Part 14

Chapter 12:

A strikingly attractive young woman flung the door open without bothering to wait for me to answer it. Strange; I could have sworn I'd locked it when I came in.

She took a quick look at Kain on the couch, pulled a carton of cigarettes out of her pocket and lit one up. He stared back uncomprehendingly at her through glazed eyes.


little for peace and justice. I steal for fun; and frankly, I think your little outing will be packed with thrills for me. I think I'd like to go with you. Remember, I'm Shir of the wind! Nothing can catch me! Do you want me to come with you?"

I stood there speechless for a few seconds, taken aback by her sheer gall.

"Why would you possibly want to tell me all that? Do you know nothing about me? I'm an agent, sworn to uphold the law and promote the plans of Mother Brain; the last thing I need is a common criminal following me around."

Shir shrugged. "Well, too bad. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

"I'm serious. I won't hesitate to report your crimes just because you have some misguided desire to help me. Go back to wherever you came from and I'll forget that this conversation ever happened."



Shir laughed. "Bending the rules again, eh? Just like you did when you took possession of an illegal jet scooter?" She took a long drag on her cigarette, then coughed violently. "God, you're such a hypocrite. When I decide I don't want to follow the law, I'm a thief. When you do it, it's okay, because you're an agent and you're special. I see it all the time. The rich and powerful think they're above the law. I could have lived a charmed life like that too, but I chose to walk away from all that bullshit and live the way I wanted. So tell me, which one of us is more honest?"

"Honesty is beside the point," I said, and instantly regretted my choice of words. "I can't just let a thief travel with me, no matter how honest you are about it."

"Ah," she immediately replied, "but honesty is exactly the point. The only reason you know I'm a thief is because I told you. If I hadn't been honest, you'd never have known that I was a thief at all, and you'd have let me travel with you. Now, unless you think it's better to be dishonest than to be honest, you can't punish me for my honesty. So you see, you have to let me come with you."

I've always considered myself pretty bright, but something about her rapid speech and the way she kept jumping from one topic to another threw me off guard. My mind was tying itself in knots trying to respond to her logic.

"Fine," I eventually said. "If you insist on coming with me, I'll let you, but you'll have to learn to fight. And no stealing."

Shir rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Hugh, Anna, I think you've earned a break. Amy, could you come along and help make sure Shir doesn't get herself killed?"



We left home and teleported to Piata. Before I went out and showed Shir how to fight Biomonsters, she'd need the best possible equipment to defend herself.



Piata had the best selection of equipment in any city I'd been to so far, including ceramic armour and advanced laser weapons. I spent some time browsing through the stock, admiring the fine craftsmanship of the laser swords.



When I'd finished making my selections, I noticed that Shir had given us the slip at some point.

"Maybe she's gone back home," Amy suggested.



Sure enough, Shir was waiting for us at home, sitting back in a chair with her feet propped up on the table.



"Wait a minute," I said. "What kind of explanation is that? You can't just wander off whenever you feel like it."

"Oh, lighten up. You were ogling all those swords for ages. Can you blame me for getting a little bored? Besides, it's not like I put you in any danger -- we were in the middle of a city."

I sighed. "Well, fine. Just don't do it again."



As we left, I noticed a new dagger at her belt.

"Shir," I asked, "since you value honesty so much, will you answer a question for me?"

Shir shrugged. "Depends what it is."

"Did you steal a dagger from that weapon shop?"

Shir fluttered her eyelids. "Maybe."

I shook my head in angry bewilderment. "Why would you do that, Shir? I could have bought you a pair of laser knives if only you'd asked, but instead you go and steal a plain old dagger!"

"What I want to know is why you pay for stuff in the first place. I mean, if you're such a big important agent, why don't they just give you what you need to do your job?"

"The world doesn't work that way, Shir," I said wearily. "I prove my worth to society and help the people of Mota by killing Biomonsters, and receive a commission from Mother Brain for my services. With that commission, I buy the equipment I need to do my job more efficiently, enriching the shop owners who spend time and effort supplying weapons and armour to people like me."

"And then the shop owners pay their taxes and their licence fees and their utility bills, all to Mother Brain," Shir said. "End result: you've sent a whole lot of money around in a circle. Economics is such a crock of shit."

