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Papa. Do you want to play with me?
Not now darlin', your father is...
I'm going to hang out with some friends.
Okay! Bye papa!
Dad? Can I have some money to get a
drink with my friends? I'm sorry darlin' we're a bit
short on money this week. Next week, okay?
I promise. Oh, yeah.
Okay, Dad. Dad, I'm going to the dive,
okay? Dad, did you see my wallet?
No, darlin', please. Your dad has a headache.
Hey! Why do you have my wallet?
I got us some groceries. It's okay.
I'll pay you back. I got groceries yesterday.
You're fucking lying. Darling, please don't shout.
My head, I can explain. Fuck you!
You can't always see if someone is suffering.
Using Neomorphic Memories affects more than your present.
It destroys your future. Wake up, New Vilirth!
I'm Frida Oblak coming live to you from the New Vilirth
Broadcast Center with the weather and traffic report.
We have another cloudless day ahead of us, promising a
significant change in temperature tonight, dropping
from 40 degrees Celsius to minus 15 after sunset.
Furthermore, sandstorms are approaching the city from the
east and will arrive tonight as dusk settles in.
Make sure to close your windows and doors and pay extra
attention during the evening rush as visibility will be low.
Weather for the remainder of the week is a steady 35 degrees and
sunny with persistent strong winds.
On the roads, there are no traffic jams to report.
The southern underground entrance from the docks will
reopen tomorrow. That was all, Regulus.
Back to you. Wake up, New Vilirth!
Chapter one Hot as they make 'em They've gotten to this one too.
I looked down at the casket. Sand pooled in from the sides
and onto the headless body. Sheets were wrapped around it.
I kicked the lid back in place and started shoveling the red
sand back over the grave. The headstone began sinking
forward. I pushed it back with my boot
and threw some sand around it in an attempt to keep it upright.
I petted the headstone and straightened.
The sun burned through the shawls I had draped over my
head. I kept having to defog my
goggles and sweat pooled in the nape of my neck under my long
braid. For the umpteenth time in these
past five moons I debated cutting it all off.
But when the frustration would ebb I knew I'd regret it.
It was the only frivolous thing I still had to take care of.
Rhea stood on a sand dune next to a large headstone.
The sun shone behind her casting a long shadow on the sand that
almost reached me. The shadow at my feet tilted its
head mirroring Rhea. Rhea too had draped shawls over
her hair and around her neck and shoulders.
They billowed in the wind. The sun which cut out her
silhouette against the blue sky added to her imposing figure.
I started my climb up the sand dune.
My feet slipped in the sand causing every step to cost twice
the effort. As I neared the top our
hovercraft came into view behind Rhea.
It was a lot more bulky than I liked my hovers.
It used to be a cargo model until we stole it.
The hover stood next to a crumbling wall which was most
what was left of this village. We had passed it on our way back
expecting very little. If we found the village this
easily we figured nothing would be left.
Unfortunately we were right. Tuula!
Again just call her Lu. If anything she listens better
to that. I muttered the words because
Rhea wasn't going to listen to them.
Lu told me to stop trying moons ago.
You make it sound like she's a dog.
Well you make it sound as if we're in a formal business
relationship. Where on earth is she?
Lu was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but these
ruins and beyond that stretched only desert.
Tuula, hurry up! The sun made her grumpy, more so
than usual. Rhea turned to me.
Where is she? Hey, I don't know.
Coming! A voice echoed from between the
ruins. Lu came jogging around the
corner. She was carrying something but
from this distance I couldn't tell what.
I found an old car. Or well, parts of it had been
ripped apart but most of the tech was still intact.
She held up her hands, one normal and the other made from
metal starting from the elbow. She showed us the bits and
pieces. Her goggles sat on her head and
she pulled her mask down. Her face was covered in dust yet
her eyes were bright and excited.
That's nice. We have to get going.
I want to be in the city either tonight or early morning.
So you have told us for the eighteenth time already.
Rhea was already walking down the dune towards our hovercraft.
She probably could hear me but decided to ignore me.
Lu stuffed the materials in a satchel and followed Rhea.
She barely reached Rhea's chest. Seeing the difference between
them was almost comical. While Lu was a few years younger
than us, her height sometimes got her mixed up for a teenager.
Or even a child. Lu's black hair accentuated her
round face. It was choppy and uneven in some
places. It danced around her face as she
slid down the dune. She was the only one who dared
to cut her hair these past moons.
I moved to follow when I saw something in the corner of my
eye. What's that?
I stopped and looked around but saw nothing but silent ruins.
A trick of the light, perhaps. Or a shadow.
