Chapter 4: Crystal Suite

I came to my senses and realized even before I opened my eyes I was naked and my hands had been tied behind my back. I opened my eyes and looked into the face of a blue-skinned Thauran teen with coppery metallic hair. “Hey Exa, your rich benefactor is awake.”

Then he turned back to me. “Now listen carefully, Rich Citizen Kid. We’re the Port Roaches, the most bad ass gang on all of Twilight and I’m the Roach King. You caused one of my roaches to be arrested. I don’t like that.

“You interfere with my business and I like that even less.

“Now little useless Exa here, tells me you like little girls and pay for food and you got money. You can improve your situation by letting me see how much money you got on your credit chip and then I want you to transfer every micro-cent into my credit strip. If you do that I let you live, release you, naked but alive, up in the port and you can go back to whatever dirt ball you came from, poorer but alive.”

“I don’t believe you. You can’t let me go after I handed you my money. Union Police will tear this moon apart if they hear of a kidnapping. I’m sure you know what the penalty is for everyone involved. It isn’t dust camp.”

There were four others similarly dressed and dirty as the Roach King and Exa, who was the smallest and most fragile looking of them all.

One of them said, “He’s right, King. This ain’t stealing anymore. We’re in deep trouble; they’ll hang us for this.”

Another squeaked, “I’ve seen a public hanging and I sure don’t want to go like that. It was horrible, the guy was charged with murder and he kicked his feet for almost five minutes before he died. Roach King, let’s cut our losses and let the guy go.”

“You all shut up. We did the deed and now we’re reaping the spoils. I’m in charge here. This guy is rich. That’s our ticket out of here. We’ll all have money and eat and sleep in real beds.”

The tallest of the bunch crossed him. “You’re in charge because you drew the black rock out of the bag. We can call for a new draw anytime.”

The others yelled, “We have a right to vote on that.”

I stoked the fire. “I sent a distress call with my PDD just before that lying brat sent me dreaming. I’m sure if Port Security can’t find me they’ll call in the Union Police or even the Marines and Fleet Security. Taking a Fleet member hostage is about the worst thing you could’ve done.”

Exa almost cried as she said, “He did tell me he was on his way to Arsenal. That’s Fleet HQ.”

Another boy said, “Messing with the Fleet, King, are you crazy? I’m outta here. They’ll bring in the PSI Corps to find him and anyone responsible for his death. There’s no place we can hide from them.”

The tall one hissed, “I quit. I’m goin’ to the Filth Flies. They may not have as nice a cave as we do but they stick to stealing.”

The Roach King screamed in a fit, “Alright, let’s discuss this but not in front of the rich boy. I’ll kill him myself so no one’s gonna be hanged other than me, if it ever comes to that.” He herded them out and closed the rusty door.

Now I had time to check my surroundings. I was in a small utility room. There were big pipes and hand wheels on one side.

The walls were carved out of natural rock and I assumed this was some sort of maintenance chamber for the water supply system. Across from my current position, on the other side of the room, was a railing about hip high and a sign attached to it that read ‘Fresh water holding tank 12. Pre-treatment.’

I could see the wave-like reflection of water on the rock ceiling.

The door creaked open again and the Roach King came back. “You will tell me the access code to your PDD and transfer the money.”

“No.”

“You still think you have a choice, rich kid.”

Two of his friends came in. “What’re we gonna do?”

“We toss that piece of shit in the water like we did with Serg and make him talk. They all talk after that.”

They dragged me to my feet and over to the railing. Now I could see a big, deep water tank fed by a pipe at on one end and a grating covered drain at its bottom about ten meters below the surface.

The Roach King came close to my ear. “You see that rich boy? That’s real cold river water and it’s deep.”

I had to bite my lips to make myself sound terrified. “I can’t swim.”

“Swimming isn’t gonna be your problem, shit. Getting air to breath, however, is.”

Someone kicked me in the knee pits and I dropped rather painfully with my naked knees on the steel grating and two of them pushed me head first over the rim of the tank into the water, holding my legs. After only a minute or so they pulled me back up. “The PDD code, now.”

I knew I was acting real badly and as if I was out of breath and terrified. “No.”

They dunked me again, for not much longer then the first time.

One of them whispered, “We’re not really gonna kill him are we?”

The Roach King sneered, “Shut up, you pansy.”

