"Fragments..." by Rettick

[Danny]

[this is my new fic. there has been no planning for this, i thought of it today. it has nothing to do with "Undercover Operations", and the overall tone should be darker.

i have no idea how long it'll take, or even if it will be finished.]

INTRODUCTION

I feel that you should know some things. About me, I mean. I can’t bring myself to say them, so I’m writing this. It’s cowardly, I know, but I don’t want to see your faces.

I make no apologies. Understand that. I mean, you wouldn’t think I was. You know me as someone who never apologizes. “No Regrets, No Worries,” I always say. I wasn’t always like that, though. People who knew me then would hardly recognize me now. I used to be so timid. ‘Sorry’ was the word I used the most. Even more that ‘Sir’…

But anyway, I digress. I make no apologies. I am not proud of what I have done, but in most cases there was no alternative that I could see. Most of what I have done was simply to survive. That isn’t bad, is it?

I know this may hurt you, but believe me when I say that it is hurting me more.

[Sl'askia]

hmmm interesting... would like to see how this will turn out.

[Danny]

[okay, this is twisted. if you want me to stop, just say. i'm sorry it's so long, i couldn't stop.]

CHAPTER 1

Looking back now, Zell wasn’t such a bad master. Indeed, the time I spent with him was happier than any time before that. He wasn’t a cruel master. Maybe it was because he was a Vykker. They don’t seem quite as hard-pushing as Glukkons. The fact that he was a medical doctor rather than a businessman or a scientist may have had something to do with it as well. That day, in particular, he had been especially nice to me. He’d allowed me to eat with him – a rare privilege - and had not spoken a single harsh word to me all day.

That in mind, I’m not sure what it was that drove me to kill him. I have put it down to boredom in the past. That sounds callous, but I think my mind couldn’t accept that I was almost happy, so it had to create some kind of problems for me.

Then again, maybe it was madness.

There. I’ve said it. I’ve never been able to admit that, even to myself, but seeing it written down, on paper, it is so obvious. Temporary insanity.

I read the headlines the next day. I can’t remember exactly where I was. Hiding somewhere. From the police. From myself. They said ‘A New Revolutionary’ and ‘A New Abe’. I never intended it to be like that. Revolution was the last thing on my mind. I’ve been called a Failed Revolutionary many times, as well as a Thief and a Mass-murderer. I wouldn’t use any of these terms to describe myself, but they’re all apt in their own way.

Of all the things I have done, it is the murder of Zell that causes me the most pain. I think it’s because all of my other wrongdoings have at least been justifiable, if only to myself. But Zell’s death was pointless and inexplicable. He was the closest to a friend that I had ever had. I’d come to associate his – at first – harsh, grating voice with safety and security. It is fair to say I loved the old Vykker. But when I saw my face in the mirror, after watching his life ebb away, I barely recognised myself. I had never had the urge to kill before, even though I had had masters far worse than him in the past.

I’m getting ahead of myself now. After Zell went to bed, I tidied up. I always did. Zell never told me to, but it made him happy, so I did it. After that I went to bed. I slept well, and dreamt that I had wings. I took off into the sky, over the buildings. I looked down on even the highest ranking businessmen, and everyone looked up at me, and envied me. At least, I assumed they were envying me. I’d never experienced it in real life. Then I saw a huge mirror in the sky. It was one of Zell’s mirrors; Zell liked mirrors. He had them on every wall. At first I didn’t understand why, because Zell, despite his kindness, was ugly even for a Vykker. I asked him about it the day before… it happened… and he said he liked to look into mirrors, because they reflected his true self. Whenever he doubted himself or his actions, he said, he would look into a mirror, and understand. He would know exactly what he should do.

Anyway, I saw my true self in that mirror in the sky. I attempted to reach myself in the mirror, because I could see my true self, and I felt like a distorted reflection of myself. Before I could reach it, though, the mirror shattered, and I couldn’t get to him. I could still see him in the fragments, but we could never meet. I felt incomplete; my true self was on the other side, out of reach.

Then I awoke. My first thought was to wonder what had awoken me, and I thought maybe an intruder was in the house. I rose, and padded to my master’s room, to check that he was okay. As I walked, a strange sense of clarity came into my head. Zell had to die. It was so obvious. It was so obvious it didn’t need an explanation, so I didn’t give any. My footsteps became tiptoes.

I reached Zell’s room, and opened the door slowly. Zell was fast asleep. I crept up to him, but realised I had no weapon. Cursing silently, I began to wonder how I was going to do it. I pondered for almost half an hour, before I decided to strangle him. I crept up beside the bed, hands flexing. Unfortunately, I trod on something, and Zell stirred.

“Ulven…? Is that you?”

Seeing my opportunity disappearing, I leapt on him, my hands around his fat neck. Here I discovered that I had miscalculated, if you could call that cold decision calculation. Zell’s neck was far thicker than I had anticipated, and Zell himself was far stronger. He threw me over his shoulder, springing to his feet.

“What are you doing, Ulven? Why aren’t you asleep? Have you had a bad dream?”

Not deigning to speak, I threw myself at him. Blocking my blow, he threw me to the wall, shattering one of his many mirrors. He tried to speak again, but was interrupted by my fist flying at his face. Throwing me to the ground, he frowned.

“I don’t want to have to use the restrainer. I haven’t had to for years.”

I lay there, and my gaze fell upon one of the many fragments of mirror that littered the floor. Seizing it, I rolled over and threw it at his face. It caught him in the eye, and he screamed. His usually calm voice rent the air. Incensed, I snatched up more fragments, and stuck them into him, wherever my hands fell. My hands were covered in blood, his and mine, mixing from the cuts on my hands and his body. When there were no more large fragments on the floor, I began pulling them from his torso and sticking them back in. He was no longer screaming. He was dead, his life ebbing away.

I came to my senses, lying across Zell’s body. I became frantic.

“Master,” I cried, “Master? I’m sorry! I’ll make it better.” I wasn’t going to be able to, because he was dead, but I tried nonetheless. I began pulling the glass shards from his body, and throwing them away, but this just made the blood flow faster. Despairing, I sat on his chair, curled up, and wept. And wept.

When I lifted my head again, I tried to avoid the sight of the corpse, but wherever my glance fell, the mirrors reflected the hideous sight. And after I smashed them all, the empty frames still seemed to show the same spectacle, so I turned them to the wall. When I glanced down, the fragments on the floor all reflected my deed back at me.

When the police investigators came the next day, they immediately assumed it was me. What they couldn’t explain was why the floor was covered in fragments of mirror, all turned upside down to face the blood-soaked floor...

[ May 07, 2001: Message edited by: Rettick ]

[Teal]

Eep, you're right, it is creepy. Don't stop, though! I'm intrigued...

[ May 07, 2001: Message edited by: Teal ]

[Silversnow]

Cool!! It is, what can i say, so creepy that it is fun. No harm meant, but it is!

[Danny]

fun? FUN? grrrr..... [thanks for the encouragement, y'all!]

CHAPTER 2

I can’t remember exactly where I went after I killed him. I was in a daze, and couldn’t think clearly. I wandered the streets of Cyrcit, not caring where I was or where I was going. I don’t think I was actually going anywhere in particular, just generally trying to escape from whatever I had become that night. No one paid much attention to me. They just assumed I was another Mudokon Drifter. They never suspected I was a murderer.

I wasn’t very worried about the police. I had worked for Zell when he had been a forensics scientist, and so I knew from past experience that there would be no investigation. The police in Cyrcit weren’t much bothered with justice. As far as they were concerned, all that mattered was deterrent. They would probably assume it was me, and then go out and grab the nearest drifter to stand in for me at my Execution. As far as the public were concerned, justice had been served. Zell didn’t have many friends, and no relatives that I was aware of, and so there was no one to pay for a proper investigation. It is so often that way; only the Rich get Justice. I wasn’t thinking about any of this at the time, of course. I was just concerned with not being the one the police chose as the culprit.

I remember waking from this daze under a pile of rags that I’d somehow acquired. I didn’t know where I was, but it was warm, and I felt relatively safe. I looked around. It was very early in the morning; it was not yet light. The street I was lain beside was dark and empty, except for the people I could only describe as my fellow drifters. Most of them were either asleep or on guard. I watched them for a while, fascinated. I’ve always had an innate curiosity; it is both a blessing and a curse. I had always looked down on the drifters; I believed them to be dirty and uncivilised. Now, however, I saw that they were surprisingly organised. They seemed to be grouped into alliances of three. One slept, while another stood guard and a third went off scavenging. Every few hours they would swap over. I don’t know how long I watched them for, but it must have been a long time, for I saw several shift changes around me. Looking back, I’m surprised that they didn’t interact with me at all, especially as I was staring at them so much. I suppose they just assumed I was another madman, escaped from somewhere or other.

The first interaction I made was when the mud guarding the group opposite me changed shift, and was replaced by someone else. This mud was younger, larger, and more aggressive. I was oblivious, and continued to stare. The mud noticed me staring, and stared back. I had no trouble staring him out, as I was barely aware that he was looking back at me. He seemed a little unnerved by me, and so approached me.

“What are you starin’ at?”

I looked up at him. “Nothing. Just watching.”

“Well, don’t. We don’t like bein’ watched.” He was about to turn back to his pile, but noticed that I was still staring. “I said don’t stare!” That was louder, and more aggressive than before, drawing the attention of several people nearby, including the sleeping mud he was meant to be guarding. When I continued to look at him, he snarled, and pulled me to standing by my neck.

“Are you makin’ trouble?”

“Oh, leave him! Some of us need some sleep. He was watching us, too. He’s just some harmless nutter, ignore him.”

The tall mud half-turned back to his bunk-mate, who had spoken, then reluctantly returned me to my rags.

“I dunno how he got that pile. Some good blankets there.”

“Just shut up and let me sleep.”

The mud sat back down, looking me and my rags over and muttering: “He has to sleep sometime…”

I didn’t notice the threat, but I looked away anyway. Eventually, through tiredness or boredom, I fell asleep.

[ June 03, 2001: Message edited by: Rettick ]

[Danny]

aww, c'mon guys! do i not deserve replies?

must have lost some of this, too...

here's two chapters, but mo more until i get replies!

CHAPTER 3

I was woken some time later by a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey… Wake up!”

I sat up, to see the mud that had been asleep leaning over me. An unfamiliar mud lay in the rags, watching me.

“What…?”

“Have some food. You must be hungry; you haven’t eaten since you came here, two days ago.”

I looked at the bowl before me. It was unclear what it was. It was mostly brown, with lumps of black and green in it. It had no smell. I looked up at the mud standing over me.

The mud lying in the rags laughed. “He’s mad, Vint. He doesn’t understand a word you’re saying! He doesn’t even know he has to eat!”

“Shut up!” The one referred to as Vint turned back to me. “Ignore him. Eat.”

I stared into the bowl for a few seconds more, and then picked something amorphous out of the bowl. I realised I was indeed hungry, and crammed it into my mouth, greedily. As I reached into the bowl for more, Vint turned to his companion and smiled.