Except that there were no shadows here.
At least none that moved. Get the hover started.
I sprinted forward. From my back I took my father's
sniper rifle. I loaded it mid-run.
Which was about the only smooth move I could pull off with this
thing. Until five moons ago I had never
even once loaded it. A bullet tumbled from my hand,
disappearing into the sand. Oh, feck me.
I considered fishing it out. We didn't have an unlimited
supply. Then it got my head back.
No matter. Nothing that was here with us
would be friendly. I needed to run.
What is it? She also started to run.
No clue! But it can't be good!
Go! Go!
As soon as Rhea reached the hover, she hopped in and
disappeared into the cockpit. I hurtled down the slope of the
dune and met Lu halfway to the hovercraft.
That's when the sand broke open in front of us.
Neekh! It was a fitting name for the
beast. The first thing I saw was its
tail, curled over its body with an unpleasant stinger at the
end. I didn't like scorpions when
they were normal sized, and this one reached up to our waists.
Its claws came out of the sand, bigger than my head.
Its body was half transparent and brown, its veins bulged
under the surface. The bullet left my barrel
seconds later and planted in the animal's shoulder.
Before it could finish shrieking, its shoulder
exploded, ripping off one of its claws.
These bullets are fantastic! Thanks!
Alright, stand back! She threw a fabricated bomb and
it hit its target. The Neekh's flank exploded.
Did that do it? Nope!
It barreled towards us, albeit not as fast as it probably would
have liked, but still fast enough.
I reloaded my sniper rifle, but missed.
I was too close to get a proper shot.
Fuck! Willow!
Here! Lu threw me a pistol.
I let it rattle, shooting bullet after bullet into the beast's
body as it came closer. The moment the bullets settled
into the Neekh's skin, they exploded, splattering us with
goo. Why isn't it stopping?
It should be dead by now! A glint of silver hurled towards
us, and it landed perfectly in the Neekh's long tail to which
its nasty stinger was attached. Too bad it wasn't female.
The poison they carried could have made our profits so much
nicer. The Neekh turned around,
barreling towards Rhea in the hover's opening.
Tuula! The name carried a simple
command, and Lu threw another bomb.
Come on! The explosion stopped the beast
in its tracks, confusing it. In that moment, Rhea lunged
forward with another one of those lethal daggers.
She sliced open the beast's entire side, spilling guts onto
the sand. The Neekh, however, wasn't ready
to give up and swung its tail right at where Rhea had just
been, towards the hover. I shouted as it smashed through
the side, leaving a gaping hole in the grey hull.
Several crates tumbled out. I launched forward like one of
my bullets. I was too late.
I nearly stopped breathing as the crates split apart in the
sand. Even with the Neekh shrieking, I
heard the vials break. I knelt down next to the crate.
I tried to get the clear liquid back into the vials, but it
spilled onto the sand and pooled around my knees.
No, no, no, no, no! Willow, watch out!
I turned in time to see the beast charge towards me.
Rhea jumped and landed on its back.
I jumped away from the hover to avoid getting smashed by the
Neekh. I watched Rhea pull out her
dagger and slice off its tail with one swoop.
The tail flopped down at my feet.
Rhea pulled out a gun and aimed it directly at its head.
The shot blew out its eyes, splattering brain matter on the
three of us. We took a moment to catch our
breath. Well, that went better than last
time. I looked at the gaping hole in
the side of the hover. The crates lay smashed in the
sand. I felt sick to my stomach to
guess how much profit that had cost us.
Fuck! She looked at the spilled
liquid. I told you to watch the hover.
Fuck! Can you fix it?
I was unsure if I should be more concerned about the vials or the
fact that there was a giant hole in the side of the hover.
No worries. Give me one, maybe two bells and
I'll have it up and running again.
That car had some panels I can use.
Should be fine. Get going.
We need to get out of here before it gets dark.
Five more minutes! Great!
Her voice came from inside the hover and sounded more muffled
because of a dust mask. The sun burned down on us.
The carcass of the Neekh smelled.
It started to attract flies. For now.
I didn't want to find out what else it would attract once the
sun went down. Rhea had been sitting behind the
hover on the same red stone in the slither of shadow for the
last three bells. Her black waves swallowed the
light completely. A row of silver piercings shone
on her ear. A single braid ran from the top
of her head, keeping loose strands out of her angled face.
Rhea slid a knife against the dark stone.
Five knives lay by her feet, sharpened.
A thin sheen of sweat lay over her blue-tinted grey skin, which
was typical to the Dökkálfar. The telling yellow pupils of a
night elf glinted behind her goggles.
