The Southern Calt pt. 9

Akashi and Celie journey to the network tower to expose the lies of the collective...

Panshin Pacè, head detective of Cain’s police force, made her way through the chrome streets of Cain. Her mind wandered, giving her little conscious regard for much around her. She had seen it all before through the same tired eyes on the same aching feet.

It was another day with another death that she knew was attributed to addiction or poverty or just outright trauma. She remembered something a rookie detective - his name was Clise or Lise or something - had said. “Not all scars are visible.”

She supposed he meant the scars of trauma, but she found herself agreeing with him as her hand absentmindedly rose to rub her arm. That old scar that ran from her wrist up to her elbow was covered by her old leather jacket. She always joked with people in the department that the cybernetic inserts that replaced her muscles, tendons, and nerves in her forearm made her aim better. She’d never admit that her aim hadn’t felt right since the day that shrapnel shredded through her arm.

Panshin still remembered coming to in the middle of the emergency field surgery to remove half of her arm and hooking it up to a micropump so it would still be mostly functional by the time the emergency evac came in. It wasn’t the explosions or the pain or the death that kept her awake at night. It was seeing a part of herself sprawled out on the ground next to her hooked up to a machine, just holding on for her. Waiting for her to pull through. 

The nerves didn't make it. The connective tissue was too damaged to go on. The muscle was shredded into fibers. Her arm would never be the same. It wasn’t even truly her arm anymore. All these years later, she still couldn’t accept that.

“Panshin.” A voice knocked her out of her daze. She was standing in an apartment and she wasn’t sure how she got there. Her body must’ve fallen into autopilot, letting her fall back into familiar patterns. The person speaking to her was some officer or another. She didn’t recognize him or really care to begin with.

“Officer. What’s the story?” She asked, putting on her most serious tone.

“Not much to be said, ma’am. Cut and dry murder. It was sloppy though. Killer’s prints, DNA, and locator were already in our network. I’ve got a squad heading over to pick him up from his last known location.”

“That increased surveillance a few years back really did make a difference.” She thought out loud. In her mind she couldn’t help but think about how uncomfortable it made her. As a detective, it made her life easier, but as a citizen it did feel odd to think she could be found anywhere in the city at any time. It was a good thing the department tracked her datapad everywhere she went anyways, so there was no use overthinking that. She was always on network. Always a call away.

“Yeah, shouldn't be a problem for us to handle. Don’t know why they called you to begin with, ma’am.” Panshin shook her head. She waved the officer off and stepped out into the hallway. She knew why she was called. They wanted the lead detective at the scene to make it look like the city was under control. Put one of the stern and stiff heads of the department out front and let people see that the city is safe.

It was a lie, and she hated the politics of it. As if her thinking of politics summoned her downfall, a voice called to her from down the hall.

“Ah, detective Panshin, just the woman I was looking for.” The familiar sing-songy voice said from down the hall.

“Lady Lanoreth.” Panshin replied, hiding the surprise she felt. Lady Lanoreth acted as the head of Cain’s government. She was technically the speaker of the council, but everyone knew the council was toothless and the speaker held the power. The Lady wore a deep red pantsuit with a blazer that flowed down past her waist and to her knees like a cape. Her usually dark skin had flushed a pasty pale then seemed to glow almost as red as her outfit. She had a forced smile that fought to cover up the burning frustration.

“Detective Panshin. No time for formalities.” The Lady said in a rush. She spoke so fast that Panshin felt like she needed to focus to understand the words. “Now, listen closely, there is much I have to say with very little time. The collective network tower is under attack - or at least there is an incoming terrorist attack. Sant is threatening to send in a squadron if we don’t handle it quickly and decisively. You have experience with these… sorts of things as one of the most hardened veterans on the force, so I’m trusting you to lock down the tower, secure it, and either eliminate or capture the perpetrator.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, that’s not my job.” Panshin replied. She crossed her arms as she looked up at Lady Lanoreth. She knew the speaker was shorter, but she often wore towering heels that made her command a room with her height alone. “Maybe someone in the department of border security can handle that or -”

“Oh, they most certainly are on the case, but this is an especially sensitive matter and I need the lead detective - the face of safety in Cain - to be the one to control this incident.”