My patience with Shir was running out. "Listen, we're not going to get anywhere by arguing. Could you please just stop stealing things?"

"I could," Shir replied. "Maybe I even will. Wait and see."




We returned to Piata and finished our shopping. Amy, Shir and I were all much better protected in our new ceramic armour, and with my new laser sword in hand I could pass my old knives on to Shir. Nei complained that all the ceramic armour was too heavy and uncomfortable for her to wear, but she did take a liking to a diamond-coated razor ribbon.



We spent some time hunting Biomonsters outside Piata with our new equipment. I took the opportunity to experiment with my Nafoi technique, the most powerful variant of Foi.

"Whoa," Shir said, with genuine admiration in her voice. "Can you show me how to do that?"

I frowned. "Using techniques requires patience, discipline and concentration, none of which you've shown so far. If you want to try, I'd rather start you off on something that won't incinerate anybody if you do it wrong."



Shir turned out to be a fast learner: she quickly mastered the Ryuka, Hinas and Res techniques. All the same, I didn't trust her enough to take her with me to look for Maruera leaves.



Anna and Hugh had already proven themselves in combat; they'd be more than sufficient to tackle Uzo. Anna's slicers were lethal, while Hugh had a broad range of techniques to supplement his acidshots.



I used the jet scooter's remote control to bring it to the nearest bit of accessible coastline, and rode it to Uzo Island, southeast of the mainland. Here, if our information was correct, we could find Maruera leaves.



Almost as soon as we set foot on the island, we were swarmed by new Biomonsters. Spitfangs were venomous, while Pythons were just your standard big ugly man-eating giant worm.



Uzo was a mountainous island. Stairways had been hewn into the sheer rock faces by some past civilisation for reasons long since forgotten. The air grew thin, cold and misty as we climbed further up.



Biomonsters, unfortunately, survived up here just as well as they did everywhere else on Mota. Burnwolves were fast and vicious.



Hugh's breathing grew increasingly laboured as we climbed further up. Nei was the first to comment on it.

"Are you alright, Hugh?" she asked. "Do you need to rest for a while?"

"I should be fine, I think..." Hugh started climbing up a flight of stairs, then stumbled and barely managed to grab on to the cliff face in time to avoid tumbling downstairs. "On second thoughts, perhaps I had better rest. I am sorry for holding all of you back."



We sat down, but we couldn't rest for long: the eerie rustling of branches presaged the arrival of a pair of Glowsticks. Our bladed weapons were of limited effectiveness on the plant-like Biomonsters' hard woody exteriors, and the battle left us more fatigued than we had been before our rest.



We pressed on through a series of narrow, winding tunnels that took us even higher up the mountain.

"This is a lot of trouble to go to for some plant," Anna observed.



Further up the mountain, warm water trickled down from a large spring, making the rocks too slippery and treacherous to pass. We stopped to take a drink before turning back.



Biomonsters continued to attack relentlessly. The Scaly was a larger cousin of the Center, and had the same ability to spit a barrage of laser beams at us. Blockheads were plant-like Biomonsters with powerful limbs, but their rotting wooden bodies broke apart easily under the force of our weapons.



As we negotiated a narrow pass through the mountains, a pack of Catmen leapt upon us from above in an ambush. They were agile, but so was Anna: her laser slicers made short work of them.

"Hmm," Hugh mused. "These Biomonsters bear a resemblance to Nei. Nei, do you know what species of Biomonster were used to make you?"

"Hugh!" I hissed. "Don't ask her such rude questions!"

"It's okay," said Nei. "I don't mind if people are curious about me. I am what I am, after all. But, well... I can't answer your question, Hugh. Sorry."




Another series of tunnels took us further up the mountain. After extensive study and training, I had mastered the Gires technique, which would come in handy considering just how many Biomonsters were trying to eat us.



We struggled on even further up the mountain, breathing heavily every step of the way, until we reached a small plateau with a single tree on it. It perfectly matched the description we'd been given of the Maruera tree. Finally, we could get out of this place and travel to Climatrol!



I turned to look at Hugh. "What?"

"This is definitely not a Maruera tree," Hugh said. "The description mentions small hairs on the leaves; as you will observe, no such hairs are present. This is most likely a close relative."