I tried to sprinkle questions into our conversations, curious
to find out more about who Rhea Räsänen was.
But she was a closed book. A glued shut encased in a welded
box and thrown into the depths of the ocean type of closed
book. Lu stepped out from the hover,
her cheeks red and her hair crumpled.
That should do it. Are you sure?
We admired Lu's work. Rough welding lines glistened,
wriggling around the hole the Neekh had made in the side of
the hover. Don't worry, I know my onions.
I watched the hole apprehensively, but I didn't say
anything. I jumped onto the hover's ledge
and disappeared into the small cabin.
By all hells it's blazing in here!
Sorry. Oh no, it's fine.
It's... cozy. The air conditioning had given
out one moonspan ago. Although Lu kept fixing it, it
kept breaking. After the fifth time it broke,
Lu wasn't even able to hear the words air conditioning without
getting angry. I plopped down and turned the
key in the ignition. Alright.
And the hover rumbled to life. Or more like roared.
I flinched and looked at Lu, who shrugged.
It's working. I kept my doubts to myself.
I put on the headphones that connected to my transmitter and
I took the steering wheel. We didn't mention the automatic
pilot to Lu either. Rhea strapped herself in next to
me. The radar spread out on the
screen in front of her. The moment I heard the click
from her buckle, I blasted away towards the horizon.
With the doors closed and my headphones on, I could almost
ignore the rattling of the hovercraft.
I really did believe Lu had fixed it, or at least tried her
very best, but the options were rather limited in the middle of
the desert. We had prepared for common fixes
such as failing motor drives, broken fan blades and oxidized
switches, but we hadn't exactly planned for a Neekh to smash
through the side of our hovercraft.
Or maybe we had. It was the sort of thing that
happened out in the desert and the reason why we brought
someone like Lu. Sand blasted around us.
The cloud obscured my sight, but I could rely on the radar the
one thing that did still work around here.
I sank in my chair and rolled back my shoulders.
What do you reckon? Can we still make it tonight?
Possibly. It should be around ten bells to
the city. If we skip dinner it should be
possible. Dinner is not going to make a
difference. I heard Lu open a toolbox.
The rusted and sandy hinges squeaked through my transmitter.
I glanced around. Lu unscrewed her arm and placed
it on a tray in a lap, where an assortment of wires and a
circuit board already lay. As she worked they danced around
the tray to the vibration of the hovercraft.
Behind us the hover was filled with wooden crates in so many
different sizes and colours it somehow looked intentional.
The only thing they had in common were the words we had
painted onto them with a neat stencil.
Fragile, handle with care. We had done a shabby job of
strapping everything together, but at least it wouldn't shoot
forward. By some miracle it survived even
that Neekh attack, more or less. We should start heading east.
We'll get too close to the von Leirkov mines.
I pulled up a map of snaking lines on the orange and black
screen. They'll be shut when we pass.
My uncle and Niiilas, my cousin, usually work until nine bells at
the latest. We'll be avoiding a lot of open
sand. There are great patches of drift
sand if we go straight to the city.
I trust Tuula did as good of a job as she could, but I don't
want to get stuck there. I don't think this thing can
handle another monster. I corrected the direction.
I preferred to use the position of the sun, but with the sand
obscuring my vision I had to rely on the compass.
Its needle shifted southeast. My map showed the edges of the
mountain ranges to the east, rising from the dregs of the
desert. The highest peak of the Copper
Mountain shadowed the von Leirkov mines to the South.
A few more bells and we would be able to see Mount Spinel.
Down the mountain range towards the south lay a maze of roads.
Most were inaccurate or no longer in working order.
The map hadn't been updated in a while.
Around those snaking roads the city of New Vilirth spread out,
dipping its toes into the southern sea.
Darkness took its time in the desert.
For miles and miles there was nothing to obscure the sun
before it dipped beyond the dunes.
Although I longed for shade, I knew I'd soon miss the warmth as
temperatures plummeted far below zero during the night.
The sun threatened to disappear for the night.
I wasn't very hungry, but my arms and legs were sore.
Let's stop for dinner. Five minutes.
Ten. Any damage caused by another
monster will be taken off your profit.
Fine. Good.
Rhea unpacked the camping stove and three packs of powdered food
and stepped out of the hover. It took several minutes while we
prepared dinner for the dust to settle around us.
In the far distance a patch in the dark sky seemed to glow.
It might be the darkness playing tricks on my eyes, as it was
barely visible, but it sent a shiver through me.
We were so close. When I looked back at Lu and
Rhea, Lu's eyes were fixed into the distance as well.
