The Cinnamon Horizon
by Elliot Bowers
Chapter 8: Water Flows Downhill
...
_____It was late morning, almost the afternoon. That strange male cyborg was driving back
to this sector of town. Unlike most all of the other bounty hunters, he wasn't going in wearing
a disguise. He still dressed in his typical outfit of black leather jacket, white shirt and blue
jeans. Black boots were on his feet. Other than the exposed metal hands, one couldn't tell
he was metal-bodied.
_____Yes, it was the Dark Stranger yet again, driving that strange dark vehicle. The engine
of his car hummed and thrummed he speeded along the cracked road. He had three passengers
with him: a sassy, pink-bodied female cyborg, two big gray male cyborgs in the back. While
Mai--the pink-bodied one--wore a minimum of clothing on her sleek metal physique, the two
big males in the back wore formal black suits with beige trenchcoats and hats to match.
_____Mai popped some sweet-flavored gum into her mouth and began chewing. "Hey, Mr.
Dark!" she shouted above the engine roar. "Like, ARE WE THERE YET? HUH!" She saw
Mr. Dark give her a glance before his eyes returned to the city road ahead--buildings at the
sides. "This is, like, getting SO-O-O boring! And the scenery is really crummy! All these
broken down buildings. I'm getting depressed."
_____The Dark Stranger shook his head. "We are not there yet, but we'll be there quite soon!"
he said. Then he flinched, as if something unseen had struck him in the head. But he kept on
driving. He just had the oddest thought about somewhere else...
…
...
______It was that Other Place again. The light here was still so faint, barely here at all. It
was almost light enough to see the floor, and the people around here seemed to be shades
with shape. And that old wind continued blowing on through here, howling and whistling.
_____Then came the spotlight! It lanced the darkness with white brightness, illuminating a
table and the being sitting there! The brightness shone down on the Dream Woman, sitting
behind the round wooden table. Though the pale-haired young female usually wore a white
gown, her gown was now slightly pinkish in tone. It looked dyed, but not with any usual
dye.
_____With a wave of an arm, she made three different titanium bowls appear on the brown
table--bowls full of what looked like cinnamon oatmeal. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!" she laughed.
And then, the three bowls were empty. The Janitor stepped out of the darkness.
...
_____Mai gave him a look. "What's wrong, Mr. Dark?" she asked. THUMP! "Oh!" she
exclaimed. This car had hit something, making it jump... The Dark Stranger wrestled with
the steering wheel, slammed the brakes. All four tires began to SCR-E-E-ECH!
_____Gripping the steering wheel in his metal hands, skillfully manipulating the brakes, the Dark
Stranger managed to keep this car from flipping over or slamming into the buildings at the
sides of this road. The car eventually came to a screeching stop, in a position totally backward.
Now the vehicle was pointing the exact opposite direction of where it was going, with a long
quadruple set of black screech marks along the road.
_____And those marks went right over the bodies in the road. "Cool!" cheered Mai, bouncing
up and down in the car seat. "We hit some people!" A big smile on her face, her happy breath
smelled of candy as she turned to look at the Dark Stranger. "Let's all get out and see the dead
stiffs! Maybe their heads are WORTH something, huh?"
_____Though Mai was cheerful and bouncy, the Dark Stranger had a concerned look on his
face. Something was very wrong. Though no one else seemed to hear it, he heard the sound
of a push-broom sweeping somewhere nearby. "Mai, let us be quite careful when approaching
those lying still in the road..."
_____He opened his car door and got out, standing on the road. "Everyone stay in the car.
You may not like what there is to see." That said, he walked back towards where the bodies
lie: all sprawled out and run-over.
_____From near the car, he had a damned good idea as to who those bodies would be. Hell
yes, a DAMNED good idea. His steps brought him closer to those bodies. They were just
lying over there and not moving. The bodies looked so dead that they may not as well have
been alive at all. And within moments, walking along black screech marks, he was here.
_____The Dark Stranger saw "himself" lying on the street, chest-down, his face turned to the
side. His own eyes stared dead. Kneeling down, he put a finger to the synthetic flesh of the
face, then to the jacket. Hmmph, even the leather jacket was the same: real leather.
_____Well-well-well, thought the Dark Stranger. The Janitor is getting rather clever! If the
Janitor had power enough to pull a stunt like this, perhaps he had better be a bit more careful!
He should have turned on the device in the car to keep something like this from happening,
this trickery.
_____He heard small footsteps coming up beside him. The footsteps stopped, surprised--and
there was a small girlish squeak of fear. "I told you not to look," said the Dark Stranger. "I
said you would not be able to handle it."
_____"Oh...my...GOD!" exclaimed Mai, her pink metal fingers at her cheeks. Her eyes were
wide with fear. "How the fuck...? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE! HOW THE FUCK DID THIS
HAPPEN! WHO THE HELL…!" She was becoming hysterical.
_____As soon as Mai said that last word, there was a sudden gust of wind that almost knocked
her over. And the bodies were gone... The screech marks were still here, but the bodies were
not.
_____"Hmm..." went the Dark Stranger. He stood and turned to look at the pink-bodied
female cyborg. She was still staring at where the bodies were. "As I said earlier, I still believe
it is too dangerous to enter this sector of the city. But if we are to find who is speeding the
decadence of Zalem's ruling computer--Melchezedek--we must investigate."
_____"But... But..." stuttered Mai. "Who knew we were coming? Along THIS road? It's not
like we TOLD people or anything! How did they know? And how the HELL did they make
EXACT copies of our own bodies?"
_____Listening very carefully to the sounds on the wind, the wind blowing through the city
streets, the Dark Stranger could hear that distant swish-swish-swish of the push-broom. "Let
us regroup and try getting into that sector some other time," he said.
...
_____The Janitor was here, but those bounty hunters would not have been able to see him. Had
the Dark Stranger bothered to try and look, he would have seen the broom-carrying figure in
blue coveralls and cap--standing there on the sidewalk. But the Dark Stranger was too busy
pondering his next move to notice. The Janitor walked away, disappearing into the wind.
...
