[Splat]

Glad you like, Ark, and it's good to see you back

There are four more chapters of Part 6 (including this one) and they were... hard to write. I've done a lot of rewriting but they're still rather... lumpy
Maybe you'll know what that means. I think this is fairly ok, though a lot happens and it does feel a little rushed in one or two places. It is the last chapter of part 6 to cover any amount of time; the rest all take place within 18 hours. I'm working on them as I go, but... Well, I'll let you guys judge
EDIT: I've just rearranged a part of this chapter to try and remove the time-jumpiness, but I haven't read it to see how effective it is 'cus I'm lazy, so it's a bit hit-and-miss.

Time is running out; everything that's happened in the last 12 chapters are drawing together! Soon many of the mysteries will be revealed, and Anni's life will be forever changed!

On mit das show!

Chapter 42

Nick had come back to the boss’s office alone an hour later – he wasn’t quite sure where Math and Anni had run off to. Then he had told Arnie all he had found out about Stivik, and his theory that Stivik might be a Cartel inspector.

Arnie sat, considering it for a while, “I’m not the only glukkon with a no-beating policy,” He said at length.

“Yes sir,” Nick said patiently, “But you are the only glukkon who runs the Rupture Farms where Abe began his reign of terror; that sort of draws more attention to you.”

Arnie growled, “Odd, I can’t escape that little fact, can I?”

Nick didn’t answer.

“Well I can’t say I agree with you,” Arnie went on, “But I suppose it could be a possibility.”

“If it is true, sir, then what this guy’s seen is you holding a trial over a slig beating a mud – yes, I know that was just ‘cus I broke your rules, but I know he thought it looked dodgy – and Anni trying to sneak out of the factory. Oh, and the main grinders breaking down.” He suddenly realised that at least two of the three things on this list were his fault, and scratched his neck awkwardly.

“Well it might be a good idea to try and keep him busy, just in case. What do you say to having him help on the grinders every so often?”

Nick hated the idea, but if it kept the factory from being shut down… “If you think that’s a good idea, sir…”

“Well it won’t do for all the time, but every so often. Seven was saying that you wanted our new big-bro’s help from time to time.”

“More than that if possible,” He replied hopefully.

He left the office half an hour later after a long conversation about grinder repairs and suddenly wondered when things had stopped being about Stivik.

* * *

A week later, Kix was in the kitchen, doing the washing up, while Dean was cleaning. Kix looked somewhat distressed.

“She was crying again, today. Trying to hide it again, but she’s not much of a liar, is she?”

Dean shook his head and said nothing.

When Anni had ended her hostility with Nick, she had been buoyant, but her happiness had been short lived as Stivik had begun hunting her. Stivik was passionate in what Kix was sure was a very genuine hatred, so much stronger than the casual arrogance that had led Reg to abandoning Bud or attacking her. It was tearing the girl apart.

And then the vykker had arrived and a bad situation had turned worse; Kix had spoken to Dek, and he seemed unusually respectful for a vykker, actually quite concerned for his patients (he had wanted to check up on her after hearing she had been dealt first aid by a slig, even though it was a long time ago). But Anni acted as though he was the embodiment of evil; she was terrified of him and furious when she had to go near him.

“I don’t get it,” Kix said aloud, “What’s her problem with vykkers?”

Dean made a little non-committal noise.

“Oh,” Kix said, only half-trying to keep the disdain from her voice, “This is another of those things I’m not allowed to know.”

She looked over her shoulder at him and he was looking at her apologetically. She sighed and rolled her eyes, turning back to the sink.

“Look, Kix… It’s not easy to tell you this. I mean surely there are things about yourself that you don’t want everyone to know? Anni just…”

“I know,” She said bluntly. She knew she should be nicer about this, but she hated this feeling of exclusion. “But come on, what do I have to do to prove myself?” She said awkwardly.

“Maybe you should ask Anni.”

She made a dismissive noise in her throat. “Yeah, ‘cus that’ll make everything better when she’s this upset.”

Dean sighed, “Alright… Look, there’s a lot of it and it’s really complicated. But even when we got her, Anni hated vykkers. She wouldn’t go to medical check-ups, she wouldn’t do anything. Sometimes I think we might have been sent here to get her away from them.”

“But why? Surely she told you something about it?”

He nodded, but he didn’t want to give away too much, like he had with Nick. He wondered what he could tell her. “It started… She had a friend, who was hurt. This is the same as you and Reg, really. Her friend was hurt and they tried to help her, but-”

“Her? This friend was a girl, too? Why did they want all these female mudokons?”

Dean shrugged, looking the other way, “They’re cheap aren’t they? Anyway, they said they would help her friend, and… They did something to her and to Anni, and it really hurt Anni, and the other one died. That’s when it started I think, but there’s a lot of resentment. You know how vykkers can be; they don’t treat you like real people most of the time.”

Kix looked unhappy. “Well she can keep out of Dek’s way can’t she? I mean, there’s only one.”

Dean nodded, “I guess. Maybe once she gets over the shock, she’ll be ok again. If Stivik gets off of her back. Him being mean to her is encouraging Razor, too. Odd, I’m sick of sligs.”

