The Wake Up Call.
(Part 1.06)
Chapter 1.06: Crash landing
The hungry fire ate the flooring material and the funiture like a starving devil dog, lapping up the fuel with a fierce appetite and savaged everything in sight. Hetch pushed himself against the locked door, as far away from the approaching fire as he could manage. Soon the smoke began to emerge on the outside of the tower and rose above the frantic city street far below. The outside of the windows quickly grew black with smoke to give a dark shade to the outside in contrast to the orangey-red fire inside. The alarm on Hetch's inhaler began to bleep and give out a loud synthetic warning.
User Warning: Air supply is almost extinct. 30 seconds remaining.
Hetch pulled the coat tightly around him to protect him against the approaching wall of heat and flames. He could only wait and hope that someone or something would come to his rescue.
User Warning: 20 seconds remaining.
From outside the window came a mechnicial motor sound like a fire fighting droid or emergency rescue pod the type which are used to extinguish fires on the huge, tower blocks in the expensive regions of the city. The poorer hive slums were simply allowed to burn themselves out because the landlords were too mean to buy emergency exits and the other long list of safety equipment.
User Warning: 10 seconds remaining.
Through the cloud of toxic gas and the blackened window Hetch thought he could see a metal blade of some kind scrapping against the window, but his eyes hurt from the heat and poisonious fumes so he could'nt be 100% sure.
User Alert: Air supply expired. Remove mask immediately.
There it was again, something shiny on the outside of the window. It was the automatic window cleaning droid which travels up and down and around each of the million or more windows on the Eldora tower. The smoke must have triggered off its primative curcuits and thinking it was pollution from the streets below started its daily window cleaning routine.
User Danger: Suffocation will occur in 3 to 5 minutes.
The flames continued to crawl closer and Mewco's body started to catch fire. Hetch pulled out Mewco's rapid-burst pistol and sprayed the window with bullets. The glass buckled and cracked. After a second burst of bullets the window shattered. The sudden influx of oxgyen fed the flame even more and they raced towards Hetch who threw the pistol back into his holster and ran to meet the wall of flames. In a fraction of a second his new coat was on fire but he was now through the window frame and hanging onto the cleaning droid for this life. Hetch grabbed its foam nozzle and directed the cold, glass cleaning liquid over himself and the coat. He was no longer on fire. He had never been so grateful to see to dumb window cleaner before in his life.
After sitting upright on the narrow droid platform he removed the inhaler from his mouth and threw it over the side. It dropped the eighty floors, gathering speed with each second until it finally smashed against the granite statues at the front of the tower building. The busy street below paused for a moment to see where the falling object had come from, before the people continued their long struggle against each other to get to their destinations.
Hetch was very happy to be out of the room. He considered himself very lucky to be alive. If it wasn't for the window cleaning droid which he was now precariously sitting on he would be a black, charred heap of bones and burnt flesh like Mewco's body. He still needed to get away from the fire and smoke, and he wasn't sure if the droid's motor could manage to support the extra weight of him on it, but he had no choice. He opened the service panel and pressed all the buttons in sight until the droid began to crawl slowly upwards.
There on the 93rd floor was a large vent openning and Hetch guessed it would be his best bet. The overloaded motor continued to jerk and buzz as it carried him up the 10 or so floors. As the droid platform approached the vent Hetch imagined that he could hear a voice, but he told himself that this was just the mixture of drugs and alcohol fighting against his sanity. The droid was now at floor 91 and the vent cover looked easy enough to remove. A few clicks and a thump and it would probably fall off easier than a M1cro$oft security lock made out of 2nd-hand water.
Suddenly the vent cover was kicked off the side of the Eldora tower and narrowly missed knocking Hetch off the droid.
What the F...
he exclaimed and watched the dark figure appear from the vent opening.
Quick, in here.
The droid finally gave up. Its motor was totally burnt out from carrying nearly three times the weight it was designed for. Hetch balanced himself on the narrow, wheeled leg-like feet of the droid which attached it to the side of the building. A few moments of nervous stretching followed before both his hands were firmly on the bottom edge of the hole and pulling him up into the safety of the vent tunnel.
