Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“Crime and punishment in a multi-system society is a delicate thing. Most planetary systems recognize the law of the United Nations Space Force, which itself drew its roots from English Common Law. Some colonies, such as the Mormon planets or the Greater Chinese Republic keep their own. Regarding the treatment of criminals, most planets have their own prison systems, but in the late 2060s corporations began offering private prisons, letting planetary governments sent their worst criminals or dissidents off world. These prison planets range from minimum to maximum security, and range in their quality of service. However, the most notorious of all the prison planets is Hades. A failed colony world, the prison is set in an abandoned city on the edge of a great ocean. Prisoners are released into its centre and left to fend for themselves and, apart from food drops, the only contact between inmates and guards occur in specially designated keeps lining the outer walls, where prisoners can request to see counsel or visitors.”

-Crime and the Colonies, a Review by Dr Albert Vintner

Monorail

Jack collapsed into the seat with a sigh and buried his face in his hands and waited for the monorail to set off, ignoring the looks his uniform got from the other passengers. He’d managed to avoid Juliet and April, waiting till they left before hurriedly heading to the control office to get the gear sent to the ARC immediately. Now he was safe the sheer improbability of him running into his old friends and colleagues washed over him, unearthing memories he’d tried to suppress for 4 years.

After his family died he became a ward of the state, moving from care home to care home until he managed to win a scholarship to a Gentech outreach program. He’d always been smart, with a talent for mechanics and science, and the program offered him the opportunity to study at a Gentech facility for the scientifically gifted. He had the best teachers, access to amazing teaching facilities, and best of all, his own dorm, no more moving around with no control over his life.

A few years later he was offered a place at the New Oxford University on Mars. Founded in the 2040s, it originated as a research station sponsored by Oxford University, but grew to become what was essentially an off-world campus for the renowned Terran university, specializing in research on fields that benefitted from its location, or that would be problematic on Earth, such as nanotech, viral pathologies, and planetary engineering.

At New Oxford he’d found a home, surrounded with people like him from around the solar system and beyond, who questioned, who dreamed and innovated. People who strove to make the world better. He’d also made friends there, people he trusted and respected, but none as much as Juliet and April. They’d met on his first day, the two of them already second years with their eyes set on their futures pushing the boundaries of genetics and biochemistry. Jack was less focused in his goals, simply knowing that bio-mechanics and cybernetics were his passion.

Somehow they hit it off instantly despite their different back rounds, their degree years a whirlwind of work and learning, mixed with fun and pranks, each excelling in their chosen disciplines. The girls occasionally complained that Jack made it seem effortless, that the things he built seemed to just spring to his mind, pushing past the obvious into new directions. Jack had tried to explain that the only reason that his learning seemed effortless was because he didn’t see the work as work. He enjoyed it all, from the hours of research and planning, to spending days or even weeks twiddling with machines in the lab.

After 4 years, all three of them had graduated early with Bachelor’s degrees and were on their way through their Masters and had a reputation as prodigies, when things started becoming complicated between them. Jack was personable, able to strike a friendship with a range of people fairly easily, but deeper relationships became a problem.

He was prepared to admit to himself that losing his family had damaged him. He always held something back for fear of getting hurt, but as the group’s friendships developed he realized that the two girls had managed to move into his heart without even him realizing. The three of them talked about everything, from Juliet’s habit of picking unsuitable guys to April’s conflict with her strictly Catholic family and her sexuality. This closeness caused a fair amount of jealously amongst both Juliet’s boyfriends and April’s girlfriends, but for years the trio had insisted they were simply very close friends. Nevertheless, Jack had always felt a attraction to both girls. He hid it out of fear they might not return his feeling and that it would damage their friendship. He’d had several girlfriends through University but all had been casual hook-ups as Jack never quite managed to be open enough for a real relationship.

After the final exam of their Master’s year the students in their faculty threw a huge party in their dorms. Vast quantities of alcohol and snack food were ordered and things quickly descended into anarchy. Juliet was off with one of her ex’s and April was moping after her current girlfriend had dumped her for someone less work driven. Jack decided to keep her company and head off any drunken attempts by April to get her girlfriend back. They’d spent the night drinking, playing games and chatting in her room until, massively inebriated, they somehow ended up sleeping together.

