Project Rain 4

Chapter 4

I was lying on my bed thinking about where to go next and who to talk to. I did know a couple of guys that were heavily into the terraformers. Most of them though where more of the rotund newsletter typing guys. But I did dimly remember one of my contacts mention a woman who was obsessed with the machines themselves. An architect by day and an anarchist machine worshipper at night. Now all I had to do was remember her name.
My door coughed and spit out a cloud of greasy grime as someone knocked on it from the other side. That would be Louis with my 'medication'. I'd not been doing many drugs lately but that was mostly because the dealers of Old Town liked to take the arm that was holding the money with them and the ones in Meat Street cut their shit with whatever they could find under their sink.
Another knock. More insistent now. My poor door buckled slightly under the enthusiasm on the other side.
'Jesus, Louis. I'm coming. Not need to kick the door in.'
During the third knock the door decided that it had had enough of the constant mistreatment it had to endure in this establishment and quit. With a disgusted glint on its doorknob it left its frame and sailed through the air in an elegant arc. The foot entering my private space did not belong to Louis, neither did the leg that followed it. Instead it was part of a bursting-through-a-door-with-a-gun man. The shock flooded me full of those hormones that made time go slow and encouraged a fast biography to pass before ones eyes. 'That is not fair, I have a plan!' I thought as I rolled down the bed and the man-through-door-with-a-gun aimed for where I had been lying.
The first bullet smashed into the bed causing an explosion of fibers and ceramic splinters. I crashed into the floor. My arm flung out to grab my new revolver. I missed it by hairs breadth instead knocking over the chair it rested on. The shooting man side stepped elegantly into the room checking it for more people. That gave me enough time to sprawl myself all over the floor. My gun wavered for a moment in the air as the gravity dampers evaluated the situation. Gravity gave them a dirty look which led the gun to decided to go full mass and fall to the ground with a loud smacking noise. Cracks like lightning blossomed out from the point of impact and the gun tipped over...
...away from me. Fuck!
Gun man, happy with the fact that I was alone took aim again while an associate of him peered into the room. A loud 'Hey!' from the corridor distracted them both.
Louis.
No.
The killer in the room just smirked and turned back to me. From the corridor I heard the shot from a gun. An inhuman hissing noise and then the thud of something heavy and damp hitting the floor.
'I can pay you!' I appealed to the man in front of me.
He hardly registered what I said. 'No thanks.'
I grabbed for my bag of money that I had put under my bed. Grabbed hold of a bunch of Credit notes and waved them in front of me.
'I can pay you quite a lot actually.' I repeated now talking to the shockingly huge muzzle of the gun he was holding. Somehow his face did not really hold my interest any more.
The killer simply snorted. 'How about this pal. I kill you. Take your lot of money. And. The bounty on your head?'
The corners of my mouth that had been valiantly putting up a panicked smile gave up. They would not survive me by long anyway so why keep up appearances.
Bang.
I felt an air current passing my face. The wall behind me exploded. The debris hit the back of my head slashing open my scalp. In front of me Louis had appeared in front of the gunman pushing his weapon away with his left hand. While the hitman's face was still trying to act surprised Louis' other hand had brought up an evil looking stiletto and pushed it into the mans neck. He punched right through the voice box. The only noise the man made was a strange hissing noise. Louis pulled out the knife allowing the blood from the two severed carotid arteries to spray out of the tiny hole on the side of my would be murderers neck and welling out of his mouth. Louis turned around and was suddenly at my side. I hardly saw him move.
'Fuck, man. Are you OK?' his voice was steady and his body while tense was perfectly steady.
'I think my head is bleeding.' I replied before passing out.

When I regained my senses I was lying again on my bed. The door to my room was closed and two dead goons where arranged in front of my bed looking like an inappropriate gift from a very large or very enthusiastic cat. Louis was sitting in front of me still immobile. His right cheek twitching slightly every so often.
'You conscious again, man?'
'What the fuck was that?'
'The smart money says: two killers. I just saved your idiot arse and you owe me.'
'I know.' I hesitated whatever words of gratitude came to my mind sounded a bit insignificant right now. 'I owe you my life. Thanks.' Yep. That sounded pretty stupid.
'You also owe me money Hamilton. Lots and lots of money.' he twitched hard.
'Come again?'
'You trawled those two idiots into the Inn, man. And as much as I loath your stupid face I could not let them kill you. So I acted.'
My eyes were all large and round and innocent, giving Louis a hint that I did not have the slightest idea what he was getting at. He sighed. Shuddered violently and pulled out a pen syringe. A sleek thin cylinder, darker than black, hard to focus with the eyes. Optically slippery exuding aura of effortless menace.
'Military grade combat drug, man.'
I nodded one of those cautious nods that indicted my willingness to understand but my failure at doing so.
'Shit man. Did they hit your head?'
'Actually, they kinda d...'
Louis waved me off with an impatient gesture of his hand so fast that it cut the air with an audible snap.
'I'm a veteran Hamilton. I am... I was a tezhong budui.' and not bitter at all, oh no.
'Chinese special forces?'
'Yes and I was one of the idiots who volunteered for augmentation. They took my cells did some kind of shit to them and then reimplanted them. The Empire made me a super soldier.' Louis paused for a second and shivered again. His legs and his left arm started to twitch erratically.
'Turns out that after the Venus campaign went to shit and the war stopped they decided that the health benefits they had promised us were too expensive.'
'You need the drugs to function normally.'
'Yes man. And military grade drugs are very illegal and expensive. Hard to get you know. Also these little stunts', his arm vanished from view as he gesticulated towards the two dead men decorating my room, 'they make me really hungry.'
'OK I owe you a stash of classified Chinese combat drugs and dinner. I guess I can do that. How much do these things cost.'
'They tend to start at 5000 Credits, man.'
I let that number hang in the air for a moment. It did not go away. I reached for my money bag. The manoeuvre instantly sent a military parade of pain through my head. I fell out of the bed. Well at least now I only had to extend my arm to get the money. Still lying face down on the burnt floor I counted out 20,000 Credits and held them up.
'Here you go Louis. Buy yourself some of those sticks you like so much and get yourself a decent meal. And do get me an extra bag of drugs for the change, yes? Now with added pain killers? Oh and while you are at it I'd love a bottle of good rhye.'
Louis took the money. Counted it.
'Fuck man. You have this kind of money and wash up in the Drain. How much trouble are you in?'
'Guess.'
'No thanks man.' A bag filled with pills coming in all colours and shapes landed near my head.
'Here take these. I'll get you some other meds and your booze. Don't run away just yet.'
'Yeah I'll try to stay put.'
Louis left with my consciousness trailing lazily after him.

