Vyvani

  “Are you alright, Vyvani?” Sabina asks me.

  I stare blankly ahead into space. I can hear her voice, but it is as if I am hearing an echo on the fringes of my auditory senses. I am dazed by what I’ve seen, the things I have heard. A part of me begins to think that my discovery of the database city was a curse.

  Sabina takes off her techSpectacles and sets her arms on the table between us. “Vyvani,” she repeats, her brow wrinkling. She lays a hand on my arm and finally gets my attention. “What’s wrong, Vyvani?”

  I pull myself out of my daze and meet Sabina’s gaze.

  “Nothing,” I reply. “Just a little tired.”

  Sabina frowns and looks down at her tPanel. “neuralNutrient levels are fine, circadian rhythm seems to have adjusted well to artificial lighting…”

  “It’s not anything like that,” I say quietly. “Just exhausted. We all get exhausted.”

  Sabina nods and tucks her techSpects into her pocket. “How about we have a little change in routine?” She smiles. “Let’s take a walk through the city. There’s a restaurant in Minzyu that I thoroughly enjoy. I used to go there often with my son, when he was young. We can have dinner, then call it an early day.”

  Sabina's wearing a black dress today, as opposed to the blouses she usually wears. Maybe she dressed up for the occasion. The fact that she might have planned for this warms my heart.

  “Yeah, that’d be great,” I say. “What kind of food do they serve?” I lower my own tPanel. The cognitive exercises and entertainment consumption experiments are proving to be quite draining today. I continue staring at the shimmering form of the Crystalline Towers. Their beauty is ethereal beneath the artificial sunlight. The angles of the clear surface capture the light perfectly, and it appears as if the glimmering visage of a million rubies glints from the crystal towers. At this moment, they appear more crimson than clear; when they are sheer crystal they are beautiful and monumental, but when they are red, they are a testament to the terrible fate which thrust me into this place.

  “Vyvani?” I feel a hand shaking my shoulder. “Vyvani?”

  I peer up to see the sun blazing brightly behind a dark silhouette. Shora is gazing down at me. Shora? Why is she here?

  “Shora?” I whisper.

  The woman kneels. It is Sabina.

  “Oh,” I say, almost disappointed. “Sabina. Sorry.” Her blouse is blue today, and she is wearing black slacks. Maybe she hadn’t planned for the occasion after all. “So, what kind of cuisine does this restaurant serve?”

  Sabina frowns worriedly. Her eyes are glazed with concern. “Vyvani, what is today’s date?”

  I try to remember, but I have lost track of time in this place. It bothers me that I can’t think of the date to save my life, no matter how much I scour my mind. I laugh it off. “There aren’t any calendars here, so I have no idea.”

  Sabina purses her lips. “You knew yesterday.”

  “I did?” I ask. Now I am truly confused. “What happened yesterday?” I press my fingers against my temple. I cannot, for the life of me, even remember what I had for dinner last night. Did I fall asleep in my mansion, or within the database city? I had to have returned to my house, otherwise Sabina would be questioning me about the speakeasy and my whereabouts.

  “Shit,” I mutter. “Sorry, Sabina, I really can’t remember anything right now. I’m so tired.”

  Sabina stands and lays a tender hand on my shoulder. Her quivering voice betrays the feigned nature of her easy demeanor. “Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow, Vyvani.”

  “Good night, Sabina,” I reply.

  She shimmers into the air and disappears. The look she leaves me with is one of deep, unmeasurable concern. I wonder why that is.

  I stumble back to my mansion, choosing to forego a visit to the database city. My head reels from the terrible things I saw that night. I can’t remember them clearly anymore. Were the things I had seen even real?

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  The battle was a terrible one. I watched from Model-esque’s holoViewer. It all seemed so real, the bloodshed, the limbs flying, the blood spraying, people screaming. I even glimpsed Kazin at times, but it was what happened in the aftermath of the battle that was truly terrifying. I can’t remember clearly anymore—was it because I looked away? Or has my mind voluntarily forgotten?

  There were only a few Yamda left towards the end. They were pushed back against a corridor. Kazin was nowhere to be seen. After a while, the rear exit was blown to pieces, and a flood of Kargu rushed in. The Yamda were obliterated. There was one tall Yamda with black hair. He defended a side door beside the exit until he was overwhelmed—as punishment, he was torn apart limb by limb, and his parts were nailed to the door afterwards.

  “He will defend the door, even in death,” Model-esque had spat. Once the tall Yamda's torso was nailed to the door, Model-esque had torn out a glowing plate from his collarbone and crushed it in his hands.

