Kaleb stumbled panting into the warehouse, closely followed by the man who had saved him. After his brush with the organ donors they ran away as fast as they could and travelled downward. They ended up in an area full of empty warehouses and large buildings made of thin metal that seemed to sway ominously in the winds of the pillars. It was a cluttered messy area, but so far, Kaleb had seen no one following them.

“Whew, I think we made it safely.” the man said. He didn’t seem out of breath in the slightest

“Yes. Ah, thank you… thank you for saving me.” Kaleb said

“Hey, that’s ok. What were they after you for anyway?”

“Ah… They wanted my organs”

“Your organs!? I mean, I know that happens, but it seems like a lot of effort to chase someone down for them, usually they just find drunks”

“Hmmm… they said it was because I didn’t have spikes. That their boss had found out somehow.”

“Huh?” The man looked at Kaleb curiously, “No spikes?” He appraised Kaleb again “you’re not brethren though, and you don’t seem like the puritans. So where’d you spring from?”

“I’m from a pillar a long way away… It’s called Haethea, it’s all alone in the mists, you see… we don’t have any spikes or anything there…”

“Haethea?”

“Yes”

The man snorted. Kaleb wondered what was so funny, but didn’t want to ask. Maybe it was the dust in here anyway.

“Whatever are you doing here?”

“Well… I came to see cable city” the man snorted again. Kaleb frowned indignantly, and the man made an attempt to adjust his expression “I wanted to see the world, and not just live my life at home” Kaleb paused “and I mean, I’ve met some nice people, I’ve also been attacked pretty much constantly since I started travelling through the pillars”

“Ah.” The man looked really guilty for some reason “I’m sorry about that”

“It’s hardly your fault”

The man nodded

“What’s your name?” Kaleb asked

The man looked at him, but frowned and didn’t answer the question. “Do you really have no relationship to silent knife?”

“You’ve asked that already, but I have no idea who or what you mean. Is it some kind of code?”

Again. No answer. “Mmmm So no one put you up to this?”

“No!”

“I suppose that’s what you’d say if they had.”

“I’m not lying! I promise! I’m just out seeing… seeing cable city. Why are you so suspicious? You’re the one who came to save me”

“Someone instructed me to”

“Huh?!”

“Well I suppose either you’re very good at lying or you’re not aware of it. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t seem like someone who’s very good at lying”

Kaleb let out his own snort –this one of indignation.

“I suppose there is only a wrong way to take it when I put it like that isn’t there? I mean to say, you seem honest.”

“Well thanks I guess”

“Hmmm. Well then if this isn’t a trap, I guess that puts you in more danger than I thought”

“Huh, how so?”

“Well if you’re travelling around like this –alone and without spikes– you’re in for a serious voyage my friend” The man gave one last glance at their surroundings through the door, and, seeming satisfied, moved away from it and over to Kaleb. “Do you mind?” he asked, raising his hand questioningly

“Mind what?”

“If I have a look at your field.”

“Ah, sure I guess”

Kaleb felt the prickle of field generation again, moving over his skin.

“Yes. I see.”

“See what?”

“Your field is very different from those of the people who live in this place. It’s not immediately apparent to everyone, especially not a distance –there’s a lot of noise in the world after all, lots of fields– but there are sensory field generators in the world who are much more specialised at detecting and analysing field activity… they could certainly identify the fact that you don’t have spikes. You don’t have any defenses at all”

“Oh.”

“It’s alright but… do you really not have a group of people to help you? And you’re not here to like, get spikes are you?”

“No!” Kaleb was horrified at the thought. It somehow felt… dirty after all the whispers and culture of Haethea, to do something like that. He didn’t mind others having them, quite frankly he was jealous… but it was never his intention to get spikes, he realised, and he’d never even considered it before the man posed the question. “No, I’m on my way somewhere, though.”

“Oh, where’s that?”

“I can’t say…” said Kaleb, and then decided to play his evasive answer up: “after all, you keep asking all these questions… but you could have set that attack up yourself– so that I might trust you, you know.”

“Ah, yes, the old fake organ donor attack ploy”

“I knew there was something off about it all”

Kaleb and the man sniggered stupidly. At this moment of levity, Kaleb suddenly felt the adrenaline disappear out of his system. His body abruptly wanted to crumble into a heap. It hurt everywhere.

