The Golden Crunk of Cringle Read online

  Daneb wasn't sure if he'd asked for too much.

  "Give it to me," Charles demanded.

  "We'll wait for the money."

  "Ok, boy." He said boy like it was an insult.

  The guard returned with a silver case. He hadn't been gone long.

  "Show them," Charles said.

  The guard held the case up, unlatched it, and revealed more money than Daneb had ever seen in his life. Instinctively he reached towards the shiny pile, but the guard snapped the case shut.

  "Hand it over, now," Charles said with a commanding tone.

  Pira shook her head and backed away with both hands clutching the box under her shirt. Daneb stepped forward, pulled her right arm free with his left. He unhooked the bottom of her shirt with his right as he went up for her left. The box dropped free and he caught it. It had all happened in seconds.

  Daneb proceeded to Charles who was waiting with his hand held out. He tried not to breathe, not to think. He was just going there, to that hand, and opening his. There was nothing else to it. He could feel the pulsing through the box though, and there was a sound too, a slight hum behind the world. The golden cube was summoning him for a good time.

  Daneb dropped the box into the man's hand. He didn't want to make contact with it while someone else did. Charles eyes shined brighter, and a low grin spread wide on his face. Daneb turned away and forced every step toward the guard. He knew what was coming next, and he had to get out of there before it started.

  The guard handed him the case, and he and Pira left the room.

  "Shut the door," Charles commanded. "And bring me Timothy."

  Daneb stared at the case. It was heavy, but manageable. He had no idea if it was 100,000 drachma, but it felt like a lot. The amount of money made him anxious, and he eyed the other patrons nervously. No one paid attention to them, but the nervousness bouncing around in that hollow place made him nauseous. He looked to Pira for support, but she looked lost. It was difficult to think of anything other than returning to retrieve the GCC.

  When Daneb spotted Quinn talking to one of the guards, adrenaline rushed in to fill the hole.

  "Outside," he whispered to Pira, and pushed her away. He stepped around a couple arguing about how much money they had lost, and moved away from his sister.

  The guard pointed in their general direction, but they were just two in a sea of people. Daneb kept his face down even though Quinn didn't know what they looked like, and fought the urge to run.

  Quinn headed in the direction of Big Charles, so Daneb went wide and hurried down a side staircase. It led to a narrow hall near the back of the building where workers came and went, but not many patrons. Before he made it to the main room, people began yelling. A patron in a nice dress came scurrying past, but Daneb continued forward. Pira would be out front, and they didn't have a designated meet up point.

  The pit in his stomach churned the anxiety and adrenaline together. He leaned against the doorway as if waiting for someone, hoping it looked more casual than it felt.

  A few patrons came rushing by, while others streamed out the main door. People clustered at the top of the stairs, observing, but none descended. Daneb scanned the room, but couldn't see Pira.

  Guards from the floor joined the pair at the entrance and the yelling intensified. A group of people was there, arguing with security. Both groups were posturing, but then someone shoved a guard to the ground, and the guards collectively attacked the newcomers. More of the new group rushed in as patrons tried to push their way out. Guards from upstairs forced their way through the blockage and descended into the main room. A few emerged from behind Daneb while the group from outside continued to pour through the entrance. They were so numerous that they blocked the wide main door completely. When the first static pulse of laser fire crackled in the air, a woman screamed. Others joined her in chorus as the laser fire turned into a cacophony.

  Daneb ducked his head instinctively and retreated. He hoped Pira had already gotten out, because he couldn't wait any longer. He shoved and pushed with his free hand as the patrons sought escape en masse. A herd of them pushed their way into the Employee Only area. Some split and went through the kitchen, but he stayed with the main crowd, and turned down a small hall. It led past bathrooms, then by a few empty bedrooms that reeked of sex. The smell mixed with the panic and sweat while the emergency exit beeped in objection. He fought his way to it, but then there were new shots from outside. Daneb tried to stop, as did some of the people in front of him, but the people behind continued pushing forward. They had no choice but to emerge into the flashes of light and crackling of death.

