“I don’t see what the big deal is.”
Ryuuk paced back and forth across the containment cell we shared.
“Let’s see...” I pretended to ponder. “We only broke into a warehouse, killed two of the three people inside, and collapsed the building, causing a safety hazard for an entire three-block radius. Yeah, I don’t know what they’d be so upset about.”
“But we explained to them what happened,” Ryuuk insisted. “Well, most of what happened.”
Nobody had mentioned the reason Zayn and Tonno kidnapped Ryuuk in the first place. For all we knew, the New Horizon authorities would be just as eager to collect on the reward as the last two guys who found out about it.
“You have to admit,” Vomero said, “without context, it’s hard to explain why we’re the good guys in this scenario. I mean it just looks like they saved you from an overdose and nursed you back to health with snacks and action flicks. Then we killed them for it.”
“I...can see how that might be an issue when ya’ look at it that way.”
After taking us into custody, we were processed and held in a jail of sorts, awaiting judicial review of our case. The holding cell area, like most of New Horizon City, was characterized by a sleek, modern design aesthetic.
Unlike most of the city, however, the actual cells themselves eschewed overuse of technology. I assumed this was because it was too easy for local criminals to manipulate technology-based locks and containment measures.
The cells we were in looked like half circles carved out of the smooth, white marble-like material of the walls. The only thing to sit on were three cube like protrusions that seemed molded to the center of the floor. The side of the cell that opened to the hallway appeared completely open, as if you could walk freely through it, but we had been warned not to try it. Vomero said he could sense some type of shield covering the entrance but wasn’t sure what it would do if we breached it.
It was a moot point, anyway. Our goal wasn’t to escape. We needed to clear the situation up as best and as legally as we could because New Horizon was our best ticket off Kalo-Mahoi and possibly out of this quadrant. Making ourselves fugitives would kill any chance we had of securing passage to the Pact Worlds.
They had separated our group into two cells that faced each other across a wide hallway. Vomero, Ryuuk and I were in one, while Dick, Cash and the old man were put in the other. Matthew hadn’t been taken into custody, nor did it appear that they were searching for him.
With his teleport ability, it was hard to pin him down, and I guessed that they might not have even known he was involved in the fight. That was good for him, at least, and might prove handy if things went south for us.
Looking over at our crew mates in the opposite cell, I sighed quietly. As annoying as being trapped in a tiny cell with Ryuuk was, it was still preferable to being in one with Dick right now. Avoiding talking about our almost kiss was a close number two on my priority list—right after convincing the authorities not to incarcerate us.
“So?” Vomero asked Ryuuk, jolting me out of my musings. “Are you going to tell us why someone is willing to pay 1 million credits for you?”
“Errr...it’s a long story,” he responded.
Vomero gestured to their surroundings.
“We’re all about to have to face a judge and hope we don’t get charged with a crime because we came to save you,” he said. “We’ve got the time.”
Nodding, Ryuuk sat down on one of the cubes adjacent to Vomero.
“It’s kinda hard to know where to start,” he said. “All my life, I’ve only ever been good at one thing, hittin’ any target I set my sights on. That don’t come in handy much in the peaceful little town I grew up in on Avaria.”
“That’s the name of your home world?” I asked. “The poster called you the best shot in Avaria.”
Ryuuk just nodded solemnly.
“I mean that’s probably the only thing true ‘bout that poster,” he said. “A man named Carl Marshall came to Avaria one day and decided to open one of them tourist attractions. At first, a lot of people hated the idea, but people seemed to change their mind over time. The park was called Fable, and it was good for the whole planet’s economy. People came from around the quadrant to visit a world of make-believe and escape their real lives. After it became such a success, most folks on Avaria came to work for Fable. It was an easy choice for me, I had a talent that couldn’t be used anywhere else as far as I could tell.”
“So, did you piss this guy Marshall off and now he wants revenge?” I asked. “A million credits is a high price for payback.”
“Yes, and no,” Ryuuk answered. “Yes I made him mad. No it’s not revenge he wants.”
