Monday, 21 April 2008
Chapter 2 Incoming
That's right, the second chapter is merely a few hours away as I finalise the first viewable draft of it. I'll post it up as soon as I'm done, and I'm also considering putting up a piece alongside it that will narrate in the same timeline as the book, think of it as a Directors Commentary.
Saturday, 29 March 2008
This is the second half of the first chapter as written in the previous post. Enjoy and if you like, please comment.
Read from the start here: Chapter One
“If this is the whole reason you came up here, you’d better start talking quickly. I’ve got a spare one of these with your name on it.” Dane flicked a tiny metal object into the air and snapped it right out of it, pocketing it.
“You hostile son of a bitch.” Cam chuckled. “I’ve got a secret about you and I’m making it public. That’s right, I found her.”
The cold sound of two dense objects smacking into one another was the only thing that could be heard as Dane’s massive, fur covered paw immediately slammed into Cam’s throat. He held it against the wall, which had dented due to the impact.
“If you’re talking about the fact I have a daughter…” Dane whispered directly into Cams pointed ear. “You’re too late. I know about her. I know she exists and this game of yours cuts the boundary line between pathetic co-worker and sworn nemesis a little too fine. And you should also take note that I do not hesitate to severely damage my enemies in any way I can. So take care about what you say or do in future, because the next time, this little chat we’re having now, this social interaction between you and me, it won’t happen. I’m going to ‘cut’ straight to the chase. Or as I like to put it, ‘I’m going to gut you’.”
Dane let the choking mutt go and he fell down to his knees, and then onto his stomach, gasping desperately for air and clutching his neck with both hands. His vision became hazy and dizziness settled in. He was weak now, and it was this that prevented him from forming any resistance as he was lifted up, and thrown through the door he had entered earlier.
Dane slammed it shut and went back to the edge of the building. That was a delay he didn’t need, and because of that he was very slightly behind schedule. He perched the silver case in front of him, and very delicately spun the chambers of digits that would unlock it. Lining them up in the correct sequence, he then unlocked both sides and laid it open with one half on either side of him. The contents were embedded in a soft cushiony material, holding them into their unique slots until pulled out. Dane didn’t waste any moments in taking out all the pieces, and proceed to slot them together like a jigsaw puzzle. He had done this so many times before, he was confident he could do it without even looking. Luckily he had left more time for this than he knew he would be able to complete it in, and so he was now dead on time for the big event.
Rolling his hand along the central piece, he admired its intricacy and power. As for what it was, it had no official name, but as everybody in Dane’s underground group liked to refer to it, it was a ‘rifle’.
He was part of a faction that performed assassinations for cash. If somebody was in need of such a deed, they would eventually find out, through word of mouth alone, about their existence. It was not something he had knowingly involved himself in, but once you were in, the rules said you were in for life. It had a history behind it, but that story wasn’t for him to think about now. He had a more urgent matter to attend to.
He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a slightly crumpled photo of a young woman. This was his target. Apparently, her husband had grown jealous of her constant cheating on him and thought it was time to deal with this matter in this most extreme of ways. It had been hard to murder his first victim, but as his mentor had told him, if he was going to survive, he would need to earn his way. This was the only way. And so, here he lay, steadying the rifle on the concrete, ready to scout the crowd below for this target.
A crisis of conscience had plagued him on his first job, a young businessman. It never went, the guilt of taking someone’s life away, especially when all you knew about them was not even true. There had been many cases where a jilted boyfriend, or even girlfriend, had decided to make their ex pay, but had concocted a great lie in order to mask their pettiness. It wasn’t even conceivable to Dane that anybody could do such a spiteful thing. Of course, now he knew different.
As a matter of fact, he was now a thick skinned mollusc compared to what he was before. Nothing ever shocked him any more, not even when he had discovered he was father to a child. A daughter that had been born and brought up without his knowledge should have set off the paternal instinct inside him, but it didn’t. Dane never confronted the mother, never even had the heart to see her in the flesh, let alone his own child. He just left things as they were and never returned.
