Intrigue on Karthis: Part 9

12:32 pm (local), Karthis II, Keefauver Village
[Name Redacted]  “Rob Stark” <KIA>
   
    With Angel’s help I made it to a village on the edge of the Ash Lands.  I thought Koari City was quaint, this place was downright primitive.  Most of the buildings were made with either rough-hewn logs or cinderblocks or a combination of the two.  Tarps were just as common as actual tin roofs.  The village itself wasn’t that big; in fact the whole thing could have fit on Malgate Avenue back home, but the farmland surrounding it was impressive.  Angel and I were dreading having to walk all the way through them.  But fortunately, a friendly farmer offered to let us hitchhike back.  Everyone treated us with an odd sort of kindness, pity is probably more the word.  They knew by our gas masks that we must have come from the Ash Lands.  It didn’t seem that people trudging out of that place looking defeated and half dead was all that uncommon an occurrence.  I heard someone in town whisper something about explorers in a slightly derisive tone.  
    Not exactly the case, I thought, but if they wanted to think that it was fine by me.  Less questions asked, less likely information could get back to Agent 7.  I had no idea how far 7’s network stretched, but I thought it was best to play it safe.  We were directed toward a hostel where I ditched my hoodie and other clothes for something more local-looking.  The best thing I found was a pair of olive drab coveralls and a white t-shirt.  I pulled the top part of the jumpsuit down to form a sort of bulky belt and tied an olive green bandana around my hair.  If Agent 7 did have people here, they’d know to be on the lookout for a snow leopard.  
    Back in the common room, I met up with Angel, who’d dressed exactly the same.  We had a laugh over that.  The only difference in our outfits was that she looked better in it.  
    “So what now?” Angel asked.  I decided we’d lie low for a bit.  I needed to find out where Lilia was, but if there was one thing I knew about Agent 7 it was that he’d keep her alive for at least several more days.  The rule of ten.  All the BioTech agents were trained that if things went sour and we had to lie low, then ten days was the bare minimum of time before we could do anything else.
    Agent 7 was nothing if not well-trained.  He may have been a psycho, but he was psycho by the book. Lilia was safe for now.  And I’d have time to look for her.
    As payment for my stay in the hostel I worked on one of the big farming machines.  They were steam powered, of all things.  I shoveled coal all day, and by the time I got off work my face was covered in black soot, and so was my once clean white shirt.  Now I really fit in.  I had some extra money after the day, and I knew just where to spend it.
    Angel found me at the town’s only bar, a shop where the counter was the front wall and the patrons sat on the porch. “Whatcha drinkin’?” she asked, sitting down beside me.  I grimaced a little.
    “Gunk,” I answered. “Local cure for ash inhalation.  It’s supposed to help my system flush the mineral buildup.”
    “Sounds delicious,” Angel remarked sarcastically. “How was work?”
    “Eh.” I shrugged. “Better than the IT job.”
    “’Scuse me…” the bartender cut in. “I couldn’t help but overhear.  Did you say you’ve been in the Ash Lands recently?”
    “Little bit of exploring,” I answered vaguely. “Why, don’t a lot of people around here do that?”
    “Not the locals,” the barkeep answered with a dark chuckle. “We know there ain’t nothing to find… So, how far’d you get?”
    “Almost to the mountain, in fact,” I said, not entirely lying.  The barkeep’s eyes lit up.
    “Really?” he pressed eagerly, almost too much so. “Find anything?”
    “Yes actually,” I answered.  I tried to hide my smirk. No one had any reason to be that interested, especially since the man had just admitted there was nothing much to find out in the Ash Lands. I had a chance to build a story. A good story. “A body.”
    “Anyone you know?”
    “Nope.  Snow leopard that I’d never seen before.  Had on a black hoodie and no gas mask.  Can’t imagine how he made it that far.”
    “Stranger things have happened,” the barkeep said, suddenly uninterested. But I knew better.  His dropping the conversation was a thinly veiled act.  As Angel and I left the bar, I whispered to her.
    “I’m going to investigate after the bar closes tonight.”
    “All right, I’m coming with you,” Angel agreed.
    “No, I need you to stay at the hostel.”
    “Oh, come on!”
    “Listen for a second, will ya?  I need you to make sure I’m not followed.”
   