The next morning was still etched in his mind, the sunlight creeping past the curtains of the bedroom dragging him from sleep to stare at the ceiling through bleary eyes. He had a mild hangover, a full bladder and a dead arm. His sleepy attempt to work some blood back into it had elicited a soft feminine sight from next to him. With horror movie slowness, he’d turned his head to the side, wondering how he’d managed to end up in bed with a girl, only to have his breath stolen. April lay next to him, gloriously nude, dark red hair splayed over her pail back, open to the air from her waist up. His arm was pinned under her torso, the side of one glorious breast pressed against it.

Apparently his attempt to pump blood into his hand had ended up massaging her other breast. He stared in incomprehension, his mind struggling to make sense of the situation. April was gay, had never been interested in men in any way shape or form, so why was she naked in his bed? His head spun, nightmare scenarios passing through it. Had he got her drunk? Did she want this? What if she freaked out and thought he’d done something untoward? What if he had? He’d never forgive himself.

She’d sighed, stirring slightly, a smile on her face as her arm moved up to touch his. Her eyes were still closed, and as her hand rand along his arm to his chest. Suddenly her eyes shot open and they stared at each other, the silence growing with every second. Jack watched her breathing increase and her eyes start to widen in alarm, and decided to try and speak.

“April. I..”

She let out a sob and leapt to her feet, dragging the cover around herself as she backed away from him. Jack stood, arms held wide to appear non-threatening, but she burst into tears and fled the room, sheet barely covering her back.

“April wait..” He’d called after her, desperate to talk, but she’d already gone. He collapsed on the bed, heart plummeting in his chest as he realized how badly he’d fucked things up. She’d never forgive him. Juliet wouldn’t either. Moving like a zombie he dressed in his rumpled clothes and headed out of her room, ignoring the questions from the students around him. The next few days were a blur. He didn’t return to his flat, instead headed out into the city to drown his sorrows. Moving from bar to bar, barely sleeping as his guilt and shame burned in his heart. For the first few hours his smart-pad had gone crazy, with multiple calls from Juliet that he left unanswered.

But she found him anyway, sitting in a park under the environmental dome down town, trying to drink a bottle of something that tasted more like mentholated spirits then vodka. He was staring at the sky overhead, tracing the huge beams that held the hexagonal tech-glass panels in place when her voice rang out from Begin him.

“Where the FUCK have you been?” she shouted, anger dripping from every word. ”I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days, and now I find you’ve been sitting around getting drunk!?”

Part of him wanted to sprint away, just run, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t run from this. Wearily he sat and turned to face her as she stood in front of him, hand on hips and eyes hard. Her mouth dropped as she saw his face, 2-day old stubble and rumpled clothes.

“Not looking my best I guess,“ he joked weakly, avoiding her eyes. He grabbed his bottle with a wobble hand and raised it to his lips, but her foot lashed out to send it spinning from his grasp.

“Don’t you dare, Jack! You’re going to sober up right.”

“How is she?” he interrupted, staring forlornly at his hands. She paused for a moment before speaking.

“April’s fine Jack, been praying to the porcelain god for a few days but that’s her own fault”

“Tell her...tell her I’m sorry Juliet. So very sorry. I never meant to hurt her or take advantage I never ...”” he mumbled quietly as tear built in his eye

Juliet stared at him in shock for a moment, her mouth working silently before speaking.

“Wait. Did you think..did you think you took advantage of her?” He nodded, fighting back a wave of nausea.

“You should have seen her face when she woke up, she couldn’t even look at me. I’m...”

Hs was cut off by a pair of warm arms shaping around his head. Startled he looked up to see tears in her deep green eyes.

“You silly boy! You’ve been thinking this all the time since then? Torturing yourself? She wasn’t angry or disgusted, and you certainly didn’t take advantage of her. She thought she took advantage of you!”

“What...what do you mean? Why should she take advantage of me? She’s gay!”

Jack stared up at her uncomprehendingly.