Focusing the scope to the right depth of vision took a little less time than he anticipated, and he was nearly entering the final phase of this operation. He surveyed the whole crowd on the busy plaza below. It was home to a market for traders to sell their wares, or simply a place for lonely people to be amongst a crowd. Dane saw her, next to a table with chequered cloth draped over it, and several handcrafted ornaments holding it down from the slight wind. She picked up a globe, and shook it to see the dancing rice grains cover whatever it was inside. She made her way off to another stall, one chock-full of jewellery, and then another laden with paintings and crafts.
‘This is it.’ He thought, knowing that what would happen next would probably destroy the lives of those his victim loved and cared about. But also, not knowing that it would actually affect his life and those lives of people he loved and cared about. He held that thought back just long enough to take one final look, set the crosshairs just above her nape, onto her neck, close his eyes, pull the trigger and let the bullet fly at speeds exceeding 2000 feet per second until it arrived at its target and instantly killed the recipient.
The clock struck 8:03 am.
Next Chapter: CHAPTER TWO
Read from the start here: Chapter One
“If this is the whole reason you came up here, you’d better start talking quickly. I’ve got a spare one of these with your name on it.” Dane flicked a tiny metal object into the air and snapped it right out of it, pocketing it.
“You hostile son of a bitch.” Cam chuckled. “I’ve got a secret about you and I’m making it public. That’s right, I found her.”
The cold sound of two dense objects smacking into one another was the only thing that could be heard as Dane’s massive, fur covered paw immediately slammed into Cam’s throat. He held it against the wall, which had dented due to the impact.
“If you’re talking about the fact I have a daughter…” Dane whispered directly into Cams pointed ear. “You’re too late. I know about her. I know she exists and this game of yours cuts the boundary line between pathetic co-worker and sworn nemesis a little too fine. And you should also take note that I do not hesitate to severely damage my enemies in any way I can. So take care about what you say or do in future, because the next time, this little chat we’re having now, this social interaction between you and me, it won’t happen. I’m going to ‘cut’ straight to the chase. Or as I like to put it, ‘I’m going to gut you’.”
Dane let the choking mutt go and he fell down to his knees, and then onto his stomach, gasping desperately for air and clutching his neck with both hands. His vision became hazy and dizziness settled in. He was weak now, and it was this that prevented him from forming any resistance as he was lifted up, and thrown through the door he had entered earlier.
Dane slammed it shut and went back to the edge of the building. That was a delay he didn’t need, and because of that he was very slightly behind schedule. He perched the silver case in front of him, and very delicately spun the chambers of digits that would unlock it. Lining them up in the correct sequence, he then unlocked both sides and laid it open with one half on either side of him. The contents were embedded in a soft cushiony material, holding them into their unique slots until pulled out. Dane didn’t waste any moments in taking out all the pieces, and proceed to slot them together like a jigsaw puzzle. He had done this so many times before, he was confident he could do it without even looking. Luckily he had left more time for this than he knew he would be able to complete it in, and so he was now dead on time for the big event.
Rolling his hand along the central piece, he admired its intricacy and power. As for what it was, it had no official name, but as everybody in Dane’s underground group liked to refer to it, it was a ‘rifle’.
He was part of a faction that performed assassinations for cash. If somebody was in need of such a deed, they would eventually find out, through word of mouth alone, about their existence. It was not something he had knowingly involved himself in, but once you were in, the rules said you were in for life. It had a history behind it, but that story wasn’t for him to think about now. He had a more urgent matter to attend to.
He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a slightly crumpled photo of a young woman. This was his target. Apparently, her husband had grown jealous of her constant cheating on him and thought it was time to deal with this matter in this most extreme of ways. It had been hard to murder his first victim, but as his mentor had told him, if he was going to survive, he would need to earn his way. This was the only way. And so, here he lay, steadying the rifle on the concrete, ready to scout the crowd below for this target.
A crisis of conscience had plagued him on his first job, a young businessman. It never went, the guilt of taking someone’s life away, especially when all you knew about them was not even true. There had been many cases where a jilted boyfriend, or even girlfriend, had decided to make their ex pay, but had concocted a great lie in order to mask their pettiness. It wasn’t even conceivable to Dane that anybody could do such a spiteful thing. Of course, now he knew different.