“Oh man, I really wanna sleep for like a day”

“I’m not surprised.” The man tapped his finger on his lips for a moment, thinking. “I have somewhere you can go for now.”

“Oh… ah, that’s alright! I can… um find somewhere to rest” Kaleb mumbled. The man chuckled again.

“I’m sure you can, but seriously, don’t think you’re imposing. I can’t just save someone from the organ donor list only to find their bed for the night ends up being the operating table.”

“Hmmm… well, if you really don’t mind.”

“I’ll go one better. I insist.”

“But… um, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?”

Another snort greeted this question.

“My name is Erid,” he said.

After Kaleb introduced himself, He and Erid made their way up the pillars again, stopping at many points while Erid checked out the coast ahead of them, across from them, all around them. Kaleb’s legs ached even worse.

“Something’s wrong” said Erid. These were not the words Kaleb wanted to hear.

“What?”

“Businesses are closed, people are rushing, they look nervous.”

“Could it be what you did?”

“Nah, I mean, you’re not important are you?”

Kaleb’s mouth hung open

“I am to me”

“That’s the spirit… alright, let’s go.”

They dodged through the scarce pedestrians and made their way past shuttered shops and people peering through windows. Suddenly Erid pushed Kaleb into a space between two buildings and joined him there. A few long moments later, a group of men ran past. All of them were massively built, and Kaleb felt the tingle of field generation. They didn’t encounter any more groups like that until they reached a door set into a wall at the back of a dingy alley several dozen levels further up.

“This is the spot, here” Erid knocked on the door in a pattern. Kaleb shivered, suddenly realising he had no idea who this person was. Knocking in patterns, running from groups of dangerous people, rushing in to save him from probable death and certain dismemberment… Kaleb was beginning to think that he might have thrown in with someone just as dangerous as all the other people seemed to be in cable city.

Just as he was contemplating making a break for it the door opened and a large man stood in the passage behind it, bundling Erid into the vestibule. He looked Kaleb up and down and then grabbed him and pulled him in too. Then the door closed, and everything was dark. Then a single bare lightbulb in the ceiling flicked on.

“You goddam idiot” the large man who’d opened the door hissed at Erid, pinning him to the wall by his jacket. Kaleb was shocked, but just watched on, his worry only increasing.

“Was it you?”

“Huh? Me what?”

“Did you kill Arleigne?”

“Who on earth’s that?”

“Ok. I guess not.” The older man took a step back, his eyes thoughtful. “I wonder if that knife used you… again.”

“Hey!” Suddenly Erid seemed much more dangerous than he had – even when he had faced down the people attacking Kaleb. Kaleb swallowed at the pressure emanating from him, but the other man seemed unconcerned.

“I don’t mean to offend, but you should approach everything with a degree of sense, boy.”

Erid took a breath. “I didn't kill anyone. At least, I don’t think any of them would have died from what I did”

“She wouldn’t have been fighting. Sensory exclusive.”

“Well then definitely not”

“It looks very bad, everyone in the whole settlement’s on edge. I can’t say what plan you’ve been a part of, or if it even was a plan judging by how chaotic everything is. There’s been nothing. Nobody moving in to claim the space, just the same team running around trying to catch the one who nabbed her – don’t be surprised if you get a few tails or more after your own stunt. I really can’t say what will happen now.”

“She was putting people on the organ donor list.”

“Hmm.” The old man raised an eyebrow at this “Yes, I’m sure she is”

“And so you stood by and let it happen?”

“Arleigne is–was as bad as every petty criminal in every fronteir settlement. I’m not a vigilante.”

“No, but you are…” Erid suddenly stopped and looked at Kaleb. “Maybe we should speak about this later.”

“Quite right. I’m most interested to know who you’ve brought to me. I hope it’s not the sign of more trouble to come. My name is Essan, it is a pleasure” He proffered a hand to Kaleb, who took it with what he hoped was a smile. Kaleb looked at Erid, looking for something, but his eyes were still filled with stone, looking away, staring off into some unmeasurable distance.

“Ah. I’m… Kaleb. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Charmed. And now… I suppose that we should discuss what has happened, and what we’re going to do from here on out.”

And with that, Essan led Kaleb and Erid up the narrow stairs. Kaleb had never been in such a cramped and tightly wound staircase before. It seemed to wrap in upon itself in some ill-defined way, and even though they’d only followed the single route upward to its zenith, he still felt lost by the time they got there.