“Yep, as gay as they come. And yet apparently the girl’s always had a thing for you. Don’t ask me why you the exception but you are” She suddenly put on a stern voice; “And don’t go getting a inflated ego about ’turning‘ her straight or anything overly masculine or she’ll kick your balls up through your head. As she explained it to me, she likes girls, and she likes you. Love isn’t just about gender or sexuality, it’s about the person. Now” she said standing and pulling Jack to his feet, “Let’s get you back to the dorms and showered. You smell like a bar room towel”

The next few weeks had been awkward to say the least, none of them quite knowing how to approach the change in dynamic. So they did what any group of slightly damaged adults would do and ignored it, focusing on their remaining lab work and waiting nervously for their results. They needn’t have worried, between their excellent results and the quality of their projects, all three gained the highest honours. April’s family even turned up to watch her graduate, the first time Jack had actually met them in person seeing how the highly religious couple frowned on their daughter’s sexuality.

They were still in their graduation outfits when a Gentech Representative approached them with a job offer. A former professor of theirs had recently been contracted to develop a new mechanism for using nano-machines in medicine, and had requested that the three of them be invited to join. They’d each receive incredibly generous salaries, and the representative sold them on the idea of revolutionizing the use of nano-machines in biomedicine, painting it as an opportunity to push the boundaries of science and benefit all mankind.

Jack leapt at the chance, and after some heartache over leaving Sol, Juliet and April agreed. So the three of them took all expenses paid journey on a Gentech interstellar ship to a whole new solar system. A single person ticket cost more than the girl’s parents made in a year at a good wage, before the three’s new ridiculously high salaries came into play.

The team was based in Columbus, a well-established Gentech colony system with a handful of habitable planets and several space station. The group aimed to create implants that used advanced computing and nano-bots, coupled with tailored bio machines, to regulate the body’s ability to heal and repair. The implant and bots would act to monitor and assess the body’s health, highlighting any issues and adjusting a fleet of tailored bio-molecules to treat them. The nanites would be used to rapidly stabilize any injury before healing occurred, but also police and dispose of the bio-machines after their purpose was for-filled.

Juliet and April had jumped at the challenge, working with their new teammates to create exiting new bio-molecules and genetically engineered bio machines to aid people, whilst Jack had joined the team designing the implant. For months he toiled away, designing the microscopic parts and systems necessary for the implant to house and regulate the nanites, whilst his supervisor worked on the control mechanisms.

Finally, the project was approved, somehow being green lit for human testing almost immediately, despite their reservations. This was partly a political move. One of the local planets had undergone space of mysterious cancers and growth anomalies, which many thought was due to some unknown local material or environmental agent effecting the Evo in the colonists’ systems, warping the miracle molecule’s ability to ensure optimal human adaptation into something far less pleasant.

A thousand of the most affected citizens volunteered for the implant, and for several months the results were beyond promising. Tumours entered remission or disappeared, physical deformities in children were corrected, in some cases people who had formerly needed glasses suddenly found their vision perfect. The team rejoiced, Jack and the girls were ecstatic in the face of their success.

And then it all went to shit.

Volunteers started to fall ill, exhibiting symptoms similar to autoimmune disease and then progressing, limbs withering, organs failing. Deformities started to develop at alarming rates. People began to die.

The team rushed to find a solution, hectic weeks of trawling through the data trying to find a possible cause, to fix the problem even as the casualties mounted. Guilt racked then all, particularly over the children. Even years later Jack still woke up tortured by the memories of their tiny bodies twisted in pain as they died. The systems government crucified them, the press hounded them, the people cried out for blood. And then one night as Jack ran test after test the local police stormed into the lab, tackling him to the ground and arresting him on charges of gross negligence and manslaughter.

He was accused of cutting corners, of pressing forward despite the dangers to satisfy his ego. He spent days being interrogated at the police HQ, as a huge mob of citizens protested outside, calling for his blood. From his cell he saw pictures of him burnt, people holding up placards and picture of dead loved ones. They showed him lab reports he had never signed, evidence of his shortcuts and crimes. No matter how often he insisted his innocence the kept at him, until after days and days part of him almost believed he was guilty.