As a matter of fact, he was now a thick skinned mollusc compared to what he was before. Nothing ever shocked him any more, not even when he had discovered he was father to a child. A daughter that had been born and brought up without his knowledge should have set off the paternal instinct inside him, but it didn’t. Dane never confronted the mother, never even had the heart to see her in the flesh, let alone his own child. He just left things as they were and never returned.
Focusing the scope to the right depth of vision took a little less time than he anticipated, and he was nearly entering the final phase of this operation. He surveyed the whole crowd on the busy plaza below. It was home to a market for traders to sell their wares, or simply a place for lonely people to be amongst a crowd. Dane saw her, next to a table with chequered cloth draped over it, and several handcrafted ornaments holding it down from the slight wind. She picked up a globe, and shook it to see the dancing rice grains cover whatever it was inside. She made her way off to another stall, one chock-full of jewellery, and then another laden with paintings and crafts.
‘This is it.’ He thought, knowing that what would happen next would probably destroy the lives of those his victim loved and cared about. But also, not knowing that it would actually affect his life and those lives of people he loved and cared about. He held that thought back just long enough to take one final look, set the crosshairs just above her nape, onto her neck, close his eyes, pull the trigger and let the bullet fly at speeds exceeding 2000 feet per second until it arrived at its target and instantly killed the recipient.
The clock struck 8:03 am.
Next Chapter: CHAPTER TWO
Sunday, 6 January 2008
There would be no other day like it in the history of Natalos. It only takes a small amount of effort to change the future, and what would happen over the course of this single day, would drastically alter the events of an entire civilisations lifetime. The exact beginning is debatable, but it happened at approximately 8am.
Dane had admired a great number of early mornings throughout his job history, and he revelled in seeing the sun rise from one side of the planet all the way through to its daily descent at the other. It was a simple pleasure he took from his wholly disappointing life.
He had taken the usual precautions on his way up to the roof, and as he heard the latch of the door click he felt the tension fade away. The building was dwarfed on one side by disused tower blocks and skyscrapers, with the other sides free of such visual obstructions.
He stepped towards the drop, resting his foot on the concrete step probably placed to prevent someone in a wheelchair from accidentally rolling over the edge, and craned his neck over to see the height he was at. Pretty damned high, he thought. There was something so unnecessarily desirable about it. It felt like he was tempting Fate.
Dane took a look at his watch. Not time yet, but only a couple of minutes away. However, he noticed little flickers on the display, something which had never happened before, but he knew that the energy that powered it was reliable. Was it a sign?
As he pulled himself away from the edge, he set his silver case down. Here he stood, above a lively city suburb in Calcon, about to do something that was against the law. A breeze floated around him, and because technically it was still winter, it maintained a gentle chill, enough to permeate his thick coat. Staring out across the thousands of rooftops ahead and imagining all the people underneath them, he found himself thinking about the city’s past.
The planet Gaia was still recovering from a period of terror that had lasted for two, and ended eight years ago. It was the work of some cult called the Kad, and they had been led by a guy named Rogan. Like many other groups, it began with a limited number of members, and the origin was uncertain. There were theories that ranged from the ridiculous to the likely, some involving Rogan handpicking Kads from other cults and others involved using some secret technique to brainwash them. Whatever it was, it worked to the disadvantage of the public, and the problems snowballed over time.
The first abduction took place one day in a September way back. A young teenager was taken from his home, when his parents were just next door. The law enforcement group, the Owsla, had no evidence at the time to connect it to Rogan, but suspicion was rising with every day that passed and it kept doing so with eight more disappearances over the following two months.
The Government became steadily worried. It hadn’t managed to discover who was behind it and things were reaching disastrous levels. The next year was when the Kad finally claimed responsibility for its actions, but by then the group was over a million strong and a reckoning force for the General Army. They came close to taking control of Gaia, until Rogan stepped into one family home, attempted to murder one ten year old child and his mother, but something strange happened which shockingly left the cult leader dead. His body was never identified amongst the ashes of the fire, but he wasn’t a problem anymore. The very mention of the death still stirred up memories of the bleakest period in the publics lives.
