Chapter 16-11 Tainted Flesh

Chapter 16-11 Tainted Flesh

Look, like it or not, ghouls are a part of this citys messed up ecosystem now. Theres too much darkness, too many FATELESS, and too much flesh for them to fully die out. Not that the Syndicates or Sang want them to.

The fact is that ghouls are more a benefit to the city than a bane. Free meat for the killing, for live-fire exercises, for stapping explosives to and sending them as hordes to run down your targets, as incubators to grow cheap mods and organs, as test subjects and renewable harvests for ghosts and deaths. All it takes is a decent grafter with a No-Dragon contact and you got yourself a farm right there.

Who cares about a couple thousand refugees going missing in the dark? Hells, they got less economic worth than the rotlicksall they usually provide is their deaths. Ori-Thaums even beginning trials, adapting ghouls for use in their new dreamer-farms.

The Low Masters mightve thought they were going to drown us all in a tide of monsters, but all they did was give us a gift.

Suppose thats hard to hear for all you out there who lost consangs during the Uprising, but honestly, it was one thing or another.

Least the rotlicks just kill and eat you. Find some relief in that.

-Quail Tavers, School of the Warrens

16-11

Tainted Flesh

Is this normal? Kae asked. Her eyes were locked on the swollen sacks of meat kept within the titanium cages. A bit further beyond the gangers living quarters, they found themselves where the gene-vat was stored, and with it, the kennels.

Nu-dogs came in a variety of sizes, builds, capabilities, and shapes. Ever since the Sang popularized the modification of humanitys animal companions, splices were made and augmentations were added to their overall structure. And so with the advancement of ones pets, so too did their cages have to grow.

The Guttergnasher breed attack dog was a favorite of joy-dealers and Syndicate enforcers alike. Standing at eight feet tall and somewhere close to one and a half tons of bio-enhanced tissue further laced with titanium, olfactory boosters, supplementary irises, and a hyper-active metabolism designed to enhance their healing, the nu-dog could be set loose on even a squad of exo-rigged enforcers for a while.

With such a heavyweight dog came the need for a heavyweight cage, and thus, titanium bars with built-in auto-clean pressure sprayers, germ killers, and a nutrient dispenser grew to be market standard as well.

The very same cage was also quite useful for storing other creatures. Like, say, joy-fiends who let their debts linger a bit too long.

Or crippled ghouls for that matter.

With metal plugs fused to the stumps of their limbs by way of fire and their bodies bulging with half-grown biomods, Avo judged the miserable fates of his brothers. Even with their cages actively spraying them down, the stale, grey room still stank of rot and filth. Clustered in the corner next to a broken entertainment system and the rusted reactor harvested from an aero turned makeshift power turbine, he countered twelve ghouls still alive within eighteen cages.

[Well that just fucked up,] Abrel muttered, beholding the little zoo of horrors. [Better than doing that to actual people but ew.] Twinned to her mind, Avo knew there to be no sympathy in her words. It was the lack of sanitation that bothered her, of the way the ghouls looked unnaturally swollen and pregnantnot so dissimilar from one afflicted by the rash.

Were convenient to use, Avo said, clicking his fangs together, burning away his reflexive disdain for his own kind. There were few pleasures greater than knowing you were beyond the apex of your own kind. If he was human at the root of his consciousness, he supposed there should have been a horror that followed; the cold of being alienated from ones own species.

Ghouls were not a species. Ghouls were weapons derived from human flesh. It was only the Low Masters and the presence of easier prey that stopped them from feasting upon each other, and sometimes, even that wasnt enough.

Inching closer to the cages, Kae studied the incubators with genuine curiosity and turned to face the damaged gene-vat bolted down at the center of the room. Dim lighting flickered overhead, its brightness paltry compared to the strobing flashes of neon from the open hallway beyond the liquefied door.

The vat itself was a cylindrical machine clasping a translucent interior. A holo-haptic interface flickered along the glass, requesting that the user synchronize their minds for identity confirmation. Judging from how the text was greyed out, the system was likely to remain unresponsive until a Meta was properly interfaced with the vats locus.

Deformed appendages and other organs drifted behind the glass. Reaching out with his Sanguinity, Avo found the pattern to be more crystalline and durable than he expected. Voidtech: endlessly surprising.

{Those are mostly safeguards put in for your sake,} Calvino explained. {And by you, I mean everyone on this planet. Some of the creatures you grow are a bit too volatile to handle, and so in case someone manages to jack into one of our vats without the system noticing, it grants another step before your Frankensteins monster decides to give you a Jovian Handshake.}

Would be nice if I understood any of the nouns you used in the last sentence, Avo responded.

An actual novel was downloaded into his Neurodeck. One consisting of nothing but text. {A Jovian Handshake is when a large, brutish creature tears your limbs off and beats you to death with them. If youre textually challenged, I can recommend you several updated tellings of Frankenstein. In summation, its about a man making a monster using mad science.}

Hm. Sounds like the Low Masters.

{Please dont insult Doctor Frankenstein. His hubris was in reaching beyond the confines of his wisdom. His science succeeded. He was just unprepared for the cultural and practical aspects that came after. Your kind ishurtful as it might sounda failed arts and crafts project made from spare parts stolen from someone elses backyard.}

Avo looked at his Meldskin, at the near-impenetrable pallid carapace now armoring his Echoheads, and then turned his gaze on the limbless writhing torsos that were his brothers. Youre being too kind. Trauma dumps for the Hungers. A subspecies born to feed an impotent tantrum.

