Suffocating

The Six Gates…

The original technological ports that served as transportation between the real and the illusion. The great political divide that began the downfall of the real. People started to migrate into this world… this place that seemed to defy logic. Naturally, discovering a world of pure creation that could be almost anything was too enticing to both people and business. Industry moved on while the world suffered.

By the time One Logic began to organically lock down the rules and the Trigate Federation began to grow and change the galaxy, the real was already dead. A hundred years of resource milking, migration and systemic collapse. Pollution, industry and war turned the world into a barren desert nearly everywhere save the two sister cities.

Oasis in the decline.

Otherwise it was a lawless frontier. Like the old west.

Most people lived in the illusion now. A handful of people… mostly the abrahamic religious sort saw this place as a perversion of the natural world. They saw converting oneself to solid light meant death.

Considering my life, I kinda wondered if they were wrong.

“What does Dvar have to do with me?” I wondered out loud. “… Dvar Olmedo.”

I paused the holo to stare at him.

Something about the figure standing there felt like divine destiny… Like, no matter what was about to happen, I would collide with this genuinely impressive man. I swiped over and pulled up the known bio on him.

I frowned hard at the spill of information in front of me.

“NORA, skip the window dressing. Give me something brief, I’m not reading all this shit.”

In front of me, all of the text consolidated down to a simple paragraph or two.

Name: Dvar Zacatto Olmedo

Age: 41 (apparent)

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 230lbs

Origin: Thread – Lower East Sector

Affiliation: Naga Gita Syndicate – Current Oyabun

Local Government Ties: Berchinald Rembrandt, Prime Minister of Thread

Known For: Consolidating Thread’s underworld into a single operational structure; ending the “Five Points Gang War” without Federation intervention. Consolidated three of the five gangs into one under Naga Gita.

Style: Calculated, deeply religious and philosophical, favors negotiation over open war. Until war is required.

Assets: Extensive real estate holdings, private militia, multiple off-world trade routes.

Reputation: Respected in Thread, feared outside it. Has ties to black market gate-access operations and rumored contacts inside the Trigate Federation.

Public Persona: Always immaculately dressed, rarely seen without his secretary.

Notable Quote: “Dharma is all that matters. There is no good. There is no bad. There is only one’s cosmic duty. One’s willingness to act.”

“Yeah, right… bullshit he’s 41. Fucker’s been around since the last Treaty almost 100 years ago… So has Fox.” I said, staring at his handsome face.

I kinda hated that I found him attractive. Kinda hated that I sometimes found any man attractive. Maybe it was the externality of only being around men. It’s really all knew. I was property. Raised in harsh conditions. Beaten into a warrior.

Masculine strength was all I respected now.

I understood it. Even though it was frequently cruel to me.

That stern, commanding half-Asian stare, his shaved head save for the swath of black hair spilling from the top of it, lazily falling to one side. He was a tank of a man. Broad shouldered, solidly muscled. Not to mention the ink… he was every bit the Yakuza he presented. His skin was hallmarked in it.

I found myself teasing the corner of my mouth with the tip of my tongue.

Then I stopped immediately.

The fuck was that?

It gave me a thrill of worry.

“You're right. Dvar’s rumored to be older than Fox Valentine, the leader of the Trigate Federation. If he’s arriving in Meridian it’s almost certainly because of the treaty signing.”

I swiped back over to the holo and hit play.

“Dvar.” Mido said, looking over a shoulder as Olmedo sauntered to the window beside him, cutting a wide, impressive silhouette of solid muscle beside the lean Ghost.

“Khan.” He responded in a deep, masculine rumble. Almost sing-song in greeting.

They were familiar. Had done business before, likely. I could read it in the way they seemed to mutually respect one another.

“To what do I owe your visit? You never set foot on Meridian.”

“I never need to buy clones. Naga Gita Syndicate trains its own.”

“With our methods,” Mido added.

“Well… I learned from the best,” Dvar said, giving Mido a clap on the shoulder. “That’s why I’m here to see you. I need something.”

“Of course you do,” Khan responded, looking out of the window, unbothered.

“A clone.”

“I know.”

“Do you have one?”

“Do birds caw?” He asked, turning his head to Dvar. “Skip the formalities. What can I do for you?”

