State of Mind (3)

Tyra works to provide and protect her brother from all kinds of forces in the massive and daunting city-province of Wynsberg

3. City of Fog

Year C-91, Quarter 1

Wind berated a small house on the hill. Surrounding the estate were thick pockets of dust and dirt, dead flowers, old weeds, all being whipped violently by the intense winds of Kyena. The sky was gray and smokey from the factories down south. The dirt yard in front of the one-story house was old and battered. Footsteps were ingrained from all those long summer days playing Capture the Bone. Massive wind turbines, the size of volcanoes dominated the skyline. Birds would often fly in flocks over the house, and the sounds of animals carried over from farms dozens of miles away. Despite the tiny building, the family owned an acre in front of that dirt lot. That was usual in the farming county. They were growing mostly Skent, a grain originally found and exported from Haynan. Tyra remembered a time where she and her brother would play in the fields, but lately, they only went outside to tend to the farm, or make a city trip.

In the shack, the two kids sat in separate rooms. The older one, Tyra, was used to caring for her younger brother for extended periods of time. Ray was playing with soldiers alone in his room. He had some of his father’s old armor, and a gun which Tyra set to be child-friendly and frequently checked on. They would normally share a room, but when their dad was gone for long periods of time, Tyra assumed the master bedroom. It was dimly lit as their generator had been running low for weeks. A while back, the kids relied on the stache of money they found in the attic. When he was away, the kids would help themselves to the money. Oddly enough, they ran out of currency in weeks, and briefly owed debt to some dangerous shopkeepers.

Tyra squinted in the bright white sun and started her walk home after a long day of looking for factory work. She took out her phone which was the size of a grape and unfolded it. She clicked on a new message that was off-planet. A notice popped up, alerting her that it would cost a rawhack to receive the message. She clicked it anyway, and listened through tiny wireless earbuds.

“Embrace the stranger,” a calming, female voice that ended up sounding haunting repeated three times before the message ended.

Tyra shuddered and put her phone away. She shook it off as a random kid trying to mess with people. The brown fog from the chains of factories blew toward her in a sharp wind. She could barely see in front of her. The whole area smelled of oil and gasoline. She had to go back through the main part of the city on her route home. It was rush hour, so ships were speeding by and dangerously flying over cars. People were even running down the sidewalk, bursting through the smoke in a hurry. At least she couldn’t see the ads. Tyra walked by a homeless person, sitting on a step, singing a song. She couldn’t understand the words, but the tune was unnerving. The huge sun was directly overhead, getting in her eyes so she tried to walk in the shadows where she could. Families were walking by wearing matching sunhats to keep themselves cool and noticeable in a large crowd. Tyra never needed one. She felt most alive in the warmth of the sun. The smell of cooked meat mixed with fumes was present until she got to a rail station.

The Wynsberg rail was incredibly efficient, probably the most reliable public service in the city-province. A car would come within minutes of one’s arrival. The rail traveled at remarkable speeds. The only shortcoming was there were few stations. Shortly after they were built, the personal spaceship market boomed, and soon, pretty much everyone had at least a car. They stopped spending money on new stations, and instead invested exclusively to maintain existing infrastructure. It would cost more money to remove the thing, so they stopped charging people. Free transportation. The cars weren’t clean often but they did the job. Tyra hopped on the six line back to the Northern Outskirts where she lived. With the exception of one pop-up ad for vacations in the Multi-Worlds, the ride was pretty quiet. The final walk home was short, as they lived near the station. She walked through the skent fields holding her hands out to hold the crop down as she walked. The red brick walls gave her confusing feelings. Her house reminded her of her father, but it also represented comfort for much of their lives. The double wooden door opened automatically when it scanned Tyra’s face.