Then he leaned forward. “The next time I dunk you it’ll be much longer. Maybe twice as long as before. The access code, now.”

I shook my head. “No. If I do you’ll kill me.”

“I’ll do it if you don’t.”

He dunked me again. I kicked them harder this time and I slipped out of their grip. I expelled all the air from my lungs, kicked a little for show and then let myself float. I couldn’t help but grin to myself.

But then, it was my own stupidity that brought me into this situation in the first place and that was no reason to smile.

I kept playing dead. I heard one of them say, “If his body clogs the intake and the engineers come down and find him they’re gonna investigate.”

After about ten or fifteen minutes, they used a pole to reach me and fished me out.

“We gotta throw him in the river and hopefully the river will drag him halfway around the terminator before they find him. Now get his clothing and the PDD, so if he did make that call they’ll think he fell in the water or something,” the King ordered.

The Roach King laughed drily. “The word will spread that I’m not afraid of killing. At least something good came out of it. Don’t forget to cut his ties. If they suspect a murder they’ll investigate even harder.”

I risked a peek as the King came back with my things and the PPD. The other cut my bonds. The King said, “Go dress him.”

One of them said, “I’m not touching a dead naked body, eeew.”

“You do or you going to be the next naked dead body.”

The Roach King laughed again and went out the door.

The one left behind cursed and turned me on my back. I kicked him as hard as I could directly under the chin, his head flung back and he actually lifted off the ground and smashed backwards into the metal armatures behind him. He slipped to the floor leaving a bloody smear on the pipes and didn’t move.

I dressed as fast as I could and then took the knife and my PDD. I wanted to activate the PDD but someone had pried off the energy pack, probably to sell it. I opened the steel door a crack and peeked through.

There was a dimly lit corridor with two big pipes in the middle running in both directions. I could see someone’s feet behind the two pipes on the other side and risked opening the door a little wider. The corridor had also been carved into natural rock. The corridor and pipes seemed to go on forever in one direction, but ended at an elevator door in the other, only about fifty meters or so away.

Now all I had to do was sneak up to that elevator door and disappear, then take the next possible space bus and leave Twilight as far behind as I possibly could. That was the sensible, logical and right thing to do. That wasn’t me however; I couldn’t let this attempted murder on me go unpunished. I wanted to explain to that Roach King that I didn’t enjoy his kind of hospitality and had a strong urge to repay him with a typical Nilfeheim answer to such things. Calling it an urge was way more civilized than I felt.

This overwhelmed my better judgment and I was sure my aunt Freydis was right and following the heart was sometimes better than following the mind. I was equally sure it wasn’t my heart I was following. Of course, that was a pile of nubhir poop. Following my instincts rather than what I should have done was the reason I was down here in the first place.

I wondered how many million passengers passed through Twilight every day and the worst thing that ever happened to them was maybe an overpriced meal or a stolen shopping bag, but I had to slide headlong into trouble on the very first stop on my journey. I wondered what would have happened if I had stopped at Holstein? Or if I’d ever make it to Arsenal.

I sneaked out, the soles of the marvelous all-terrains adjusted from metal floor to rock floor and I was able to walk silently. I climbed a short ladder and pressed myself as flat as I could against the incredibly dirty top of the metal pipeline. Then I inched myself forward. I could smell the metal paint and the smell reminded me of the old steel rafters of Hasvik. There on the other side of the pipeline was a crack in the tunnel wall, about 40 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters high. Very likely the entrance to the nest of the Roaches, as Exa had described it to me.

One of the older boys stood right next to it. I recognized him being the other guy I had first seen up in the spaceport lobby after I had grabbed Exa. Some sort of homemade gun leaned against the wall, next to him. I figured he was supposed to be a guard or lookout, but he was a bad one. He played with some sort of hand-held game that made cartoonish noises. A good guard would be right here on top of the pipes, able to see in both directions on both sides of the pipes, without exposing himself.

Obviously, neither strategy nor tactical planning went into choosing guards or guard positioning. I got into a crouching position and jumped. I landed right on top of that useless guard and slammed the guy hard to the ground. He groaned and I got my knee deep into his stomach pit. He made no other sound as he went limp. I looked left and right but there was no one else around. I dragged him under the pipes and stuffed him as far as possible into the crevice between the lower pipe and the rock floor and then checked his weapon.