Dirty plastic tubes ran down their throats as cheap nu-dog chow-paste was pumped into them in ejections of yellowish sludge. From the way they swallowed and bit at the feeding tubes, Avo could tell that more than a few of them were enjoying this somewhat. The lack of violence before a meal errored the stability of their psyches, but the presence of food kept them from fully succumbing to psychosis.

A mistake I will resolve, Avo finished.

Calling Jack and Jane took but a thought. The ansible opened its pathway and connection was established near instantaneously.

Adjusting for data-lag across NooSphere

Thats new, Avo said as the voider grafters synced with his Neurodeck.

{Omnitech is probably doing something with data again.} Calvino scoffed. {Thats usually the problem.}

{Alright,} Jack said, voice momentarily crackling as he clapped his hands together. {Lets see what we got to work with here. Oh, and you already got test subjects lined up for us. Perfect.}

{I know,} Calvino replied. {Im sorry.}

[Thanks.]

{And its done!} Jack declared.

Turning, Avo found himself staring at a fully healed ghoul, with unnecessary organs removed and limbs returned. Aside from this, however, he wasnt sure what they changed in the creature. It looked as most his brothers did. Pale. Thin. Unnatural.

What did you do? Avo asked.

{This,} Jack began, {is a first draft. Me and Janie here had different ideas on what to do with the ghouls, but for the solving the equation of their deaths aspect, we decided to go with this.}

Avo studied the creature growing in the vat and frowned. Looks just like a normal ghoul.

{It is,} Jane replied, {other than a single point of deviation.}

New data filled his Neurodeck as an interface containing detailed simulations of a ghouls circulatory system manifested in his minds eye, but his Woundshaper felt the change before the visuals told him the blunt truth. The blood inside this new ghoul was clumpingand fast. Hardened tissue was fusing, growing, and mutating. The seeds of multiple fast-growing cancers began to spread across the body of his newest brother, its death now reduced to weeks or months instead of years.

{Five days, actually,} Jack said. {And the best part about this: its contagious. The subversion is happening in the blood itselfJane actually figured that one out. All the time she spent with her Sang friends really paid off.}

[This might actually work] Abrel said, sounding impressed. [Exploiting the poor impulse control of the ghouls. They eat the weakest ones when there arent any people around, dont they?]

Sometimes they eat the weakest even with other prey present, Avo replied. Good. He sniffed at the creature and could practically taste its weakness. Dont think the Low Masters will be able to notice either. Not unless they learn how the technology actually works.

A hissing laugh escaped him as he imagined the three remaining Famines struggling to understand why their monsters were all dying. Will release this one in the dark. See the problem spread. Very good work.

{Aw, you hear that Jane? Hes praising us! What a polite people-eater we get to work for.}

Want another variant too, Avo added. Something thats still obviously ghoul, but more. In my image.

{...And theres the inevitable psychotic narcissism that follows every last Godclad in existence,} Jack said with an exaggerated sigh. {We thought you were one of the more normal ones. What a pity.}

Theyre meant to be an insult, Avo said. Provoke the Low Masters' attention. Use it as bait.

{Will they truly be lured by such an obvious debasement?} Jane said, sounding doubtful.

One of them might, Avo said, thinking of Peace and the endless rage the Famine emanated. If he could ambush and subsume just one of them, that might very well allow him to see an end to his fathers killers and claim what little remains of their kingdom for his own to wield against the Guilds. Dont worry. Going to commission personal sheathes too. All clades. Different bodies for exploration. Infiltration.

Jack began to hum a tune while Jane sighed. {Hey, admin, do the ghoul a favor and update his profile to Avo-007. I might need to graft you a dick though. Gotta have a dick for this to work.}

Avo frowned, not understanding why genitalia would be useful to him beyond making him more susceptible to the rash.

{Right! Fuck! You guys literally broke sex and love. Goddammit, you maniacs. You blew it up}

{Ignore him,} Jane said. {Simply specify what kind of sheathe you wish built and we will do our best to deliver. If you want to achieve certain anomalous properties within your biology, I fear you might need to seek some local expertise for material and installation as well.}

Cracking glass sounded behind him. Avo didnt even need to turn to realize who just stepped in. Through Draus' shared feed, he looked upon himself and Kae from behind, the Agnos turning to address the approaching Regular.

Chambers, meanwhile, was sitting on a couch after his bloodletting, lost in his own thoughts.

Fucks this? Draus said, stepping into the room, caked in gore and with entrails hanging from her like tassels.

Kae swallowed and gave a low gag of disgust while Avo tilted his head. Had a nice time?

Draus shrugged. At first. The guns are godsdamned beautiful, but the gangers kept running. Might wanna shoot a golem or something with em to see how they handle harder targets. Decided to test how the kit handles stuff up close and you know the armor can accelerate you up to hundred and fifty miles an hour, right? Woulda shot through the side of the block if the Manta hadnt caught me. She brushed an eye still connected to its optical cord from her shoulder. We gotta start killin tougher shit, Avo. Fuckin gangers and enforcers really aint doin it for me no more. You owe me this shit. You took this from me.

{Most moral Reg, everybody.} Jack somehow generated a concerts worth of applause to go with his words.

Avo was just about to speak when he looked at the vat again and paused. An idea sparked through his mindpotential theories and choices both great and terrible.

They didnt need to waste time testing themselves on gangers and soft meat anymore. Not when they had all the means to create the perfect live-fire conditions of their own.

And the best part was if he could figure out how to separate and spread his Conflagration, he might just be able to spread a template into a new body

[Oh I am game-fucking-on for this,] Abrel breathed.

I have a new idea, Avo whispered.