When I woke up this time no one was trying to kill me. The most exciting thing was the little lake of drool that had appeared under my half open mouth. It had happily mixed with the grime on the floor turning it into a slimy ink. Maybe I should write my will? I decided against it. There were drugs to be taken. I extended an arm poking around in my new medicine bag. Nothing useful for now but I could improvise. The hallucinogens where right out. As long as my head was in its rebellious phase following its career as a church bell I would not take any boosters. I kept sorting. There were a few Nietzsches among them. To dangerous. Feeling like an invincible übermensch would just get me killed. Later when I was in some secure hiding hole they would help me think things through. Ah finally. Uppers. I took two red ones and an orange one. I swallowed them dry. Like a man. Then I took a friendly looking green downer to smoothen the ride a bit.
Five minutes later the drugs were telling my body and mind that all was well and I got up again.
My head still hurt but now that was constructive pain. That moved me forward.
I checked my belongings. My gun still lay on the ground with not a worry in the world. The plug-in lay in its velvet crib. I closed the carrying case and armed it again. Talking about armed. I took my revolver and decided to get better acquainted to my new bodyguard. First of all it would never by further away from me than my arm could reach. Furthermore I would try to see how effective a weapon it was. I took it and aimed at the wall. As soon as I touched its trigger five laser dots appeared on it, four green ones forming a diamond shape and a blue one in the middle. Wow the gun came with its own light show. I waved the weapon around a bit. The outer dots were steady while the blue dot moved around within the square they described. I thought that I should check the manual one of these days. I squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. Obviously the gun was still secured. My thumb went exploring giving the big metal button at the back of the weapon a gentle squeeze. The gravity dampeners turned off and the weapon turned into several metric tons of metal.
Of course it fell on my foot.
I was already taking a deep breath in preparation of a suitably high pitched yet manly shriek of pain. But I just felt a gentle thud.
The dampers had turned on again. I sighed. Took the weapon and its handbook and skimmed it. OK.
Now I got it. One switch to arm it and one dial to set how many shots it fired at once. And another one for shot patterns or some shit. Those green laser thingies showed in which area the shots would land and they would would turn red when the weapon was armed. The laser show could be turned off for added discretion when murdering people. And revolver came with a built in flash-light. Neat.
I adjusted the thing for some wide spread shot, aimed it at the wall and just as Louis came back into my room, pulled the trigger. An angry hiss followed by an almost simultaneous explosion resulted in a new window.
Louis whose body was now visibly again sighed.
'What the fuck man?'
'Yeah sorry Louis. Put it on my tab.'
''s OK man. Just don't do that ever again, or I'll kick your ass.' This morning I would have laughed at the idea of Louis trying to kick me. Now the laugh was to afraid of him to come out.
'I brought you your whiskey and some additional meds. I got you some decent Mind-Flash, even if there is hardly anything to flash in that head of yours. Got you some Cobra for your reflexes and Juggernaut for them mighty thews of yours. The Cobra and the Juggernaut are street quality only and while I trust the dealer who sold it to me it will still be cut with some kind of shit or other. So try not to be a dumb-ass when taking them.' he watched me intently his body in the opening motions of his usual dance. 'And I know it is a great temptation for you man, but don't take them all three together just to see what it is like to be a normal human being. Kay?'
'Sure Louis.'
'No man. I mean it. No mixing this shit. Right?'
'Yes.'
'Right?!'
'For Fucks sake Louis. Yes. I won't take them all at once. Chill.'
'Good.'

