Prelude II

Being in favor of me is not selfishness… it’s human.

The warm light of the yellow sun passing through the transparent flower patterned curtains broke my slumber.

Another sunny day, huh?

With Ricky still asleep in the bed, snoring, I prepared

breakfast, and waited for him to wake.

I guess he is sound asleep.

A large smile on my face as I made the pun in my head. I laughed out loud at my own joke. I was getting bored of doing nothing, then I remembered the books that were left behind. The first book in the first row of the shelf beside the kitchen, labeled “Riverrite Automobile textbook”, was what my hand grabbed.

I took it to the bed and sat beside Ricky, my legs crossed over each other and opened to the first page. I couldn’t read every word in the book, but I could understand the diagrams and illustrations. I thought if I was gonna work at ZF repairs I have to know a little bit more about automobiles.

I had thought about a lot of things for the past two days since the night we got chased, about Ricky oblivion of our parents, about why we were chased and who sent them and about the job offer.

I told Ricky about our parents’ abandonment the day after we got chased, I had enough of lying to help him cope with it, especially when He was going to know about it later. All my worries were merely exaggeration, he only cried repeatedly for about a minute and remained sad till he fell asleep, it was a small price to pay.

As for who sent the two idiots who chased us, the communicators made it obvious they were not just muggers, and it does not seem like they were full-blown professionals either. Of course, my first suspicion was on Mr.Zack, he seemed too nice for someone who lives in Arkanyra. My other suspects were Mishijo’s Junkyard, Nanahoshi and Miraineko. The two other places I went to wouldn’t know what I had in the bag, since they never checked it. Thinking hard about it brought me no clear answer as to who sent them, but it gave me more hint on precautions to take to avoid them and how to prevent further interruption to my daily life.

The job offered by the man with the prominent jawline was the best thing to have at a moment like that. Our first day picking up batteries was an omen to its continuation, I almost got us into trouble because of a battery and even worse, none of those batteries he anything in them. If it’s were to look for something else to do, it will most likely not be as good as Mr.Zack’s offer. All these made making the decision easier.

We departed the house like we always do: walk stealthily down the stairs wearing hooded jackets and sneaky shoes. A few more strides through a different route and we arrived at Mr.Zack’s Shop. Mr.Zack had his signboard repainted to conceal the rust on it. Now, the signboard matches up with the building itself.

He was in the service area, a few meters away from the signboard where Ricky and I stood, waving at us with his left hand, he looked quite energetic that morning.

Is he happy we came?

“Good Morning, Mr.Zack” I formally greeted him, while Ricky ran up front to deliver a more colloquial greeting.

“He… llo, Mr.Zack” dragging the ‘hello’ longer than his other words.

“Morning, boys!” Mr.Zack replied.

“Hi, Ricky” he said as he crouched to shake his hands flashing a smile on his face.

“How’s it been?”

“Great, it’s been great, I ate full this morning! and uhh… I’ve been a good boy”

“Aww, good to know” Mr.Zack commented as he was stroking Ricky’s head through his short untidy hair.

“Your brother will be helping me fix cars, You can go sit in the office and play with the computer”

“Computer?”

“Just click on the table, and it will show you a shiny light.”

“Ohh, that sounds good, I’ll do“

Ricky skipped into the office, pushing the closed door open with all his might. Mr.Zack stood up watching him struggle on the door as if he were a movie. Ricky was finally able to enter, and Mr.Zack clicked on his watch.

“And Vic”

Eh!

“I know you’ll come, Vic”

“Yes, Mr.Zack. I came for the job, is it still up?”

“Yes”

“How much is the pay?”

“One-fifth of the day’s repairs plus 2000 yen”

The pay sounds good.

“Go grab your coveralls, I’m about to start a repair.”

“My coveralls?“

He got me a coveralls before I accept the job?!

“It’s on a hanger in the storage room. The room behind the office.” He said as he threw me a green key card taken from his coveralls left pocket.