As the white sun of Kyena collapsed behind the Ferrorite Rig, Tyra carefully opened the door to her and her brother’s room. She smiled, watching him play, but sighed, seeing him wear Edrick’s iron helmet. Despite Tyra’s best efforts, Raymond idolized his dad. The man only appeared twice a month if they were lucky. During the times Edrick was at home, Ray would spend as much time as possible with him. He would bother him in his study, a room the two kids were never allowed to enter. He would sit and watch his father meditate in his bedroom for hours, clueless to what he was truly doing. A couple of months prior, the boy insisted on going by his middle name: Edrick. Tyra hated it and refused to acknowledge him. Eventually, they settled on calling him ‘Eddy.’ but only sometimes. Ray used to fall asleep each night, hoping his dad would be there in the morning. Tyra would witness it, sadly, as she was all too familiar with the struggle.

***

Tyra anxiously scrolled through her phone, waiting for a notification from the CSA. The next few days felt like a blur of lost time. Her dreams were haunted by visions of her father, a young version of her father. She didn’t understand why she would dream of his years growing up in the Silent Kingdom. All she ever wanted was to go there without him. Find something, some place she could keep her brother safe and maybe even call home. As the week moved forward, the kids were eating scraps and rationing leftovers. Every few hours, Ray would come begging to Tyra, as if there was something she could do. She was starving as well.

One day, while she was daydreaming in her bed, starved and weakened, a message came in. She’d been accepted by the city to serve as a Sight. She could start as soon as tomorrow. She took a sigh of relief, and sat up, looking towards the small white bedroom door. Knowing she would be getting credits, Tyra felt more comfortable using the emergency savings to feed her and Ray. She went out and rushed to the marketplace. The sky was gray with streaks of red like staining right above the massive skyscrapers. The white sun shone beyond the clouds, making it difficult to see without sundrops. Before buying something like that though, she would need to purchase necessities. She rushed down the pedestrian path towards the commercial town.

She’d grown up used to this village-sized mall. There were flashy, bright toy-filled areas she could’ve spent eternity in, if she was a normal kid. The only times she went were when her dad dragged her to the repair-man. As she got older, she became much less interested in toys and more in food and water. The grocery booths were designed to comfortably fit a family, but it always felt like a tight squeeze, even when Tyra was alone. She entered bread, water, and various fruits from the machine. She rolled her eyes as it took two full minutes to process and deliver her bags. She picked them up and exited the booth. In the midst of an emotional tornado, the last person she’d ever want to see was standing right in front of her.

“Your brother said I’d find you here.”

Tyra was so full of rage, she didn’t even notice she’d dropped her bags of food. She wanted to rip the gruff, hairy man apart. Instead, she stood, paralyzed in fear.

“What do you want?”

The bald man had a short fuse. After a series of incomprehensible grunts, he arched his right hand on his big forehead.

“I’m here to help.” He said, as if he was under duress. Tyra found her bearings and picked up the food. She noticed people staring and a security guard not far away. Her instincts told her to move quickly and that’s exactly what she did. She walked past her father without making eye contact and began her journey home. Parts of the mall were indoors, but most of it was outside and covered with a ceiling for shade. When Tyra was fully outside, she groaned, realizing it was dusk.

Dusk in Wynsberg was the most problematic time of day. The dirty fog would get so thick and intense, one can only see their very immediate surroundings. It was like walking through an illusion of a sandstorm. On top of that, at dusk, the winds were at their strongest and the temperature was usually extremely hot. Tyra did her best to both hurry, and be careful. She placed her arms out and waved them to feel her surroundings. She bumped into a few walls and even ended up in the middle of the street. Luckily, the law says cars must drive as slow as a pedestrian at dusk. Tyra jumped out of the way as soon as she heard the exact direction it was coming from. She breathed heavily and stood tall, checking to make sure all the food was present. To her shock, her father appeared again. He jumped out from right in front of her. She held onto the bags tightly this time, but was frozen again.

“Please, Tyra.”

She pushed him away with her bag filled hands and tried to escape in the fog. He clawed her shirt from behind, overpowering her. Edrick launched himself at his daughter, grabbing her by the neck. His cold fingers started to dig into her jaw as he lifted her above the ground. Tyra wanted to scream but she could only let out little gasps of air. She closed her eyes tight. Edrick took a breath and dropped Tyra to the ground. The girl could barely see where he was as he walked backwards into the fog. She coughed and carefully stood up. She could still feel his hand on her neck, and she had a large cut on her upper left arm from the fall. After pulling himself together, he jumped out the fog again and pushed her down. She threw her hands out to catch herself, but ultimately crumbled onto the pavement. The last thing she remembered from that moment was Edrick picking her up as she passed out.

