Down in the Underworld

Chapter 27 - The Ghost

Spectra dragged the unconscious girl behind her down the hallway towards a large circular door. Over her shoulders hung a medium sized backpack, which contained the part of the machine that she’d been through all this trouble to get. It was surprisingly light for its size, and the cool metal dug into her back at odd angles, but she didn’t mind too much. She had other things to worry about right now. According to the scan she’d obtained of the house, this door would lead to a back way out of the house. From there she could make her way out to the streets without anyone asking silly questions, or trying to do anything stupid like stopping her. Looking down at the body she was pulling along behind her, she sighed. Spectra knew she’d have to pick the girl up sooner or later. She couldn’t just drag her all the way back to her own ship as much as she wanted to. Reaching the door, she pushed it open, and bending down picked the girl up easily, hoisting her over her shoulder. Stepping outside, Spectra looked around furtively. She knew she couldn’t turn on her suit, which would make her invisible to anyone unless they were looking straight at her, but it wouldn’t hide the girl she was carrying and she was pretty sure that someone would notice a girl seeming to float down the street in mid-air. The catch was she didn’t want anyone to see her face either. Her purple skin was unmistakably non-human, and that would only cause trouble. In the end she settled for putting her helmet back on, pulling it over her hair awkwardly while trying not to drop Phoenix in the process. It wasn’t great as disguises go, but it wasn’t the worst option either.

As Spectra moved through the back streets of Royale she headed West, which would take her down towards the docks and the only way out of the city. She noted the destruction they had left behind earlier with satisfaction, but a bitter part of her heart knew they could’ve done more damage. Silently she cursed Demise and his cautiousness, or whatever it was that slowed his hand to total ruin. Either way the result was the same. Instead of destruction, they had created a distraction so she could get into the house and find the final piece of the machine while Demise and the Overworlders went back to find the sunken Anhinga and retrieve the other part they needed. Demise was completely unaware of course that Lady and her crew had survived. He would be pissed when she told him, Spectra smiled to herself, but she knew that when he heard that they had leverage in the form of the unconscious Phoenix, he would soon change his mood.

As she approached the dock, Spectra was surprised to see it was a hive of activity. She had assumed that everyone would be working to help the injured and clean up the city. Hanging over her shoulder, Phoenix was still dead to the world as Spectra weaved between the shadows and piles of wreckage. Glancing over to where she had moored her own small sub, Spectra noted that it was thankfully far enough away from the others that she could reach it without drawing to much attention to herself if she moved carefully. Taking a deep breath within her helmet, she stepped forward and immediately into the path of a tired looking young man.

‘Is she hurt bad?’ he asked, staring up into the visor of her helmet.

‘Uh no,’ stammered Spectra caught off guard, her brain shifting into overdrive, ‘just unconscious … she’s ah … one of my crew… I’m just taking her back to my sub where she can rest.’

‘Does she need to see a doctor? Or I can help you find a nice hotel room? More space and all that, I’m sure we can arrange something under the circumstances,’ offered the boy, ‘after all, we stand together right – we can be heroes and all that, just like Bowie says. 

‘I’d prefer she was on my sub, I know she’ll be safe there and I have my own medical equipment …’ 

‘It’s up to you of course, but you mustn’t think badly of Royale … I’m sure it was just an isolated attack, we’re generally pretty protected down here, Cal sees to that,’ explained the boy.

‘Yes … I’m sure he does,’ said Spectra, frowning beneath her visor.

She vaguely wondered how this boy would react if he’d seen what she’d done to Cal. Seen him lying in a pool of his own blood, slowly dying, while that other girl tried frantically to stop the bleeding. Seeing her covered in his blood, and some of her own. Why that girl even cared Spectra didn’t understand. Breathing in deeply she fought the urge to shake her head. They were just insects, all of them.

‘Anyway, you can take her to the Medsci Trict if she doesn’t get any better, and as I said there are plenty of places where you can stay if you choose,’ the boy offered helpfully.

‘OK, thanks … I better keep moving, she’s getting heavy,’ Spectra smiled behind her visor, realising too late the boy couldn’t see her face and so the gesture was useless.

‘Sure, of course, do you need a hand then?’

‘No, I’m fine really,’ Spectra said firmly, hoping he’d get the hint.

‘Of course,’ he nodded.

‘See you ‘round,’ Spectra added before walking off quickly. She was losing patience.  This conversation was already about 5 sentences too long.

The boy watched her stride away towards the dock, but something about her gave him the heebie-jeebies. Turning away, he decided he didn’t want to find out what that was. It was better that she left town, or at least stayed on her own ship. He didn’t want anything to do with her. Who walks around with their diving helmet on anyway?

