Requiem (27 page)

'Seline, you'll
be coming with me,' said Sear. 'We'll be heading towards the market
area.'

Seline nodded,
not sure if that was good or bad news. 'Is it safe out there?' she
asked. 'I mean is it a good idea for me to be walking around out in
the open? Won't NeoCorp be here?'

'The
relationship between NeoCorp and the Ordonians is tenuous at best.
Our sources tell us there is no permanent NeoCorp presence within
the city. I'm not saying there is no danger but as long as we
maintain a low profile we should be fine.'

'What about
me?' asked Belameir.

'You'll be
going with Therin and Athene to help find some spare parts for the
ship.'

Belameir
frowned. 'I don't think I want to be left alone with the two human
eaters. They'll probably sell me into slavery or some kind of
underground sex circuit.'

'Something
tells me you wouldn't make a very good slave,' said Athene as she
shoved a small gun into the holster on her thigh.

Belameir stared
at the gun in its holster, enamoured by how discretely it hid
itself away on the inside of her thigh like some kind of secret
agent or detective in one of his novels. 'Do I get one of those
too?' he asked.

Athene looked
at Belameir then at the gun then at Therin. 'What do you think,
Therin?'

'Does he even
know how to fire one?'

'Of course I
do!' he scoffed. 'I've seen enough vids to know how they work.'

'And I've seen
enough vids of idiots shooting themselves in the balls because they
watched those same vids.' She looked him over from head to toe.
'You look like an archetypal ball shooter to me.' She wrapped the
rest of the small dress cloth around her waist until it covered the
gun in its holster.

'So that's a no
then?' said Belameir.

'What about
me?' asked Seline. 'Shouldn't I have a gun?'

'Have you even
fired a gun before?' Sear asked.

'Once...' said
Seline. 'Belameir bought me one as a present. I fired it at a
target on the wall... it ricocheted off something, I dunno, and
kind of hit his boyfriend's leg.'

'Ricochet?! It
didn't ricochet off anything,' said Belameir. You pretty much shot
him straight in the leg! You're the reason I can't find a
boyfriend, you know that?'

'You were gonna
dump him anyway.'

'Yeah, with
words, not a bullet.'

'It may as well
be the same thing with you.'

Belameir waved
Seline away and said to Sear, 'I'll forgo having a gun if it means
you don't give one to Seline.'

'Do you two
have
to argue about everything?' asked Athene.

'It's not an
argument if I win,' said Belameir. 'It's a lesson.'

Athene sighed
and the crew began to exit the ship. Belameir looked at Seline and
rolled his eyes.

'I'm sure
you'll be fine,' said Seline

'Thanks, that
didn't sound ominous at all.'

She shrugged.
'Break a leg?'

'Get your ass
moving, Belameir!' yelled Therin.

He followed
them out the ship. 'Well at least she's using my name now,' he
muttered.

Sear armed
himself and left the ship shortly after with Seline in tow. From
the landing platform they looked down upon the squalor of the
streets below. Jutting from the ceaseless motion of bodies and
frail supports of makeshift houses rose the remnants of Sceril
architecture. Large facades of metal arched across the shanty
village. A green moss clung to the metal, hanging down upon the
streets like ancient decorations. Seline walked with Sear to the
lift at the edge of the landing platform.

'What exactly
are we looking for here?' asked Seline as they descended to the
humid streets.

'We're looking
for an Ordonian named Gliphen.'

'Why?'

'It has
information.'

'Information on
what?'

'Just before
our scout ship went dark they reported seeing one of Gliphen's
freighters travelling back through an Atlas Gate.'

'Do you think
it's responsible?'

'I doubt it.
Gliphen is only a glorified smuggler for the Ordonian black market.
It wouldn't have the resources or the tech but if its ship was in
the same system as ours then it might be able to give us a clue as
to what happened to the scouts.'

Seline
struggled to keep up with Sear as he forced his way through the
crowded streets. The smell was strangely familiar. The stench of
homelessness and poverty had traversed the galaxy through culture
and species to track her down. She breathed it in and lowered her
head to hide her expression. The mud held onto her feet with each
step, sucking at the soles of her boots and curling over them in
thick brown waves.

