aSG: Chalandra Harkness: The Bloodchip Matrix #5

CHALANDRA HARKNESS:
THE BLOODCHIP MATRIX
(a tale from altiverse 998SUPERGUY)
Episode 5
"Descent"
by
Gary W. Olson

+++

Chalandra Harkness stood in front of the darkened building,
watching silently as the faceless crowd poured by. Overhead, a blue
neon sign sparked intermittently, flickering across the eyes of those
walking past. A few stopped, and considered the dimly-lit entrance.
Fewer still ventured inside.
She hesitated, and closed her eyes, remembering. It had been a
long time ago, by mortal standards. Just yesterday, by her own.
Already, the time she had spent seemed like a dream, a shallow image
of a distant land. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and
stepped into the entrance.
Through the haze, she could see several patrons, clustered in
groups of two or three, scattered at different tables, shifting
restlessly, while a dark, sultry jazz recording drifted from hidden
speakers. They were ranged around a stage, all waiting for the show,
drinking foul-smelling liquors and occasionally mumbling to their
companions.
Chalandra took a chair near the back, and placed her elbows on
the chipped plastic table, interlacing her fingers and resting her
chin atop them. The other patrons looked her over with no interest,
and returned to gazing at the stage, while a waiter drifted past them
toward her.
"Would you like something to drink?" the waiter asked, his thin,
ruddy face puffing as he spoke.
"Tea," Chalandra replied, placing a twenty-yen bill on the table.
The waiter's cheek jerked a bit, but he showed no other reaction. He
nodded, took the bill, and departed, weaving into the darkness.
She closed her eyes again, and inhaled the scent. It was
virtually the same - the pungent odor of strong drink, mixed with the
mood stimulants that seeped in through ventilation ducts, slightly
diffusing the sparse, blue lighting. The stimulants didn't faze her -
they were very mild, and took the edge off of her mind.
The jazz music faded softly from the speakers, and the patrons
immediately ceased their fitful attempts to pass the time, and focused
their eyes on the stage. Chalandra turned her eyes to the slightly
faded red curtain, as it parted.
A Japanese woman, dressed in a tarnished silver g-string and
matching bikini top stepped out, moving purposefully to the center of
the stage. She stood only five foot five, though her trim, well-
conditioned build made her appear taller. Raven dark hair swept
around her neck, just touching her slender shoulders. Her skin was
pale, though not quite as pale as Chalandra's was.
The edge of her mouth curled up as she began to move, bending
with smooth, practiced ease, allowing her body to get into sync with
the tropical rhythms that faded in from the speakers. Some of the
patrons leaned forward. Others just narrowed their eyes, and slowly
sipped their drinks.
Chalandra watched her dance, followed the natural weavings of her
muscles, the forceful gyrations of her hips, the hypnotic way she
glided across the stage. The beat increased in pace, slowly, and her
eyes flashed in the jaded air.
Slowly, the patrons faded from Chalandra's gaze, disappearing
into the haze on the periphery of vision. She focused on the woman on
stage, as her dance grew more complex.
The kinetic song of her body was taking on a life of its own,
merging briefly with the tropical music before surpassing it. Every
strutted step whispered its own message, every sinew pulsing with a
tale of centuries. Her hand brushed her abdomen, and Chalandra felt a
tingling sensation on her skin.
In the dance, the woman merged with a song older than time, every
movement, every shift, every touch telling a story without words,
about the dark underbelly of existence, the savagely sweet taste of
hot, fresh blood, the stillness inside every moment, the cold,
penetrating joy of dying forever. The images swirled about her, spun
off from her skin by the force of her movements. She danced inside
the images, letting them sink into her once again.
Her body began to crescendo, as the music tapped deep inside her,
thicker than the blue haze in the air. Chalandra suddenly thought of
an electric blue rose, the woman's dance superimposed over the rose's
soft, wet petals, blossoming, exploding into existence from a nascent
state. Chalandra closed her eyes tightly. The woman disappeared, but
the rose remained, a solid image in her mind.
The music ended, and Chalandra heard the sounds of muted applause
from the scattered customers. She opened her eyes, to see the woman
standing up from the kneeling pose she had finished in, looking around
the stage. She paused, just before stepping behind the red curtain,
and glanced at Chalandra. Chalandra watched, impassively. The edge
of the woman's mouth curled a bit, and she vanished.
Chalandra regarded the other patrons, as their focus drifted back
to the glasses and bottles in front of them, to the half-mumbled
comments of those with them. They seemed vaguely dissatisfied with
what they had seen. The movements had been too frenzied, too fancy.
Not enough gyrations, or brandishing of body parts.
They had only seen a body on stage, albeit a very beautiful one.
They had not seen the dance, and had missed the symphonic ecstasy of
the dark tale it told. There was no mystery as to why.
One had to learn how to see, to appreciate the dance of a
vampire.