Project Rain 3

Chapter 3

Being cautious had not worked for me so far. So I decided to be more straight forward. Instead of wasting my time by walking overly complex routes on my way to Keller's Inn a cheap hotel where you paid by the hour and no one asked any questions I just chose the fastest way to get there. Right from Razors Edge into the Drain. The name said it all. A sinkhole accumulating water and all the garbage and scum it washed in. It was a place where the people that had no where left to go went. But also where people who did not want to be found laid low. And it was a place where all kinds of unsavory and illicit activities took place under the cover of dirt and meticulously averted gazes.
The street changed from the ever present concrete into swimming planks tied to floating platforms mimicking streets and crossroads. Every step I took seemed to startle the synthetic floor which heaved and undulated in protest.
I took me maybe twenty minutes to reach Keller's Inn which was located inside one of Europas trademark skyscrapers which reached kilometers unto its black heaven. Above the one kilometer mark started a different world. One that was characterized by full environmental control, Earth-like lighting, organic plants and other things that down here were no more than legends. The upper class took their position very literally. Down here the building was mostly a bare concrete and steel hulk into which the enterprising people of the Drain had built a 'hotel'. It looked like a bored deity had taken a shanty town made out of planks and left-overs and stuffed it into the half finnished shell of a modern building. Then seeing that it was no good our hypothetical creator had kicked it a couple of times and left in a huff.
I stepped inside to find Louis on duty. A charming young man who had taken drug addiction to a level of artistry I could not fail but admire.
'Hey Louis, you repugnant freak. How is it going?' Louis a skeleton wearing fashionably baggy skin freaked out hearing my voice. His arms and legs and arms and legs, he moved the so fast and jerkily that I always had a hard time knowing how many limbs he really had, exploded into sudden motion.
'Oh!' the interpretative dance zeroed in on me. 'Hamilton you nauseating puke stain! Long time no see.' his mouth caterpillared into a smile grin laugh.
'I need a room. And some meds.'
'Sure thing Hamilton. 4-15 is free and totally clean man.'
'Really? What happened'
'Fire grenade. That'll be a credit ever 4 hours. If you stay 24 you pay 20 and get discount for the meds.' for a moment he stood there vibrating and shivering, his form of standing still. 'So what will it be?'
'Here take ten.'
Louis went through another wave of modern free dance.
'Two whole days? Really?'
'If you insist Louis I can take my money and go somewhere else?'
''s OK. Just strange. You hitting hard times again?'
'Not more than usual Louis. Keys.'
He flayed his appendages around and somehow my ten credit note vanished from the counter and the key to my room came flying towards my face. I tried to catch the keys which holding a carrying case in each hand ended with the keys hitting my face and then hitting myself again for good measure with the gravity reduced cases. Louis laughed. His laugh was deep and warm.
'Hamilton you spastic!'
'You're one to talk Louis.' I picked up the keys and discretely shoved my bruised dignity away with my foot.
'Yeah. I know what I'm talking about. You could teach me some new moves man.' he burst again into laughter. Ignoring him I went to the stairs towards my room for the night. Before I went up I paused and turned to the still giggling Louis.
'If someone asks for anyone that even looks remotely like me, you've never seen me.'
'What do I look like a help-desk?'
'Thanks Louis.'

The room was in an interesting state to say the least. The walls, the floor the ceiling, the ridiculous bits of furniture that dreamed of becoming a bed, a locker and a chair when they grew up, they all were blackened by fire. Someone had splashed several surfaces with cleaning alcohol and scrubbed symbolically at it with a mop or maybe had just rubbed a poodle over it and then for reasons best known to themselves, left. It was clean though in a free of parasites and bacteria way. I sat down on the bed which thanks to its robust synthetic nature was sooty but otherwise unimpressed by last nights entertainment. I took the my new rail revolver out of its case and fiddled around with its controls. I added to its mass so that it felt weighty but not heavy in my hands. Then I adjusted the settings so that it would release all its mass when swung like a club. I totally did not fall over repeatedly while doing that. Finally I loaded it with its metal clip and wished I had a holster. Instead I attached it to the inner pocket of my coat and hoped that it would be at least reasonably discreet. I stuffed the extra metal clips into different pockets and closed the case. Which as nice as it was did not really serve any real purpose. The onyl thing it would do was attract undue attention simply by looking expensive. I would sell it on the black market later.
And now to this evenings main attraction. My personal treasure. I opened a cleverly hidden compartment on the side of the case revealing a small metal dial plate. I dialed in a twelve digit code which resulted in a small cylinder gliding out of itd hidingplace. I put my finger on its end feeling a sharp prick as it drew blood. I waited sucking on my finger listening to the quiet clicking and whirring noises made by an internal mechanism which right now was trying to find out if I was really its rightfull owner or whether it should explode and kill everyone in a 20 meter radius. The contraption made and almost disappointed sighing noise and the case opened.
Inside embedded in a sea of velvet cushions lay a large, heavy metal cylinder made almost entirely out of clockwork mechanisms. This was my greatest treasure. A 'gift' I got from a rather intellectually challenged smuggler who decided to enter the ransom game. Things got complicated. Everybody died. And I got the spoils of war.
Priceless yet almost impossible to sell this was a long term project which I had wanted to convert into cash. But now I had an use for it. It was a plug-in. The casing identified it as an 'OlympOS S.VII Genesis Aude R.V'. A functional upgrade for one of the mechanical intelligences that resided inside the terraforming towers skewerin Europa. Usually these machine minds where just automatons driven by machine instincts which they used to keep the moons and planetoids they had been stabbed into hospitable. With the right modifications though they could be taught to speak. And my plug-in did just that. If I got inside the tower of one of the lesser silent terraformers I would be able to talk to it and all of the sudden I would have a mechanical brain filling a several hundred kilometer long tower on my side which using all the information I had could help me find out who the fuck was trying to kill me. Easy.
Now I only had to find a suitable tower. Find someone who could get me inside of one. Figure out how to actually use the plug-in. Convince the machine mind to help me out. Feed it the data. Hopefully find out what was happening and then er... stop it from happening.