I entered the office, my brother had put on the Computer in the office, and it displayed a date on it.

it had not seen or known the date for so long, that’s why I did not even know my age or what date any day was. I did not really care much about the date, but since everyone uses it, it would be necessary to know it.

A emissive blue light forms a rectangle around the screen marking its borders on the smooth white desk. At the left bottom corner, a white text says “10:21” in large classic font, below the numbers was written “Friday, May 15” in a smaller text, I instinctively put the vertically inverted texts together in my head.

I’m 14 already. I feel so old.

The sound of a vehicle revving nearby reminded me of the coveralls I had to pick up. The lock on the storage room door is exactly like our house’s, a white rounded box firmly attached to the wall, the only difference is that ours does not work. I put the card in front of the tiny red LED light on it, the door slid open to the left showing the fairly illuminated storage room, and the LED light flashed green. Large metallic and plastic boxes piled on each other everywhere in the room away from the path to the hanger at the right wall of the room, everyone of the boxes in my line of sight had a label on, which made me assume they are parts and products.

I took off my hoodie, threw it on one of the boxes on the heaps and picked up the garment from the hanger, and wore it on top of my white t-shirt.

Outside the Building lies a clean four-wheeled streamlined blood red car with an elongated boot, and Mr.Zack seemed to be staring at it.

“It’s a classic. From the 2030s. Beauties like these are rare to come by.”

“Oh, Ok” I answered unconvincingly enthusiastically.

Mr.Zack parked the car inside and we started the repair on the it, whenever he asked for tools of which names I recently learned that morning, I would give him, opening up the panels of the car and unfastening the bolts and nuts that hold the parts of the car’s engine in place. After an hour, sweats were already rushing down our faces like water from a leaky tap, it was an hectic work and Mr.Zack looked really focused while doing it.

He must also be tired now, now’s a good time to confirm it.

“Uhh… Mr.Zack.”

“Yes, Victor”

“What are M37s?”

“Oh, that… they are robots that carry out execution of orders from the state police department, often to kill people who are beyond the reach of the law or those who harbor dangerous weapons...” he paused as he pointed to a tin box near my feet, I opened it and gave him the lone tool in the box.

“…weapons humans are no match for”

He seemed to give out the information without much pressure. It was only a simple question to lay the foundation for a more direct one. I resolved to a finisher to stave off my doubts.

“Mr.Zack, you sure know a lot about this, you must be a middle classman?”

He kept quiet without flinching or changing his facial expression, that reaction was an answer to my question, and the answer was “Yes”. Suddenly, it all made sense, why he was that nice and why he knew a lot about those robots. The middle class act as a bridge between the upper class and the lower class, exchanging valuable information for rank and money with the upper class, while maintaining trade relationships with the lower class. It was a necessary arrangement, considering the fact that the lower class loathes the upper class much more than the middle class, and at the same time the upper class forbids themselves from direct interaction with the lower class. Thus, it was easy for both to drown their hatred towards the middle class for their survival. It was a regressive societal structure.

“I’m sorry, Mr.Zack. I have nothing against the middle class, I just feel like I know little about them.”

“It’s Ok, Victor.” He put the tool down and turned right to look me in the eyes.

“I’m the same, I don’t know much about the lower class myself. I mean… I just moved here.”

He stood up and said to me “The repair is done. Let’s take a break”.

“Will there be another car coming in today?”

“Most likely not, if there’s a car coming in I would’ve been notified”

“Oh, I see. I’ll be back soon, Mr.Zack”

“It’s 1PM already, so don’t take too long.”

Ricky was still in the office playing with the computer, the break was the perfect time to search for clues as to whom sent them.

Mishijo’s Junkyard was a junkyard, plain and simple, there wasn’t anything more to it, just heaps of ferrous scraps behind a corroded mesh iron fence. Takashi Misho was as simple as his junkyard was, an old man without a choice but to live with the refined earth his parents left him, it was his whole livelihood. 

