The District Nine Murders

[Bygonehero]

((posting the intro first, gonna be kinda long but I'm aiming for a neo-noir detective story involving my character, the Vaurca Nyx))

Prologue- Arrival

Color, shape and thought surrounded Nyx. A panoply of ideas unfettered from three dimensional space and time, they ebbed and flowed into each other and from each other. These noetic masses merged, split and appeared from nothing. Each a tangential cloud of multi-hued and multi-faceted snapshots, all colored with a gamut of emotions. All were windows into the being of their origin and the essence of their soul. Larger masses surrounded the Conductor, and though Nyx was apart, he was also within them. Yet he did not lose himself in these eddies of consciousness, instead his mind focused upon a noetic navigational debate. Nyx flowed ideas to his kin, one that took a hardline approach to navigational data, and demanded scouts sent to the approaching system. His kin then cited the histories of Sedanis, and the ancient spelunker's, those that delve into the unknown. They argued that true exploration and knowledge that comes with it would be lost to them if they deny the catharsis the unknown would bring. The debate, as usual, was split and noetics flew in dazzling speed into and out of each other, yet the discourse was never lost or chaotic within these amorphous masses, no one was ever left behind. In the end a compromise between the two modes of thought was made, resolving both noetics into one homogeneous whole. Nyx returned to the noetics of the ancient spelunkers out of curiosity. He immersed himself in the idea of braving the lightless chasms of lost Sedanis, of exploration itself. During his processing, he felt himself pulled and swept away towards and past the Conductor. He flowed back into himself, away from the others and their ideas. Like water draining from a basin he was carried away. Color, shape and thought flew past him, senses and sensations beyond sight twisting into incomprehensible static and ash before that too was replaced with nothingness. In this void between, Nyx awoke.

Nyx unplugged from the Virtual, the data port being removed from his skull with a dull wet click, leaving his ocular organs to see the stark metal interior of the hive ship. His drones VR pod shuttered, then manipulated forward, and he moved fluidly from the container, his mind already searching for his brethren in the Hive. Immediately his kin came to mind, each of their carapaced forms overseeing what little sensor data could be gleaned from an approaching unknown vessel. "It must be an emergency if we were descended so suddenly," Nyx thought to himself. In passing he noted that of the three hundred bound bodies within his muster station only two hundred remained. Removing such musings from his mind he conferred with the others assigned to the same duty and joined them at their stations, plotting a risk assessment of the alien ship. A composition of combat noetics inquired upon the status of the vessel constantly, but it's alien make, their position in this systems icy body cloud and the relative decrepitude of the hive ships sensors left much to be desired. They returned with a inconclusive No as the answer to the simple question, "is it a threat?" Belaying to the ship's design and seeming lack of weapons. Duty fulfilled, his brood-mates moved onto examining the other sensor data available to them for risk-assessment. Working for the first time in the Material brought conflicting emotions to Nyx yet he could not help but feel a yearning for the dreamland he exited only moments ago. As he worked through the list of objects with this yearning in his mind, he took note of transmissions received throughout the system, a wet slobbering sound, and could only imagine the alien forms that awaited them in this system, two thousand years from home.

Despite what he expected, what the hive may have assumed, Nyx was not prepared for what they found. On this planet, this Tau Ceti, were many species, aliens of many worlds. Cities peopled by creatures so unlike them, so alien, that it hurt to consider what other worlds existed at the horrible pinpoints of light between the dark depths of space. On top of this, the hive-ship's VR systems degraded so utterly that ascending was impossible, and so for the first few weeks of his time stuck within the Material, he switched between drone bodies when his body felt tired and documented every movement of the aliens. The humans, the tajarans, unathi and skrell. They meet diplomatic noetics in bulbous suits, they come with unknown devices, and offer some other devices. Behind and before them, always following metal automations sample the air, their movements too fluid for any mechanized form to Nyx's knowledge. It did not take long for communications to develop, pamphlets written in alien scrawl cyphers soon became legible text. A understanding of sorts was established, and then, the unthinkable happened. The hive-ship moved. In a span of days the decrepit ship that had been his hives home for the last 2000 years moved one final time. In angled lancet camera windows Nyx saw its titanic hull reflected off of the ice crystals that surrounded it. Their leering starlight bathed the hive-ship in shadow as it approached its final destination, orbit around Tau Ceti. This unimaginable risk, this totally unknown situation was beyond catharsis, beyond madness. To Nyx it was suicide and cut off from the Virtual he couldn't share his concerns, he could only watch in dull horror as the planet that could very well be the death of his species approached.

