forward, and whispered in a surreptitious tone, “I’m seeking a pilot to remit a load tonight, Jason.”
“Listen, Learner… I’m going to get tanked-up tonight.” Jason paused to guzzle from his cup, and before wiping his chin, he continued saying, “So goddamn blotto that those Dronski Twins will unexpectedly appear gorgeous.” Jason jerked his head toward the twins at the bar.”
Learner inspected the two carefully, and clamorously sighed. “My friend, you’ll destroy yourself trying to consume that much alcohol.”
“Let’s hope my liver can handle the pressure,” jested Jason, while judging the overly affable man with suspicion.
Learner laughed before swallowing a mouthful of his malt, and then he said, “The job pays double…look, it’s a three hour round trip through the Pipe. You’ll be back before dawn.”
“Wait, double…did you say double? How long have we known each other, Learner…?”
“Almost twenty-five years now but you’ve been running for me about twelve of them.”
“Yeah, and in all those years when I made a secret run for you, not once have you offered to pay double.”
“It’s all about supply and demand…and you, are in demand, Jason.”
“Oh seamen cakes, Learner! What kind of shit are you trying to sell me?”
“OK, it’s the customer…”
“Learner…who is the customer?”
“The Vril…they’re in desperate need of…elastic fuel cells.”
“No, sir! Not tonight! Not tomorrow! Or ever! Those crazy Occultists will have my balls for dinner. Anyhow, the Vril…they’re on my Nonentity List…you should know that.”
“OK, I’ll pay you…triple the rate…” Learner paused, and watched Jason’s eyebrow raise before continuing. “Aren’t you just a few payments from owning that little Villa in Polari? I know you need the credits.”
Learner was right about Jason, and he knew his weak spot, greed. Jason had made payments for decades on a small apartment in Polari’s level 4. Although, it was only on the 4th level, it was located in one of the nicer sectors. Jason’s DNA rating only allowed him to live or travel anywhere between Levels 1 and 5 in Polari. However, he could only afford to live a comfortable life style on Level 4.
The underground Mega City has a population of thirty-six million, and the majority of inhabitants live between Levels One and Four. The levels became less populated as they ascend. People living on Level Nine, live in a god-like state, a vacuum of pure opulence.
Jason leaned back and calculated how much more he could squeeze from the desperate man, and continued to bargain. “If the Corporation found out…I’ve been doing business with the Vril. I don’t know…I could end up in real hot water.”
“Listen, you don’t have to go to the Devonian Enclave. You don’t even have to go past Verve Fault Zone…I’ve got a contact who’ll transfer the cargo before you reach the boarder…”
“I can tell you’re excluding something here, Learner. What else aren’t you telling me…? Tell me more about the manifest.”