Finally, after a week of seeing no one but his interrogators, he was allowed council, a hard faced attorney from the companied who told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t plead guilty the local government would push for the maximum possible sentence and throw him into the worst hole they could find for the rest of his life. He maintained his innocence, and asked to see his friends. For days this continued with no sign of the girls, until one day the guards announced he had a visitor. His heart leapt as Juliet entered the visitation room, separated from him by the heavy glass of the visitation station, but as soon as he saw her expression his heart fell.

She had started off controlled, talking about the steps they had taken to halt the damage in a cold distant voice, but when he tried to talk about his innocence her calm broke and the screaming started. She railed on him, believing the evidence, convinced that his hunger to innovate had pushed him too far.

“How could you, Jack” How could you do this to the people, to the children!”

And every accusation tore through him in bright bursts of pain, cutting him to the core, but it was the tears that finished him, the tears she shed at the pain and guilt she felt over the suffering. That she could never forgive him for.

“You’ve ruined lives, Jack!“ she had sobbed at the end, her voice rough from shouting and tone desolate, ”you killed children!” She’d looked up at him with her bloodshot eyes, still beautiful despite the tears and spoke the words that broke him.“You’ve ruined us. Never contact me again”

It felt like losing his family all over again. It felt worse. When they died he knew they loved him, cherished him. Everyone he knew and respected, colleges he trusted and, most devastatingly, the two people closest to him in the entire universe, despised him.

He signed the papers the next day.

They shipped him two systems over to Hades, the worst prison in nearby space. Usually reserved for the highest tier of violent offenders, the government had pushed for extraordinary punishment and since under Corp law the death penalty was forbidden, sending him to the most violent place in the sector was the next best thing. Everyone predicted he’d be dead inside a month.

But he wasn’t. Hades lived up to its name, the place was a living hell, the inmates left almost totally to themselves in a huge warren of abandoned concrete buildings that made up the prison. A perimeter wall surrounded it, from where the guards watched, their jobs simply to prevent escapes. Gangs roamed freely, violence was a everyday occurrence, and Jack had no experience of criminal life, no contacts or friends on the inside to look out for him, or call in favours. As a new fish he was bottom of the pile.

For months he lived in hell, subject to beatings and theft at will, constantly fearing for his life. The only thing keeping him alive was that as he had no contacts or connection to other prisoners, no one had a reason to really want him dead. He came close several times, a beating taken to far, a casual stabbing to exert authority. But he managed to survive, until he found a niche in the brutal world he found himself in, due to his engineering talents. One of the gang leaders somehow discovered he was tech savvy and forced him to repair a communicator for him to talk to his contacts beyond the walls. Suddenly his skills were in demand and he was usefully. Sure he still got beaten up, fix someone’s gear and their enemies might take offense, but no one wanted to risk killing him anymore, he was too useful.

Two years went by this way, and he adapted. He built up scar tissue, both physically and mentally. He learned to fight, how to take a punch, to hit back and never back down. He got people to train him, ex-military cons for unarmed combat and tactics, monsters for criminal skills. He traded his engineering talents of knowledge, the need to learn still smouldering inside him despite his fall from grace. No one would hurt him again, no one would get close. He built a shield to apathy and deflection around his broken soul.

And then one day, as he repaired one of the few clear-screens in the prison, he heard his name. New had spread of a whistle-blower exposing corruption in Columbus, where government officials were accused of pressuring a scientific group to push through dangerous treatments in efforts to rally supporters.

Jack stood frozen as the picture of his supervisor and other government officials were plastered on the screen, being held by the authorities into the very station where Jack had spent his weeklong interrogation. Over the next few days he remained glued to the screen as more and more details emerged. Accusations of corruption and cooperate malfeasance filled the news channels. People expounded theories of corporate cover ups and greed, government interference, and plain incompetence. When the dust settled his former supervisor was convicted of the same charges Jack was accused of, with the addition of perverting the course of justice and corruption. For a while Jack held up hope that he might be released, but months later Jack remained in prison, forgotten the world.

Then without warning he was told a Corp lawyer was waiting for him. He trudged through the warrens of the prison to the outer wall, and then slowly approached the Gatehouse, hands raised as Jailers with military grade gear escorted him through. For the first time he in what felt like decades he saw people who weren’t criminals, tech that hadn’t been cobbled together or scavenged.

