Corroded Cells, page 11
part #2 of Cyberpunk Saga Series
“Any sign of activity?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
It worked. “Not yet,” Anders said, tapping the radar. “We’re cloaked now, but we give off heat signatures.”
“Got a couple of tricks up your sleeve?” Moss asked, and he saw Anders grin.
“I’m a pilot, right?” he said suggestively.
“Thought you were a captain?” Gibbs said derisively, and Anders said nothing.
“So, where are the boxes going?” Moss asked, hooking a thumb in their direction. He was more exhausted from dealing with the nonsense between them than being in a gunfight.
“Town not far from here,” he told them. “And before you ask, we’ll be on our way to C City after.”
“Good,” Moss said and added, “thank you.”
“I’d have been up a creek without your help back there, so no thanks are needed. This is an exchange,” Anders said cooly. Moss couldn’t figure the man. He acted casual around them and friendly at times, but there was something in the man—quiet sadness behind the eyes which would seep out in the silent moments.
“Anders,” Moss began, setting a tone. “How long have you been on earth?”
“Why do you ask?” Anders sounded more genuinely curious than evasive.
Moss thought about it a moment. “We’ve been in two fights together in less than a day, figured I should get to know you.”
“Fair enough. I’ve been here about two years. Spent a little time in SeaWa fixing ships, running odd jobs, but the city life wasn’t for me. We have cities back home, and they’re all the same—too many people, not enough space. I’m already accustomed to bottled oxygen, so this part of the planet makes sense for me. I like open spaces, even when they’re viewed from confined ones,” he said, clearly thinking as he spoke.
“That,” Moss said, “I can understand.”
“Live in the city your whole life?” Anders asked, and even Gibbs smiled. Since leaving, everyone had known they were from the Burbs instantly, and it was refreshing to be asked if they were from the city.
“No,” Moss admitted, “born and raised in a ThutoCo Burb. They took my father when they realized he was working from the inside to destroy their plans. I was a kid, and they wiped my memory of the whole affair. The company raised me, and I would have died there if it hadn’t been for her and her friends.”
He pointed to Ynna.
“Now you’re, what, a freedom fighter trying to save the world from tyrannical corporations?” he asked, sounding more condescending than he likely meant to. Moss laughed.
“Something like that,” he said as they crested a small rise, looking down into a valley with a grass-covered hill in the center. As they neared, large circular windows set into the hill became visible. A tower pointed out of the top with dishes on all sides.
“Wow,” Gibbs said, “you know what it looks like?”
“Yeah,” Moss agreed, knowing what his friend meant without having to say it.
Anders furrowed his brow, looking back and forth between the two. “What?”
“Nothing,” Moss smiled, “an old movie.”
“Ah, we don’t get those off-world. When NeoVerge Industries broke away, they destroyed any reminders of earth. Created all new content to keep us from longing for a home we never knew,” Anders said.
“That’s miserable,” Gibbs observed, sounding genuinely sad for them.
“It works,” Anders pointed out, “give people food, a bed, and a screen, and you’ve got a slave for life.”
Moss knew the truth in his words. If this life had not come crashing through his door, he would have spent his entire life as a worker bee watching Burbz Haz Skillz until he died.
They pulled toward a bank of round doors and pulled through one. There were no guards, only cameras with mounted gun turrets. The camera shifted as the vehicle pulled in. The door rolled closed behind them, and the van was washed as they moved to a well-lighted garage.
“I’ll wait with her,” Gibbs offered, and Anders nodded.
He turned to Moss. “You’ll help me offload?”
“Certainly,” Moss said, happy to separate the two from one another.
They hopped out, and Anders pointed to an automated pallet in the corner of the enclosed cement space. They heaved the boxes onto the pallet, and Anders turned on the control. It took a while, and Moss watched as Anders pulled a small bag from the front seat which he quickly hid away in his jacket.
“Ready?” Anders asked as he turned a key in the pallet operator, the square hovering off the ground.
“I’m honestly excited to see what it looks like inside,” Moss told him, and he meant it.
“You should be,” Anders smirked.
Chapter 12
Walking through the bowels of this dome was a completely different experience than the last. Winding corridors of dripping pipes stretched on and on for what seemed to be interminable. It was slow going, the pallet having a low top speed to prevent workplace injuries. They eventually reached a glass elevator, and Anders turned with a broad smile, “I think you’re going to like this.”
Moss didn’t know what to make of the comment and pushed the button to go up a floor. Light filled the elevator as they rose into another world. Moss gasped. They lifted into a dome within the dome, surrounded by water filled with brightly colored fish. The underwater creatures flitted and darted about as the elevator slid into place. Moss pressed his hands to the glass, staring at the animals.
“How?” he exclaimed, childlike enthusiasm coating the word.
“Labor of love,” Anders remarked.
“Clones?” Moss asked, expecting an answer.
“Nope,” Anders said, pleased with Moss’s happiness. “Call themselves The Conservation, work to keep the critters alive. Apparently, this was some kind of research facility before the disease.”
Moss looked around, hardly able to speak. “Remarkable.”