How hard could that possibly be?

Project Rain 2

The rain outside had turned into a light drizzle it was taking a short break to contemplate my fate. I stood in the entrance for a couple of minutes watching Convenient Lee do his work. The old man did greet me with the briefest nod and then continued to stack his incredibly good value for money processed food into the shelves. He took one packet of 'I can't believe it's not organic! (TM)' Noodles with Duck, held it in one hand while staring intently at the shelve in front of him. He stroked his wispy bread a couple of times until he made a satisfied grunt and put the packet into its rightful place. This seemed a good moment to interrupt the old man in his work.
'Mr. Lee?'
'Yes, Kane-sensei?' he did not turn to me but took an Ethical Food (TM) Full Vegan Turtle Burger again regarding the shelve in front of him with the deepest gravity.
'I have come to withdraw a deposit from your vaults and while I am at it I would also like to purchase a few choice items.'
'Of course. Kane-sensei. I shall retrieve. Your item most rapidly.' he put the not really turtle back and shuffled back to his counter. Midway he pause and without turning around he added. 'Ah. Kane-sensei. The extra items. You need. Are they Special equipment?' The capital S and the eyes in the back of Convenient Lee's head looked meaningfully in my direction and waggled their eye-brows.
'Actually, yeah. I do need a gun... for self protection.' Wasn't even a lie.
'I see. A gun.' He shuffled on. 'And what kind of. Gun. Did you. Have in mind? Mr. Kane.' more wriggling metaphor eye brows and Lee's usual shift into another Asian accent.
'Hmmm. I was thinking of something fancy. Something that will hopefully impress a ruffian enough to see wisdom in pacifism and failing that will impress all his internal organs. But it should be small, robust and easy to use.' I thought about what I had just asked for adding 'And if magic wands are sold out I'd also take a pistol of some sort.'
'Ah. But Mr. Kane. I do have. Various. Guns that are very much like what you. Are looking for.' He passed behind the counter of his store. The sound of metal grinding on stone spilled over the counter and Convenient Lee began to, step by step, sink behind it. Only his head was still visible when he turned to me looking rather like a severed head. 'Please excuse my rudeness. But what price range where you. Thinking off. Mr. Kane?'
'Oh money. I don't care about money.' true as my empty bank account new all to well. 'The price is of no consequence to me.' the shop keepers eyebrows contemplated for a moment to move up the brow as a sign of pleased surprised but after some half hearted attempts decided to stay where they where. 'Very well Mr. Kane. Very. Well.' and the head disappeared.

While Lee was in his fabled vaults I paced through the store thinking of what I was actually going to do now. I did have a plan of sorts. One that was one step ahead from run like an overexcited idiot into the next group-meeting of professional leg-breakers. But so far it was mostly getting all my resources which consited of one very special container, buy a gun and then run away like a really nervous idiot. Whoever wanted me dead wanted it with a lot of enthusiasm. The Finnish Finish was one of the most expensive hit-men in the Solar system. But that was probably not all of it. According to Matikainen the security guards in the space ports where bought off. No reason to doubt that. By extension that meant that there was a bounty on my head. I knew enough about my official guide to the underworld to know that Matikainen always only took a small percentage of his money in advance and that he did not claim the money if someone got his quarry first. This meant that depending on how fast the news spread I would have most cheap leg breakers on Europa looking for me. If I was not very careful now I'd end up in a black sedan with a bag over my head only to get tortured to death tied to a chair in some abandoned warehouse.

