Civilization (I'll Stay Right Here)
By Kachimoochi
Chapter V
If Evil's All You See…
"Baby Little Atom Bomb…"
"Sir, we are approaching Hong Kong"
"Her In My Wigwam…"
"Eh…Sir?"
"Just The Way I Want Her To Be…"
"My…is that an Asari walking down the street carrying a human male on a leash?"
"Million Times Hotter Than T.N…Wait What!" Anaximander exclaimed as he deactivated his music console, pressing his face and lips against the glass dome that covered the top of the Lincoln Futura in search of the demeaning sight.
"Just thought you should be informed of our arrival, sorry for the deception Sir" Kaisar apologized.
"Kaisar…have I ever told you the tale of the Geth That Cried Wolf?"
"I'm sure Sir will be kind enough to enlighten me"
"Well, there was once a little Geth who served a handsome and caring human master" Anaximander began.
"He told his human that he saw a human male in distress and in need of saving, but when the human master arrived at the spot the Geth said, he realized the Geth was tricking him, and then…"
"Yes Sir, and then the handsome and caring human master in his glorious forgiveness threw the Geth into an industrial hydraulic press, and manufactured his remains into a bust of himself" Kaisar finished the tale, as he maneuvered the car into a skycar parking lot.
"Eh…lucky guess" Anaximander replied, bewitched out that Kaisar finished his sentence.
"Mmm-Hmm, I dare say Sir, that story gets even more thrilling every time you tell it" Kaisar replied sarcastically as he transformed credits into the parking meter.
"I told you that story before?" Anaximander inquired as he tilted his head to the sky, trying to remember the last time he did.
"Only six times this year Sir, though next time I'd appreciate the courtesy of an alternate ending" Kaisar said as he exited the Futura.
"Yes…well stop disturbing me and I just might" Anaximander exclaimed in faux victory.
"As Sir desires…Sir" Kaisar spoke leaning against the car's fin, agreeing to disagree.
"Now, oh handsome and caring Master, what is the plan?" Kaisar spoke changing the subject.
"Well, according to the map coordinates Altair sent me, the factory of the pills is disguised as a pediatric clinic, with the facility being hidden in the basement of the facility, and the clinic being the façade. Anaximander spoke staring into his wrist-mounted computer device, reviewing the information.
"But first things first, Kaisar…construct us a safehouse, something unassuming, yet strategically confusing in case we attract any heat.
"And how shall I do that Sir?" Kaisar began, "Shall I rip bricks out of that restaurant over there, or perhaps create a foundation from my legs?"
"Oh boy…let's here this" Anaximander said, expecting yet another lecture.
"Sir we are on Earth, not in our galaxy or Anaxivia, The G.E.C.K. device does not work outside of our galaxy"
Kaisar spoke the truth this time of course. The Garden of Eden Creation Kit was the device used to manufacture homes, devices, and even terraformed planets to suit the Civilization citizens' needs. It wasn't any specific object, as the glove given to each citizen could transform the G.E.C.K. into any portable object to be used across one's galaxy, though it was made useless outside of one's galaxy, mainly a failsafe to prevent a citizen from waging war on the Alliance or another citizen.
"Oh…right" Anaximander was disappointed in his obvious mistake.
"Thankfully I anticipated your incompetence, and manufactured a metric fortune in credits to supplement our endeavors on Earth" If Kaisar could smirk, he would have.
"Hey! Er…good thinking" Anaximander surrendered.
Kaisar placed a stack of chits into a leather wallet, which he placed personally into Anaximander's trench coat pocket.
Anaximander strode to the end of the forty story parking lot, staring out into the overlooking city of Hong Kong.
It was rather filthy; not only the orange-red sky, but the black, green and grey smog clouding what little sky exposed itself.
Much of the city was contained in massive levels of hundred story buildings, with artificial streets and blocks separating them, hard to believe it was mainly populated solely by 400 million women, mainly human.
Anaximander remembered a cartoon preserved on his parent's recording software on their T.V. hologram. It was an episode of the children's show The Fairly Odd-Parents. Said episode entailed for whatever reason, men and women separating themselves and creating their own societies. The women lived as Greek goddesses in pristine, porcelain environments, whilst the men lived as violent pigs, mud and dirt covering every conceivable object in their wake.
"If only they could see them now" Anaximander whispered, while chuckling dryly.
"My, I like what they've done with the place, come to think of it, It has been a while since we last returned to Earth, has it not?" Kaisar spoke, his British accent even more exaggerated.
"Anyhow Kaisar, find us a safehouse, or a hotel room I suppose, take the Futura and pick me up when I call you, I will venture to find some information"
"I hear and obey" Kaisar spoke quoting the genie from A Thousand and One Nights, sauntering to the Futura, it occurred to him as well that he should disguise himself. Though many humans weren't privy to the history and present status of the Geth, it was best not to take any chances.