***

When she woke up, she was in her old room. Well, she saw it as her old room. For many months, Tyra had been sleeping in her father’s room. She sat up on her naked mattress and looked around for her brother. He was nowhere to be seen. She examined her wounds. Nobody had tended to them. Tyra ran to the bathroom to wash off the cut on her arm. When she got there, and could see herself in the mirror, she was terrified. She touched her neck, and saw his finger marks, as if they were tattooed into her skin. When she felt alright about the arm, she made it her mission to find Raymond. He might be scared, seeing her like this, but it’s nothing compared to what her father could do to him. If he hasn’t done it already…

Tyra smashed the small white door open and looked around the room she’d been sleeping in. It already looked completely different. All of her clothes were gone, the photo of her and Ray she’d kept by the bed had been ripped in half and thrown on the floor. However, her psycho father or her naive brother were nowhere to be seen. As she contemplated, a voice startled her from behind.

“Ty?” Tyra was relieved to hear her brother’s voice. She ran up to him and embraced him with everything she had. He looked up at her neck and frowned. “Dad’s back.” he exclaimed, excitedly. “What happened to your neck?” Tyra felt her eyes water up.

“Nothing, Eddy, don’t worry about it. Where is dad now?”

“He said he was going to the bank.” Tyra’s eyes opened wide as she registered the sun shining through the window. “Fuck me, I’m late for work.” She realized. In hesitation, she walked past Ray and put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s you and me first, buddy. Don’t forget.” She walked to the door, and went outside before allowing herself to cry.

***

“That’s the last of ‘em. Check every pocket inside every closet in this fucking hell shack. Knights, you’re going naval, call in the subs. We follow that boat, and we put a violent end to this city’s vermin drug trade.”

Tyra could hear them even more clearly as they were exiting the house, leaving the dirty work for the guards. The three chiefs exited together, in a tense conversation. The chief that hired Tyra spoke next,

“Are you sure we can even take them in those waters? Do we have jurisdiction? And who put you in charge?”

The other chief noticed guards were hearing them and encouraged the other two to keep their voices down. Tyra still heard one last line.

“There is no more jurisdiction on Kyena. And I’m the goddamn chief of city safety, the people put me in charge, because Duke Carl certainly wasn’t going to step up. I will eradicate every particle of Xen off this planet and do battle with the gangs of Wynsberg until the day I can’t move my body.”

It wasn’t hard for Tyra to believe that the city’s government and infrastructure was a total mess. From everything she’d seen, there was little to no organization of sights and city guard. Just a fishbowl of contradictory orders and anxious confusion. Though Tyra thought the chief went a bit too far, her words were genuine and came from a place of love instead of greed. It was refreshing to work for someone like that, even if it only lasted for a tiny blip of her life.

Tyra wasn’t ready to go home. She felt her stomach sink every time she thought about Edrick, and it was turning out to be a nice night. A pleasant breeze made the hot weather bearable. She figured she’d need to make sure her brother was safe so she wouldn’t stay out too long. To clear her mind, she walked instead of taking the rail. The west-side of Wynsberg was Tyra’s favorite part of the city. Though the fog was fairly prevalent, she could still see the extravagant colors that painted the buildings. She couldn’t remember a time where anything in these particular factories looked manufactured from the outside. Graffiti artists had painted over other graffiti all along the walls. A bright pink riser insignia was half-covered by a depiction of the white Kyenen sun burning down the factories with the workers inside.

***

When she opened her eyes to the white sun shining through the window, Tyra was amazed she didn’t dream.

