Twenty Five, 14 April
We didn’t kill them
Dronikus, a novel set on a burning planet called Earth.
bleeding heavily, losing strength
‘Is it painful? It looks like pretty gruesome,’ Enrike said. Zola had dressings across his face where the Lumpyface has been removed. They were in the bay window area of Zola’s room, Enrike standing and Meriti sitting stiffly on a chair next to Zola, who was slouched uncomfortably at the far end of a couch. In the main section of the bedroom the older brothers’ rators were positioned next to Arno in its customary corner.
‘Nur was very insistent that this be done as a priority. There was I thinking that it made you look quite handsome.’ Enrike lips flickered at his own weak joke. ‘Maybe she just wants to see you as she remembers you.’
Zola remained impassive, looking out the window ahead of him.
‘We’re here to tell you about a little event to welcome you home,’ said Meriti.
‘It’s the launch of our new product to all senior staff…’ said Enrike.
‘…and a great opportunity for you to meet the Pandoke brains trust and reconnect,’ said Meriti.
‘Yes, exciting… but it’s not a big thing, we shouldn’t be giving that impression… It’ll be a lovely event…’
Zola spoke. ‘Where is she?’
Taken aback, Enrike stumbled over his words. ‘She’s… er… You will see her… soon.’
Zola stood and advanced menacingly on Enrike who backed towards the window. Meriti leapt up. Arno and the other two rators came across the room and stood close to the three men.
Enrike spoke fast, nervously. ‘She’s not here at Shangdu. But I promise that as soon as we can organise it, you’ll see her. Soon, very soon…’
Meriti positioned himself between his two brothers, facing Zola.
Zola said nothing but took a step forward.
Meriti said, ‘please Zola. Look, I know this is hard but you’ve got to be patient. You are back home now, here where you belong. Just try to take it easy, just give yourself time…’
Zola kept his eyes on Enrike, partially hidden behind Meriti. ‘Go away. I don’t want to see you or fucking to talk to you.’ To Meriti he said, ‘and you, you’re almost as bad as him. Just fuck off, the two of you!’
All three rators moved closer but the immediate threat of violence had passed.
‘Why did you have to kill her?’ Zola asked in a quiet voice.
‘Who?’
‘Chesa.’
‘Oh, you mean…?’ Enrike said. ‘No, we didn’t. We only requested that you be brought here. We said nothing about her. I found out later that she was on their list.’
‘List?’
‘Yes, they’ve got a list.’
Without pausing Zola asked, ‘and Roberto? And Agung?’
‘We didn’t kill Roberto or Arthur either,’ said Enrike.
Zola looked at Meriti who was looking out the window, not enjoying this.
‘We didn’t kill them,’ repeated Enrike.
Zola said, ‘what do you say, Meriti?’ Meriti just shrugged. Zola turned back and returned to his place in the corner of the couch.
Enrike felt himself back on solid ground. He said: ‘Arthur broke rules and the government agents questioned him and…’
Meriti interjected, ‘as you know we work closely with government on big contracts, many of which are highly secret. There are very strict protocols around who has access to what. There are sealed files. He went into files he wasn’t allowed to.’
Enrike picked up the story, ‘it’s highly regrettable, but for someone with Arthur’s experience and his knowledge to transgress the protocols can only mean that he was intending to do so. Believe me when I say that this was the government agents’ reasoning, not ours. Why would he be prying into files that he had no reason or permission to access? It could seem like he was passing on information.’
Zola shook his head: ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘It’s true,’ said Enrike, ‘I’ve seen the tape.’
‘Show me the tape.’
‘We can’t do that.’
‘Yes, you can. Show it to me. The raw footage, unedited.’
Enrike considered for a moment; he looked at Meriti who nodded. Enrike spoke into his Eyeto, calling up the footage. He commanded a rator to bring across the video screen and began to play the footage.
‘Be warned, it is not very nice,’ Meriti said.