Anaximander took the express elevator down to the lower level of the city, the environments changing from plastic and pristine, to dark, dreary, and metallic, the perfect place to hide a drug lap, he concluded.
The lower level is where many of the lower class lived, not dirt poor, though it wouldn't take much to compare them. The population of the city consisted mainly of homogenous Chinese women, though one wouldn't think so at first glance.
They were hardly muscular giants, though they weren't the paragons of femininity that they once were. Many of their faces had a scowl painted on, though if any asked they would say that they've never been happier. There were some aliens scattered around the city as well, mainly Turians, Quarians, and Vorcha. Anaximander concluded that China's present war with the Japanese meant that illegal immigration wasn't on the Communist Party's main priority list. Give it a hundred years, Anaximander joked to himself.
He received many stares from all parties populated in the city, not only for being a human male, a rare sight on its own, but wearing such old and dapper clothing, not the best attire in a low income area, he decided. Not to mention a visible budge pressing against the front pocket of his Navy Blue trench coat, where his new monetary source was located, Anaximander needed to keep his head on a swivel.
He walked in the direction leading to the clinic, wondering how he could excuse entering without a child, some suspicions and stereotypes would never die, of course.
"I'll use my signature B.S. Brilliant Suggestions" Anaximander said, reminiscing at the nostalgic school time running joke.
It was at that moment a figure harshly brushed against Anaximander's hip, before breaking out into a heavy, graceful sprint into a forward direction. Instinctively, but stealthily reaching for his wallet, as his father had taught him, Anaximander realized that his wallet was missing, and broke out into an equal pace after the figure.
The figure was hunched over and wearing a brown, tattered cloak, though it was obvious that it wasn't human, as it possessed a masculine figure, all human men had been rounded up by the Chinese and either conscripted into the military, or into a breeding facility.
They remained at a close, but still far distance, the figure trying every crack and crevice in every street alleyway to break Anaximander's focus, but none could stop the determined human, he never knew when to quit after all.
The figure was beginning to lose patience, and broke away into a marketplace, where many scowling women screamed in a foreign language for pennies off pieces of fruit, losing sight of his pursuer. He rested against a wall made of bricks at the edge of the market before stealthily creeping against the wall into the alley nearby; he once again took cover behind the alley wall, and peeked towards the market in the vain attempt to locate his target. He then felt a metallic tube press against his back and the cloak into his bodysuit.
"You know…I've never seen another human run like that, if I hadn't had a map of this place I might have never caught you hmm!" Anaximander whispered against the figure's hood as he pressed his C96 Mauser against his thoracic.
"Please…uh…I'm sorry, I was starving, I'm homeless. Please have mercy!" the figure begged, its voice sounding eastern European.
"Shaddup…turn around and take off your hood, I'm not in the mood to ask twice" Anaximander spoke darkly, cocking the hammer of the refurbished pistol.
The figure turned to face his captor, Anaximander first noticing his bent legs, in worn metallic clothing, and was nearly blinded by the figure's purple mask glowing weakly.
"A Quarian?...You're a Quarian?" Anaximander spoke aloud, removing his pistol gobsmacked.
"Please…I needed money, I'm sorry, you looked like you could afford to take the loss, please don't kill me" the Quarian spoke, quaking in fear as he reached into the pocked of his tattered body suit pocked, and accidently dropped Anaximander's wallet on the ground, before immediately placing his arms up in a surrendering position.
For around two minutes Anaximander stared at the alien in contemplation, the Quarian was no fool, he knew he couldn't escape the crafty human, this was no spoiled rich kid, he concluded.
The pistol was trailed to the Quarian's abdomen, as Anaximander stared into the very soul of his thief.
"Follow me…I want to talk to you" he spoke after what seemed like an eternity, before walking out of the alley way, not looking behind him.
Without options, and still quaking in fear, the Quarian raced to his side, leading to what may have been his final destination.
The pair made their way to a restaurant near Anaximander's prime destination, the restaurant advertized levo and dextro meals in traditional Chinese characters, even though any dextro products were illegal in all of China.
Anaximander and the Quarian entered the restaurant and took seats in a booth opposite each other, Anaximander ordered for them, and spent a minute simply staring into the purple hue of the Quarian's facial mask.
"So…you're here on your pilgrimage, I take it" Anaximander finally spoke, relaxing against the back of the booth, momentarily breaking his gaze from the impoverished alien.
"Y-yes Sir, I was always fascinated by Earth on my home ship, and when I was old enough I-I-I…wait, how do you know about the Pilgramage?" the Quarian asked, too frightened to realize it previously.