“Wait.” Tyra felt her entire body shake and her brown eyes widen. She had no memory of coming home the night before and getting into bed. She turned over to lie on her side when she realized a heavy rectangular object was pressing against her thigh. When she pushed the blankets away, she was wearing her normal sleepwear and had plugged in her all purpose battery as she usually does for the night. Without questioning it too much, she looked at her phone and walked out her room. When she opened her door, she immediately saw her father and brother sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen table. Ray was sipping on a mug of milk, Edrick a glass of some Krent whisky. Tyra tried to pass her uneasiness and stress off as fatigue. Edrick eyed it and gave her a look of confusion and possible anger.

“It’s work. Non-essential city-safety members were told to stay home today and read this long book about the community’s history with the police.”

“Hmm,” Edrick scoffed, “Since when do Wynsberg police give a shit about the community’s history?”

“Things are evolving.”

“Yes, I suppose they are.” Ray looked back and forth between the two, catching Tyra’s eyes every few turns. She moved as quickly as she could to her room before her father’s words halted her. “I saw your mother.” She turned and stared him down along with her younger brother who had more fear in his eyes than curiosity. “Still the same bitch.”

“Shut your damn mouth.” Tyra moved closer, lifting her fits up and around.

Edrick moved methodically, placing his drink down on the table, standing up and tucking in his chair.

“I would think very carefully about your next words.” He grabbed the knife he was using to eat his dinner with, but didn’t lift it off the table. Ray gasped and looked at his sister once more who put her hands down and surrendered.

“I’m sorry, father.” She muttered unconvincingly. He let go of the knife and crossed his arms.

“Good.”

***

The city of Wynsberg sprawled beneath the glow of neon lights, a labyrinth of towering buildings and tangled streets. Just half of the city-province would take a century to search. She needed more, another lead, something to build on. But first she needed sleep. As she prepared to get to the rail station and make her way home, a shadow caught the corner of her eye. Tyra positioned herself, slowly turning with her hands raised in defense. The silence was eerie and she waited for the smallest clue as to who was pursuing her. As she continued to listen, she began to think that perhaps her exhausted mind had gotten the better of her. Maybe she was truly alone in the dead of night, deep in the depths of Wynsberg.

She sighed heavily as she unlocked her front door. Even though it was late, she knew Ray would be wide awake. She, however, felt tired enough to pass out when the mysterious stranger grabbed the door she slammed shut. It was an eccentric looking chubby fellow whose smile was somehow both genuine and fake. He had silver hair and a pointed nose. His thin wide brown eyes stared directly into Tyra’s.

“What… Who the fuck are you?” She screeched and walked back further into the house.

Ray jumped when he saw the man at the door.

“My name is Romeo Martin. You must be Raymond and Tyra Swann.”

Ray didn’t bother correcting the man to call him ‘Eddy’ Tyra looked down, hid the fear on her face, and then back at the man whose hair was blonde and eyes matched his jacket.

“My apologies to you both. I know the idea of a stranger showing up out of nowhere who knows your name is quite a shock.” Tyra’s eyes widened as Romeo continued, “I’ve come to collect the two of you. Bring you to your true, ancestral home where you can be safe and live normal lives.”

Ray was completely paralyzed in fear and feelings he could not yet fully comprehend. Tyra quietly said,

“It’s you, isn’t it? Supplying this city with xen. You’re the faceless man.”

“The what?”

Edrick chose this moment to emerge from his room, livid and unhinged. He saw Romeo and couldn’t control himself. He pulled out his signature weapon. It looked like a small box at first, but when he held it to his waist, it unwinded into a long rapier. For a fairly beefy man, Edrick moved gracefully toward his enemy. Romeo studied as the man, jumped off a wall, and dodged the coming blade. The kids retreated to the corner of the hall, and continued watching the fight.

Romeo dodged a few more well placed jabs that barely missed his astonishingly quick evasive maneuvers. Tyra and Ray heard the sound of a muzzled gunshot and saw Edrick’s sword drop to the ground. Their father collapsed by the wall under a painting of the Wynsberg skyline. “What century are you living in, old man?” Romeo laughed as he pulled the light pistol out of his pocket. Edrick looked up at Romeo, holding his wound with his left hand. He closed his eyes and smiled, leaving Romeo with a sense of fear.

