HAWK

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: TRAUMA (4/6)

'What's wrong?' Astell grinned. 'Thought you'd be happy to see me.'

Kas's lower lip quivered with rage. She didn't know what to think, let alone say. Astell regarded her with a look of victory.

'How?' It was the only word Kas could manage. Too much was happening all at once for her tired mind to process, and Astell knew it. His big dumb grin stretched even wider.

'How what?'

'I saw you die.'

'You mean on the monitor? C'mon Kas... you should be old enough to know you can't believe everything you see on TV.'

Kas wanted to scream. She tested her limbs against her restraints but she was much too weak and they were far too strong. She tried to relax, but a sharp pain lit up the inside of her head. She squeezed her eyes closed and rode it out.

This can't be real...

Astell laughed. 'Y'know, I've actually missed you these last few days. The way you talk to me like I'm some dumb-ass cap who has no idea what I'm doing. And now you finally understand it was you who was the dumb one. Man, it feels good to finally say that. You think you're better than everyone else, don't you? But look at you now.'

Kas drew a breath and opened her eyes. Her brain waves were going crazy.

'Either tell me what's going on here or shut the hell up.'

'Why? You gonna hurt me, mohawk? Gonna beat me up? You can't even stand up.'

'Let me out of here and let's see.'

'Nice try, but Swanne wants you wiped and I'm not about to take any risks. It took me long enough just to convince her we weren't working together. She actually thought I was the one who showed you how to get here.'

'So you work for Swanne?'

'I thought that was obvious by now. Thanks to you, I've just earned myself a big promotion.'

Kas tried to concentrate. So many thoughts were rushing through her head at the same moment that picking one out was like trying to catch a single fish amongst a fast-moving shoal.

'That's why you were always after me, isn't it? She sent you to get Hik.'

'Finally worked it out, huh? I can't believe I spent so long trying to get him away from you, only for you to bring him straight here. You would've saved everyone a lot of trouble if you'd just handed him over to me when I asked.'

Kas's anger filled her up like some foul and toxic water. It bubbled up to her brain and had the effect of connecting a few of her synapses because another thought occurred to her... though it wasn't one she liked.

'Hold on, you only tried to take Hik from me after I left Chantos. But that's not how we met. We met at...' She trailed off, her thoughts catching up with her words.

'The Black Hole,' Astell finished for her. His knowing smile amplified her fears.

'The clerk said all the pods were taken, but that wasn't true, was it? What did you do? Bribe him to tell me that just so you could sell me that pod of yours?'

'Pretty much.'

'Why?'

'Swanne wanted to know how much you knew about the X1 and the Chains in case you could trace them back to her, and since I couldn't exactly just come out and ask you...'

Kas closed her eyes, her fear realised. 'You hacked my sleeping pod.'

'The Black Hole's cheap for a reason, Kas: their security sucks. It took a couple of local hackers less than an hour to turn that SD pod into a makeshift dream module. When you went to sleep that night, it wasn't your dream you were in.'

Kas wanted to throw up. 'What did you do?'

'Oh, we had a good chat. Talked about this and that. Once I confirmed you knew nothing about Swanne or Lor's murder, you and I actually had some fun.' Astell's tone chilled Kas's blood. He could've done anything to her in his own dream and she would've been powerless to stop him. She opened her eyes and stared daggers at him, wanting nothing more than to break free of her restraints and show him what violence was.

'You'd better hope I don't get out of here,' she said, 'or I'm going to kill you. And this time, I'll make sure you stay that way.'

But the threat only seemed to amuse Astell.

'Actually, you'll be out of there soon enough. But somehow I doubt you and I are going to be fighting. Just the opposite, actually.'

Astell raised a hand and tapped on the glass. Kas's bed began immediately tilting backwards, lowering her into a horizontal position.

'You can't do this,' she said.

'Relax. In a minute, you'll be fast asleep, and all of this will be nothing but a bad dream. Not even that.'

'Stop,' Kas pleaded, but the nitroglass wall suddenly turned opaque, blocking out any speck of light and returning Kas to the shadows. As her breath quickened, a small white circle materialised in her vision. It began growing and shrinking repeatedly like a digital heartbeat. Kas had no idea what it was but she didn't think it was likely to be anything good. She closed her eyes to escape it.

The pain was as sharp as it was sudden. A small but intense surge of pain pierced her temples and forced her eyes open to look at the circle. She tried to look somewhere else but a second shock warned her not to. Her lips peeled back in a sneer. She'd never felt so utterly powerless, so weak and hateful. She stared reluctantly at the small white circle as it gradually began growing larger and larger. Before long, it became so big that it surpassed her peripherals and she could no longer see it.

The darkness faded to a warm orange light and then into a fast cycle of colours that soon tired her eyes. She thought about closing them again as her only means of protest, but she knew doing so would only cause herself more unnecessary pain and further aggravate her brain waves. With no other choice, she resigned herself to watch the colours and soon found herself beginning to feel strangely relaxed. The pain in her body was dissolving, as was the fog that had been clouding her mind. She realised the colours were invoking some kind of trance but she didn't try to fight it. It was the most comfortable she'd been in days.

She was no longer thirsty.

No longer angry.

No longer afraid.