She almost
walked into Sear's back before she realised that he had stopped in
front of her. He was speaking to an Ordonian, asking where
Gliphen's office might be. Seline looked around the stalls and
bodies that crowded around her. A group of Ordonians stood around a
metal dais. Heat was rising from hot coals that filled a basin
carved into its top. The three Ordonians each held one of their
hands against the coals, eyeing each other across the basin. Grim
and drooling. Seline could see one of the tendrils behind the back
of one them shaking violently. The drool was pouring from its
mouth, boiling and hissing as it fell on the burning coals. The
tendril swiped from side to side. It slapped down hard on the mud.
The Ordonian's legs buckled and it fell to the ground, gargling on
its own profusion of saliva, clutching at its burning hand while
the crowd cheered and screeched excitedly.

Sear pulled on
Seline's arm. She kept watching as the wailing Ordonian was dragged
away from the dais and left on the ground in the middle of the
street. Just as Seline turned away she heard one of the others fall
to the ground and the crowd cheering or booing, she wasn't sure.
She followed Sear and the shrieks and chattering sounds disappeared
into the din of the slums.

Sear approached
the base of the temple and started up the first of the concrete
steps. Seline stared up from the ground and counted the steps as
she followed Sear.

They were
almost at the top. Sear slowed down until he was walking right next
to Seline. She counted seventy-eight before Sear interrupted.

'Do not talk.
Do not make sudden movements. Whatever happens. It is under
control,' he told her.

Seline spoke
between heavy breaths. 'What exactly should I expect?'

'Threats,' said
Sear.

Seline said
nothing.

'Don't worry.
The threats are usually empty.'

Usually?

They finally
reached the massive wooden doors at the summit of the concrete
steps. Like the entrance to a cathedral or ancient temple the doors
arched high overhead, defending whatever lay beyond from the thrall
and indigent.

Seline turned
to see their ship docked on the platform rising above the crowded
streets. The huddled masses of bodies moved as one stained and
discoloured carpet over the floor of the city.

There was a
heavy groaning sound from the doors and they began to open. They
opened outwards, almost pushing Seline and Sear back down to the
muddy streets below.

'Enter,' said a
deep, faceless voice from inside the temple. 'Do not make me wait'
it said. The voice was an Ordonian's. Its words were thick and
drawled as if there were something stuck in the creature's
mouth.

Sear led the
way through the doors as they closed behind them. They passed
through the dank, imposing threshold. Thick concrete pillars lined
the entrance. Their feet squelched the moisture from the tattered
carpet that ran the length of that vast corridor. The cold chill
wrapped closer around Seline's skin. She held her arms across her
stomach as she walked.

Beads of water
collected on the surface of the stone pillars like sweat, as if the
entire temple had been submerged under water and only recently
floated its way to the surface.

They walked
into the final chamber. The stone walls made it seem larger than it
was. Upon entering, Sear said nothing. He approached the ornate
desk at the far wall and seated himself down in one of the empty
leather arm chairs placed before it. Seline took the seat next to
his.

Intricate
patterns were carved all along the desk's splitting face. At its
centre was an eagle; its wings splayed and clutching an olive
branch in its right talon and a collection of spears in its
left.

The Ordonian
remained huddled over the desk, scrawling symbols and figures on a
long sheet of paper. The silence was punctuated by the sound of the
pencil scratching at the course fibres of the page. Sear sat
motionless in the chair, staring straight at Gliphen. Seline looked
timidly around the clutter of the strange office. In the corner
behind the desk stood a tall marble statue of a man. The darkness
made it hard to tell but Seline guessed that he was naked. The man
appeared casual yet certain and triumphant of his own nudity. At
his feet was a stack of what looked like thin books but what Seline
knew were actually records. Elaborate rugs hung from walls and
covered the floor haphazardly. Seline wanted to look closer at the
patterns but was afraid to move.

