Atlas of Arcadia Page 18

  “How are things, Victor? What an auspicious day.” Laki grinned.

  For once Victor wasn’t smiling. Throughout the facility, Victor’s soldiers had disarmed the paid Arcadian guards and sent them on their way. “I’m not very happy with our deal, Laki.”

  Laki looked nervous after riding so high moments before. “How can you not be happy with having everything you desire, Victor? How could that possibly be a bad deal?” He was being embarrassed in his moment of glory.

  “We don’t desire quite the same things and you will be in the way of what I really want to do. You wish to be loved, Laki, I know this; I wish to be feared.”

  Laki should have seen this coming, Victor had outlived his usefulness the moment they had seized the credits together, but he needed his soldiers in case things went wrong with the Arcadian poly contracts. Laki wanted to be the saviour: Victor the devil. There was no middle way. Laki looked to Junius but he had only a neutral expression.

  “Let’s settle this in champion’s warfare,” requested Laki. Both felt confident they could win and show off to their side. Victor grinned at the crowd who had gathered. His guards and Laki’s were evenly matched and would make a mess of the room even damaging the Atlas node. He nodded, their face shields went up and they went to war. Laki withdrew his laser knife and plunged towards Victor’s arm. Victor leapt over him with the enhanced power of the suit and took a backwards slashing motion but missed. The pair stalked around each other before Victor lunged towards Laki’s genitals. Laki struck down to block the blow and sliced up, damaging Victor’s face shield and deeply cutting his face. Victor grunted in rage and strutted around in a stiff posture for a few steps until the wound healed. Victor leapt forwards jabbing at where Laki’s eyes would be under the shield. Laki deflected the blow poorly and it cut off his right hand. He collapsed to his knees and deflected Victor’s blows until the stump was sealed by the suit. Laki rose slowly and advanced on Victor again, swinging wildly. Victor took several close strikes to the wrists before front flipping over Laki and slicing into both legs on landing. Laki collapsed to the floor on his front, immobilized.

  “We are not as young as we once were but you fought gracefully, dear leader,” cackled Victor. Victor attacked Laki with enthusiasm, eager to enjoy his power over him. Savagely he tortured him with deep cuts. Victor with lust in his eyes, took the laser knife with its almost invisible blue cutting point up and down Laki’s body. He cut off one arm then the other, and then one leg then the other. To Victor’s frustration, Laki’s screams were silenced as his suit administered painkillers. Victor left him prone on the floor, knowing the painkillers wouldn’t last forever. He rolled him over and looked back and forth lustfully between Laki’s crotch and his hate-filled eyes.

  “Your emperor has arrived,” Victor yelled towards the Arcadian guards. He showed them videos of all the captured Arcadian guards across the city. The majority quickly signed contracts with Victor but remained captive for now.

  “Ownership belongs to those with the sharpest steel and loyalist soldiers.” shouted Victor to the crowd. Laki’s Arcadian guards stood confused for a moment before allowing themselves to be removed from their suits and handcuffed. Victor’s eyes danced over to where Aiyan lay on the floor; his eye followed her exposed leg up to where the rest of her was hidden beneath the dress. Victor dismounted out of his suit and strode over. He grabbed at her breasts but she made no resistance, only bemused eye contact. Victor wanted something more challenging. He noticed the sobbing Abi by Atlas’s feet and made his way across the eerily silent room. All eyes watched as he grabbed at her T-shirt, pulling it away with force and aggression. Victor tore away her clothing and exposed himself. Abi recoiled in horror and lashed out in anguish. As Victor drew a clawed hand and began to press it into her right eye he heard a noise from the direction of the Node. The body of Atlas was making a deep disturbing gurgling sound. Victor ignored it for a moment but then knew he had to silence it. Abi pulled down her T-shirt and pulled herself across the room on the floor. Victor picked up Laki’s knife from the floor and approached Atlas, grasping at his face and stabbing into his chest. The sound stopped, and Victor grinned, but his grin ceased when Atlas opened his eyes.