By the time Spectra reached her submarine, she was almost running. The machine on her back was bouncing around wildly, digging into her skin through her suit, but she didn’t care. She was starting to feel claustrophobic and couldn’t get out of this place quick enough. There was still so much work to do. She had to deliver the girl to Demise for a start and meet up with her people back on dry land. Then – once they had all the parts they needed – they had to figure out how to use this machine they’d all been working so hard to get their hands on. Dropping Phoenix rudely to the ground, she climbed the small ladder that lead up to the hatch on her sub and wrenched open the round, metal door on top of it. Jumping back down to the dock she lifted Phoenix up again and hanging on to her with one hand, pulled herself back up the ladder. Reaching the hatch, she awkwardly lowered Phoenix down into the submarine. She didn’t want to take the chance that she would either injure the girl beyond repair or break something on her own ship by just dropping her through the hatch and into the main control room. Even as much as she wanted to. 

Following Phoenix inside she pulled the hatch closed behind her and fastened it. Stepping to the floor, she nudged Phoenix out of the way with her foot and walked around to the main computer panel, taking off her helmet as she went and hanging it on a nearby hook.  Slipping the pack on her back off, she lowered it to ground with more care than she had just shown her hostage. It was time to get out of here. Tapping a series of buttons on the control panel lightly, within seconds she had the submarine humming, and was manoeuvring it towards the exit bay. Punching in the code to open the pressurised gates, she waited for a tense moment as nothing happened. Taking a deep breath and willing herself to stay calm, she tried again, and this time she was relieved to see the gates open. The internal pressure system of the gates allowed her to exit the city while stopping Royale from being completely flooded by the toxic waters that encompassed it. For a second she contemplated blowing the gates and drowning everyone inside the city, but she knew there were fail-safes and it would really just waste more time.

Taking a hard right as soon as the rear of her sub had cleared the underwater city limits, she set course to rendezvous with Demise. He would be expecting her to have the machine of course. And she did have it. But he would be speeding ahead of her, on his way to the Anhinga and what he assumed would be its crew’s subterranean burial ground. Spectra smiled to herself as she imagined his surprise when she caught up with him and told him that Lady and her crew were all very much alive, and then revealed her plan to use Phoenix as bait in order to get the last piece of the machine … perhaps after Demise’s initial bout of maniacal yelling had stopped.

Leaning on the radar screen, Spectra monitored it closely for a few moments to make sure no one was following her out of the city. Eventually satisfied, she reached down and pulled out a deep drawer under the screen and lifted up a bottle of clear liquid. Twisting off the top, she took a long swig from the bottle, grimacing slightly at the Tequila’s sour, peppery flavour. Licking her lips, she took another pull on the bottle before leaving it carelessly on top of the radar screen and walking over to her command chair. Flopping down into the chair she sighed heavily. She had a few hours to kill and didn’t quite know what to do with herself. Normally, when she wasn’t surrounded by a crew, she would spend her time planning, hiding in wait or if she was lucky, fighting someone or someones. Now, for what felt like the first time in forever, she was alone and at a loose end. Perhaps she could wake up the girl and talk to her, interrogate her for information, or just torment her to pass the time? Glancing over at Phoenix, Spectra pushed herself up from her chair and with a swing of her arm grabbed the Tequila bottle. Holding the bottle by the neck, she tipped it slightly and watched mesmerised as a small stream of the alcohol dripped down onto Phoenix’s bruised face. Almost immediately the girl started coughing and tried to sit up. The sting of the drink shocking her back to reality from the relative safety of unconsciousness. It took a few moments for her to get her bearings, but she was soon aware of the person standing over her, having a good laugh at her expense. 

Pushing herself up onto her elbow, Phoenix looked up at the woman standing tall above her. As her eyes regained their focus she could see immediately that this woman was not human. Her face was pale purple for a start, then there were the bright yellow eyes and the gills. Those were a dead giveaway. But Phoenix knew she wasn’t Mellion either.  As the creature had decided to give her a minute to figure this all out, Phoenix took advantage of the situation and registered as many details as she could. Judging by the events of the last few hours, and the helmet hanging nearby Phoenix guessed this was the Ghost’s ship. She could also see a medium size backpack on the floor, which she imagined contained the piece of machinery they’d all been attacked for. Taking a deep breath, she looked to her right and saw a small hallway, which she assumed led to the sub’s living quarters. Looking back around she eyed the main control room, and while she knew she wouldn’t be familiar with all the sub’s bells and whistles, Phoenix reckoned she’d be able to drive the thing given half a chance. Rolling herself over now, Phoenix managed to sit up, and tilting her head to the side looked up at her captor.

‘So … can I have a drink, or was the plan to torture me by wasting perfectly good mezcal and pouring it all over the floor?’ Phoenix asked in her best smart arse voice, although she was actually pissed that the Ghost would waste good booze like that.