I went in. And directly asked him about any suspicious person around his place.

Mr.Misho slightly bent his head up as if he wanted to see his thoughts above him,

“No, I don’t recollect seeing anyone like that, people come in a lot, so.. it’s hard to keep count of it” he said as he was stroking his grey overgrown beard.

“I see, thank you. Mr.Misho”

“Oh, and what about ‘H5’, did anyone mention that here?”

“What is ‘H5’?”

He did not provide anything useful aside from his ignorance of the battery type. MiraiNeko was the closest trader to the junkyard and my second choice of interrogation. Popularly known as Asculpha, her influence among the lower class stretched out far and wide through Arkanyra, gaining affection and devotion through her unswerving honest alignment with the lower class, she would most accurately be described as woman of the people. Her shop was smaller in direct comparison to the junkyard, but elegantly designed, it looked similar to every other buildings in the city, only cleaner and more recent, the granite walls had no cracks nor dirt on it, the wide windows had electric shutter installed in it to let desired intensity of light in, and the copper bell fixed on the wall above the steel cased glass door jiggle as customers make their entrance and exit.

I went in and walked quietly straight to the counter where a middle-aged woman stood behind, some of the the customers were sitting on the reception chairs lined at my right.

“Good Morning, Asculpha” drawing a friendly smile across my face.

“Hi, Victor, you didn’t bring Ricky with you today?”

“No, I left him home.”

“You left only him home?!”

“Don’t worry, someone I trust is watching over him”

“You should’ve said that first. So what do you come for?”

Through her speech and the intonations in her Orotund voice, I could tell she really does care about the people, her questions and concerns on Ricky were genuine.

“I just wanted to ask if you remember what I brought the last time I was here.” I mistakenly let my toneless voice out.

“Yeah, I remember… you brought a bag full of dead batteries, how’s that even possible!?” She teased chuckling loud enough for me to hear.

“Do you remember the round battery I had in it? It had this hole at its bottom and a little bump on its head” I said gesturing what I was talking about with my hands.

She hesitated to speak for a while, staring at nothingness, she was lost in thought.

“The H5. I’ve only heard a bit about it. But it’s upper class stuff, so I’d like to stay out of it… did you get rid of it?”

“Yes, I couldn’t sell it anywhere so I threw it away” that was a necessary lie.

“That’s good! Stuffs like that can get you into trouble, what will happen to Ricky if you were to get thrown into prison.”

“I’m sorry for taking your important time. Did anyone ask for me or describe someone who could be me and my brother since I was here last?”

On hearing the question, she slowly slid her index finger down the side of her head.

“Yeah, three men came in yesterday, they reek of smoke and booze. The one with a weird tattoo on his face looked like he’d have a stroke if he weren’t to find what he described as ‘two boys, black skinned, scruffy hair and wearing black hoodies’”

“Thanks, Asculpha.” I turned back to leave.

“It’s nothing, stay out of trouble, if not for yourself, do it for Ricky, you hear!” She kept increasing her volume as I walk farther from the counter and exited the building.

Nanahoshi is also a low classman, he would most likely know nothing,

“Damn it! What I am overlooking, all they had were communicators, broken ribs and smell of alcohol, what else could I use to find them?!…” my enraged thoughts leaked out. I sighed and retained my composure.

Smell of alcohol and smokes, I’ll deal with this later… I have to get back to Mr.Zack. But first I have to get food.

When I got back it was already 2:15 PM, Mr.Zack and Ricky were in the office playing a 2-player ice hockey game on the computer, I walked in, handling the package of food I got to my brother but he seemed too busy to take it.

“I’ll put it on the bench outside till you are ready to eat”

“I already ate Gyakatsu, it was really delicious.”

“You shouldn’t eat food from…” The loud sound of the digital pucks hitting the ball cut in into my sentence, I closed my eyes for a second, breathed out and added “Thank you, Mr.Zack.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, thank you too… I won’t lose this game. I’ve never lost once before!”