“You see?”

The other mudokon didn’t seem impressed. “So he can eat. Great. Another mouth to feed!”

Vint turned back to me. “Ignore Yan, he’s a bit of a cynic. Don’t worry, he’s secretly as nice a guy as anyone.”

“Ooh, glad I have your approval.”

There was a silence. I decided to try and speak, but my mouth was dry. “Who… Where… Where’s the other?”

Vint looked confused for just a brief second. “You mean Ulp? It’s his shift hunting for food.” He must have seen something in my expression that I hadn’t intended to show, because he put on a concerned expression. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Ulp’ll grumble, but he won’t slit your throat or anything.”

I wanted to know why they were helping me, but at that moment, as I crammed the tasteless food into my mouth, it just didn’t seem important.

CHAPTER 4

I spent a couple of weeks with Vint and the others. As a group of four, our shifts were slightly different to everyone else’s. At any one time, one of us was asleep, one on guard, and two searching for food. This system worked quite well, and we had quite a bit more food than some of the other groups [although still less than I had been used to, even as a slave]. As a result of this, we often had to defend our footstock from other drifters. Ulp apparently sulked for about a day when he discovered that Vint and Yan wanted to let me stay, but eventually he grudgingly conceded that they were better off with more members.

It was Ulp that I was usually drawn to search with, for food. I think this may have been Vint trying to bring us closer. It sort of worked, I developed a respect for his skill, and he agreed to teach me some of the best places to find food. Most of them were obvious, like domestic bins and out behind fast-food joints. However, on my own I would never have thought of going to the duk ponds to steal their bread. It even surprised me that there were any duk ponds, as Cyrcit was mainly a Glukkon city: most of the buildings were industrial, and the housing was very functional [on the outside, that is; I know from experience that no expense is spared on interior decoration among Cyrcit’s Upper Classes]. I became quite adept at finding food, and usually had no trouble sleeping, especially after the semiconscious wanderings of the previous few days.

Except for one night, near the end of my second week. I was meant to be sleeping, while Yan kept watch, but for some reason I was unable to drift off. I found myself thinking, which was something I’d tried to avoid. I began wondering why I’d killed Zell, in the end. I had thought this several times previously, but I had always suppressed it. This time I let the thought grow, to see if I could come to a conclusion. I thought about the situation of that night, and I remembered my dream. I tried to run through my thought processes. But, just like every time, before or since, I was unable to come to a conclusion. I returned to reality, to find Yan looking at me.

“Can’t sleep?”

I shook my head, and he came to sit beside me.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of time to sleep. It’s not like there’s much to do when we’re awake. We all have sleepless nights, just don’t worry about it.”

We sat together in silence for a while, thinking our own thoughts. After a few minutes, Yan turned to me again.

“What happened?”

I looked at him, uncomprehendingly. “What?”

“Most of the ones who arrive in a daze, like you, have had some kind of trauma.”

I wondered if I should lie, but I couldn’t be bothered to think of anything. “I killed him.”

Yan didn’t seem to be as bothered as I thought he would be. “Your Master?”

I nodded. “Zell.”

That surprised him a little. “That Doctor? That was all over the news. It was pretty gruesome. That was you?”

I nodded.

“Fair play to you, then! Did you not hear about the execution?” I shook my head. “They got some poor drifter to use as a scapegoat. It was a big event. Maybe you were asleep, I can’t remember.”

My mouth was dry. “Zell deserved a proper investigation.”

Yan looked at me as if I was mad. Which I quite possibly was. “What are you on about?”

“I liked him.”

He looked at me in disbelief. “You liked him? But you were his slave!”

“He wasn’t so bad. I’ve had worse.”

“Why did you kill him, then?”

I didn’t reply, but I sat, staring into space. Suddenly, something became clear to me. I can’t remember what it was, but I had a kind of revelation. I stood up, fast.

“I have to get out of here.”

Yan, surprised by my sudden rising, was slightly worried. “Out of Cyrcit? Why?”

“I just… I need to go.”

“You shouldn’t leave us like this. We’re a team!”

I turned and looked down at him. “We should all go.”

“What, me and Vint and Ulp? Why? We’re fine here.”

My voice got louder. “You’re not happy, are you? Are you happy with this life? Find food, eat, sleep… Is that all you want?”

Yan looked around. I was attracting a lot of attention, which is something you don’t do in those alleys if you want to survive. “Keep your voice down!”

“How long until the others get back?”

Yan looked at the sky. “About twenty minutes.”

“We leave then.”

“Hey, we can’t just go!”

“Why not?” I crouched beside him. “I need to go. I can’t stay here any more; everything reminds me of what I’ve done. You have nothing here; what do you have to lose by coming with me? Do you have any friends except for Vint and Ulp?”

“Well, no…”

“Well then, let’s go.”

“Where?”

I hadn’t thought about that. “The Docks. We could stow away on a ship or something.”

Yan laughed. “You think that hasn’t been tried before? Loads of people have tried to get away on the ships, and only about one in twenty make it even out of the Dock.”

“Well, we will. I know it somehow.”

Yan said nothing for a while. I got tired of waiting for a reply from him, so I lay down beside him and closed my eyes.

[Sl'askia]

hey! dont stop! more more more!

[Danny]

ah, go on then! just one small one...

CHAPTER 5

I awoke to a sharp poke in the side.

“Hey, get up!”

I opened my eyes to see Vint standing over me. He had a small rucksack on his back, as did Yan and Ulp, who stood behind him. Vint was holding a fourth – no, fifth; Ulp had two – out to me. I sat up.

“What…?”

“We’re off! Aren’t you coming?”

“Off? Where?”

“The Docks.”

Yan stepped forward. “Don’t you remember?”

I stood, unsteadily. Vint held out his arm, and I grasped it to steady myself. “I do remember. But you didn’t want to go.”

“Well, now we do.” Vint handed my rucksack to me, and helped me to get it on my back. “A Cargo ship leaves in forty minutes, and it’s a twenty minute journey to the docks, so we’d better hurry.”

I wanted to say more, but they were already turning to walk away, so I fell into step with them.

The mind works in Odd ways. When I have security, I crave excitement, and when I have excitement, I crave security. This may be the reason why Zell died. It was just my subconscious craving for excitement, finding a way to express itself. The craving for security isn’t exactly unpleasant, but comes to me as an adrenaline rush. This was what I was feeling as we walked away from what had been my home for two weeks, and their home for a lot longer. I felt exhilarated, but anxious at the same time. Now that we were actually leaving, it no longer seemed like such a good idea. But it was something.

[Teal]

Ooh, exciting! Where are they going, I wonder...? *sits cross-legged and waits in anticipation*

[Danny]

wow. i now have no less than FIFTEEN more chapters of this written!! who said that first person was harder to write?

CHAPTER 6

When people tell stories about Abe, they always seem to gloss over the killing bits. He just possesses a slig, and then blows it up. It’s easy. It’s the work of a few seconds. There’s no consequences, no pleas for mercy. It’s all very simple. I don’t know how true the stories are. Sometimes I think that the special powers were just exaggerated rumours, to make the stories more exciting. I think that maybe he kills them in the normal way, by shooting them with stolen guns or something. It’s a very unromantic view to take, but it seems more realistic. At least, that’s what I used to think. I know better now, of course, but back then I was a total cynic.

The incident happened about halfway through the journey. It had been quite easy so far. All the Glukkons and Sligs ignored us, seeing that we were just another bunch of drifters. Our group had swollen to about fifteen, as other groups had joined us, realising that they had nothing to lose by leaving Cyrcit. But even this large group hardly drew any attention. After all, drifters move around all the time. That’s just what we were.

But then we caught sight of another mudokon. Not a drifter, we’d seen hundreds of those, but a slave. He was being escorted somewhere by three sligs. I guessed that he had done something bad, because the leading pair of sligs kept hitting him with their rifles as they walked along, and laughing. There hadn’t been much conversation between us up to this point, but all conversation ceased when we saw the four figures approaching us. We stood aside and watched. As we watched, the mudokon slipped in the mud, and fell onto his face. The two leading sligs laughed at him, and knocked him back down when he tried to rise. One slig then proceeded to wack him repeatedly in the head with its rifle, while another laughed, and the third hung back silently.

They had passed us by this point, and I was able to creep up behind them without difficulty. I grabbed the rifle from the first slig (the slig who was beating the mudokon), and hit the third slig (the quiet one) with the barrel, knocking it out. I immediately turned the barrel onto the second slig (the one that had been laughing) and raked it with bullets. The first slig had recovered from the attack by now, and leapt onto my back. I spun around, dropping the rifle, and wrestled it off my back. I held it in front of me, twisting its head around on its shoulders.

In a way, killing Zell had been easy, as he had fought back. That way, he presented a threat to me, so it was self-defence, my twisted mind reasoned. But this slig was in no position to fight back, as I had it in a headlock. I could have killed it in a second, and resistance would have been useless.

“Please don’t kill me!”

Zell hadn’t said anything like that. Zell hadn’t believed that I was either capable or willing to kill him, and so had defended himself quite effectively, until I had a weapon. This slig, however, had just seen me kill two of its companions, and could see that I was both willing and able to kill it. Faced with this plea for mercy, I was suddenly unsure of myself.

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“I was only following orders!”

I wasn’t quite sure what to do now. “What… What orders were these?”

“The mud was caught trying to escape. We were told to take him to the Detention Centre for punishment.”

I was suddenly angered by the coldness of that statement. I twisted the slig’s neck almost to breaking point. “And did those orders include beating him for falling over before you even reached the Detention Centre?”

“Ow! Not… Not in those exact words, no!”

I allowed the cold anger, the Madness, to take over. I watched as my hands broke the slig’s neck, and watched them let the body slip to the ground. I took control once more, and crouched beside the mudokon who’d been beaten. He was curled up in a foetal position on the ground. I stretched out my hand to his shoulder. He tensed, then relaxed.

“Hey!” I said softly, “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

I helped him to sit up, but he collapsed into my arms, tears streaming down his face, which he buried in my shoulder. I wondered what those sligs had done to him before we saw them. A hand touched my shoulder, and I looked up. Vint stood over me.

“We’re not safe here, especially with those bodies lying around. We should move on. I’ll help with him.”

We each took one of the mud’s arms over our shoulders, and helped him to his feet. He supported almost none of his own weight, but the two of us could hold him up. Looking around, I saw Yan crouched beside the body of one of the sligs. It was the quiet one, the one I’d hit with the rifle.

“This one’s still alive.”

Vint looked at me. “What should we do with it?”

The other drifters had left at some point, for some reason. Probably when the fight started. There was just the five of us now. Ulp approached Vint and me. “We can’t leave it, it might tell the guards something about us. Give descriptions, and stuff.”

Yan stood up and faced Ulp. “What would you suggest then? That we kill it, in cold blood?”

Ulp said nothing, but looked at me. I could tell what he was thinking: I’d already done it once…

Yan continued. “This one didn’t seem cruel like the others. It was just standing here and watching.”