“Lady, I -”

“Panshin Pacè, I am not arguing with you on this.” Lady Lanoreth sounded to her like a parent scolding a child. Panshin’s eyes narrowed. Her voice dropped down and she felt her muscles tense. She felt her cybernetic arm pulsing as her blood boiled.

“Why is it so important that I handle this?” Lady Lanoreth pulled out her datapad and sent information over to her. She checked the information and felt a knot in her stomach. It bloomed through her, her gut tightening as a cold chill ran up her spine. She caught herself rubbing her arm and she dug her nails into her scar.

“Best to keep this in the family, don’t you think?” Lady Lanoreth said. Panshin looked at her, her eyes narrowed. “Now, the boy was clever. He disconnected the datapad from the network, but he didn’t disconnect its locator. We weren’t sure what he was doing, but now our speculators see the datapad moving for the tower. We don’t know what sort of firepower he has or what he’s doing, but we can’t let it happen.”

“This is a huge conflict of interest, Lady.” Panshin replied.

“It never stopped you before. You’ve wrangled this boy for years. Look, we don’t know what he’s doing or why, but we know that command at the warfront has presented charges of desertion, treason, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit terrorism.”

“That can’t be right…” Panshin whispered. “That boy is many things, but he isn’t -”

“Detective, I don’t care what he is or isn’t. Wrangle the man-child. Bring him in and if you can’t, bring him down. Clear?” Panshin stared at Lady Lanoreth. Her mouth had gone dry and she felt herself blinking excessively. This damn boy. This disappointment of a boy. He couldn’t just do the right thing. He couldn’t just do what they all did and fight the war. He had to ruin everything. He had to do this. Rage grew inside her. For Lady Lanoreth. For Akashi. She stuffed her datapad in her leather jacket and pushed past Lady Lanoreth. “Fantastic!” Lady Lanoreth called after her. “A transport is waiting outside for you. Get it done and submit a report to me tonight. My eyes only.”

She had to do this. Of course she had to do this. Panshin had to stop her foolish nephew from causing more trouble than she thought he ever possibly could.

.

.

.

As they broke through the tree line, Akashi and Celie stared up at the collective network tower. The tower was a large needle point that rose beyond the clouds. It was a mostly metal structure that drew the attention of lightning whenever storms rolled in, protecting the collective’s power structures beneath the grand tour. Wooden scaffolding encased the entire needle point, as though this grand creation - this affront to the gods - couldn’t stand alone. They could see technicians milling around on the scaffold maintaining the exterior of the building. Celie pointed up several hundred feet to a little past a quarter of the way up the structure. Even still, that was several hundred feet in the air.

“That's our entry point. We climb the scaffolding, make our way inside at a technician’s door, disconnect the usual network stream, and upload the command datapad recordings. Easy enough.”

“We have very different definitions of easy.” Akashi grumbled. He looked down at his body. He saw his rib cage pushing through his tattered clothes. The patchy beard was visible in his periphery. His hands were dry and calloused. He shook his head. “I don’t know about this, Celie. I still want to do this, I know it’s right, but are we ready? Is this the way?”

“You can think about that when it’s over. For now, we just have to do it or we never will.”

“Heard…” He forced the words out of his throat.

“Now stay low and follow me.” Celie took off through the foliage, her determination propelling her forward. Akashi followed, the worry of what came next overtaking him. He trusted Celie with his life. She was the only hope he had of making it through all of this alive after all. They made it this far together, and he didn’t see a reason to stop trusting her now. 

They vaulted over a security gate then crawled on their stomachs through a massive substation. Akashi felt the deep thrumming buzz of energy inside his bones. His fingers tingled and went numb, replacing the usual sensation of life with a numb thrum of energy. Celie made the gesture for HAZARD and he obliged. Even getting too close to the energetic coils could be enough to fry either of them into oblivion. As far as he could tell, this station was not only back up power for the tower, but also distributed power to the entire collective war effort. The station spanned hundreds of meters, leading to a prolonged careful crawl through gravel and an uncomfortable field of energy.

