Mask of Humanity

Where are they? asked Nicolai.

One moment, said Cyberwarfare, and he sensed the new unit in his skull running harder, triangulating over local. Here, said Cyberwarfare, and Nicolai’s Mark activated, the map appearing and immediately zooming on a place not far from the safe-place. His eyebrows rose at Cyberwarfare’s control of the Mark. It was getting good at using its own tiny Soul.

They’re seeking to hack into the Network Hider. They detected it somehow, perhaps via the increased interference, added Cyberwarfare.

Nicolai’s eyebrows rose a notch higher. ‘I see.’ That was quite impressive. The whole point of a Network Hider was to mask itself and the people it was connected to as they communicated through Local nearby to it. The fact this individual was capable of finding it despite all of that, and even attempt to hack into it, was a demonstration of both skill and quite a high degree of cyberwarfare-orientated augmentations.

Unfortunately, skilled or not, they would have to die. He felt it just about guaranteed that they would be a member of the Chosen or some other group with aggressive designs. Not someone who could be trusted. That was something of a shame because he would have appreciated having someone with such skills on his side.

Nicolai had Cyberwarfare hide him over the Local as he crept towards the location Cyberwarfare had marked on his map, his drones returning to roost and deactivating themselves to stop them broadcasting signs the hacker might recognise.

He opted to keep his Soul Sense out and roaming, as the vast majority of people in the castle had yet to become Cultivators. He felt he had decent odds of being able to get an advantage on the enemy by viewing them from a distance with Soul Sense.

This proved true as he paused by the entrance to the room, his Soul Sense peeking around the corner as he silently lowered the bags to the ground.

With grainy soul vision he saw a figure standing within. It was a tall, middle-aged, balding man wearing rags and scavenged armour, no weapon but a simple dagger tucked into his belt.

However, one of this mans arms was extended, and his hand was split apart. A dizzying array of mechanical parts, long and slim metal fingers, antennas, and jacks that squirmed in the air.

Nicolai recognised this as an advanced lower-arm replacement augment, an information type. A tool of the trade for hackers and data analysts both.

The room was otherwise empty, excepting the standard ever-burning torch.

Nicolai re-activated his Local connection. The drones buzzed into life to burst out the room and streak down the corridors around him, searching for anyone else.

The bald man immediately sensed the unveiling, turning in shock to face the doorway as Nicolai stepped through, levelling the AA-12 at him.

‘Who are you, and why are you trying to hack into our Network Hider?’ Nicolai asked.

The man’s hand snapped back into its default state, everything coming together to form a normal-looking hand. ‘H-hey!’ he said, raising that hand along with his other in a bid for mercy.

‘Hi.’ Nicolai smiled. ‘Answer the questions.’ He allowed the darkness to slip out from its cage, just a little. It needed to be vented and this was a good opportunity for a controlled release, a way to let off some… steam.

‘I wasn’t doing anything, I don’t know what you’re talking ab—‘

Nicolai lunged across the space between them, his face writhing. He grabbed the mans shirt and dragged him stumbling to a wall, held him against it, shoved the shotguns barrel against his face. ‘Don’t lie to me,’ he snarled, his Soul Sense darkening, dim and foreboding. ‘Don’t you ever fucking lie to me!’ he wrenched sideways and the bald man staggered and fell. The man squirmed on the floor, struggling away from Nicolai who advanced forward.

Nicolai racked the shotguns slide. It was an unnecessary gesture in terms of making the gun ready, one which only cycled an unspent round out to fall to the ground. But Nicolai was well aware of the paralysing terror most felt when an aggressive individual pointed the barrel of a readied gun at them.

‘I’ll shoot your arms and legs off, first,’ Nicolai snarled, and though these words were partly designed to generate fear and extract answers, the dark was beginning to flow and they came more from it than him. ‘I’ll fucking eviscerate you—‘

‘Don’t! Don’t!’ the bald man screamed as Nicolai raised the weapon and sighted down it.

‘No?’

‘Please. I’ll, I-I won’t lie.’ The man was gibbering and shaking.

Nicolai’s tense features gradually relaxed as he worked to shove the darkness within him back into the cage. He was pleased with himself, because he’d managed to take the urge and use it, then push it away. Although, he recognised that part of his current ease was because he fully intended to satisfy the urge. The darkness was eager to see the effect the new shotgun would have on baldie’s body, eager to turn the whimpering creature into red ruin, to spread him over the floor.

He was going to kill this man anyway, so he felt he might as well use the event to soothe his demented drives. Even his Mask was… well, not on board, but not stepping in, either. This man was a threat to the group which it cared about.

He smiled, and it was a friendly smile. ‘Who do you work for?’

‘No one!’

Nicolai frowned, because he knew that was true. His Soul Sense was tight around the man, and his eyes on the scrunched up face. He read no lie from either.

‘If you’re alone, why were you trying to hack the Network Link?’

‘I…’ the man sniffled, looking like he was going to cry. Staring down a gunbarrel often had such an effect. ‘I’m hungry. I… I’m a thief. I find groups, and I steal food from them. I ran out of sustaining Seeds ages ago, and I can’t find a group that will let me stick with them!’

All of this was again, true. That or the man was an unbelievably skilled liar.

