Angry Jasper: Twenty-five

The Rebels maintained an impossible maze of ancient tunnels far beneath the ruins of Chicago. Alternate subterranean enclaves spanned the globe, linked by a haphazard and embattled series of passages, some hundreds of miles long. Each, though nominally subservient to the leadership under Chicago, operated as virtual fiefdoms. A consequence of concerted Corporation attacks that often isolated and besieged enclaves. That semi-autonomy left them vulnerable, but enabled each to survive, if necessary, independent of the others. Indeed, often stark differences in culture, economy and even relations with the Corporation were unique to each, some with histories spanning centuries. It was that history that enthralled and inspired Katy.

The walls narrowed. The passage was dark as a dungeon, lit only by the pale light of Kinetic halos around each body. The Kinetic lamps created a field around each body, drawing energy from the ambient life force of a body. The light illuminated walls filled with inscriptions and pictures generations old, like ancient hieroglyphs. She paused to run her fingers across one in particular. It was a declaration from a pair of young lovers. Their names were unreadable any longer, but the crudely scratched heart was still plainly visible. A rebel fighter laid a hand gently on her shoulder. The vengeful thunder of Corporation ships shook the ground.

“Miss Katy, we really should keep moving,” said the young warrior.

Soon the passage opened and widened greatly, the arched ceiling much higher and lost to the darkness, which was far more complete than before, even with the Kinetic light. It took Kate's eyes some time to adjust, revealing a terrible scene before her. The passage was crowded with wounded, terrified women and children, and others fleeing the government bombardment. Further on the passages were dominated by rag-a-muffin rebel fighters, and then the black-suited bodyguard of Thomas, the Rebel leader.

Thomas' elite guard were a fanatical lot, and not at all known to be summoned to that mysterious inner circle hardly felt like a blessing. It felt like being drawn into something darker, the immoral heart protecting the purity the rebel alliance pretended for itself. It was treachery and deceit and the brutal passion-plays nd shadowy compromises of politics. It made her skin crawl.

There were odd rumors about these men. Kate had heard those rumors in places like Cynus Prime. They were tales no one on Earth would dare speak of out loud. There were strange tales of women disappearing in alarming numbers, of bizarre rituals, and even that Thomas and his inner circle were in fact aliens spearheading a coming invasion. To some it was easily dismissed as concubines, drawn into the darkness and power of Thomas’ inner circle, where it was far too dangerous to let them mingle among the common folk.

Stripped of her weapons Katy was led beyond the point where few had ever gone. A metal door groaned opened to a huge chamber filled with weapons and all manner of provisions. Rusting iron beams stained the crumbling concrete ceiling. The air was thick with the ammonia bite of bat guano faintly covering the stink of death. Things scurried about at the edge of the darkness, and Kate had feeling that something large and altogether not human watched from the deepest blackest recesses of the chamber. She imagined some odd hybrid sort, like some sort mingled with the DNA of a bison or a yak or some such thing.

It was odd to see a huge crystal chandelier dangling from the ceiling, and to hear a Rachmaninov piano concerto playing somewhere, as though it was a quality to the air. At the center of the chamber was a maze of sheer-white linen panels that sort of enclosed Thomas’ quarters. The panels rippled and swam in a channel of cool filtered air tht made Kate shiver and, instead of offering a respite from the scent of death, made the place feel like a morgue.

Thomas lived here like a monarch, while his army and hostage population wallowed in deprivation and misery. It wasn’t always like that. There had been a governing council for the rebel alliance, which had worked well enough for several generations. Corruption and bickering eventually eroded their effectiveness. Soon the council was merely competing factions, more interested in fighting one another than battling the Corporation. A series of bloody coups had merely replaced one corrupt minister with another, each testing the previous regimes brutality. The fighting nearly collapsed the rebellion. Now only Thomas remained, the most brutal and insidious of them all. For better or worse the rebellion united under Thomas, for the first time in years.