Day 3

Sham awoke on Kryl’s sofa and blinked a blurry world back into existence. There existed a pressure on his chest—a real discomfort, as though his lungs were struggling to pump enough air. Countless fears ran through his mind. What if this was the end? What if his body didn’t refresh from this at the start of the Loop, just like his mind didn’t? What if—

But then Sham looked down to see a mass of black fur fast asleep on top of him. Tonic.

‘Oi, you,’ Sham said, but gently, and quiet too—as though he didn’t really want to wake his sleeping furry friend.

Tonic squeaked as Sham carefully pulled the cat up from his chest and back down on the sofa at his side. The cat quickly fell asleep once more.

Sham rubbed at his eyes, willing the world at large back into focus, but pressing them didn’t help. He could only wait until his eyes finally adjusted to this unprecedentedly long night’s sleep on a stranger’s sofa.

Riot was still there, too, asleep on the armchair from which she’d revealed the truth about the gold-hilted blade. She was curled into a ball, wedged between the two thick armrests, her head resting on her knees in what surely couldn’t be a comfortable fashion.

Only as Sham stood from the sofa—his joints clicking and cracking in all the usual manner—did Riot stir. ‘Huh?’ she mumbled, and Sham noted that it was the least eloquent question she’d ever asked him.

‘Morning,’ Sham grumbled, finding his voice hoarse for no discernible reason.

‘You...‘ Riot started, blinking the room back into focus in much the same way as Sham had a few moments earlier. ‘Slept here?’

‘Didn’t mean to. Must have… dozed off.’

‘In a stranger’s apartment?’

‘I was tired,’ Sham replied. ‘You won’t remember this, cos it’s from a previous Loop, but… I’ve told you before. I’m sick. Got a condition. No energy, and… aches. Pains. It doesn’t sound bad when I put it into words like that, but... it’s crippling.’

Riot nodded acknowledgement then pulled herself free of the two armrests, groaning as she stretched out her limbs. ‘I’m too old to sleep anywhere but a bed, these days.’

‘Yeah. You and me both.’ Sham looked down at the sofa to see Tonic staring up at him with wide eyes. It meowed, as if to say, “Not me, I can sleep anywhere.”

‘So,’ Riot said, rubbing at her eyes. ‘Where do we start?’

Sham screwed up his face. ‘Just like that?’

‘Like what?’

‘Just… you’re on board? You’re willing to help me?’

Riot raised an eyebrow. ‘Should I not be?’

‘No, it’s just… The last couple of Loops, you weren’t quite so…’

‘...Co-operative?’ Riot guessed.

‘Yeah.’

The woman pressed her lips together, but said nothing. Even she, apparently, couldn’t refute that particular adjective.

‘I was hoping,’ Sham said, ‘We could find your brother. Together. That with you at my side he might be a little more willing to tell me what he knows.’

‘He’s not being co-operative either?’ Riot asked.

‘Yeah. Must be a family trait,’ Sham replied as he bent over some to scratch behind Tonic’s ear. He received a grateful purr in response.

‘Doesn’t sound like him.’

‘No?’

Riot opened her mouth to back up her previous assertion, but then seemed to think better of it.

‘But first… I’d like to see a man about a skill vial,’ Sham said.

‘I thought we’d settled this…’

‘A skill vial? You mean…’ Riot paused for a moment, licking her lips as she grappled with her thoughts. ‘I’d heard rumours, but I didn’t think they were true. They’ve distilled skills into consumables? And not ones like…’

‘Not like boono, no. The real thing. Pure. A little too pure if you ask me.’

‘Never thought I’d be called “pure”...’

‘Happened…’ Sham continued, counting back the days and working out just what part of the Loop he was in. ‘Happened two days ago, ignoring the Loops. If we’d been outside last night, we’d have heard it on the streets. The public at large know it by now. And that includes those who recognise just how valuable these vials are.’

Riot narrowed her eyes, comprehending this rather mind-boggling news. ‘Thieves?’ she finally asked.

Sham nodded.

‘Won’t that be dangerous?’

It was Sham’s turn, this time, to raise an eyebrow. ‘You never seemed like someone who’d worry about something like that. I’ve seen you storm where we’re going with a revolver, fearless. I’ve seen you punch me in the face several times. I’ve seen you keep a man hostage. I’ve—’

‘You’ve seen me what?’ Riot asked.

Sham shook his head. ‘Nothing. Point is: I never thought a little danger would put you off.’

The woman shrugged. ‘It wouldn’t. I just like to know where I stand.’