  The flow of people spilled into the alley where a crescent of half a dozen men fired at them. Something stung his leg, and the person to the right of him convulsed. Their flailing hand caught him in the side of the face, and his eyes began to water. Daneb squinted, tried to wipe away the moisture while ramming the people in front of him.

  Another group with guns moved into the alley as the patrons tried to scatter. The new group fired on the first, unconcerned with the mass of bystanders trapped between them. A few patrons slipped by the new group, but they were blocking most of the alley. Daneb tried to go the other way, but there was no fighting the flow of the crowd. Patrons continued to pour out of the buildings and into the crossfire. Just in front of him, a laser burned a man's head. Daneb turned and swung his elbow at the person behind him, connecting with something solid. He then pulled his laser pick from his pocket and in one smooth motion stabbed a different person. Their face distorted and they screamed as they pushed by him. Daneb shoved past another and got to the wall where he was able to scoot by some people. He didn't get far before he encountered a bottleneck though. People were pushing against each other, trying to retreat in both directions, while the firing continued. Some deep in the crowd appeared to be dead, but the crowd was so tight they remained upright.

  "Fucking go back!" he yelled into the back of someone's head.

  The man threw an elbow back, which missed, but then he grabbed Daneb by the shirt. Daneb stabbed him in the arm with his pick. It burned a small hole through his shirt and broke the skin, and the man to let go. Daneb poked him in the back of the neck, low near the spine, and the man moaned in pain. He tried to turn around, but Daneb kept pushing forward. Then the group started to flow again. Daneb expected the man to turn around and engage him, but he barreled forward.

  As the herd of people broke into the passage beyond, it dispersed in both directions and sped up. Daneb went left, moved to the side of the hall and stopped in a doorway to catch his breath. He scanned the fleeing people as the pounding in his head subsided. None of them was Pira. He tried to think of where she might go, but all he could come up with was the shop where they got the directions. The fumes of the Golden Crunk of Cringle were still in his head, preventing cohesive thought. He couldn't hate the thing, though he knew he should.

  "Can you help?" a young Sintarac asked in broken human.

  Daneb jerked, startled. He was still watching the crowd. "I don't-"

  The Sintarac was holding its appendage. A small hole rimmed with burnt hair went all the way through its arm.

  "No, sorry."

  "Please. I not know anyone here. I just arranged."

  He assumed she meant arrived. "It's fine. A small hole like that won't kill a person." He realized after he said it that Sintarac weren't people. He had no idea what would kill them. Daneb looked at the passing people then back to the Sintarac.

  For a moment, the Sintarac seemed to measure him, but then it walked away and stopped someone else to ask for help. Daneb watched the Sintarac and human man interact. The man seemed interested, but couldn't help. When Daneb noticed a group of armed men heading in their direction, he mixed with the crowd and moved away at a brisk pace.

  Separation

  Daneb spent two days hiding in a vacant room. He drank from the sink and only left to relieve himself nearby. Since Pira wasn't around it was quiet, an
d he spent a good bit of time thinking about their parents. Their father was the stoic type and didn't speak much, but on more than one occasion, he said Daneb could do better, usually in relation to school. Daneb passed all his classes, but never cared for school. Pira was the opposite. She always put forth tremendous effort because of her insatiable desire to be better at everything than he was. Even when she surpassed him, she continued to push herself. He always admired her inner strength. He thought he'd find that drive someday, but only enjoyed things he excelled at, like stealing. He was quick with his hands, and his fingers were long and nimble. Though he had a case full of money, he spent much of his time contemplating stealing the GCC again. He knew he should walk away from it, but he had experienced ecstasy while holding the Golden Crunk of Cringle. The visions and sensations were better than the handful of sexual encounters he'd had over the years.

  Two days became four, became a week, and Daneb was forced to venture out and look for food. On one such excursion, he encountered the Sintarac with the hole in its arm near the food store. The bulk of its eye had a blue sheen versus the black of an adult, or the white of a human, which meant it was young.

