Chapter 1-2 Scavengers

Chapter 1-2 Scavengers

I told you this would happen. The only laughable thing about this is how much you fucking gerents are surprised. Seems like immortality doesnt prevent senility. You want an explanation?

Fine.

Ill give you three. Apathy. Bitterness. Fatalism. What else do the FATELESS in the Warrens got? The entire sectors of the city are still no-go zones affected by countless Ruptures. This was something we pledged to fix immediately.

Its been eighteen years!

They own nothing and rent everything from the Guilds, meaning that they functionally have no concrete value in the market. No freedom. Education is free, but considering the Undercroft is already ten billion lives over capacity, they wont be making it up even if there were geniuses among them! They cant even have any physical intimacy, for Jaus sake. Forget sex, a godsdamned kiss on the cheek will cause an outbreak of the rash. Then, they get to watch their block get glassed.

You know what, the hells with this. I resign. Fuck each and every one of you! I signed up with Ori-Thaum to serve a republic, to see that everyone is represented and supported. Unity is Destiny? My ass. We broke their homes and our promises. Were goddamn bastards. Same as Highflame. Same as Voidwatch. Same as the No-Dragons and all the other great Guilds.

The next time you ask why the Warrens are filled with organ-smugglers, joy-fiends, gangers, snuffers, and scavengers, think to yourself how much theyre worth to us alive versus how much their Essence can fuel our Souls when dead.

Were running on a necro-economy. And they know. They know but they cant do anything about it.

Theres no difference between us and the gluttonous gods that used to rule us.

I quit. I quit. I quit.

-Chief Admin Revo IKuritas resignation speech to the Court of Elders of Ori-Thaum

1-2

Scavengers

The girl was still fiddling with her broken gun when Avo mantled the walkway. Scaffolded over the dozen or so scavenging pits built deep into the keel of the barge, the rusted railings of the crudely festooned walkways spilled across the top of the ship, its loosened bolts rattling to the breath of the wind. Encompassing two pits a row, all of the walkways were interconnected, segmenting the top of the ship into cubes until it finally trailed off at the prow, with holo-haptic interfaces for the industrial cranes lighting each intersection as a milestone, neon embers amidst the murk of the Maw.

Behind, Avo heard heavy metal limbs hammered against the grating and two other rising heart rates as he closed on Hap-Tata moniker he granted to the girl that shot him. He peeled her face from his mindthe act coming easily from his years of practice diving in the Nether. Dehumanizing the opposition into something akin to an object was common practice among most Necrojacks. Most in his profession did it to avoid traumatizing themselves when jacking into the memories of their victims. Avo was taught to do it because hurting people fed pleasure to his cruelty. An equally bad habit, considering he had a habit of fragging apart more of their minds than he needed to.

Avo loped in on all fours, his movements between a dash and a stagger. His muscles, though sore, felt functional. Down the narrow path, Hap-Tat's face quavered in the projected glow of her rig. Scintillating glints reflected off the piercings that dotted her right cheek like constellations. Her heart roared like rising war drums in his ears, spurring him onward. Desperately, she chucked the broken gun at him. He caught it, and, just as her rigs drill whirred to life, he cast it back at her. Lagging, the drill lanced out too late to block the gun. It cracked against one of her HUD projection ribs, making Hap-Tat flinch. Her eyes snapped shut.

An unwise thing to do when a ghoul was close by.

Three-hundred and fifty pounds of ghoul slammed against a ton of rusted metal. The more rusted pieces of plasteel on her rig groaned and cracked on impact. Her response was sloppy. Unfocused. She flailed at him, mechanical arms snapping out, clamping only air as he slipped low. Ramshackle her rig might be, a glancing blow from it would be crippling. It was meant for scavenging; menial labor, not combat, but Avo knew what a fusion drill could do. At its highest intensity settings, it could strip titanium. Hard as the Low Masters made him in comparison to a flat, titanium he was not.

Put simply, if she plugged him with that drill, his flesh would do more than strip; his insides would spill.