“They’re all as bad as each other.” Ulp scowled.

“Let’s take it with us.” The words came out of my mouth, and I suppose it was something I might have said if I was thinking clearer, but I never thought it until I said it.

Vint looked surprised, but Yan nodded. “I’ve known sligs who weren’t that bad. This could be one of them. If not, we can always kill it later. If it does join us, it could be of use.”

Vint spoke up. “Whatever, but we should get moving.”

Ulp strode over to the fallen slig. “We should tie it up. We can’t afford to take risks.” He took a length of rope from his pack, which I hadn’t known was there.

Yan picked up the two rifles, and put them in his pack. “You’re carrying him, then.”

Ulp smiled. “Gladly.” He hoisted the slig roughly onto his back, tied it there, and we set off again.

[Melvin:squeeking paramite]

Since your so obsessed with replies here it goes....
OH RETTICK!ITS ONE OF THE BEST FICS EVR WRITTEN!IT RATES UP THERE WITH WAR AND PEACE,EDGAR ALLAN POE,CRIME AND PUNISHMENT,MOBY DICK, AND SO ON!ONE OF THE CREEPIEST AND MOST SUSPENCEFULL THINGS I'VE READ!GO ON!SO WELL WRITTEN AND MOLDED!

by the way,im not kidding....

[Silversnow]

Yeah, um, what Melvin said!

[Danny]

wow. never anticipated that. this only started out as a half-thought-out idea one [slightly drunken] sunday afternoon. i never expected to be compared to Eddie A. Po and the rest. that's slightly weird...

ah well, on i go! 25 chapters and counting! for those who like gruesome stuff, you should look forward to chapter 17 - it's almost as bad as chapter 1 was.

CHAPTER 7

It was that time of day when it is dark, but not dark enough to switch on the streetlights. I don’t suppose you’d understand, but in the cities we have streetlights, which come on when it is dark. There’s a period of twilight, however, after the sun goes down, before the lights come up, when the landscape becomes quite dark, lit only by the lights of the buildings. You’d love it, some of you. I hope one day I can take you to see the city, but it just isn’t possible now. Not for a while.

The Dockland area is a very open area, with not many buildings. For this reason, it was especially dark, and we found it difficult to see where we were going. In a way, it was fortunate, as it was easier to move under the cover of darkness. Despite my cynical nature, I was able to find the advantage of any situation.

The slig had come round. Its name, it said, was Rixx. Ulp had taken it off his shoulders, and untied its legs so it could walk. Despite the protestations of Yan (and Rixx, of course), Ulp refused to untie its hands, so it fell over a lot.

The ship we were heading for, Vint said, was berthed at Dock 8. We found a floodlit signpost by the side of the road, and discovered that Dock 8 was at the other side of the Docklands. We only had about twenty minutes until the ship left port, and the ship would probably be sealed off long before then, so we hurried our step. The change of pace must have awakened our new arrival, because his eyes opened and he began moaning.

Vint looked at me. “He’s coming round.”

I caught the mudokon’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

He attempted to stand straight, and there was a glint of terror in his eyes. “Where-”

“You’re among friends, now, we’re taking you somewhere safe.”

He looked around, manically. “Master! Must return! Punishment-”

“It’s okay, your master isn’t going to get you here. There’re no masters here.”

His body relaxed slightly, but his eyes lost none of their terror. We managed to get him moving again. In an attempt at small talk, Vint asked: “What’s your name?”

The stranger looked at him, unfocused. From his confused expression, we weren’t expecting an answer.

“Quiss.”

Vint looked at me, then back at him. “That’s your name? Quiss?”

Quiss nodded, and we continued in silence for a while. Yan, Ulp, and Rixx had gotten quite far ahead, so we hurried up, to catch up with them. Quiss almost fell asleep again, but kept his feet moving unconsciously, out of habit.

Yan dropped back a little to help. “Is he okay?”

I nodded. “He’s terrified that his master is going to come and find him.”

“Who is his master?”

I realised that I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to wake Quiss unnecessarily, so I called over the slig.

“Hey, Rixx!”

Rixx dropped back to us, followed by Ulp, who was clearly not about to give Rixx a chance to escape. “What?”

“Who was Quiss’s master?”

It looked at me. “Why do you want to know?” The suspicious nature of the sligs was showing through.

“Just so I know he isn’t about to find us and get Quiss back.”

It looked at me again, considering. “A Colonel at the Barracks. Not very high-ranking.”

“A Slig?”

It shook its head. “A Glukk. They never let Sligs achieve high ranks.”

“So not a very powerful Glukkon, then?”

“Not really, no. He doesn’t have many slaves. We were about a quarter of them.”

I was surprised. “You and the other sligs were slaves? Not guards?”

“Well, Crik and Wot were guards, but I was as much a slave as Quiss was.”

“And he entrusted you to escort Quiss to the Detention Centre?”

It shook its head. “No. They were entrusted to escort us. Crik and Wot were his most trusted guards. He treated them well, and they were loyal. I had disobeyed him, just as Quiss had. We were both being sent for punishment. You mistook me for a guard?”

I didn’t realise it was asking a question at first. “Well, we assumed. They weren’t beating you.”

It curled its tentacles into an expression I didn’t recognise. I realised later, living with you, that it was an expression of repressed anger. “Even sligs like Crik have standards. They know that you don’t beat other sligs, even if they have disobeyed their masters. They knew I’d get enough punishment in the Detention Centre. But they weren’t the nicest of guys, and took every opportunity they could to beat up muds.”

There was an embarrassed silence. At least, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed at thinking that Rixx was a guard. “Ulp?”

“Yeah?”

“Untie those ropes.”

Ulp frowned. “The slig’ll escape.”

“Weren’t you listening? He wasn’t even a guard! He was a fucking slave!”

“Sligs would say anything to save their own lives. It’s not exactly going to admit being a sadistic mud-beating bastard to us, is it?”

I never noticed at the time, but I’d started referring to Rixx as ‘he’, rather than ‘it’. I suppose it was because I thought of him as a person now, rather than some savage animal. “I believe what he says. It rings true.”

I handed Quiss’s arm to Yan, and made to untie the ropes myself.

“If you touch those ropes, I’ll break both your arms.”

I paused, and looked up at Ulp. I never found out if he was serious, but I suspect he was.

“Oh, for Odd’s sake!” We looked up at Vint, who had spoken. “We don’t have time to argue, the boat leaves in ten minutes! Ulp, just untie him, and stop being awkward. He can move faster if he isn’t tied.”

Ulp hesitated, then reached out to untie the ropes. We all hurried up.

CHAPTER 8

The Dock was as dark as the rest of the docklands, but the Ship stood out in the middle, brightly lit. There was lots of activity in and around the ship, as cargo was loaded on. Lots of mudokons and sligs were carrying large boxes onto the ship, as they were shouted at by glukkons and sligs standing at the side. I kept an Ant Farm once, when Flakit was my master. He loved ants, and encouraged us all to take up ant keeping. Sometimes we joked that he would kill us rather than an ant. He was one of my better masters as well. I never felt a need… well, you know. Anyway, I only mention this because the activity in and around the ship reminded me a little of my old ant hive.

We crouched behind a stack of crates, thinking about how we could get on.

“There’s so much activity, we could just walk on and we wouldn’t be noticed.”

Yan looked up at Vint. “What if they do? We’d have a better chance if we carried some boxes with us.”

Rixx spoke up. “I could be ordering you to carry crates onto the ship. You could carry one between two, couldn’t you? So you could carry two crates on board, and no-one would realise that we weren’t real workers.”

“What about Quiss? He’s in no condition to carry anything.”

Rixx and Yan looked at me. I guessed that they hadn’t thought of that.

Ulp hesitated. “He’d be quite safe here…”

It was a second before I realised what he was suggesting. “We can’t leave him! He’d never survive!” I was furious at the suggestion. For some reason, I felt quite close to Quiss, and didn’t want anything to happen to him. I found out why later, of course, but I couldn’t explain it at the time.

Yan put his hand between us, to diffuse any animosity that was developing. “We could lay him in one of the crates we carry in. You two can carry him in, while me and Vint carry an empty crate, okay?”

I paused for a second, still angry, then, without a word, I pulled the lid off one of the crates we were crouched behind. Inside there were reams of fine cloth. I pulled them out and threw them to the ground. When I turned, Ulp held Quiss, ready to lower him into the crate. It seemed to me that he was trying to help, to make up for suggesting leaving him. Between us, we lowered him into the crate, and replaced the lid. I helped Ulp to lift the crate, while Yan and Vint lifted another crate. Rixx stood, and began shouting.

“All right, be careful! Don’t drop it! Watch your corner, mud! Alright, round here now…”

We continued in this fashion across the open ground to the loading ramp, in full view of the genuine dockworkers. I was terrified, and I don’t think the others were any better. When we reached the ramp, I could scarcely believe our luck. I was convinced that any minute now we would hear shouts, and would be pulled back down the ramp and thrown into some cell to rot…

Ulp and me reached the top first, and could see the vast expanse of the cargo hold laid out before us. The Ship was huge. The view from further away didn’t do it justice. To one end of the ship was the Command Deck, with living quarters for the small crew, I guess. To the other was the Boiler Room, and the Engines. But the Cargo Hold took up by far the most space. It had huge doors over the top, which had been opened to let the cranes lower the larger items of cargo in. There was a maze of crates and boxes on the floor. Already the Hold seemed almost full, and there was still more to come. A ramp led down the inside of the Hull, and we walked down this to get to the bottom. I was more relaxed now that we were out of sight of the dockworkers, and was able to think clearly enough to lead the others between the crates to a secluded spot, out of sight. Some of the Boxes were irregular shapes, so we were able to shelter underneath an ‘H’ shaped box, out of sight. We almost totally blocked ourselves in with crates, so that no-one could see us. We pulled the sleeping Quiss from his box, and sat there for a while, not speaking.

We were, I think, quite unable to believe we’d made it. That must be how the mind works. See, it all comes back to the mind in the end. So many bad things had happened to us, that we were unable to accept that something had gone well. I, for one, was convinced that something was about to go wrong, that we were about to be discovered. For some reason, this fevered fear sent me drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

[Teal]

*is reminded in a roundabout way by Rich that she has been forgetting to reply to things again*

Merf, sorry. Ah well, my brain has been fried my excessive revising for exams and I can't think of anything better/more inspired to say than... than... uh... *scratches head*

Heeh, ignore me, I'm rambling again... I like it, Rett; and now I want to know where they're going...

[Danny]

wait and see...

please keep replying, people, i have 26 chapters written now, so that's [does quick mental arithmetic] 18 more to post!

i'm posting them 2 at a time, but i'm still way ahead of myself...