“I want your boy. The beautiful one.”

“The undisciplined, unmotivated, loud mouthed drug addict with impulse control problems?”

“Hey…” I whined, hitting pause. “I thought we were better than that, Khan. Y’know you just cut me right? … Hurts when you do that.”

“Khan is direct. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.” NORA reminded me.

“Could have fooled me. Undisciplined? Okay. Loud mouthed? Sure, I’ll give him that, but undisciplined? Drug addict!? First of all, I don’t take drugs. I was forcefully given drugs. That’s only half true. I always do my job sometimes.”

“Always and sometimes shouldn’t collide in the same sentence, Uno… Just press play.” NORA responded, her tone dry.

“Fine.” So I did.

“Yeah… that one… I know something you don’t know.”

“Nonsense.” Mido said.

“I know Fox Valentine is a boy lover.”

“So do I. You think anyone is fooled by his wife and children? He has a family because of duty. Because of legacy. Anyone whose spent any length of time in Zolotov, that all male military prison planet, knows that. He surrounds himself with what he likes. Just like you do.”

“You flatter me.” Dvar said, tugging the lapels of his coat, preening himself.

“It isn’t flattery. Just pointing out hypocrisy… Keep in mind you both want the same thing from Uno.” Mido responded.

Dvar moved on, “Fox will be here in five years to renegotiate the treaty. I know how this works. The Silence stays out of matters of politics. You’re agnostic to your client. I have your confidentiality here, I assume?”

“One has no need for confidentiality when all things are considered confidential at all times.”

“Cryptic as always.”

“Banal as always.” Mido shot back with a dry smile.

There was silence. Then Dvar continued.

“I want to purchase your Ghost.”

“Ghosts don’t exist.”

“Please.” Dvar scoffed. “Let’s not start the negotiation by lying to one another.”

“Of course. I mean on paper. They don’t exist. You’ll have to purchase him under a different designation. If he was for sale.”

“He’s Fox’s type. He’s my type. I want him. The Silence doesn’t turn down money… or a chance to sew chaos.”

“We do not sew chaos. We are profiteers, mercenaries and innovators.”

“Already wealthy ones, so what’s the rip? What’s it gonna take?”

“When you take one of the Six Gates… and you will,” Mido said, gesturing with a hand as if it was a foregone conclusion. “We still want access to it. Our business holdings in the real depend on all six gates being right of way to us.”

“I can make that happen. But that wasn’t an answer, Khan. What’s the price?”

“Nothing. I don’t like him.”

I almost hit pause immediately.

“Wait, Captain,” NORA said, sensing my complaint when my top lip curled.

The holo went on.

“Not many do, I hear.” Olmedo said.

That hurt more than I wanted to let on. I had to admit to myself it was true.

God I needed to learn to shut my mouth.

“Not as a person. I don’t like him as a student. He requires a more forceful hand than I’m prepared to give. He’s without a doubt the most talented Dharma Yog I’ve seen in a century. Granted… Dharma Yogs live a long time. He’s basically an undisciplined teenager. I don’t suffer belligerent man-children.”

“Did he just call me a man child!? What the f…” I bitched again, hitting pause.

“Captain… you are a man child. By definition. He’s being objective, calm down.”

“… That’s fair.” I said sheepishly and hit play again.

“That aside, does he have the skill to steal one of Fox’s One Logic cyphers?”

“Fox’s security detail issues all of the One Logic cyphers on Zolotov. Does he have the skill? Yes. Can he infiltrate without getting caught? Likely no… but I suspect that’s why you want him. I won’t lie, setting him up to fail is cruel.”

But then the holo just ended.

“Wait, that’s it? …”

“That’s all I have on record.”NORA says. “That’s all Mido allowed.”

“Fuck! So let me get this straight, he’s selling me to Olmedo so Olmedo can pimp me to Valentine? And they both know I’ll probably die…?” Doom roiled in my stomach… it wrapped around my guts like a snake.

“It looks that way. But not die… I don’t think that’s the intention. I’m guessing they’re betting you can bed your way to what they need. It’s fairly standard for The Silence. That’s what their Courtesan Hunters do.”

In a panic, I swiped through interfaces, springing out of my bed to hurry over to my room console. Tapping, swiping, frantically putting in passcodes I looked up my designation.

