At a certain point, she got the impression the wall behind the Source liquefied and his back and the rear part of his head merged into it. When the Source detached, strings of thick liquid hung between him and the wall as if one was part of the other. Instinctively, she grabbed the hilt of the sword with one hand and rubbed her eye with the other. When she looked again at the Source the strange image was gone. Everything seemed as before. She let go of the sword and tucked the small knife she dropped during the connection process behind her belt.

“The company was set up by my father. Under the former regime, he used to work as the chief engineer of bio-robotics at some governmental research center. As soon as the Emperor came to power, he lost his job and had to relocate to the Settlements. He was considered lucky. Many of his colleagues and acquaintances, who held high-level positions under the previous government, were executed during the takeover.”

“And your mother?”

“My mother died on the day of the Event.”

She paused and slid along the wall, trying to find a drier spot to seat. Drips of moisture, which gathered on the floor, soaked through her pants.

“You can sit on the couch. You’ll find it more comfortable.”

“On the couch?”

“Yes, the one over there.”

“You mean that one?” She raised her hand and pointed towards a wooden frame, rotten and splintered in several places. About half of it was wrapped in a tapestry of a dark red color, embellished with some indistinguishable motifs. A nasty patch of mold was growing over its left corner.

“There are no others.”

She hesitated, but eventually stood up. She pulled more of the tube from the wall, grabbed the sword, and walked toward the couch.

“It’s a lovely piece of work. The motifs on its tapestry depict the last stage of the Seven-year war between the West and the East. In the middle you can see the mighty Western weaponry overpowering the Eastern army machines, pushing them towards the east edge of the Dead zone. The East knew it wouldn’t last long. The Western war machines were far superior,” the Source explained.

As much as she looked hard, she couldn’t discern any of the motifs the Source mentioned. The tapestry was too damaged.

“But at the end, none of that mattered,” she remarked, observing him all the while. “The artist, who made this tapestry, didn’t have much of a critical eye.”

“You are wrong. If you look carefully, there on the last pillow, you can see a small army of Eastern soldiers ready to march into the Dead zone. Humans, not machines, standing proud, their eyes burning with determination. No fear of death. The Emperor, he must have come from the lines of soldiers just like that one. The defiance you see reflecting on their faces eventually led to his victory. The artist intuited it and wove it into his work at a time when such a turn of events was yet unimaginable. He was one of those rare individuals, who was finely attuned to the world; ahead of his time, as they say.”

“Did he sense the Event too? I’d say it played quite an important role in bringing the Emperor to power. If war machines didn’t go berserk and killed most of the human population before destroying themselves, the West would have defeated the East. Our machines were far more superior, you said it yourself. But after the Event, when instead of technology a man himself became again a decisive factor in a power struggle, and after the Western lands were hit twice as much as the Eastern by the many machines we mass-produced in our cities, yeah, then the East certainly had an advantage.”

The Source didn’t answer, nor did he give any sign of whether he agreed or not, instead he gestured for her to sit. She sat down and carefully placed the sword beside her. She was afraid the couch’s rotten structure might break under her weight, but once seated, it felt quite solid. Avoiding the patch of mold, she leaned into it. It was certainly more comfortable and drier than the cold floor.

“Cozy little place, isn’t it?” said the Source looking around and smiling benevolently.

“It surely is,” she played along, glancing warily at the decaying surroundings.

“You were saying about your father…”

She let out a long sigh, the memories weighed heavy on her mind. “After we moved…had to move to the Settlements, we had nothing. My father found a way to support us by doing what he knew best: building, servicing, and fitting artificial body parts. It wasn’t an easy transition for him. From a well-paid and highly respected job at the prestigious research facility and with a house in one of the richest neighborhoods of the Capitolium, he had to adapt to a job as a small-time, underpaid artisan in the ruthless, poverty-stricken Settlements. Luckily, his former reputation and the high quality of his work got us enough customers to get by. At times, we received orders from the Capitolium, even though the city was already in the hands of the Emperor and his sympathizers. We continued to have a few, but rich clients from there also after the Capitolium became known as the Forbidden City. My father taught me everything I know about this trade. At the age of fifteen, I resized and fitted my first raw part. It was a thumb.”