CHAPTER 9

I was the first to awake, probably because I had been the first to fall asleep. It was almost totally dark. I pushed one of the boxes aside to let myself out, and climbed out from our hiding-place. The Hold Doors had been closed, and by the movement of the floor beneath me, I could tell that we had set off. The feeling filled me with excitement. I was less afraid now. Granted, there was still the crew of the ship to avoid, but that was nothing compared to what we had to fear back in Cyrcit. I felt exhilarated, and happy for the first time I could remember. I suppose it was something to do with moving away from the place of Zell’s death. As we got further away, it was like a weight was being removed slowly from my shoulders.

The Hold Doors didn’t form a tight seal, so they let in enough light to see by. Looking up through the gaps, I could see daylight. I realised that I had no idea how long I’d slept for. All I knew was that I was hungry. I opened a couple of crates until I found one with food in. The food wasn’t top quality; it was all either dried, salted, or sugared to survive the journey. I didn’t care; I ate. As I ate, I thought of the others. Maybe they were awake, and hungry. I took an armful of the food, and made my way back to our hideout.

When I got there, Vint and Rixx were awake. They had found another crate with food in, closer than the one I’d found, and were already eating. When he saw me, Vint stood up.

“I wondered where you were.”

“I went to explore. This hold is huge. We could hide in here for years and never be found, assuming the food lasted that long.”

We sat down beside Rixx, who nodded a hello to me, his mouth full.

“Everyone still asleep?”

Vint nodded. “Let them sleep. I’m sure they need it. They can eat when they wake up.”

“There’s a lot of food. Should keep us going for a while.”

“I’m going to look around. Coming?”

“Sure.” I stood up. “Rixx, you stay and guard the others.”

“From what?”

I paused. Rixx was right, there wasn’t really anything to guard against here, unless the crew came to check on the cargo. Which they wouldn’t really do, this soon after leaving the dock. “Just… Watch out, okay?”

Vint climbed onto a crate beside me. I hadn’t really looked round before, I’d been looking in crates for food more than anything. The Hold didn’t look as big as it had last night [Was it last night that we’d come aboard? I’d lost track of time; I wasn’t sure.], but that was to be expected. After all, the Hold Doors were closed now, and we had got over the initial shock of seeing the size of the ship. The Hold still seemed enormous. I suddenly had an urge to explore, and I could sense that Vint had the same urge.

“You take the stern, I’ll go and explore the bow.”

Vint nodded, and set off. I started in the other direction, climbing boxes and leaping miniature crates. I was the happiest that I could ever remember being.

CHAPTER 10

I didn’t get around to exploring the whole bow end of the Hold, because I got hungry, and returned. The others all went on their own expeditions, but found nothing important, and returned. We stayed more or less in the same place for about three days, leaving on our own individual explorations. I changed my mind about exploring the bow end of the ship, and spent my spare time searching through the cargo crates, looking for things of value. I often found worthless things, like tea-cosies or something. Sometimes I found something useful, like food, blankets, or weapons. Only once, however, did I regret opening a crate, and wish I hadn’t.

The others were asleep, and I was happy. I had been exploring for an hour or two, on our second day, and had discovered a large crate of weapons, including machine guns and light explosives. I had left a marker there, so that we could find them again, when we needed them.

I was ambling along, climbing over crates and squeezing between them, when my eyes came to rest on one particular crate. It wasn’t especially large, and it wasn’t an unusual shape, but something made me approach it. A shiver of fear ran through me; I hadn’t felt this kind of compulsion since the night I… the night Zell died. I was just as powerless to resist it now. As I glanced between the wooden slats, I caught a steely metallic glint in the darkness. As if in a daze, I prised off the lid of the crate, and stared inside.

The Killer stared out at me. I thought I’d left him behind in Cyrcit, but apparently he’d followed me here. His Crimson eyes bored into my skull, making my head ache like it never had before. I closed my eyes, but that brought no respite from his red gaze, so I opened them, and faced him. With the greatest willpower I had ever shown, I held his gaze, while my hands clumsily replaced the lid of the crate.

The thrill of release I received as his glare was cut off from me was intense, but I didn’t appreciate it. I tried to walk away, but my legs collapsed from underneath me. Eventually, I managed to crawl away, and was able to stand up once I was far enough away.

I returned later with a light explosive from the weapons crate.

I was getting better. No Fragments this time...

[Melvin:squeeking paramite]

Im replying...laalalalalala!look at me reply! im repying...so Rettick will give another chap!im not really saying amything!just singing about....stuff!!!!lalalalala!doo dee doo!hmmmmm...*goes into convulsions*

[Danny]

hmmm... *wonders whether that is counted, but decides that he really wants to post more, so it'll do...* Okay, just this once...

i'm afriad that this gets pretty narrative for a while, now. i don't manage to develop Ulven's character much over the next couple of chapters. sorry.

CHAPTER 11

Quiss slept for most of the time. I was quite worried about him; merely being beaten by a couple of sligs doesn’t normally cause someone to withdraw almost completely. I formed the conclusion that Quiss’s master must have been particularly cruel, and mistreated Quiss badly. On the occasions when Quiss was awake and comparatively lucid, I attempted to broach the issue, but I had to be careful not to trigger a relapse or anything, so I got very little information out of him, only that his master had slaves whose sole duty was to whip other slaves.

I fared only slightly better with Rixx. He was evasive when it came to talking about their master, and I got the impression that he had been particularly mistreated, and had suppressed the memory. The most information I got out of him came on our third day, when the others were all away doing various things, and Rixx was lying half-asleep.

“Rixx?”

“Hmm?”

“You know your master?”

“Who?”

“The Colonel at the Barracks, remember?”

“Who? Oh yeah, the guy with the Rack, yeah?”

“The Rack?”

“You know, those things for stretching people. He’d put someone on it, put manacles around their wrists and tail, or ankles,” he paused, “then get someone to turn the wheel.”

“What? When you’d disobeyed him?”

He was silent for a while, then sat up and opened his eyes. “No.” I thought at first that he was being sarcastic, but then I looked into his eyes, and saw that he was deadly serious. Neither of us said anything for a long while, then he lay back down and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, I heard his snoring, and decided to leave him alone.

It was just after this that I first discovered our Neighbour. I’d left Rixx to sleep, and decided to explore all the way to the Command Deck. I took some food, so that I wouldn’t have to return, although I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d be able to find another crate when I needed it, and set off over the crates.

I was almost at the bow end of the Hold, when I fell down between two crates that I’d been trying to jump between. I didn’t hurt myself badly, but I was winded for a second, and lay there, recovering. As I lay there, my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, and I noticed a dark shape huddled opposite me, in a corner. I froze. The shape didn’t move. I tentatively rose to a crouch, and moved slowly over to the shape.

Most of it was buried beneath a pile of rags, but I could see a head and what looked like two arms beneath the rags. I couldn’t make out the shape of the head in the darkness, but judging by the state of its rags, this creature was a drifter, just like the rest of us. I was thankful that its eyes appeared closed.

I wondered what I should do. I could awaken the creature, and try and talk to it, but there was always the risk that it might see me as a threat. Besides, I didn’t anticipate diplomacy being one of my strong points. I decided that it would be best to bring some support. Yan, for all his cynicism, would probably be the best for the job, as he was generally quite open-minded about other species, and knew several languages, in case whatever it was didn’t speak the same language as us.

I climbed back on top of the crate I had fallen off. I looked round, looking for landmarks, but couldn’t see any, so I left the pile of food I’d carried with me to serve as a marker, and set off back to our home crate, keeping an eye out for Yan.

It wasn’t long before I saw Yan. He was moving away from our home crate, to my right. I thought about calling his name, but decided I didn’t want to run the risk of being overheard by crewmembers, so I gave chase silently. Before long, he stopped to look around, saw me, and waited. When I caught up with him, he seemed puzzled by the urgent expression on my face.

“What’s the matter?”

I paused to get my breath back. “We’re… We aren’t alone in this hold. And I don’t mean the crew, I mean I’ve found another stowaway.”

“We’d better get Vint.”

“No, I thought it would be better if just the two of us went. We wouldn’t want to intimidate him.”

“What is he?”

“I’m not sure; it was dark. He seems to be a drifter, like us, but he was asleep, so I don’t know if we even speak the same language. That’s why I found you, you seem to know a few languages.”

“Well, a few.” He set off in the direction I’d come from. “This way?”

I nodded, and followed. We moved in silence, which was lucky, in a way, because if we’d made much sound, we would probably have been killed. We were about halfway to the place where I’d found the stranger, when I heard footsteps from one of the overhead gangways. I looked, and saw mudokon feet crossing the Hold on the gangway. I almost called out, thinking that it was one of us, but I stopped when I realised that none of us wore shoes, and none of us carried torches. I nudged Yan, but he’d already seen them. We froze, waiting until they’d passed. They were some way away before I relaxed slightly. Unfortunately, as I took a step forward, my foot slipped out from under me, and I fell to the ground with a thud. The footsteps paused, then began to come faster, approaching us. One of the mudokons leaned over the handrail of the gangway, holding a machine gun, shining his torch over the edge. He began to spray the crates around us with bullets, when his companion pulled to gun away from him. Yan had dived for cover, but I had been frozen with fear.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you think they’ll want goods that are full of bullets?”

The mud with the machine gun sounded angry. “I hate stowaways! We should have a good cleanout sometime!”

The other mud pulled him from the handrail. “It doesn’t matter; they’ll be caught when we reach Carthag, anyway. Then you’ll be off here, and won’t have to worry about them any more.”

“We should just flood the hold with poison gas. That’d get rid of them with no trouble at all!”

The other mudokon gave a short humourless laugh. “I’m sure the guys at Verkat would just love all of that poisoned food, wouldn’t they? Of course, they might fire us, or even imprison us, but that’d just be their way of showing their appreciation…”

“All right, no need for the sarcasm.”

The other mud laughed. “C’mon, let’s get back to the mess and have a drink.”

They began to move off. This time, I waited until the footsteps had died away completely before I relaxed. Yan helped me back onto my feet.

“Close shave there.”

I nodded my agreement. I was more scared than I liked to admit by my near miss. Not wishing to talk about it, I set off again in the direction of the Stranger.

CHAPTER 12

When we reached my marker, I told Yan to sit back for a second, while I leaned my head over the edge. The huddled shape was still there, as unmoving as ever. It struck me that I had no idea if he was even alive, but I ignored that thought, as it didn’t seem that important. I turned back to Yan.

“All right. Follow me.”

I walked round to a place where we could jump down onto a smaller crate before jumping to the ground. I led him round to the Stranger.

“What should I do?”

I thought for a second. “Well, I don’t know. You’ve always seemed to get on better with other species. What do you think?”

Yan hesitantly reached out to the stranger, but then withdrew his hand, and turned to me. “Go and fetch a couple of pieces of food from that stash up there.” He pointed up on top of the crate. “We want to appear as friends.”

“He seems more civilised than that.”

“Civilised or not, he might not speak our language, and giving him a gift of sorts might be the only way to secure his friendship.”

I was dubious, but I did as I was asked. I had not yet reached the top, however, when I heard the Stranger stirring. I took a couple of food items, and dropped them down to Yan. Not wanting to miss it, I watched over the edge as Yan held them out to the Stranger.