Things had moved on. That was the past, and Dane had already let that piece of history slide into the recesses of his conscious. He had plenty of experience in moving past things…
Something was wrong. Dane didn’t know if it was the crispness of the air or the hair standing up on the back of his neck, but it was distracting him, and that only meant trouble. His logical senses knew that whatever it was wouldn’t be climbing up the walls to get here, and he suddenly found himself staring solidly at the doorway. The flimsy frame couldn’t contain anything major, and despite his strength Dane wasn’t going to be able to hold off anything for long. Could it be one of the strange creatures so avidly described on the news this morning? The deformed creations of nature that had appeared outside many of Natalos’ major metropolitan areas, seemingly out of nowhere? Big and bloodthirsty, these things called for the Army to be stationed outside even such a large, protected area like Calcon, and had so far steered clear of entering it, but the news bulletin he overheard was twenty minutes ago and things could have changed since then.
Of course, it wouldn’t be them. Weird stuff happened all the time these days, but nothing was sufficiently life threatening, and to Dane they’d be no real challenge. Ultimately though, there was no reason for them to be heading his way, which set him thinking along a different thought path; who would want to come up here?
One name surfaced above others, and it brought his body to a halt. It could only be him, a notion which only became more certain as the seconds went by. Dane wasn’t afraid, nor did he feel any apprehension about this forthcoming arrival, but he was concerned. This was meant to be a time of relaxation before the final event took place, but it wouldn’t pan out like that now that Cam was on his way.
Cameron was just that bit younger than Dane, and the two of them had nothing but contempt for each other, and it didn’t improve things when they both worked in the same place. Not a regular 9 to 5 office, clock in, clock out, punch some numbers into a machine and then drive home kind of job, but something much more unique. Secret, in fact. It was such that whereas most others had the opportunity to go to their home every evening, start up a life with a husband or wife, have children, buy a house and eventually retire, Dane and Cam didn’t.
Underneath the city, eras ago when Calcon was being built up, the Governors, the leaders of Natalos of the time knew that if things were to take a turn for the worse, there would need to be an official transport system to hide the highest echelons of the Government until they were safe or take them out of the city to somewhere protected, so the army could take care of the quandary in the meantime. It was quickly agreed that this would be accomplished using a series of tunnels and passages, laid carefully under the city and leading to certain important locations.
As the town was so small at first, it was easy to hide, maintain and build these tunnels. However, the increase in both size and population soon provided a major dilemma; keep building and hiding them which would take up more time, money, and effort, or find an alternative way to accomplish what the tunnels could do. It was the latter that was agreed upon, and the network lay dead as it were, for thousands of years afterwards, ignored and forgotten by everyone who lived afterwards.
Today’s was a very slightly different story. The tunnels were still there, but instead of being forgotten, they had now been inhabited by a small but private and independent group. Their work was kept covert as was their existence, and each day was a relentless battle to keep it that way. Cut off from society, with only brief reunions for necessary equipment and supplies, this group led a very lonely existence, but as it was the only way for them to survive, they couldn’t leave. They were the outcasts of the world.
This was why the two of them had never been able to escape each other, and when an argument broke out between them over something quite small in retrospect, the fallout had been huge. It lasted to this day, and would probably last forever more.
Concern had now turned to anger for Dane. He dropped the case behind the roofs entrance and climbed atop it onto the small piece of tarmac, lying low with his head poised above the doorframe. No less than ten seconds later, the lock hissed its familiar release mechanism and began to swing open…
With one slick movement, Dane had flipped his whole body over, and brought his feet heavily down upon Cam’s shoulders. Without a warning, he was caught off guard and when hit, his legs buckled underneath him and he was brought down to his knees. Retaliating against the obvious torso hit that was to follow, he rolled to his right. Dane didn’t jump down straight away. Instead he sat upon his platform and watched what his victim did.
Cam still felt pain on his shoulders, but for the most part he was ok. He already knew who it was, but as he was not expecting to be assaulted, he became extremely vocal.
“What are you playing at, you lunatic?”
“You came up here. Yet you knew you’re not supposed to be here.”
“So you attack me?” He yelled, massaging his own shoulders. “I should’ve known this is the way you do things.”
Dane didn’t reply. Instead he gracefully climbed down onto the gravel floor, while Cam remained propped against the side.
“This is uncalled for. If it wasn’t for last months events, you’d be in hell for this.”