  *

  Andy came to, sitting in a line alongside other men of the village who had put up a fight. They were pressed against Andy’s house in a very sorry state. Andy looked up to the young masked guard who was impatiently hopping around from foot to foot while yelling crude comments to his passing colleagues, escorting Tass residents towards the lake.

  “What are they going to do with us? Why are they here?” Veronica squeaked.

  Andy leaned forward to see her. She didn’t look as beaten up as the other men in the group. “Something’s happened with Atlas, he’s the only one in our group who has had any dealings with the civics or Arcadians. These are extremely well-armed men, more than your usual poly, I’m thinking Arcadian.”

  Veronica looked ahead. “I tried running out the back woods but one grabbed me. What has Atlas been doing?”

  One of the other men joined in. “Atlas is a nice guy but why has he drawn attention to us like this? What have we done, I just wanted to water the kitchen garden today and play with my kids, not deal with this shit.” The man glared angrily at the decking.

  “Barry it’s okay, the spirits are with us,” added a long-haired blonde man, known more for staring off into space than doing anything particularly helpful at the camp.

  “The spirits are certainly with you, Charlie. Potato vodka, right?” choked Barry in frustration.

  “We all follow our own paths, Barry.”

  “Everyone up and no trouble. Follow this guard to the trucks,” yelled the boyish soldier. Andy defeated, joined the line being escorted onto airless containers. Three hundred unarmed Tass residents were no match to the hundreds of Arcadian guards. Mao and Terry, ever inseparable, were now sent to be packed into different Lorries. Andy looked back to see Veronica being dragged into the house by the young guard followed by two other soldiers. Charlie also noticed this and acted by running full speed back into the house distracting the guards. Andy followed, chased by a swarm of irate Arcadian soldiers. A guard appeared out of nowhere in front of him as his camo clicked off. Andy dodged and rolled around him, certainly feeling his age; the adrenaline keeping him going. Andy burst through the front door into a side room which was the kitchen. A guard had left his gun on the kitchen side which Andy grabbed and shot into three shocked guards in the process of undressing. Veronica with an angry expression leapt up from a chair, moved to the middle of the room and jumped straight into an open suit. Andy switched gears, turned and jumped into a suit. He rapidly interfaced with the suit with ease, security once you were in the suit was non-existent, and normally in battle you shouldn’t be getting out of it. Often these war machines were privately owned by the guards themselves. Once they have taken a mortgage out to buy one they would be willing to take any job just to pay it off.

  “Animals,” hissed Veronica. Soldiers reached the door, looked in to assess the situation and concluded wordlessly the targets had fled through the back and kept running through the house. Andy gave a sharp laugh in surprise at the dim soldiers and stepped quickly out the front door with Veronica. They walked out slowly and suddenly had a bloodied Charlie thrust at them.

  “Take him to the line,” yelled the guard to Veronica. Veronica messaged Andy asking what they should do. Andy replied curtly to say they should steal the trucks, the idea came quickly to him. Veronica nodded and headed off in the direction of a truck. She jumped into the passenger seat. Another soldier climbed up to drive. “Afternoon, chip.” Veronica didn’t reply because she wasn’t certain how many females were in the group and if this fact would give her away. She began checking and reloading her weapon. “Not much of a talker then, fine by me,” said the soldier. Veronica messaged Andy to say she was in a truck. Andy replied the same. She looked across to the other truck cab and gave a nod to the s
uited figure in the passenger seat who nodded back.

  The convoy was soon moving, but after an hour the truck appeared to be on its own on the empty roads. “Are we going the right way?” asked the soldier driving nervously. Veronica took what he said as a test to see if she should even be there, no doubt the other soldiers were messaging each other to say they hadn’t been caught yet. The road was empty so Veronica made her move and carefully reached down to her laser knife. The driver caught the movement, slamming on the brakes. Veronica slashed into his neck. The driver sliced into her as well, causing her face shield to open. In his shock and between a gurgled gasp of, “No, wait.” Veronica took her chance and forced the knife in as deep as it would go. The driver’s face shield slid back too revealing a familiar bearded face. Veronica burst into tears. Her neck felt very hot and she didn’t notice she was bleeding.