* * *

Groll was some distance above the ground in a cherry picker that he was deciding could have been better set up. Stivik was below, looking uncertainly at the controls.

“Alright, that was…” He swallowed, “Very good.” He braced himself, “Take me left just a tiny bit, will you?”

Stivik very carefully prodded the controls and Groll jerked alarmingly. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Right, that’ll do. Just stay down there and keep an eye on things, will you?”

Stivik glanced to the other side of the room where Nick and Sev were bolting an enormous section of grinder rail into place; the mud, Floyd, was red faced, hauling with all his strength on a rope, evidently holding the section in place while they attached it.

“You sure you’re ok up there?”

“I’m fine,” Groll called back, already attaching new sections of pipe to replace the broken ones they had taken out while waiting for the parts to arrive. The wall was marked with tracks of spray-paint showing where the new pipes fitted.

Once Groll got used to the cherry picker rocking whenever he moved, he got on alright. Work progressed, Stivik moving the basket around whenever Groll needed it, slowly becoming used to the machine’s awful controls.

At length, Groll heard a call, “How’s it coming?”

He glanced down at Sev, who had left his work with Nick to check up on their progress. Sev was a fairly straight-forward slig who was as qualified a mechanic as Nick. “Nearly done,” Groll called, “Another half an hour.”

Sev nodded, “good job. We’re gonna see what we can do with the catwalk tomorrow when Boogie’s here.”

The middle floor catwalk was hanging wonkily above them, and they had all made a habit of not walking under it. So far none of them had gotten close enough to see how bad the damage was. Nick was hoping that they would be able to fix it back into place without having to replace any part of it.

“Nick’s definitely going then?” Stivik called up to him as he resumed work.

“Yeah, in another three weeks. Sev’ll take over at the grinders once he goes and I’m just hoping Arnie hires another mechanic before the grinders are finished, or I’m going to have all the rest of the factory’s repair work to catch up on on my own.”

“You found someone to pay you more than Arnie?” Stivik called over to Nick, who was clambering down from the grinder rail.

“Sort of. They’re paying me more ‘cus of Math, otherwise I would have been better staying here. I asked Arnie for a pay-rise, but…”

“Grinders breaking down, hiring a vykker and two extra sligs, repair costs,” Stivik listed.

“Yeah, all that. I wanna get as much of the grinders done before I go, though. Leave on a positive note, you know?”

* * *

Anni was walking with none of her usual boldness towards the ground floor station where she had been told by Seven to help unload a train. She was passing the main lifts when a slig came tearing round a corner towards her. She looked up, startled, but relaxed when she recognised the new slig, Arthur. Arthur was somewhat scatter-brained and probably as aggressive as a meep. “Hey,” He said as he saw her, “I’m supposed to be going to the slaughter room and I don’ have a clue where it is! Do you know?”

She smiled, amused, and nodded. Rupture Farms was only a small factory and she wondered how he would survive in a bigger place, “You know where the warehouse is? Well if you go in there, there’s a door to the left that takes you to the meat storage room, and the slaughter room is through there.”

“Thanks!” He said, looking relieved, turned to run past her and muttered an, “Oh, hi.”

She looked over her shoulder to see who he was speaking to and then leapt back glowering. Arthur paused, puzzled by her sudden movement, but she was looking with hate at Dek and Stivik, who had walked up behind her. She hated herself for not hearing them coming.

“Is there a problem?” Dek asked stiffly, returning her glare.

Stivik laughed, “Don’t mind her; she’s just a crazy mud.”

The words seemed to ring in her head and she clenched her jaw.

“Well,” Dek was saying sternly, “She ought to be taught some proper respect!”

Stivik grinned broadly and Arthur suddenly stepped in, “Come on, kid; you can show me the way.”

He grabbed her by the arm and steered her away from the pair. She heard Stivik laughing as she went, or was it just her imagination?

“Hey, are you alright?” Arthur was asking, shaking her gently by the shoulder.

She shuddered, feeling like she was waking from a dream, “Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s alright, but hey, careful next time. That vykker’s not all that bad, but you know what they can be like, right?” He smiled at her and hurried off. Looking unhappy, she walked slowly back towards the station.

* * *

Good progress was made on the grinders over the next few weeks, and when Nick returned to the bunks at the end of his last working day he was confident that Sev and the other could get finished within two weeks.

It was an odd experience for him, leaving the factory that he had called home for the last three years. Anni was at the station (again) when he left, though for once he didn’t chase her away. She was crying as she hugged Math goodbye while they waited for the train to arrive, and Nick had an odd feeling of unfinished business, like he had left so much work still to do. He thought of Stivik; Arnie hadn’t really taken his worries about Stivik seriously, but then maybe he was right not to. Stivik was just a thug, though rather cleverer than most thugs, admittedly.

To his surprise, Anni threw her arms around him before they left. He pushed her off but she was laughing through her tears, and Math was grinning cheekily. Nick glared at him. “Stay out of Stivik’s way, alright? And try and keep out of trouble.”

