Chapter 117: Unstable Condition

  SurfaceNet Article by NewCalifornia Times on: Massive MAL-trade and human trafficking ring closed.

  On September 5th, the Westcrook Police’s First Precinct revealed a successful investigation on esteemed Haitham Six-star winning chef, Simon Jugosla, where it was found that he coordinated a massive human trafficking operation alongside the trade of MALformed for the purposes of underground culinary services. While no clients have yet been revealed, Anabelle Grazhe, Lieutenant of the First Precinct gave this statement: “We are working hard to collect all the necessary evidence on his conspirants, we will not rest until they are given the justice he ran away from.”

  Simon Jugosla, aged 34, was best known for his appearance on the ‘Ricky Tremble Show’ where he gained early fame as a Netstar personality and opening his own restaurant, Jugostar, at the Grand Millenium hotel. In 2492, he had a previous altercation where he was found guilty of providing personal chef services where he prepared unlicensed MAL-flesh cuisine for several client, but had since recovered and maintained his appearance as a chef.

  According to police reports, Third-Investigator Diana Jones of the Intelligence Department had successfully infiltrated his inner circle, gaining access to his services where she documented and complied evidence of his actions, trafficking orphans and homeless individuals as well as the illegal farming of MALformed. Details of her four-week undercover stint remain unclear, with police reports only stating that Second-Investigator Anthony Grazhe had intervened, resulting in permanent injury that has left him unable to resume his duties for the time being. Investigator Jones has refused to make a statement about this case, however, Lieutenant Grazhe has confirmed that further details will be revealed at the bi-annual Police Conference on Septmeber 21st.

  5:23 PM September 8th

  Ripley

  My mom… why was she… what?

  “Ripley!” Diamante hissed. “Where the hell have you been?! What were you thinking!”

  “Forget that!” I pushed past him. “What happened to my mother?!”

  Missy held my shoulder back from crowding at my mom’s bed, stiffly, but not aggressively. “She’s stable… it’s just that…”

  “She overexerted herself trying to get the Arachnodyne running.” Diamante said with finality. “Then you up and get yourself arrested and send her into a frenzy, but why?”

  “Maybe because I was carrying the goddamn superweapon a Gold Grade Mercenary was paying millions for in my goddamn blood!” I retorted back. “I was expecting you guys to help me there!”

  “We did.” Elsa spoke from behind me, she looked… stressed. “Daylight and Midnight spent hours trying to get into your system, but it’s completely locked to us, it’s like your entire signature changed so fundamentally that we couldn’t even establish a communication protocol! What the hell happened to you Ripley?!”

  “A lot of things.” I muttered weakly, sitting down by the foot of the mattress my mother was on. “Just… I’ll explain it all, someone just catch me up on this first!”

  Silence bored through the room, but it was Missy who found the courage to say it first. “Your mother, you don’t have as much time as you thought you did…

  I wanted to open my mouth to say something, but my thoughts — even if I could think several times quicker than a normal human — failed to form. Elsa just held my arm tenderly, our steel rubbing against one another in a way that warmed me amidst the cold sinking in my chest.

  Diamante spoke with the tension of steel chord one gram away from breaking. “When you… got yourself arrested, we couldn’t track you or Twilight for several days. So I came here, thought you cooped up with some fancy concealment tech, only I found your mother wheezing on the floor.”

  Elsa spoke while holding my hand. “We brought a doctor as soon as possible… it’s… the exposure. She was in too much proximity to high Grade Energy while you guys were workshopping the Arachnodyne, it’s a rare reaction even to those with Warp Poisoning, we never would have expected it.”

  “How much worse is it…” I couldn’t stop the tears from coming down, but Elsa only held me tighter.

  “She won’t be able to walk soon.” Missy put her hand on my shoulder. “In a few months… paresis of all four limbs. I think you know what happens after that.”

  Warp poisoning made her lose function of her nervous system, first it was her left eye, then a year ago she lost the ability to taste and smell. One by one, her limbs would fail, then she would forget how to eat, how to breathe, until finally her vagus nerve would fail and her heart stops beating.

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  My brain did the calculations, it was easier than ever. I could have probably diagnosed her myself. By March of next year, she would most likely be dead.

  Six months. I thought I had years. Years.

  Everything that should have taken me hours to process only took me minutes, my mouth finding the right thing to say, the only thing I could say to them. “I need your help.”

  The silence didn’t last long because my mother was the one to speak, her voice tired but wonderful all the same as she opened her eye to me. “Why do you think they’re here, dummy?”

  Missy pat me. “A fresh Silver’s the rarest it’s ever been right now. For her to survive she’ll need an Implant with over 65% Compatibility, that’s going to cost you-“

  I knew the cost. “Around 3.5 Million Shardyne, almost the highest it can go for a Silver.”

  Diamante continued. "Even then, having had two Implants... chances of her finding one with that sort of compatibility are about one-in-forty, and Silvers don't pop up in the market frequently. Since the year's start, maybe only twenty-three have been served out on Little Requiem's black market."