[Formerly: Rembrandt / Hunter Protocol]

[Currently: Kelevra / Courtesan Hunter]

“Courtesan Hunter?” The words caught in my throat. “NORA…”

“Looks like my suspicions are correct.”

“I’m a hooker now?!” I roared, turning as if I could see NORA in my room, yelling at her disembodied voice. “Why is this happening?”

“You’re small, very attractive by human standards and you have no rights as a clone.”

“Y-… NORA. You really have to work on your bedside manner. Yes, I’m actively aware of why it’s happening.”

“Oh… You’re asking fate.”

“Yeah.” I said, exasperated.

“I don’t know, Captain. But I’ll say this much… Fox isn’t the only man who believes in masculine stoicism. So does Olmedo. If he’s paying top dollar for you-…”

“Khan said free,” I shot back, pissed.

“When have you ever known The Silence to do anything for free?”

“True.”

“If anything, Olmedo’s about to pay a king's ransom for you. Doubly so if Mido thinks he wants you badly. Highly skilled, if impulsive… Plus from my records, Olmedo’s been reading up on you heavily. Undisciplined though you may be.”

“Ouch.”

“Just saying… you fit both of their archetypes. You have value. Even if that value is somewhat transactional.”

“Oh, somewhat. Just somewhat.” I nodded, “that makes me feel so much better. Thank you. Really not how I pictured my life going, but it’s fine. It’s fine.” I said, sarcastically pretending to be unbothered.

“To be frank. Something I’ve long told you about your existence, Uno. It doesn’t do a clone well to assume life is supposed to be fair. Or kind. That’s a worry for a human.”

“I am human.”

“In nature alone. Get some rest.”

“… Fuck.” I said, but this time the word didn’t hit with rage.

It hit with heavy disappointment. Weighed down by the grief of nostalgia for a past I never had, and regret for a future I’d never own.

“Am I not supposed to have the things that I want…? That I need…?”

“Slow moves, Uno Kelevra.” NORA said, simulating the closest thing a homunculus like me would ever get to someone caring what happened to me.

That thought almost made it worse. The looming sense of bleakness in the knowing. That every one of your days was because you existed to be an appliance.

An unloved tool of war. And now…

What? A bed toy…?

“So what do I do?” I asked… and for the first time in my life I genuinely felt helpless. I felt small.

“What you always do. Rise to the occasion.”

“But I didn’t choose the occasion.”

“When does anyone ever choose their Dharma? Go boldly and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

“Go boldly,” I nodded, giving a mirthless scoff. “Into Dvar’s clutches.”

“That’s where your hand has played.”

“Yeah…” I sighed, walking over to the chair by my window and collapsing into it. Thinking. “Do you ever just… get so mad… like…” I felt like crying but I knew it wouldn’t amount to anything. I stared out of the window into the vastness of space. “I just…”

“I know. Chin up, Kelevra. Pack your bags. Odds are this is our last time on this ship.”

I nodded at no one again, silently wondering what kind of man Dvar was. And what about me was his ‘type’. The thought alone gave me an unsettling feeling. I’d only ever approached sex as a means to an end. Some cute floozy who was into pretty boys on my way through some star-lost planet. Or some backwoods dystopian cow poke town in the real.

Never with a man. Let alone a man as imposing as Dvar.

The thought of his big hands…

I wondered passively why all I could imagine was them wrapping around my throat.

Why I felt like that was okay.

Or Fox Valentine’s for that matter. Apparently that was my future no matter what I did.

I didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Or even had much time in my life to think about it anymore.

I had to pack.

“Sometimes I feel this suffocating… pressure, NORA.” I said, my mind falling down a tumbling hole of futures I didn’t want. “And it's coming down on me.”

“So do all who end up in the places you’ve been,” she responded, “I know you feel the storm. It’s coming, Uno. Whether you like it or not. For what it’s worth, I can’t believe in you. I don’t have that ability. But I can calculate greatness. You’re it, kid.” NORA finished softly.

I appreciated her kindness.

I’d miss her. Least until I got another ship.

“Can I just swipe left?” I asked, my lip curling in a sheepish plea as I spoke.

“I don’t think so.”

“Dammit.”