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Ten men milled about the block ignoring each other and pretending to do what everyone else did in the FEZ. They looked into store windows. They stared at the PornoPop videos and the advertisements that played over the AniLux coated cityscape. They ate from street vendor's carts and pretended to look for a good time, scanning the crowd for potential sex partners. In reality, they were only looking out for one thing – the G.S.A. Operators that were hunting them.
The ten Morituri never strayed too far from the door of a pawn shop that only existed to house an expertly hidden and shielded elevator in its rear. This was the sole entrance to a hand-carved chamber four stories beneath the Free Economic Zone, and in this spartan, four hundred square-foot, cinderblock room, entirely unlike the Dionysian paradise above, two men sat inside a six-sided, double-walled, copper-screen cage.
The metal of the cage was soft and pliant. Anyone could have broken into it or ripped their way out of it with minimal effort, but it wasn't built to protect goods or lock people inside. This was a skiff, and it was built to block electromagnetic waves.
The transmissions from spore-sized microphones, micro-cameras, or other bugs that an inhabitant of Baccha Bay City might unknowingly carry were all locked inside the copper cage, allowing parties within to speak with the assurance that the conversation would stay secret. It was basic EM security, and the two Morituri inside the skiff liked security.
Friar William looked like an average, mid-sixties consumer of televised sports, erectile derms, and pornography. His round face, his paunch, his button-down shirts, his slacks, and his soft loafers all made him appear to be a man whose primary concerns were pleasure and comfort. Nothing could be further from the truth. Long ago, Friar William called himself a Jesuit. Now he called himself leader of the Baccha Bay City Morituri militants, but only in the safety of a basement skiff, four levels underground, shielded in double-walled copper mesh.
Across from Friar William, sat a man who possessed nothing except hate and a codename.
He called himself the Penitent, and although he conducted the first leg of Baccha Bay City's underground railroad, his primary function was Internal Security. Many insurgents suspected of being double-agents were ordered to ride his railroad. Expecting escape and relocation, they found torture and death. The Penitent reserved a special wrath for informers, double-agents, and those whom he judged to hold false faith.
His appearance had been crafted with great care. He wore a Zippy Pac Delivery uniform that allowed him to go anywhere unquestioned. His full hair was grown long like a rockstar, and the vain bluster of electrostim-built muscles and meaningless animated tribal tattoos hid his true devotion to dealing the Lord's vengeance and wrath.
Friar William handed the Penitent a printed photo of Alvin D. Ellis smiling beatifically, blessing a group of neo-hippies in the middle of a marijuana field.
“He is called the Buddha, and he is a recruiter for the security services of the Global Secular Alliance,” Friar William said with a believer's unwavering certainty. “This morning, a gas line ruptured and suffocated all within a place known as Ocho House. One of our former soldiers of God turned up among the dead.”
“Former soldier?” the Penitent asked. Nobody retired from the Morituri.
“We had thought our man to be dead for years, killed by Operators protecting the Buddha, but it now seems they captured him, and the Buddha turned him into an agent of G.S.A. Security”
“Where is this Buddha now?”
“The Buddha has fallen into the custody of a faithless criminal gang, who call themselves the T.T.K. It means Tough To Kill.” Friar William saw the Penitent repress a smile at the challenge he perceived in the gang's arrogant self-appellation. “Yes, I thought you would like that,” Friar William said. “They wish to sell him to us. Kill them, but bring me the Buddha alive. We must interrogate him to know how many of our Brothers and Sisters he has recruited for the Security Services. When you have him, you must conduct the Underground Railroad as usual; it is the only safe way to bring him to me. Kill the other passengers and anyone else who has had contact with the Buddha. I will be waiting for you at the first stop.”
The Penitent left the photo with Friar William and exited the skiff with purpose in his stride. He passed through the copper screen-doors, leaving the security of the skiff for the frenzied over-stimulation and electromagnetic bath of Baccha Bay City and the FEZ.