I was still inventing colourful deaths when Convenient Lee's head reappeared, dragging the old man behind it. The dramatic trap door closed with theatrical noise while Lee put several black cases on top of his counter. One was larger than all the others. A massive black carrying case was longer than it was wide or high. That was my special resource. The others looked more or less like briefcases. The guns.
'Do you wish to check your. Deposit. Kane-sensei?'
'No. I trust you Mr. Lee.' that and the knowledge that tampering with my personal treausre would lead to a serious case of explosion.
'Very well then Kane-sensie. I have here several. Magic. Wands.' he divided the brief cases into three stacks. 'What do you prefer. Something classic. Perhaps. With the smell of cordite. And the tinkeling of spent cases?' he lay his hand on the left stack.
'What do I look like? The circus?'
'No respect for. Our cultural roots. Mr Kane?' his voice ladden with disappointment he shoved away the stack. of weapons.
'Yeah sorry about that. And before you ask I'll skip the cross-bows too.'
'Also. You are not funny.' I was also not impressed.
'How about something self propelled? Very high damage. Intelligent bullets. Once locked-on they will follow their quarry around corners.' he almost forgot his accent over this. 'Like blood hounds!' saved.
'Tempting. How is the rate of fire?'
'With guns as portable as this, low. But who needs rate of fire when bullets explode?'
'Nah. I think I'll pass.' it sounded nice but also like something that came with a thick manual.
'I want something quiet.'
And that was the middle stack gone. Another sad shake of the head.
'Well, I hope you like. The next choice.'
Me too if that last stack had similar drawbacks as the others I might have to resort to throwing almost real turtle burgers and hopping that my would be murderers where feeling peckish.
'Here I have weapons that are: fast, very quiet and robust. But also. Expensive!'
'Mr. Lee', being rich was like taking to many drugs, you never forget how to do it. 'Price is of no consequence. Give me the best you have.'
Lee regarded me for a moment. The moment drew longer as he considered my words, as it was growing all long and thin I started to worry that it might snap. I pulled out a bundle of Credits and placed them on the counter, letting the money and my meaningful glance do the talking.
'I see.' another one of those noodly moments.
Finally Convenient Lee pushed the third stack to the side and pulled out two other cases from behind the counter. One of them was made of what looked like wood. Like in dead trees. I tried very hard not to swallow. If that really was orgnic would the case alone was worth more than the entire building I lived in. I was suddenly not so sure if price was not a topic. At least the other case was just made of polished aluminum which gave it a sophisticated aura without suggesting a six figure price tag.
'Well Kane-sensei. Here we have a Steiner-Vargas Rail Pistol.' he put his hand on the wooden case. He opened it to reveal a long heavy looking gun that looked like a futuristic version of an 19th century duelling gun. A gun with a wooden handle, mother of pearl inlays and tiny brass gauges. The manufacturer's name was embossed into the barrel in an elegant cursive script. The weapon had such an high class air surrounding it that it would probably kill the poor and the unsophisticated with its disdain for their insulting existence.
'Made on Earth in Europe' Lee was now all infomertial his hands gesturing fluidly with each word 'With the barrel and the mechanical parts assembled by hand in Toledo. Just look! Kane-sensei. The barrel made of layer upon layer of different alloys to make it perfect. It has its gravity dampener enmeshed into the material. Very impressive!' Great. I bet it also read the Times every morning and could hold conversation in 5 languages. 'It uses liquid metal as ammo. Injected into the barrel and there hardened into preciesly the slug that you need. That very moment.'
'So how robust is it?' I asked.
'Quite. This is top Earth quality.'
'So if I shoot five murderers in the gut and then go and use it to clobber two rapists to death with the barrel and use it as a weight on the end of a rope to use it as a grappling hook? Would it still work?'
Lee looked at me and closed the case.
'I suppose the next. Weapon. Is more suitable to your. Style. Mr. Kane.'
He thumped the polished aluminium case with his fist. Opening it and revealed a huge hunk of metal to which someone had welded a pistol grip. If the gun had been a man it would have been one with ridges on his forehead big enough to shade his eyes from the summer sun. His head would be the tapered end of a missile shaped body. And his fists, as big as angry bowling balls would smash rock into sand.
It was perfect.
'Wow.'
'Yes. Very crude. Very low-tech. But also very, very powerful. Very reliable. This is also from Earth. From the Russian Federation. It is a Chekhov. Used by law-enforcement. Military. And criminals. A like. Not very elegant. A gun like a tank.'
'And do you sell an enhanced soldier to carry it for me too?'
'Ah. Mr. Kane. You are still not funny. Also. This weapon is very well developed. Has slide-on gravity dampeners on the barrel. Take them off. No one will be able to steal your gun. To heavy. Put them on and they will make it as light as a feather. Modular built. One part breaks? Take out and replace. Want bigger calibre. Exchange barrel. This. This gun. This is what you search for.'
'OK. How much?'
'For you Kane-sensei. 15.000 Credits.'
'Deal. How much ammo has it?.'
'Has a metal bar that will provide 100 shots. It comes with two replacements. But this is a Chekhov, made for the field of battle. You can put most magnetic metals into the feeding chamber. The gun can convert them.'
'I'll take it. How much do I owe you for keeping an eye on my little treasure over there?'
'Two and a half thousand'


17.500 Credits later I stepped back into the rain.
In one hand I had the large black evil looking case with my one and only trump and in the other the briefcase with my new pistol. The drizzle enveloped me like a gentle undertaker, instantly covering with its cold sheet. I was almost instantly soaked again, apart from my right hand. I looked down and saw that the gun case was surrounded by a faint blue halo. It had an inbuilt rain shield. Damn. My gun had a higher standard of living than me.
It was time to find me a shifty hotel in The Drain and it was time to find myself a fallen God and teach it how to talk.

Project Rain 1

 

The thundering applause washed over me. Smiling I nod to the musicians in front of me and turn around to face the audience. They are standing, shouting their ‘Bravos’, looking at me with the feverish eyes of people who for a short moment have touched the divinity. Rachmaninoff can do that to people, especially when his music is conducted by me.

Later that evening I find my self among empty bottles of champagne and two naked ladies from the orchestra. I can’t remember how I got here but judging from the amounts of colourful powders that can be found on almost every flat surface in my suite this is hardly any surprise. Moving to the Ethiopian Empire was one my best moves, these people really know how to party. I lie back immersing myself in waves of applause again.

Something isn’t right.

Who is doing the clapping? I slowly surface out of my dream back into the cold, smug reality of my roach infested apartment. The rain splatters against the dirty window of my ‘bedroom’.

I hate life; this feeling is the only thing that gives me a bit of warmth on days like these. Not long ago some hapless loser offended a little fuck of the local crime scene, who in turn destroyed the heat conveyor pipe leading to this building. It is small miracle that the building still has running albeit cold water and electricity.

I cast a look into the mirror. A look as wasted as my face.