 All around the outskirts of the station, security was higher than any of the schematics had let on. Soldiers trudged along the limits of safety keeping an eye on the perimeter. By the time the guards had gotten to the outskirts of the station, the duo had already been crawling in slow motion for over an hour. It did make Akashi worried though. Did they know they were coming? He supposed this was the place it made the most sense to go to with a stolen datapad. It wasn’t the most clever of ideas, someone could’ve figured it out. Maybe it was just a precaution, or maybe there was more happening beyond their blinders that they couldn’t possibly be prepared for. He looked at Celie and signed,

“Do they know?”

“Doesn’t matter. Move.” She replied. Akashi pulled himself further along the ground, gravel scraped across his body as he propelled himself across the substation grounds. The structure was surrounded by technical architecture that Akashi didn’t understand and security checkpoints. Overhead he could see hover transports coming and going from the city and docking high above the clouds on the tower or landing briefly somewhere deeper into the collective facility. It was rare to see the high tech transports outside of cities. It was often rare to see the transports even from the lowlands of the streets of Cain. Seeing them here left Akashi feeling small and anxious. Staring up at the tower gave him a vertigo he hadn’t felt since he was a child looking at skyscrapers in Cain. How could he and Celie do this? Why would they do this? He had to remind himself.

“Nothing left to lose…”

By the time they were close to the scaffolding, the sun was getting low. They had moved through the entire complex surrounding the tower without incident. They got away from the substation and the thrum of discomfort left Akashi’s body. They took cover under a stationary armored caravan vehicle parked between the substation and the tower. There was still about 50 yards between them and the tower. In the distance, they saw multiple armed guards in powered armor glowing a bright blue at the joints. Celie looked at Akashi, her eyes wild. He could tell she was thinking the same thing he was. They never saw those in the Calt, but here they were protecting the tower. They must’ve known. They had to know. Celie pointed around the sharp edge at the base of the tower where there was a break in their defenses. If they could slip by and onto the scaffolding, they could climb up quickly enough to be out of effective range of their armor’s target lock. Then they’d just have to fight off the technicians. At least then they had a chance to survive.

Celie went to run out of cover and to the scaffolding, but Akashi stopped her. He gestured up at the sky. The setting sun was becoming blotted out by thick roiling clouds. They had come in so fast, neither of them saw the incoming storm coming. The strong smell of rain lingered in the air.

A warning alarm started sounding, warning the technicians to get off the scaffold. They opened doors in the walls and climbed inside the tower. Suddenly, the path was clear. That wasn’t enough for Akashi though.

“We could get hit.” He warned. The needle was designed to take up lightning. According to the schematics, its primary source of power was the lightning, with a backup connection to the substation. They’d be safe inside where it was isolated, but climbing the outside scaffolding could be a death wish once lightning started crashing into the tower.

“Perfect cover.” She signed back. Akashi took a deep breath in. He supposed she was right. It was perfect cover if they survived the climb. Celie took off. Akashi broke away from under the vehicle, following her. Just as they went out into the open, thunder rumbled in the distance, crescendoing as it rolled closer and closer overhead. 

Lightning flashed between the clouds, creating a lightshow against the darkness of the roiling clouds. In the distance, they heard the guards grumbling about the weather. Then the lightning cascaded downward. Astra became illuminated with light as the bolt zigzagged down, missing the tower before it connected with the substation. There was a strange silence after the connection. Akashi felt the hairs all over his body rise and the hair on his head frizzed on edge. Then, an immense force propelled Akashi and Celie forward. Shrapnel imploded from the substation behind them as it turned into a ball of fire.

Akashi and Celie lay on their backs for a moment watching the electrical surge do its work on the entire complex. The armored vehicle was turned on its side and moved several meters from where it was locked down. Guards were screaming and fires began to pop up in the distance all around the facility. Alarms started blaring as lights flashed and the power flickered and lurched then went completely out. The guards around the building thinned as several ran to respond to the alarms. Celie scrambled up, threw herself onto the first level of the scaffold, then reached a hand out to help Akashi up. 

They made it.

Thunder beat like a drum against the sky and lightning tumbled down again. The strike looked like it was coming straight for the tower. Akashi braced himself for the needle to shake them off, but at the very last moment, the lightning went shy of the building and crashed into the caravan vehicle. The rain came next. 