“Did you take something from him?” Cash called from the cell across the hallway. The others were also listening to Ryuuk’s story. “Also, can you speak up? Gramps is having a hard time hearing everything from over here.”
Ryuuk sighed and obliged as he continued his story.
“I did take something from him, I guess. His prize attraction. Fable has many differently themed areas, and the one I was assigned to was named Gunslinger. Every day, I played a hero. The good guys, that was me, always won. It wasn’t always the same scenario, that’s what made a place like Fable so popular. You could go every day and experience something new. It felt like real life, but everything was scripted.”
I was beginning to see why Ryuuk had an unrealistic expectation that everything would always go right for him. Surely, he knew that the real world didn’t work that way? He worked in a place even he described as make-believe.
“The thing is, I’m only remembering all of this now,” he continued. “From the moment I started working in Gunslinger, reality started to blur for me. I spent seven years of my life believing that Gunslinger was real. That I was the hero who saved everyone with a shot from my rifle or pistol. I thought I was that person.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“Then I got sick one day. Bad sick. Couldn’t eat for a week, and barely kept water down. It was then that I started to remember things. At first I was confused. My two realities didn’t go together. I had forgotten that Gunslinger or even Fable existed as a tourist attraction. Everyone I knew, myself included, believed we were living the lives we played.”
“You were drugged or somehow enchanted,” Cash guessed. “That’s why the obsession with mind control stuff.”
Ryuuk nodded his head.
“It was in the food and water only the ‘locals’ ate. Guests always came dressed for immersion and told to play their role for the best effect. We saw them as out of towners, strangers passing through. There was a special place for them to eat and lodge away from the locals.”
“So, you confronted Marshall about it?” I asked. “He obviously didn’t take it well.”
“No, he didn’t,” Ryuuk confirmed. “He tried to convince me my life was meaningless, and I should be begging to take the drug again and go back to being the hero. I refused, and when he insisted, I took out half his security detail during my escape.”
“I can see why he’d want to silence you to keep his secret,” Vomero said. “But he doesn’t have to keep you alive for that. The reward is only payable if you’re returned alive. What’s that about?”
“Like I said,” Ryuuk sighed. “I was his star attraction. Gunslinger was apparently the most popular of the themed areas.”
“It’s because you were the real deal, Ryuuk,” Gramps’ voice cut in. “I went to Fable years ago. Everyone talked about the sharpshooter over in the Gunslinger attraction. You may think it was all scripted, but the impossible shots you made were the real attraction. In all the other parts of the park, I could feel the special effects they were using to make things feel real. But it was different in Gunslinger. They had a real prodigy working in that area. Everyone knew it, and word spread fast.”
We all stared at the old man for a moment in shocked silence. Ryuuk was the first to find his voice.
“You recognized me, then? You knew who I was the whole time?”
“Of course I did,” Gramps answered, coming to stand at the edge of their cell so he could see Ryuuk clearly. “But it wasn’t my place to pry. I mean I didn’t know all about this. It’s terrible to think, now, that I was being entertained by people manipulated against their will. All I knew was that you were running from yourself. Me trying to help it catch up with you wasn’t going to do you any good.”
“Damn, Gramps,” Dick said with a low whistle. “You never cease to surprise.”
“Even if you were the star attraction,” I said, “it still seems risky to let you live if he can’t capture you.”
“I guess it could always change,” Ryuuk said. “Especially once he realizes I’ve made up my mind.”
“About what?” Cash asked.
“About who I am,” Ryuuk answered. “Or who I’m gonna be, rather. Gramps is right. I’ve been looking for who I am this whole time, trying to figure out what was real about me and what was just the character I was playing.”
“And you’ve figured out that you can’t let Marshall get away with mind-slaving thousands of people on your home world,” I stated.
Ryuuk looked at me in surprise and nodded.
“How did you...?”
I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes at him, taking the last cubed seat in the middle of our cell next to him.
“You haven’t been under any mind control since I’ve known you,” I said. “So, if you’re wondering what kind of person you truly are, take it from me. You’re an annoying, over-optimistic pain in the ass. But you’re the best goddamn shot I’ve ever seen.”