“Things are different Cam. They’ll be different from now on and you just have to accept that.” He reached down for the silver case and picked it up. “You are going to have to leave. Now.”
It seemed that Cam was about to think of something to say in retort, but Dane was already standing above him and reaching down to seize the neck of his shirt. Cam swatted it away and climbed up on his own, using the wall and shuffling his whole torso up a few inches at a time. When standing, the two of them were at visibly different heights where Dane was the taller. He towered above Cam.
“I’ll leave, but before I do I want you to know I discovered something about you.”
Dane stared firmly at him. He blinked not once.
“If this is the whole reason you came up here, you’d better start talking quickly.”
This is just a start to a very long saga that I haven't quite written about yet. I hope you like it, if you wish to know the future of this story, please do comment.
UPDATE: Rest of Chapter One here: Chapter One Part Two
Dane had admired a great number of early mornings throughout his job history, and he revelled in seeing the sun rise from one side of the planet all the way through to its daily descent at the other. It was a simple pleasure he took from his wholly disappointing life.
He had taken the usual precautions on his way up to the roof, and as he heard the latch of the door click he felt the tension fade away. The building was dwarfed on one side by disused tower blocks and skyscrapers, with the other sides free of such visual obstructions.
He stepped towards the drop, resting his foot on the concrete step probably placed to prevent someone in a wheelchair from accidentally rolling over the edge, and craned his neck over to see the height he was at. Pretty damned high, he thought. There was something so unnecessarily desirable about it. It felt like he was tempting Fate.
Dane took a look at his watch. Not time yet, but only a couple of minutes away. However, he noticed little flickers on the display, something which had never happened before, but he knew that the energy that powered it was reliable. Was it a sign?
As he pulled himself away from the edge, he set his silver case down. Here he stood, above a lively city suburb in Calcon, about to do something that was against the law. A breeze floated around him, and because technically it was still winter, it maintained a gentle chill, enough to permeate his thick coat. Staring out across the thousands of rooftops ahead and imagining all the people underneath them, he found himself thinking about the city’s past.
The planet Gaia was still recovering from a period of terror that had lasted for two, and ended eight years ago. It was the work of some cult called the Kad, and they had been led by a guy named Rogan. Like many other groups, it began with a limited number of members, and the origin was uncertain. There were theories that ranged from the ridiculous to the likely, some involving Rogan handpicking Kads from other cults and others involved using some secret technique to brainwash them. Whatever it was, it worked to the disadvantage of the public, and the problems snowballed over time.
The first abduction took place one day in a September way back. A young teenager was taken from his home, when his parents were just next door. The law enforcement group, the Owsla, had no evidence at the time to connect it to Rogan, but suspicion was rising with every day that passed and it kept doing so with eight more disappearances over the following two months.
The Government became steadily worried. It hadn’t managed to discover who was behind it and things were reaching disastrous levels. The next year was when the Kad finally claimed responsibility for its actions, but by then the group was over a million strong and a reckoning force for the General Army. They came close to taking control of Gaia, until Rogan stepped into one family home, attempted to murder one ten year old child and his mother, but something strange happened which shockingly left the cult leader dead. His body was never identified amongst the ashes of the fire, but he wasn’t a problem anymore. The very mention of the death still stirred up memories of the bleakest period in the publics lives.
Things had moved on. That was the past, and Dane had already let that piece of history slide into the recesses of his conscious. He had plenty of experience in moving past things…
Something was wrong. Dane didn’t know if it was the crispness of the air or the hair standing up on the back of his neck, but it was distracting him, and that only meant trouble. His logical senses knew that whatever it was wouldn’t be climbing up the walls to get here, and he suddenly found himself staring solidly at the doorway. The flimsy frame couldn’t contain anything major, and despite his strength Dane wasn’t going to be able to hold off anything for long. Could it be one of the strange creatures so avidly described on the news this morning? The deformed creations of nature that had appeared outside many of Natalos’ major metropolitan areas, seemingly out of nowhere? Big and bloodthirsty, these things called for the Army to be stationed outside even such a large, protected area like Calcon, and had so far steered clear of entering it, but the news bulletin he overheard was twenty minutes ago and things could have changed since then.