  Several Kargu were sent in through that door, to search for someone.

  There was another girl with black and purple hair, a Yamda fighter, but I can’t remember how they had profaned her body. I think Shora had mentioned that the Kargu were known for their unbelievable cruelty. She was not wrong in that regard. That much I do remember.

  For the next several hours, I watched as the holoViewers relayed to me scenes of maddening chaos. Those whose perspectives the holoViewers reflected traveled from street to street, battling rival Joryoku. They swarmed into clubs and establishments, slew every last Joryoku guard within them, and claimed the places as their own.

  Towards the end of the butchery, when the Kargu’s enemy had been annihilated from the district, an ominous pair made an entrance—one man and one woman. Both were of black hair, and both had eyes of deep violet. To my great surprise, they were not bioEnhanced, though their bodies were the canvas for countless tattoos. They were no doubt Joryoku, but I had never before seen one of their sort who had not been bioEnhanced. From the deference shown them by the Kargu clansmembers, I assumed they were of the upper echelons of the clan’s ranks.

  Afterwards, I felt sick to my stomach, and I thought myself the twisted voyeur. I had just witnessed the slaughter of hundreds of people. What was I doing, watching all of this, so detached and removed and yet unable to tear myself away?

  I stumble home and fall into a restless sleep, where I linger on the border of wakefulness and slumber, seemingly aware of my surroundings, yet retaining none of it to understanding or memory.

  I do not even wake up of my own accord the next morning. It is Sabina who is sitting at my bedside, her brow creased in worry. She is speaking through her tPanel with someone on the other side. When she sees that I have opened my eyes, she ends the call.

  “I’ll get back to you, Ten, thanks.” Sabina smiles at me as I push myself up into sitting position. “How are you feeling, Vyvani?”

  I shrug. “Normal. A little hazy.”

  “Brain fog,” Sabina remarks.

  I look around me at the glossy, sunlit room of white polycarbonate and marble. “Thanks for the mansion, Sabina. It’s really great.”

  Sabina smiles uneasily. “Do you remember when you first moved in?”

  “Of course. Just a few days ago.”

  Sabina nods as if I have just confirmed a suspicion of some sort. She takes off her techSpectacles, and that is when I know she has something serious to tell me. “Vyvani…” She seems unsure of how to begin, so I decide to make it easy for her.

  “You can just say it straight,” I say with a laugh. “I’m nothing but a brain, and no one knows I’m here. What else can go wrong?”

  Sabina’s smile falters, and I know I’ve spoken too soon.

  “I’ll just say it, then,” Sabina says reluctantly. “Vyvani, the radiation from the green beamShot, it was much worse than we initially thought. Though we had believed that Doctor Anzano was able to remove your brain from your body with minimal effects from the radiation, we were wrong. You have been feeling continuously hazy…you’ve had memory loss, you can’t remember things. You have continuous brain fog.” She clears her throat. “Vyvani, it’s been weeks since you’ve moved into this mansion.”

  I think back to the last couple of weeks. There was a point where things became a blur, mushed together like different colors of clay until the colors are indiscernible from one another—so were the memories of the passing days. They became a jumble, a single mass, without difference or form. I had attributed that to the fact that my routine was plain, and because my days were uneventful. But then, there were the other things, when Sabina would suddenly be wearing different outfits from moment to moment as if she were a magician; there were times when I was unsure if I had visited the database city. As reluctant as I am to admit it to myself, the moment the words of revelation leave Sabina’s mouth, it is like a dam has broken in my mind, and everything begins making terrible and dreadful sense.

  Sabina nods as she notices my look. “Your brain tissue was heavily affected by the radiation levels in your bloodstream.”

  I look at her, and I fight to keep the bitterness out of my voice. I realize I am too exhausted to feel angry. My voice comes out tired, as if I have already accepted my doom. “So, what’s that mean?”

  “Your brain, Vyvani, it’s dying.” Sabina pauses. “I don’t think we can keep it alive any longer. Not like this.”

  I feel weightless for a breadth. The fact hangs above my head, and my mind is aware of it, but it refuses to accept its reality. I don’t even know how I feel anymore. I am merely…tired. There is no peace to make, no loose ends to tie up. Over the course of my time here, I had learned that my parents already believe me to be dead. They were given my radiation-riddled body; the funeral was held, and I am no longer a living entity in their world. Shora is dead, Doctor Anzano believes I am dead, and who knows where Muzgal is. In a way, it is as if I am just coming to terms with something I have managed to evade for far too long. I was meant to die from that beamShot. Akato can screw himself. He will get what’s coming to him, I hope, but it won’t be me who doles out vengeance.

