In the distance, Abbas saw a group of police cruisers gathered around a hauling platform, from it—a huge crane reached out over the water, a steel cable plunging into the depths. Abbas’ cruiser pulled alongside the platform and he quickly leapt onto it.

He stormed toward a group of officers staring down at the cable whirring through the water, bringing up some mysterious catch. “Well, what is it? What have you found?” he demanded, coming toward the Officer in charge.

“Sir!” said the Officer upon seeing Abbas. “We don’t know what it is, but it’s big. It was on top of the surface refuse, so it’s only recently gone down there whatever it is,” the Officer replied. The winch wined as Abbas peered in anticipation. “Our projections show this area as a likely impact point. Looks like we may have found it.”

Abbas smiled, standing back, arms folded and waited. Soon the wire was zipping out of the water and nearing the surface they saw a dark shape appear. With a sloshing of foam, the object was pulled clear out of the water. The officers and agents on board the barge all stood in awe at the sight of what they’d found. There, hanging upon the wire was a strange craft shaped like a golden disk, its surface carved with fine, intricate patterns.

Abbas hadn’t expected to be so caught off guard by the object’s beauty. In Babylon, form followed function, and was usually left at that, with no consideration of aesthetics. This vessel however, seemed to take aesthetics very seriously. “Incredible,” he managed to utter.

“What is it, Sir? I’ve never seen anything like it. What is it made from?” asked the Officer.

“Gold,” Abbass stated. “Get it down on the deck, now!” he demanded.

The Officer turned to the man operating the winch, “You heard! Lower it on deck, bring it in!” The arm creaked under the weight of the object. “How does it work? Where are the rotors? The engines?” the Officer asked.

“This uses a technology that is much more sophisticated than that,” Abbas replied.

The disk rose over the deck and was gently lowered until it lay flat. Abbas was the first one to it, ravenously curious. He stopped just before it, his hand extending, quivering. His heart beat erratically and his breath quickened. The intricate patterns embossed on the golden surface of the ship gleamed in the dark, their coiling flow glittering. He touched his hand upon them, a welling of emotion overcoming him.

“Sir, are you alright?” the Officer asked.

Abbas turned to him, a look of animalistic ferality on his face. “Of course I’m alright!” he hissed. He turned back to the vessel, rubbing his hand over the patterns, then, climbing aboard he looked through a transparent sheath what appeared to be a cockpit. He lay flat on top of the object, peering within. “No!” he yelled. The cockpit was empty. He slid down off the vessel and as he landed on the ground he watched in dismay as the golden disk began to shimmer. “What’s happening?” he said, staring in alarm. The other agents stood around watching, sharing in the confusion. The disk shimmered like a mirage and slowly began to fade. “No!” Abbas said, suddenly panicking, he reached out to touch the ship, but his hand passed through it as though it were merely a hologram. In moments, the ship had completely vanished. Abbas’ fists flexed in anger. He wanted to blame someone but he didn’t know who. The officers stared on in awe.

Abbas’ comm received a sudden call, he growled in frustration, flicking it open. The visage of a cloaked figure appeared, his master, Datura. “What have you found?” he asked, insistently.

“We found the ship, my lord.”

“Show it to me!” Datura replied.

“I’m afraid it’s impossible, the ship has vanished,” Abbas replied with uncertainty, shame and frustration causing his voice to slightly quiver.

“What do you mean vanished!?” Datura replied in shock.

“It disappeared Sir, right in front of our eyes.”

“And the pilot?” Datura asked.

“The ship was empty.”

There was a moment of silence, Abbas could almost feel the cold chill of Datura’s fury. “Do not disappoint me. Find them.” Datura hissed as the comm disconnected abruptly. Abbas stood on the deck, seething with rage. He remembered the boy on the barge, how suspiciously he’d acted when the agents had searched the hold. He suddenly turned, looking back in the direction of the barge. “That boy! He lied to us, the pilot was on board!” In an instant he leap from the craft and was back on the cruiser.

“Turn this cruiser around, get back to that barge. Now!” he yelled. The driver nodded, blasting the engine into gear and they tore away from the platform.

“Damn it!” he yelled, slamming a fist on the polished black metal of the cruiser’s hull.

***

Thaqib stared in the distance as Halima approached him at the barge’s railing. “What is it?” she asked, noticing the concerned look on his face.

“We’ve gotta make tracks, who knows when those cops might be back. I didn’t like that Abbas guy, there’s something sinister about him. He’s no normal cop. I think he might have known I was lying, we were lucky he got called off, I don’t want to be here when he realizes his mistake.”

“But where will we go?” Halima asked.

“I’ll take you home. My old man Rast will know what to do, he knows everything. If there’s anyone that’ll know how to get you to the Order, it’ll be him.”

Halima nodded. “He’s your father?”