No bother, no one is interested in my looks anyway. I adjust my tie, pick up my trench coat from the floor and shamble towards the door of my apartment. On the way I grab a bottle of cheap rye and snatch a glass from the floor. I finish breakfast before reaching the exit of my abode. I put the bottle back on the next flat surface I find and let the shot glass continue its wanderings over my uneven floor. After my cat left me for the milkman the little glass is the only pet I have left so I think it wise to let it have some freedom.

I shamble down a corridor that is kept blissfully dark by half a dozen broken light bulbs, while a lone flickering bulb tells me that there is still light at the end of the corridor. Must be my lucky day; I don’t step into any puddle of puke or stumble over some half dead junky on my way out.

Outside the rain waits for me. She hates me. The rain in all her spiteful disdain must be a woman. A few seconds later I am soaked. My temper manages to get a cold.

Three blocks later. I continue to try to light my terminally soaked cigarette when a curiously bent figure approaches me.

‘If you don’t intend giving me money you better piss of.’ I am not in the mood for beggars.

‘Mr. Kane it’s me!’

‘Yeah? So?’ Don’t know him. Don’t want to.

‘It’s me. Kennedy!’

A little bell approaches me and rings softly. It rings of money.

‘So did you bring me my money?’ hope dies last.

‘No sir.’ The odd angles under the grimy coat shift uneasily.

I pause. ‘Do you want me to hurt you Kennedy? Last time I saw you, you ran away with some first class information of mine. Information that was worth a lot of credits.’

‘I know Mr. Kane. But I bring you something far better than money?’

‘Yeah?’ I continue walking; it channels my anger into more productive channels. Beating up this little shit would not be worth the effort. It would also mean I would be late for work. I am never late for work.

‘Yes. Mr. Kennedy, I have very important information for you. It free!’

I snort without humour.

‘Well then share your priceless information.’ The irony gets lost and drowns in a nearby gutter.

‘Today could be the day you die, Mr Kane!’

I pause again; I send my glances ahead to kill the little fuck.

‘You dare threaten me?’

Again the shape under the coat reconfigures in a painful way.

‘No. No! Mr. Kane. Not after all you have done. You where always decent to me! No. No. No.’ I was decent to him? Fuck his life must be worse than mine. ‘A warning! Among friends!’

I shudder.

‘It has come to my ears Mr. Kane that someone has got wise about you. They say that your skills on the piano are only rivalled…’ the little heap comes closer ‘… by your singing voice.’

My eyes do a few spins in their sockets.

‘And who is so impressed by my vocal talents?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘With people like you on the streets, I can forget about my career as an informer Kennedy.’

‘No need to be sarcastic Mr. Kane. What I have found out is that someone has hired a professional to get rid of you. And I happen to know who the hit man is.’

I stand in the rain waiting. It takes some seconds until I realize that Kennedy is waiting for his cue.

‘So who is it?’

‘Tapani Matikainen.’

‘The Finnish Finish?’

Kennedy nods furiously sending a trail of glittering water towards my face.

‘Crap.’

I slowly start walking towards my work place again. This is bad news despite his idiotic name Matikainen is a well known killer. Renowned for his skill as well as for the handsome fees he demands for a hit. Seems like I have made some powerful enemies without even trying. A great talent of mine.

‘So we call it quits?’

‘I will look into it Kennedy and if what you say is true then yes we are quits. If I should survive this I’ll even get you a bottle of Scotch. From Scotland no less.’

Glaring eyes drift into daydreams.

‘Now piss off.’

‘Yes Mr. Kane.’

While I walked to the ‘Nightingale’ the third class bar and brothel where I held a glorious job as ‘pianist’ I thought about whose feathers I had so vigorously ruffled to earn this kind of attention. I was drawing more blanks than the interplanetary Russian roulette champion. Today would be my last day at work one way or the other so I better use my time wisely.

* * *

‘Punctual as always.’ The usual greeting.

‘Good morning Grace.’ I said moving the corners of my mouth upwards in an effort to be nice to the boss, Grace Garland the madam of my work place with a name even more fake than her body. She laughs at my stupid joke like every day when I arrive at 5 o’clock pm for work.

I walk to the grand piano in the corner of the bar taking the still steaming coffee and lit cigarette, my second breakfast, from my little ‘altar’, a rickety little shelf placed under a faded poster informing me about the next grand performance of Hamilton Kane and the Addis Ababa Philharmonic Orchestra. My younger self looks down on me. I take my coffee and turn away.  Sitting down in front of the piano I start playing a tune that would have bored an elevator, thinking about my next step.

I have been improving my ridiculous salary by carefully brokering information among the local criminals who frequent this establishment to have a chat among friends including among others the Mafia, the Triads, local politicians and of course the police force. The refuse that accumulates here is mostly of the errand running and leg braking kind. While they usually have no clue why they are doing the shit they do, it does not take a genius to reconstruct the bigger picture from their ramblings.  

I have been very careful to spread my info as discreetly as possible using the girls of the Nightingale or bums like Kennedy as middle men. The occasional big scoop I very carefully relayed to some idealist reporter with more guts than wits. The latter usually did not pay anything at all but brought me the priceless satisfaction of fucking with some corrupt asshole’s plans.

‘Hamilton, is it my birthday already?’ asked Grace.

‘Huh?’ I asked back with my usual effortless wit.