For a second Spectra didn’t know what to do. No one had ever spoken to her like that before, well not a prisoner at any rate. It caught her completely off guard, and before she knew what she was doing she’d handed the bottle to Phoenix, who tilted it back and took a decent swig.

‘Thank you,’ Phoenix added, wiping her mouth and handing back the bottle. She could tell her face must be a mess by the difficulty she had drinking, but she wouldn’t let on that she knew or that it hurt. She also knew that she’d caught the Ghost off guard, and she had a few crucial moments to change the story. 

‘So, I’m the bait, right?’ Phoenix asked, trying to kick off a conversation.

Spectra didn’t say a word, instead she put the bottle to her lips and drank.

Phoenix wasn’t to be denied however, and just kept right on going.

‘Working for Demise eh? I guess if you were looking for the biggest bastard in the Underworld to hook up with, he’d be the one. How did you get this gig anyway?’

Still Spectra didn’t answer, but she looked uncomfortable, and Phoenix knew she was on the right track.

‘Or … yes, I know, you’re all working for the Overworlders aren’t you? Of course you are … That’s where the money is right?’

‘Shut up, or I’ll shut you up permanently,’ Spectra cracked finally.

‘Hey, I’m sorry, obviously I hit a bit of a nerve there, I promise not to bring it up again,’ Phoenix smiled sweetly.

‘I still think it would be best if you shut up. 

‘Then why did you wake me up? It’s going to be a pretty long journey if we just sit here in awkward silence, and I know you can’t knock me out again as I’m already borderline as it is, you hit me again and I probably won’t wake up.’

“Yeah, so? Alive, dead what does it matter? Once we get the other piece of the machine, you’re all dead anyway.’

‘You might think that, true, but Fury has all his crew rigged up with tracking devices that monitor vital signs, and as part of his crew that includes me. If the tracker stops sending a signal, he’ll assume I’m dead, which means they don’t need to come after me … or bring you the machine,’ Phoenix answered matter-of-factly.

‘You’re lying.’

‘Why would I bother? If I just sit here quietly, you’ll leave me alone, right?’ Phoenix kept smiling.

Spectra sighed. They had at least an 6-hour journey ahead of them. In a very small, confined space. And she wouldn’t be able to sleep with this wretch in her custody. True Phoenix was badly injured, but Spectra had a feeling she was exaggerating her injuries, and if she dropped her guard for one moment Phoenix might try something stupid. And if she wasn’t lying about the tracker, then Spectra just couldn’t risk it.

‘OK, I’ll play nice to pass the time, my name is Spectra,’ she said.

‘OK!’ Phoenix responded enthusiastically, ‘that’s better! And I am Phoenix, I’m a science nerd you know, I build stuff for my crew … and I heard what you said on the hollovid, before you knocked me out, and I’m sorry for what it’s worth, not that I could have done anything about it.’

‘Yeah, well that changes nothing. 

‘And you know, if you hadn’t hurt me, or my friends, I would have liked to get to know you, you look like an interesting cat, I like the purple skin vibe.’

‘I was just doing my job,’ Spectra replied, holding Phoenix’s gaze. 

‘Yeah, I get ya, but what’s with that anyway, and why would you even get hooked up with Demise? That is one cat with a few too many bats in his belfry,’ Phoenix wondered.

‘Demise hired me to make his mission run smoother, as he’s done before,’ Spectra explained, not offering much more.

‘Smoother eh? Well then, if you’ve worked with him before I guess you know what you’re getting yourself in for, but I just think it’s a bit weird that you’d actually choose to work for him and the Overworlders as well, who let’s face it are the ones responsible for what happened to you and your people in the first place,’ Phoenix continued. 

‘You were once an Overworlder,’ stated Spectra, taking another drink from the bottle and handing it to Phoenix.

‘Thanks,’ Phoenix smiled, and grimaced at the same time, ‘and yes we were all Overworld once, but they didn’t want me … or rather I didn’t want to work for them in one of their damn facilities … they call them reprogramming centres but Lady told me what really goes on in them, I’m glad they tried to kill me instead.’

‘Who tried to kill you?’

‘My parents, tried to drown me, threw me off a bridge into the toxic waters before I could even think of begging them not too, Lady rescued me, as she’s done for others, she’s not as bad as you think or Demise might make out … I mean Demise even had a brief truce with her once.’ 

‘A truce?’

‘Yeah, we were both raiding the same storage facility, and rather than fight for it we decided to work together, it was better for all of us.’

‘I never knew about this,’ Spectra murmured softly under her breath, before continuing out loud, ‘but a one-time cease fire does not equal a truce or stand as grounds for a friendship.’

‘Perhaps not, but it’s interesting isn’t it? It’s so out of character for him, I’ve never heard of him to do anything but fight other crews when it comes down to it.’