_____"I truly am glad you chose to honor our invitation, Lissette," said Miss Patsun. She back
reclined in a grand cushioned seat, set at the long corporate table. She was as elegantly dressed
as all the other high executives in this wood-paneled meeting room. Her eyes, and everyone
else's, were on the dark-haired girl in white blouse and pleated skirt--sitting opposite Patsun.
"It is not often that the...ah...president of the Parasol Club graces us with her presence." A smile
came to her silky face. "And we thank you for the excellent work you are doing in keeping Zalem
out of our affairs."
_____Lissette's pretty face took on a nasty look. She was "invited," meaning that she had practically
ORDERED to attend a meeting of the Feng-Long. As for the praise from Miss Patsun, it was all
poisoned with sarcasm.
_____"Damn it!" exclaimed the long-haired hacker-girl. "Look, Patsun! My hackers and I are
STILL doing our damned BEST to keep Zalem disconnected from here! Better yet, the Network
is going down any day now. DOWN, do you understand? Some day soon, there won't be ANY
damned bounty hunters because there won't be any bounty!
_____"Then you won't even need our help. But if it weren't for my club, there would be Deckmen
and missle-toting Netmen and all kinds of bounty hunters coming here! They would rush the border
of this sector and come hoarding on in like some kind of invading army from centuries ago!"
_____"Hmm... Quite interesting," said Miss Patsun. "Note, you just stated that WE--the Feng-
Long Society--need you to keep the bounty hunters out and prevent an invasion." Her eyes
glinted, and her voice took on a darker tone. "Perhaps you have deliberately lapsed your
anti-Network efforts to allow for certain...contingencies to arise to suit certain plans you have."
_____Lissette rolled her eyes. "You're fucking KIDDING ME! Now you're accusing ME of
letting bounty bastards in, for some kind of scam? That sounds like something YOUR organization
would do, NOT mine! This is so much SHIT!"
_____Everyone looked on silently. The dark-haired girl took in a calming breath. "We're
just HACKERS, okay? We're not extortionists or plotters, or anything like that. I'm saying
we're better at manipulating computers and machines than we are at manipulating PEOPLE."
She shrugged. "Besides, my club isn't interested in getting rich--because there's not much to
spend money on. All we care about is screwing around with computers and...hanging out."
_____Just as one of Miss Patsun's fellow executives was going to reply, Lissette held up a hand.
"No, wait... I'm not finished talking yet," she said, lowering her hand. "Something happened
last night. Or I should say, almost happened. It was dumb luck that someone sent me a
message about one of my friends being attacked by some of those hunter-freaks. When I found
her, they were getting ready to rape her somehow. All her clothes were ripped off. I had to
kill them before they did something. Do you think I want those swords-for-hire FUCKERS
in this sector? Hell no!" She tapped the hard surface of the long table. "I hate bounty
hunters just as much as you do."
_____Another executive spoke up, a bald-headed man with a lean face. "How do we know
that the little run-in your friend had wasn't just an accidental result of your plan? Maybe you
really did let some bounty posting go up and you couldn't account for..."
_____"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU PEOPLE!" screamed Lissette. "You just don't know how
crazy that sounds right now! What have you been taking recently? Did you smoke it or pop
it? I'm wondering that, because only DRUGS would make someone think I'd even let any of
my friends come close to that kind of trouble!"
_____"You have said ENOUGH, Lissette," declared Miss Patsun, wincing at every shrieking
word from the female hacker. "Lissette, in the several years I have known your personality, I
can see that you are sincere in your statements. I merely wanted to test a hypothesis. It was
not me that suspected wrongdoing on the part of the Parasol Club. Rather, the high degree
of worry has fed suspicion.... That your group was not performing its job for some reason.
I apologize for saying what I did."
_____Lissette went open-mouthed in shock, dark eyes wide. She closed her mouth, deciding
not to say something. Instead, she gave a "hmmph" and went silent--realizing just what happened.
Oh yes, the Feng-Long Society really was good at manipulating people. By getting so hot and
angry, she had come right into their emotional trickery. She felt played.
_____Miss Patsun placed both of her hands atop the table. "Well...! Now we come to the
primary subject of this meeting: the bounty hunters. As we all know by now, there have been
more of them coming into this sector. We know that the Network is having problems due to
whatever is happening in Zalem. And we are assured that Lissette's club is still trying to keep
bounties from being posted.
_____"Yet, there has been an increase in the amount of bounty hunter activities locally. They
behave as if they have been promised plenty of cash for merely bringing back the heads of
certain people. Why they are now doing this, or how, we cannot be sure." Miss Patsun regarded
those at this meeting table. "What we can do is address the symptoms of the problem before
we can diagnose the nature of the problem itself. What can we do?"
_____The bald executive-man with the lean face spoke up. "I can have shopkeepers be on
the lookout for people they would consider strangers. Everybody knows everybody in their
neighborhoods by now, and they would recognize new faces."
_____Another executive, a younger-looking sort with crew-cut dark hair, gave the next
suggestion. "I can ask some people at my office to type up some more newsprint articles about
the bounty hunter problems. Everyone wants to write and read about the problems up in Zalem
and the latest gladiatorial champions at the arenas, but I think we can squeeze in some more
articles about other things."
_____Miss Patsun nodded. "As for myself, I suggest the formation of a new enforcer task
force--an elite unit. It would be a group formed not for the purpose of preventing general
disturbances, but exclusively for stopping bounty hunters." She smiled. "What better way to
stop hunters than with...hunters? In fact, they are already at work."
...
2.
...
_____Sera took a walk down a downtown sidewalk, dressed in an unusually short and tight-
fitting green dress--the form-fitting fabric clinging to the firm lines and curves of her (metal!)
body, stocking covering her legs. Her long red hair was pulled back in a simple and very long
red ponytail, revealing her slim back. This was the sort of clothing she should have worn in
her previous profession--but chose not to. Now she wore it for a different purpose.