On his side were momentum and agility. He smuggled himself under her left and drove into her at an angle. The rig toppled back, breaking the crane interface she was operating. Staggering, her rigs crab-like legs gripped the walkway tight, trying to keep itself upright. Metal groaned. Servos wailed. He struck her again. This time, he lashed his remaining arm through the projection ribs, feeling a spine-shivering delight as his claws unzipped sinew and skidded off her bones. She screamed. He pressed. In the back of his head, he kept track of the other two heartbeats. They were approaching from the next pit over, their rigs clanking on at a leaden pace, coming at him from perpendicular paths. He needed to finish Hap-Tat now.

A mechanical whine sounded from above him as the articulated limb bearing her drill descended. On instinct, Avo twisted out of the way. Barely. A line of pain flared along his spine, The drill sliced a shallow avenue of pain down his back. Avo snarled. His thoughts slipped from him. The beast inside him took hold.

As the drill shot past him and punched through the grating beneath them, he wrenched the flat flaps of her projectors from their sparking joints, hoping to get at the screaming meat behind. A weak fist bounced off his jaw, showing him just how unaugmented she was. He responded by clamping his hand around her head and squeezing. Her skull felt so small between his claws. Like an oversized egg. In his grip, bone succumbed, fracturing. Her voice greeted him with a muffled cry, growing to choked screams as he clenched tighter.

Mine, Avo hissed. With a vicious yank, he drew her halfway out of the rig. Her arms and legs snapped at the sockets. She cried out. Avo chuffed in annoyance. If she thought dislocations were bad, she should try losing an arm.

A choking wheeze filled her lungs. The other two were close now. Their heartbeats told him they were closing. Fifteen feet. Maybe less. He didnt care. Hap-Tats safety harness clung tight to her torso and fought him. Hed deal with that later. Instead, he went for the metallic cord slotted to the datajack on the back of her head. Unhinging his jaw, he brought his fangs down on the cord. Plastic, metal, and micro-tech came apart in his mouth. With the connection severed, her rig went slack, its frame toppling against the bending rails. Spitting pieces of broken cord, Avo slashed through the harness and pulled his prize free. Hap-Tat weighed akin to a feather in his hand. In the darkness, he saw the tears rolling from her eyes, and heard the pleas spilling from her lips. Her heart was tearing itself apart from her at the pace it was beating. Avo grinned.

It was a pleasure to hurt and it would be a delight to feed. Saliva dripped from his mouth.

The arrival of the other two rigs broke his trance. As the beast looked away from its prey, the shifting of focus allowed the rational remnants of Avo to resume control. Blinking, he let out a hissing breath as he worked his excitement under control. He had gone too long without his Metamind suppressing the beast. Glaring at his two new adversaries, he did his best to ignore the writhing meatenemy. The writhing enemy in his clutches.

Standing ten feet away from him, he glared at the new arrivals. A beat passed. No one moved. Hap-Tat whimpered. Avo wrestled himself. He didnt need to drink from the sweet that was her blood. He didnt need to take a sampling nibble from her adrenaline-bittered flesh

Please, she whimpered, the circuitry of her haptic-tattoos malfunctioning. Error codes spilled over her forehead. Something had broken beneath her skin when he was crushing her skull earlier. Please, II just got aa nu-dog.

He ate a cloned nu-dog before. Not nearly as good as humans. But that was by design. Ghouls were made to prey on humans. Baseliners. Flats like her. Nothing buzzed a ghoul's brain quite like human flesh. Just as nothing was quite as euphoric to them as violence. The weight of his impulses was heavier than the aerovec, heavier than the rig. Still, Avo fought it. He had to.

It's what Walton taught him to do.

The beast has to win sometimes, Walton had told him after catching him gorging on an aratnid nest. Surrendering is human. But choice? Choice is divine. Fighting your body might just lead to failure. But mastering it, and choosing when to give in to it gives you choices. Its not about repression. Its about expression. Expression of free will against yourself. I think theres true freedom to be found there.