Man, what is it with tunnel and vents...
sighed Hetch.
...why can't I find a nice easy lift or door to walk through.
You follow!
ordered a little boy and he began to crawl into the distance.
Hey! Wait a minute!
But the boy was already far ahead of him, so Hetch gave up yelling and began to crawl after him.
After a few minutes Hetch came to a wide, vertical tunnel but he could not see the little boy anywhere. The tunnel was filled by the sound of putrid air rushing by, extracted by an army of venting fans filtering out the toxic fumes from the surrounding streets. He was in tower's air conditioning system. All around him was a maze of identical tunnels, shafts, vents and tiny crawl spaces.
Then suddenly he felt the boy push him from behind. Hetch's grip on the sides of the tunnel was lost, he slipped then fell head first down the vertical hole. He screamed and waved his arms like a bee trying to carry a basket full of overweight elephants and their shopping home after the end of year sales. The darkness of the chasm consumed Hetch and his eyes filled with specs of light and a few unpleasant scenes as his life flashed before his hazy eyes.
SPLASH!!!
Hetch made impact with a thick, dull pool of evil smelling liquid. Whatever it was, it was really unpleasant. He had no idea what it was and he didn't really want to know. He was just happy to still be alive and in one piece.
He was in a disused basement area or perhaps a forgotten floor in the Eldora tower, he couldn't be sure the light was far too dim to see anything and he was covered in some foul water or something. Around him he heard some foot steps and they seemed to come from all directions. He grabbed Mewco's pistol, reloaded it and tapped the side of his bug-eye contact lenses. Their limited light-amp function helped him to make out the figures of 5 or 6 boys who surrounded him. They were too small to be in a clan and too dirty looking to be living in the Eldora tower. They were all of different heights and different ages, but their appearance was very similiar to each other.
Who are you?
he asked.
No reply.
Are you some kind of gang or what?
Still no reply.
Suddenly there was a loud splash in the murky pool behind him and the little boy from the tunnel emerged from the deep liquid. Hetch pointed the pistol at the boy and nervously scanned the others in case they tried to ambush him.
Okay, what the hell is going on?
No reply.
You!
he shouted to the boy climbed out of the pool,
Who are you?
I am seven.
they all replied.
What?
I am seven.
they all repeated.
Now Hetch understood. The little boy in the lost property department wasn't called Seven, but he was one-of-seven, an impersonal naming system created by the bio-tech engineers to call their cloned human beings. Their spooky way of speaking all at the same time seemed to confirm this.
Where am I?
They all looked at each other and used some sign language to communicate with one another.
Case.
What? Do you know where my case is?
Case.
they all shouted simultanteously and pointed to a corridor.
Okay, you all lead the way..
Hetch waved the pistol as if to round them up and direct them forwards. They all walked down the round, slippery tunnel. It looked and smelt like a sewer tunnel, but Hetch didn't want to admit this. If it was, then that smelly pool back there must have been .... "Oh fuck!" he thought to himself.. "I knew Mewco was a low-life but I never expected to be crawlling round a sewer like a rat."
The gang all stopped and pointed to a wall. There chained up were the two ape-like goons and the stewardess, there too was the metal case standing on a tall stone pillar as if it was an idol or sacrid god-like object. It was the only clean, shiny thing in the entire place so perhaps this is why they held it up as a special object.
Case. Now give fizz-powder!
they all ordered him.
I don't have any fizz-powder.
We want FIZZ-POWDER!!!
they all screamed.
Give 'em nothing!
cried one of the goons chained to the wall.
Please help us.
begged the stewardess.
Listen Mewco, don't give them anything. I beg you!
We want FIZZ-POWDER!!!
the gang demanded again.
Okay.
said Hetch slowly while he thought up a plan.
Release the stewardess and I will give you some fizz-powder.
Two members of the gang freed the stewardess and she began to walk towards the metal case. The gang grunted and waved their arms.
Leave it.
commanded Hetch.
Look, Mewco. We didn't mean to hurt you. Did we?
No, just to rough you up a little.
said the other goon.