“Might as well be, closest thing I got to one anyway. Just hang tight while I get us ready to go OK? We’re gonna have to use the emergency speeder. I’m gonna get in it deep tomorrow when they find its gone, but it looks like its too late to worry about that, huh?” Halima watched him head into the cabin and looked to the distant lights upon the harbor.

Thaqib rushed to prepare for their departure. He grabbed his bag and quickly ran across the deck, untying the rope that kept a canvas sheet covering the speeder. He got the sheet off and checked over the controls, it all looked good. He saw Halima standing by the railing, the disk named Sol hovering over her shoulder, emitting a faint light.

“Yo, Halima!” he called out. “We’re all set, lets go!” he was confused when she didn’t respond. After waiting another moment he figured she mustn’t be able to hear him over the wind that was still howling across the deck. The rain was starting to come down again after a brief respite and he found it strange that she was still standing out in the open. He made his way over to her. “Halima, the boat’s all ready to make tracks,” he said approaching her. She didn’t respond. “Halima?”

He came up beside her, he couldn’t see her face as it was obscured by her helmet, but he noticed her hands gripping the railing, gripping it tight as though frozen. “Halima?” He asked looking around at her face and shocked to see an expression of terror upon it. Sol chirped as though asking him to help her. “Halima, what’s going on, you OK?” She still didn’t respond, her eyes were fixated on a point out in the water he turned to follow her gaze and suddenly took a step back, eyes widening when he saw what had captured her attention. Something was rising to the surface, speeding directly toward the barge. “What is that?!” he yelled out. He saw a dark shape crest the waters, cutting through them, heading directly toward them and picking up speed. It wasn’t just the shape that unnerved him, it was the size. He had a sudden urge to move, he didn’t like the way it wasn’t slowing down. “Halima!” he yelled trying to get her attention, suddenly his instincts came over him, he grabbed her and leapt backward as the object hit the hull of the barge. Thaqib and Halima went tumbling from the shock of the impact, landing painfully on the deck. They looked up to the railing where moments ago, they had both been standing. Thaqib watched in horror as something from a nightmare appeared over it. A black tendril, writhing, searching. For a moment he was lost, fixated on this image of terror. Then, Sol whizzed down in front of him, urging him to wake up. He got the message, suddenly regaining control over himself, leaping to his feet and helping Halima up. “We gotta get out of here!” he yelled. Halima nodded, she was still unable to speak. They turned and ran, Thaqib helping her along. He helped her into the speeder and then leaped into the cockpit. Over his shoulder, he saw something that made every hair on his body stand on end. A writhing black shape of smokeless fire—darker than any shadow—stood upon the deck, shimmering. He could feel its gaze.

Thaqib took a breath and almost instinctively grasped the leaver to release the escape boat and yanked it. The speeder dropped, Thaqib’s stomach going up with it. As though in slow motion—as the boat fell—he saw the terrifying visage seem to sense what was happening and come barreling toward them. The Boat slammed into the surface of the water and without hesitating, Thaqib ignited the engine and the speeder roared to life, kicking up water vapor in its wake. He heard the thundering sound of the beast coming toward them, a sound like rushing water, and he let the engine rip just as a thick tendril appeared over the railing. In a second, the speeder was tearing through the water and the barge was disappearing behind it. Thaqib looked over his shoulder, and saw the strange shape fall into the water. The speeder rocketed toward the city, leaving the barge and whatever had been on it in their wake.

***

Abbas spotted the barge—a dark shadow floating upon the water—it seemed suspiciously devoid of life. “Get me over there! Now!” he yelled to the driver of the cruiser.

The cruiser rolled up beside the barge. There was a dark aura upon it. It floated in deadly silence. Abbas jumped aboard as soon as they were next to it. He looked around anxiously, running to the cabin, desperate not to have missed his opportunity. He stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing slick black sludge spread all over the deck. “No!” he said, kneeling down, scooping the sludge up and staring at it. “No—this cannot be.” He turned, following the trail down to the railing, hoping his worst fears were not true. A Shayateen had been here. Had it gotten them—the object of its desire, the one who had piloted the ship? Had it taken the boy also? He followed the trail, at the end of it he discovered the crumpled canvas tarpaulin, the missing speeder. No, it hadn’t succeeded, they’d gotten away. Abbas looked out toward the city, knowing that’s where they would be headed. He pulled up his comm. “All units on the harbour, there’s a speeder on the bay. Find it!”

He ran back to the cruiser and jumped upon it. “Sir?” asked the driver.

“To the port—now!” he said as the cruiser roared to life and ripped through the surf. He turned to an agent on board, “Find where that boy lives, the one that was on the barge.”

“Yes, Sir!” the agent replied, ducking below deck where a cabin awash in green light from a myriad of computer screens lay.

Abbas stared into the distance, to the dark city rising up above the outskirts. “You haven’t gotten away from me yet.”