The storm continued on as they climbed the slick surface of the scaffold surrounding the comms tower. When they were far enough up the building, Akashi and Celie stole a glance down. Lightning continued falling down upon the complex surrounding the tower. The entire complex was ablaze. The substation’s flames spread further as lightning crashed down starting more fires. 

Akashi and Celie were over top of the trees now. To the east they saw Cain. To the west they saw Sant. Both city-states’ lights were flickering and surging. Some spots were completely dark. Other parts seemed too bright. From both cities, they could see a monstrous amount of smoke billowing into the sky.

“It doesn’t make sense!” Celie shouted over the storm. “The needle is designed to take the hits of lightning, redirect them into power, and protect the important structural components of the complex. That’s why the inside is insulated.”

“Yep, I saw the schematics!” Akashi replied.

“Then what’s happening?” She asked.

“Better to just take advantage, right? Let’s just get through this!” Celie nodded in agreement and they continued their travel up the scaffold. The tower itself was a completely metal structure with no structural definition other than to be a great needle reaching for the heavens. Every now and then at specific large standing regions on the scaffold, they could see homogenous maintenance doors that blended into the tower other than the dark outline of a door. They needed to get higher up, closer to the network center before they went inside.

As they were nearing their goal, a spotlight pierced through the storm, landing upon the two. Akashi heard the thrum of a high-flying transport. Behind them, the boxy vehicle hovered in the air, propelled by some sort of superheated gas. A voice blared from the speaker,

“This is the Cain police, cease illegal activities or you will be apprehended.” The voice was robotic and disjointed. Akashi stopped to stare at it. They knew they were coming, they sent reinforcements. What made them think two people could do this? Akashi felt the panic welling up inside him. He forced himself to focus, but all he could focus on was that police transport. 

There was no getting out of this one. If they caught him, that would be it.

“Akashi!” Celie screamed from a level above him. “Focus!” 

“Cease activity, this is your final warning.” The robotic voice of the police transport called through the storm. Akashi took a deep breath and forced himself up to meet Celie on the next level. She was in the process of forcing a door open. They had finally made it. The ground was small below them and it made Akashi’s stomach lurch. The police transport moved in closer and a small square slot opened at the base of the box revealing a chain gun that began to spin up.

“Akashi. Don’t do this.” A voice that made his heart stop warned through the transport speakers. 

“Gee…” He whispered. Just as he began to tell Celie that it might be time to stop - to surrender - a bolt of lightning cascaded down, hitting the transport. The flying vehicle shuddered and jittered in place, then began to plummet down to Astra below. Akashi’s heart dropped. 

Nothing left to lose.

Somewhere far below, he heard screaming, the scaffold shook just slightly - it couldn’t have been the transport hitting it - then an explosion followed. His heart sank.

“Akashi! It’s open, let’s go!” Celie was inside the tower, waiting at the threshold with her hand out. Akashi took one last look down at the smoldering remains of the transport. The voice could’ve been fake. She could’ve been transmitting from somewhere. She could’ve been anywhere. She could’ve been inside the transport.

He took Celie’s hand and joined her inside the tower.

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.

This level of the tower was empty. Overhead a soothing synthetic masculine voice spoke over the loudspeakers, “Alert, a hazard has been detected on the tower grounds. Please make your way to the nearest shelter and stay in place until instructed otherwise. Alert, a hazard has been detected…”  The interior had soft rubber floors and red-cushioned walls. They walked past empty office spaces that were separated from the hallway with glass. 

“That storm…” Akashi whispered. He was sure they were alone, but he wanted to be quiet just in case. “Did you do that?”

“Gods above, no.” Celie answered as she looked around a corner. “I’m connected to the realm of the ancients - creator gods. Not the eternal storm - where Strala and his siblings are. Those triplets are younger gods than the ancient creators. And they hate sorcerers messing with their realm. The ancients don’t care about sorcery.”

“I guess I don’t know much about the way magic works… or gods.”

“You’re better off. Stay out of their gaze and you’ll be just fine.”

“So what, that was pure luck?”

“The Fates smile on us, Akashi. Like you said - advantage and all that.” Celie ended the conversation by making her way around the next corner and breaking into a dash. Akashi pulled out the revolver with its single bullet and ran after her. Somewhere far behind them, he heard a crash and the sound of a seal bursting on a door. Up ahead, a camera spotted them and a red light began scanning them. 

