205 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
205 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Underground eXperts United
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Presents...
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[Castle Chronicles The Sequel, Chapter Two] [ By The Chief ]
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____________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________
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###### ## ## ###### ###### ## ## ## ###### ## ###### ###### The
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## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ## ## ## ## Sequel
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THE SERIOUS SERIES
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CHAPTER TWO
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"All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world..."
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-Ministry
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Five years. It had only been five years since Conrad J Coppacio founded
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Coppacio Corp and built the pyramid. Seemed like a lifetime. Government
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officials had been bought, one after the other, only to be replaced by CC
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executives. Two months. Then, there was no difference between the Coppacio
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board of directors and the government.
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By the time the colonization of Corp Zone and Roundgaarden started,
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Coppacio owned it all. Owned everything. The other corporations, the police
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force, the military, the space colonies. Right down to the people themselves,
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and no-one had noticed. Two years after the pyramid was finished, Coppacio
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sealed off the lower floors. Crime, they claimed, had caused the change.
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Granted, the crime rate on Floor 1 had climbed to an alarming rate, but
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everyone knew that that wasn't the reason behind it. No one said anything
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at the time. Who'd argue with those who owned you? The CC then abandoned
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Floor 1, left everything. The old computer terminals, the machines, the
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works. One day, it was all gone. The CC logo, the only thing left that
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reminded them of what had once been there. Making it the prison it resembled
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today. Today, the black blocks, the lower floors, kept the citizens where
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they were. Leaving the only way out of MegaCity through the upper floors.
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Pain. Fire burning where it hurts the most. A moment of silence, a touch of
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cold hands, then.. nothing. Sharp sticks made out of crystal and patched with
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silicon trodes found their way down Castle's scarred back. Found the second
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spot, then, more pain. Jaqueline Briskin. He watched her as he rose from the
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stretcher. Her tiny, well-placed nose, her green custom made eyes and high
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cheek-bones together with her long reddish hair made her look like a doll.
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A good cover. Jaqueline Briskin, who worked the streets, though not as a whore,
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but as one of the best, and most hired, implant surgeons on Floor 1.
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'That'll take care of it,' she said, placing the sticks neatly back into the
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black whizzing plastic module with artistic movement.
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'It better.'
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Explosions, with fifteen second intervals, shook the foundation of the
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building, shattering the cement that hid the steel underneath, still screaming
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with pain from unknown hours of torture. A corporate intercom voice announced
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the well known and disbelieved Coppacio Corp. information about "scientific
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experiments that had to be done, the underground atomized explosions were
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merely a troublesome, but harmless side-effect. No need for alarm. I repeat,
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no need for alarm."
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'If it don't, you're dead, Castle. Pause. 'You know,' she sighed, 'it will
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only work for another week, then you'll have to come back for a complete
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re-scan again. Another treatment.'
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'Yeah..' Castle said reaching for his shirt. 'But it's worth it.'
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'They'll find out. Sooner or later, they'll know. You don't screw Them
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and get away with it. You don't change your P-Scan code unless you really,
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and I mean REALLY have to.' Jaqueline looked at him with serious eyes.
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'Oh, I've told you before, and I know you pay me good money for this, but..'
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Silence.
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'When they know, they know,' he said. 'You must understand. This is
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something I have to do without them knowing it. I have to go places,
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I have to talk to people. I have to do certain things, and they mustn't
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know about it.' He shrugged. 'This is the only way.'
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Silence.
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'I've fucked them before, and I can fuck them again. Don't worry about it.
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Anyways, I owe you one,' Castle said, looking at her troubled face.
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'You owe me plenty!' She walked around in the small, crummy basement,
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touching the torn walls here and there where cracks had grown into holes.
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'But there's only one thing I want from you, Castle,' she said, opening
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the door to let him out, 'and that is to have you back here again, in
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seven days. In one piece.'
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Castle smiled and took her hand.
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Stairs. The street. Stirring with life, and yet so full of death. It
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rained. Two Human Carbon Copy whores winked at Castle as he emerged from
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the cellar, crossing the street. No time, he thought. He had seven days to
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do what ordinarily would have taken him six months. Five minutes later, he
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had the amount of Pentaminehexadiamyl that would take him through the week.
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That would keep him alive on the street. Thunder smashed the black skies,
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tearing the rain apart in large quantities. Blue-gray search beams wandered
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the alleys from above. Gun-shots somewhere down one of them. Screams.