"You might say I have a primary source to Quarian culture" referencing the Geth butler unbeknownst to the Quarian "Never made sense to me you know…you have a child raised on one ship their entire life, and when they turn of age they cast them out to find a product for their species, without any education or supervision…not my place to judge I suppose, but it sounds like a recipe for disaster" Anaximander commented, wanting the Quarian to loosen up.
"Well y-y-yes we don't have any supervision, we are given advice b-b-by a counselor before we make a voyage, but I guess even they sometimes don't have all the details".
"That's how you ended up in China you mean? I mean of all the sanctimonious and immigrant-fetishizing cities that inhabit the earth, you chose the most homogenous and anti-immigrant nation on the entire planet, there's irony in that I think" Anaximander chuckled as a robotic Japanese waiter-bot delivered a levo and dextro tea to the customers.
"I-I-I suppose so" the Quarian spoke, tilting their head to the emergency induction port of the tea canister.
"And let me guess, you arrived here with only credits in your pocket, not knowing that in China they still use proprietary currency, ended up getting scammed at the exchange center, got a job by an abusive human who hates all races, yet has no problem exploiting them. Which undoubtedly made you homeless and starving when you finally grew a pair and quit, leading you to commit the first crime you ever committed, and failed at, robbing me" Anaximander lectured "Is this correct?"
"Yes" the Quarian spoke softly
"I also assume that you don't have a very positive light concerning humans, or specifically human females, am I also correct?"
"Y-y-yes"
"You don't see the irony here…do you?" Anaximander finally stated after allowing the Quarian a moment of contemplation.
"Excuse m-m-me?" the confused Quarian asked.
"I don't know much about Quarians, but I do know that a majority of your leaders are females, they're pretty well-treated too I might add"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I know it's by coincidence, but all of your leadership positions are hereditary, and all of the current rulers are female" Anaximander began "and being that Earth isn't in the best position lately, doesn't it seem strange that the leaders chose you to go Earth?"
"I still don't understand, Quarian women go to Earth too" the Quarian tried to argue his point.
"I know, I've seen them, in "paradises" like New York, Toronto, Prague, and Baris Al-Jadida (New Paris in Arabic), you know I've never seen a male Quarian in a glorious vacation like that." Anaximander continued to lecture.
"I agree, b-b-but what choice do we have, Quarian women are very valuable, our species is dying, we need supplies, and humans like you keep stealing our women!" the Quarian stood raising his voice against the neutral human.
" O-o-oh I'm sorry…I didn't mean to imply that, it's just that I've heard about…in the F-f-flotilla" the Quarian sat back down and prostrated himself to his captor.
"Hmm, interesting." Anaximander began "I imagine it was a female, probably the counselor, who told you that, and how important her kind is, and why you should suffer anything in protection of them…Eh?"
"I…you're right, about it all…" the Quarian spoke defeated, in horrific realization of what he'd done.
"You don't have to you know…if evil is all you see, you'll believe evil is all that can exist" Anaximander stated, as the robot delivered their packaged meals.
"Take me for example" Anaximander began "You saw me as a human male; you assumed that I was one of those race-traitors who abandoned our "helpless" females, got rich because of it, and that it inherently gave you the right to steal from me, right?"
"Yes" the Quarian spoke softly, ashamedly.
"But even after you sole from me I forgave you, let you live, and I even treated you to a meal. Appearances can be deceiving, and people can lie…is my point." Anaximander stated, finishing his plate of food.
"Well, that's all I wanted to say, I don't know why, but it is obvious that you've been brainwashed, I just hope you remember what I told you the next time you try to rob a well-dressed man…Da Svidanya Komrade" Anaximander spoke, as he stepped away from the table.
"Wait…please…I want to change, I don't want this life. My father was the same as me, he went to Thessia on his Pilgrimage, he was abused, robbed, and came back to the Flotilla bruised and beaten. The leaders didn't care, they shamed him in front of his entire ship, I was my family's only hope to reclaim our honor. But at what cost, they don't care about me…none of them do. A gift won't change that…please Sir…tell me what to do." The Quarian pleaded, spilling his guts from the heart, not even stuttering in the process.
"Anaximander… that's my name" he pulled a card out of his breast pocked, and wrote on it before handing it to the Quarian "Meet me here in 8 hours, and I'll offer you a new life from your wildest dreams, I'll do anything to help a man in need I suppose." He added before exiting the food shop, and resuming path to the clinic.
"Hakon-Lorric Vas Lorrcraff" the Quarian yelled at the walking human, who turned to face him "That's m-m-my name"
Anaximander smirked and approached the Quarian in front of the restaurant again.
"Well Hakon-Lorric Vas Lorrcraff…I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" Anaximander ironically stated offering his hand to the Quarian in the traditional greeting, which the Quarian was knowledgeable enough to reciprocate.