_____It was several hours after the midday lunch-break, and most everyone was working.
So city traffic was minimal. A lot fewer people were on the streets. Meaning, it would be
easier to find and attract certain people who didn't belong in this sector. As the young cyborg
continued her way along, she was sure to keep looking around. She had the strong feeling, the
idea, that there were bounty hunters around here. Sera didn't know how she knew this; she
just...knew. And then she began to hear the swish-swish-swish of an unseen push-broom.
_____The Janitor was nearby! Sera stopped. Slowly turning her head side-to-side, she tried
to hear where the sound of his broom was coming from...across the street! The sound seemed
to be coming from around that mixed group of full-flesh humans and cyborgs sitting on the curb.
They looked like construction workers, eating lunches out of metal boxes. She hadn't noticed that
group before because they looked pretty much like all the other people around here. But the
midday lunch break had ended several hours ago. And construction workers would have been
more chatty. Meaning that those people...
_____She began to quickly walk across the city street. Luckily, there wasn't much vehicular traffic
around this time of day. She couldn't move too fast as the tight and "sexy" dress was so restrictive
around her hips and mid-thighs. This made her move in a wriggling sort of way, a fast walk. As
she concentrated on moving fast and keeping her balance, the group of lunch-eating "construction
workers" looked in her direction.
_____When she made it over there, she had their full attention! One of the fleshies even
whistled in admiration. "You look ni-i-ce, honey. Too bad your body isn't real, though" he
commented. "If it was, I'd kill any boyfriend you have just to have you."
_____Swish-swish-swish, went the Janitor's broom. "Gosh…!" responded Sera. "Such
strong language! You're not from this sector, are you?" she asked. Her eyes narrowed as
the sound of the Janitor's broom seemed to grow louder and larger: Swish-swish-SWISH!
"You know what I think? I think you're looking for bounty!"
_____In a moment, the attitude of the lunching construction workers here went from friendly
and laid-back to ANGRY. They threw down their lunches and JUMPED to their feet. With
various quick gestures, they pulled out bladed weapons from hidden sheaths in their clothes.
"Aw, damn! You just had to go ahead and say the wrong thing, bitch," said the fleshie male.
"Now I'm gonna have to cut your pretty head of your from your pretty body!" CRACK!
_____Just as he said those words, there was a loud snapping sound from over across the street.
Now the fleshie male's face was a blasted mess of blood and bone. He dropped his weapon and
began grabbing at his head, the front of his head just so much meat and bone. Blood spurted
and poured as he twitched and died.
_____Hee-hee-hee...! Someone started giggling. Then Sera realized that SHE was the one doing
the giggling. She just couldn't help it. It was as if her throat and lungs were under someone
else's control. "Hee-hee-hee!" She backed off, then let loose with outright laughter.
"Ha-ha-ha...!"
_____"What are you LAUGHING at, you creepy bitch?" said one of the cyborgs. He gripped
his weapon in both hands and began stepping in Sera's direction. CRACK! CRACK-CRACK!
The echoing sounds of several gunshots came from somewhere across the street. And yet
another bounty hunter went down--a shower of sparks and blood.
_____"HA-HA-HA-HA...!" Sera let her head tilt back as she let the hysterical laughter overcome
her. Her metal neck arched and mouth open as the laughter exploded from her throat. The
surviving bounty hunters dropped their weapons and put their hands--flesh and metal--to their
ears. They wanted her to STOP LAUGHING! Grunting, they began to sink to their knees on the
sidewalk--overcome with so…much…PAIN!
_____And that was when a new and full cavalcade of gunfire came from across the street. The
enforcers got out from behind that over there car and continued firing. Males and females in
dark business suits, they all had very big handguns gripped in their metal hands. And Sera
just kept LAUGHING. Aah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!
_____CRACK! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK! Whichever was louder, the gunfire or the laughter, it was
hard to tell. Sera's uncontrollable laughter and the loud blasting sounds of gunfire drowned out
sounds of everything else. And the bullets kept zipping in this direction, snapping and blasting
away various body parts. Bodies of flesh or metal, it didn't matter. The ceramic rounds did a
damned good job of blasting everything! Even when the bounty hunters were surely dead and
fallen, the enforcers' gunfire continued to blast them apart.
_____Sera's laughter stopped when the gunfire did. She now seemed out of breath and
unusually tired. Gasping, she walked over to where the bloody and ruined bodies lie...in pieces.
This group of hunters was now just a bloody mess on the sidewalk. They were no longer a
threat to anyone around here.
_____THUNK! She kicked one of the bloody body parts that looked like a head, and that
round body part went rollicking away like a kid's toy ball. But this "ball" left wet squish-marks
wherever it bounced along the sidewalk. And there was now a big red stain on Sera's right
purple shoe, on the toes.
_____The enforcers holstered their guns and regarded their handiwork. "WELL! That worked!"
said one of them, a brown-haired and plain-faced sort. He looked over at Sera. "How did
you do that? Give them headaches with your voice, I mean? From where we were, it just
looked like you were laughing or something. It made them drop their weapons before we
started...heh-heh...blasting their asses to bits."
_____Sera shrugged and looked down. That was when she noticed the condition of her tight
green dress. It was now absolutely spattered with dark stains. She delicately touched her left
cheek and rubbed. Looking at the fingers, she saw more blood. Somehow, this fascinated her.
It was the blood of enemies, glinting in the sunlight. Blood was the color of pain and revenge.
...
_____She had to toss the dress: It was too damned bloodied up to use right now, and there
was no time to head for a laundromat for washing it. They had bounty hunters to hunt! Oh
well, they could always try the same ploy tomorrow or something. For the rest of the day, they
had no trouble finding small and scattered parties of bounty hunters in this sector--the hunters
doing their damned best to stay hidden and disguised.
_____Oh, they're GOOD, thought Sera as she rode along in this car. She smiled. But they
were not good enough to fool the Janitor! Because he--the Janitor--was helping Sera and the
other enforcers find those kill-for-hire opportunists wherever they hid. For example, there was
that trio of bounty hunters walking along that sidewalk, in front of that shoe warehouse. Those
big burly bounty hunters were disguised as yet more construction workers--pretending to carry
construction materials in crates atop their shoulders.