Sham pulled his eyes from Riot and to the revolver, lying on the floor exactly where his friend had dropped it the previous evening. He groaned as he bent to pick it up, but pick it up he did, and passed it to its owner—to someone who might actually know how to use it. ‘Here,’ he said.

‘You think we’ll need it?’

‘We’re about to visit some dangerous people; I wouldn’t mind them knowing we have it.’

Sham and Riot journeyed across the city via the tram network; how else would they get from A to B? This transport infrastructure was the great unifier between the castes of Haven’s society. Both rich and poor used it, and used it regularly, so much so that the use of these vehicles were free, paid for as part of the resident’s income tax. Though that didn’t mean the rails were rolled out to every district of the city, of course…

The ad placements were not yet updated with the enrolment posters for the Citizen’s Police, and they wouldn’t be yet for another couple of days. Instead, there was only faded, ripped prints, advertising a massage parlour, a pocketwatch store, a holiday resort in Harbourage. But the CP posters would come before long.

‘You said others remember,’ Riot suddenly said, piping up at his side. She kept her voice quiet in an attempt to prevent others from overhearing them, though failed to reduce her volume quite enough. ‘This loop, there’s others out there who remember it,’ Riot said. It was a question phrased as a statement.

Sham nodded.

‘So I suppose these Loopkeepers are some of them.’

‘Yes, but they’re about as useful as… Well, I can’t think of anything as useless as them.’

‘And…’ Riot went on. ‘Can I ask… is Kryl, is my brother one of these people who remember? Is that why we keep coming across each other, in all these loops? Is he the one who drags me into it?’

‘In a way, yes. He does. But only by not telling you where he is. Or what he’s up to.’

‘Not telling me. Sounds like the moron is trying to protect me.’

Sham grimaced, shook his head. ‘I think… I think he’s got other stuff on his plate. I ain’t know what it is, but…’

‘So… it’s apathy? It’s Kryl’s apathy that drags me into it?’ Riot’s wide eyes betrayed her upset.

Sham licked his lips, searched for words that might reassure her. ‘I don’t know if that’s right… I think… If you’re in the Loop, eventually you forget that there could be consequences to your actions. Cos, like, you just wake up back at the start, everything reset to the way it was. So he’s probably not thinking to protect you because whatever happens to you will be un-done on the ninth day anyway.’

‘That’s not as reassuring as it should be,’ Riot said, casting her eyes away from Sham and out the tram window at her side.

‘No,’ Sham agreed. ‘It isn’t.’

When they finally arrived at their destination at the edge of the Harbour District, Sham noticed that Riot’s posture was tense. She gripped the revolver tightly in the left pocket of her jacket. She wasn’t scared, no. Just cautious. Here was the Riot that Sham had come to know; he’d almost wondered where she was, this Loop, and couldn’t help but think her vulnerability in front of him had changed the manner of their relationship.

‘Where we headed?’ she asked.

Sham pointed straight ahead, to Asa’s warehouse at the end of End Street. ‘There.’

‘Care to tell me how this gets us a skill vial?’

‘Just… follow my lead,’ Sham replied.

‘You haven’t given me much so far to reassure me that you actually know what you’re doing.’

Sham couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Chuckle?’ Recollection repeated. ‘When was the last time you chuckled?’

As was increasingly the case, Sham ignored the voice of the living skill that existed only in his head.

‘Then let this be my chance to prove it to you,’ he said.

They stepped up to the gate in front of the warehouse, and Sham nodded to one of the guards. He realised quickly that he recognised the pair standing outside; these were the two canoodling two Loops ago, in his misguided attempt to sneak into the warehouse.

‘I’m here to speak to Asa,’ Sham said as the guard came within earshot.

‘He expecting you?’

Sham chose his words carefully. ‘No,’ he said. ‘But he’ll want to hear what I have to say. I have the solution to a problem of his.’

[HEART OF JANUS] OF MUTUAL BENEFIT: SUCCESS

Well played. It’s not a lie, not really. You really can solve one of Asa’s problems. And the guard doesn’t want to risk being the reason his boss doesn’t get his way.

The guard stared at Sham, and then at Riot, for a few moments longer, as though he hadn’t already made up his mind. Perhaps he was simply considering how letting them in might backfire. Perhaps there was still that element of doubt in the back of his mind, whether or not Sham had convinced him with his Rare grade Heart of Janus skill. It wasn’t Legendary grade, after all.

Asa’s employee eventually swung the creaking gate open, just wide enough for Sham and Riot to enter one at a time, and then led them towards the warehouse. Riot’s eyes were wide as they entered the crack between the great sliding doors, and remained wide as the guard told them to wait where they were, in the centre of the building with the offices on ramparts hanging above them.

