Spacebound Chronicles

Chapter 12: Napper

As the first Friday of the month, today was the monthly Chimera meeting in Supreme Commander Shay’s Fortress, the gloomy castle sitting alone in the center of the even gloomier grassy plains.

Thanks to his mom’s request for him to pick up bread on his way from school, Brisk Haverson ran uncharacteristically late, pacing quickly through the candlelit corridors of the familiar palace. In the hurry, he had almost forgotten to put on his lion mask, but that would have been unforgiveable. The Chimeras relied on anonymity to maintain secrecy within the organization, with only the five founders knowing the identities of all the members.

However, once he pushed open the grandiose red doors leading to the Grand Hall, where the meetings invariably took place, not single soul was wearing a mask. The surprise went beyond that, as instead finding the usual ring of two dozen robed figures all he saw were the young Zero Guy, the white furred monster, Ares, and…

Napper.

Only once had Brisk seen the old cyborg human out of his Chimera robes, and that had been enough. All his limbs were cybernetic, each of them alone containining more upgrades than all of Brisk’s gear put together. Still more frightening than his body was his mind. Behind those robotic eyes and snow-white hair there was the brain behind the whole idea of the Chimeras and much more.

Napper turned to him.

“Uh… where is everybody?” Haverson asked.

“This is everybody,” Napper answered, his voice as deep and commanding as always. “Because you have acted without consulting me, all of our assets have been suspended from Chimera businesses until further notice. Including our meetings. Until the Spacebound situation is resolved, all action will be taken exclusively by us, the founders.”

Brisk frowned. Ares and Zero were avoiding eye contact with both him and Napper, but there was still something missing…

“What about Lady Zin?” Brisk asked. She was, after all, a founder. “Is this because she talked about replacing you for inactivity?”

“Of course not. If anything, I value her pragmatism,” Napper was unshaken. He already knew about Zin’s suggestion. “Just like the rest of our assets, she will be going cold until things are safe. She summoned the Fiery Man into a live broadcast race event.”

“That was actually my plan, sir,” Zero said, facing the ground.

“But it was her who took leadership of the Fire Tribe, so it is her name anyone will find when looking into it,” Napper replied. “Besides, Logan Spacebound is none of our concern. By sabotaging his race, we risked losing him, and he seems to be the only lead we have on the eavesdropper on our last meeting. We are lucky he is still around.”

“Not just still around, he is more active than ever!” Zero Guy said.

“You are still keeping tabs on him with your other character?” Brisk asked Zero.

“In a way, yes.”

“Anything to report?” Napper asked.

“I think I learned more about his friend, the one who plays Jude. I think…” he took a deep breath. “I think he is part of the T-500.”

“If you are right,” Napper’s gray eyebrows angled into a V, “that must be the eavesdropper. Do you have a name?”

“I do. Snorri Gian. And there is more,” Zero took a dramatic pause that made Napper cringe. “He has been hanging around Winner City. A lot.”

“What?” Ares finally spoke. “Why the hell would a Top 500 be in Winner f*****g City?”

“Because he is looking into the Firespawn,” Napper said. “Hid noob friend is the perfect cover for him to be there, but his real angle is to try and track down who summoned the Fiery Man.”

“I thought that had been dismissed as a random spawn,” Brisk said.

“It has, by the race organizers,” Napper said. “But random spawns happen in caves, not in bonfires surrounded by worshipers. Anyone worth their spot in the T-500 would know that.”

Zero grimaced.

He apparently did not know that.

“Ares, you had stationed mercenary guards over this castle to wait for the eavesdropper to log back in, had you not?” Napper asked, turning away from them to stare at a fireplace behind him. The apparently unconnected question disoriented Brisk, but he was used to leaps in logic by the older Chimera.

“Yes. They failed,” Ares answered.

“Yes, indeed. But the question is how. How did they fail? How exactly did the eavesdropper escape?”

“Silently,” he answered. “He only killed two of my mercenaries, and none of the others even saw him.”

“Have we a method for the kills?”

“Both stabbed by venomous blades.”

“Zero,” Napper turned to the young human. “Is that something this Snorri Gian would do?”

Zero nodded frantically. “Yes, sir! Absolutely! He is a Spy and his main weapons are venom daggers.”

“Then I believe we have ourselves an answer,” Napper said. “As soon as we eliminate Snorri Gian and have him replaced in the Top 500, we shall put this all behind us and resume our operations.”

“Do you want me to c***k his skull?” Ares asked, cracking his knuckles.

“No,” Napper answered. “His has seen your mercenaries stationed around the castle. Many of the Top 500 have access to mercenary corps, but if you make contact, he will narrow it down to the only white-furred Rajaptor Mercenary Commander out there.”

“He will be dead!” Ares snorted.

“That we do not know!” Napper’s cyber-eyes pierced Ares’ gaze. “You will enlist your mercenaries to Captain Haverson’s service. Haverson, you will recruit other high-level players, unrelated to the Chimera, and form with them a pirate crew. When the time comes, you will make it look like a random raid, so that, if you fail, Snorri Gian will be none the wiser.

“Right, but how will I find him? When will the time be right?” Brisk asked.

“Zero will let you know. He will keep an eye on Snorri Gian through his noob friend, Logan Spacebound. When an opportunity arises, he will reach out,” Napper gazed over the trio around him. “Any doubts?”

All of them replied negatively and were therefore dismissed. As everyone turned to leave, Napper turned once more to stare into the fireplace.

“Zero,” he called out. “A word, please.”

“Sir?” Zero lingered behind as the other two vanished behind the great doors.

“You were the last of the founders to join, but you no longer need to call me Sir. I wanted to congratulate you.”

“Sir? I mean, really?”

“You did well, finding out about Gian, and I understand you made good judgment calls along the way, except for that Firespawn mess,” Napper said, pacing closer to Zero. “Now I want two things from you. First, promise me you won’t take stupid risks again.”

“What risks?”

“I know Parly Zin saved your skin back against the tribal champion. You’re not a fighter, you’re a thinker. I need you to be my eyes, to solve the final puzzle when the day comes, and you can’t do that if you are perma-dead.”

“Oh, sure! Okay, I promise.”

“Good. And there is one more thing, one very, extremely, important thing,” Napper’s deep voice had grown even deeper, the fire that bathed his face casting deep shadows over his facial cybernetics. “The others must not know, and you have to promise me that you will keep your cool while doing it. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir! I mean, sure! Will I be using Zero or Potathunder?”

Napper clenched his jaw and lingered his gaze on Zero’s blue eyes for a second.

“Neither,” he finally answered. “Now listen carefully…”