“The era of new gods,” he muttered, with contempt, before his physical body dissipated like a screen cutting out. He teleported away, leaving the two kids with the stranger who just shot their father. Ray stood with tears in his eyes, and walked over to the blade on the ground. He picked it up, and flipped it, the way he always saw his father do. It collapsed back into a small silver box and he placed it in his sack. Tyra walked over to Romeo who was scratching his head at the place where Edrick disappeared. All that was left was a small pile of blood that leaked much further than his body sat. Tyra turned to the mustard suited man,

“Who are you, and what do you want with us?”

The man put the gun away and put his hands in the air.

“I told you. My name is Romeo. I am here to serve you, children. I am to bring you back to the Silent Kingdom in accordance with the fifth Blood Code.”

Ray looked up at Tyra who was skeptical and defensive. She was barely familiar with his terminology but she had a general sense of where he was from.

“You burst into our home, shot our father…”

Romeo shook his head, and swallowed.

“He had it coming… but children, this… this isn’t your home. I want to take you back to where you truly come from. A place that is your birthright. Where you’ll be safe.”

“You do not get to decide!” Edrick’s voice boomed as he showed up instantly behind Romeo with a pistol to the head. Romeo rolled his eyes and raised his hands causing a small ball shaped metal object to drop from a rip in his sleeve. The ball clinked on the ground and then the blinking blue light turned red. Tyra felt a shudder of energy being ripped out of her body like she’d been struck by lightning. She gasped and looked around. Edrick was writhing on the floor with Ray crying beside him.

After a few seconds, Tyra’s dizziness had passed and her father sat up to catch his breath. Tyra turned to the stranger and screamed,

“What did you do to us?”

Romeo picked up the metal ball which still displayed a red light and held it up for them to see.

“It’s called a Mind-Muter. Stops people like you from utilizing your abilities for a short period of time.”

“It hurts.”

“I’m sorry, Tyra. You must be more advanced and mature in the Mindsphere than we anticipated. The technology was only supposed to incapacitate your father.”

Raymond was still crying, only sitting with his back to the hallway wall. Edrick rolled over and looked Tyra dead in the eye. He screeched like a dying animal,

“You wouldn’t trust a stranger over your own father!”

“Ray, go to the kitchen and call the CSA.” Tyra felt layers of rage as she shared an understanding look with her father and they both trampled the man. “Go! Now!” Ray jumped up, took his phone out of his pocket and opened the City-Safety application. He quickly selected ‘emergency’ while Edrick pinned the skinny man whose cowboy hat was clinging onto his head to the wall. Tyra grabbed the Mind-Muter and tried to turn it off. As she felt around for a button, her stomach sank and she looked at Ray. Unable to help, Romeo and Edrick were dueling it out, and Edrick was losing. Even with his expert swordsmanship and understanding of the Mindsphere, he was easily outmatched by Romeo’s youthful agility. Edrick looked over to his daughter and pleaded for help.

Tyra stood, frozen, holding the metal ball in her hand and watching the two men wrestle in her hallway. Instinctively, she walked over to her father and kicked him in the back. The sheer surprise of the attack allowed Romeo to pin the man down and punch him in the face. Tyra ran for her brother, holding in tears and trying to act collected. She pulled him out of the house, as he screamed and cried and attempted to break out of her grip. Romeo made sure the hairy man was knocked out and followed the kids outside. Ray kicked Tyra and jumped off of her, launching himself towards his dad but ended up falling headfirst into the dirt. He was weary and briefly knocked out, so Tyra picked him back up and continued to run alongside the stranger.

“Ship’s parked on the west side of the city-province, about a twenty-minute walk from here. God, parking is a nightmare. Actually I’ve found that here, everything is a nightmare. Do you have the book?”

“He should see a doctor!”

“There’s a medbay on my cruiser. AI that will patch him up better than any human doctor.