The Stranger looked at Yan, then snatched the food from him. His arms were long, and his hands were large and gnarled. He didn’t eat the food, but held it, looking at Yan with what I thought was quite an indignant look in his eye. The light seemed brighter than it had been before, and I thought I could make out the shape of his head. To my surprise, it resembled that of a Glukkon.

Yan tried to talk to him.

“Hello.”

The Glukkon said nothing, but his eyebrows rose slightly. Yan persisted.

“Do you understand me?”

The Glukkon seemed to think for a long while, before replying: “Yes.”

“Ah good, we speak the same language.” He looked up at me. “Come on down, Ulven, he doesn’t bite!”

I climbed down. Yan and the glukkon said nothing while they watched. When I was standing beside Yan, he sat down, and I followed.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Yan, this is Ulven.”

“What do you want? Have you come to get rid of me?”

Yan seemed a little put out by the slight aggression, but hid it well. “We’re not members of the crew, don’t worry. We’re stowaways, like you. We just want to get to know you.”

The glukkon relaxed slightly, but lost none of his suspicion.

I spoke up. “What’s your name?”

He looked at me, as if I’d just accused him of something, then sighed. “Olek.”

“Olek? That’s your name?”

He nodded. Yan looked at him.

“Are you here alone, Olek?”

There was a long pause. “Am now.”

When nothing more was forthcoming, Yan prompted him. “You mean there were others?”

“Dead now. Didn’t make it inside. Bodies falling into sea. Red Water.”

I wanted to know more about him. “Glukkons like you?”

“Mostly mudokons. Some sligs.”

Yan put a hand on Olek’s shoulder. “So you’re alone now, then?”

Olek looked at Yan’s hand on his shoulder, and didn’t respond.

“Would you like to join us? There are six of us.”

“Tired. Hurt.”

I began to stand. “We’ll help you. There’s probably some medical supplies in some of these crates.”

Yan also began to stand, taking Olek by the shoulder.

“Come on, try to stand up.”

Between us, we managed to pull Olek up. He was about a head taller than either of us. Rags hung from his skinny frame like rotting flesh. Unlike most Glukkons, his handfeet were not restricted by his clothing, and he was able to walk quite easily. Getting him up onto the top was a struggle, but after that we had no real trouble getting him to walk back to our home crate. Even in his state, he was able to move almost as fast as we were, especially with us helping him.

[mainard]

sorry about the lack of posting recently... I have my reasons, none of which are worthy of consideration. your story is completely and utterly worthy of replying to, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a blasphemer and should melt into a steaming puddle of biomolecular soup.

the story has such a dark, strange atmosphere to it... the madness lurking in the background of the story itself is an intense, driving force, and utterly complementing of the entire story line... the only thing I didn't completely understand was the Killer comment... was it a crate of mirrors? or some other such thing? it really confused me... could you perhaps clarify?

other than that the entire thing is driving me nuts waiting for the next chapter. truly you are deserving of much congratulations...

oh, and as a personal note... I'm also going to be more delayed with my story, due to moving... so there, nyah.

[Danny]

i just wrote an explanation of the Killer, but then i realised that it contained more beans than i intended to spill at this point... suffice to say, yes, it was a crate of mirrors.

i will post that explanation after chapter 17, when it wouldn't be revealing anything that hasn't been posted yet.

CHAPTER 13

Quiss was the only one there when we reached our crate, and he was asleep. After a short discussion, Yan and me decided to wake him up, and introduce him to Olek, so that he wasn’t afraid when he awoke. He wasn’t easy to wake up. We shook him gently, and eventually he awoke. We kept Olek out of his sight at first.

“Quiss?”

He was sleepy. “What…?”

“We have a new friend here, Quiss…” I waved to Yan to bring Olek into Quiss’s field of vision. Quiss’s reaction was violent, and I later blamed myself for not anticipating it. Quiss threw himself backwards, scrabbling at the crate walls in an attempt to escape. I saw this as further evidence that Quiss had been badly mistreated when he was a slave. For him to have this reaction just by seeing a glukkon, it must have been very bad.

“No, Quiss, it’s okay, he’s a friend, Quiss.” Yan was starting to comfort Quiss, and I followed his lead. “He’s not here to take you back, or to punish you… He’s one of us, Quiss.”

Quiss was pulling away from us, hyperventilating. Olek attempted to help us to comfort him, but of course it only made things worse. I asked Olek to leave us for a while. He seemed a little put out, but understood, and stepped outside.

It took us a long time to calm Quiss, and send him back to sleep. When we did, I asked Yan to keep an eye on him while I stepped outside. I saw Olek sitting asleep, leaning against our crate.

“May I ask who our guest is?”

I turned, to see Vint approaching from the Stern of the ship, carrying an armful of blankets. He dropped the blankets and crouched beside Olek.

“His name’s Olek. He’s a drifter, like us, who’s been stowing away closer to the Bows.”

Vint looked him over. “Any more new arrivals?”

I shook my head. “No, his friends were all killed. He was the only one to make it in here.”

Vint met my eyes. “Ulp isn’t going to be happy with this.”

“It’s not up to him. Where is he, anyway?”

“Rixx went off to explore, and Ulp followed him to make sure he wasn’t turning us in to the crew.”

I sat down, and avoided Vint’s eyes. “That reminds me. Something else happened, while I was taking Yan to see Olek.”

“What?”

“A couple of crewmembers passed us on the overhead walkways. They shot at us, but missed.”

“They knew you were there?” Vint looked concerned.

“I think they were half-expecting us. Stowaways must be a regular problem for them. I don’t think they’re going to do anything about it, though.”

“Why not?”

I picked up a morsel of food from the floor. “It isn’t their problem. They said we’ll be caught when they unload the cargo. That brings me onto something I need to ask you, Vint.”

“What?”

I swallowed a mouthful of something sugary. “Where are we going?”

Vint froze. “I’m not sure.”

“You put us on this boat, and you have no idea where it’s going?” I couldn’t quite believe it, even though I’d half-expected it.

“Anywhere would be better than Cyrcit!”

“Not necessarily. I think I can make a few guesses.”

“Like?”

I brushed the food crumbs from my hands, and held up a finger. “One: Big Cargo Hold. I think we could assume from this that we are heading somewhere far away.”

“Why?”

“If it was somewhere close, they could have a regular freight route. The fact that they need to carry a lot of cargo suggests that the trips aren’t very regular.” I held up a second finger, and some salted meat in the other hand. “Two: Food Supplies. This suggests that we are going somewhere where there isn’t that much food. Between these two facts, I’d guess that we were heading for a frontier: a Military outpost. Probably not even on Mudos. Maybe Pardos or Samdos. That would explain the crates of weapons.”

There was a pause while he took this in. “We don’t want to go there, then, do we?”

“Well, there is a hope.”

“What?”

“The crewmembers mentioned two places that the boat will be calling: Carthag and Verkat. I think they referred to Verkat as the final destination, as they said that the people there would be receiving the cargo. Have you heard of either of those places?”

Vint shook his head.

“I’d guess that this ‘Verkat’ is the Military Outpost that we’re heading for. That would explain the food supplies. Cyrcit is quite far away from any frontiers, so this’ll be a long journey. The crew will need relieving at some point, so the ship will probably dock somewhere else to switch them, or at least to top up their food supplies, at ‘Carthag’, maybe? We’ll have to leave the ship then.”

Vint seemed thoughtful.

“What we need,” he said, “is a journey plan.”

“Where do we get that from?”

Vint said nothing, but looked over my shoulder at the bow of the ship.

“The Command Deck?” I was quite worried at the idea. “That’s where the crew are.”

“It’s the only place we’re going to be able to find out where we are.”

I nodded, reluctantly. “Should we all go?”

Vint frowned. “I’m not sure. You and me, definitely. And maybe Ulp. The others should probably stay here.”

“Will Ulp cooperate? I mean, we’ve already taken a slig on board, against his wishes. He won’t be happy now, as you said yourself.”

“He’d better cooperate.”

CHAPTER 14

We were right. Ulp wasn’t happy.

“First a slig, now a fucking Glukk! Do you want to be turned in or what?”

Yan sighed. “Ulp, just look at him. He’s dressed in rags. If he went to the crew dressed like that, do you really think they’d listen to what he had to say? He’s a Drifter. They’d chuck him overboard.”

“Oh yeah, right, great disguise. Obviously they’d know who it was, so it could spy on us and find stowaways.”

I stood up. “He was unconscious when we found him. He’s not well, and in no condition to spy on anyone.”

All seven of us were together now. Quiss was still asleep, and we’d put him with his back to Olek, so Olek would have time to get out if Quiss awoke. Vint wasn’t taking part in the argument, and neither, surprisingly, were Rixx and Olek.

“Ulven, can’t you see? It isn’t really ill! Glukkons are cunning; they know how to fool us! It was only pretending to be unconscious when you found it, as well.”

Yan stepped right up to Ulp. “For fuck’s sake, Ulp, can’t you hear how stupid you sound? You sound like some paranoid freak!”

Ulp loomed over Yan’s small frame, and seemed to be steeling for a fight, when Vint stood up.

“Ulp, we’ve taken Olek on board, whether you like it or not. Now, Ulven and me are going up to the Command Decks to find a map of the ship’s route. We think it’d be best if you came along.”

Ulp turned to Vint in disbelief. “You’re going to leave Yan on his own to keep an eye on those two? They’ll stab him in the back first chance they get!”

“Ulp, are you coming or not?”

“No, I can’t abandon Yan to these bastards.”

Yan sighed. “Ulp, I’ll be fine. You go along.”

I nodded to Vint. “Come on, forget Ulp. We’ll be fine on our own.” I was trying to use reverse psychology on Ulp, but it had the same effect as dropping a match in the sea. “We’ll have to get tortured and killed without him.”

Vint looked like he was about to argue, but changed his mind. “Yan, do you have those rifles we stole from those guards?”

Yan looked confused, then remembered. He reached into his pack and pulled out two sleek black rifles. One of them still had its handle coated in Quiss’s blood. He handed one to each of us. I was relieved not to get the one with the blood on.

“Okay, we should be back later today. If we aren’t back, there isn’t much you can do about it, but don’t come looking for us, okay?”

The others nodded, Yan looking slightly apprehensive. “Be careful.”

I nodded. “We will.” And we walked out, and set off towards to Bows.

[Danny]

okay, i'm breaking my own rules here, but i'm making an exception, as i'm sure you would have posted if the forums hadn't been down

coming soon, Chapter 17, which i may well have overrated... just wait and see...

CHAPTER 15

Silence has always been my keeper. My friend. When I have nothing else, I will still have silence. There is something about the way that silence enhances the slightest sound that captivates me. If I could choose one sound that I could take with me always, it would be the sound of silence. That sounds lonely, but I’m sure you understand. Varik will understand what I mean, ask him. As long as there are other sounds to fill the silence, I mean. I wouldn’t want it to be silent all the time, but if I had a little box full of silence, that I could take out whenever I wanted to, and when I opened it, silence would blossom out of it, that would be bliss.