“Where is your father now?”

“Dead. Probably. He disappeared a day before my nineteenth birthday and I’ve never seen or heard of him since. All he left to me was a short note saying that he had to go and that one day I would understand. He never returned and I never understood. He also left me a suspiciously large sum of money. I used it to buy a new house and bring the business to another scale.”

“Meaning?”

“Let’s just say, if I stuck only to the legal ways in business like my law-abiding father did, we’d barely have enough to survive, and that was not good enough for me. Times changed. Taxes tripled, competition increased. Replacing body parts turned into routine craftwork. Everyone with some basic knowledge of anatomy and a bit of experience in the technology of artificial parts claimed to be an expert. And VoxDei, those corporate bastards, made it impossible for small companies like ours to gain any profit at all if staying within legal boundaries. Nevertheless, I never deviated from the high standards my father set for our services. They continued to be my company’s trademark.”

“Would he approve of it?”

She scratched her head and thought about it for a while. “To tell you the truth, I don’t care. I have no regrets about my company.”

“Tengu…he asked to meet with you?”

“Not with me personally, he asked for our services. We were one of the best in the business. I suppose that, and the fact that we were flexible with the deals of a less legal nature brought us to his attention.”

“You went to the meeting alone?”

“Of course not. H went with me, he always did.”

“H, the third member of your company?”

Her face darkened. “I’ve known H all my life. Best friends since the cradle… Our mothers met in the hospital just before they gave birth to us. He was only two days older than me and we lived in the same neighborhood, so he was the perfect friend to play with. He and I…we’ve been through so much together…”