_____"Hey, slow the car down," said Sera, looking at the guy driving this car. The enforcer
at the wheel nodded and slowed this vehicle down. "Damn, are they ALL trying the same
cornball disguise?" she said aloud. "They must all be acting as one great big team. Hmmph,
pretty weird for bounty hunters, huh?"
_____"Maybe the master computer up in Zalem told them to do it," said the enforcer at the
wheel. "Goes to show how wacky that Melchezedek is becoming." Bringing this car closer
to the curb, his line of sight followed Sera's.
_____He didn't hear it, but Sera did. Swish-swish-swish... She could hear the distinct sound
of the Janitor's broom out there. She couldn't see him, but he was definitely out there: guiding
her to the bounty hunters in the now-too-obvious disguises. "Okay, let's go kick some butt,"
she said. "There's only three of them. I think we can do this without wasting your ammunition."
_____"Fine by me," said one of the female enforcers in the back seats. When the car stopped,
she put on dark sunglasses and was the first to get out. She liked her job: It made her feel cool
and dangerous at the same time.
_____Out on the sidewalk, Sera and the enforcers strode in the direction of the "construction
workers" carrying those crates. "Hey, YOU!" she shouted. "Get over here. We want to
TALK to you." Swish-swish-swish! The sound of the Janitor's broom became louder in her
ears, just like earlier today. Careful, now! She didn't want to be too obvious this time. She
wanted to surprise them.
_____The three turn around and put down their crates. But they didn't quite release the crates,
their gray electromechanical hands resting lightly on the square tops. Weapons! That was
when Sera did a quick dashing step over and obliterated one of the crates! Two alloyed swords
went clattering along the sidewalk..
_____And THAT was when the chaos began! The one with the broken crate tried to knock
off Sera's head, a swift punch aimed at her neck! She managed to DUCK the blow--and the
attack only struck trailing hair. Sera's punches, though, went through the abdominal armor of
the attacker. The poor sap grunted and collapsed, sparks and blood gushing from his shattered
metal body. "Not so hot without your weapons, huh? Dumb fucker..." she commented
_____Before the other two bounty hunters could snatch open their crates, the enforcers
decided to use up some ammunition after all. They drew their guns and the sharp loud CRACK-
CRACK-CRACK of gunfire filled the city air. There was blood and sparks all over the place
as the ceramic rounds punched big nasty holes in the metal bodies of the bounty hunters. They
died, of course.
…
_____Cruising around, Sera and the other enforcers were able to find one more group of
stalking bounty hunters before sunset. She heard the sound of the Janitor's broom again
as her eyes focused in on a trio of yet MORE bounty hunters dressed as construction workers.
Yet that group was in the business of deconstruction--trying to get into this sector and destroying
things.
_____The enforcer driving this car stopped the vehicle. "Damn, you're right, Sera," he said.
"They are all trying that same stupid disguise! Heh-heh, they must WANT to be killed. Let's
go," he said.
_____Everyone got out of the car and approached that group of six. Oddly enough, one of
the bounty hunters was a full-flesh female--armed with some kind of powered blade. "WE'RE
FOUND OUT!" she shoutedl as she turned, now standing with her small glowing blade at the
ready. Its ultra-sharp edge giving off an eerie bluish glow.
_____The other five bounty hunters took out other bladed weapons. "That must be the
illegal security force! The enforcers!" said one of them. "Their heads must be worth something.
Let's get some." And they rushed over here, the bright gold light of the city afternoon sunlight
glinting off of their various blades. But, again that day, the guns of the other enforcers came
in handy.
…
_____When that group was trashed, it was time for Sera's shift to end. The enforcers in the
business suits reported their activities to one of the local offices, reloaded their weapons with
more ceramic rounds, and they all drove over to their favorite bar: The Turning Wheel. It was
in the downtown area, not far from where most of the night clubs were.
_____Inside was the typical setup: a mid-sized place. The drinking bar at the opposite end
of the main room, with round tables for customers who just wanted to sit with friends and
talk. "I'll get the drinks," said the male enforcer with dark, crew-cut hair. "Beers to start?"
_____They all agreed to that, moving over to one of the tables close to the big windows
near the door. Looking out the window, a person could see city trucks and some cars
driving along the street--plenty of people along the sidewalks. Those trucks had to ship them
to warehouses and stores. The late afternoon city sunlight cast everything in a reddish-golden
color out there.
_____"Here we go! On me!" said the enforcer returning with the drinks. He put the mugs
atop the table, and everyone grabbed one. Getting into a seat, he wrapped a metal hand
around his own beer. "Here's to a damned good day of work!"
_____Everyone lifted their mugs in cheer and drank. Sera drank a quarter of her beer, set it
down, and stared into it. The softened light from over the table glinted in the golden liquid.
"So we're in for some real trouble now, aren't we?" she said.
_____"Huh?" went one of the male enforcers sitting here. "Oh, you're talking about those jerks
showing up in town." He shrugged shoulders. "No problem. Everybody knows that the big
damned machine Melchezedek is breaking down. Good riddance!"
_____"Yeah, so cheer up!" said the other female enforcer--the one with the dark sunglasses.
"We're doing better than the bounty hunters. Hah, with their outdated bladed weapons
and that stupid law of theirs against guns, we're going to keep blasting their stupid ASSES
until they stop coming!"
_____Just then, Sera had a mental image of someone sitting in a dark place, laughing. The
Dream Woman was... Ha-ha-ha...! Why was she laughing? And she usually only saw that
strange, red-eyed female in her dreams. Why now, when she was fully awake?
...
3.
...
_____The latest gathering of bounty hunters took place at the sector's border, in one of many
abandoned buildings around this area. This building used to be a warehouse, big and industrial.
The huge inside had some ancient car shells and dusty crates along the cracked walls, looking
shadowy in the gloom. It was unusually quiet in here, and the only light in here was very
dim--the street lights faintly glowing through windows set near the ceiling.
_____Most of the eleven bounty hunters here had night-vision enhancements to their artificial
eyesight. They could see well enough in the incredibly dim gloom. Being able to see in near-
dark helped them find criminals--heads to take for cash.