‘Think your stealing might have something to do with people not letting you join them?’ Nicolai inquired, merely curious.

‘No, no, I don’t know. I just have bad luck. People don’t trust, in this place. They see someone they don’t know… even if they’re willing to speak, none have let me join them. At least, none of the normal people. Everyone who does let me join turns out to be insane, murderous, or just lying. People have tried to steal my Seed more times than I can count.’

Nicolai clicked his tongue and shook his head, as though dismayed by the sad state of the world.

‘I could…’ The man licked his lips. ‘I could join your group. I was just after food, that’s all. You understand, right? I’ve got—I’m good at hacking. And more! I was a scientist, on Earth.’

‘What sort of scientist?’

‘Bio-engineering.’ The man straightened up proudly. ‘GRECKON industries, NL division.’

‘GRECKON,’ Nicolai echoed. He kept his face carefully blank. He’s not one of the higher-ups. Stay calm. The dark urge was rising. The necessary questions had been asked. Now it was… play time.

Nicolai let out a strained breath as his Mask gripped tight and tried to make him to lower the shotgun. He hummed then laughed and grinned madly at the bald man, who blinked at him, looking very worried.

This was difficult. He’d lost his casus belli, his just cause, to murder this man. Now, instead, he was faced with a possible recruit. An actually useful recruit—that arm, and the skills at hacking he’d observed, were quite valuable—so he couldn’t even justify killing him because the man would be a waste of resources. His Mask, as it had listened to the man’s answers, had flipped sides.

The darkness within him was realising it might not get what it wanted, and it squirmed through the depths of his mind, seeking to come out, to take control as it had once before. Nicolai knew that if that happened it would become very difficult for him to regain that control, that this would not be the controlled venting he had intended, and his teeth grit tight as he focused.

I am Nicolai.

I am the Governor.

I am Control.

His breath hissed between gritted teeth. He wanted to scream. He wanted to raise the shotgun and blast the bastard into bloody, ruined, beautiful chunks of blood and bone.

Get. Down.

He shoved and he pressed and he squeezed and the urges receded, but then they hissed and the embers within him grew brighter, the shadows darker, and it all lunged up at him, the sudden vicious snap of a beaten dog.

The world around him was twisting, links dancing. The shadows ran in hungry streams over the walls, and they whispered their desires. Baldies face was a mass of ugly flesh. It was so difficult, so endlessly difficult, to control it all, to control himself. Recently it was every day. Every single fucking day he had to deal with this shit. It would be so nice to just give in. To let go. Just one time.

Blood bone blood bone blood bone blood bone blood bone—

Later, he promised at last, unable to find any other route but appeasement. Later.

The darkness slowly receded, sinking through the cracks in his mind to where it resided within the cage.

The world returned to normal. Nicolai was calm but not cool. He licked his lips, unaccountably worried. His ability to control the thing inside of him was faltering. He’d have to let it out, and soon. Vent it.

The bald man was staring at him and he realised he needed to speak. ‘Sorry about earlier,’ he said. ‘I didn’t realise you were a friend.’ He smiled like a sane and normal person. ‘It’s difficult out here, I’m sure you understand. I have to be a little… aggressive, to protect myself, and to protect the others who rely upon me.’

‘It’s no bother,’ said the bald man, waggling his head side to side, eyes wide. ‘So… we’re friends?’ He managed a smile.

Some more questions first, “friend.” ‘If I let you join us, will you work with us honestly? Will you be loyal, or will you try to betray us? Will you steal something and run?’

‘I’ll be honest! It wasn’t out of choice that I started stealing. I’m not like that. I’ll work with you.’

Nicolai’s eyes narrowed. There was the faint stink of a lie in there, somewhere. But he thought he understood why.

‘What if it turns out we’re all a bunch of crazy psychopaths?’ he asked.

‘Well… I, uh, of course, I’ll still work with you. That’s… it’s no problem.’ Baldie let out a terrified little giggle.

Lie. He would run. But his Mask told him it was an understandable lie.

‘Not that we are a bunch of crazy psychopaths, of course,’ he said, and chuckled, only the chuckle rapidly veered into more of a cackle and he was forced to choke it into silence. He ignored the slightly wide-eyed look Baldie was giving him, and cleared his throat. Strong leader. Firm but fair. ‘We’re good people. Just trying to survive in this world. If you stick with us, we’ll stick with you. Do you think you could work with such a group?’

The man let out a relieved sigh and then a nervous laugh. ‘Yes, of course. That’s… exactly what I’ve been looking for.’

Truth. Nicolai no longer had any reasons to doubt this man. He would be a valuable addition, and Nicolai already held some leverage over the fresh recruit due to being the arbiter of his entry, the one who let him in. Most would view themselves as being in some kind of debt to the individual who found them and let them join a group.

‘In that case…’ Nicolai found himself drawing the word out, observing the terror and hope warring on the man’s face.

‘You can join us.’ Nicolai lowered his weapon and stepped forwards, proffering a hand to the man. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked as he pulled Baldie to his feet.

‘I’m Daksh,’ said Daksh, managing a smile that failed to hide his nervousness.

‘Nicolai,’ said Nicolai, pointing a thumb at himself as he turned away. ‘Come on, I’ll take you to the others.’