She turned her stare to the floor as if the words she was searching for were written there. “It will sound strange, but the truth is, despite knowing him for so long, I could never quite figure him out. I don’t think anyone ever did. Anyway, he’s part of the reason, why I’m here.”

~~~

“You’re so predictable,” Ana called out into the backyard. Standing at the door for quite some time, she was observing H scrubbing the old roofless jeep. H’s tall, muscular physique with broad shoulders and big arms reflected a pure, raw strength, shaped and tested in various fighting gyms and often on the streets of the Settlements. A large scar ran from just above his right ear to the back of his neck and stood out like some kind of a warning on the shaved side of his head. His light brown hair was cut short on the top, with a few uneven strands falling over the ears in a futile attempt to cover up the scar. This tough image, however, was softened considerably by the handsome outlines of his face and clear, green eyes, which sparkled with a roguish charm.

“Just another ordinary day for you?” she tried again.

Her attempts at provocation yielded no response, so she approached the jeep. “Say, H, how about our new order…quite something, isn’t it?”

“Mh-mmm.”

Typical H, she thought, passing her hand over the hood of the jeep. “Scrubbing this ancient piece of steel or meeting the number one enemy of the Emperor is equally exciting for you, I see.”

A piece of oily cloth suddenly flew in her face.

“What the hell, H!”

“You should get ready. We are supposed to meet our contact near the north entrance to the Eastern Highlands at 5 pm.” His soft, low voice was always calm, without the slightest emotion in it.

“5 pm? But that’s in …” Ana looked nervously at her watch. “…that’s in five hours! We need at least that to get there if we leave right now!”

“Don’t know about you, but I’m all set to go. If you spent less time dreaming about who knows what--”

“Yeah, yeah, but tell me…” She leaned forward placing both hands on the hood. “Aren’t you just a little bit excited about this order? I mean, you do realize how huge is this for us, right?”

H shrugged and began to load some of the equipment into the jeep. “It might be good for the business, I’m just not sure it’s worth the risk. One can never know with those rebels.”

“Oh, come on!” Ana rebuked astonished, following H’s movements with her eyes. “We’ve been dealing with people far worse than that.”

“Yes, but with those, we’ve always known exactly what to expect. You think you know about this rebel guy, but I believe this time your unreasonable admiration for him is clouding your judgment.”

“My what?” She frowned and crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “You don’t have to go, you know.”

“Sure I do. You’re the boss. You decide, which deals we take, and I know you‘d never pass on this one. Besides, you can’t do shit without me.”

“Ahh…” Ana dismissed him with a wave of her hand and returned inside. Unreasonable admiration, right, she grunted to herself. It’s a great business opportunity, that’s all, unreasonable would be to turn it down.

Unsettled with H’s lack of interest she opened a large fridge in the kitchen and searched through the many plastic jars filled with liquid of different colors. Each had a label with a different dish written on it, but to her, they all tasted the same. She went for the orange color and stuffed another two jars in the backpack. If they were going to do some walking, a bit of food would come in handy, and she was quite sure she shouldn’t count on the rebels’ hospitality.

Margot came down the stairs carrying a sword. “You better take this in case…” She didn’t finish her sentence letting the rest of it hang in the air.

“Thanks,” said Ana trying to contain her excitement in front of Margot, and took the sword. “You coming to say bye to H?”

Margot shook her head and shrugged with an air of indifference but Ana knew her too well not to know that she was worried.

“Be a good girl, Margot! Hope to see you again in this world!” With these words that gained Margot’s reproving look, Ana rushed out to the backyard.

While H was still checking the engine, she sneaked to the jeep, threw her backpack and the sword inside, and flung herself into the driver’s seat. “I’ll be driving,” she said grinning at him from behind the wheel.

Before they drove off took she took one last look back at a shiny silver plate hanging above the door of the house. It was her little secret ritual for good luck each time they left on some shadowy business. “Orion’s Belt – high-quality body parts” read thick, black letters imprinted on the plate, with three stars above them spaced out in a slightly curved line. The company was her father’s inheritance, and although reluctant to admit it, it meant the world to her.

***

Towards the end of the Settlements, the Emperor’s neglect for everything outside the Forbidden City became evident. The road, riddled with holes and crumbling on the sides, was just another sad example of decaying infrastructure. Every now and then abandoned buildings greeted them with their sad faces made up of missing windows and doors. Ana looked at the sky. It was always of the same grey color. Had the colors had a mass, the grey would be the heaviest, she was certain of it. Suddenly, the car went out of control and she was almost thrown out of the seat. She reacted promptly, tightened her grip on the wheel, and stabilized the car.