_____These cyborgs really were a varied bunch. Some of them were massive male cyborgs
whose eight-foot metal selves looked as if they were former arena gladiators. A few more of
them were fashion-freaks out of random decades from the past. (Some of them had been
cyborgs for over a century; they had lived through all kinds of decades, all kinds of fashions.)
In contrast to the massive males and more average-sized hunters, there were two petite
female cyborgs of dollish stature, silky hair and pretty eyes, dressed in rather childish clothes;
those "twins" looked more suited to a playground than to THIS place.
_____"Where is he? We must've been here for about an HOUR!" growled one of the huge
male cyborgs, getting up from where he sat on the floor. "An HOUR! Sixty minutes!" As
soon as he said those words, there was the sound of a car engine rumbling over by the
warehouse's huge truck-doors. There was more rumbling as someone began pushing aside
one of the warehouse doors--making way for those damned BRIGHT headlights shining in.
_____The car's engine rumbled as it eased on into here, those headlights blazing like twin
nuclear spotlights. Since everyone was sitting in one small area of this huge place, on crates
and what-not, the headlights illuminated everyone. Squinting, they looked past the headlights
and at the car as the engine shut off.
_____There was the sound of the car door opening, and someone got out of the driver's side.
"Ah! How well you all came!" declared the Dark Stranger from over there, dressed in his
outdated outfit of jeans, white tee-shirt and real leather jacket. Black boots were on his feet,
matching his crew-cut dark hair. Oh yes, other than his exposed metal hands, he still looked
like someone right out of history prints. "For a moment, I doubted that you all would honor
my invitation to this rather impromptu get-together." He walked over to here, walking along
the blazing path set by the headlights.
_____"Make no mistake, Mr. Dark," said another male bounty hunter, "we are only here
under a good idea for profit. We want easy bounty from the sector run by outlaws, but we
believe it is the strange one who repels our friends. The enforcers can be defeated by force.
But as for the one who has the broom, a different matter altogether."
_____One of the dollish twins spoke up. Saying, "Yeah, what ABOUT that freaky guy with
the broom, mister? We're not gonna tell ANY of our friends to come with us into that sector
unless we can at least deal with THAT weirdo!"
_____"Really now? Are those ALL of your concerns?" asked the Dark Stranger as he stepped
into the middle of the gathering. He had to be careful about what he said: The bounty hunters
here were the most influential and well-known throughout the city.
_____The motley group here was supposed to be the bounty hunter elite--with hundreds of
bounty kills to each of their records. If he could convince this group to join him in raiding that
sector, then he would have an army. An ARMY! It was something not seen in decades. He
imagined the power of ONE HUNDRED excellent bounty hunters! And he grinned at the
thought. Oh, the might would be an awesome thing.
_____"Well!" he continued. "Anyway, as said, I truly am glad you all have come. As a premise
to this meeting, I will show you that you have nothing to fear from the 'weirdo' known as the
Janitor. Hah! He is no more bizarre or mysterious than I am. To show that he can be
stopped, I will put on a brief demonstration." Shrugging his shoulders, he adjusted his black
leather jacket, then turned his head to shout towards the car. "Mai! Bring the equipment!"
_____"Sure thing!" she responded from over by the car. The blue-haired, pink-bodied
cyborg-girl reached into the back of the vehicle, took out two things: a suitcase and a cage.
She then began walking over here with those two things. In the cage was a huge gray rat--scampering
and squeaking as it was being brought closer to here. "Here you go, Mr. Dark! The case
and the…rat. You know, you're really gross sometimes."
_____"Thank you, Mai!" said the Dark Stranger. He accepted the caged rat and suitcase.
"Now, go to the car and be prepared to turn on the other device in case HE should show up.
Remember to listen for the sound." Mai walked away, her sneakers padding her steps. And
the Dark Stranger began putting things down.
_____"What're you going to do to that mousey rat?" asked one of the cyborg doll-twins. She
felt sorry for the small animal in the cage. "No, wait... I don't think I want to know. It's not
going to be messy, will it?"
_____"On the contrary, it will be! QUITE messy, that is!" cheered the Dark Stranger. He
opened up the suitcase, which held some kind of little portable cabinet and an old rusty metal
device. The device was a sort of metal cube with knobs and plastic labels on the front, the
metal casing old and crusty with rust. It looked like a sort of radio--but with no metal antenna
or trailing electrical cord. And there were too many dials for it to be a radio.
_____"What's that?" asked someone aloud. Ignoring the question, the Dark Stranger took a
paintbrush from one of the small drawers, and a small bowl from another. These he set on
the dusty warehouse floor. From yet another drawer in the suitcase, he took a small-bladed
knife. Holding it in his right hand, he used his left hand opened up the cage and grip the rat.
_____By the white brightness of the car headlights, they saw the Dark Stranger lop off the
rat's head with two strokes. He quickly poured the flowing, wet shiny blood into the bowl.
That done, he tossed the rat's body off into the surrounding darkness of the warehouse. The
little gray head floated in the bowl, the whiskers twitching for some more moments. "Now, as
to what happens next, my friends, do not be frightened!"
_____He took up the small paintbrush from the open suitcase-cabinet and dipped it into the
rat's blood. Using the blood, he began to paint a plate-sized circle on the warehouse floor.
It took a little while and more than a little of the blood, but it was done. Then he carefully
painted strange characters within the circle.
_____"Why, I've nearly forgotten!" he said aloud. Once more, he reached into the drawers
of the open suitcase-cabinet. Out came six white candles and a metal lighter. He used the
lighter to melt the bottoms of the candles--so they would stick to the warehouse floor when
he set them around the bloody circle.
_____Finally, he took up the strange rusty device that looked like a radio. He put it next to
his ear, turned some knobs. BZZT! HIS-S-S... Sparks and a little smoke flared out from the
knobs as he made adjustments. "Ah... There!" he said, setting the odd device in the middle
of the circle.