Anyway, Vint and me walked in silence [oh, sweet silence]. It was a long way to the bows, but we had time. We wouldn’t want to rush in, without thinking first. I thought about showing Vint the weapons crate, and getting better weapons, but that would only bring back memories of the day before, of the Killer.

“Ulven?” Vint’s whisper echoed through the darkness, louder than any shout.

“Yes?”

“Whereabouts do you think we would find a map?”

I swallowed. “I was hoping you’d know.”

We walked on, the silence between us entombing our sounds forever, and the sounds of the ship. It was technically not silent, but the little creaking and groaning sounds of the living ship only served to outline the silence in the same way a dim glow can make a room appear darker. I was full of the thrill of anticipation. I was actually looking forward to danger, after only three days of relative safety. I don’t think the mind does usually work like that, I think it’s just me. I’m weird. That creature I call the Madness is here all the time, at the back of my mind, pulling strings. It isn’t always in control, but it always has influence, and it fears Boredom above all else.

We reached the bulkhead without saying another word between us. I don’t know what Vint was thinking, but he was probably planning how we could find a map. Vint is responsible, not like me. I think frivolous thoughts, which have no practical use, like how does my mind work. I tried to focus, to think of how we could get through the bulkhead. There was a door, but it was high up the wall, passable only from the walkway that led over the Hold from the Command Deck to the Engines.

Vint nudged me. “What about that door up there?” he whispered, pointing to our right, where a ladder led up the Hull to a hatchway.

“That only leads to the Deck of the ship.”

“There’ll probably be a way into the Command Deck from out there.” He strode silently towards the ladder, his footfalls swallowed up by the silence, while his body was swallowed by the darkness. I realised that it was probably night outside again. For those we’d left behind, it would be their fourth night spent on board. For us, no sleep. If things go wrong, no sleep ever again. Or forever.

I hurried after Vint, before the darkness swallowed his figure. He was halfway up the ladder when I reached the bottom, so I mounted the metal rungs hastily. When I reached the balcony at the top, Vint was struggling to turn the wheel on the hatchway. I added my strength, and the wheel began to turn, shattering the silence with its screech. The noise echoed through the Hold, which would at least make it harder for the crew to trace where we were. My heart was pounding; I was convinced that the crew would hear us and spray us with machine gun fire. When the door opened, I heaved a sigh of relief, and we hurried through onto the top deck of the ship.

CHAPTER 16

We had only briefly been onto the deck, and that was when we had first rushed on board, so we hadn’t had time to properly enjoy it. Of course, we didn’t really have much time now, but I couldn’t help admiring the beauty of the ship, stretching seemingly to infinity behind us, with the brightly lit Command Deck before us, and the green and red lights down the sides of the hull. I don’t know if any of you would have appreciated it, but I was suddenly struck by an admiration of whatever Glukkon designers had thought up this design. Of course, having mudokon and slig slaves to do all the actual work must have helped. That thought brought me down to reality, and reminded me that the Glukkons were the slave drivers. It’s weird how I can go from admiration to disgust in a matter of seconds. I guess that’s the mind at work again.

Vint touched my arm, and I remembered that we were here for a reason. I turned, to face the Command Deck. It no longer looked beautiful with its lights, but the lights served only to enhance the threatening darkness between them. I was scared. Not terrified, the way I had been when I looked upon the Killer, but a dull fear. We could get a map from somewhere else, I thought, Why do we need a map anyway? We know we have to get off at Carthag…

I looked at Vint, who was already looking up and down the wall for an entrance, and I felt ashamed or these feelings. I strode up to the wall and drove my elbow through a window. The sound was lost in the whistling air around us, but Vint heard, and helped me to clear the glass from the frame. I had chosen a small washroom with only one window, and we could barely fit in when we climbed inside. Fortunately, the room was not locked, so we were able to exit onto a corridor. The glare of the bright lights in the corridor blinded me after three days in the dim light and darkness of the Hold, but it’s surprising how fast we recover.

I looked both ways down the corridor, but there was no one around. Vint was already scanning a ship plan he’d found in the office. He nudged me, and pointed to the part of the ship labelled ‘Navigation Room’, located at the top of the Command Decks. I nodded, and led us down the corridor, in search of some kind of lift.

After a couple of turns, we were faced with a spiral staircase, leading up. We mounted the stairs, but hadn’t gone further than a few steps, when we hear sharp footsteps echoing down the stairwell. Vint was thinking more clearly than me, and pulled me back down, and under the stairs. I had to be told when the footsteps had died away, because I could hear nothing over my own pounding heart. Vint tapped my arm, and led the way back up the steps.

The plan we had found said that the Navigation Room was four floors above where we had been, but the staircase only led up two floors, so we braved the corridors once more. The plan didn’t show stairs, so we chose a direction at random to walk in. I took the lead, despite having no better idea of where we were going than Vint did.

“Hey!”

I winced at the seeming loudness of Vint’s whisper, and turned back to him. “What?”

He pointed up at the sign on a door I had walked past. ‘Captain’s Office’. Vint tried the handle, probably hoping that there would be a map inside. To my astonishment, and I think to some extent Vint’s, the door opened.

It was dark inside, but Vint found a light-switch. I wouldn’t have expected him to know what would happen. I didn’t anticipate it myself, although if I’d thought for a little longer, I would have. When there is a window, with light on one side and darkness on the other, those on the light side cannot see through the glass well, but see instead their own reflections.

The Killer flickered into existence opposite me, in the window. He was passive, not killing at the moment, but I knew it would only be a matter of time. We stood, sizing each other up. His bloodstained hands, my fevered shivering.

“Vint.” That was more than a whisper, barely. There was a hint of terror in my voice, which must have caught his attention, because he turned from his searching of the drawers, to stare at me.

“What?” He followed my eyes, and seemed puzzled when I seemed to be staring at nothing but my own reflection.

“Let’s go. Out of this room.”

Vint seemed about to say something, but shrugged and walked out. When I didn’t follow, he grabbed my arm, and gently pulled me away. I remained tense, until he switched off the light, then I collapsed to the floor.

“Ulven? Are you alright?”

“Just…” I paused to catch my breath. “Just don’t switch any lights on in rooms with windows again, okay?”

“Well, okay, but why not?”

I swallowed. “He’ll return.”

“Your reflection?” Vint wasn’t unsympathetic. After all, he knew that I was a little mad. “He won’t hurt you.”

“Maybe not me…”

Vint helped me up. “Here.” He handed me a torch. “Found it in one of the drawers. No more lights.”

And we resumed our search for the Navigation Room. We didn’t speak of it again.

[ June 03, 2001: Message edited by: Rettick ]

[Melvin:squeeking paramite]

Actually,i wouldn't have posted......i like to keep you in suspence to see if people are reading....of cource,someone else could have replied and thwarted my annoying plan...
oh,yeah,i should probably do something politically correct and tell ya how much i like it...
Rettick,this is really really good!you should definetly post another chap for your loyal readers.this is one of my favorites.

[Danny]

politically correct? what does that have to do with it? politeness, yes, but PC? naa...

oh well, this bit is quite nasty by my standards. lots of blood...

CHAPTER 17

I tried to put the Killer out of my mind, but I couldn’t. I’d seen him. He was here. He would get me, and then people would die. Try as I did to think of something else, that thought kept running through my mind. I was more terrified now than I had ever been before in my life. My life had been in danger before, but there were at least seven people whom I needed to protect, and whose lives were now in danger.

We reached the Navigation Room, although I barely noticed the route. As we should have expected, it was not unoccupied. A sole mudokon was sitting at a desk in the dark, with his headphones on. I was in my own world of terror, so Vint crept up behind him and dealt him a swift blow to the back of the head with his rifle, knocking him unconscious.

The Navigation Room was an octagonal room at the very top of the Command Decks. It had windows taking up most of all eight walls. I handed Vint the torch, and kept my eyes closed, just in case. I heard the sounds of Vint rummaging around, in drawers and filing cabinets, searching for a map, a journey plan.

“Ulven? Aren’t you going to help?”

I was afraid. I couldn’t speak.

“Ulven?” I could feel his proximity. “I could do with some help here.”

I managed to shake my head, and mouth the word: “Scared.” I wanted to tell Vint to go, to get away from me, but I couldn’t. I sensed him move away, and heard the sounds of the search once again.

Because I had my eyes closed and Vint had his back to the door, neither of us saw the guards creep in, and Vint’s search meant that we never heard them either. The first I knew of it was when I was grabbed from behind, and my rifle torn from my hands, another gun barrel shoved into my throat. I opened my eyes to see Vint struggling with another guard, who had managed to get both of Vint’s arms behind his back, and held him in a headlock. A third mudokon stood by the light switch.

It wasn’t really their fault. They were only acting in self-defence, really. After all, we had already knocked their Navigator unconscious already. They saw us as a threat. As we were, of course. They only wanted to take us prisoner, probably, which nade what happened particularly unjust and gruesome. They didn’t know about the Madness, about the Killer. If they had, the mudokon holding me would have been more careful not to stand me in the centre of the octagonal room, where I’d be able to see my reflection in all eight windows.

They also wouldn’t have switched the light on.

I looked around, blinking in the light. The first thing I laid my eyes on was Him. In the window, holding the bloodstained shards of mirror. I tried to look away, but he was everywhere; wherever I looked, he was standing there in the window. I closed my eyes again, trying to shut him out, but I knew already that it was futile. He was all around me. He outnumbered me. What was the point of resisting? He would win anyway. I didn’t want to get more hurt than I needed to. I relaxed, and allowed the Killer to take over.

I have very blurred memories of what happened next. I later pieced together the events from what Vint told me.

Apparently, I let out a great scream, and grabbed the arm that the mudokon holding me was using to hold the gun to my throat. I grabbed it just above the elbow with both hands, and twisted it. The mudokon screamed as his bone shattered, and dropped the rifle. I spun round, and used him as a shield from the rifles of the other guards, while I pulled half of his arm bone out of his flesh. Blood was pouring out of the mudokon’s arm as I extracted the shard, then I held it to his throat. I advanced slowly on the mudokon holding Vint, keeping my mud in between him and me. When I was close enough, I slit the throat of the mudokon I was holding with his own arm bone.

The mudokon holding Vint was too surprised to react instantly when I leapt on him, wrenching his rifle from his grasp and throwing him to the ground. I spun on the mudokon by the light switch, and let off two bullets into him gun arm, making him drop his own weapon. Ignoring his screams, I fell upon the mudokon on the floor, grasped his skull with both hands, and forced both of my thumbs slowly into his eyes. I ignored his screams, which Vint later said had been almost unbearable, and the fountain of blood pouring out round my thumbs, I grimly pushed my thumbs down until they would go no further.