  “It’s not your fault,” whispered Andy as he sunk beyond the logical realms into the deep dreams of infinity. Veronica in panic clawed at her wound, but her suit wasn’t operating properly to heal it. Her head was going light as she leaned across and pushed Andy out of the driver’s door and then fell on him. She dismounted out of her suit. Glancing down the road to see several Arcadian armoured buses converging on her position at speed. Quickly she connected to the other suit and asked it to release which it did due to the nature of its occupant. She hefted Andy out and climbed in herself, hoping the suit would close and stop her blood loss, losing consciousness as she did so. The last sounds she heard were vehicles stopping and men shouting angrily towards her.

  *

  Victor, after his moment of fright, laughed into the face. He took his gun and fired into the body until it became a bloodied mess and kept firing. Laughing loudly, he threw the gun down and looked back towards Laki. Abi was flushed with panic and shock, she pulled herself close to the wall. “Stop moving him Laki, Playing with dead bodies isn’t as fun as playing with living ones in my opinion.” He took a sharp glance towards Abi then approached Laki. “I won’t let you die too quickly Laki. First I’m going to dig out the network switch from your brain, then your cock is going to be stuffed in the hole, your balls…”

  Victor rolled Laki over to find him surprisingly unconscious. A shadow loomed over him and the room erupted in gunfire. A giant sphere of flesh was emerging from the needle. Several guards fired rockets at the sphere, opening large gashes in the steel, which leaked yet more flesh. The blob morphed roughly back into the shape of Atlas, tendrils crept across the room and ripped the guns from the shocked guards. Tentacles grasped at armoured guards, pulling them into the flesh, their suits opening against their will. Panic spread as the occupants in the room fled from the monstrosity. Aiyan tried to stand up but was soon caught up in the viscera, she made emotionless eye contact with bi as she disappeared beneath rolls of gore.

  Victor raced away from Atlas. He grabbed Abi and yanked her down the corridor backed up by guards.

  Christian hesitated and then ran to pick Junius up from the floor. As he reached him flesh poured over them. Victor looked back to see the node room door filled with the unnatural flesh as it chased them down the corridor. He reached the elevator and heard screaming for help inside. Within nearby labs separate fleshy lumps came to life and squelched towards the exits. He nodded to his guards and they dragged Abi down the stairs.

  In the parking area, Victor noticed his men being pulled out of their suits by a headless armoured assailant. “Get out of the suits,” yelled Victor who raced to release himself.

  “What are you on about?” asked the soldier. He had not noticed the scene behind them. His guard’s suit jerked and then opened at the neck. The arm of the suit came up and grabbed at his face pulling him forward. The suits had turned on their occupants; now controlled by the Atlas node. In a moment, the guard was outside the suit and thrown to the ground by it. Victor’s suit and the three other guards’ suits advanced on Victor and Abi. Victor grinned, he felt no fear only the joy of the challenge. He grabbed Abi and held his laser knife to her throat. The suits controlled by Atlas paused.

  “Atlas. You are not supposed to be alive. I’m impressed. Junius has been tinkering with your clockwork behind Laki’s back I think. Lucky I have Abi here, you better make sure I get home safe and sound or terrible things will occur to this beauty.” Victor licked her neck and then flinched with the knife again as a suit moved. “No, no, no. If you want her back you need to work with me on this. Like friends. Take me to the edge of Arcadia.” A car door popped open behind him and he slid in with his captive. Abi had come close to being kidnapped more than a few times in her short life but still the fear was not eased. Something spoke deep within her mind a whisper, she could almost hear it.

  *

  The fleshy matter returned into the needle, leaving his old body and a nerve stem trailing back to the node. Junius and Christian hadn’t been touched by the flesh. They stared at Atlas and cautiously approaching they took a few glances towards the headless suits entering the room escorting an assortment of different Arcadians.