  The Sintarac was looking around nervously, a sign of an amateur thief. Without moving his head, Daneb spied the shopkeeper, an old Bramel with dappled fur. Bramel supposedly got meaner as they aged. Just before the Sintarac put the food parcel in its packet, Daneb bumped its arm, knocking the packet free.

  "Careful," the Bramel grouched at him.

  "Sorry," Daneb apologized. He picked the food parcel up and held it out to the Sintarac. "It's still good."

  The Sintarac looked worried. It wouldn't take the packet.

  "All right. Come on." Daneb picked up three more packs, and nodded for the Sintarac to follow.

  After the transaction, the shopkeeper said, "Don't come back."

  "Me?" Daneb asked.

  "No, it."

  The Sintarac looked at Daneb, and then at the Bramel. It then lowered its head and left the store.

  "Sorry," Daneb said to the shopkeeper.

  He'd been in the there a lot, and the shopkeeper had been cordial. Not many people liked Sintarac though.

  "Here," Daneb said when he caught up to the Sintarac.

  "I cannot," it said, and waved its hands.

  "It's ok. I've got-," he paused, not wanting to say he had a case full of money hidden back at his place. "I've got it covered."

  "Thank you."

  Daneb found the large dark eye of Sintarac disconcerting. In part, because when he was young he heard they could see your thoughts. He stopped believing that years earlier and the blue sheen seemed less threatening. There was also the soft demeanor of the creature, which appeared more frightened then scary. He watched it mash the food between the two hard plates in its mouth.

  "I'm Daneb."

  "My name is Mrshlyvi."

  "Mrsh- wait, could you say that again?"

  "You may call Maggie."

  Maggie seemed like a weird name for a Sintarac.

  "Is from old human movie," it said, seeming to read his thoughts.

  "Does it hurt? Your arm I mean."

  "Yes. We have feelings." She was more sad than angry.

  He was unsure if she meant emotions or nerve endings. "I don't suppose you saw a human girl, you know, back then." He held his hand up to his shoulder. "Her hair is a little lighter than mine. She's," he held his hands up to his chest, intended to say flat-chested, but stopped since Pira was sensitive about it. "Her chest is like mine."

  "I have not."

  He let out a sigh. "Ok. Thanks."

  "Is she your mate?"

  "No." He waved his hands back and forth. "She's my little sister."

  "Sister?"

  "Sibling. Do Sintarac not have siblings?"

  "Yes, thousands."

  "Thousands?"

  "Is that not right word?" it asked, turning its head.

  "I don't know. Humans only have one kid at a time usually, and might have a couple over a lifetime. Thousands wouldn't be possible. Even a hundred wouldn't possible."

  "Hundred is below thousand, yes?"

  "Yes, and hundred is the next one above tens. Like three digits. Thousand is four digits." He held up four fingers in case it didn't understand.

  "Yes, thousands."

  He wasn't sure if it was reiterating that Sintarac had thousands of kids, or conveying it understood what a thousand was, so changed the subject. "You said you were new here?"

  "Yes." It looked at him expectant.

  "I don't know what else to say." He could ask tons of questions about Sintarac, but what he really wanted to know was where Pira was. If the creature was as new to the station as he was, it was unlikely to be any help. "All right, well." He handed it another food packet. "Take care of yourself. Try not to look around so much when you're going to steal something. It makes it obvious."

  "Yes."

  "Ok."

  The Sintarac continued to stare at him while he walked away.

  *

  Daneb concluded Pira was dead, captured, or in hiding, which meant he needed to search for her. He didn't know where to begin and had to remain cautious. Unless Murrs had already retrieved the GCC, she would still be looking for him. If she had, Big Charles might be looking to get his money back.

  Leaving the money unattended wasn't a good prospect, but neither was walking around with it. Since he'd been using the room for quite some time and no one had returned, he pried open the wall and shoved the case inside. Even if the owner came back, they were unlikely to find it.

