On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance (8 page)

Nero, annoyed at both the alien and himself for getting annoyed, turned around and left. “How dare it judge us,” he repeated, to Col and Hakai this time.

“It doesn’t know what it’s like on the streets. It’s probably been told that we have plenty of food and supplies, and we’re just a naturally violent people, or something,” Hakai replied.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I just find it annoying. Okay. Let’s try the next room.”

****

After no more than a couple of minutes of searching, Talyah’s voice came over their communicators, a slight note of relief entering her usually emotionless voice.

“I believe we’ve found the room, Nero,” she said.

“Great, we’re on our way,” Nero replied, speaking into his communicator, and already starting to run down the long corridor, abandoning the door they had just been about to break through. They had already spent far too much time looking; surely, more security forces couldn’t be far away now, even if they were being organised from other buildings. In truth, Nero was surprised they hadn’t encountered more resistance.

They ran back down the corridor, turned left, and passed door after door locked tight, each with a glowing red outline. Talyah, Jerad and one other were waiting outside a room some way down, next to a door that was currently open.

“Here, Nero,” Talyah said, indicating the open door. “Most of the rooms in this corridor appear to be simple storage rooms, but this one’s different.”

Looking into the room, Nero could see what Talyah meant. Instead of being full of shelves, or furniture, there was a large, reinforced metal cube taking up almost all the space in the room. It wasn’t possible to tell how thick the metal was, but it looked solid enough that it would quite easily withstand the fire from their laser rifles.

Nero pressed the communicate button on his sleeve. “Nate?”

“Yes boss?” The voice came over slightly tinny.

“We need the gel over here,” Nero said.

“Coming.”

When Nate and his two men arrived, he proceeded to remove the ‘gel’ from his pack, and squeezed a line of transparent orange liquid around the metal unit’s doorway. It looked easy, but the gel needed to be an almost uniform thickness for the process to work, so Nate put a lot more care and attention into the process than he might normally bother with.

As soon as he had finished applying the gel, he fetched a detonator out of his pack, and without hesitation pressed the button. Initially, nothing appeared to happen, but then the gel started glowing, giving off a faint orange light, at the same time as it gave off a pungent aroma. The liquid itself quickly disappeared, but in its place was left a fine hole around the door that continued to glow orange from within, as the gel carried on reacting with the metal, working its way through the thick door.

After surprisingly little time, the glowing subsided, and thankfully, so did the smell that went with it.

Nate stepped forward to grab the metal door’s handle. “The moment of truth, chaps,” he said, pulling the handle as he did so. With a slight screeching of metal scraping on metal, the heavy door slowly began to topple outwards. As if in slow motion, it accelerated towards the floor, culminating in a massive crash as the twenty centimetre thick door hit the ground, the reverberations making it feel like a small earthquake.

“Well, if there’s anyone around here, they know where we are now,” Jerad said as the echoes died away.

“We’ll just have to be quick then,” Nero said as he stepped into the darkened room-within-a-room. He turned on his jacket’s light strips once inside, and paused as he looked at the contents of the vast safe. There were boxes and boxes of augmentations stacked up on shelves, all sat there waiting to be plucked. He looked at the printed labels on a couple of the boxes, noting limb, vision, hearing, and cognitive augmentations. One box, with a red label on it, was marked as containing a ‘Prototype Stabilization Aug #008’.

“Look at this shit, guys!” Nate enthused, as the others followed Nero into the room. “We’re gonna be so rich! Three hookers tonight, I think.”

“Only three, Nate?” Hakai asked.

“Ha, good point Hakai. Four it is. And since I’m feeling generous, I’ll get one for you as well.”

“Well gosh, that’s so kind of you Nate. Always thinking about others.”

“I’m just that sort of guy,” Nate replied. He picked up one of the boxes, and opened it to look inside. There was a single black metal arm in the box, along with a load of connector electrodes.

“Not gonna offer me one too?” Jerad asked after a moment, putting on an affronted look.

“Nope,” Nate said, putting the box back down. “You’re not good looking enough, mate. Sorry.”