  Elsa stared at me with wet eyes. “I’ve already put in applications with vendors. The chances of what you’ll want are already low… but we won't stop looking. I promise you, Ripley, I'm... I'll do everything to help you."

  “I’ll make it happen.” I declared, wiping my snot off. Look for an Implant? That was the stupid decision, I had the power to rewrite them. “I’ll make the Implant myself if I have to. I’ll change this fucked up fate.”

  ———

  September 21st [Semiannual Westbrook First Precinct Conference]

  Diana

  It was the second time I attended one of these knowing I would be promoted. That much was set in stone. What should be a proud moment for me was instead harrowed in a loneliness I hadn’t felt like this since the days I was homeless on the streets of this district. In ways, at least I had the cold back then to distract me.

  Here, surrounded by thousands of like minded police members in which any one of them could be Soul Killer… I would love to take my mind off of it. But Dryder needed someone on the inside, needed someone close to the heart of it all. Soul Killer had tangled their overgrowing vines for almost a century, slowly evolving into the disgusting creature they are.

  Strike the heart.

  I nestled the Nexus SIM in my pocket, feeling the thin strands of corrupted Titanium within, searching among the crowds to find this same vile source. I didn’t feel a thing right now, everything was scattered and overwhelming.

  Hell, I’m pretty sure my heart had frozen over the last few weeks out of that hellhole. Choirmen sat to my right, another guaranteed promotion to certify his position as the new Deputy Squad Leader under SI Risa Wickett. He deserved it.

  I didn’t feel like I did.

  “It wasn’t your fault.” Choirmen nudged me from the side, his eyes laced under drink. “Honestly… might as well have been mine. I should have noticed the pressure he was under with you gone, should have figured he knew more about what you were going through than I did… and I pushed him. Maybe over the edge.”

  “I’m not losing hope yet.” I sniffled back the emotions of my failure.

  “That’s how you show it, Diana… gotta say, really missed having you around. It’s a shame you’re leaving when I’m finally in charge.”

  “Yeah, well I’m going to hate the process of getting used to a new team all over again.” I took some drink of my own, not feeling a damn thing as a Tier II.

  “Join us for some drinks a few times, Diana.” Chorimen laughed. “Tell us all about the glory you’ll have in an elite spec ops unit.”

  “Please, I’m only going to become a Second-Rank.” I brushed it off, hoping that beyond some miracle… I’d stay exactly where I was. Because as much as I had bad memories in this squad, it was the same squad where I had memories of Anthony.

  ”Oh shit, they’re starting.” Choirmen stretched, his veins popping up as his blood redoubled to lower the alcohol concentration in his body.

  Various Staff Sergeants and other bigwigs in our District made their speeches, talking about the progress they had made in their districts over the last six months, many complementing the new lieutenant and her endeavors to take after her late father.

  Some even paid respects for the loss of her nephew, calling him a martyr like these same arrogant snobs weren’t the ones badmouthing him at every turn. Finally, came the Lieutenant’s and after hers would come the promotion speeches.

  Anabelle Grazhe was far from that hollowed out disarray of a human I saw last time. Here, she radiated authority and respect in her navy blue uniform. Each syllable tinged with her power to strike into us.

  Even I felt shaken by it.

  “The last three months have been difficult for this District, from unprecedented MAL attacks and a rise in gang violence, to blatant terrorism after my late father’s death. Truly, my father would have been honored to know how much the criminal world relished his passing.”

  A wave of laughter rose up, even I snickered.

  “This District has not been the same since the earthquake nearly 60 years ago. I would have loved to know what we were like back then, I’m sure many of you probably have relatives with their tales of prosperity… Alas, this time is not to contemplate on a past we have never lived, it is to plan for the future we can forge. The devils of the underworld live under our fingers, snaking their way through to overtake what we hold dear. It is up to us to stop them… yet they are not the only devils in our world.”

  Everyone knew what she was bringing up.

  “The MALswarm is set to become active between May of 2500 and April of 2501. To many, that is a number they had been dreading for decades, to others it was a known fact for your lifetime. As a child, my father had raised me for two wars. One among humanity, and the other among the creatures who predate upon humanity. In times like this, cruelty can be your strength. Even kindness may be a sword to the right foe, but the most crucial weapon will always be your Implants… without them, our lives dangle to the whims of inhumanity.”

  A smile crept up on her.

  ”For that very reason, a special guest has joined us today.”

  She took a step back, as a new figure approached on stage. My hair stood on edge before I even saw him, because I felt him. The Titanium Warp Energy wreathed through his very being, a man who I’d heard so many things about, whose pale blonde hair and beard framed a perfectly square face with sharp silver eyes.

  He tapped the microphone, announcing his name to all, but his eyes caught mine and he smiled.

  “Hello everyone, for those who don’t know me, my name is Brian Ulrich.”