“It is,” Anders agreed, and the doors slid open, pulling Moss’s attention to a man and a little girl in matching green pants and khaki shirts.
“Anders!” the girl shouted and ran into his awaiting arms.
“Captain,” the man acknowledged and turned to Moss. “I’m Administrator Chester, and this is my daughter, Amy.”
“Good to meet you both,” Moss said, shaking the man’s hand. “I’m Moss.”
“Moss,” Chester repeated, “great name. It might interest you to know that we have a small Japanese moss garden with over two hundred species from the Yatsugatake mountain range with some truly beautiful Polystichum Juniperinum growing there. I think you would love it.”
“I think I would,” Moss agreed, having no idea what the words meant or where the mountain range was. “What else do you have here?”
“Oh, my,” Chester said, stoking his cleanly shaved chin. “Quite a lot. The exact numbers change constantly but over two hundred species of animals, not counting the fish and over one thousand types of flora and fauna. Our mission is to protect these wild things for a day when we let this planet return to a natural state.”
Moss’s eyes grew wide at the thought. “Wonderful.”
He watched as Anders slipped the bag from his jacket into the young girl’s hands and realized it was a small fish in the bag. Anders shot her a wink and tussled her hair before she skipped off excitedly.
“What’d you bring her this time?” Chester asked with a kindly smile.
“Just a little something I picked up,” Anders said in affected coyness.
“You’re incorrigible.” Chester laughed. “This it?” he asked, pointing to the boxes.
“Yes, but I won’t be able to get you much more for a while, I think. ThutoCo got wise,” Anders said.
“Bound to happen,” Chester said sullenly. “This should last us a while though, get it into the hands of the engineers and we’ll be back up and running.”
“Good to hear,” Anders said.
“And as for payment?” Burr asked.
“Same as always,” Anders replied, shifting uncomfortably.
Chester seemed to pick up on the energy and looked at Moss, “Anything I can get you? Would you like to take a look around?”
“Yes!” Moss answered without thinking, turning to Anders and covering, “Ynna’s probably still out, so we have some time.”
“Sure.” Anders chuckled. “And I could eat. Asshole came at me before the food came.”
Moss became aware of his own hunger, “We should bring some back for them, too.”
“We will,” Anders said. “Chester, you willing to take him around and feed him and I’ll take this down to engineering?”
“Sure thing,” Chester said.
“Catch you in a bit,” Anders said to Moss.
“Follow me,” Chester said, leading Moss down the corridor which led from the elevator. He waved a keycard, and a door hissed open. Moss’s heart nearly jumped from his chest. He turned into a room of metal pathways hung over an open pool from the roof of the dome with its massive circular windows fitted with light distributors that illuminated the room in bright, natural light. Waves lapped against the walls and fish moved between the corals deep below. Glass tanks were set on open platforms with small habitats within. Colorful birds squawked as they flew overhead to land on large cement perches cut to resemble tree limbs.
Two glass balls the size of buildings sat on either side of the room, filled with trees and animals which moved between the leaves.
Moss, mouth agape said, “It’s like a Burb for animals.”
Chester laughed, “I’ve never thought of it in those particular terms. We keep them alive and as genetically diverse as we can for a potential release someday. Many things must change in the interim, though.”
“Yes,” Moss agreed, wishing he could simply snap his fingers and change the world. Guilt struck him then. For as much as he wanted to stay, gawking and speaking to all the people taking notes on tablets, he knew his friends were in dire need. This whole journey had taken longer than he had hoped, and he needed to help his crew. “Perhaps we should eat and be on our way,” he said miserably.
“Sure,” Chester said as a shark moved slowly under the platform at their feet. He guided Moss to a large cafeteria where people sat in their uniformed attire, eating and chatting. They both got plates of salad and sat at a long table. “Seen any wildlife on your trip?” Chester asked, looking in Moss’s eyes.
He was older than Moss by about ten years, he guessed, and of a slender build, with curious green eyes. His skin appeared to have never seen the sunlight except for that which filtered through the windows. Moss told him of the bears and the feeling of wonderment which struck him at seeing them.
Chester nodded along and put some information into a tablet after asking where Moss thought the animals had been located.
After a brief moment of silence, Moss sheepishly asked, “Are there elephant seals here?”
“No,” Chester said with a sullen smile. “Animals of that size require more space than we can provide.”
“Oh,” Moss’s face dropped.
“You seem very interested in the natural world,” Chester observed.
“I’m coming to realize how true that is,” Moss agreed.
“We always need more hands,” Chester offered, and Moss smiled.
“Maybe one day,” he said, and he meant it, “but I have a lot of work to do.”
Chester looked at him with interest. “I imagine you do.”
A moment of silence passed between them before Moss asked what he had been wanting to for a while. “Have you known Anders long?”
Chester shifted slightly, clearly unsure how much to divulge.
“A while, yes,” Chester said before deflecting, “he’s very good with my daughter.”
“I saw that.” Moss nodded. “You think he has children?”
“I think you could ask him,” Chester said before thinking better of his answer. “Look, Moss, I don’t know you, but you seem a good sort, and I can tell you the captain is, too. He is kind and honorable, and I know it would pain him for me to tell you, but he gathers supplies for us for free. Sure, he’ll take a room or a meal but never asks for more than that.”