‘Why did your parents want to kill you?’ asked Spectra, changing the subject. 

‘Come on, you must know the rules even if you don’t openly live as part of the world up there,’ Phoenix shook her head bewildered slightly before reciting the age old decree, ‘and because in our own hubris we looked beyond our small blue World to the stars for answers, so God sent the Mellion to punish us. Our reverence of science over simple faith betrayed us, and to that end destruction rained down upon Humankind until all remnants of this dangerous knowledge was washed away. Now we spurn our former arrogance in order to protect ourselves from a bleak future. Let no Thinker drag us into the darkness again. Wipe them out!’ 

‘So they found out you were Thinker?’ 

‘That’s the one.’

‘But they preferred to kill you over turning you in?’ asked Spectra.

‘They didn’t want the shame of people knowing I was Thinker, it didn’t really help your social standing if one of your children turned out to be the very thing the World was fighting against, but secretly I think it was my father’s decision, you see he was Thinker too but just hid it very well, he wouldn’t have wanted me to go to one of those centres, though in truth no regular Overworlder has any idea what is going on in these places,’ Phoenix explained, ‘you see he worked at one. Never spoke about it of course, I had to get that part from Lady, but he knew they were bad news.’

‘So, what really does go on there?’ asked Spectra, intrigued despite herself.

‘From what Lady tells me, for a start they don’t reprogram anyone, I mean no one ever sees anyone again who goes into one do they? No, what they really do is just keep people prisoner, and put them to work in subterranean buildings the size of city blocks, and what’s worse is that the Politikos use them to keep creating new technologies to make their lives better and keep everyone else under control, while continuing to tell the rest of the world how evil such a thing would be.’ 

‘That’s not possible, my people would know about it.’ 

‘Really? So, your people can see 10 stories down below the surface of the planet, through miles of concrete and steel?’

‘But we would have detected them.’

‘Not necessarily, as I say the brightest minds are held captive there, and like slaves they are put to work, improving existing tech, creating new tech and generally enriching the lives of the Politikos and ensuring they stay in unchallenged power. They work in giant, sterile white laboratories deep below the planet’s surface, and live in cell-like rooms, but they are given access to books and encouraged to interact with each other and expand knowledge, it helps them to survive in these little prison camp communities, and they will never be allowed to leave, no matter what they promise, how much they beg or what they use to bargain. Escape is almost impossible. Even if you can get out of your cell, there’s still miles of corridors and security to get past, yet it is from one of these places that Lady escaped, that’s why I know what I know, and now you know who she is.’

‘So how did she get out?’ asked Spectra. 

‘There was a lottery, or something, I don’t know the whole thing, but the ones lucky enough to get chosen got a shot at freedom … they all worked together to get a few of them out, the ones who drew the short straws would be helped by the others to escape, even though they all knew the consequences – tighter security, loss of privileges, torture and that sort of thing – for them it was worth it to free even just those few, especially if they might one day be able to come back and help them all get out. Lady drew a short straw, and she has promised to one day to go back for the rest,’ answered Phoenix.

‘But why has no one tried to save them so far?’ mused Spectra, beginning to doubt Phoenix’s story.

‘Lack of tech, lack of crew, it’s not as easy to live down here as you might think, it’s a constant battle for people and resources, and the really good tech – the stuff that’s not broken or useless - comes along once in a blue moon,’ Phoenix reasoned.

‘Sounds like a lot of excuses … in my opinion either your Commander is a liar or a coward, perhaps even both.’

‘Like your people have faired any better? I mean look at you for example, hiding in dank catacombs, working for Overworlders and running errands for Demise like some kind of … errand runner,’ Phoenix sputtered, unable to find the right words to sound cool through her anger.

‘I do not run errands!’ Spectra spat, and without warning, wrenched the bottle of tequila back from Phoenix and strode off angrily.

But it was a small vessel and she didn’t have anywhere she could really storm off too. She just didn’t know what else to do. She knew Phoenix was right, even if she didn’t want to admit it, and she didn’t want to hurt the girl further. Distance seemed like the safest option for both of them for now. Time to cool off. Perhaps even stop talking at all.

Back in the main control room, Phoenix sighed with satisfaction. She was getting under the skin of this creature, she could feel it, and for the time being Spectra had forgotten that she needed to radio Demise and let him know she had kidnapped Phoenix to use as bait, and was on her way to rendezvous with him. This was an error Phoenix was happy to have up her sleeve. But she also knew Spectra would calm down and realise this eventually. This was delaying the inevitable and nothing more. Spectra who would have to come back and check on her at some point too, after all they still had several hours to go, meanwhile this petulant interlude gave Phoenix time alone to rest and think. She knew she still needed to get more information out of the Ghost, but she had to play this just right. She needed a kick ass plan.