_____Bzz-z-z... The boxy, rusty machine made random electrical sounds as if it was picking
up a far-off radio station. "COME AROUND HERE, JANITOR! HA-HA-HA...!" shouted
the Dark Stranger "THAT'S RIGHT! I AM CALLING YOU!" His shouting echoed off the
walls as the wind began to blow and everyone began to hear sweeping.
______He laughed louder, and the wind's howling was louder than that. Mai screamed when
the car lights went out, making darkness shut over everyone. Yet, the flames from the candles
still burned. The light from the candles burned BRIGHTER, becoming huge flames. As the
Dark Stranger laughed and laughed and the candles burned brighter and brighter, the
blood-painted circle seemed to grow until...
...
_____...The Janitor stood up in the darkness of the Other Place His head swiveled left, then
right. He clutched his broom with both strong hands, the long wooden handle seeming ready
to creak and crack in his grip. His thoughts were almost angry enough to be heard. Then he
began to walk.
...
_____"Aah-HA-HA-HA...!" screamed the Dark Stranger in all the chaos. The wind whipped
up a storm, the candles flamed, and all the people felt all lost in the darkness and wind and
noise. "WHERE ARE YOU, JANITOR! COME! IMPRESS MY FRIENDS! AAH-HA-
HA-HA-HA...!"
_____Then everything went quiet, as if all the wind and chaos was shut off with a switch. The
candles winked out. "What?" All of that wind stopped. And the car headlights flickered
back on. The cyborgs here blinked against the brightness and looked around their litttle
gathering place.
_____What the Hell just happened here? They couldn't be sure. The last thing they knew,
the Dark Stranger was trying some kind of experiment with the weird device. Then there was
all of this wind, the car's lights went out for a little while, crazy shit like that. Now everything
was back to normal.
_____No, wait. What's that sound? Was someone... CRACK! "Uh... Guh-guh..." One of
the bounty hunters grunted and gasped, his chest having exploded in a blast of sparks and
blood. Everyone looked down, dumbstruck, as their comrade fell to the warehouse floor,
writing in pain.
_____"It's the ENFORCERS!" shouted the Dark Stranger. Too fucking late! At least six
quick people in dark business clothes came rushing out of the darkness, blocky handguns
firing in this direction. CRACK-CRACK! Another bounty hunter took a hits from ceramic
rounds, blood and sparks spraying. Everyone else ran off in different directions, shoving aside
anyone in their way to get away.
_____CRACK! A ceramic round had hit the Dark Stranger's car, knocking out the left
headlight. A few more bullets zipped by the Dark Stranger himself as he made his getaway,
getting into the car with Mai.
_____The engine roared, followed by a soprano squeal of spinning tires as it did a fishtailing
turn-around. With a huge roaring flame from the tailpipe, a BLAST of sound, the Dark
Stranger's one-eyed vehicle rammed its way through the big warehouse doors--the doors
only made out of rusty, corrugated sheets of metal.
_____And his car went roaring off into the city night. The light from his car faded off into the
distance, the flaming tailpipe a distant flicker. There was a squeal of tires as the dark vehicle
made a turn. God DAMN! The bastard in the dark leather jacket had gotten away!
...
_____All the smoke from the flaming tailpipe and burning rubber took a while to clear. Someone
found the old switchbox for the warehouse lights. Only three lights came on, but it made for
enough brightness to see by. A person could now see how damned big this place was. Even
with the metal junk in random piles and along the wall, there was still plenty of space here.
_____Sera stepped over to the small area where the bounty hunters had huddled together,
where one of them lie bleeding and gasping for air. He had fallen next to the circle of blood
and burnt-out candles. When Sera stepped closer, he tried to raise his blade... CRACK!
His blade was blasted away, along with his right metal hand.
_____Another enforcer stepped up--a male in typical dark business suit. "Let me handle this,"
he said to Sera. The red-haired cyborg stepped out of the way. What interested her was
the evidence of whatever the bounty hunters were trying to do here. She saw the circle painted
in blood, the burnt-out candles, and a black square in the middle. It was as if something had
almost burned into the hard concrete floor of the warehouse.
_____CRACK! The bounty hunter's metal body twitched on the floor as the enforcer holstered
his blocky metal gun within his jacket-holster. "Heh, how's THAT for a bounty, punk!" he
said, adjusting his black jacket. A final THUMP, he had given the bounty hunter's body a kick.
"Those dumb fucks STILL don't understand. At least this bunch wasn't wearing stupid-looking
construction clothes for disguises."
_____Another enforcer walked over to here. "Hey Sera, you're pretty good at finding out
these assholes before they do damage, Sera," he said. He looked down at the mess: the
painted circle, the candles, and the burnt square. "I'll be damned! It looks like someone tried
a religious experiment or something. How'd you know the bounty hunters would be here?"
_____She glanced over at the other enforcer, smiled at him. "You wouldn't believe me if I
told you. I don't even believe it." Looking down, she toed one of the candles. The melted
bottoms had kept them stuck to the dusty concrete floor.
_____"What, did you just GUESS?" he said, half-kidding. Sera's eyes were serious for a
moment. Her answer was a shrug, her eyes looking to the circle of candles. "I don't believe
you! You must have some way of finding these assholes before they cause trouble. You must
know some people, right? No, wait... I get it!" He snapped metal fingers. "You know a
double-agent! A spy who pretends to be a hunter, or a secret friend sending messages from
Zalem... Something like that, right?"
_____"Yeah, that's it," she answered, beginning to pace around the circle of candles. "A spy.
I know a spy or something that spies on the bounty hunters. He's so good that he knows what
the bounty hunters do even before they do it."
_____"Glad to know that friend of yours is on our side," answered the enforcer. Sera then
stopped pacing in mid-step, her sneaker-covered left foot poised above the concrete floor.
It was hard to see her facial expression, her long red hair curtained her face. Then she resumed
her circular pacing, humming to herself as the other enforcers cleaned up the scene.
...
4.
...
_____Mai was driving the car because the Dark Stranger was having a headache. It wasn't
that he was sick or anything, it was just that the strange machine installed in the car was on.