  I close my eyes and sink further into my bed. “Okay.”

  As I allow my emotions to flow over me, Sabina speaks again. My eyes flip open.

  Sabina takes a deep breath. “Vyvani, I think it’s time I tell you of the true nature of the Crystalline Towers.”

  Appendix

  People

  AKATO, old friend of Kashniro’s and Commissioner of the Handata City Constabulary.

  BAKU, Joryoku, Kargu Clan.

  CHAIRMAN GATO, chairman of Shampai Group and Sangsum Gato’s father.

  DAMERA, Yamda clan healer.

  DANBA KANBAR, Vorin’s father.

  GANZAMA, Yamda clan captain.

  HAZGAL, Kashniro’s partner, ex-Joryoku, ex-mercenary.

  INA, front desk worker at Mezi’s VR.

  JIN, member of Seven Star Mob.

  KALA, Yamda clan captain.

  KASHNIRO MOYASHINO, Kazin’s dad, famed lieutenant of the Yamda clan, known as “the Gunman.”

  MAYAKO, Kazin’s mother.

  MUGEN, leader of Seven Star Mob.

  MUZGAL, Shora’s personal driver and bodyguard.

  NORBU HAMADA, Commander of the Yamda clan.

  PARKIM SON, a friend of Sangsum and Jerim’s.

  SABINA SON, foremost researcher in the fields of algorithmic biorobotics and cybernetic psychiatry, recently joined the research at the Crystalline Towers.

  SANGSUM GATO, heir to Shampai Group.

  SHORA ASANO, Councilor.

  TAIKI, Joryoku, Kargu Clan.

  TANO, Councilor Shora’s intern.

  VORIN KANBAR, Vyvani’s companion and son of Danba Kanbar, a Contractor.

  WINZI, a girl in Sangsum’s friend group, on track to become a model after graduation.

  YUKIA, Yamda clan assistant healer.

  Handata City Districts

  ANDAKA DISTRICT, a wealthier district of Handata City.

  BYANZA QUARTER, a nightlife district, base of Kargu clan’s Handata City operations.

  CITY CENTER, the district of government.

  DOCKS, major port district.

  INDATO DISTRICT, affluent area of Handata City, home to many corporate executives.

  KOBOKO DISTRICT, a nightlife district.

  MINZYU DISTRICT, an upscale part of Handata City, where Kaz goes to school.

  SHIRUMO DISTRICT, a nightlife district, where Kaz and his father live.

  TOBASHINTA DISTRICT, a nightlife district, contested by the Kargu, Yamda, and the Seven Star Mob.

  Handata City Places

  CHUNZANTEN HALL, home of Handata City Parliament, located in City Center.

  KYANDO, nightlife neighborhood, located in Tobashinta District.

  NAMINO, an industrial field, located on the outskirts of Tobashinta District.

  ROYANG, an isolated area in Tobashinta District, controlled by the Seven Star Mob.

  Corporations

  B.RIDGE CORPORATION, bought out Sakranda Motors in a hostile takeover.

  SAKRANADA MOTORS, founded by Handa Sakranada, bought out by B.Ridge Corporation in a hostile takeover. Makes hypercars.

  SHAMPAI GROUP, company that Kashniro had plans to sign a deal with. Heavily involved in nightlife.

  VERMETA CORPORATION, heavily involved in VR.

  Syndicates

  KARGU CLAN, a Joryoku clan from the northern city of Zanaku, making recent forays into Handata City.

  YAMDA CLAN, a Joryoku clan originating in Handata City.

  Other

  SEVEN STAR MOB, a biker gang in the Royang neighborhood of Tobashinta District.

  Terms

  beamShot, shot discharged by photonBlasters; color changes with amount of kinetic energy and levels of radiation present.

  blastRifle

  crackler, melee weapon utilizing electricity.

  energyShield

  flameSword, weapon favored by Joryoku, a hilt with a blade of flame-like energy of color of choice.

  Joryoku, blanket term for crime syndicates operating throughout the countries.

  LFF, Legacy Founder Families, families who have founded one of the powerful conglomerates in the country.

  nerveChip, a chip present in all bioEnhanced Joryoku, allowing the neural connection between bioEnhancements and the brain.

  photonBlaster

  spinalChip, chip in Kazin’s spine that completes the connection from his nerve endings to his brain, allowing him to control his bioEnhanced limbs.

  strategicalTrooper, (stratTroop, stratTrooper) elite tactical unit of the Constabulary.