Of course, it wouldn’t be them. Weird stuff happened all the time these days, but nothing was sufficiently life threatening, and to Dane they’d be no real challenge. Ultimately though, there was no reason for them to be heading his way, which set him thinking along a different thought path; who would want to come up here?
One name surfaced above others, and it brought his body to a halt. It could only be him, a notion which only became more certain as the seconds went by. Dane wasn’t afraid, nor did he feel any apprehension about this forthcoming arrival, but he was concerned. This was meant to be a time of relaxation before the final event took place, but it wouldn’t pan out like that now that Cam was on his way.
Cameron was just that bit younger than Dane, and the two of them had nothing but contempt for each other, and it didn’t improve things when they both worked in the same place. Not a regular 9 to 5 office, clock in, clock out, punch some numbers into a machine and then drive home kind of job, but something much more unique. Secret, in fact. It was such that whereas most others had the opportunity to go to their home every evening, start up a life with a husband or wife, have children, buy a house and eventually retire, Dane and Cam didn’t.
Underneath the city, eras ago when Calcon was being built up, the Governors, the leaders of Natalos of the time knew that if things were to take a turn for the worse, there would need to be an official transport system to hide the highest echelons of the Government until they were safe or take them out of the city to somewhere protected, so the army could take care of the quandary in the meantime. It was quickly agreed that this would be accomplished using a series of tunnels and passages, laid carefully under the city and leading to certain important locations.
As the town was so small at first, it was easy to hide, maintain and build these tunnels. However, the increase in both size and population soon provided a major dilemma; keep building and hiding them which would take up more time, money, and effort, or find an alternative way to accomplish what the tunnels could do. It was the latter that was agreed upon, and the network lay dead as it were, for thousands of years afterwards, ignored and forgotten by everyone who lived afterwards.
Today’s was a very slightly different story. The tunnels were still there, but instead of being forgotten, they had now been inhabited by a small but private and independent group. Their work was kept covert as was their existence, and each day was a relentless battle to keep it that way. Cut off from society, with only brief reunions for necessary equipment and supplies, this group led a very lonely existence, but as it was the only way for them to survive, they couldn’t leave. They were the outcasts of the world.
This was why the two of them had never been able to escape each other, and when an argument broke out between them over something quite small in retrospect, the fallout had been huge. It lasted to this day, and would probably last forever more.
Concern had now turned to anger for Dane. He dropped the case behind the roofs entrance and climbed atop it onto the small piece of tarmac, lying low with his head poised above the doorframe. No less than ten seconds later, the lock hissed its familiar release mechanism and began to swing open…
With one slick movement, Dane had flipped his whole body over, and brought his feet heavily down upon Cam’s shoulders. Without a warning, he was caught off guard and when hit, his legs buckled underneath him and he was brought down to his knees. Retaliating against the obvious torso hit that was to follow, he rolled to his right. Dane didn’t jump down straight away. Instead he sat upon his platform and watched what his victim did.
Cam still felt pain on his shoulders, but for the most part he was ok. He already knew who it was, but as he was not expecting to be assaulted, he became extremely vocal.
“What are you playing at, you lunatic?”
“You came up here. Yet you knew you’re not supposed to be here.”
“So you attack me?” He yelled, massaging his own shoulders. “I should’ve known this is the way you do things.”
Dane didn’t reply. Instead he gracefully climbed down onto the gravel floor, while Cam remained propped against the side.
“This is uncalled for. If it wasn’t for last months events, you’d be in hell for this.”
“Things are different Cam. They’ll be different from now on and you just have to accept that.” He reached down for the silver case and picked it up. “You are going to have to leave. Now.”
It seemed that Cam was about to think of something to say in retort, but Dane was already standing above him and reaching down to seize the neck of his shirt. Cam swatted it away and climbed up on his own, using the wall and shuffling his whole torso up a few inches at a time. When standing, the two of them were at visibly different heights where Dane was the taller. He towered above Cam.
“I’ll leave, but before I do I want you to know I discovered something about you.”
Dane stared firmly at him. He blinked not once.
“If this is the whole reason you came up here, you’d better start talking quickly.”
This is just a start to a very long saga that I haven't quite written about yet. I hope you like it, if you wish to know the future of this story, please do comment.
UPDATE: Rest of Chapter One here: Chapter One Part Two
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