It was some sort of pipe with a plastic stock. A cylindrical pressure canister attached to the top appeared to contain a pressurized gas intended to drive a piston to expel a ten centimeter-long steel spike. It was a one shot deal and I had no idea how accurate or how strong it would be. Peeking inside the crack I saw a natural cave of about twenty meters circumference. I could see three Roaches and the King. He was sitting on an elevated office swivel chair. The cave was lit by two light elements roughly wired into the lights of the corridor outside.

One of the Roach boys shoved Exa towards the King and I heard him say, “It was all your fault that things went bad. It was you who couldn’t run fast enough and got yourself caught by that rich boy. And thanks to that drowned friend of yours, my best man Benjamin will be sent to the dust mines. I got five Roaches left. The others left to go to the Flies and all because you couldn’t do even a little thing right and use the lights-out stinger before he had a chance to use his PDD.”

She cried, “Please don’t make me do it again.”

“Oh but you will. My blue pecker needs cleaning. It’ll teach you a valuable lesson to obey and do what I tell you to do.”

One of the bastards forced her on her knees and the Roach King dropped his pants. I fired the crude weapon and the bolt nailed him through the left shoulder into the back of his chair.

As fast as I could I squeezed myself through the crack, rushed up and used the empty weapon like a club. I hammered it across the head of the tallest, then I buried the dull end with all my force into the stomach pit of the other. I kicked and hit them till none of them moved.

I looked around but didn’t see anyone else. I readied for a swing and said, “Your reign ends today Roach King. I’m going to take your filthy head off.”

Then I heard someone say, “Stop it right there Citizen.” Bright light filled the cave and the edges of the crack in the wall began to glow white hot. A heartbeat later four armored policemen with blasters stomped in and crowded the small cave.

“Citizen, drop that air gun and let me scan your CITI.”

I complied.

The tall Roach I’d seen when I first regained consciousness, appeared behind the cops. “I told you they abducted a Citizen. Do I get my reward now?”

“Run fast and disappear before we decide to arrest you after all. That should do for a reward.”

The policeman in front of me wore a bulky Ultronit segmented armor with ‘POLICE’ stenciled across his chest. Two bright lights mounted to each side of his helmet made my eyes water and I could barely see anything.

“You are Eric Olafson of Nilfeheim?”

“Yes Officer.”

“Please tell us exactly what happened. Be as specific as possible.”

So I told him pretty much everything that had happened since I landed.

One of his colleagues looked at a hand-held device

“The Polyanalyzer gives his story a 99.21 percent truth level. Cyber Legal shows all green. Citizen has clearly acted in self-defense and self-preservation. No laws have been violated by the Citizen.”

I said angrily, “What I said was all true not just ninety nine percent.”

He turned off the glaring lights and said, “Mr. Olafson, we would have accepted seventy five percent. This machine can never give one hundred percent due to sampling errors, adjustments and calibration issues. I’ve never seen anything close to your results. I’d buy Big Ball from you and think it was a good deal. So I assure you we aren’t questioning one word you said.”

His partner scratched his chin. “You sure cleaned house down here. Three dead, two seriously injured and that after being almost drowned to death.”

“Three?”

“The guy in the fresh water tank access room suffered a basilar skull fracture. The one you stuffed under the water pipeline has a crushed rib cage, and this guy right here blunt trauma to the temple, that cut his lights for good. The other is about to take the final trip and the Roach King is bleeding a good deal.”

I wasn’t proud of my sad record. “What do I have to next?”

“Whatever you like. You are free to go.”

“What will happen to them?”

“The ones alive are old enough and will be charged with kidnapping and attempted murder. I doubt the judge or the jury will take long to come to a verdict. We’ve got three eyewitness accounts, Polyverification and physical evidence. I figure they’ll be hanged in a week or so. The girl, well, according to my Bio scanner she’s twelve years old and a minor, but there’s no family or verifiable place of origin. She’ll go back to Mother Moore and then be on her way to Slammer Moon. She’ll be a real good citizen by the time she’s eighteen.”

Exa stared at the floor with a hollow expression on her small face.

“Officer is there any way to prevent that? I mean her going to Slammer Moon?”

He tapped his PDD. “Well, she’s a non-Cit and technically, if she paid her fines for her long string of theft charges, Legal Central could agree to a good will bond. Meaning she can turn herself in. But who would want to pay the 600 credits for something as worthless as her?”