+++

More people had drifted in by the time she emerged from the small
door near the stage. While they watched the new performers on stage -
a male and a female, swaying to a light, synthesized beat - she
glided, casually, to the table where Chalandra sat, finishing her tea.
Chalandra looked up at the woman. She was still glowing from her
performance, a hypnotic radiance that few could see or understand, and
appeared to be in her mid-twenties, as Chalandra appeared.
"Your performance was beautiful," Chalandra told her.
"Thank you," she said, as she slid into the black chair next to
Chalandra. "My name is Akane." She smiled, showing her delicate,
sharp fangs.
"He taught you well," Chalandra said.
"It's my own variation on Sufi dance," Akane said. She paused,
her dark eyes looking down. "I'm not as good a dancer as he is,
though."
"How old are you?" Chalandra asked.
"One hundred twenty four," she responded.
"He has over fifteen hundred years on you," Chalandra said.
"Give him some credit."
Akane smiled. "He sent me to bring you to him."
"I know," Chalandra said. "That's why I came here."
"How did you know I would be here?" Akane asked.
"I knew someone would," Chalandra said. "And that I would
recognize that one when I saw him...or her." Chalandra paused, taking
a final sip of the tea. "We used to come here often, he and I. Not
to see the show, but just to feel the energy. The place used to be
livelier, then. Now, it looks like it's barely hanging on."
"He has told me about those times," Akane said. "He speaks of
you often." She paused, her eyes flicking back up to Chalandra's.
"You're even more beautiful than he has said."
"I'm flattered," Chalandra responded, setting her drink down.
She took a deep breath, and looked towards the stage again. "I knew
that, somehow, he would know that I was back in Tokyo."
"That is his way," Akane said. "Shall we go?"
"Yes," Chalandra said, standing. She followed Akane out of the
building, the clearness of the night air slicing into her senses. The
flow of dark, jagged passerby had become a crush, as night descended
with full force on the glistening heart of Tokyo.
They walked towards the Shodani buildings, which loomed above all
else, dark spires touching the heavens. The smells of fish and
bizarre chemicals drifted past, mingling with the garish pink neon of
the mall block and the electric hiss from the tech shops. The heat of
the day, absorbed into the concrete and steel that was the foundation
of the city, seeped back into the night, caught by the endless flow of
pedestrians and woven into the fabric of the city again.
"We're being watched," Akane said, abruptly.
"I know," Chalandra said. "I felt the eyes on me before I
entered."
Without another word, both increased their pace, with Chalandra
watching Akane for guidance towards their destination. She was
angling outward, again, away from the Shodani towers, heading east.
"They're getting closer," Akane said. "They want to capture
you."
A pale, muscular man stepped from a kiosk towards them, lunging,
his mouth slightly open, revealing glinting, sharp teeth. Chalandra
hammered her knee to his stomach and brought her elbow hard up against
his chin, snapping his head back.
"Let's go!" Chalandra told her companion. They dashed into the
thick crowd, pushing startled pedestrians aside, forcing their way
deep into the throng. Akane twisted to hit a vampire who was pushing
forward from a different direction, knocking him aside but not
stopping him. Chalandra glanced back and saw several vampires, using
their strength to force their ways closer.
Akane grabbed her elbow, and pulled her into an occult bookshop,
racing down the narrow, blackened aisles, past the surprised shop
owner. They burst through the back door and slammed down the
alleyway, dodging and weaving through the barely lit back avenues,
little pockets of calm choked off from the massive city by the glass
and neon towers that ringed them.
Chalandra heard the footfalls behind her, but did not turn back
to see her pursuers. She pressed hard, taxing her considerable
vampiric strength to its limit, as she and Akane burst into another
compressed mob, cutting across the shattered pavement into a crowded
nightclub.
She saw Akane raise her hands, her left hand extending her index
and middle finger, her right slashing the air behind her, as the
bouncers approached. They saw the signal and nodded, parting to let
Akane and Chalandra past. One of them pressed a button on his belt.
The happy electronic music that was gurgling from the towering
speakers faded, replaced by an angry, snarling pound of technopunk, to
the delight of the dancers.
They slipped through the dancing mob, which parted as they came,
closing behind them, as though they knew what was happening.
Chalandra saw several pale faces in garish, glittering clothes as she
swept by.
The vampires pursuing had just entered the club as they emerged
from the throng. Chalandra dared a glimpse back at them, and smiled
as the roaring, drunken, dancing mass refused them entry, the vampires
scattered in the crowd enough to pull them down. Akane tugged on her
wrist, and she followed her into a darkened room, and up a flight of
badly repaired stairs. The window at the top was closed, and Akane
opened it.
"Jump to it," Akane instructed, pointing to the brick building
ten feet over. Chalandra leapt, landing on the opposite ledge with
practiced ease. Akane shut the window tight, and leapt, the light
from below playing spectrally on her frame.
"Now, we climb," she said, pointing up. They scaled up the side
of the building, on the drainage pipe, moving with surety and purpose,
never looking down at the darkness below. Near the top, Akane slipped
through an open window, motioning for Chalandra to follow. She did,
and collapsed on the floor.
"We've lost them," Akane said, after several minutes had passed.
"They really want me bad," Chalandra said, smirking just a
little.
"I suppose Fekesh does," Akane said.
"Perhaps," Chalandra said. "I was thinking of Red Sky."
"Always a good subject to ponder," a musical voice said. Both
Chalandra and Akane turned their heads, to see a third in the room,
barely visible in the light from the window.
His thin, graceful body was delicately androgynous, cloaked in
black. His late adolescent, Indian face smiled, showing his gleaming
teeth. His black hair hung around him, sweeping around his neck,
framing his eyes, eyes that looked back at her with the full force of
one and a half millennia on the edge of life and death.
"Teacher," Chalandra said, feeling the ground around her reel, as
her eyes locked with his. She glided forward, body moving of its own
volition, as his arms opened to receive her. "Symon," she murmured,
wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close.
Symonachadra Mataphouri smiled, and kissed Chalandra, dark
passion boiling on his lips.