   
   
   11:26 pm (local), Karthis II, Keefauver Village
   [Name Redacted] “Rob Stark” <KIA>
   
    That night I slipped out of the hostel and headed for the market square.  I stopped just around the corner to check my tracks.  Not that I didn’t trust Angel to watch my back, but there are some habits that are hard to break.
    Sure enough, one of the younger kids, about 16, slipped out behind me.  He was about to head my way when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. “And just where are you headed?” Angel asked in a playfully inquisitorial voice. “Out to meet some lady friend?”
    “Wh-what?” the boy stammered. “No I…”
    “Oh, then we’re sneaking off to the speakeasy, is that it?”
    “So what if I am?” the boy grumbled. “You’re not my mom.”
    Angel gave the boy a smile that was not very maternal at all.  She was taller than him, and she used it to her advantage.  Leaning on her knees to look him in the eye, she pressed her breasts together, giving the boy one hell of a view down her low-cut worker’s tank top.  I felt myself getting a little hot under the collar of my jumpsuit.  That was some A-grade seduction right there.
    “C’mon.” She poked the boy’s nose. “Is getting drunk with a bunch of sweaty men really better than hanging out with me tonight?”
    The boy never stood a chance, though he made a show of pretending to decide.  He followed her back into the hostel, and I was free to go to the bar.  Maybe the boy had been planning to head for the late-night drinking hole, or maybe he’d been paid to keep tabs on me.  Either way, it looked like Angel had done a good deed.
    The bar was dark except for the light coming from one of the back rooms.  The barkeep was still awake.  I intended to wait for him to sleep, but then I heard the crackle of a radio from inside his room.  I snuck closer.  I found an easy way in through the roof and I listened in from there.  The barkeep sat at a junky old comm station, silhouetted by the glow of the holographic screen.  
    “This is Keefauver Village to HQ,” The barkeep said, “Access code: 312908723.  I need to speak to 7.” I took a sharp intake of breath instinctively, but in the next moment, I smirked a little.  I had been right.
    “What? What is it, you backwater inbred yokel?” Agent 7 answered grumpily.
    “Jus’ thought you might want to know that I’ve received a report from some explorers that blew in from the Ash Lands.”
    “This better make me real happy.”
    “Oh it will,” the barkeep said. “You see, they found a body out near the mountain. A snow leopard wearing a black hoodie.”
    “Well hot damn!” Agent 7 said through the comms unit, suddenly sounding much happier. “That little pest is finally out of the way.”
    I couldn’t believe Agent 7’s idiocy.  Surely he knew better than to trust the secondhand account of some explorer.  I guess he’d been so sure I’d die, that this report was just a confirmation of what he already knew.  For a moment I reflected that had it not been for Angel, he would have been right.  
    Agent 7 logged off to go celebrate my death, and one of his underlings chatted with the barkeep for a while.  It wasn’t idle prattle, though.  They talked about some kind of plan that Agent 7 had going.  Apparently, it was going into motion soon.  Maybe there was more to Agent 7’s claims than a plan scribbled on his notepad.  But why was he doing it?  The more I listened, the less it made sense.  This was one of those bring the planet to its knees kind of plans.  What could 7’s motivation for that be?  Did BioTech order it?  I somehow doubted that.  
    Eventually, Agent 7 caught wind of the conversation and berated both the man on his end and the barkeep for talking about secrets on an open channel.  The comm call was disconnected and the barkeep went to sleep.  After waiting about an hour, I heard the barkeep start snoring loudly.  I dropped into the room and opened the comm console.  A few quick keystrokes and one crossed wire and the whole system devoted its processing power to running an endless loop of the same pointless program.  The unit was irreparable.  Keefauver outpost was down and out.
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    I stumbled into the hostel, right past Angel, who was still up and talking with a few of the other tenants.  The boy who she had stopped earlier had his head in her lap while she idly scratched his ears.  Putty in her hands.  “Robbie?” she greeted me in a worried tone, but I pretended not to notice her.  I flopped facefirst on my bed and didn’t budge one inch.
    “See?” I heard Angel say. “It’s not the fun time you think it is.”