“I will,” Anni nodded tearfully and Nick had a last thought.

“Keep an eye on him, though. If he does anything strange, tell Arnie.” She nodded again.

“I’ll miss ya, Anni,” Math said firmly and gave her a hug. “Don’t worry about Dek, ok? Don’t let him bother you. You don’t have to worry about vykkers. Just be yourself, alright? And be happy!”

Nick wasn’t sure that ‘being herself’ was the best advice Anni could receive but she seemed glad to get it. He nudged Math forward and boarded the train behind him. “Good luck,” He said.

“Odd bless,” Math added and a moment later the door slid closed.

There were no windows on the train but Anni stayed on the station until it disappeared from sight. She walked to the cafeteria, needing the comfort of her friends.

* * *

Ten days had passed since Nick and Math left and Anni’s mood was at its lowest, no doubt pushed lower by Stivik’s bullying. Dean was at work in the kitchen that afternoon when Razor entered the cafeteria.

Razor stalked around before poking his head into the kitchen, “Where’s that little friend of yours?” He demanded.

Dean felt a slow, sinking feeling, but didn’t show it to the slig, “She’ll be working with Javi or Kix, won’t she?”

“She should be, mud!” Razor growled, “But she’s run off. You don’t know where she is?”

‘Damn it Anni, what trouble are you getting into now?’ “Haven’t seen her, sorry.”

Razor swore and stormed away.

“Hey,” Dean called, “You’re not allowed to hurt her, remember!”

Razor yelled some Sliggish curse back at him and left.

* * *

Stivik had once again been relegated to working the cherry picker controls and, as this involved a lot of standing around doing nothing, he was bored out of his mind. He was leant back against the wall, watching Floyd the mud hold the enormous grinder blade steady while Sev welded it together. Above Stivik, Groll was also welding, securing the catwalk in place. The grinders would take maybe five more days to finish, assuming nothing else went wrong with the blade (he grinned savagely at the memory of the last time, when they had picked it up to put it on the rail and it had fallen to bits).

“Move me over, Stivik!” Groll yelled from above and Stivik jumped out of his daydreaming and fiddled with the controls. He was only as bad at working this machine as everyone else was.

“Hey,” Came a call as he was sinking back into himself. Razor was walking into the room, “Any of you guys seen Anni? She’s run off from her post."

Stivik rolled his eyes as the two other sligs made various sounds of denial.

“What are you gonna do to her if you find her?” Groll called down.

“Oh,” Razor replied, “Just have a friendly chat. You sure you haven’t seen her round?”

“She’s not been here,” Sev called.

Razor shrugged and walked back to the door. As he was leaving, Stivik shouted, “Hey, Razor!”

Razor looked back at him.

“If you find her, give her a ‘friendly chat’ from me, too.”

Razor grinned at him and slipped away.

An hour later Boogie came to the grinders and took over from Stivik, who headed towards the cafeteria for a drink when he ran into Razor, who was looking troubled.

“What’s up?”

“Still looking for the brat.”

“You haven’t found her yet?!”

Razor glowered at him, “What do you think?”

Stivik rolled his eyes, “You’ve got your radio? Great, get me a brew and I’ll go up to the office and see if I can find her on the cameras.”

Razor grunted assent and headed to the cafeteria while Stivik rode a lift to the middle floor. Razor joined him in the security office ten minutes later, “You found her?”

“Not yet. Who’s the mud Arthur’s been showing around?”

Razor shrugged, “New one, replacing Nick’s pet? Hey, there she is!”

Stivik nodded, “That’s her at work a couple of hours ago. Five minutes from now she’s gone, so- Hey, there she goes!”

Flicking through cameras, they followed Anni’s progress from the production lines on the middle floor to the ground floor, and then down a passage behind the grinders. “That leads to the derelict part of the factory; there are no more cameras down there,” Stivik reported. “Let’s get down there.”

Razor hesitated, “Aren’t there supposed to be wild animals living down there?”

“You’ve got a gun, haven’t you?” Said Stivik, who was emptying the bullets out of his and pulling some tranquilisers out of his locker in the room.

“Does your gun load different kinds of ammo?”

“It’s a special one; some vykker hooked me up with the licensing. Come on.”

“Look Stivik, it’s near the end of the work shift. In half an hour it won’t matter.”

“What are you scared of?”

“I’m not scared!”

“Then come on! You want a chance to teach Anni a lesson, don’t you? No one will see anything we do down there.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The final 24 hours of Part 6 have begun.





On another note, I am actually quite worried about things now. I am still waiting for W@RF 10 to start and until it does and the story progresses, I can't really start writing anything more than the first chapter of Part 7. And then when W@RF 10 does start, I will still have to progress Anni's story in the RPG a way before I can start writing here.
I am really foreseeing a long hiatus for this story starting in three more weeks and so I'm apologising in advance. If you want to minimise the wait, PM Dripik and tell him to start W@RF 10! I really wanna get back to writing this story and I think writing my plot summary of the RPG will be so much harder for the second half. There are a lot less sligs hanging around for a decent amount of time for one thing.
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