“Alright, boards out, I think,” Talyah suggested, digging into her own pack, not having time for the others’ games. They had each brought a portable hover-board with them, easily stored in their small packs, but which would unfold into a rigid surface large enough to stack a good number of boxes on top. For ease of transport, they had built-in repulsive technology, which meant the flat platforms hovered a few centimetres above the ground.

“Just take the most valuable augs, the high-end stuff,” Nero said, carefully placing the prototype aug on his sled, then taking a selection of other high-end augmentations. He found one particularly interesting arm replacement that apparently came with discrete, inbuilt weapons and hacking technology, for bypassing electronic security systems.

The others began choosing metal boxes from the shelving around the room. There were plenty of low-end augmentations around, stuff that only functioned as a simple arm or leg replacement, but in amongst these were more interesting ones. Some vastly increased the strength of whomever had them fitted, whilst others increased the speed at which someone could run, for example. There were also visual enhancements, which either replaced a person’s eyeballs, or covered them with a small display. These could then be fed information based on what the user was looking at, from a cognitive chip implanted in the brain.

“Hey, Col. I’ve found the perfect arm for you,” Nate said, picking up a box with ‘Basic Arm Aug H7 - Pink’ written on it.

“Pink?” Col asked. “Not really my colour. Maybe it would suit our boss a bit better...?”

Nero spared Col a glance, but didn’t bother replying. Col’s potential betrayal was still playing on his mind, and he was still thinking about how to reveal it. He and Tal had decided that he needed to be alone with Col, and confront him. If he truly had betrayed Nero to the Nostra, he’d probably try something, particularly if he felt Nero was vulnerable.

With all of their hover-boards fully loaded, the repulsive lift engines hummed deeply, countering the large weight placed on them. They had already been in the building far longer than Nero felt comfortable with, and he decided it was time to leave.

“I think we’ve got what we came for, guys. Time to head back to the ships,” he said. “Except you, Col. I need you to help with one last thing.”

“Do you need me to help, Nero?” Jerad asked.

“You could take our sleds for us,” Nero said. When Jerad nodded, Nero attached his and Col’s hover-boards to the back of Jerad’s, forming a small hovering train.

The rest of them left the room, with Talyah giving Nero a meaningful glance as she passed, as if to say ‘be careful’. Once they were gone, Nero turned to Col.

“This may not be the best place, Col, but I need to ask you something, alone, away from the others.”

“Oh?” Col replied, the vaguest hint of nervousness entering his voice.

“I think you know what it is, Col. I’ll be blunt. Are you working for the Nostra?” He watched Col closely, and though Col masked it well, Nero was sure he saw him flinch in a manner only the guilty can manage.

“I... of course not, Nero. I’d never...” Col managed, looking appropriately shocked. Whether that was because of the accusation, or because Nero knew, he couldn’t be sure.

“Save it, Col. I know you are. What I want to know is what you told them.”

“Nothing Nero, I haven’t---”

Nero cut him off before he could say any more. “I know you’ve been out to meet the Nostra. Those times when you’ve disappeared for periods...? I know where you went.” This wasn’t strictly true, but he was bluffing a bit. “You went to meet your contact in the Nostra. How much are they offering you? What do they want from me Col?”

He could see Col beginning to cave. His face had crumpled, as if he knew there was no point in denying it, and he was staring at the floor, at the walls, at anywhere except Nero.

“Why did you do this to me Col?” Nero continued. “How many years have I known you now? I’ve given you everything, food, shelter, a family. Was it power you wanted?” he asked, not expecting an answer. “You already had that. Was it me? Were you bored?” When Col didn’t say anything, Nero carried on. “No, I don’t want to know. I don’t care. You’re nothing to me now. Nothing. That’s why I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to let you go.”

Col looked up at that, suspicion entering his eyes, and anger replaced the sullenness that had previously been there.

“No Nero, I know you won’t let me go. Yes, I gave some information to the Nostra. They paid me a lot, it’s as simple as that, and I’m sorry I betrayed you. But I’m not going to let you do anything to me.”

Col started to raise his laser rifle, but Nero was too quick. He was one of the fastest fighters around, and with little effort he stepped forward and grabbed the rifle out of Col’s hand, then threw it across the room. It made a ringing sound as the metal gun hit the metal floor.