I looked over at Cash in the other cell as I said so. Sharing a look, he nodded in acknowledgement.
“And,” I continued, “you’re not afraid to stand up for what you believe is right, especially if it means protecting people you care about. Isn’t that right, Gramps?”
The old man smiled and nodded. It was hard to tell from that distance, but I thought I could see the shimmer of tears in his eyes.
“Like I said,” Gramps added. “You are the real deal. Playing the hero isn’t something you had to do. Even when you forgot everything around you was make-believe, you still chose to be the hero every time.”
“Not to be a buzzkill here during this touching moment,” Dick said. “But what happened to the men you shot at Gunslinger? You said no scenario was ever the same, so...”
“It wasn’t always a shoot-to-kill situation,” Ryuuk said. “A lot of the time, I chose to injure people or disarm them, then let the authorities take care of them. But occasionally...”
His voice dropped off as he contemplated the people he might have killed who were acting under mind controlled delusions, thinking they were criminals deserving of death.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Ryuuk said. “It’s part of the reason I can’t just run away and forget about everyone I knew on Avaria. Maybe the bullets weren’t real, maybe nobody really died. But I just don’t know.”
“Anyone willing to enslave most of a planet’s population and cunning enough to get away with it isn’t likely to balk at killing a few for profit,” Vomero said, gravely.
“People kill for a lot less, trust me,” Cash added.
“That’s where I’m headed, then,” Ryuuk said. “Just as soon as these folks realize they’ve made a mistake, I’m catching a long-range transport back to the Pact Worlds and putting a stop to Marshall’s schemin’,”
“A noble cause,” a deep, unfamiliar voice spoke from nearby. “Unfortunately, not one that can be accomplished in your current state.”
A tall Malunite man wearing navy blue robes over loose, Malunite-style shirt and pants emerged from down the hallway to stand between our cells. The way he stood told me he was someone important. It wasn’t formal like the law enforcement officers we had met, yet there was an air of understated stature in his posture.
“Perhaps we can do something about that,” he continued. “I am Koraf, Senior Councilman here in New Horizon. Forgive me, but I was just listening to your story, sir, and it seems our great city has done you and your friends a disservice. Our treatment of you as common criminals only compounds the offense in my mind. Please, allow me to apologize.”
“Umm...yeah. It’s no big deal I reckon’,” Ryuuk said, obviously as confused as the rest of us.
“What makes a Senior Councilman come down to the holding cells to take an interest in a few out-of-towners like us?” Dick asked.
“Despite the fact that the circumstances surrounding your apprehension were quite noteworthy,” Koraf said, “It was indeed something else that brought you to my attention. I don’t suppose you are aware that Veridi, and indeed, most of the Syreni kingdom is looking for a group of outsiders matching your description?”
At the mention of Veridi, I felt my body tense. I could read concern and wariness on the faces of my companions, as well.
“Don’t look so worried,” Koraf said. “As you probably surmised, the Commonwealth is not feeling very charitable to Syreni at the moment. Nor do I intend to make war with the enemy of my enemy. I’d much prefer to work together.”
“Work together in what way?” I asked warily.
“Information exchange, mostly,” Koraf said. “In return, I’ll do my best to make sure your group secures passage to whatever destination in the galaxy you’ve planned.”
I looked at the others, judging their reactions to Koraf’s proposal.
“That sounds agreeable, but how do we know we can trust you?” I asked. “We’ve been lied to quite a bit since coming to Kalo-Mahoi.”
“By power-hungry Syreni entrepreneurs, they call themselves,” Koraf responded, “and you’re not the only ones who have been lied to and betrayed by those same people. However, ultimately, you don’t know whether I or New Horizon’s government will do the same to you.”
“It’s not like we have much choice in the matter,” Cash said. “We’re not exactly in a position to negotiate.”
“That does seem to be exactly the case,” Koraf said. “Yet, I hope you’ll find your trust well-placed, whether given by choice or necessity.”
“So, what happens now?” Ryuuk asked.
“Now,” Koraf answered, clapping his hands together in earnest, “let’s see about getting you all out of these cells.”