‘I never heard you playing a classical piece without you getting paid for it. And since I am the only one in the room...’ She leans closer. ‘Are you feeling lonely, little boy?’

‘Not particularly, but thanks.’  She is right. While my mind wandered I started to play the Rachmaninoff piece I had dreamt about. This was serious.

 

I keep playing the piano as the old day sheds its tattered raiment turning into the young and alluring night. I am thinking.

As long as I am working I am safe. No matter who I pissed off they would not kill me here. It would draw to much attention to a popular hangout of corruptions middle management. Besides who ever did the cleaning would implicitly admit of having killed me, and then the other groups would start wondering what exactly it was that I had known that made my killer so twitchy. They would start digging making things ugly.

My fingers dance over the keyboard with intense fury. I try to piece together all the information I had gathered in the last few weeks, looking at them from every possible angle trying to find the pattern that had scared one of the local big guys enough to pay a kings ransom to kill me. A second rate piano player in a cheap ‘establishment’.

I come up with something that would have made the local sect of Buddhists turn green with envy: nothing.

Whatever it is that I know I am still lacking crucial information. This meant that for the time being I was living on borrowed time and the owner of it was already quite impatient. If I mange to solve this little puzzle I get to live and maybe as an added bonus see one of the big ones fall. I imagine it as a great melodramatic moment full of arm flailing, burning coats and an inevitable fall into bottomless chasms.

I relax.

Tapani Matikainen was known for his excellent taste, his spotless track record, his astronomical fees. Against a small fry like myself he had a clear disadvantage, he did not know the stinking byways of The Drain, the constantly dark side roads of Old Town, the web of alleys of Meat Street, the wet neon lit streets of Razors Edge or any other of the third rate neighbourhoods I had been slumming in for the past decade.

A faint smile weasels its way onto my face. I go from a bizarre little scherzo into a nocturne as a feeling of hope sets up camp in my heart. I look up for the first time in hours and almost skip a note. The tip glass in which I keep my spider web collection in is already half filled with a rather boisterous looking bunch of credit notes. Damn, it had taken me so long to collect all those webs.

In an attempt to find the source of the sudden riches I let my gaze wander over the room. I am greeted by more than a dozen faces watching my performance. That’s new.

My performance is still being seen off by a round of applause, another first, as I leave the Nightingale. Outside in the cold my friend the rain greets me with unbroken enthusiasm. Thick warm drops of water splatter on every surface creating tiny short lived fountains glowing in the many colours of the street’s ubiquitous neon signs.

The street is riddled with the usual assortment of bums moving along swaying unfathomable paths and hasty costumers trying to discreetly reach their destinations with all the inconspicuousness of a mime on a funeral. After a few blocks I enter a dark alley entering the labyrinth of tiny cramped byways of Meat Street. Some of them are so narrow that not even the rain reaches their bottom. I make sure that no one is following me and then I do it some more.

After two hours of general evasion I reach The Drain and decide that it is safe to leave the murky labyrinth and attempt to cross over into Razors Edge. A strange little quarter between Old Town, The Drain and Meat Street. I cross over from tight and cramped into wide and open.

The cool almost fresh air of Razors Edge envelops me as I take in the sight. A long time ago Harumadis the local Terraformer after decades of neglect came crashing down on the streets in protest. It took with it all the high-rises that dared to halt its wrathful decent, opening up the Razors Edge. Harumadis had been privately owned at that time its carcass was, after some quick calculations, left to rot where it fell. Buying politicians had almost always been the most cost effective way to get rid of troublesome situations. Decades passed, people moved in, removed some debris, set up camp and turned the ruins into Razors Edge. Today it was a busy little district declaring its political neutrality with amusing vehemence. Not that it stopped the local powers to fight over it like a pack of school girls but through the constant help of the people of Razors Edge they were kept in a constant deadlock at each others throats. So busy were they trying to kill each other that they usually forgot to terrorize the inhabitants of the little quarter.

The rain has become a constant drizzle soundlessly blanketing everything with a thin layer of moisture as I enter a long empty street, shining in the light of a impressive honour guard of bright streetlights. It is here that I see Matikainen for the first time. He looks like a Saint that has escaped from great window of some ancient European cathedral. Clad in a white suit, framed in a lazily fluttering coat hanging from his shoulders, wearing crimson silk scarf and surrounded by a faint glowing halo. While a deadbeat like me is destined to get soaked by Europas ever present rain he is untouched. His steps leave steaming impressions behind him on the street’s stone surface telling of his use of a rain shield repulsing the water. Rich kids these days.

‘Mr Kane, it is an honour to meet you.’ he says smiling. I am bit surprised his smile looks sincere. Haven’t seen one of those in a while.

‘Yeah. I am also thrilled to make your acquaintance Tapani.’

The smile gets company from slight surprise. They get along famously and beget mirth.

 ‘You know who I am?’

‘No I a just enjoy calling strangers by random Finnish names.’ Yes I should work with him, get on his good side, don’t give him a reason to kill me even sooner than he intends to.

‘Then you are aware of my mission?’

‘Yes. But I have to decline I tried the Watchtower once but was really disappointed when the world did not end and Jesus did not take me into his eternal heavenly palace.’ Another brilliant attempt to avoid provoking a hired killer.

Matikainen laughs.

‘I see that your sense of humour, is unfazed by the callousness of fate. I commend you Mr Kane.’ I hate his perfect diction.