  “So, you betrayed Laki, Junius?” asked Atlas, looking sad and exhausted. He glanced over to where Laki lay face up.

  “I was never on his side. I had my own goals. I worked on improving the quantum Nano architecture of the nodes many years ago now. We were getting bugs in the system and I discovered they were memories of real people. Investigating further I found they were using the brains of civilians to power the nodes more cheaply. I thought they grew the brain cells, it was kept secret. The memories were linking up and creating awareness in the machine. I solved the issue for them and made sure it could never be aware of what it is. But I learned about the real nature of producing things on a tight budget. I found out how they sourced the human brains, and I knew I had to stop it somehow.”

  “You wanted to stop the genocide?” Atlas glanced carefully to Junius.

  “Yes, Laki found me and brought me to his team. The fallen son of Arcadia out for revenge. His ambition is frightening. Arcadians are capable of anything, it is all part of the personality they are implanted with as children; the one you didn’t get.” The three looked to his drugged body on the floor. “He wants to rule the world like his father; it’s a trait which runs in the family I think. They rejected him from Arcadia for trying to alter the new node managers.

  “Interesting, he certainly wasn’t your usual Arcadian.”

  “What will you do now?” Christian asked Atlas.

  “I must use this gift as you intended, Junius. You wish me to use the global networks and the entire world supply of credits to fix this mess, something with rules and safety nets. I would rather be at home, but I guess I have little choice now.”

  “You are right, Atlas, I’m sorry you didn’t have a choice in becoming this; it should have been my burden to bear.”

  “No, we are all a part of this, by action or inaction we have made it what it is. Repairing what Henry has broken is something I have begun even now. I have sent a billion new contracts across the network to create law and order again: rules; paperwork; new jobs; democracy. However, something else occupies my mind, and it burns brightly. Victor has kidnapped Abi and they are leaving Arcadia even as we speak.”

  “Sort the bastard out,” demanded Christian.

  “I cannot yet see a safe way to do it.”

  Junius looked to the floor in contemplation of yet more collateral damage.

  “I didn’t hack the Pagida, I wanted more time to convince you to join us, I’m so sorry.”

  Atlas felt the touch of his fingers against his palms, but the feeling felt distant, from his point of view it felt as though a crowd of millions were watching through his eyes and every thought was shared. Every sensation amplified yet impossibly distant. The low murmur of a thousand voices.

  “Humanity is not ready for the Pagida, It’s a sacred technology and already soiled by mankind. It will be kept forever out of your reach.”

  *

  Abi was yanked from th
e vehicle by her captor. He had manually driven the car for many miles. Ascending back to the gilded garage, and the greenhouse. Through the greenhouse she could see the damaged mansion with her Pagida stuck awkwardly into its roof.

  They climbed the mansion, and from every corner a headless suit stared back.

  She was marched back into the bedroom and then the ship. Inside, they found a headless suit, working on the controls. He ordered it out.

  “My Nano is a special custom brand, Short range only. Since you’re the only networked person around you can have the pleasure of sending my message.”

  Victor connected to Abi’s Nano, and sent a file through her network connection, bouncing across the globe to its intended target. Victor stuck his blade into the space beneath his ear destroying any possibility of his Nano connecting.

  “Our friend on the inside really came through. He did a great job reprogramming the Pagida.”

  Abi resisted as Victor tore off her shirt to hold against his ear, receiving a sharp slap from him in the process.

  The doors closed and sealed as Victor walked her backwards, colliding with the pilot’s chair.

  The hacked Pagida sprang to life again. The Overheating plates magically repaired and prepared themselves to absorb untold energies.

  On the outside the BHE’s fired up causing the Pagida to sink into the mansion as though the mansion was made of water. The craft drifted lazily through the walls evaporating all in its path.

  The powerful engines spun to infinite revolutions and pumped pulsating exotic matters through wormholes of distant realities before disappearing in an infinitely expanding and contracting orb of blackness.