“That’s unfair, you’ve been winning for long, lemme win this once!”

None of them looked at me when replying to my queries. Mr.Zack did not comment on how long I was gone for, and Ricky did not seem to miss me either. I really did leave at the perfect time. I sat the bench outside the office and took out my launch from the plastic bag.

At least I have two foods to eat now.

I finished my launch and stared at the nothing whilst thinking of how to settle the problem at hand. No other vehicle came in for repair till 4 PM.

If I am to be free from them, I have to… tie them down.

No other vehicle came in for repair till 4 PM, Mr.Zack and I placed everyone of the tools we had used where they belong. He was getting ready to close for the day.

“I forgot to tell you, we’ll be closing at 7.”

“Understood, Mr.Zack.”

I still had more than an hour to spend before taking Ricky home. I decided to put it into good use.

The H5 battery was lying on old polythene bags beside Caviar’s club, I figured someone must’ve seen us pick up the batteries from there, and reported to their boss. I did not know exactly who saw us, but, the smell of smoke and alcohol Asculpha mentioned gave me a hint on where the henchmen came from. It was the same place where we picked up the batteries, Caviar’s club.

For a nightclub, Caviar outdid himself, the enormous neon sign outside forming a outline of a posing woman. Red, green, blue, and white neon bulbs below the enormous sign, spelling out the club’s name. The flashing lights from inside the club are visible from the entrance and the sound inside was only partially muffled by the translucent glass swing door. Two gallant Bouncers stood at the door granting entrance to only the those with an electronic pass on their smartphones. I stood outside a few meters away, waiting for a chance to get in. A few minutes later, a pearlescent white bulky edged vehicle arrived at the front door, it stopped with a slow smooth transition like a king’s chariot driven by an experienced horseman, the white tires had golden rims with no spec of dirt on it, even with all the mud and pits on the road it came through. Two men dressed in standard black suits alighted from the glamorous beast, standing on both sides to hold open the door for their boss to come out, they both had communicators blinking green on them, and one of them had tattoo on the face.

So, they were Caviar’s men.

The man whom the door was open door for sprung out of the vehicle like a spring, on the side facing the club’s door, his long shining black hair blew to the back of his head in the wind, stud rings on his ears and fingers, wearing a white scarf on a snow white hooded fur coat, everything around this man tells you he owns the place. He waltz into his own club gloriously bending his spine backwards while flinging his arms around in a weird way, maybe he wanted to enjoy the view of his own signboard.

To start my operation, I made a distraction to make my entrance into the club, it was simple, all I had to do was disrupt the queue of people on the sidewalk with passes on them at the left side of the building. I ran inbetween the line, enough for them to hurl curses on me, two of them left their spot to report to the bouncers and a bouncer made his way through the line looking for me. The other bouncer at the front of the club could only watch one side at a time, and at that moment the only place he would focus on would be where the line was on. I kept running around the sidewalk disturbing as much as I could as I walk along to the back of the club. I ran around the club to the right side, making a full circle, and went through the standby bouncer’s blind spot.

I knew some of the people on the queue saw me run in, so I blended in with the people dancing in the club to avoid the bouncers.

An unknown energy courses through the air moving different bodies to dance to its rhythms. The two colored spot light on the high ceiling strobed around the club synchronizing with the beat of the music being played and the movement of the dancers. The loud rock music made ripples through my body, the vibration was confusing. Smokes, alcohol and all kinds of smell mixed up into the precious artificial oxygen. I slithered through the walls of people on the dance floor to catch a view of Caviar.

I reached the end of the dance floor and saw a platform about a quarter meter high with four curved inward facing club chairs arranged in an arc, Caviar was sitting on the chair facing the door, his arms spread wide to accommodate the two women scantily clad individuals on the same chair, he had his two bodyguards behind him, and some random assembly of casually dressed men perched on the other chairs, it was like he was waiting for me to come. The chairs were set round a circular table, the table had a vaping device on it alongside an electron lighter, a roll of cigarettes, half-filled bottles and two packets of playing cards. After confirming his position, I went to the bartender counter by the far right of the room, sat on the chair and waited for the bartender.