(to be continued...)
--
Copyright (c) 1993-2010 by Gary W. Olson. All Rights Reserved.
--
Gary W. Olson
swede at novitious dot com
Superguy LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/superguy_list/
Superguy DreamWidth: http://superguy.dreamwidth.org/
Superguy Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47273370926

aSG: Chalandra Harkness: The Bloodchip Matrix #4

CHALANDRA HARKNESS:
THE BLOODCHIP MATRIX
(a tale from altiverse 998SUPERGUY)
Episode 4
"Red Sky Blue"
by
Gary W. Olson

+++

"Tell me, Ms. Harkness," Vedrik Temekhan said, his low, graveled
voice swimming to Chalandra's ears through the thick, wet air. "What
do you think of my roses?"
Chalandra gazed around the room, taking in the sight of the
delicately shaped roses, each one electric blue in coloration. They
surrounded her, growing in long rows that stretched from one end of
the immense, windowed chamber to the other. Grow lamps suspended
above the roses caught the blue, casting the chamber in an ozone haze.
"Very impressive," she said, finally. "I don't believe I've ever
seen roses with quite this...energetic shade of blue."
"It has taken me well over a century to develop," Temekhan said,
looking over the ocean of blue. "Study, experimentation, genetic
modification, and patience." He blinked, and turned to Chalandra, a
warm smile on his face. "I apologize. This is no time for me to
indulge in speaking on my hobby. I imagine you must have many
questions for me."
"A few," Chalandra said, starting to pace down the rows. "For
instance, how was the Bloodchip stolen from you in the first place?"
"It occurred one month ago," Temekhan told her. "The Bloodchip
was here, in our Tokyo branch headquarters, where the final program
was being laid into the chip. Typically, work on the Bloodchip itself
I kept aboard the Red Fortress, which McFae tells me you saw during
your trip here. However, a number of critical files had to be inlaid
here, as the programmer who developed them refused to travel to the
Fortress."
Chalandra felt a small chill, like fingers dancing up her spine.
"Reluctantly, I acceded to his wishes," Temekhan went on. "He is
one of very precious few I consider to be my equal in the field, and
the loss of his work would have represented an incalculable setback.
I authorized the work.
"I was not present when the raid took place, so I must rely on
the testimony of my assistant, to give you the details." Temekhan
signaled to Percy McFae, who stepped from the background, where he had
been silently observing.
"The raid was swift and sudden," McFae said. "Twelve kyuuketsuki
ninja hit us hard, in the central laboratory on the seventieth floor.
They beheaded and staked our guards with liquid ease, and forced me to
the ground. Our programmer was part of it - they struck the instant
he was done implanting his files. The raid was led by Fekesh."
"Did you see him?" Chalandra asked.
"I did not," McFae said, his usual bland facial expression
twitching slightly. "I was held face down against the tile. But I
heard the programmer and Fekesh arguing, and I heard the programmer
address him as Fekesh."
"Could you catch what the argument was about?"
"He apparently was concerned over what Fekesh intended to do with
the chip," McFae answered. "Fekesh seemed to want to sell it to the
