A
tale of four rooms
“Jade Rade, security clearance revoked, currently
escapee from the Ziggurat, wanted by the city authorities. Is there
anything I can get you Miss Rade?” X-ecutioner asked as he settled
down on the chair, looking at the deadly, yet beautiful radiation
defender. A camera was recording everything that was going in the
room, and Sun Heat was sitting on the other side of the see through
mirror, witnessing and supervising the interrogation.
“Yes, the states
district attorney and the witness protection program.” Replied tiredly
Jade Rade to the tanker. “And also, I wouldn’t mind some food. It
has been a while since I hate anything but Rularuu flesh, anything
will do, even if it’s bread and butter.” And with that, her stomach
growled in unison with her words.
“I can have the chef prepare you
a meal, what would you like?” X was intrigued about her tale, according
to the prison records, Jade Rade was supposed to be in solitary confinement,
due to her conduct while incarcerated. Her friend, Metal Core had
the same reference on his Ziggurat file. And yet, the two of them
kept saying that they had spent the last few months as outcasts in
Firebase Zulu.
“A cheeseburger with fries, fresh broccoli salad, a
tall cool glass of milk and chocolate cheese cake with raspberry sauce.”
Once more, her stomach growled aloud. There was no denying the fact
that she was hungry. Her features, weathered and beaten, told a story
that had nothing to do with being locked in a cell. X couldn’t help
but wondered what all this would bring about, as he called in for
her food.
“It will be here momentarily.” He told her, as he replaced
the comm unit on his belt.
“And make sure it’s shrimp risotto with
oyster sauce, and real cheese sauce on the cauliflower. Oh, and I
want a pint of beer, any will do, but I want it tall and cold.” Metal
Core’s request for food had been placed, and judging from the spit
forming on his lips, Cymbaline could tell he was looking forward to
eat. Throwing a look at the mirror, she wondered if Satet had noticed
that the tanker wore Rularuu skins for clothing, and how battle weary
he looked. Turning back to look on the Japanese man, she said:
“Let
me get this straight, you and Jade Rade were selected by Crey Industries
to be part of an experiment in that dimension.”
“Yes, we didn’t volunteer
for it, they grabbed us in the middle of the night, took us out of
prison, inserted a transponder in us, and the next thing you know,
you wake up in Firebase Zulu, unable to go anywhere. We had to fight
for our lives almost everyday, receiving no help from the human outposts,
which knew full well that we were out there. Windsor once told me
that they were studying the possibility of making Firebase Zulu a
prison for super-criminals, no bars, no guards. Just the ever presence
of the Rularuu, and the impossibility of ever coming back.” Metal
Core slammed a fist on the table as he spoke, anger rising as he recalled
how deadly each battle had been over there, how merciless life had
become.
“Who is this Windsor you mentioned?” Asked Cymbaline to the
tanker.
“She’s dead now. She died saving Lil Smoke some time ago.
We buried her near our cave. She was our leader, and a damned good
one at that too.” He replied, eyes lost in the distance, seeing still
the broken shape of her body lying on the grassy hill of their island.
Shaking the image away, he once more looked at Cymbaline, awaiting
her next question.
“How did you make it back to earth?”
Metal Core’s
gaze hardened, and his jaw clenched, while his breathing accelerated
somewhat.
“Voyager.”
“And you say you hear a voice in your head?”
Asked Moon Psyche to the old controller, as he straightened his hat
on the table.
“She told me to come here, I had to come back, to save
the world. She’s not always there, mostly just before I wake up, she
tells me things.” Replied tiredly Voyager, who had been healed enough
to stand and go through the interrogation process. He could feel the
energy signature of her friend, Sun Heat somewhere close by, and he
smiled at her souvenir. Something else also, he could feel coming
from her, something unexpected that made him wondered if Moon was
aware of it.
“Thomas, I’ve no time and no desire to carry a conversation
with you. I can probe your mind and get all the answers I need from
you, without having to guess at what you are trying to say. Would
you agree to that?” Moon Psyche was curious as to the extent of damage
the chemical imbalance had done, since he had last probed him. A year
ago, when they went through the process of trying to help Voyager,
he had scanned his mind, in the hopes that they would find a clue
to his cure. The insanity had been barely noticeable, only a hint
of it, resting and waiting, for when the controller would use his
powers.
“If you do, I will fight you all the way in, Moon. Ask your
questions, and let me decide if it deserves for you to pry the image
out of me first.” He replied, with defiance in his voice.
“All right,
let’s give it a try. How did you escape the Rularuu” So many questions
about this man had been left unanswered since the Firebase Zulu war,
any answers he could get, would clarify things.
“I didn’t escape,
they let me go. They were attacked by the Circle of Thorns, they were
trying to get to me. The Overlord felt that it was best for me to
return to earth. They were escorting me back to the firebase, when
all hell broke loose, and I ended up stranded on a floating island,
after the Thorns almost got to me.” Voyager’s eyes were darting left
and right, looking everywhere at once, as if in a paranoid state.
“Ok, that part I can fill in, I think. You met Jade Rade and her crew,
then brought down the shield, killed almost everyone at Firebase Zulu,
and came back to earth.” Went on Moon, while shaking his head, Voyager
was still a threat to humanity.
“The shield was already down, as she said
it would be. I killed General Hammond, and anyone who stood in my
way. Earth runs a grave danger, and unless I can locate the one to
stop it, life as we know it will cease to exist.” His fiery red eyes
locked on to Moon Psyche’s eyes, challenging him, daring him to call
him a liar.
“Ok, it’s the end of the world, and only you can save
us. How?”
“Not me, the one who wields the hammer.”
“Right, ok, the
one who wields the hammer, does he have a name?” Moon felt that this
was going to be one of those days. Interrogating the insane always
left a sour taste in the mouth. Half of what they said was make believe,
and the other half was the truth according to their crooked understanding
of the world. Voyager had definitely gone over the edge, twice over.
“She keeps telling me to find him, that he will save us all in the
end, right before he dies. She calls him Bear Cat.”
“Tell me again
how you came about that laboratory?” Psyphoon was perplexed by this
man. X had asked her to carry the interrogation, for she had certain
powers that could most likely be useful with him. One of which was
to be able to get anyone she sets her eyes upon, to cooperate easily.
“I was just following up on an old Apocalypse file, trying to gather
up some intelligence against Crey Industries. My employer sometimes
requests such things from me.” The tanker sat loftily in the chair,
feeling a peace and a quietness he had never felt before. The woman
in front of him inspired him greatly, with trust and confidence.
“And
once inside, what did you see exactly?” Psyphoon had been kept busy
lately, being in charge of teaching relaxation techniques at the Academy
of Heroism, she had found particularly difficult to get any scrappers
to settle down. Bear Cat remained quiet for a few seconds, bringing
forth the image of the man he saw, floating in the water tank, attached
to all sorts of tubes that pumped his blood out.
“Turbo Starr.”