Chương 14: KK1 - #04 THE MELLIFLUOUS CAVERNS (3/4)

"Oh, oh! This setting would delight our querido Dungeon Master, wouldn't it?" Dynamo joked, cracking the metal joints of his three newly deployed reinforced arms.

"Your attention please…" shouted the loudspeakers after spitting radium dust.

"Speaking of the devil…" the Freak-wolf growled. The AI continued after a small, yet very misplaced, melodious jingle: "Fast announcement, everyone! We'd like to point out the station has several elements which aren't listed on the Alliance registry. However, they're included in our famous tournament as wildcards! Who cares anyway? Good luck!" Knives let out a guttural laugh, quickly joined by the members of his gang.

"This tin can of Dungeon Master is talking about you, Dynamo. That creepy Bones was right. You got expelled after your messy trip to Charon!"

"Oh, oh! That humanitarian convoy was on my way, wasn't it?" the cyborg giggled before making his fingers dance on his triggers.

"It's now the perfect moment to tell me you have your sight back…" I murmured in Ali's ear. She had delicately drawn her weapon. My partner laughed sardonically.

"Not enough to differentiate the Big Bad Knives from the Little Red Riding Hood!" Fortunately, the thug was in the meantime engaged in some verbal jousting with Dynamo.

"Leave now! Behind those piles of rhodium is a corridor," Dan whispered to us.

"Float down there and never look back!"

"Aren't you coming with us?" I asked.

"I'm settling my score with Knives today," explained Dan, feeling the pink keloid under his right eye.

"Now listen to me. At the footbridge, follow the green lights. They'll lead you to a refinement platform. There, you'll stumble upon a monopod to leave the station forever."

"But—""Trust him, we worked here a very long time ago," Ramses added, putting his hand on Ali's shoulder.

"Now, let's take advantage of their dispute to flee. Dan has chosen his fate." We left as the Crow quietly seized a grenade out of his satchel that seemed to have no bottom. After removing the grenade's pin with his beak, he threw the projectile against a stack of collapsed metal crates. It exploded seconds later and a cloud of toxic glitter invaded the room, creating the perfect cover. Behind us, Knives's roars were lost in the ensuing chaos.

"See you around, Dan…" I heard Ali whisper. The rocky walls we followed quickly gave way to a concrete coating as the shots' echoes finally died down. A winding corridor led us to the tubular skywalk previously mentioned by the friendly bounty hunter. It was so dark that even my cat's eyes were powerless. The only source of light was from the orange glow coming from Ramses's implant. The moment Ali grabbed one of the wire ropes, the whole structure started to creak and, all of a sudden, the obscurity lit up.

The timid rhodium veins in the galleries were now gigantic pinacoidal crystals combining the color of emerald and shiny gold. They scintillated as if a furious fire was burning from inside. But above all, they sang. It was a soft melody that echoed in this immense spherical cavity. I had just found the origin of the hum.

"It's beautiful," Ali said, leaning on the closest rope.

"Sound or sight?" I asked. Capturing our voices, the crystals lit up and whistled even more gorgeously.

"Both."

"You regained your vision?" Rameses inquired.

"Absolutely… not," Ali replied.

"It's still very fuzzy and—""Good news nonetheless," Rameses cut her off. This scoundrel was pointing his rifle at us.

"Nothing personal. The old Yoyodyne refinery has only one small monopod dedicated to the service engineer. I'm hurt. My chances of survival are just too low if I have to carry a blind kid and her pet in a tight emergency capsule." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Don't be a dick, Ramses," Ali grunted, raising her hands.

"We will find a way."

"Sorry. You're cute and all, but… not fuckable enough to take the risk of drifting to infinity and beyond while lacking oxygen!" As the betrayer fell silent, the brightness began to drop. Then, Ramses's implant turned red almost immediately. For a second, it remained the only glow around us apart from the green LEDs on the cables. It was before a voice came out of nowhere, breaking again the quietness of the cavern: "Drifting with her forever would be a fine ending!"

Surprised, our traitorous companion swiveled but his arms remained firmly anchored to the rifle that slid into the chasm. A strange samurai had sliced them cleanly right at the elbow. The tortured man shouted until his lungs gave out before the assassin shortened his suffering by driving a sword through his exploding skull. The blade was fused with a. 44 Magnum. As the body of Ramses drifted away, the shadowy samurai slowly walked towards us, cleaning his sword.

"Greetings!" said a squeaking voice. It came from a small Poppery II-shaped drone flying over his shoulder.

"Ramses Tatalopulos. Auxiliary n°C12-1-21XX-982 and—" His face masked by his straw hat, the samurai ordered it to remain silent: "Hush! This juushoku does not matter."

"That's no way to talk to your companion," Ali interjected, gun in hand.

"Not mine," replied the warrior while sheathing his gun-blade.

"He has not stopped stalking me since I killed his master at the entrance of the quarries. This clown did not have the prescience to avoid shooting me with his heavy mortars…"

"You're not going to execute us," I noted.

"Aren't you participating in this Purge?" The samurai let out a discreet laugh before inviting us to follow him. My partner, who had regained a part of her eyesight, cautiously tailed him along the cables on which our savior walked like a funambulist.

"No. No. I was passing through the region on a very interesting contract for an Oomi. I had not planned this little… corporate barbecue." My human and I enjoyed the crystal cave one last time before we all proceeded to what a sign indicated as the access hatch to the refinement center.

"Purges!" the samurai continued.

"A massacre organized by our beloved Alliance when the number of bounty hunters becomes too consequent. With too many auxiliaries, the rewards are worth less."

"Economy 101," I said.

"They orchestrate those gruesome events from time to time in a different corner of the system. But I do not have much patience for these masquerades anymore."

"You seem upset. And you kept working for them?" I asked as the airlock let us go through and a magnetic pavement was to be found again.

"I mean… the Alliance."

"Purges are not as evil as producing fake contracts on innocent people to supply the market during periods of scarcity," he laughed.

"Offer and Demand mixed with the privatization of Justice," I said.

"A very toxic cocktail."

"Indeed. But to answer your question: a man has got to eat." He had a point. As the whole system already despised us, even our own corporation could no longer be trusted anymore. Ali and I were definitely alone in this brutal universe.

"But I am being rude. Allow me to introduce myself." The samurai smiled at us before removing his hat. He was an elderly man covered with deep red scars, each with a story to tell.

"My name is Raï. And this robot is F. A. B. From what I understood earlier."

"Greetings! Finger IDentification Aerial Bot, design F(ID)AB-28, 2 years old, built on Venus and—" started the little robot before the samurai asked it to fly back to the leaky airlock we just left.

"I'm Ali and this is Lee," my human answered for both of us.

"Yes, I am aware," Raï said.

"I saw your arrival earlier. Your spacecraft looked familiar. I was curious to know who was now piloting this rusty UN vessel."

"I won't allow you to insult my ship, ronin!" I hurled. The samurai apologized. He continued the conversation as we walked through the empty silos of the refinement center. We had to climb mountains of abandoned androids and excavation machines. At the end of our journey, the FID-reader robot came back to us and made a few loops. The flying can squealed as if it suffered from a panic attack: "Greetings!

Jay-Jay Cleaver alias 'Knives', Auxiliary #AM-3-23XX-088, slight changes following—" Footsteps resounded behind us. The pack of Freaks had emerged victorious from the mine shoot-out and was heading towards our retreat. That means that they had taken care of Dynamo… and Dan.

"We have to leave. Now!" Raï ordered, smashing the glass door that separated us from the checkpoint with his augmented fist.