H threw her an angry look. “Fuck, Stem! A blind man could see that hole on the road! Where were you again?”

She shrugged and gave a simpering apology.

“Just keep your eyes on the road, okay. I’ve only recently replaced the whole suspension system.”

“The whole suspension system, you don’t say! I now wish I could go back in time and avoid that hole.”

H shook his head and turned his attention to the map he just unfolded.

“Geez, H, a bit tense today, are we? That lady let you down last night?”

H puffed up his cheeks and blew out the air slowly.

“What? You wanna say that charming bad boy smile of yours didn’t work?” Ana prodded further. “Were not those keen green eyes, which can steal the soul of any lady, who stares into them, and, oh, my, so many did, were not those eyes sufficient to conquer the lady’s heart this time? And don’t tell me her hand was able to refrain from stroking at least once that untamed --”

“Heeeey!”

“--untamed hair, hiding the scar that might scare the gentle lady away?”

“Didn’t know there’s a poetic side to you, Stem. You certainly don’t look like it.”

She grinned at him. “Fair enough…so what happened? She walked away?”

“Yeah, that would be the day.”

“I see, so you walked away. What did she do? Did she cross that line? Did she want to…talk about things?”

H smirked and leaned deeper into the seat.

“One day they’ll be all waiting outside the house, and then what will you do? You have to give them some emotional feedback, man. It’s only natural, you know. Damn, hold the wheel for a sec.” Ana looked in the back mirror and started adjusting her hair. It was cut short, but the longer bangs over her forehead and ears peered from the cap and tickled her face.

“You look like a sixteen-year-old brat with that cap,” remarked H.

“Ah, you know, it’s in the genes,” she replied proudly and took control of the wheel again. “My mother looked younger than her age too.”

H sighed and shook his head. “That wasn’t meant as a compliment, Stem.”

She checked the back mirror again. “No? Why... you think my looks are inappropriate, huh?”

“Forget it.”

She chuckled. “Speaking of looks…I could fix it, you know, that scar, on the side of your head. A small incision, a few nanos, and it will be as good as new.”

H frowned. “Do I look to you like I care?”

She glanced at him sideways. “Is it some sort of a sick reminder of your youth?”

He didn’t reply.

“We were…what…sixteen, when you got it? I still remember my father’s pale face, when he saw you lying on the kitchen floor with blood pouring out of your head. I thought…” Words stuck in her throat. “It was a close call…Now that I think about it, you were one lucky mother fucker.”

“The Gods favor the crazy ones.”

“The Gods, H? Really?” She chuckled again. “What happened anyway? You never spoke about it. My father told me you were cut with an axe.”

“Could be, I don’t really remember.”

“You must have had a death wish back then.”

“If I had a death wish, believe me, I would be dead.”

There was a brief moment of silence before a wide smile spread across Ana’s face and his mouth quivered. They both burst into laughter.

“By the way, has Margot told you about Keppler?”

“Mh-mmm…” H muttered without much interest.

“It just pisses me off. Those SBP sleazebags! They’re all about fancy suits, smooth talk, idiotic phrases like: Be superior with superior body parts! But when it comes to their work, their synchronization rate is below fifty percent, and they cannot replace a single digit without having to refit it twice. Not to mention the bad quality of their raw parts…”

While she ranted on, H threw the map on the backseat, leaned with his elbow on the empty window frame, and eyed her with an edgy smile.

“Don’t look at me like this, H. This has nothing to do with Akayev. I just can’t stand fakers, that’s all.”

“I didn’t say anything about Akayev. But you certainly seem to be preoccupied with him.” His lips curved into an even more provocative smile. “And maybe you should be. The SBP got twice as many customers as we did over the last six months.”

“And yet, Tengu chose us.” She grinned.

“Don’t get too excited. We haven’t sealed the deal yet.”

The jeep shuddered as the road turned into a rough gravel path. Scattered chunks of concrete on its side - the remains of drone bombardments from twenty years ago - evoked a sore memory of the Event.

“I still wonder why it happened…do you, H?” asked Ana in an absent tone. “Such a calamity with such profound consequences, and nobody knows why.”

“Perhaps it’s best we don’t,” noted H.

Soon the gravel path disappeared and they drove into an open dry-soil landscape, raising a cloud of dust behind the car. Ana enjoyed the scenery. It was so ascetic it inspired a feeling of peacefulness.

After an almost five hours drive, a breathtaking view of the Eastern Highlands opened before them. Forests of different shades of green spread from the bottom of the valley upwards; farther away, naked rocks rose steeply into majestic mountains with their peaks hidden in a sea of fog. It was the first time Ana had driven up here and she was deeply humbled by the sight.