“I got that sense,” Moss told him.
“And I think if he had children, they are gone now,” Chester added, poking at his salad without looking up.
“You think he would help strangers simply because it was the right thing to do?” Moss asked, getting to the heart of it.
“I do,” Chester said and began eating his salad.
They chatted idly a while longer, speaking of plants and animals. Chester got Moss some food in containers he could take back before beginning to walk back toward the elevator.
“You think I could see that moss room?” Moss asked quietly.
“Of course,” Chester affirmed easily, and they turned down a long corridor to another glass room. “Would you like a minute?”
“Yes, thank you,” Moss said, and Chester waved him in. The smell of wet earth filled his nose, and a few birds pecked about as Moss sat on a small bench in one corner. Except for a slight gravel path, the room was fully green. All the rocks and logs were covered with fine green fur. He thought about the AI construct of his father which he lost in the explosions at ThutoCo HQ.
“I hope this is what you wanted,” he said aloud. “I hope you are proud of what I’ve done, of what I’m doing. We brought down ThutoCo, but they are fighting back, and there is so much more that needs to be done. I’ve tried my best to be good and honorable, but I know I’ve failed. People have died, others taken. I’m not sure how to earn their sacrifices, but I’m trying. I found your mother. I’m trying to help her. I hope that counts for something.”
His voice echoed off the glass, staying with him after he spoke. He knew his father was dead. Knew he was alone, but it helped him to say the words out loud. He gritted his teeth and steeled himself for the road ahead. He understood he was up against impossible odds—breaking into a prison to free several people who Carcer valued.
It would be tough, and he might not survive, but he owed it to them to try. As he stood, he saw a small bumpy green frog spotted with brown sitting on his shoe. He looked down and smiled, but as he went to pick it up, it hopped toward a small burbling pond.
“I’ll do what I can to give you your world back,” he said, turning away from the room.
Anders was standing with Chester when Moss left the room.
“Ready to go?” Anders asked, food slung under one arm.
“Not really, but yes,” Moss answered truthfully.
“As I said, you are always welcome,” Chester said kindly, extending a hand.
Moss looked around once more. “I truly hope to return.”
“I think that you will,” he said and turned to Anders, “a pleasure as always. Thanks for Amy’s gift. I’m sure you’ve made her day.”
“Certainly hope so,” Anders said, genuine kindness in his words.
“Good luck, gentlemen,” and he left them. Moss looked at Anders.
“I imagine she’s awake by now,” Anders said.
“Let’s get going then.” Moss was sad to leave but ready to help his friends. They walked back to the elevator in silence. As they descended, Moss cleared his throat a bit awkwardly.
Anders raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“I have a question, and you are under no obligation. I mean, I know you know that, but I just mean, well, I was hoping,” he stuttered, his words failing him when he needed them most.
Anders held up a calming hand. “You want my help when we get to C City?”
Moss let out a deep sigh of relief. “Yes.”
“And you want it for free?” he asked.
“We have nothing to offer you now, but after,” he began, but Anders shook his head.
“Listen, I know you’re up against it, and I know you are trying to do good. I’ll help you. But not for money or rewards. I’ll help you because I can,” he said.
Something seemed to have changed in the man. Some altruistic switch had been flipped, and Moss guessed he had the little girl to thank.
Moss looked into Anders’s bright, chestnut eyes. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I could work for Carcer and be leading you to your death,” he said in mock seriousness.
“Don’t put that thought in my head. We were having a nice moment!” Moss exclaimed, smiling as they moved down the hall plastered with safety information. He liked Anders. He was happy that he had agreed to help, for all he had done and for bringing him here, but more than that, Moss just liked how he was—tough but easy to talk to.
Anders chuckled. “Just keeping you on your toes.”
“I’m always on my toes,” Moss remarked, and he felt that those words were truer than just about anything. Even in the moments of calm between missions or on pointless days just lounging around, Moss was never truly able to relax. He realized he probably hadn’t since leaving the burbs.
“Bet you are,” Anders said, still chuckling to himself.
“While I’m asking favors,” Moss added.
“Gotta push your luck?” Anders quipped.
Moss shrugged. “May as well.”
“You want me to lay off Ynna?” he asked knowingly.
“Yes,” Moss said, “it’s just—”
“That your friend is smitten. Yeah, I see it. She sees it, too, not for nothing. I could lay off, but if she wants a piece, I’m not one to refuse a lady,” Anders put bluntly.
Moss huffed. “Fair enough.”
“Trust me, nothing will make up a person’s mind faster than you trying to make it up for them,” Anders advised. “Life will play itself out.”
“Right,” Moss said, no longer thinking about Gibbs and Ynna.
“Hit on something there, did I?” Anders asked as they neared the garage.
Moss looked up at him, stopping in front of the door. “That obvious?”
“That obvious,” Anders replied. They entered the garage as Ynna stretched and Gibbs fiddled with his rifle. Gibbs’s eyes widened as he saw the food in Moss’s arms. He hustled over.