“You think you can beat me, Col?” Nero asked. Col tensed, his muscles bunching in an obvious tell that he was going to punch Nero with his right fist. Seeing that, Nero ducked as Col’s hand flew over his head, and as he was crouched down, threw a punch himself that connected hard with Col’s jaw. Col’s head snapped up, and he staggered backwards.

Nero stood still in front of him, waiting for Col to recover. “I wanted to wait until we were alone, Col. I wanted you to feel like you stood a chance, that you could fight me off. But you haven’t got a chance. I’m just better than you, I always have been.” Col, recovered from the first hit, approached again, waiting for Nero to make the first move this time. Only too happy to oblige him, Nero feinted left, then reversed and threw another powerful punch from the right, this time connecting with the side of Col’s head. He threw a couple of punches to Col’s torso, until Col collapsed over backwards, clutching his stomach.

Standing over him, Nero had had enough. It wasn’t as satisfying as he’d hoped. He just regretted being betrayed by someone who had been a friend for such a long time. “Get up Col. I said I wouldn’t kill you. But you are right, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to punish you.”

Picking up their two laser rifles, he aimed his at Col’s back once he was up, and ordered him to march out of the room, back down the corridor and down to the atrium.

“What the hell happened to you guys?” Nate asked as Nero and Col returned to the ships, staring at the bruises forming on Col’s face, and the weapon Nero was pointing at his back.

“I’ll tell you later,” Nero said, his tone brooking no arguments. For once, Nate didn’t say anything, and since the augs were all on board the ships already, they quickly left the Scraper.

****

“So what the hell happened?” Nate asked once they had landed in the cave, the short journey having felt like an age to all those on board.

“Col is what happened. He betrayed us, all of us.” Nero replied, looking at Col, who was sat on the ground in the middle of the main cave, bound and gagged and looking miserable. The rest of his men, both the ones that had come with him on the trip, and a few more besides, were stood around Col and Nero. “He sold us out to the Nostra.”

Nero had had men betray him before, and it was something to almost be expected. Especially considering the nature of the work they did, but he had thought Col was different. He’d looked on Col as a friend, a friend who had been there from near the start. Now, though...

“I can’t exactly let you go Col,” Nero said, “but I don’t want to just shoot you. It doesn’t seem... fitting. Besides, Tal didn’t like that idea very much.” He looked up at Talyah, who kept her gaze firmly fixed on Col.

“So, I’ve got something else in mind. Nate, pass me that glue gun, will you?” he said, referring to the small tool on a nearby table. Nate passed it to him, understanding entering his eye as he did so. Col started to struggle on the floor, making muffled noises behind the gag.

“Hold still, Col. It will just last longer if you try to prevent it.” Stepping into the middle of the cleared space around him, Nero paused to address the rest of his men. “Most of you know me to be reasonable, and that is what I try to be. However, I do not take betrayal well. I don’t ask much from you, but loyalty is something I require. We don’t obey the law out here - why should we, when those who create law know nothing of our situation - but we do have our own code. Col here,” Nero said, pausing to look down, “broke that code, and he betrayed the trust I put in him. This cannot go unpunished, and I hope this serves as a lesson to everyone.”

Col sat still on the ground, knowing what was coming next. He’d stopped struggling as Nero was talking, but when Nero reached for the glue gun, he resumed his frantic, pointless struggles. Holding his finger over the trigger of the glue gun, Nero pulled down the man’s gag, and slowly raised the gun up to the man’s lips. Nate grabbed Col’s head, and Nero depressed the trigger, the tip of the gun glowing a dull orange as it turned the powder inside into searing hot liquid glue. Almost instantly, it began to drip out of the nozzle, onto the floor.

“I take no pleasure in this, Col,” Nero said. Then he pressed the gun to Col’s mouth, squeezing the trigger again. The hot glue met the man’s skin, instantly turning it bright red and blistering it. Col screamed, but Nate grabbed his chin, holding his mouth shut. Nero continued applying the glue, until the liquid completely covered the man’s blistering mouth, sealing it shut. Drying almost immediately, Nero gestured to Nate to let go of the man, leaving him to collapse on the floor, his mouth permanently sealed shut.