"Couldn't the hairs have been blown off in a strong wind or eaten by Biomonsters or something?" Nei asked.

Hugh shook his head. "No, that is quite impossible. I am afraid we simply have the wrong tree."

"If it's a close relative, can't we just take a leaf and see if it works anyway?" Anna suggested.

"And have to go all the way back up here when we find out it doesn't?" I asked. "If it's the wrong tree, it's the wrong tree. We'd better get to finding the right one."



We backtracked down the mountain and found another route to the top, along with another tree. Hugh inspected it for a while before shaking his head sadly.

"No," he said, "this isn't the right tree either. This tree has serrated leaves; the Maruera tree's leaves are smooth."



There was nothing for it but to do even more backtracking and find another path up. My muscles ached from all the climbing and my lungs hurt from the cold and the thin air, but continuing on still seemed like a more appealing prospect than leaving and having to climb all the way back up later.



Hugh had learned the Vol technique, which instantly shut down a single Biomonster's vital organs. It was a great help in fighting our way through the creatures infesting this mountain.



We kept climbing, above the source of the springs, to another plateau bearing a solitary tree.

"This one has to be the Maruera tree, right?" I said.



Hugh carefully examined the tree and shook his head. "No such luck, I'm afraid. Do you see these small flower buds? True Maruera trees will not be in flower for at least another two months."



If I never see another mountain again, it will be too soon.



"No, no, this is all wrong." Hugh's assessment of yet another of the damn trees up here completely failed to surprise me. "These leaves are variegated; as you can see from this diagram, a true Maruera tree's leaves are a single colour." He looked across a gap to another plateau nearby. "That tree over there could well be a Maruera tree. I'd have to inspect it more closely to be sure."



I could have danced with joy if only I weren't suffering from acute oxygen deprivation.



I wasted no time in teleporting us back to Kueri.



Being back at ground level and with no Biomonsters hungering for our flesh was a great feeling. I paid a visit to the lab of the scientist who sent us after the Maruera tree in the first place.



I handed over the leaves I'd picked.



After all the trouble we went to in getting it, this gum had better work.

We waited while he carried out a series of extractions, distillations and whatever other things scientists do to make gum out of plants. Hugh chatted with him while he worked and occasionally fetched a chemical or a piece of apparatus off the shelves for him, but I couldn't make head or tail of a thing that either of them was saying.



After about an hour, the scientist finished his work and handed me several large sticks of semi-transparent greenish gum. I have to admit, it wasn't the tastiest-looking stuff in the world, and the way it felt slightly sticky in my hands didn't make it any more appetising.

Well, I wasn't ready to use it just yet anyway. After a hard day's mountain climbing, we all needed a rest before going to Climatrol.



When I got home, Kain had sobered up and was watching a boxing match on television, while Amy was patching up Rudo's wounds from his Biomonster-hunting expedition, and Shir was... where was Shir?



... oh no, don't tell me.

"Where's Shir?"

"She went on a walk around town," Amy said. "She should be back soon."



Shir waved cheerfully as she came in through the door. "Hi, Rolf! Home already?"

I sighed. "Empty your pockets, Shir."



 If Shir is at least level 10, she can steal the Visiphone from Central Tower's Baggage Room (the place where you normally go to store items you don't need but don't want to throw away). It lets you save your game anywhere. It's pretty handy. 

Shir reluctantly reached into her pocket and handed me a visiphone. "I'll have you know this phone fell off the back of a truck."

"No it didn't, Shir. You stole it."

"Well, yes," Shir admitted, "but you can't prove it didn't fall off the back of a truck at some point in its history."

I called the Paseo data memory service, hoping to find a record of the phone's owner. A young woman appeared on the phone's viewscreen.



"How can I help you?"

"This is Agent Rolf of Paseo. I, uh, found this Visiphone, and I was wondering if you had any record of who owned it."

"Certainly, sir. Wait just one moment, please." Soft adult contemporary music played through the phone for half a minute or so. "No, we don't have a record of an Agent Rolf requisitioning a visiphone."

"No, you don't understand. I don't have a phone."

"Then how did you call this number?"

"Don't ask. Just... don't ask."