The wary eyes of other guards remained fixed firmly on them for the few minutes they were waiting, leaving them with not a second with which to play any tricks. Not that tricks were what Sham had in mind. For once, he was operating on the level.

A loud cough at Sham and Riot’s rear announced Asa’s arrival. When the time traveller turned to face their host, Sham caught him staring only at himself, with a curious gaze between narrowed eyelids.

‘Asa,’ Sham said.

The man in front of them said nothing, his lips not moving a muscle.

‘I know you don’t know me,’ Sham continued, ‘But I’m here because I think we can be of service to one another.’

Only then did Asa speak. ‘Not often that I get strangers in here.’ He made, notably, no mention of Sham’s proposed deal, instead apparently preferring Sham to be the one running his mouth.

‘No,’ Sham said. ‘And you’d know that anyone who wanted to hurt you wouldn’t wander in here like we just did.’ Sham paused, for a moment surprised by the lack of Heart of Janus skill check—but then, to his surprise, found that everything he’d just said was true.

Asa studied him for a moment, perhaps making skill checks of his own. Perspicacity, or Cognizance, or the like. If there were indeed skill checks, they did not seem to count against Sham. ‘You were saying you could help me out?’

Sham heard Riot shift her weight between her feet; not a nervous habit, but perhaps preparing herself for action. ‘I was saying,’ he continued, ‘we could help each other out. Would you trust a man who came in here saying he’d help you for nothing in return?’

A sly grin crept across Asa’s ugly mug. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I supposed not. Well, then, I think we better talk in my office.’

With that, Asa turned on his heel and began on up the metallic staircase to the room suspended at the top of the warehouse, a clang ringing out with every heavy step. Sham and Riot followed in silence, none of their footsteps making quite the same racket as Asa’s, and found that the guard from before was following up at their rear.

Riot shot Sham a raised eyebrow. ‘What could these people possibly have that you would want?’

Sham said nothing. They reached the top of the staircase and entered a room of which Asa was holding the door open.

‘Please,’ Asa said as he sat behind his desk, pointing to the single seat facing it.

Sham gestured for Riot to take it, but she shook her head firmly. ‘Well, if you’re not gonna…’ he said, placing his arse in seat.

‘The deal, then, Mr…?’ Asa started.

‘Tilner. Sham Tilner.’

‘Right. Mr Tilner. What is it you’re here for, then? Cos I ain’t got all day.’

Sham licked his lips once more, again imagining Riot doing the same. ‘You have a shipment coming in today. I know what’s in it.’

Asa’s face remained neutral, but the guard at the door tensed up at the mention of the skill vials.

‘I want one,’ Sham continued. ‘As payment.’

A pause. Asa studied him. ‘In return for…’

Here was the tricky part. Sham picked his words carefully. ‘I have it on good authority that you need someone to make a deal for you. Someone with no ties to your organisation, in case the police turn up.’

‘Oh? And who’s it that you heard this from?’ Asa growled—but his voice was still thick with amusement.

‘Does that matter? They’re right, aren’t they?’

Asa shrugged. ‘So you do this favour for me, and I give you a vial? That’s it, is it?’

‘That’s it,’ Sham replied with a nod.

‘Quite a steep price for such a simple task.’

‘Simple, yeah. But important too, right?’

Asa’s lack of reply spoke volumes.

‘So where is it, this trade?’ Sham already knew the answer, of course, but he didn’t want Asa knowing that. He could only push the “I heard you’re making a trade” so far before it began to demand urgent answers.

The sly grin returned to Asa’s face, his eyes lighting up with amusement. ‘Plenty Harbour,’ he eventually said. ‘Be there two hours before midnight. I got my men storing a crate on a red fishing boat. Small, like. You take it, you head to the end of the harbour, and you give it to a foreign-looking man.’

‘There it is again, you remember? Foreign-looking. Can’t trust a man like this. Can’t trust him to give you what you want.’

Asa seemed to notice Sham’s glazed expression. ‘You following so far?’ he prompted.

‘I’m following, don’t you worry.’

‘You give the crate to him, and you bring what he gives you back to me. Understood?’

Sham nodded.

Asa turned to Riot, this only maybe the second time he’d cast his eyes in her direction. ‘And you? You’re going with him?’

Riot opened her mouth to speak, but Sham feared an incorrect answer.

‘Yes,’ he butted in, receiving a glare from Riot in response. ‘She’ll be there. That a problem?’

Asa pulled down the edges of his pressed lips. ‘Ain’t see it would be.’

‘Good,’ Sham replied.

Good indeed. Because this time, with a friend at his side, he might just be able to stop Mona’s father from getting caught in the cross-fire.