Mostly, all that could be seen was dust and fog. At night the city smelled of dead frogs and they could feel the pollution, just walking outside. They walked down the side of a busy road that ships were flying through. Occasionally, there was a car, but everyone in Wynsberg who had a ship hated car people. They’re slow, old and often break down. Factories weren’t even making cars anymore since ships could hover and move at ten times the speed.

Romeo slowed for a moment to observe a three-dimensional advertisement occurring above them. They projected a house with a fence and green grass above the city built on dirt and tears. The ad was to go to a Multi-World, where you can have a giant plot of beautiful land. A sinister message to the workers of Wynsberg that one day they might be wealthy enough to leave their hellhole. An empty promise from a Duke that only comes to the city when there’s press to speak to. They walked past the fence of the Haynan embassy. On the other side was a small patch of dirt and a man dressed in fancy robes tending to his garden. He was using very expensive hurdeal manure to fertilize his plants. If he hadn’t learned already, he would soon find out that things grow weird on this side of Kyena. Maybe it’s the radiation from the plants, which were pretty far from the main city but still toxify the air.

“How far away did you park?” Tyra asked, starting to get nervous.

“We’re almost there.” Romeo shouted into the wind. He pointed to a wide alleyway between the fence for the Zip factory and the UrdoJuice center. Tyra noticed one of the giant Zips planted on a concrete pad looming over the fence as they ran by.

“Wait, we’re headed south.” Tyra realized out loud.

“That’s where my ship is,” Romeo responded, frustrated.

After running for a few minutes down the alley, Romeo pivoted a corner into another smaller alleyway. The two of them turned their heads while a menacing wind blew from the feet of a tall man with dark hair and a pointed nose. Edrick had somehow got ahead of them. His wound seemed to no longer be bothering him. He was grinning maniacally down at his two kids. Ray started to gain an understanding of his surroundings and began yelling again. Romeo went straight for an uppercut on the right but ended up falling over as Edrick once again seemed to disappear into thin air.

“I haven’t gone far.” he laughed from behind them. All three of them jumped. Ray moaned in fright and Tyra placed him down. She tried to figure out how her dad just fucking teleported. “You know, your ship is parked illegally. I could personally throw all of you in Structer.” He glared at Romeo who was regaining his balance, Edrick launched himself towards his only son. Tyra jumped in his way but he swatted her down. Romeo jumped to the ground and grabbed something from his backpack. Edrick dragged Ray over with one hand and walked toward the weighty, dark, mysterious man. Romeo acted quickly and somersaulted right as Edrick went in for a snatch. He pulled another Mind-Muter out of his sleeve and chucked it at the ground.

Edrick’s eyes widened when he heard the button click. Ray felt his father’s grip loosen and he made eye contact with his sister. He felt something inexplicable take over his body and he ran towards his sister, grabbing her tight. Tyra was looking at her dad who was shaking uncontrollably. She herself was experiencing less side effects the second time.

“What… exactly does it do?” She asked Romeo, who was catching his breath.

“It’s a fairly new device crafted by the Someros, a powerful bloodline from the Kingdom. Can track the frequency of brain movement and then send a deep radio signal mimicking it. Causes anyone in the bloodline and embedded in the Mindsphere to lose control.” The three of them ran up a ramp with tall walls but no ceiling. A modern-day garage. At the top of the garage were landing pads for air and spaceships. Romeo navigated them through to the spaceship section and they looked at all the magnificent cruisers, colorful and shiny. Some had weapons, some could hold ten families and others were slim, fast, and designed for one person. Romeo’s was ugly and looked like a garbage dump. It was stained yellow and slightly gray with brown cover paint. It was fairly large. “Quickly, come on, let’s go!” Ray stood still at the entrance ramp to the ship as Tyra ran up it. She looked down at her brother.

“Ra-- Eddy, we need to get off this planet to somewhere safe. Maybe we’ll meet our grandparents, maybe we have cousins. But we’re going home, okay? Where he can’t hurt us anymore.”
Ray looked down, he was out of tears. “How do you know this isn’t just a different trap?”

Tyra initially laughed it off but then considered it. She looked up at Romeo who was already in the cruiser, beckoning them in.

“If it is then we escape again.”