The strange machine would keep the Janitor away: It always did. But, as usual, it also caused
the Dark Stranger to have a headache.
_____"You know? It's pretty funky, driving your car with only one headlight," commented
the female cyborg, obviously unaffected by the effects of the Janitor-repelling machine. "I'm
sure glad we only have to drive straight. Gee, no one else is on the the road! I ought to see
how fast this car of yours can go!" She goosed the engine, and the car accelerated a bit.
"Whee-e-e! FUN!" The Dark Stranger grunted from the passenger seat. "Hey, you really
don't sound so hot. Should I turn the repeller-thingy off?"
_____He slowly shook his head, hunched over near the dashboard--lost in misery. "It is over.
I have failed to rally support...among...the other bounty hunters," he said. His headache pounded
and pulsed in his head, matching his sense of failure. Funny how a cyborg's head could hurt;
the brain had no pain receptors. Still, he fought the urge to reach over to the dashboard and
flick the switch that would turn off the strange machine, the "repeller-thingy."
_____Then again, why should he care if the Janitor got him? He felt that his grand plan was
destroyed: the plan to gather an army of bounty hunters and smash the Feng-Long society!
Too bad, the grand scheme was all blasted to pieces. And he was wrong about the Janitor;
the Janitor was now a lot stronger than he thought.
_____If the Dark Stranger flicked off the strange machine, the Janitor would get him. And then
all of the Dark Stranger's troubles would be over. At least in this world. But before he died, he
wanted to do something. The urge for revenge pulsed in his head with the rhythm of the
pounding headache.
_____"Gosh, you're sounding really quiet," said Mai. The engine was pretty loud. "Are you
still breathing, dude? It would be, like, a real bummer if you kicked off before I heard your next
plan. You DO have another plan. Right, RIGHT? Huh?"
_____This car soon enough came to an area where there were street lights. Good, they were
outside of that criminal-run sector. It felt good to be back out in the rest of the city, where
Zalem's master computer ran things. Now he could turn off the strange machine: click!
_____Ah, how SWEET! His headache vanished, as if six syringes of morphine were
simultaneously jammed right into his brain. He sat up in the seat and looked at the urban
scenery they were driving through now: blocky gray buildings, plenty of streetlamps, and the
low hum of factory machinery around here.
_____"What about your PLA-A-AN?" whined Mai. "I wanna know what you're gonna do
NEXT! How are we supposed to be friends if you're keeping me out of what you're thinking?"
she added, slowing the car down. There were other bounty hunters stalking the sidewalks:
If she struck and killed someone, like one of those delicate fleshies, it would be her head with
a price on it.
_____"Oh, I do have a plan. But I wish it to be a surprise," answered the Dark Stranger, a
smile on his smarmy face. "In the meanwhile... Do park the car next to that hangout over
there," he said, pointing to a neon-lit club along the left side of this street. It was a hunter's
hangout--a bounty hunter's club. "I have yet to work out the details."
_____Mai nodded. She slowed the car and turned the wheel several times to the left. The
tires squeaked once as this car U-turned. When this car came to the curb, she braked, turned
off the car engine.
_____"I know when you want be left alone," she said. "But you'll let me know about what
you want to do next, right? Don't leave your friends in the dark, Mr. Dark!"
_____"Assuredly, you shall know," he said to her. He saw Mai give a beaming smile as she
opened up the car door and got out. He reached over, took the car keys from the ignition,
and also got out.
_____"I'll see you tomorrow!" said Mai, already some distance from this car. "Guess I'll see
you here? Around noon or something?" Hope filled her voice and showed on her pretty face.
_____"Yes..." said the Dark Stranger. "One way or another." It was the first time he had
lied to that cyborg-girl. Before, he stayed honest with her just to keep her as an ally. But
now, it was over. He didn't need her anymore. He felt he didn't need ANYONE anymore.
"Goodbye, Mai."
_____"Good night, Mr. Dark!" she said. And Mai walked away, humming a cheerful and
silly little tune as she went off into the city night. Her place was not too far from here. She
would be home before dawn, which was not less than an hour away. Cyborgs didn't need
much sleep anyway.
_____The Dark Stranger watched until she went around a corner and was out of sight. Standing
on this sidewalk, lit with streetlamps, he pocketed his car keys and made sure that he still had
his small portable pouch of credit-chips--kept in the left pocket of his black leather jacket.
Maybe he would find a way to waste all of it on drinks tonight. So set, he walked into the
hangout. Not that he noticed, but just a little bit of blood trickled from his left ear.
_____At first, there were plenty of other bounty hunters in the smallish first-floor room--about
the size of a living room if one took out that space occupied by the drinking bar. The night-time
crowd was all around and all loud. They drank and talked about the heads they had cashed
in recently. One female had the habit of laughing too loud every so often. The crowd soon
enough thinned out. Two left, then three. Five left after that.
_____He was eventually the only one in the hangout--besides the female bartender. She was
unusually attractive, a fleshe. Why hadn't he noticed her before? Maybe he was just too numb
from all the planning and drinking he was doing. Her eyes were big and emerald-green, sparkly.
Feathery blonde hair went to shoulder-length, her slim body dressed in white blouse, dark vest
and leotard-like pants. Hell, she was so pretty that he almost had the will to live again. But her
smile was a little creepy.
...
_____Sunlight was but a faint reddish glow on the eastern horizon right now. It was still cool,
and most of the sky over this industrial city was still full of darkness. Damn, and the streetlamps
were still on. Jacob Harding, an enforcer, was feeling damned depressed. He had NEVER
started his shift this early before. But all of those on his team had decided to get started really
early today.
_____Too fucking early, he thought as he sat on an old metal chair set on this sidewalk. He
had found the chair in an alley, and it was clean enough not to soil the pants of his suit. He
and several others were waiting for their ride to get here. "I didn't even get to brush my teeth,"
he muttered.
_____"Since when do cyborgs need to brush teeth?" asked Jamie--a female enforcer in a
typical black dress-suit, her nutmeg-brown hair looking surprisingly neat and brushed so damned
early in the morning. Jacob looked bedraggled; Jamie looked groomed. "Well, I brushed
MY teeth," she added. "That's just out of old habit, though. But I don't think we'll ever have
to worry about losing teeth."