I didn’t get the chance to finish off that mudokon off then, because the one that had been by the lightswitch jumped me from behind. He was clawing at my eyes with his good arm, and hitting me numbly with his other. I stood, throwing him off, and then descended on him, grabbing him by the feather. I lifted him up to a standing position, then ran screaming to the windows, and smashed them all with his head. When all eight panes were broken, I took his still bleeding at still moving head, and used it to clear the frames completely of their remaining fragments. Many of them stuck in his head, like some kind of crest.

The mudokon I had blinded was soon put out of his misery, because I pulled two large shards of glass from the head of his companion, and forced them into his eye sockets until he stopped screaming and writhing.

I stopped, and stepped back. The Killer drifted away, or at least to wherever he goes when he isn’t in control. I returned to, hah, to normal, if you could ever call me normal. Normal for me, anyway. I looked around, unable to remember the events of the last few minutes, and wondering what had killed our attackers.

CHAPTER 18

Vint was leaning against a filing cabinet, holding his head in his hands, apparently weeping. He was covered in small scratches, where he’d been hit by flying glass from the windows. I couldn’t understand why the windows were all broken, but I could tell that they were the reason why Vint was bleeding. I reached out to touch him, but he turned away, and curled up into a foetal position. I could see a particularly large shard of glass sticking into his back, so I reached over and extracted it. Vint tensed, then relaxed, but did not turn around. I looked around again.

One mudokon was lying on the floor, the top third of his arm floppy and boneless, because the bone was lying beside his slit throat. A second mudokon was lying on his back, with two long shards of glass sticking out of his eyes like some kind of gruesome binoculars. The third was leaning floppily against a wall, his misshapen head facing the wall, his feather torn, his skull caved in. The floor was covered in small shards of glass, and soaked in blood. This reminded me a little of Zell’s carpet after his death, but I found that I could think about it without bringing on the Madness, as if the killer was now gorged, his appetite for death sated.

I turned back to Vint. “Vint?” He stirred, but did not turn around. “Vint? It’s Ulven. I’m here now. The death has gone. I’m back. I’ve driven the Killer away.”

He didn’t respond, and I looked around, despairing. Then I noticed something. There had been one mudokon here when we walked in, that Vint’d knocked out. Where was he? The only bodies here were the guards. I looked towards the door, which was swinging open. A faint trail of slightly bloody footprints led out of the room towards the stairs, as if the bearer of the feet had walked across a floor of broken glass…

“Oh shit!” I turned to Vint, and shook him more urgently this time. “Come on, Vint, we have to go! Now, or there’ll be more killing.”

He stirred, but didn’t get up. I lost my patience, and lifted him onto my shoulders. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to find my way back through the ship, and there was a great chance that we’d run into crew, who would be heading up here along that route. I staggered to the window and looked out. Yes, the deck beneath was wider, so we’d be able to stand on its roof. Looking sideways, I could see that there were ladders going down the side of the ship. Good, good.

Now, a problem. How could I get both Vint and myself out of the window without either of us getting badly cut? I couldn’t lower Vint out first, because most of the glass had fallen outside, and he would get hurt, but I also wouldn’t be able to reach him if I went first, and if I tried to carry him out, his back would get badly scratched.

I had an idea. I strode over to the desk, and prised the wooden top off it. Wiping the glass off it, I carried it to a window, and lowered it out onto the roof of the lower deck. Then I lifted Vint up again, and lowered him onto the desktop. Climbing after him, I thought that we were leaving a fairly clear trail to follow, with the blood on our hands and feet. I realised I no longer cared. We could clean up before returning to the others. I raised Vint onto my shoulders and began to descend the ladder.

[Silversnow]

That was just... WOW!!! *eyes jumps out and in* AAAAAOOOOOGAAAA!!!!!

[Danny]

glad you like it! assuming you did...

just two short chaps today...

CHAPTER 19

Looking back, I was sort of proud of the way I handled our problems. Not the Killing part, of course, but the bit after. Only earlier that day, I’d been ashamed at how I was unable to concentrate, unable to stop my mind from wandering. Now, however, I was totally focused, not thinking any unnecessary thoughts. Well, except one, but nobody’s perfect. I just noticed that the sky was getting lighter, and thought that if only that situation had occurred a few hours later, I’d never have seen the Killer, because it would have been light outside. Vint and me would have probably been in the custody of the crew, but there wouldn’t have been killings.

I put the killings from my mind. Focus on the problems in hand, I thought.

We reached the bottom of the ladder. Vint was beginning to stir. I decided that we had to find somewhere to clean ourselves up. I noticed, looking down, that the blood on our feet had dried. That was good; we wouldn’t be in danger of being followed so much. I began to think where we could go to clean up. I remembered the washroom that we had first entered into. That window was already broken, and the crew wouldn’t expect us to go back into the ship, especially not through the same way we came. I decided to head for there. We were on the right side of the ship for that, anyway.

When we reached the washroom, I climbed inside and sat Vint down below the window, out of sight. There were sponges, which I soaked in water, and began to wipe some of the blood away from Vint. He wasn’t badly cut, actually, and very few of the glass shards had stayed in the cuts. The cold sponge awoke him, gently. I paused in my washing, and we looked at each other.

“I’m sorry, Vint.”

He stared at me, then looked away. “You did what you had to do. They would have killed us.”

“No, they wouldn’t. They were probably just going to take us prisoner.”

“Then throw us overboard, or give us to the authorities in whatever city they came to. Then we’d be killed.” He turned back to me. “We’re stowaways, they’d have no sympathy. You heard them yourself. Give me that sponge.” He took it from me, and began to wipe himself. “Clean yourself up, you need it more than me.”

I was quite worried at the way Vint seemed to be suppressing the brutality of what I’d done. Even if they had to die, I could have done it less painfully, with a rifle, or something. What I had done was just gruesome. Numbly, I began to wipe myself with a fresh sponge.

Six. That was my count now.

CHAPTER 20

It always amazes me how easily blood comes off your skin. Even in the state I had been in after I killed Zell, I was still able to sponge off most of the evidence. Of course, in a way, the blood is never really gone; it stays with you, inside. It seeps through your pores, into your skin, and deeper: into your heart, your brain, and your soul. The superficial stain of blood comes away easily enough, but your soul is forever stained. Or for a long time, anyway. At least, it’s a lot harder to remove the blood from your soul. And clothes, for some reason.

But anyway, we’d removed the external blood, which was enough to make me pass for normal in most people’s eyes [the soul blood is invisible to everyone else], and we decided to make a move. We weren’t sure what the crew would do when they found the bodies; they would almost certainly come after us, but where would they look? If they searched the Hold, then the others would be in danger. If they searched the Command Decks first, then we’d be safer in the Hold. Either way, we should return to the Hold as soon as possible.

As we climbed out of the window into the dim morning light, I was struck by a sudden thought.

“Shit,” I said quietly, “It’s all been for nothing, hasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we came up here to get a map, and we never did find one.”

Vint smiled slightly. “Well, actually…” He pulled a folded sheet of paper form his ragged loincloth, and unfolded it. It was slightly bloodstained, but still readable, and still recognisable as a map.

Once more, Vint had put me to shame. Even in the midst of my madness, in that shower of blood, he had still managed to find and keep hold of a map. He had kept his head many times better than I could have, and never lost sight of our goal. Sometimes I envied him. Sometimes I still do, despite all that has happened.

When he saw that I was speechless, he refolded the map, and replaced it in his loincloth. I recovered, grinned at him, and led the way to the hatchway down into the hold. It was still open, just as we’d left it. We climbed down into the Hold, and closed the Hatchway, to cover our tracks. The return journey to our home crate was as uneventful as the outgoing journey had been.

[ June 04, 2001: Message edited by: Rettick ]

[Danny]

*sigh* here's another chapter, you ungrateful wretches...

CHAPTER 21

I never understood why, but Vint never again mentioned the events that had occurred in the Navigation Room. At first I thought that he’d blocked out the memories, but I noticed that he still gave me the occasional odd glance, and seemed slightly suspicious of me for a long time afterwards. I think he probably just recognised that this was something that I wouldn’t like the others all to know about, so he respected what he saw as my secret. I still don’t know if any of them asked him about the bloodstains, and what his reply was.

We confirmed that Carthag was indeed the next stop, and that we should reach it in two more days, if I’d correctly counted the number of days we’d been here for. It was a port in the far southern part of Mudos, not far from the edge of the Great Forest. Verkat wasn’t on the map, and the map covered all of Mudos and some of the outlying islands. This made us all the more determined to leave at Carthag, as it meant that Verkat was probably on Pardos or even Samdos, and probably had tight security.

We decided to set up a kind of shift system like the one we’d had in Cyrcit; one of us would go up on deck, and keep an eye out for land, one would keep an eye out for the crew, and the rest would sleep, unless we needed more food.

It was early morning on the second day of the shifts that Yan woke me up.

“Ulven?”

I stirred, mumbling, and felt a hand closing over my mouth. I opened my eyes to see Yan crouched over me, with one hand over my mouth and the other holding a finger to his own lips. I nodded, acknowledging his finger, and he released my mouth.

“What’s up?” I whispered.

Yan bent closer to me. “The Crew have got patrols out all over the hold. They must be getting ready to catch us when we try to leave the ship.”

“Who’s up top?”

Yan thought for a second. “Rixx, I think.”

“How long have the patrols been out there?”

“They just appeared a few minutes ago. I don’t think they’re quite ready yet, so I thought it might be best to wake you now, and see what people wanted to do.”

Vint, lying beside me, stirred. I stood over him, with my finger over my lips. He moaned a little, but stopped when he saw me. He mouthed the word: ‘What?’

“Crew. Wake the others.”

I climbed up the side of a crate, and peered over the top. I couldn’t see anything at first, but I could hear the rapid tapping of the crew’s hard-soled boots. I climbed back down, to see that Ulp and Olek had been awoken. Quiss slept on; they’d made no attempt to awaken him.

“What should we do?”

Vint looked up at me. “We could wait here, until the crew disembark. Then we leave before their replacements arrive.”

Yan shook his head. “They wouldn’t leave the ship before the replacements get here, especially not now that they know we’re here.”

Ulp spoke up. “We should leave the Hold and get up on the Deck, before the patrols get themselves sorted out.”

Yan nodded, and Vint began to pack his backpack.

I stepped into the centre. “Do we have any weapons?”

Ulp looked up at me. “I think we’ve got a few rifles we nicked from the crates.”

“How many?”

Ulp opened his pack. “I’ve got three.”

Yan was holding another two. “And I’ve got two.”

Ulp smiled. “We only need four, so we’ve got more than we need.”

“What about Rixx?”

Ulp shot me a disgusted look. “We’re not giving the slig a rifle.”

“He hasn’t betrayed us yet.”

“And we’re not giving it the chance. Where is it now, might I ask?”

Yan looked out. “Up top.”

Ulp stood. “You let it go out alone? It’ll betray us to the crew first chance it gets!” He began to climb out.

“Ulp! Don’t start this; we don’t have time.” Vint’s wearied call came too late; Ulp was gone.

Sighing, Yan picked up his pack and followed. “I’ll follow him; you guys join us on deck when you’re ready.”