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Back at the apartment, he noticed the IML still flashing. Hadn't checked
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the messages. Thrifleman had interrupted. Thrifleman with his threats, with
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the assignment. He picked up the dossier and looked through the pictures again
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while turning on the IML. They looked so innocent, he thought. Who would
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ever believe that...
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'Castle, we need to talk.'
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A scrambled picture on the IML. Someone didn't want to be known.
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'They're breathing down my neck. I have the information, but I can't
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give it to you over the line, y'know.'
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Chen. It was Chen.
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'Meet me at Paulie's, eight thir..'
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Snow on the screen. An eerie sound through the speaker. Damn! Why hadn't
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he checked the messages?! Why.. He never finished the thought. Another
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message came up on the screen. Thrifleman.
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'I'm not sure what your game is, Castle, but you won't get away with
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it. You weren't there when we came to pick you up, and you know what
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we said about that.'
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Castle picked up his gun and three magazine clips, throwing them
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together with some clothes and electronics he thought he might need
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into a small colorless bag.
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'Well, tell you what. I'll be a nice guy, Castle,' he continued, 'If you
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report to me within the next twenty four hours, I'll forget about it, okay?'
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A hideous grin on the screen, and then, the CC logo.
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Click.
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He didn't touch anything.
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Two minutes later, he was on the street. Just in time to see his
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apartment, along with two thirds of the building, explode in a flash of
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red, green and blue. Large pieces of metal and stone, falling down the
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47 floors to the street smashed whatever had been there before into
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juice. Flesh and blood. Screams, sirens, beams of gray and blue. Run.
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Away. He had to hide. Pinching one of the black derms against his wrist,
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to release the drug into his veins, he managed to make his way through
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the relentless crowd.
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Alley. Dark. Hiding place. Down the four steps and to the right.
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He took the first hit. Swaying in the darker areas. A numb feeling spreading
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through his body. Someone asked him about directions, but he didn't answer.
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He watched a couple of street girls trying to find a job that'd help them
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through the night, but he never saw the outcome of the event. Suddenly he
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stumbled into Jake in front of 'Selectronics. Jake seemed to ask him about
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a delivery he was supposed to have made, but Castle dismissed the accusations
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about the delay with something about his grandmother. Castle didn't think
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Jake would question that, and he was right. They made another deal, and
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Castle promised he'd deliver within two weeks. Three thousand kee's of
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Mendiathyl - he didn't know how to, but it was easier to make a promise
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than to stand arguing the whole evening. Anyway, Jake was kind of a
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friend, and you never let friends down. Not in this world. You treasured
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friends more than mutagens.
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Ten million years of anger screamed through the city's veins. Ten million
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years of insanity. The years of mankind. Castle felt every one of them through
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his body, trying to scratch the skin off his body. Then another feeling spread
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along his back. A tingling feeling. Searching. They were after him, in a bad
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way too. They didn't even bother to hide it - people around him looked as if
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they were dying. They had hit the P-Scan, hard. Castle knew, even his oldest
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and most trustworthy friends would gladly hand him over to the CC after this
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treatment. The scan would never find him though. Question was, if they'd
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continue the unshielded scanning after they realized he'd changed his codes.
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He had to take the chance. Had to trust Jake not to tell, to handle the pain.
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He left him laying on the ground, no time to help. Anyway, there was nothing
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he could do.
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When he saw Paulie's further down the alley, something told him not to go
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there. A feeling of uncertainty. Two steps and the bullet hit his shoulder.
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Head hit the ground. Screams again, three CCV's appeared right above,
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searchlights nailing him down. It was as bright as a 20th century day.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Castle Chronicles, the sequel, is not continuing the *first* set of chapters
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in the first chronicles. This is the serious series, based in a not so-far
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future, taking over where the not yet finished Castle Chronicles series will
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end. These two series will co-exist for a couple of chapters. Finally there
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will be a link between the finished first Chronicles and the sequel, which
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will tie them together. You will not miss anything by not reading the first
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series, but you won't get the overall picture when the two links together.
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Be on the safe side, check out the first chronicles if you haven't already.
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Take a ride with Castle's humorous side before embarking on the black, real
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and scattered future of MegaCity. - uXu Mania 1993 -
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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uXu #130 Underground eXperts United 1993 uXu #130
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Call SEDES DIABOLI -> +46-586-43766
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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