Page 47 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

Gantrax hive mind; it had gone mad. Victor had been stung in his left side. The rest of his
patrol killed it but failed to keep the stinger. They incinerated the body. The medics did all
they could. The poison ravaged him, making his nervous system fire sporadically in violent
spasms. He would recover from time to time, but there would be no cure until the Unity and
the Unat arrived in the Empire. As it was; only a partial cure could be made. He occasionally
relapsed. A maid came into the room and whispered something to Sylvie

“Victors awake, and the strange thing is he’s lucid!” Silvie exclaimed and they rushed to
Victor’s room…

Lomax and Dreck were in a rundown suburb of Hellion City, known locally as Bedlam
Bronx. They had taken an auto cab rather than their car, so as not to arouse suspicion. They
were stood in front of a dishevelled apartment block. It had once been a smart looking
Hotel, but now looked like a stage set from some crummy tri-vid horror movie. The name
above the door read “Jupiter Vistas”. Lomax read the occupant lists on the door entry
system and pressed the button for the Janitor. A creaky voice came from the dilapidated
speaker.
“What da yaws want?”

“We can’t get no answer from 113, Can you buzz us in, we is the Force” Lomax said using
the best accent he could manage. The door lock clicked and buzzed and they entered the
hallway.

Inside was surprisingly clean and bright looking. The Janitor looked at their ID’s and
pointed them to the elevator. It was a manual contraption that must have been at least a
couple of decades old, but it looked brand new. They entered and pressed the button for
the appropriate floor.

“How come this place is so clean?” asked Dreck

“It’s a Force owned place for “people of interest”. We keep a number of these places
around the city. This one’s for old lags that have health issues. The Janitor is a retired Officer
from The Black Guard. The “inmates” are allowed certain freedoms in exchange for a little
service doing monitoring of the Underground Sub Space system. The guy we’re going to see
is one Carlo Perkin. He was a master forger. It was one of his notes that was found in the
wad the Caveat Brigade gave Whelks”

“An invite eh? Clever” Dreck responded. They found the room and entered. Carlo was
recumbent in a chair at a desk. He was wearing a breather kit. He looked round at the two
of them and smiled.

“’Steve Lomax; it’s good to see you. Sit yourselves down. I was just finishing a little piece for
the Chief. He wanted a copy of that old document of his Grandpa’s. What brings you to the
neighbourhood?” he said motioning them to a sofa.

“One of your old notes a 100 Groat turned up
in a Caveat Brigade payment. You wouldn’t
happen to know what that’s all about now
Carlo.” Lomax asked