“Wait.” I threw Yan three of the rifles; one each for him, Ulp, and Rixx. “You’ll probably need these.”

Yan smiled. “Thanks.” And he was gone. I turned to the others. “Olek, could you carry Ulp’s bags; we’ve got our own to carry, and Quiss to help along, not to mention rifles.”

Olek sighed and stood up, which was a complicated manoeuvre for a Glukkon. “Sure. Whatever.”

Vint and me helped him to put on Ulp’s bags, and then we lifted Quiss, with one arm each across our shoulders.

I looked at Vint. “We ready?”

He nodded, so we left the crate for the last time. We normally walked on top of the crates, but that would have been too risky, considering the patrols up there. I felt surprisingly calm and collected. In a way, I suppose my actions in the Navigation Room had built my confidence; whatever happened, I would be able to deal with it. It would be risky, but it was possible that I might be able to… to harness the Killer, and use him for my own purposes. The difficulty would be in getting him to let go, and not to overdo it, as he had in the Navigation Room. But that time, he had taken total control; I wouldn’t be letting him get that far in future: he would go as far as I needed him to, then I would rein him in. I was quite excited at the prospect of attempting to control the Killer, rather than being controlled by him. There was, of course, a rational part of me that knew that I’d never be able to control the Killer, but I pushed that down within my mind.

To my relief [and disappointment] we reached the Hatchway without incident. Vint let me take Quiss’s weight, while he quickly spun the wheel to open the hatchway. We didn’t see the guards at first, and they let us all get out of the hatch before they fired a warning shot over our heads. Spinning around, I saw two mudokons standing on the roof above the hatchway, and found myself staring down a rifle barrel. My own rifle was slung on my back, as was Vint’s, and we were both encumbered by Quiss’s limp form.

“It’s the end of the line for you, now!” The mudokon who had spoken tightened his finger on the trigger of his rifle, which was the one aimed at me. The other mudokon reached over with his free hand and stayed him.

“Hold on, we shouldn’t just kill them. The Captain’ll want to see them, and we’ll be cautioned for killing them without a hearing or anything.”

The first mudokon stared at him. “Did you see what they did to the First Officer? They slit his throat with his own arm bone!”

The other mudokon, who seemed to be in charge, sighed. “I know, but we have to give them a chance. It was self-defence, after all.”

His companion stared at him in disbelief. “You didn’t see the bodies. That was NOT self-defence.”

While his crewmate kept his gun levelled at me, the sympathetic guard approached us, and began to disarm us.

I tried to make contact with the Killer, to bring just a part of him to the surface. Nothing. It was as if he wasn’t even there within me. I was about to give up in frustration, when I felt something. I saw, in my mind’s eye, the Killer before me, his bloodstained fingers still clutching the gleaming fragment of glass. I pictured myself holding my hand out to him, through my revulsion, entreating him to help me. I saw him look at my hand, then grin. Knocking my hand aside, he charged into me, knocking aside the barriers that I had constructed within myself to contain him. All of my plans to allow him limited access to my mind were useless – there was no point in trying to limit him; he would take whatever he wanted of me. He would rape my mind, and leave it to drown in the blood of his victims. I felt my body move under his control, but my nerves seemed to be fading; I could no longer control what my limbs did, and even the sensations were numbing...

[Silversnow]

Aaaaaaha, coool, yesyesyesyes, more blood and gooooore, thats veryvery gooood Rettick. Continu, i want to read bloody crewdeath....

[Danny]

is silver scaring anyone else? oh well, you'll be laughing on the other side of your face in a few chapters' time, my friend...

CHAPTER 22

The first sensation I felt as I awoke was a feeling of despair: a knowledge that I had failed. I sat up and opened my eyes. Looking around, I could see five bodies lying around the Deck: four mudokons and one glukkon. The two mudokon crewmembers were dead; no-one alive would have their head at that kind of angle to their neck. One of them, the one who’d tried to disarm me, also had his arms tied in a complicated knot. All of the bones had been totally shattered in the process, and by the look on his face, it had been done while he was still alive. His comrade had died more humanely, except that his rifle barrel had been shoved into his skull through his eye-socket. I didn’t pay much attention to them – they had been about to kill us anyway, probably. Besides, they were clearly dead; nothing would help them now. Eight. Fuck.

Quiss didn’t seem to have awoken throughout the fight: his face bore the same hauntingly peaceful expression that in had when we’d carried him from the crate. He lay on the floor because Vint, who had been supporting him, seemed to have fainted. As I leaned over Vint, examining him, I saw that one of the bones in his lower arm was broken. It didn’t look too serious, but I somehow suspected that it was my fault.

Olek’s injury seemed more serious. Like Vint, his arm had been broken, but unlike Vint, Olek of course had to walk on it, and so it would hamper him a lot more than it would Vint. He also seemed to have fainted.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I had directly injured Vint and Olek, but I knew that the injuries would not have happened if I had allowed the guards to take us prisoner. I slumped onto the floor, leaning against the wall, tears rolling down my cheeks in despair. I had tried to control the Killer and I had failed. Because of my arrogance, two of my friends were injured. I had delayed us in meeting up with Yan, Ulp, and Rixx, and made it all the more likely that we were all going to die. I made a promise to myself, there and then: I would never again allow the Killer to surface. I would push him down; I would fight him, but I would never allow him to take control.

“Ulven?” Yan’s voice broke my reverie. “Are you okay?”

I looked up. Through my blurred, teary eyes I could see three familiar figures approaching me in the darkness.

“What happened?”

I said nothing as they approached. When they were standing over me, I stood up, and collapsed into Yan’s arms, my tear-streaked face pressed into his shoulder. I wept unashamedly, and Yan comforted me, although I expect he had no idea why I was crying.

“His arm’s broken. It’s a clean break; we should be able to set it.” Ulp’s voice came from behind me, where Vint lay. “You’ve got some medical gear in your pack, haven’t you, Yan?”

I felt Yan nod, and heard sounds of activity to my right. I pulled away from Yan, and wiped my eyes. “Sorry,” I sniffed.

Yan looked at me, puzzled. “It’s all right.”

I shook my head. “Not for crying; for all of this.” When Yan looked puzzled at me, I continued. “I started the fight. They were just going to take us prisoner, but I attacked them. The Madness took over, and they were injured somehow.”

Rixx and Ulp, who were trying to set Vint’s arm, looked up at this. “The Madness?” Rixx’s voice sounded slightly worried. I said nothing. Yan sighed.

“We’d better wake up Quiss.”

I looked at him. “I’ll do it.” I still didn’t know why I felt this attachment to Quiss, but I didn’t want anyone else to awaken him. “You’d better get Olek out of the way first.”

Yan looked down at Olek, as if seeing him for the first time. “Err… Yeah. Ulp, could you and Rixx take him away and try and set his arm when you’re done with Vint?”

Ulp nodded, slowly. I wondered what Yan had said to him to remove his prejudices to this degree, but he seemed to be getting on fine with Rixx and didn’t seem to mind being told to help Olek, either. He finished patching up Vint’s arm, and then picked up the medical gear. With Rixx’s help, he carried Olek around the corner. I crouched down beside Quiss.

“Quiss?” I spoke quietly into his ear. He stirred. “It’s time to wake up.” Groaning, he slowly sat up and opened his eyes. I put my arm around his back, to support him. “We’re going, now, Quiss. Come on.”

“Where…”

I looked up at Yan, who crouched down. “We should find a lifeboat and get away. To Hell with Carthag.”

I turned back to Quiss. “But we’ll need you to help us carry things. Would that be okay? Vint and… Vint’s injured, you see.”

Quiss paused, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll help. Where are the others?”

“We’ll go and join them now. Come on.” I held out my hand. Quiss stared at it for a second, and then grasped it. I helped him up, made sure he was balanced safely, and then let go of his hand. Leaving him, I handed him Vint’s pack, which Yan helped him to put on. I pulled on my own pack, and then approached Vint. I was almost there, when I changed my mind, and called over Yan. “You’d better wake him.”

Yan looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Just… It’s just better that way; trust me.”

Shrugging, Yan moved to wake Vint. I turned away, and helped Quiss around the corner to where Ulp and Rixx were treating Olek. When he saw Olek, he tensed, but he didn’t cry out or attempt to run. I think it was probably because Olek was injured that Quiss saw that he wasn’t a threat. I asked Ulp and Rixx to take care of Quiss for a minute, and then set off down the hull of the ship.

Every few metres, I stopped and looked over the edge, looking for a lifeboat of some kind. After about two minutes, I came to a ladder that ran down the outside of the hull. At the bottom, a boat bobbed on the waves, tethered by a length of rope. I took bearings of my position, and then returned to the others. Yan and Vint had joined them, and I looked at Vint, trying to see if it was me who’d broken his arm. He refused to meet my eyes, and maintained a neutral poker face.

CHAPTER 23

We had some problems getting Vint and Olek down the ladder, but we tied a rope to the railings at the top, and lowered them down gently, and eventually we were all sitting in the lifeboat. Taking a knife out of his pack, Ulp sliced through the rope, and we were free from the Ship.

It was quite light by now, and we weren’t actually far from land: we could see the skyline of a city – Carthag, presumably – on the horizon, in front of the Ship. After a brief argument, we decided the head directly away from the ship for a while, then turn towards the City.

Olek was still unconscious, and Vint was very silent, and wouldn’t even meet my eyes. He fell into an uneasy sleep after a few minutes. Quiss also fell asleep soon after we got onto the boat, as did Rixx. Ulp sat brooding, watching Rixx, Vint and me. I was as silent as Vint, worried that I might let slip what had actually happened. Only Yan seemed fully awake and talkative, but he gave up and settled down to sleep when he realised that none of the rest of us wanted conversation. Ulp and I were supposed to be rowing, but I guess we both fell asleep, like the others. In any case, when I awoke, no one else was awake. It was midday by then, but the sun was hidden from us by thick black storm clouds.

Ignoring the rocking of the boat, I stood up. I had heard about storms at sea: they wrecked ships, even when there were no rocks within miles. The waves sometimes towered hundreds of metres into the air. Our small boat wouldn’t really stand a chance. Looking into the distance, I found that I could still see the city’s skyline. It seemed no closer than it had that morning, but the Ship was gone. We were alone out here.

I reached over the side of the boat, pulling off the lifebelts. Vint and Olek were my priority, as they would be unable to swim, but I found that there was more than enough for all of us. I put two each onto Vint, Olek, and Quiss, put one on myself, and woke the others.

“There’s a storm on its way. You’d better put one of these on.”

Sleepily, Yan and Rixx pulled theirs on. Ulp looked suspiciously at his, but eventually put it on. We sat in silence, waiting for the inevitable storm to break. I don’t know how, but I somehow managed to fall asleep again.

[Danny]

Hello? -Hello- -hello- -hell...-

Anybody There? -anybody there...-

Grr...

[midnight roller]

Please write more. it's very good. I would like to read the rest of it.