“Hey, 1 bottle of Vodka, strong” I opened my mouth as wide as I can to make my voice loud enough for the bartender to hear.

The pass must also allows them to get free drinks.

“Ok… young sir” I smiled at the way I was addressed by the bartender.

She gave me the glass bottle, I opened it and walked around the dance floor pouring the contents of the bottle on the dark reflective surface, and at the same time avoid being seen or suspected by the mildly drunk.

I went back to the counter to get another bottle, I thought one would not be enough.

This should be enough, there are already beers, cocktails and other things that catch on fire around.

I opened up the second bottle, held it in my right hand and slowly dripped the drink on the floor as I hurtled towards the platform Caviar was on. I hopped over the short broad staircase, landing directly on the platform and continued sprinting. The two bodyguards alerted, took out stun guns to shoot at me.

Unfortunately for them, all of their shots missed which gave me the golden opportunity to spill some vodka on Caviar and take the electron lighter from the table.

I leaped over the chair at the side and swiped the electron lighter off the table with my left hand. The bodyguards refused to shoot at me, they were afraid the missing shots might hit their boss. The bottle still tilted in my hands dribbling the alcohol around in no particular direction, I ran through the left side of the club where the DJ was, throwing more cruel choices upon the bodyguards.

In a few steps I got to my final mark which was the door, I threw the electron lighter on the club floor in front of the door, and the alcohol trail I had left started to burn itself and everything in its path. The beers, cocktails, champagnes and other flammable drinks aided the burning fire.

The operation was perfectly successful, I rushed out through the door and made a break for it.

This should give me maybe a few months of peace, that is, if Caviar got our alive.

Humans live forgetting they are a living thing too, and the first and foremost wish of a living thing is to let itself continue living on even if it means the death of other organisms, that is one thing I cannot deny for myself, my selfishness as a living thing is… human.

——Back at The Centriola——

**8:10PM**

/Knock, knock, knock/

“Come in!” A male husky low hoarse voice replied to the knock.

The attendant opened the door, and walked a few paces towards the voice.

“Sir, Here’s today’s report” The attendant stood in front of his desk with a large flat rectangular transparent panel folded between her left arm, while he was busy with a tablet on his hand.

“Go Ahead”

“There was a fire at Caviars this evening”

“Hahaha… That idiot! He must’ve dropped a lighter on his big furry jacket. Just when I thought he could be useful for gathering info”

“And… there were 14 injured and 12 casualties”

“Not like the peasants don’t die everyday. are there any other reports, important report?”

The attendant’s grew more hesitant to speak.

“Uh…”

“Quit dilly-dallying, and speak up”

“An M37 went missing… 3 days ago.”

His right monolid eye slowly enlarged raising his eyebrows up and creating a slight fold on his head.

“Huh, The last few reports were comedic and all, but I would like you to stop your jokes.” He slowly lifted up his bent upper body to look at the attendant’s face.

“Wait… You aren’t joking?!” He swiftly stood up from his chair and snapped at her “Are you messing with me!? AN M37 CANNOT BE LOST! ITS NOT POSSIBLE! Arghhh, GET OUT!”

The Attendant quickly made her way to door.

“Stop, Wait…” She stopped as per his order and turned back to him.

“Has anybody else learned of this?!” He said with his voice now at calm.

“No, Sir, it was reported directly to us by a trusted source”

“Good, now we can do something about this before it gets out of hand. Keep the information within us, make sure no one outside of our circle knows of this. Use every method possible.”

He sat back on his black leather office chair, picked up his transparent tablet and continued sorting documents on it.

“Yes, Mr.Asahi.” The attendant bowed and left.