Detroit Megacity: The Man in the Patchwork Robe
Kera meets Master Will in a crowded corridor and hears a warning that challenges everything she thought about the war.
2047, Flea Market - Scavenger Corridor C19
Kera thought about the mysterious man she had met yesterday. She wondered if this had been an elaborate trick; maybe she was being used to deliver contraband, or worse. Maybe the radio was tracking her, even with the battery removed. She had scrapped enough electronics to recognize quality hardware when she saw it. When she opened the casing and looked inside, she noticed the rare satellite HT chip. She could get 1,500 credits for it, maybe even two to three thousand if she found the right tech-keeper. Her fantasy shook when she remembered the message from the railyard. Who is that directed to? What was it about?
Yeah, the warband had unscrupulous moments; what can you expect from a ragtag coalition of mercenaries and penal conscripts? Of course, there were moments of honor and glory... but, the same could be said about the corporate enforcers. Was it justified when a stray AegisNet missile smashed into a shanty town? Of course not. Accidents happen and who knows if it was intentional?
Kera suspected that mysterious man was unhappy with how the war had been going. Most people were, to a degree. As it was, only the dead had seen the end of this war. She stared at the ground, lost in thought. Eight years already. Had it really been eight years? When the war started; we thought it would be over before that Lunar New Year. Kera thought deeply, exasperated.
How did we even get here?
She mouthed the words silently to herself. It helped her think clearer. Rebecka. Jaime. Alyssa. Alex. She remembered fondly, friends she had known during Old Earth. She snickered to herself. So, this is "New Earth," huh? What a sick joke. She looked upwards into the dense metallic canopy, darkened silhouettes of machinery and bundles of cabling; glaring neon advertising and flickering signs. The smell of oil from the monorail above. She imagined the sound of rain pattering on her alumina-glass window back at home. Every night she laid awake during the rain; it was the only time she found peace.
She remembered Rebecka; she found a husband somewhere and ran off with him. No idea what happened to her; apparently, she had a family now. Jaime, last she heard he had gotten hooked on synth-vapor and Habla. Alyssa tore her wetware up with Nit-Rox, like many others she had never met. Kera wanted to bury her head in the gravel. She thought about Alex; did it even matter? Not now. She couldn't go there.
She scratched at her neck and got up. She had to walk around; do something. Enough of the introspection.
It was almost time. She'd meet Master Will. She was nervous, wondering what kind of guy he would be like.
Her watch said 11:59. It was time. She walked to the center of the flea market of Corridor C19. She saw him, wearing baggy robes; various colors of green and black. She looked at him closely; one of his eyes was drooping, he looked like he was mentally elsewhere.
She approached.
Master Will? Someone told me to meet you here?
Master Will looked at her, and hesitated. She anticipated his response.
He looked at her and said:
Who... Am I? What... is I?
Kera stared blankly, confused.
Master Will spoke calmly. “The Warband isn’t just a group anymore,” he said. “It’s a symbol.”
Kera didn’t respond.
“I understand,” he continued, “that you aren’t part of it. That this war has nothing to do with you.”
A slight pause. “The message wasn’t an accusation.” He held her gaze. “It was a warning.”
Kera frowned slightly. “A warning about what?”
Master Will spoke slowly. “There is a cataclysm coming,” he said quietly. “Most people can’t see it yet. They won’t, until it’s too late.”
Kera let out a small breath through her nose, shaking her head. “People say that all the time.”
“Yes,” he said. “And most of them are wrong.”
Another pause. Then, softer: “But not all of them.”
Kera studied him. Something about the way he said it didn’t feel like panic. It felt… settled. That bothered her more.
“You’re asking me to believe that?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. “I’m asking you to look.”
Kera hesitated. Master Will stepped slightly closer. “You have already started,” he said. “That’s why you’re here.”
Kera’s jaw tightened slightly. “I came because someone told me to,” she said.
“No,” he said calmly. “You came because you didn’t ignore it.”
Silence. The noise of the market pressed back in around them.
Kera felt it then, not calm, not certainty. Just a shift. A quiet discomfort she couldn’t explain.
Master Will spoke again. “Come with me,” he said. “See it for yourself.”
Kera narrowed her eyes. “See what?”
“The City of Light,” he said. “The Temple.”
She held his gaze for a long moment. “You expect me to just walk off with you?” she asked.
“I expect nothing,” he said. Another pause. "It is entirely your choice.”
Kera looked past him briefly; the crowded market, the noise, the familiarity of it all; then back at him.
“…When?” she asked. Master Will smiled. “Now,” he said. “There isn’t much time.”
Kera hesitated, just for a second. Then she shifted her weight forward.
“…Alright,” she said, as the two of them walk into the crowd and disappear.
Enter the Megacity
a serialized web-fiction
Previous Chapters:
John D
John D
John D
John D
John D
John D
