The Lesser One Arc 2: Chapter 13: Decision

Decision

The mood at the lab is a bit subdued the next day. Everyone is doing their jobs, but there isn’t nearly as much conversation and banter as usual. I want to ask about what the problem is, but I don’t want to breach a topic that might be sensitive.

So, despite my misgivings, I push ahead with the schedule, trying to take advantage of the better focus afforded by the quiet. Two of the conjurers, Samantha and Lincoln, manage to create a good enough version of type 2 Rearden Metal. We’re getting ever closer to our production goal. I tell them to start producing large quantities of type 2 as practice. We probably won’t be selling that stuff yet, and I want to see if they can handle continuous work like that.

A good portion of my budget is reserved for food. Conjuring—for other people, at least—requires lots of calories of input. A normal conjurer working for eight hours under the lab’s conditions needs about six thousand extra calories to do their jobs without becoming anorexic.

And it can’t be just any food. It has to be both high in nutrients and high in calories. I would have settled for formula bars, but I know that eating is one of the things that brightens the day for a conjurer who’s been working for an hour and is very hungry. So, I prepared a number of surplus military MREs, and that seems to work well.

We settle down for the last meal of the day. I rip open my own MRE—I have to keep up the illusion that I’m expending lots of calories too—and we start chowing down. A couple of the conjurers trade menu items with each other.

The day ends on the same note that it began.

When I get out of the elevator on the bottom floor, Esla is leaning against the wall. She pulls away, a slight grin on her face.

“We’re going somewhere fun,” she says. She puts her arm around my back and leads me to the doorway.

Sebastian is sitting on a bench in front of the building, smoking his pipe. He puts it out and stands up.

“Where will you be going today?” he says.

Esla grins wider. “We’re going somewhere fun.”

“Very well,” says Sebastian. “Do you want to give me the address?”

“We’ll walk,” says Esla.

“If you say so,” says Sebastian. He sits back down on the bench and relights his pipe.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

Esla winks. “Like I said. Did you hear me the first time?” She turns around and starts walking.

I follow her. “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” I ask.

“It’s close,” says Esla. “Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been to London several times before.” She spins on her heels. “And you’re going to love what I’m going to show you.”

I follow Esla along the sidewalk. It seems European cities were better built for walking traffic.

We come to a small, nondescript building and go down a series of stairs until we come to a door that appears to be the kind that hides a secret bar or club.

Esla pushes through and we enter. The thing I notice first is the music. It’s unlike any that I’ve ever heard before, a haunting version of rock with a guitar line that sounds like someone’s voice.

The place is a live house, the kind where underground indie bands play. A sign sits along the wall, reading “SoulStar.”

“This is the SoulStar club,” says Esla, walking towards a front desk. “People with music-related spirits form bands and play here.” She motions to the person behind the counter, a woman dressed in flamboyant leather, dyed green hair, and lots of piercings. The woman behind the counter holds out two tickets. “Twenty pounds,” she says.

Esla hands over the money and we enter the stage area. It’s packed, filled with people going crazy over the music.

The band that’s playing is a four man piece, and their music has a rocking beat that I don’t find bad. There’s a haunting, theremin-style sound to the music, however, and it reminds me of psytrance.

I catch sight of a person who sends me into shock. A familiar man with an eyepatch and an evil grin. He catches sight of me and pushes his way through the crowd towards me.

“Markus!” he says, upon getting close enough for me to hear him. “I didn’t think I’d run into you here!”

“Who is this?” says Esla.

“Um, this is, uh, Deeve,” I say. “He’s an, uh, mercenary …”

Deeve winks at Esla, which, due to his one eye, looks a bit uncanny. “Hey, I didn’t know you had a cute girlfriend like her,” says Deeve. He makes finger guns. “I’d love to get to know you better. Foxy!”

I can tell Esla is a bit put off but is trying her best to hide it. “So, um, how do you guys know each other?” asks Esla.

“Oh, this and that, here and there,” says Deeve. He puts his arm on my shoulder. “Markus and I go back quite a bit.”

I would have argued, but I’m too petrified. All I can do is go along with it.

Deeve’s face becomes a bit more serious. “I hear you made a deal with Biren,” he says. He glances at Esla. “I’ll tell you now that I tried to talk Biren out of it. But, the man’s crazy. All he wants is to experience pain, both given and taken.”

Esla looks even more nervous. “Um, what are you guys talking about?”

Deeve shakes his head. “Stuff you don’t want to know about, missy,” he says.