“She’s a sentient being and she should be priceless instead of worthless just for that reason. I guess the shiny and good Union has a dark and dirty underside after all.”

“Nothing’s perfect Citizen, besides we have places and institutions to deal with such beings, like Mother Moore and the Social Bureau.”

“I’ll pay her fines.”

He shrugged. “It’s your money, Citizen, but she’ll be out in the Port Concourse tomorrow, stealing and begging as soon as you’re gone. She never keeps to her bail conditions.”

“Not if I can help it, Officer.”

I paid her fines and Legal Central verified that she was free to go, but had to report to Mother Moore’s within 48 hours.

I put my hand on Exa’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go girl.”

On our way to the elevator she said, “You’re not angry with me? Do you want to kill me now that you bought me?”

I replied, “The idea crossed my mind when you sent me to dream land, but you’re a child and you did what others told you to do. I didn’t buy you either.”

“Do you want me to clean your pecker?”

I shivered in disgust. “Of course not Exa, and I’m promising you we will find a way so you never have to do that again.”

A policeman stood by the elevator. “Press nine to get to Sub-Level Nine, sir. From there you can find an intra-port transport to get you all the way up.”

“Thank you, Officer.”

“Great work, sir. Word will spread like wildfire and keep the rats in line for a while. Teaches them to mess with a Viking pirate.”

“They still call us pirates, after all this time?”

He shrugged. “I guess it was the only thing your planet really did to stand out for a while. Don’t worry Citizen, a little bad-ass rep goes a long way these days.”

I sighed and shrugged and pushed Exa into the Elevator.

Then I said to her, “We still have a deal, right? You’ll show me around and be my tour guide and in return I’ll pay you to take a bath and then we’ll find you something better to wear as well.”

She looked up at me. “I’ll keep my side of the bargain this time, I promise.”

“Good enough for me.”

“How did you survive the drowning?” she asked.

I replied, “It’s hard to drown someone who can breathe water.”

“Like a fish?”

“Well I was told more like a sea turtle, but basically yes.”

The Vertigo Bridge was an amazing sight. About fifty meters wide, about twenty high and, according to Exa, exactly 1600 meters long. Except for the metal framework and slideways on each side, the bridge was completely transparent. Rain pelted the roof. I could see the city on the other side.

Children were lying on the floor pretending to fly. Locals walked or used the slideways without hesitation. Some tourists clearly stood out as they hesitated to take the first step. There was laughter and shrieks.

Exa walked a few steps out and said, “3000 meters below us is Twilight River. The river carved this canyon out of hard granite rock. The river, fed by the perpetual rain, and the canyon are almost 6000 kilometers long, making it one of the longest rivers on any known planet in the Union. It has the longest stretch of white water turbulence and there are 321 waterfalls of which the Skull Mist Veil, seventy kilometers up river from here, is the widest and the Giant Shower, 200 klicks downriver, the highest, with a 1400 meter drop. Twilight River is visited by over 6 million white water sports enthusiasts a year and we have thousands of river-water, sports-related clubs, associations and equipment manufacturers.

“The river ends in the Foggy Flats, and from there the water evaporates and ends up as rain again.” The steep rock walls glistened wet. Dense green forests lined both sides; the river itself appeared like a small band of green snaking in a crackly line as far as I could see in both directions.

She turned. “Are you coming or are you afraid? We could use one of the cable cars or the Swing Tram ride. Or, if you don’t like heights at all we can also use the new Trans-Planet Mag-Tube.”

“No, I’m not afraid. This is the first time I’m actually seeing another world and I was taking in the sights.”

I followed her and now I could see a big A-frame steel construct in the distance, connecting the two sides, and dozens of capsules attached to the apex of the A-frame with thin cables swinging back and forth.

She said, “That’s the Swing Tram. It belongs to the amusement park and connects both sides of the park; there are no absorbers or anything. You feel the full effect of the swing and, along with the bridge, it’s the most popular attraction.”

“You really know your stuff and you sound like a real tour guide.”

She smiled proudly. “Sometimes I get lucky and visitors look past the dirt, and then they hire me as a tour guide and I can earn some credits in tips.”

She pointed through the floor. “The river below teems with fish. None of them are native as there’s no local animal life but they were brought in from other planets. Do you want to go fishing? It’s also popular.”

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