As he entered the crisp white visitors room he was shocked to see the lawyer was a woman, wearing a tailored suit that showed off her lithe form and attractive face. Jack couldn’t help but stare for a moment. He hadn’t seen a member of the opposite sex for since his arrival.

The guard behind him prodded his back, startling him into monition, so he carefully sat in the chair provided, mindful of the armed guards stood at his back. Sitting across from the woman, he was painfully aware of the stark contrast in appearance, his patched and torn prison jumpsuit and ragged appearance against her tailored clothing and carefully applied makeup.

The woman told him that the manslaughter charged where dropped, but he still would serve 5 years for his role in the disaster, as his contract tied him to his superior’s actions by proxy. However, as his heart fell whilst she told him, there was another option.

“To put it bluntly Mr Hunt, even if you somehow appealed the ruling and were released today, what could you do? The company will refuse to pay any compensation to you; you have no money and no family. The cost of a flight back to Sol is far beyond anything you could afford, and even if you could find someone willing to hire an ex-con, it would take decades to earn a interstellar ticket on minimum wage.”

She let this sink in, acting as if Jack hadn’t considered this for years. The chance of him finding work was low, sure with the contacts he made at Hades he could find something less then legal, but he rejected that. The one thing what kept him going in prison was that he was innocent. He still felt guilt, his work had hurt people, but nothing he did had caused the malfunction. He had held on to his innocence like a shield, using it to hold himself together, and he refused to compromise his morality now after keeping it together in hell.

“However” the lawyer continued, her consolatory tone instantly raising his suspicions” there is another option. I assume you know of Gentech’s Exterminator Division? Pest controllers and the like. My employers would like to offer you a deal. Sigh up for 5 years, and they will have you released immediately. Training, equipment, and the implants you require will be provided, and a salary in recognition of the hazardous and unpleasant conditions you may encounter. You will be required to serve out your full contract, any breach in its terms will have you immediately returned to prison to serve out the remainder of your sentence. “

He didn’t speak for a moment, pretending he was considering the offer when in fact he had already accepted in his head. Anything was better than staying in Hades, it was just a matter of time until something happened, he displeased a gang, fell ill, or maybe just saw something he shouldn’t. He’s seen recruiters for the Exterminators before, grim faced men offering prisoners commuted sentences in exchange for some of the most unpleasant and looked down on work in the sector, but Jack would have signed up in an instant, but the offers were only open to prisoners with short term sentences. Now, however, Jack could finally escape this hellhole and start earning money to return to earth.

“The Exterminators use RX-5 Armour, yes. What DNI implants will the Company give me, the CV4 or CV6?”

The lawyer looked startled, obviously not expecting him to have any technical knowledge of the Exterminators gear. She looked down at her notes for the first time and scanned them, before looking up, her expression revealing that she was slightly intrigued. “The CV4 is the model provided.”

Jack nodded “If you can guaranty me a CV6 I’ll sign up immediately, the CV4 has too high a incidence of neural bio-feedback for my tastes. Plus, it’s slower.”

“Mister Hunt “the lawyer stuttered “ I don’t think..”

“Listen” Jack interrupted, leaning forwards slightly, causing the guards to tense “Let’s be real here. We both know I want this job; I’d be an idiot to say no. However, I have a background in cybernetics, and I refuse to stick an inferior implant in my brain, which I’ve put a lot of effort into, when the best version is only slightly more expensive and produced by Gentech anyway. And seeing how the current market trends show a marked decrease in the popularity of cranial implants compared to soft interfaces, I’m pretty sure you have the stock available”

The lawyer looked at him blankly for a moment, before breaking into a slight grin, apparently impressed despite herself.

“Alright, Mister Hunt, I can’t say I was expecting a negotiation here, but I’ll add that to your contract. If you would just read this”

A day later Jack was heading of planet, sat in the corporate shuttle watching the dirty green marble of Hades receding behind him.