The band on stage ends their set and the crowd goes wild. Deeve nods his head and winks again. “I promise, though,” he says, turning a bit. “I’ll keep Biren’s contract. I’ll also throw in my efforts to keep Ronald from, well, you know.” He makes finger guns again. “Talleyo.” Then he melts back into the crowd.

“Who was that?” says Esla. “He was giving me some really bad vibes. What kind of people are you involved with?”

“He’s a bad guy,” I say. “A very bad one. You really, really would not want to be on his bad side.”

“Is he part of the criminal organization you’re making antimatter for?” asks Esla.

I look around, scared for a moment that someone heard us. The music, however, is too loud.

“Yes,” I say. “And they’re a nasty bunch.”

Esla crosses her arms. “You’re going to have to come clean about this sooner or later,” she says. “I’m almost certain that it’s totally illegal to produce antimatter, no matter what you use it for.”

“No one is going to know,” I say. “Biren is going to use it to travel to Triptefelexia.”

“Um, what?” says Esla. “It’s loud in here. I couldn’t hear what you said.”

“Never mind,” I yell. “Let’s just enjoy the music!”

Esla gives me a thumbs-up and we start rocking to the beat. The band that is currently up on stage is a classic rock band with a spirit twist, a different one than the band that was playing when we entered.

We spend the rest of the night having fun at the live house. When we leave, it’s around eleven at night.

Esla points to a small restaurant across the street. “They have great fish and chips,” she says. “And they’re open twenty-four seven.”

We walk to the restaurant. As we enter, I get a little ping in my mind that tells me I’m around one of my devils. Is it Rezolan? I don’t know.

I look behind the counter and into the shop’s kitchen. It’s a devil that I don’t recognize. He notices me and nods, and I nod back. That’s the only interaction we need to make.

Esla sits in a chair along the counter and motions to me. I sit next to her. “Two orders of fish and chips!” she says. She turns to me. “So what were you trying to tell me that I couldn’t hear?”

I wasn’t getting out of this one. “Um, so aliens exist, and Biren is trying to get to them by using antimatter. Apparently, antimatter is needed for interstellar travel.”

“Portals, mafia, and now aliens?” says Esla. “Wow, the world has become weird.”

“They’re called the triptefelexians. Apparently their religion involves torture and they’re very evangelical about it.”

“And you’re giving one of the most powerful crime bosses access to them,” says Esla.

I shrug. “What else am I supposed to do?”

Esla seems to think for a minute. “Why don’t you join them?” she says.

“They’re a criminal organization,” I say. “I don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

“Then you’re going to give them the power to demolish cities or call down an alien invasion instead,” says Esla. “I’m of the belief that this is the greater of the two evils. You can try working with them and do your best not to cause too much harm. Besides, no amount of harm done by your person could be more than the millions of lives lost from either an antimatter bomb or an invasion of evil torture aliens.”

I sigh. “So you’re saying I should join them.”

“I don’t know if that’s exactly what I’m saying,” says Esla. “All I know is that antimatter is very, very dangerous and there would be no amount of guilt that could wipe away the effects of an antimatter bomb.”

I clench my fist. “Then what do I do?” I say. “If I join them, I’ll go against my conscience. If I don’t, and don’t fulfill Biren’s request, they’ll kill everyone I love. Probably including you.”

The fish and chips arrive, carried by the cook who is also one of my minions. “I believe I have a third option,” he says, placing the food on the table. “Declare war on them. Eliminate them before they can eliminate you.”

“With what?” I say. “Even with the contents of an S-class portal …” I pause. “I think I have a plan.”

“Do tell,” says the devil.

“We’re going to have to hand off the antimatter to Biren at some point, right?” I say.

“Indeed,” says the devil.

“Then, when we do the handoff, we gather as many of the Darks as possible. We use a remote version of myself to trick them into believing that we’re there too. Then we detonate the bomb. If we do this on a boat in the middle of the ocean, than the most we’ll be doing is violating the nuclear test ban, and the UN won’t even know who we are.”

Esla scratches her chin. “That sounds difficult,” she says, “But I think we may be able to do it.”

The devil behind the counter smiles just a bit. “I’ll gather my people and begin preparation for this operation,” he says. “By the way, how’s the food?”

I haven’t tasted it yet. I am about to eat a piece of fish when Esla points to the vial of vinegar on the table. “That,” she says. “You have to use it.”

I put the vinegar on the fish and eat it. It’s good. It’s very good.

I just hope my good mood is warranted. Now that I finally have a plan, I think I’ll be able to solve this problem in a way that doesn’t kill anyone but the bad guys.

It’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try