_____"Gosh, Jamie, you sure know how to talk a point to death," commented Victor. "Your
body's energy systems must have a nuclear battery backup or something--to power that mouth
of yours." Victor was a pale-skinned enforcer who tended to smile often. Dressed like any
typical enforcer, his dark hair was always slicked back with some kind of lubricant. He was
probably the only enforcer who did that. "Now, if we could use that mouth power for the
purpose of good."
_____Jamie crossed her arms. "Oh YEAH? We could get a lot more use out of all the greasy
junk you mix and put in your hair! I bet someone could figure out how to use it to stop bounty
hunters or something. Smear your head along the ground, make 'em trip! We would have
hired you earlier...if we hadn't found out your hair stuff is probably responsible for about six
different types of cancer in fleshies."
_____"Har-har-har...!" went Victor, mocking Jacob's cynical laughter. "Jamie, I'll bet you
were a toilet bowl in a past life. Because you talk so much shit. You must stock up on toilet
paper at home to wipe your mouth a lot." Jacob laughed even louder.
_____"Wait, wait... What's that I smell?" said Jamie. She pretended to sniff the air. "It's
coming from around here. It smells like something covered over with hair gel. Yeah! Hair
gel mixed with the smell of..." She looked right at Victor. "Hair gel mixed with bullshit! Look
everybody, it's bullshit in tailored clothes!" Jacob was nearly falling off of his seat at this point,
laughing so hard.
_____Victor opened his mouth to say something, and he abruptly closed it. His eyebrows
furrowed, serious. "Hey, listen. There's that sound again." He swiveled his head and looked
around. "You hear it too, or is it just me?" It really looked as if he was trying to better hear
something. But the early morning winds tended to carry away the sound.
_____Then Jacob stopped laughing. "What...? Yes, I hear it too. Sounds like someone
cleaning." He stood up from the old chair. "I think it's coming from over there. Or... Hey,
what's that that?"
_____Everyone looked in the same direction. Jacob was looking farther west along this street.
There was someone over there, someone with a rather big knife. The man stalked through the
circles of light set by the streetlamps, revealing his appearance. He had on a black jacket and
blue jeans, boots on his feet--black sunglasses on. In his left hand was the rather large and
wicked-looking shiny blade. He looked ready to kill.
_____"Looks like trouble, right?" said Jacob. "I think we have to do a little work now, people.
It's what the executives pay us for." He adjusted his business jacket as so his handgun would
be easier to take out in a hurry. "Let's go earn our pay."
_____Victor and Jamie followed. The three went across the street to where that guy with the
big shiny blade was. Getting closer, they saw that his mouth was moving. He was muttering
something to himself as he stalked along, his shoulders and back hunched. They also noticed
the blood. Blood dripped from his nose and ears, his eyes brimming with more of it. His
metal hands were wet with more red wetness: His blood or someone else's. The cyborg's
open jacket revealed more blood staining his white shirt.
_____The Dark Stranger's eyes took on a wild, deranged look when he noticed the enforcers!
"A-A-ARGH!" He raised the huge blade above his head and made a dead run at this group of
enforcers, the blood from his nose spattering all over the place. Apparently, he was out of his
mind! Looking more amused than surprised, the enforcers just stood there as this crazy nut
with the knife rushed them.
_____"Ah, screw it," said Jamie. Putting both hands into her jacket-pockets, she drew out
two small blocky handguns--both loaded with ceramic rounds. "I'll do him!"
_____CRACK-CRACK! The twin sounds of her handguns rang out. "Gah..." went the Dark
Stranger, his wild eyes swirling as he staggered. The knees of his jeans were torn away,
revealing the damaged metal joints beneath. Sparks flared from those holes as he swayed
and staggered right onto the street. Oddly enough, he didn't drop that huge knife.
_____On came the sudden rumbling roar of an oncoming truck. The great big vehicle was
hard to see. Its headlights were off, and the whole damned thing was--of all things--painted
black. It was the color of night, but as loud as daylight.
_____ROAR! CR-R-R-UNCH! The Dark Stranger was like a big toy, flopping madly
as three of the six wheels on the night-colored truck went over him. The night-colored truck
had rumbled on through and continued going.
_____"Whoa..." commented Jamie. She saw that truck just keep going after it had completely
ruined that guy with the knife. And the truck just kept going, roaring west along this street.
It veered right and went around a corner. As the streetlamps went out and the sunlight lit the
street, they could see what remained of the Dark Stranger: a mangled bloody mess of metal
and cloth.
_____Looking both ways to be sure that no vehicles approached, they went over to the body.
Jacob grabbed it and began dragging it back over to the curb. "Wow, that must've hurt!" said
Victor.
_____"He must have had some kind of cheap body," said Jamie. "Did you see what that
truck did to him? I mean, LOOK!" She gestured to the heap of ruined cyborg at her feet.
"I've seen accidents before, but this is probably the worst!"
_____Jacob looked at his hands. Now, in the reddish light of the oncoming morning, he saw
that the reddish stains on his metal hands weren't blood stains. He knelt and looked at the torn-up
leather jacket on the mangled metal body, patted it. Some kind of reddish powdery substance was
coming out of the rents and tears of the jacket. He pinched and rubbed some of it between his
fingers, sniffed it.
_____"What's that, Jacob?" asked Jamie. "If it's drugs, you'd better be careful. No telling
what the Hell that guy was on. It must've made him crazy enough to rush people with handguns!
You don't want to end up like him."
_____"Drugs, huh? I'm not sure about that..." said Jacob. He squinted his left eye and brought
some of the powdery stuff closer to his face. The sunlight was getting brighter now, and it
was easier to see. It was still hard to tell what the stuff was. "What the Hell is it...?"
_____Jamie bent over to get a better look. "You mean you don't know?" She pinched a bit
of the substance from the ruined jacket. She put a dab of it on her tongue. Then she knew.
"It's powdered blood! His jacket must have been full of it."