Gliphen stopped
writing and looked down at its work, deciding in that moment that
what it had just written was something remarkable, something worthy
of adoration, something sublime to itself and all who would come to
look upon it. It rolled the paper on itself and shoved it into one
of the desk drawers.

It looked
directly at Seline. Its breathing heavy and irregular.

'What?' it
asked in its guttural, heaving voice.

All four of the
small, copper eyes rested on her, still and piercing. Even as Sear
spoke, they did not move.

'What do you
know of the Yurrick scout ship beyond the Tryil Gate?' asked
Sear.

'It is your
ship. You tell me what you know and we'll start from there.' It
scrawled another note on a shred of paper.

'It went silent
four days ago in the Obal System. It reported one of your
freighters in the same system less than three days prior.'

The Ordonian
still didn't look at Sear. Seline could feel herself shrinking back
beneath Gliphen's eyes.

'You hold me
responsible?' said Gliphen.

'No. But we
want to know what you know – if you know anything at all.'

It made a
sputtering noise from beneath the tiny, shuffling fingers that
formed its mouth. 'So, the Yurrick know nothing of what lies beyond
the Tryil Gate?'

'And you
d-'

It held up one
of its massive paws. 'I will have my moment, Sear.' Three of its
eyes closed. The remaining open eye stayed fixed on Seline. It
shuddered and laughed quietly to itself. It opened all its eyes and
placed its hands on the desk, flexing its thick, gnarled fingers.
'The information you seek is indeed in my possession.'

'You've
certainly become a better liar over the years, Gliphen, I'll give
you that.'

A fat drop of
spit fell from its mouth. 'You speak from the shadows of
ignorance.' Finally, it turned to Sear. 'I see now. You have come
here to beg and so you should. The information you seek is not what
you expect, I'm sure.'

'Still just as
arrogant though.'

Its thick,
black nails carved small channels into the wood of the desk as it
slowly clenched its hands into fists. 'I have the information you
need but you expect me to part with such a precious commodity free
of charge?'

'I expect an
exchange can be arranged.'

'Ahh,' it
groaned. It sat back in its throne. 'I see now why you brought the
girl.'

Sear looked at
Seline then at Gliphen. 'No,' he said.

'You are in no
position to make demands, boy.'

Sear reached
into his pocket. He pulled out a holographic vid player and placed
it on the desk. A small, blue tinted, hologram appeared. What was
shown was an Ordonian in a NeoCorp laboratory. A man – human –
stood next to the Ordonian and inserted a syringe into the grey,
fleshy skin of its neck. It writhed and squirmed on the flat metal
slab it had been tied to. Sear skipped the video forward. The same
room and evidently the same Ordonian. But it had tripled in size.
It could barely fit on the slab.

Leaning forward
in its chair with every ounce of its weight, Gliphen pushed its
hands against the edge of the desk. The desk and chair creaked
violently beneath its weight as it got to its feet. Like some
passing celestial body it eclipsed the glare of the lights that
hung low from the ceiling behind.

'You are a
product of NeoCorp, Gliphen,' said Sear, still seated. 'It was all
you could do to ascend the Ordonian Hierarchy. Without the serums
they injected into you, you would have remained in your appointed
station, working aboard those vessels you now command.'

'So, Sear. You
enter
my
city and piss your arrogance at my front door as if
I were one in the same as the scum and dregs that litter those
streets?'

Sear removed
the vid player from the table and placed it back in his pocket.
'Scum or not they will still have your head if this is made public.
Give us the information we require and this information will remain
out of the hands of your followers.'

'And you speak
to me of arrogance,' muttered Gliphen.

'I speak
without pretension when I say that this is only one of the many
data cables we have that concern you and those you deal with.'

'Even the
youngest of the Ordonian know; blackmail is the tool of the
pitiful, of the weak, of those without honour.'

'It is
unfortunate but it is the best tool for the job.'

'It is the only
tool the Yurrick are capable of wielding, it seems.' It stared the
length of the catacomb hall then looked down at Seline. 'There is
another way this can end, Yurrick.'