Avo snarled. Hap-Tat shuddered and clamped her eyes shut, unwilling to face the end. Instinct warred against rationality. Reason won. Barely. Closing his jaws with a repressed grunt, Avo considered the next best use for her.

Lifting Hap-Tat past the rails and dangling her over the pit, Avo turned to face the other two problems that he had yet to solve. There wore rigs bearing much of the same make and quality as Hap-Tats. They faced him, their heartbeats high with tension, their breaths misting the air thick in nervous respiration.

Avo sighed. Since he wasnt trying to eat anyone presently, he might as well negotiate. Bargain. He had no idea where he was or how he was going to get back home. Not without his Metamind working anyhow. Hed leverage what he could from them for a start. See if they could get him back up to the surface. Or at least to the Warrens. Getting left here was a death sentence. Hells, it already had been if he wasnt hallucinating about being resurrected earlier.

Oh, gods, oh Jaus dont let me die, Hap-Tat muttered.

Avo frowned at her. Her lip quivered. Speak. Speak to them, he said.

She blinked. You can talk?

Tumor Face frowned. The fuck? Thank you? She laughed, more confused than amused. Whywhy thank you?

Needed a reason, Avo said.

A reason? Tumor Face asked.

Avo didnt reply instead, he pulled Hat-Tat away from the edge and pulled her in front of him. She went still. Her eyes widened. Looking past her shoulder, he saw the other two scavengers, just watching, waiting for him to react.

She wasnt that heavy. Tumor Face wasnt that far. He could make the throw.

Youyou gonna let me go? Hap-Tat whispered.

Yeah, Avo said, his grin spreading all the way to his ear-nubs. Technically, he wasn't lying.

She whimpered and let out a breath. Oh, thank

Every strand of muscle across his body exploded with motion. With a primal snarl, he launched the girl from his grasp like a javelin. The sight of her sailing away, choking on her own screams was joyous to behold. Like a spear molded from the softness of flesh and unlaced bone, she broke against Tumor Faces rig with a satisfying splat, ribs cracking, a lung popping.

Tumor Face stumbled back in surprise. Pure reflex made her shrug the mangled body of Hap-Tat over the railing. Green Eyes, the most focused of the three, stomped forward. Slow as he was, Avo felt an aura of danger about him. This one was good at mastering their fear and going forward. Part of Avo respected that. The rest wanted to know if the man would taste any different.

The thrumming vibration beneath Avos feet called his attention. Hap-Tat's drill. Climbing over Hap-Tats disabled rig, he found the drill dangling through a wound made in the melted grating. It had been left running when he severed the connection. Poor safety protocols, but useful for him. A feral smile spread across his face, his fangs barring from ear to ear. Hiding behind the rig, he listened for Green Eyes approach as he took hold of the drills connective articulations. Taking it in his hand he waited for the right moment to drop down onto the hull itself.

He intended to drive his new weapon into Green Eyes from below.

Somewhere behind Green Eyes, Tumor Face roared as she began stomping over. Rotlicking half-strand fuck!

The walkway creaked as Green Eyes approached. A bolt popped. Avo jumped, disappearing over the side just in time for his newest victim to smash past Hap-Tats disabled rig. Landing, Avo ignored the lancing pain traveling up his legs and limped below where Green Eyes was standing. Looking up, Avo saw the confusion splashed across Green Eyes face. His projectors were detecting nothing. Poor fool was looking in the wrong direction.

Kald! Below!"

Tumor Faces warning came far too late. Avo leaped, driving the drill up through the grating and into the underside of Green Eyes rig, feeling as it chewed through metal and meat. The wafting taste of exposed organs greeted Avo. Green Eyes screamed. Blood spilled. Avo opened his jaws wide and fed on the deluge running down from above. The drill spun twice more in the scavengers abdomen before fizzling and dying. Disappointing.