Rhea, unfazed, held out a cup of unrecognizable stew to me.
I picked up a spoon and wiped it on my pants, which added as much
sand as it brushed off. And also a bit of Neekh
splatter. Disgusting.
I blew on it for good measure but gave up pretty quickly.
Sand ground through my teeth as I chewed.
I miss food the most. She held up a spoon.
Chunky orange stew splashed back into the cup.
I miss not having sand on my everything.
Although solid food came as a close second.
A shower and a piece of bread. Rhea stayed quiet.
Lu and I lapsed into silence as well.
The last streaks of sunlight threw our faces into heavy
shadows. We should get going.
I dragged myself out of the sand.
I can take over for a while. My first instinct was to say no.
I could handle it. But darkness had true and well
set in, which meant we had been going for the past six bells at
least. And Rhea, with her Dökkálfar
eyesight, was better at the evening shifts.
Instead of settling myself on one of the passenger seat, I
chose to head into the bedroom. We had left a narrow path
through the crates that led to a room with two bunk beds.
The one bed that wasn't occupied was filled with more wooden
crates. But also food, clothes, books
and many unidentifiable electrical items in various
stages have been taken apart. A sniper case pretended to be a
human in the upper left bunk. Every inch of space was covered
with a fine layer of red desert dust.
Not even the withered house plant had escaped a coating.
I flicked a finger against the plant to shake off the sand.
Evening, Engelbert. I pulled off my vest.
You could use some water. Perhaps I won't forget tomorrow.
I unstrapped my utility belt and laced down my boots.
Undoing myself from those things almost felt like a relief.
Now all I needed was a shower long enough to drain the entire
city's water tank. I lifted my father's sniper case
from the bed. Carefully set it aside and
climbed in. I had a few seconds to wonder if
the sound of the hover would keep me awake when I fell asleep
on top of the blankets. I woke up freezing.
Groggily, I pulled the sheets over my body, but now that I was
cold a thin sheet wouldn't help. Five minutes later I gave up and
climbed over the edge of my bunk down the stairs, avoiding the
last step which had already broken.
We had made the bunk beds from some scrap wood in the week
after acquiring the cargo hover. Clearly none of us were
carpenters, although Lu came closest to it.
At least she knew how to hold a saw.
Hello sleepyhead. She, with her hair sticking out
at all sides, looked like she had just woken up from a nap as
well. I slid into the seat next to
Rhea and shook the sand out of my headphones before putting
them on. It was still dark outside, but
the horizon was no longer empty. Instead, sandbanks had changed
into rocks and here and there some yellow grass.
To our left, the Copper Mountains loomed with Mount
Spinel in its midst, steep and tall enough to obscure any sky.
And straight ahead, a metropolis of light lay in the dark.
Our headlights were off, but my eyes were accustomed to the dark
and I could see the silhouettes of the buildings growing.
At night, the city looked grand. Skyscrapers reached as high as
the mountain peaks on our side. The lights of the city shone
brighter than the stars up ahead.
Even during the witching bell, New Vilirth was alive.
I smiled. We've been receiving radio
signals. I leaned over to change the
frequency of the radio. ...with the news in five minutes, but
first, I invite you to listen to this new song.
In my opinion, it's a hit. Their name is Ziff, and this is
Hell of a Ride. Midnight, with Matt and Mason.
Yeah! Yeah, you betcha.
It was good to finally hear voices different from Rhea's and
Lu's. Rhea steered the hover to the
west of the city. Here, instead of an entrance of
skyscrapers, we were greeted by towers of garbage.
Rhea closed the air vents, but even so, the sour smell seeped
into our hover and lingered for minutes afterwards.
The wastelands merged into the outskirts of the city.
I never came here, to where the tracks ended in the abandoned
marshalling yard. Dozens of trains, of which Lu
would have been able to sell the model, stood collecting dust.
To me, they were just old rattlers, rusted through with
red sand piled up against their wheels.
We followed the tracks that led from the marshalling yard past
Alte Westmark station. A building loomed in front of
us. I knew what was coming.
For a moment it seemed like we were headed straight towards it,
but then the track dove Underground and we followed it
into the tunnel. I unclasped my fingers from the
edge of my chair. Dodging a ravaged train, Rhea
flew deeper into the maze of tunnels.
They opened up into a cavern that dwarfed our hover.
Layers of shops, houses and pubs clung to the wall like
mushrooms. Walkways and stairways connected
the different levels of buildings.
The streets bustled with life, despite the late night.
In the throng of vehicles no one noticed our spluttering hover.
