Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 10: The Face of The Enemy

 It was late night, the clock on the wall of Tom’s office struck once. He had been reading reports on the explosion at the reconditioning facility and organizing the investigation for the last eighteen hours. He even had to visit the place himself a couple of times. After he was done with the reports, he would need to check the new laws being pushed by the government and their integrity in the grand scheme of things. It was a long time since he had been so busy. 

Claire was on the search for the person who appeared to Daemien Verau as the Voice, digging into Verau’s past and questioning his colleagues. He was not contacted by Glen since he was hospitalized. He brought in some scum from time to time, but Tom had no clue what that wild man was doing with his free time. Tom had tried calling him a few times but Glen’s comms were turned off.

 An emergency notice showed up on Tom’s screen.  There was an incoming call.

“Hi." A window with an old wrinkled face appeared in front of him. Tome recognized that it was an elderly bio engineer who managed the largest greenhouse on the first sky circle.

Tom calmly replied, “Hi. This channel is reserved for extreme emergencies. Do you know you will be penalized if the problem is not worth my time?” “Yes, I do. I can guarantee this problem truly needs your attention and I hope you can handle it as soon as possible.”

The camera turned and Tom saw a gun pointed at engineer’s head. An unpleasant-looking man was holding it; the top of his head was bald, the face pale, covered in disgusting red wounds. The disease, Tom reckoned, occurred for workers at the greenhouses who did not use safety equipment when handling toxic fertilizers.

The man spoke thinly. “Please, I just want to talk. Come, I am giving out my coordinates. And be alone, we don’t need any additional casualties.”

Tom felt no threat coming from baldy. Could he be telling the truth?

He had been using the cab for the last few days and this night was no exception.

 During the short travel time he checked the identity of the man with a gun. His name was Dino May; his criminal record included killing of three people. Written in additional information was the following: “Rendered incapable of violence, muscles adapted for physical work, facial features changed.”

As the cab was flying up, Tom adored how small everything on the ground level was. Tonight the city was silent, only a few glimmers of light were shining.  He tried to relax and enjoy the view but to his disappointment it was soon lost. He flew over the dark greenery and landed in a flower garden in front of a massive glass building. The building was much greater than any structure from down below. It was difficult to grasp the size of it at night.  Tom looked up and saw tens of floors climbing up into the sky.

The greenhouses were on the circles up in the sky because they needed to be closer to the artificial sun to sustain higher temperatures.  The circle he visited today provided the city with crops and animal meat. The smaller circle above was where fruits and vegetables were grown.

He stepped into the massive building and found himself in a large hall surrounded by three thugs.  It was dark too see, but Tom noted that the one on the left was a cripple, the one on the right was well-built - a muscle, and the one in front of him was Dino. Dino looked more dead than alive.

Eight massive columns in the hall formed a square. The old bio engineer was sitting in the middle of the square with the baldy pointing his gun at him. The guy from Tom’s right came closer, picked up a chair and placed it in front of Tom. He then, took a couple of steps back.

Dino came behind the hostage and pushed the trigger of his laser gun. It clicked. The eyes of the engineer froze for a second.

“You are free to go, just keep your mouth shut. I know where you live.” The old man awkwardly fell to the ground, stood up and ran away. Dino followed the engineer with an intimidating stare for a few silent seconds and took the free seat.