Green Eyes' fat boiled and popped between the edges of his wounds. Blood foamed in his mouth. He barely had time to struggle with the drill before Avo pulled back hard. Ghoul-muscle battled the unmaintained machine servos of his rig. Green Eyes body bore the burden of defeat. Bone snapping, flesh flaying, he came free from between the ribs in a welter of gore, his datajack snapping loose from the back of his skull. He landed nothing more than a brutalized pulp against the grating, his last breath a sobbing whimper. With a final violent tug, Avo drew his prize down through the gap he made in the walkway using the now useless drill.

Above, another rig-toppled, pilotless. Tumor Face stomped forward far too late, a wail of absolute despair tearing free from her throat. Avo didnt hear it. He was too busy gorging himself on good meat. The man tasted divine; the sweetness of his lingering diabetes only added flavor. As he fed, however, Avo sensed something else. Something entirely different. He felt it more than he tasted it, but it was coming free from the corpse all the same. An unseen rippleno, an echo poured into him. Impossibly, Avo heard Green Eyes whispering in the back of his mind, chanting muted prayers to a god unseen.

Suddenly, Avo felt himself ignite in an incandescent burst. The world expanded around him. Existence shivered momentarily. He saw himself as a chasm between a shroud of primordial fire, a world between him and where he was right now. His mind spun. His body felt hollow and heavy at the same time. It was as if he was both a conduit and an anchor at the same time. The moment passed as fast as it came. Suddenly, he was back in his own skin like nothing happened.

Then, data lines from his cog-feed flashed behind his perception, its system booting. A ghost-glitch? Didn't matter, the Metamind was working! A ripple of phantasmal matter bloomed out and expanded into a five-ringed halo. A paltry wisp of a ghost spilled out from the center and swirled into a thin spread along the outer accretion of his mind, unshaped and unsequenced. Avo laughed with genuine joy.

His Metamind working again, he awaited to hear the voice of Walton greet

SOUL ONLINE

IGNITING THAUMIC REACTOR - 2 thaum/c

ESSENCE CYCLER ONLINE - 2 thaum/c

METAMIND ONLINE - [1] GHOST ACTIVE

[0] PHANTASMICS ENGRAMMED

WARNING: INSUFFICIENT THAUMIC MASS

UNABLE TO MANIFEST LIMINAL FRAME

[0] HEAVENS GRAFTED

[1] HELLS GRAFTED: INFERNUS (FIRST CIRCLE)

Even as the world around Avo came alight with new color and clarity, he frowned. The single ghost he just claimed was already fine-tuning his perception, feeding his mind with visual data to counter his nearsightedness. In the narrow lane far above the Maw where the lights of the city spilled in, Avo sensed the countless sequences of ghosts spreading across the entirety of New Vultun in a grand skein beyond the surface of existence. Avo didn't have enough ghosts to reach it yet, but he could hear the Nether calling to him.

He ignored it.

This wasnt his Metamind. It didnt sound like Walton. It didnt have any of his engrams. It sounded like him. How could it sound like him? He never had his mind cloned

A howl of rage interrupted his thoughts. Rotlick! Tumor Face leaped over a railing and dented the ground in a rough landing. He noticed the thin wisp that was her ghost oozing out surface thoughts from the center of her mind. Her emotions bled angry clumps of thoughtstuff as she made for him. Yet, as she approached, he found himself wondering why there seemed to be a rippling echo inside her core as well.

ESSENCE DETECTED - [1]

The words flashed in his mind and were spoken to him through a voice copied from his own. Essence? Avo frowned. Souls burned Essence to make thaums. Why was this Metamind detecting Essence? Why was it telling him it had a Soul online? He wasn't anywhere near a megablock right now. He couldn't be linked to any of the reactors.

Tumor Face thundered close, her shadow creeping over him as he shook off his new questions. If she didn't snuff him, he could take his time to figure out what his situation was after. Mull it over with the meal that was her corpse. Right now, he was still starving and found the hunger in him ran deeper than before.

Letting the beast inside him slip the leash once more, he met his new prey mid-charge, seeking more than mere meat.