Nyx crested the final outcropping, overlooking a titanic wound in the earth. He was lucky, he knew that. His wounds minor, the rest of his exploration party were eaten alive by K'yi Yol'ax, beaked demons from darkness. Even he wouldn't have made it this far without Jekk, but in the last cave in, they were separated. He regretted these thoughts, and reminded himself of the importance of his duty, Nyx checked his mapping device for the boarder of Zo'ra and Ba'tke hives and as expected, he was beyond it. Territory locked from either hive could now be proven to belong to Zo'ra, it was on their tectonic plate after all. He just needed to return alive with this data. Looking past the geological plates end, down miles into its lightless depths Nyx could see bubbling blood flowing from the fissures lowest point. It bellowed forth in red-orange torrents, blasting the entire cavern with heat. Shielding his eyes Nyx scanned the top of the cavern for peculiar features but was interrupted by a harsh buzzing sound from beyond the precipices edge. His V'krexi, Jekk swooped in front of him in a flash of iridescence. Jekk landed above him on the caverns low ceiling, skittering at his side and looking down at him with its multi-faceted eyes. Nyx's antennae twitched as he stared across the chasm to the other side, he tried to judge the distance from his viewpoint, but found that he could not, why would he be able to? He was not an explorer, not at all. But why was he here? In trying to remember the journey he must have tensed, causing Jekk to drop down from the ceiling, landing at Nyx's side. Jekk cooed in a dull timbre echoing off the heat blasted stone, and, unexpectedly, spoke.

"You alright Nyx?"

To Nyx's horror Jekk's carapaced face began to melt and flow together like wax tallow, its eyes running like mushy liquid torn from egg yolks in their center. Its mandibles melting together to form a beak. The demon repeated itself in hideous glee.Nyx doubled over from surprise and fear, and in his stupor slipped and fell into the yawning fissure behind him. He sank into its inky blackness before awaking with a horrible series of clicks to the pitter patter of rain on corrugated metal. Checking his surroundings he was kicked in his carapaced side by another Vaurca struggling through sleep, with no help thanks to Nyx. He moved slowly out of formation, careful as to not disturb his standing hive-mates as he stepped out of their ramshackle dwelling into the slums of Biesels district nine. He grabbed a cloak as he exited and threw its hood over his head. He had come to hate many things about their current situation, but he hated rain most of all. Not because of the errant droplet causing physical pain when it hit the eyes, but rather its unnaturalness. He wondered how humans could stand sleeping while billions of tiny missiles poured throughout their living space. The sound of it, disturbed Nyx in such a way that he couldn't actually place, but it felt wrong, and the wrongness of it never abated, no matter how many times he looked up expecting to see hard stone above him and seeing only the lightless chasms of night instead.

"You alright Nyx?"

Redoubling his speed and shielding his eyes through the brightly illuminated streets Nyx took a shortcut between two large buildings into comfortable dimness. Day travel was difficult for Vaurcae and Nyx avoided it whenever he could. Night was comforting in this way, but in others it confounded him, demonstrated plainly when he passed a human speaking to two unbound Vaurcae. He did not need to speak with them to know what the human wanted. Giving him a passing look Nyx took note of the human's clothes, stance and facial expression. He had studied the latter in detail not so many months ago working threat assessment, his purpose, for the hive-ship. He concluded that the human was peddling something, but moved away from their exchange as he turned the corner, towards the Eos industrial mining office. Many unbound Vaurcae risk themselves for any distraction from the material. Aliens, primarily humans seem acutely aware of this fact and take advantage of it whenever they can. Mulling over this, Nyx arrived fifteen minutes later, guided by heavy smoke burbling from tall metal stacks just beyond the work order office, its black smoke clearly visible in the blue-darkness of the cloudy night sky.