  After a good night's rest, Daneb filled his pocket with drachma and headed out. On the next hall over, he ran into the same Sintarac sitting against a wall with an arm propped on an empty crate.

  "Hey," he said as it made eye contact with him.

  It looked away, and he moved past.

  Daneb circled to the back of the building with the white pillars and found it empty. The chaos was still fresh in his mind, and seemed unreal against the disinterested backdrop of the trashy alley. The side door he fled through wasn't open, and no bodies remained. He suspected there had been quite a few, though laser fire wasn't often deadly. He tried not to dwell on the fact that Pira may have been one of the unlucky ones.

  He made his way to the front of the building via several passages, where two Bramel guarded the door. He couldn't tell if either was the one they encountered that day, since most didn't wear clothes and their furry bodies all looked the same. Daneb continued past without making eye contact.

  Spheres like West that had the central opening for the shaft-gear were relatively easy to navigate since most used the same basic pattern. Floors circled the sphere. How wide they were depended on the size of the sphere, as did the number of floors. Older ones only had stairs between the floors, but newer ones also possessed elevators. There were no elevators in West.

  Buildings covered the interior of the hull. Some floors also contained buildings on the inside edge of the floor, but there were always gaps between the buildings that allowed one to see the center opening. It gave the whole sphere an open feel, but also made orientation easier.

  Daneb circled counterclockwise and ascended the floors. West was a good-sized sphere. It took him hours to reach the top while searching, and by that point, he was tired. The higher floors were cleaner. Daneb suspected the few nicely dressed people he'd seen gambling lived there. No one bothered him on the upper levels, but he didn't stay long since he looked out of place.

  After descending a few levels, he stopped in a clothing store. He'd seen plenty of people worse off than he was, so he didn't stand, but he wanted new clothing in case someone recognized him. He also wanted to ask the shopkeeper if he'd seen Pira, but she'd have no reason to be in a clothing store. She would however need food, which gave him an idea.

  In his new duds, he retraced his path and went to the food shop closest to the gambling hall. He purchased some food so the shopkeeper was more likely t
o provide information.

  "Hey, could I ask you something?"

  "Sure," the young human male said as he handed him his change.

  "I was looking for this girl, and was wondering if you'd seen her. She's about this tall, fairly light hair, flat-chested. You seen anybody like that? She might not have bought anything."

  The man gave him a look then examined something below the counter. "Umm-"

  An alarm beeped, and a barred door slammed shut, blocking Daneb in the shop. The shopkeeper knocked stuff off a shelf while trying to make his escape out the back. Daneb leapt over the counter as more bars descended to block it off too.

  "You prick," Daneb spat at the man.

  The shopkeeper spun around and lunged at him. Daneb moved to the side, pushed him away and drew his laser pick. The man looked around frantically for a weapon of his own. When he deemed nothing at hand, he lunged at Daneb and caught hold of his wrist. Daneb pulled free, burning the man's hand with his pick in the process. The keep lunged at his throat. Daneb backed away and bumped into something, sending its contents spilling onto the counter with a clattering of sound. Daneb feigned with his pick and circled to block the other doorway.

  "Don't make me kill you," Daneb warned.

  The man threw a food packet at him, but Daneb swatted it away. He threw another and a third, and then lunged again. Daneb stabbed outward, but the man passed under his arm and crashed into him, sending them both tumbling to the floor. Daneb jammed the pick into the man's back, who screamed as the laser burned a hole in his shirt and seared his skin. The shopkeeper hauled his arm back for a punch and Daneb lurched to the side, throwing him off balance. As the man tried to regain his mounted position, Daneb thrust the laser into his groin. The shopkeeper let out a mighty howl and clasped his burnt and bruised manhood with both hands. Daneb used the opportunity to stab him in the eye.

  "You mother fucker," the shopkeeper shouted.

  Daneb pushed him off and got to his feet. The man clasped his testicles with one hand while the other covered part of his face. Daneb hauled his leg all the way back and punted the man's groin. There was a thick thump and the man howled again.