Emergence: Chapter 55

Beldun walked through the streets of Atui, carefully avoiding the brown puddles which lined the pavement, filling the cracks and dents. She liked Atui; far better than the big cities. The buildings were smaller, and more spread-out than the cramped apartment blocks of Tacip, Prauw's northern continent's capital. There were less people here too, meaning that she was able to avoid the puddles in the street. The amount of shoes she'd ruined in those puddles had cost her a ton of money, as the water burned through the soles.

One thing she did miss from the cities was the smoke. Not only did it turn her vision to sepia, meaning that it pretty-much covered up the blemishes caused by the acid rain, but she loved the smell of it. The chemical smell, which smelt like strong paint mixed with a faint aroma of cyanide. Most homes used incense sticks to get rid of the smell, but not Beldun's; she loved it, was addicted to it. But she hated the city people more than she loved the city atmosphere.

Not far from home now, she checked her com: no messages. Typical, no one messaged her anymore. She knew it was her own fault, but she was still adamant she hadn't drank that much, or said all of those things. She shook her head, and put the com away again; no point dwelling on old friends.

An auto rushed past her, the anti-grav generators beneath throwing up a tidal wave of muddy water at water. Recoiling, she shook the water off. “Fuck you!” She yelled to the driver, giving them the middle finger. She turned to walk away, patting at her trousers as she did so.

Until the auto stopped.

She heard the click of the door opening, and she turned around to see the driver climb out. Fuming, she walked towards him, arms swinging aggressively. He looked at her, and closed the auto's door. He was big, and hidden behind a long black coat, but she was not afraid. Pissed off, but not afraid.

“What did you say to me?” The man yelled.

“I said “Fuck you”!” Beldun yelled back, vaguely recognising the voice.

The man laughed, and Beldun took a step back, brow furrowing. “I thought it was you, Beldun.” He said, his voice soft and gentle. “Same old plucky Beldun.”

Beldun walked closer, looking at the man's face. Beneath the lines, the scars and the small beard, she latched onto something she recognised. “Lyss? That you?”

Lyss put his hand on her arm. “Good to see you again.” He gestured at her now-soggy clothes. “Sorry about that, genuine accident.”

She shook her head. “It's fine, it'll come out.”

“Yeah.” Lyss nodded.

There was silence for a moment as they looked each other up and down.

“How's the factory?”

Lyss hesitated before answering. “Yeah, it's going great thanks. Why you here? I remember you loving Tacip.”

Beldun smiled. “I did, I really did. But it was too crowded for me, so here I am now.”

Lyss nodded, and briefly considered it. “Makes sense, I considered it once. I lived on New Orbus for a while, beautiful city.”

“I can imagine.” Beldun imagined the city, as she had seen only in pictures. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

Lyss looked around, and stroked his hair. “Oh, I need to speak to the mayor.”

Beldun looked at him; he was acting unusual as he spoke. But then, he could have just changed in about fifteen years. “Ah, well I need to walk past the town hall on the way home anyway, we can walk and talk.”

Lyss smiled. “Yeah, why not?”

They began to walk together, Beldun leading the way.

“So, what made you quit the Network Monitoring?” Lyss asked.

Beldun shook her head. She'd met Lyss Fown years ago, when they worked together at an Empire Network station, charged with maintaining the wireless connection between all connected electrical devices. Then, one day he suddenly left to work in the factory district, and she'd never heard from him since. “I could ask you the same.”

“You could.” Lyss nodded, an air of sarcasm in his voice. “But I asked you first.”

Beldun chuckled. “Fine.” She added a little dose of mock-annoyance into her voice, but the smile on her face gave away the truth. “It just wasn't fun without you. After you went, Taun and Trem left too, so I thought it was time for me to leave too.”

Lyss nodded. “Trem came to work with me, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He's away at the minute, off-world. Ever hear from Taun?”

The corners of Beldun's mouth were briefly pulled down. “No, never. No-one's seen him since. We think he might be...”

Lyss put his arm around her. “It's a shame to hear that. He was a good lad.”

Beldun was surprised to hear so little emotion from Lyss; he was always rather cold, but not like this. She decided to change the subject. “The city changed much?”

“Nah, it's still pretty similar. Although, the whole Xaosian war thing's got the military patrolling the streets, anti-aircraft guns and everything.” He looked around. “I'm surprised there's none around here.”

Beldun sighed. “Yeah, well it's not as if we're gonna be attacked here, is it?”

Lyss chuckled. “Fair point.”

Beldun beckoned to him to turn the corner and they found themselves outside a large building with grey stone pillars supporting an overhanging roof. “Town hall.” Beldun pointed.

“That was easy.” Lyss beckoned for her to go with him.

“Don't you need to speak to him alone?” Beldun asked.

“No, the more, the merrier.”

Curious, Beldun followed slightly behind him as he pulled the large stone doors open. Purple carpets absorbed the mud from Beldun's shoes as they walked through the corridor leading to the mayor's office. Greeted by double-doors, Lyss knocked, and waited patiently until two small men pulled the doors open, revealing the mayor and his secretaries sitting in the middle of the room, backs to a roaring fireplace.

“Yes?” The mayor's voice was nasally, but somehow intimidating.

Lyss undid his coat, letting it flap open, before walking over to the mayor. Beldun went to sit on one of the spare chairs and found it to be surprisingly comfortable.

“Mr Mayor, the Xaosian war concerns us all.” Lyss said, staring into the mayor's eyes.

“It does, yes.” The mayor nodded. “It's unlikely that this town will be deliberately targeted though.”

Beldun looked at up at Lyss, who raised himself to his full height, and put his hand in his coat.

“Wrong.”

Lyss pulled his hand out and the gunshot punctuated the end of the mayor's life.