Despite the lateness of the hour a line of bound Vaurcae stood silently, only making noise as the line slowly crept forward into the mining factory. Two unbound Vaurca handlers were at the front of the line providing each bound worker a pick and eye protection before sending them forward. A neon yellow sign glowed in the dark just above the aperture bound drones silently filed through, proclaiming Eos Mining Solutions, Building a Better Biesel! Nyx knew where they were going, about the lift that ferried them down into the (chasm) mine.He found himself wishing for a moment he could join them, to go back down into a world that had solid earth, that wasn't a dream, but real, as real as (VR?) real could be.

He must have been staring, because one of the handlers asked if he was alright. Nyx had been daydreaming more often, ever since his hive-cell was disbanded for no longer being needed. His hive cell was regulated by a group of combat noetic's becoming one of the first groups of Vaurcae boarded in District Nine as a ship moored in orbit did not necessitate the need of constant threat screening. Offering quick assurances to the worker he moved away to the industrial office building. Its front plastered with Nanotrasen signs,completely obscuring window view. Moving inside he saw that the industrial office was nearly empty and clicked a sigh of relief. The human attendant was polite enough and spoke at length about current employment contracts approved by the Biesel government. Mining contracts, Research contracts, civilian and logistical, pilot and commercial were available, and all held two things in common. They all paid a pittance, and they were all outside of Nyx's abilities. This had been a regular ritual for him over many months, and every time he had left disappointed. The human, Shelly flapped her gums together, the wet slobbering sound humans called speech, detailing how sorry she was, and if there was anything else she could do for him. Nyx politely declined and turned to leave, when the shrill sound of Shelly's voice stopped him.

"We do have one opening for someone with your skillset. It's on a Nanotrasen owned station, the--" Shelly hesitated and produced a few keystrokes, her purple fingernails a practiced blur of motion. "Exodus? It looks like they've several openings on their security personnel list. I can help you with the application vetting process, it shouldn't take more than a few days for them to get back with us!" Without thinking Nyx thanked her and accepted her find. He knew a bit about Nanotrasen,it was mentioned many times during their lessons on human interaction. Nyx used visual signature for his papers as he had not yet learned the written basic alphabet, a problem that wouldn't exist if he still had reliable access to the Virtual and hoped that they were made available permanently soon. Thanking Shelly Nyx left the building and pondered his luck. A space station? He thought of the bubbling magma from his dream, and looked to the sky. In the smoke filled chasm of night above him filled with the dying gleams of light polluted starlight Nyx pictured himself an explorer and imagined the unplumbed heights that his kind have yet to tread. This made him ache for his dream, not the one that his unconscious mind, with all its horror and hopes fed into his brain while he slept, but a controlled, sane, and perfect virtual reality.

 

Chapter-1 The Talking Corpse

 

Malone watched the Vaurca with the same interest of a man who was watching paint dry. From his seat behind the one way mirror, he could see the veins bulging from the neck of sergeant Hudson. Hudson, rest his soul, had been given the honorary title of Chief Xenohabitation Officer by the stiff necks of Mendel's political elite. A regular king of the Ant-Hill, ant-hill being a nickname the station picked up ever since the district's new inhabitants moved into its abandoned industrial parks. Malone hated the nickname, to him outsiders seem to forget all too quickly that other people lived, and continue to live in district nine before the bugs came. Malone stirred in his chair, taking a drag before setting his cigarette out in his half finished coffee. He stared at his half reflection in the one way mirror, a face that held a quiet solemnity and prenatural age that only years as a homicide detective, or drinking could produce. Refocusing on the activity within the room Malone looked through his mental checklist. Hudson had threatened, pleaded and negotiated in a span of hours with the Vaurca, who simply stared back at him with black, pitless eyes and expressionless faces. Every now and then Hudson might get a response or two from the bugs but just as well every now and then one of them would let out a thin stream of drool from their maws. Hudson was getting nowhere, Malone knew that but he doubted that Hudson did. Playing good cop and bad cop was high on Police Sergeant George Hudson's list of favorite things to do, even though he mostly played bad cop.

