NOVEL FROG Chapter 36: Hard Vacuum
Walking with purpose Rook scooped me up like a bag of grain, carried me into what seemed to be a windowless control room, and closed the door behind us. The walls were two meter thick concrete and the door was made of reinforced steel with a heavy gasket to keep it airtight.
I wasn't sure how long it would keep them out but if anything could, that door was a prime candidate. I was happy to have those twenty centimeters of steel between us and whatever was coming.
Rook went to work tapping away at a control panel. “Let's see how they handle a hard vacuum.” He said, pointing to a digital readout.
I watched as the air pressure in the boneyard began to rapidly decrease.
A panicked all frequency radio call came over the net in Hund-Katzen.
I watched the air pressure on the readout hover near zero. Small leaks were preventing the boneyard from maintaining a perfect vacuum but I couldn't imagine that mattered much to the intruders. “Aren't you going to stop?”
“No.” He said coldly. “They came here to kill me and kidnap you. I'm going to maintain the vacuum because as long as the boneyard is at negative pressure nothing can get in or out. There's no guarantee they don't have friends outside trying to get in.”
“But they surrendered.” I said.
“And fifteen seconds after we hit zero that ceased to matter. They would have done better to attempt to breach the walls and normalize pressure.” Rook locked out the console and stepped away. “They're all dead, just the same as they would be if they took a bullet in a firefight.”
I looked around the control room. There was no dramatic pounding on the door or gloved hand clawing at a window. It was quiet. Dead quiet. Rook had pressed a button and killed them all.
There was no rage or panic in his face, no sign of guilt or remorse. He had eliminated the threat with no more emotion than if he were throwing out a bag of garbage.
Rook turned to face me. “I told you that I was not a gardener.” He said.
I looked down at the white tile floor. It was clean, cold, and sterile like everything else here in the boneyard.
“How many?” I asked. “How many did you just kill?” I could feel tears forming at the corners of my eyes as I thought about the katzen in the boneyard who died as the vacuum ripped the breath from their lungs, boiling the blood in their veins.
“Somewhere around eight, perhaps more.” He shrugged, not really caring. “I do not regret killing them. They chose to come here, they chose to sneak in like rats. So I exterminated them, as I would a rat.”
“But you just killed them… you didn't even hesitate. You didn't even blink…” I was at a loss for words. A firefight was one thing, but to kill so coldly, to just press a button and kill eight people. That was wrong. That was evil. “You just murdered them all. You're a fucking monster!”
Rook let out a low growl of disgust and I realized then that I had gone too far. “Would you feel better if I were injured and limped to the control panel leaking blood? Would you rather I kill them one by one in a firefight they could not win? Or would your honor prefer that I leave my weapons behind and crush their skulls with my bare hands? Dead is dead, little one.”
He got right in my personal space, tilting my chin up with a finger, forcing me to look up at him. His warm brown eyes were out of place compared to the coldness of his gaze and the tightness of his jaw.
“I am not a monster, nor am I evil. I am merely efficient. I do not cloak my strength in weakness to make what I do appear sweeter to others. I am honest and unconflicted. I am what I am and I do not fight it. I do not pretend that I am weak because I am not weak. I am strong. Just as you are strong.” He let his hand fall.
“You have made a choice to shun your gifts and others will suffer for it. Maybe not today. But someday you will see the consequences of your refusal to rise up to meet your own potential. And when you do, you will weep.” He pointed back at the bathroom door. “Now, go wash your face and compose yourself. The day is not over yet.”
“Fuck you.” I said softly as I looked him in the eyes, my rage beginning to rise. “Thank you for saving me, but fuck you all the same. I'm nothing like you. I will never be anything like you.”
“No. You will be so much worse.” Rook said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “The others don't know what you are, but I do. I know your lineage and your family history. Your mother Esmeralda burned whole worlds before she came here and your aunt Nemeria worked side by side with Gershwin in the camps.”
“No…” I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it. That wasn't possible.
“Your precious grandfather was the son of a butcher who killed millions. Who is to say he was not just as much of a monster as Gershwin? What are you, Eden, if not the spawn of monsters?”