Yeah. Just untie us. It was that little punk Hetch's idea.
That's right, he wanted to muscle in on your turf.
Hetch watched as the two goons begged for their freedom, totally unaware that it was Hetch there were talking to and not the reborn Mewco, come back from the dead. He reached into his new coat, pulled out a few bottles of unknown pills and gave them to the gang who immediately fought with each other in order to get the tablets inside the bottles believing them to be fizz powder.
Hetch directed the stewardess to fetch the case and then walk in front of him towards one of the larger side tunnel, leaving the sqwabbling scene behind them.
Hey, you're not going to just leave us here??
screamed the first goon.
No. Of course not...
Hetch paused in his tracks, snatched a large hungry looking rat from the sewer floor by its long tail and walked calmly over to the wall.
...this is from Mewco.
Hetch lashed out with the barrel of the gun. Contact! The thick, well worned metal gun sight caught the bound goon across his nose, then the red tears came from each nostral. The goon's head fell lifeless down towards his chest. The rat squirmed and squealed from being held upside down until Hetch pushed it down inside the shirt of the other thug. Immediately the suited thug became as lively as the rat had done a split second earlier. He screamed and struggled as the big rat crawlled inside his clothing.
Hetch smiled. This was payback, Mewco style. These little acts of cruelty not only felt like justice, but would, he hoped, convince the others that he was really Mewco, not some small time punk with the green fever; money.
Now it was time for the money-shot, to reach the climax of his violent revenge and squeeze off a few rounds into them... but he wasn't sure that his nerve would hold out. The next moments scretched on for hours as if in slow motion. His heart pounded against his ribcage, the blood drained from their heavy set features as terror gripped their faces and the safety-catch was turned slowly, so slowly back into the release position.
And this is for the acid burn on my side!
added Hetch, eager to avenge his boss's death and the credits which he
could still lose by not delivering the case's cargo on time.
No!
screamed the stewardess as she pulled at his coat.
The gun came into line with Hetch's narrowed eye and hung in the air like a predator stalking its prey from a distance. The barrel tracked the trapped rat inside the target's clothes as it burrowed and scurried just below the surface. The muscles in Hetch's hand grew taught as his fingers tightened around the grip and trigger.
Goodbye, scumbag.
BANG!
The bullet spun through the air like a supersonic wasp, ready to sting its victim with a deadly bite, the bite of death.
KAA-CHINGGGG!
It struck one of the metal plates which fixed the chains to the flithy blocks of stone wall. The stewardess had knocked his aim at the last second. Hetch spun round, furious that his moment of triumph, his final step from a small time to a big time criminal had been snatched from him, and by who? By a stewardess who had already lied, cheated, lured him into her trap in the flat and then let her two goons beat him up. He told himself that he had every right to shoot her. The gun was aimed directly at her face, ready to fire, ready to kill.... but he couldn't bring himself to do it. His temper told him to, his head told him to, Mewco would have ordered him to... but her pale blues eyes stopped him. He was a small time punk, a sucker for a pretty face and she probably knew it.
Well? What's the matter, getting soft in your old age Mewco?
Hetch enaged the safety and dropped to gun down to his side. He was defeated. He wasn't sure whether he could kill, and would he be able to live with the consequences afterwards? Mewco had always told him that killing was a little step, "Bang, and the sucker is dead!", but this was one step that Hetch wasn't ready for, yet.
Which shuttle is it?
What, what shuttle? What do you mean?
Lady, don't waste my time. I know all about the shuttle. I bet you have a contact you are all meant to meet after grabbing the case, right?
Hetch pushed the gun barrel into her back and forced her to start walking along one of the side tunnels. He was mad, mad with himself for not having the guts to pull the trigger, mad at them for leaving him trapped inside that appartment with a nasty acid burn down his side, and mad most of all for being a sucker for the pretty face of the stewardess. He guessed it would only be a matter of time before she tricked him again, but for the moment he was holding all the cards, and they seemed like aces.
How.. how, do you know about that? Listen Mewco, I can explain everything.
Never mind... we've got a shuttle to catch, but first we're got a little bit of shopping to do.
To be continued...