They stopped at the given coordinates, somewhere in the middle of the arid land, with the Highlands a couple of kilometers away. There was no sign of their contact, so they waited.

***

“Ah, having a gun would have been so much more practical.” Ana, her legs pressed against the dashboard, was examining the blade of her sword. “I wouldn’t have to drag this thing along all the time. If it wasn’t for this stupid ban on firearms…”

“You can always join the Imperial Guards, then you’d get one.” H leaned on the jeep’s hood, glancing now and then at his watch. Their contact should have arrived forty minutes ago.

“Very funny, H. As if you don’t want a gun yourself?”

“I don’t care. Guns, sticks, knives, bare hands…all the same to me.”

“Right. Do you know my father paid a small fortune for this sword, back in the days, when he could still afford such luxurious purchases?” She pointed the blade upwards and observed the reflection of her face in it.

“It’s an excellent piece of weaponry.”

“Yes, that it is indeed. It survived the Event and it serves me just as well as it served the ancient warriors of the Aynu Island. Sharp as hell and deadly. I have to give it to those Aynu people, they really are good at what they do. No wonder they have the upper hand in the production of the raw parts. Although, I never shared my father’s fascination with them. Such an uptight culture.”

“Your father knew to appreciate the quality and hard work. That’s what made him such a good artisan.”

“And I’m not?” asked Ana, shifting her stare on H’s back.

“You certainly have the talent, but let’s face it, hard and diligent work isn’t exactly your thing. You tend to look for the easy way out.”

“Is that so…”

“Unless you get all hyped up about something. Then, there’s nothing else for you, and you drag me and Margot into it, whether we like it or not.”

“Like in this case, you mean?” she asked, her tone sharpening.

H instead of responding snapped his fingers and directed her attention towards the Highlands.

A small car was speeding in front of a dust cloud as if trying to escape it. It had only a bare, red frame, with no roof and doors. When it stopped near the jeep, a young man dressed in a dark green coat and cargo pants of the same color, stood up from the seat and leaned on the frame.

“Orion’s Belt?” he asked, his deep, firm voice contrasting with his gentle looks.

H nodded.

“Follow me!” As soon as he finished his sentence, he turned the car around and drove off.

Ana and H scrambled back to their seats and followed him. He drove fast and it took Ana considerable effort to stay on his tail. Once they entered the forest he slowed down and stopped after a few minutes.

“We proceed on foot from here on,” he said and signaled them to follow, giving them barely enough time to take their stuff. Ana quickly tied her sword over her backpack, while H stashed a small machete behind his belt. Their guide didn’t seem to mind, although he had no visible weapons on him.

They walked uphill, deep into the forest. Ana had never been in such direct contact with wild nature. As a child, she spent her vacations at expensive mountain resorts, but those were comfortable, artificially-built areas with trimmed trees, small, white paved trails, and cute cottages. The real mountains were too dangerous, too far and too inconvenient.

This forest was very different. High trees were all around them, with crowns so thick and large that they covered the sky almost completely. There were no paths; the ground was steep and uneven. Unfamiliar sounds were heard from all directions. The air was something else too, fresh, moist, and it had a particular smell, which Ana interpreted as the smell of trees.

The few rays of daylight that penetrated the forest at the beginning of their walk slowly faded away. Ana tripped a few times over the tree roots until her eyes adjusted to the dark. She was very tired and had a hard time keeping up with the guide’s pace.

“Stay close. Alone you will never make it out of this forest,” shouted the guide ahead of them.

“How about a small break?” she called after him, but he ignored her and accelerated his pace.

A gushing sound of water filled the quiet night air and persisted as they continued to walk without rest for several hours. Apart from Ana’s occasional complaining, they walked in complete silence until the guide finally took mercy on them and stopped.

“You can eat and sleep for a few hours. Don’t make any fire.” His tone of voice was grating and condescending.

“Certainly a very amicable kind of fellow,” whispered Ana in H’s ear.

“You wanted to do business with the rebels,” replied H mischievously.

Each sat under their own tree. Ana took two jars from her backpack, threw one to H, and drank from the other. The guide was sitting further away, still giving them a silent treatment. She offered him the jar and asked for his name, but he continued to stare blankly into the dark woods without acknowledging her attempts at conversation. H had the annoying “told you so” expression on his face, so she lay down on a soft moss, which covered the roots of the tree, and, with the sword tucked close to her body, abandoned herself to the comfortable darkness.