“Looks like they found us.” Akashi said.

“Stating the obvious. Let’s go then.” Celie brought her shoulders down and pumped her legs. Akashi followed, his entire body throbbing. Behind them, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps connecting with the rubber floor. The tower shook slightly as lightning struck it for the first time since the storm started and the lights seemed to surge with energy as the hallway lit up so bright that Akashi couldn’t see for a moment. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw they were close to the network center. It was around the next right turn. The room beyond would be a complex center of cooling towers, data storage, and network connection apparatuses. Akashi wasn’t clear on what all it entailed, but Celie seemed to understand, so he left the complex tech work to her. Celie stopped at the corner right before the entrance and peaked around the corner. The sound of a mechanical mechanism whirred and Celie pulled back as bullets blazed by. 

“Status?” Akashi whispered.

“The door is guarded by an auto turret. Can’t get past.” Akashi checked his revolver.

“Maybe I can get a shot off on it…”

“It’s too heavily armored.” She shook her head. “There’s gotta be another way…” Akashi looked back behind them. Shadows were forming on the distant walls. The guards were gaining on them. This was their chance. This was their shot. He had to do something.

“I’ll draw its fire. Get past it. Link up the datapad. Get it done.” Akashi felt his heart drop. Did he really just say that? They locked eyes and Celie nodded.

“See you on the other side.” 

“Gods, I hope so…” He whispered. Unless she meant - no. Akashi didn’t take time to think further. Instead, he ran around the corner. His mind bloomed with regret as he saw the ceiling mounted turret encased in armor flick to match his movement. Immediately, the turret began to whir, as the barrels spun up. 

He ran as far as he could to the far wall. From his periphery, he saw Celie bolt for the door behind the turret. The turret began to fire. It shredded through Akashi’s pelvis and his forearm, but as Celie went past it, it tried to turn to her. The turret missed her and she threw open the door then slammed it shut. The turret trained on the door and began firing. 

Akashi couldn’t tell what happened next. He thought the door held, but maybe it didn’t. Maybe Celie was dead on the other side. Maybe this was where it all ended. He leaned against the wall and let out a guttural groan of pain. He felt blood seeping from his waist. His hand went limp and his body felt weak. He tried to override the feeling and braced himself against the wall. 

“Hold back, let me take care of this…” A gruff woman’s voice in the distance echoed off the walls. It couldn’t be her. How could it be? He grabbed the revolver and forced his grip into his offhand. He pulled back the hammer and aimed it around the corner, waiting to see who might come. The sound of the turret firing at the door stopped as a red sensor scanned him from a nearby camera and the turret turned and focused on him. He heard the barrels begin to spin up again. He knew he couldn’t possibly survive this. He closed his eyes. It didn’t matter who was around that corner. This was it for him. He could only hope Celie made it. That she got the truth out.

“Security override. Power down.” The turret came to a stop. He focused his attention and saw a tall woman in a leather jacket staring at him from the corner they had come through. She had long salt and pepper hair. Her lip was split and she was soaked from head to toe. She had an energy pistol prepared in hand and bruises forming around her eyes. She walked with an unsteady limp, and there was a tear running up her pant leg where blood was dripping down onto the floor.

Akashi stared at his aunt in a daze. He forced himself to stand up straight and suppressed the pain he felt as the weight shifted onto his wounds. He bit his tongue and seethed through his teeth. He steadied the revolver with his bad hand - it didn’t help at all. 

“Aunt Gee.” He said. Akashi tried to look like he was in control, like everything was fine.

“Akashi.” She said. Her voice was dry. Bland. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. What she was feeling. “I’m going to need you to come with me.” She finally said. Akashi shook his head. 

“Auntie I -”

“Akashi, enough.” She didn’t raise her voice. Didn’t look angry. The words were finite. “Come with me, and you won’t die where you stand.” Akashi shook his head and raised his revolver. He never thought that single bullet would be for her. He tried to think of any other option. Of anything else that could change the way this was about to go. He thought about aiming it at her, but knew he could only do it if he was willing to take the shot. He couldn’t even convince himself it was the right thing to do. Instead, he decided to do the one thing he never could do with his aunt: Reason with her. 