I clenched my fists. I wanted to hit him until he stopped saying these lies. I wanted to beat him to death. My breath started to become rough and ragged. I would kill this insolent piece of shit with my bare hands and I would enjoy it.
Rook looked down at my clenched fists. “Good, you have brought yourself to a boil. Now release the pressure and calm yourself. Rage is a useful tool, but a poor master. It may come when you call, but it must leave when it is not wanted or needed.”
“What?” I asked, realizing that I had been played. “You were just testing me? You were winding me up to see what would happen?”
“No, you pissed me off. So I returned the favor. You are an amazing person, Eden. Your innocence is wonderful and precious. But this world is not made for spoiled children who live in worlds of eternal summer and warmth. Winter is coming. The avalanche is coming. And only the strong will survive.” Rook sat down carefully in one of the rolling office chairs next to the control panel. He smoothed his ears back with his massive hands like he was trying to get rid of a migraine.
“This is so fucking frustrating. I love Simon like a brother but he really should have taught you more about how the world actually works.” He laughed at the irony of the situation.
“And yet, I find myself envious of your innocence. I view it as progress that one of our children should be so naive. What a wonderful world to live in where we can raise children who live to see adulthood not knowing how to fight! Truly this is a golden age. But you and I both know what follows a golden age. Darkness and war. The great rebalancing.”
He looked up at me with his warm brown eyes. “You told me it was better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war, but war is coming and which are you? Who are you, Eden Braverhund-King? Will you stand and fight if needed or will you let others die for your precious honor and morality? You are going to have to choose because if you don't then the decision will be made for you.”
“I'm not a killer.” I said, “Nor will I ever be one.”
“Then you're not a savior either.” Rook replied. “And you will be forced to watch powerlessly as bad things happen to those you love.”
“Just because you like war and killing doesn't mean I have to. The world isn't like that. Not for everyone. Not for me.”
“Tell that to the dead katzen outside.” Rook said, pointing to the steel door that separated us from the cold artificial vacuum of the boneyard.
I wanted to say something clever, but as I looked at the twenty centimeter thick steel door, no words came. I didn't want to believe the world was like that. I couldn't believe the world was a meat grinder that chewed up anyone not tough enough to stand up to the abuse. I had to believe that I could be a good person.
But as I thought about the dead katzen outside and the way my bodyguard had coldly dispatched them, I was beginning to have doubts about the world and my place in it. How good could I be if I surrounded myself with people like this? How could I be good when this much evil was being done on my behalf?
But no. That wasn't right. He was forcing me into a corner with flawed logic, dragging me down to his level. None of this had been my fault. They had only come after me as a result of Simon’s work.
“Rook, you are so full of shit that your eyes are turning brown. I'm only in this mess because someone was trying to get one over on Simon and he didn't think to warn me or take precautions ahead of time.”
“You may have dragged me into your world temporarily, but this isn't how I live. This is not normal. This isn't how the world works.” I said defiantly.
Rook shook his head. “Believe what you want. I'm done trying to reason with you. I'm just going to do my job and keep you safe until Simon gives me the all clear. After that, you're on your own.”
“What do you mean, on my own?”
“It means exactly what you think it means. Our licensing prevents us from interfering in police affairs. So once you put on that badge we can't help you anymore. You're going to have to fend for yourself or rely on your fellow officers. Unless something happens here at the factory or in the villa we can't help you.”
Rook leaned back in his chair. “Good luck with that by the way. I'm curious to see how long you manage to hold onto your precious world view after you've spent some time working in the most corrupt police department in all of Espa. Simon seems to think you'll manage or maybe he's hoping it will toughen you up. Either way it's not my problem. I'm going with your father to Katzenlund after this.”
“What's Simon doing in Katzenlund?” I asked, puzzled by this new information. Nobody told me that Simon was going to Katzenlund. We didn't have any factories out there and most of it was barren desert, worthless land where nothing had grown since the cataclysm.
“I can tell you since negotiations have finally finished, but he is taking over the northern continent. Everything above the Dari Canal is his now, lock stock and barrel. Your father just bought his own country.”
My first thought was one I never would have expected. “GG is going to be pissed.” I said.
“Indeed.” Rook rumbled.