‘Why the show? Do you enjoy playing around with your prey before the killing?’

The smile freezes. The softness of his voice is merged with something hard, folded a couple of times and forged into something dangerous.

‘Mr. Kane, a man as well informed as you should know better than that. If you know who I am, you will know that I complete my contracts in a fast and clean manner. I do not ‘play around’ with my targets, I do not torture them and I do not let them suffer. I do not enjoy killing. This simply happens to be the work I do.’

‘So why the melodrama?’  I am sure he will talk about his ‘art’ next. Nevertheless the more he talks the longer I have to find a way out this situation.

‘When I was but a child no older than one or maybe two years old I found my love for classical music.’

OK. That was unexpected.

‘My father always took me concerts.’ his smile became warm again his eyes started to sparkle. ‘I remember the first time when I went to a concert. I was twelve and listened to Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. It was magical.’

‘So?’ I marvel at my conversational skills.

‘Mr. Kane truth be told, I am a big fan of yours. Sadly I am not old enough to have seen you life but I own all of your records. When I heard that I was to murder a man named Hamilton Kane I was slightly surprised. When I found out that it was The Hamilton Kane I was most distraught. I have thought about this unfortunate situation and come to the conclusion that you deserve some respect.’

‘So you are going to say sorry after you have killed me?’ I wonder if this could be considered a form of suicide.

‘Probably. But more importantly I will let you live…’

What?

‘…for a while.’

Oh…

Having being saved for such a cheesy reason would have been quite embarrassing but I would have learned to live with it. With a soft splash a small packet the size of a large brick lands in front of my feet.

‘In there you will find the 100,000 Credits I was paid in advance for this mission. They are yours to spend as you like. I will also grant you a ten day period of grace for you to enjoy what is left of your life. Seeing the wretched state that you are in it looks like I am doing you a favour, if you don’t mind me being so blunt, Mr Kane.’

‘Ten days? Don’t you think that I might use this wad of cash and I don’t know… run away?’

‘Of course. But you aren’t a stupid man, are you? My employer has paid off the police, so that they will be looking for you. Paying close attention to the Space Rail stations and the official ports. Should you want to flee Europa using some unorthodox method, you are running the risk of using one of my employer’s services which will also lead to your rather unpleasant death. Besides I will also be looking after you of course so please make the most of your time and do not attempt to do anything stupid.’

‘I guess I will start with getting drunk.’ I say and I mean it.

‘Fabulous! And now if you will excuse me Maestro...’ Matikainen tips his hat and exits the stage left leaving me standing in the rain with more money in my hands than I have earned in the last 8 years.

After having stood in the middle of the street for quite a while I force myself forward. While being so easily caught by the man I thought I had gracefully evaded was quite a blow to my ego, the new situation brought up some interesting possibilities. I could still go on with my original plan with the added perk of suddenly being rich. My optimism returned and we started marching deep into the Razors Edge.

*                                               *                                                      *

I reach my first goal only a couple of minutes after my encounter with the Finnish Finish. In front of me rose a neat two storey building out of the rubble of the otherwise ruined street corner. It was a squat robust stone building decorated with bright neon signs in several different languages and alphabets declaring that this edifice was ‘Lee’s 24 hour Convenient Store’. As I enter the shop I can see the owner a shockingly stereotypical old Asian man placing dried synthetic chicken packets into a shelf. The old man who was called by everyone Convenient Lee, something in my soul kept on dying because of the horrible pun despite having heard it so many times already, was the best fence in this part of the city. His store was part convenience store part pawn shop always selling and buying always open and rumour had it always with Mr. Lee attending the costumers. The formula of his success was that he could get hold of a vast array of almost every illegal item one would care to mention of course. A knack to sell all manners of loot no matter how ‘exotic’. And his talent to play the part of the hapless old man with deceptive perfection, while at the same time staying carefully out of the local mob politics. It is said that when he set up shop in the Razors Edge he at first paid protection money to both mobs vying for control over the quarter, then after a few weeks things between the criminals got ugly at a dramatic rate while Convenient Lee made himself useful. In the end both gangs had fought each other into a deadlock and Mr. Lee did not have to pay any protection money as he was already giving both gangs a generous discount.

Introducing Project Rain

To better understand what is going on in the Project Rain story I have to quickly introduce the setting.
Imagine a world where computers had their breakthrough in the 19th century and history went quite different from there on. Clockwork machines got more and more sophisticated and valves became the technology of the future. Mankind moved into space and colonized the entire Solar system.

An important stepping stone to the outer planets was the Jupiter moon Europa. Made habitable by skewering it with terraformers giant towers housing vast mechanical AIs, providing warmth and gravity. After a century the moon is covered in a city like a spider web linking all the terraformers with each other.

As the outer Solar system is colonized Europa's days of glory slowly fade away. But it remains a centre of interplanetary commerce attrackting all manners of entrepreneurs and criminals.
Once all easily terraformed places have been colonized tensions rise as the different power blocks eye each others territories with envy. It is only a matter of time until the Great War breaks out, a conflict that envelops all of the Solar system. The conflict goes on for years until in the end the super powers run out of money and the war 'freezes'
Now in this time of an unstable truce during a war that never officially ended, Europa has a second renaissance as a neutral port of call for the great nation states, corporations and criminal syndicates.