“Auntie, I wish I had time to explain everything. I wish I could show you. I can’t, but you’ll see soon I swear. Everyone will see soon.”

“Give me the gun, Akashi.” She replied.

“Let me walk through that door, Gee.” He gestured to the door guarded by the now disabled turret. Panshin sighed. She tightened her grip on her pistol.

“Nephew, this is your last chance. Think about your parents. Think about your sister. Think about everyone who has died that you’re failing right now. Do you want to fail yourself too? Do you want to fail this family again?” Akashi smiled.

“Auntie, if they saw me now - and maybe they do - they’d be thanking me. I don’t expect you to understand, but let me show you. Let me show everyone. I’ll show everyone just who I am.” Panshin shook her head.

“Don’t use my words against me. Akashi. Put the gun down. Now.” She began to slowly raise her pistol. She could give him one more chance. She had to. She owed it to her brother. To his wife. Just like she owed it to them every single time she bailed him out. “Don’t make me do this.”

“Do it. The truth will be out soon anyway.”

“The truth?”

“Like I said. Let me show you. Why do you think I did all of this? Look at me, Gee. Look at who I am. I’m not the boy who went into the Southern Calt. I’m not the child who got arrested for stealing from the corner store. I’m not sure who I am, but I’m someone trying to do the right thing and if you got out of the way and just let me, then maybe you’d understand.” Akashi heard the familiar buzz in her earpiece. Panshin paused.

“Hold off, it’s under control.” Panshin replied. She looked at Akashi, “Why should I trust you?” 

“I’ve got a revolver with one bullet. My partner is unarmed. All she has is a datapad that’s going to expose the lies of the collective to everyone. I won’t die for a lie. But I’ll keep you talking to let her get the truth out.” Panshin’s eyes widened. He realized that she didn’t know about Celie. How did she slip through the cracks?

“Keep me talking?” Suddenly her datapad started blaring in her pocket.

“It’s an ocean… an underground ocean…”

Akashi’s voice gasped, echoing from her pocket, from the speakers in the hallway, from distant datapads on officers he couldn’t see. It sounded like a young boy so clueless about the world. So unsure. Someone who didn’t understand the world. It made Akashi miss the world he thought he knew then. One where he and the collective were the good guys and they were doing good down in the south.

Celie opened the bullet-riddled door and looked between Akashi and Panshin. She smiled at Akashi. Akashi smiled back. She signed “It’s done” to him. Panshin looked between the two decrepit people. One her own family on the brink of death, bleeding out before her eyes. The other, a small malnourished woman barely holding on. Panshin pulled out the datapad and watched for a few moments as what they had done became clear in her mind. She wasn’t sure what, but they had just exposed something horrible. Something monstrous.

“You come to my home. Try to steal our water, and you take what? My life next? What more do you want? To kill me? No. Your aim isn’t true, for Rayyan is not with you.”

“I’m not trying to steal water I’m -” Was it a lie? Was it all a lie? “You - you… you attacked us first.”  

Panshin felt a deep pang of an emotion she couldn’t describe. She wanted to take that boy up and hug him like she never did before. She wanted to tell him it was okay. She wanted to tell him that he did the right thing. She wanted to tell him everything was okay. She wanted him to tell her everything. Everything. She grabbed ahold of her arm and tightened her grip. Her cybernetic nerves danced on the grip of her pistol. When she looked up to see her weary nephew, she gave him a single nod. He raised his hands and dropped the revolver on the ground. From behind the weary eyes of a broken man, the sly boy that was her nephew smiled.

“I surrender.”

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We’ve made it to the end of part 9! Oh my goodness, how about that? Like I said, this is my favorite part by far. The culmination of a lot of fun work and progress. Next week will be the final part of this story. This is like the end of an era for me. My first big serial out in the world. Please do let me know your thoughts if you’re interested in sharing!

Stay tuned for next week for a conclusion to the story - nothing too crazy, just wrapping up the story in a nice laid back way. Thank you for coming along with me on this journey and I’ll see you next week for the conclusion of The Southern Calt. What’s beyond that? Stay tuned next week to hear more!