A nearby alarm going off on a Smart-pad jolted Jack from his memory’s. He looked around the cab and caught sight of the departure estimation displayed on the front window. Apparently he’s been lost in through for 20 minutes, and for some reason the train still hadn’t left. He’d managed to get a seat near its end, just a few seats away from the curved glass front. There it he could see the solid top rail of the train, its mix of alloys and advanced composites allowing it to easily support the weight of the passenger train below and, by being wider than the carriage, it also shielded it from the direct glare of the sun above.

Jack tried to peer through the window facing into the station to work out the reason for the delay, but couldn’t see past the muttering commuters who were crowding around the platform waiting for the next train. He still had a comfortable double seat to himself as people tried to avoid proximity to Exterminators uniform, as if he had the plague. The few other passengers already on the train were mostly dressed in casual clothes, people coming back from Yorktown. Ares largest settlement and food producer. It also featured the closest thing to the parkland on the planet, the arboretum. A huge dome filled with trees and grass, designed to produce oxygen whist giving people somewhere to relax. The two kilometre wide dome was a favourite tourist destination, particularly for families, who took their children to give them a taste of what Earth was like. Jack generally avoided it, having grown up on the real thing, but a few time’s he’d weakened and made the 2 hour trip, just to lie on the grass and pretend he was back home.

He turned to a middle aged man in a workers’ uniform nearby, figuring him to be the most likely to answer.

“Excuse me, do you know what’s going on?”

The man turned to him, a frown on his wrinkled brow as he saw the uniform, but after a tiny pause gruffly responded.

“Some kind of alarm in storage. Apparently they’re having to shut down the cargo area for some reason, so the trains are getting shifted. Shouldn’t be long though.”

Other passengers were chatting around them, some complaining about the late train in outrage, causing Jack some amusement. The monorail was usually incredibly punctual, but everyone was acting like this was the end of the world. It was amazing how much people took for granted.

A gentle chime came from a speaker overhead and a pleasant sounding female voice spoke.

“Monorail passengers, we apologize for the delay in your journey, a minor problem required a change in track usage, but the situation has been resolved and your trains will depart shortly. Again we apologize for the delay and hope you have a pleasant day.”

A chorus of relief and exasperation passed through the passengers, with several comments about how it was “about bloody time”. Jack sat back in his seat, shuffling slightly as he relaxed. Soon he’s be back in the Arc, and the only thing he had to do was get back to his room and vegetate as he waited for the next call.

A chime sounded as the doors behind him began to close, when they suddenly beeped a obstruction warning. And to his dread he heard a familiar voice.

“Sorry, sorry everyone. April, come on!” Juliet apologized. ”Sorry again, my friend is just here.” There was a shuffling of feet behind him and a few disgruntled mutterings as Jack tried to sink down in his seat whist directing curses at the universe. Really!? Not just on my train, but my carriage. There’s six of the fucking things behind me, and this is the one they end up on!

The monorail thrummed to life, the electric motors overhead whining slightly as they started, slowly accelerating the train out of the station. Jack kept his eyes closed. With any luck they’d be stuck behind him for the 10-minute journey and he’s be able to get away without being seen at the other end.

He heard April behind him, his heart aching at the familiar lilt in her voice at the same time it filled him with resentment.

“Wow, good catch Juliet, the Doctor and the others barely fit into the other cabin”

“Yep, things are pretty packed in here. Excuse me, sorry, could I just..thanks. Look there’s seats up here near the front.“

Fuck you universe, seriously!

He could hear them moving past the other passengers, unaware of the reason for the empty seats.

“Hey” Juliet whispered softly, his ears just catching her words” It’s that Exterminator from earlier. We should talk to him about the you know what’s”

“OK, but I’ll do the talking. I can’t see his face but I like his hair. Very punk”

Jack had the sudden irrational impulse to stand and smash the window, his body demanding flight or fight in response to his panic. With a breath he forced it down, mentally sliding into the armour of apathy he’d built over the years.

“Excuse me,“ April said, her voice approaching and stopping by his seat, ”Are you a Exterminator? Me and my friend.....” She cut off with a gasp. Juliet joining her

“What’s the....Jack?” she coughed, her voice suddenly horse.

He sighed and opened his eyes, tilting his head slightly to look up at the girls, complete shock stamped on their faces.

God they were still so beautiful.

“Hello April, Juliet. Long time no see!”