Shodani Group within the next forty-eight hours. But the programmer
apparently convinced him to hold off. I am unsure of his motivations,
or as to whether he had his own ideas regarding the Bloodchip. When
the hands of the assassins left my back, they were gone."
"Why didn't they kill you?" Chalandra asked. "Then there would
have been no witnesses."
"That's not Fekesh's way," Temekhan said. "He wanted his deed to
be known to the power elite in Tokyo - the Shodani Group and the
Yakuza. The former, I imagine, were pleased, though concerned at his
reluctance to part with the chip immediately. The latter were
furious. Fekesh and his Dying Sun group have been a large, painful
thorn in their side for quite some time; they have gained considerable
credibility in the wake of this incident, at the expense of the
Yakuza."
He saw Chalandra's raised eyebrow.
"The Yakuza were secretly aiding my efforts to expand into
Tokyo," Temekhan said. "They had grown...dissatisfied...with Shodani,
and sought to strike a new balance, one more in their favor, by
enlarging the presence of their chief rival, Red Sky. Fekesh, on the
other hand, sought to keep ties to Shodani, and broke from the ranks
of the Yakuza, to form the Dying Sun. They are comparatively small,
but Fekesh leads them brilliantly."
Chalandra absorbed the information, as the sweet scent of the
roses touched her nose for what seemed to be the first time, as sharp
as their hue.
"Why don't you believe that Fekesh has already turned the
Bloodchip over?" she asked, her gaze matching Temekhan's.
"We have agents within the ranks of the Shodani," Temekhan said.
"As I am certain they do within Red Sky. If Shodani received the
Bloodchip, the results would be immediately apparent. No, Fekesh
seems to be biding his time, for reasons I cannot begin to fathom.
"That is why you are here. For all the power Red Sky has here,
we are outsiders. There are doors that are closed to even our most
cunning agents, that no amount of money or violence can open."
"And you think I can open these doors," Chalandra said, striding
back slowly towards him.
"I am counting on it," Temekhan said, his gaze locking with hers.
She matched it, unflinching. She saw a flash in his eyes, the same
flash he had shown earlier, the look of the predator regarding an
equal.
The moment passed.
"I must regret that I do not have more time to share with you
this night," Temekhan told her. "In an hour, the sun will rise, and I
have much to take care of before then. There is much more you must
know, however. Please, accept my hospitality."
"Thank you," Chalandra said, "but I have already made
arrangements for the day."
"As you wish," Temekhan replied, smiling graciously. "Mr. McFae
will escort you to your destination, and will return to bring you back
when evening falls again.
He bowed, and took Chalandra's hand. She felt the heat of his
lips upon her skin, like a flash through her nervous system. He rose,
and escorted Chalandra to the lift-tube from which she had entered.
McFae followed, entering the tube with Chalandra, while Temekhan
halted before the open doors of the lift.
"One more question," Chalandra said. "What was the name of the
programmer?"
"Symonachadra Mataphouri," Temekhan replied.
"Thank you," Chalandra answered. The lift doors closed with a
hiss.