Leaving Hudson to continue to beat his head against the wall Malone left the interrogation room for some fresh air. He picked up his hat before checking his mental notes. Four dead, all Vaurca, all with no witnesses or forensic evidence. Every one of them had their cybernetic implants stolen, and every one of them had been dead for at least a three days before they were found. The case had broke a week before to the public, and now the city and Vaurcan officials wanted action. They even gave the murderer or murderers a name, The Repoman. Malone supposed this was an assumption by the press, as its not been identified whether or not the killer is male or female, though he concedes that Repowoman is nowhere near as catchy. He exited the station, stopping at the parking garage for a smoke. From his pasteel and mortar vantage point, he could see overtop most of the ex-industrial park, it's rusted factories replaced with rusty dwellings. The only building that rose higher was the old carbon capture plant in the parks near center.It gargantuan fans sucked and blew out air in massive volumes, and even from this distance, the dull hum of its spin could be heard. Malone supposed that now it would be a phoron capture plant, but hey, semantics. It was ironic, in that so many of these factories were put out of business by phoron, that one of them rose back from the dead because of it had to be a cosmic joke of the universe. The city bought the plant almost immediately after the refugee agreements were signed. Vaurca, after all, seem to exude phoron, and the local populace didn't enjoy the thought of millions of metric tonnes of it being dumped into the air they breathe. Malone was almost finished with his cigarette, allowing its smokey calm to wash over him when his radio squawked to life. Another body, another Vaurca Malone guessed, and he was right, partially.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Guest

[Bygonehero]

Chapter-1 The Talking Corpse

 

Malone watched the Vaurca with the same interest of a man who was watching paint dry. From his seat behind the one way mirror, he could see the veins bulging from the neck of sergeant Hudson. Hudson, rest his soul, had been given the honorary title of Chief Xenohabitation Officer by the stiff necks of Mendel's political elite. A regular king of the Ant-Hill, ant-hill being a nickname the station picked up ever since the district's new inhabitants moved into its abandoned industrial parks. Malone hated the nickname, to him outsiders seem to forget all too quickly that other people lived, and continue to live in district nine before the bugs came. Malone stirred in his chair, taking a drag before setting his cigarette out in his half finished coffee. He stared at his half reflection in the one way mirror, a face that held a quiet solemnity and prenatural age that only years as a homicide detective, or drinking could produce. Refocusing on the activity within the room Malone looked through his mental checklist. Hudson had threatened, pleaded and negotiated in a span of hours with the Vaurca, who simply stared back at him with black, pitless eyes and expressionless faces. Every now and then Hudson might get a response or two from the bugs but just as well every now and then one of them would let out a thin stream of drool from their maws. Hudson was getting nowhere, Malone knew that but he doubted that Hudson did. Playing good cop and bad cop was high on Police Sergeant George Hudson's list of favorite things to do, even though he mostly played bad cop.

Leaving Hudson to continue to beat his head against the wall Malone left the interrogation room for some fresh air. He picked up his hat before checking his mental notes. Four dead, all Vaurca, all with no witnesses or forensic evidence. Every one of them had their cybernetic implants stolen, and every one of them had been dead for at least a three days before they were found. The case had broke a week before to the public, and now the city and Vaurcan officials wanted action. They even gave the murder or murderers a name, The Repoman. Malone supposed this was an assumption by the press, as its not been identified whether or not the killer is male or female, though he concedes that Repowoman is nowhere near as catchy. He exited the station, stopping at the parking garage for a smoke. From his pasteel and mortar vantage point, he could see overtop most of the ex-industrial park, it's rusted factories replaced with rusty dwellings. The only building that rose higher was the old carbon capture plant in the parks near center.It gargantuan fans sucked and blew out air in massive volumes, and even from this distance, the dull hum of its spin could be heard. Malone supposed that now it would be a phoron capture plant, but hey, semantics. It was ironic, in that so many of these factories were put out of business by phoron, that one of them rose back from the dead because of it had to be a cosmic joke of the universe. The city bought the plant almost immediately after the refugee agreements were signed. Vaurca, after all, seem to exude phoron, and the local populace didn't enjoy the thought of millions of metric tonnes of it being dumped into the air they breathe. Malone was almost finished with his cigarette, allowing its smokey calm to wash over him when his radio squawked to life. Another body, another Vaurca Malone guessed, and he was right, partially.

 

The first part of the first chapter. Still working on finishing it.