Rhea turned into a dead-end alley where she parked the
hover. The three of us would have flown
through the roof hadn't it been for our buckles.
One of the wooden crates slid out of its bindings and Lu just
managed to catch it before it smashed to the ground.
Fuck! Shit!
Rhea turned the key in the ignition, but it wouldn't start.
It's done. I'll check it out once
everything is inside. She placed the crate neatly on
top of the others and stretched. Her back cracked loudly.
Okay, let's do this. I pulled open the door and took
in the warm, stuffy smell of the Underground with a dramatic
inhale. We were back.
Dust never settled here. A constant haze lay over New
Vilirth like a dirty camera lens.
I jumped down. Gravel crunched under my boots.
Rhea and L u stepped down on either side of me.
We watched the city. It stank.
The heat made sure everything we threw out started rotting right
away. That smell combined with the
rank stink of the sewers and the overwhelming petroleum gases
made for a lovely cocktail. Repulsing, yet somehow soothing.
Or familiar, at least. Soothing might be pushing it.
Rhea had parked the hover underneath a wooden set of
stairs that led into a house halfway up the cavern walls.
Let's get this upstairs. The Vanguard might have already
picked up on us returning. The thought made me anxious.
Rhea was never entirely clear on what her current standing with
the Vanguard was. For me, this was a one-off job.
I wasn't in any hurry to get on the Vanguard's bad side.
Sure it's not that dire. Right?
Rhea had already picked up two boxes and was making her way up
the stairs. I followed her.
I knew which steps to skip and which side of the stairs to
take, even with my eyes closed. Although I knew it wouldn't be
fun the tenth time I walked up these stairs with a chest in my
hands, I reveled in it now. We turned the corner and the
front of my house became visible.
If you could call it a house. It was more like a hut, but it
did have glass windows and some charm in its weathered wood.
It sat quite high up the tunnel's wall.
Another set of stairs broke out from the main one leading to my
front door. I sped up, pushing onto Rhea's
heels. She landed on a veranda of
sorts. I squeezed past her and stuck
the key in the first lock, and then the second, and the third,
and I undid the bolt and opened the door.
More dust greeted us. Willow.
I'm taking a moment. She stepped straight into my
house. It was strange to be back.
New Vilirth had never truly felt like home.
Home was on the other side of the sea.
However, being away for five moons had made me realize how
much I had started to rely on this place.
I set the crate down in the back room that acted as a bedroom,
but hid a storage. My paramedic uniform still lay
thrown over a chair, where I dumped it, expecting to put it
on the next day, and then I never did again.
A calendar on the wall still hung on almost half a year ago.
Nothing was marked on it, except for the twentieth day.
That was when I got to call my dad.
Fifteen precious minutes, once every other moon.
I had missed this moon's call by a few days.
I wanted to linger, but Rhea had already gone back down to the
hover, and I knew I should too. I darted down the stairs to grab
the next batch. We ran up and down in a
procession. By the time I picked up the last
crate, I was covered in sweat. Several splinters had pierced
through my skin. I placed the crate on top of the
others and assessed my hands. I plucked a shallow splinter out
of my palm. Rhea slammed the door and bolted
it shut. I walked back into the living
room to find Lu already sprawled on the couch.
Usually the couch was a faded yet pleasant green, but
currently was completely covered with dust.
So was everything else. I heaved a sigh but joined Lu on
the couch. I'd deal with that tomorrow.
We'll have to get rid of it as soon as possible.
She sat down in front of us. Tonight, if we can.
Tuula, can make sure the hover is working?
I'll take some food first. Something solid.
Willow, this is serious. We'll get something from the
hover. Great.
More stew. Yay.
I slipped further down on the couch.
We stayed like that for a while. In the end I closed my eyes.
I'd have to get up eventually, but travel had made me weary.
I just wanted to sleep. A bad idea, because it put me at
a disadvantage when the door slammed open in a thousand
splinters and windows on either side crashed.
Hands pushed me into the couch and the cold barrel of a gun
pressed against my temple. What are you doing here?
The crates were visible from where I sat.
Panic surged through my body. I struggled against the hand
that held me. But it was no use.
Rhea swung towards her attackers.
She landed a hit on someone dressed in all black but was
wrestled down. Three, five, ten figures were
upon us. A cloth pressed against my
mouth. I writhed when a sharp smell
burned in my nose and throat. I hadn't even had time to get up
from my lounging position to give so much as a kick.
I tried to focus, tried to stay awake, but my body gave up on me
and I sank into blackness. We hope you've enjoyed your
stay.