+++

When the limo stopped, a block away from her destination, the far
east was already aglow with the red radiance of the morning. McFae
got out, walked around the rear of the car, and opened Chalandra's
door. She stepped out, taking in the city.
Even here, far from the looming towers of the Shodani Group, the
city seemed immense. Glass walls vaulted towards the sky, catching
the neon reflection of the signs at every level. The pedestrian
traffic lulled, as the night predators had retired to their lairs, and
the daytime predators were just getting out. A curious stillness
shimmered in the air, a hesitation before the accelerating slam of
life would erupt.
McFae regarded what Chalandra had indicated as her destination -
a blood bank, jammed between a cybertech shop and a massage parlor -
with just the barest traces of contempt. "I will return in the
evening, as soon as it is dark. We will return to Mr. Temekhan then."
Chalandra watched him as he walked around to the other side,
opened his door, and got in. The limousine pulled from the curb, and
Chalandra watched it go. The heat of the sun grew, and she hurried
down the broken pavement to the open door of the blood bank.
The receptionist looked up, and recognized the pallor of her
skin. She gestured to a side door. Chalandra nodded, opened the
door, and stepped through. She descended two flights of narrow
stairs, finally emerging into a dimly lit room.
There must have been at least a hundred caskets in the large,
sparsely decorated room, she estimated. Her fellow children of the
night, most dressed in beaten, worn clothing, glided silently between
them, occasionally selecting one and getting in. Mortals also walked
among the caskets, guiding some of the more indecisive of the undead
to make a selection before the sun rose.
Places like this were the only places Chalandra ever saw caskets,
anymore. Any night dweller who could afford shelter had a bed, at
least. Some, like Chalandra, preferred airtight chambers, for
aesthetic reasons. But for a vampire without means, a casket in a
shelter were the best that could be hoped for. Caskets were cheap,
and afforded a modicum of privacy. The mortal who was approaching her
seemed surprised that she was there. It was the clothing Chalandra
wore, of course.
"Follow me, please," the mortal said, indicating she should
follow, with some haste. Chalandra followed her, as she was guided to
a casket at the far end of the room. She opened the lid. "New here?"
"It's been a while," Chalandra replied. The mortal, who stood
just a hair taller than Chalandra, with short brown hair and a thin
mouth, nodded. Chalandra got into the casket. "I'll need a boost,"
she said, quietly.
"Where?" the mortal replied, her voice a whisper.
"Center south," Chalandra said. As the mortal shut the lid,
Chalandra slipped two thousand-yen bills into her hand. There was the
sound of light tapping on her casket, then silence again.

+++

She had the dream again. The electric blue rose was there again,
as well, soaking in the red rain pouring from the stars. The
machinery had hummed, and someone she feared had arrived.
"Who is that someone?" she murmured to herself, as she opened the
lid to her casket. Sitting up, she took stock of her surroundings.
The casket was on a ledge, and there was intense steam all
around. It didn't matter, however. She was exactly where she wanted
to be. Stepping out, she looked up, and saw the familiar rungs that
led up, towards a dimly glowing light. The closest rung was fifteen
feet above her. The ledge had collapsed, after a century of neglect,
as automated systems eliminated the need for regular maintenance over
the sewer system.
She leapt, and snagged the second rung easily, scrambling in
seconds onto the rungs. The casket, left behind, rested in its ledge.
It would likely be gone as soon as she ascended, Chalandra knew.
There were many vampires who needed to be "boosted" to another part of
the city at any given time, for any variety of reasons. Often, it was
for the same reason Chalandra had.
"I'm sorry, Mr. McFae," she said, as she climbed, smooth and
silent, up the rusted metal rungs. "But the questions I have cannot
be answered by your Mr. Temekhan."
Chalandra reached the top, and emerged into an empty, littered
room. There was a door at the far end. She opened it, and slipped
into the alley, blending with the shadows.
The Shodani Towers soared above it all. Dark and majestic, they
loomed above everything, blending into the red haze of the night sky.
Other buildings leapt up, some nearly two-thirds as tall, gleaming
towers of concrete, glass, and marble. They formed the backdrop, the
body of the city, through which the lifeblood raced.
The crush of the people was overwhelming. Men and women of every
conceivable culture and age were visible, each with their own balance,
their own destinations. There was power in them, a communal energy
that they needed like oxygen to survive. They gathered in dark pools
that broke apart with the wind. Some entered seedy cafes, others
emerged. Technokids sat, huddled near the heat vent from a food
vendor, their minds occupied with neurostim games. The scents of
rice, of raw fish, of drink, of sex, of life and death touched her,
mingling into a complex code that carried vital information to the
wise.
She stepped out of the alley, onto the street, and immediately
felt the eyes upon her.

(to be continued...)
--
Copyright (c) 1993-2010 by Gary W. Olson. All Rights Reserved.
--
Gary W. Olson
swede at novitious dot com
Superguy LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/superguy_list/
Superguy DreamWidth: http://superguy.dreamwidth.org/
Superguy Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47273370926