Agung was seated in a solid chair, his arms tied down. He was mainly naked; his rolls of flesh falling down on each side of him. He sweated profusely but showed no signs of fear, weighing up each question from the malevolent-sounding controllers, answering clearly and thoughtfully. The footage had been filmed from above. Zola could only see the tops of the heads and the shoulders of the controllers; Agung looked at them off-camera and up at the camera above him. Zola felt an upswell of emotion at the sight of Agung looking at him.
They watched and spooled through the early parts of the interrogation.
‘Why look in that folder, Arthur?’
‘I’ve told you, because I thought it was my business to find out more about this area of the company that we were paying money for but that was always “off the books”.’
‘Was it the only project that was “off the books”?’
‘No’
‘Then why this one?’
‘Well I had to start somewhere. If I had chosen another, you would be asking me why I had chosen that one, not so?’
‘Why this one?’
Agung thought a moment. ‘It all seemed rather unimportant. While Sesanti on Visiwa Island in the West Isles is well accounted for, the SesantiGO2084 project is never mentioned, and although quite a large amount of money goes into it, no research reports have ever come back to us in Accounts to justify…’
A gloved hand entered the frame, grabbed a roll of Agung’s flesh and pulled sharply on it. He winced.
‘Why this one?’
Before he could answer another gloved hand, wielding a scalpel, entered the frame and made a long and deep incision in his flesh. Agung writhed as blood rushed from the wound.
‘I’ve told you…’ The hands left the frame. Agung sat fighting the pain, the blood continued to flow. A hand re-entered and grabbed flesh on the other side of Agung’s body, tugging it. The other hand entered and made a large incision. Agung cried out this time; the blood spurted. The hands left the frame.
‘I was looking for information about Leilu,’ said Agung, grimacing through the pain.
‘I see. Why? What does this folder have to do with Leilu Pandoke?’
‘Nothing.’ He writhed.
‘Why?’
The hands returned to the frame. More grabbing of flesh, more cutting, more blood. Zola indicated that Enrike should fast forward as it became more and more gruesome. They stopped at a point where it was clear that Agung was talking.
‘I was asked to find out about Leilu.’
‘By whom?’
Agung was struggling.
‘By whom, Arthur?’
‘Zola Pandoke.’
‘What?’
‘He is here.’
‘What? And you saw him? Where is he?’
Enrike stopped the playback. ‘This was the first we knew that you were here. I swear, Zola.’
‘It’s true, Zola,’ said Meriti. ‘We thought you had died in the fire on the island.’
Zola indicated again for Enrike to spool forward.
Agung was now bleeding heavily and losing strength.
‘Why does Zola Pandoke want to know about the West Isles SesantiGO2084 project and the Visiwa community?’
Blows started to crash into Agung’s face.
‘Visiwa, West Isles. Why?’
Fast forward. They stopped at points to hear what Agung was saying, but it was no longer interrogation, it was now just torture. When it was over and the controllers had withdrawn, Agung lay lifeless in the chair having bled to death, his face severely battered.
Time passed. Zola, Enrike and Meriti drank tea in silence. They had hardly uttered a word since watching Agung’s death on the video.
Zola, still with the dressings on his face, finally spoke. His voice was quiet, unemotional. ‘You’ve got an answer for everything. No responsibility on you. I understand this. That’s the way it is. But a few common denominators: these murders – first Agung then Roberto and then Chesa – were committed by faceless government lackeys going beyond their brief and, of course, none of the instructions came from Pandoke. In other words, you are simply an innocent bystander, Enrike. And, as if by some miraculous chance, the catalyst is me.’
‘Pure chance,’ said Enrike.
‘Ok.’ Zola paused, not looking at Enrike but straight ahead out of the window. ‘Why was Agung’s body left in the corridor outside Roberto’s office?’
‘What?’
‘Don’t Enrike, you knew.’
‘This is the first I’ve heard of this.’
Zola got up and began to move around the room. ‘You don’t normally give a shit what others think. I ask myself “why are he and Meriti so concerned that I believe them? They want something from me. What could it be?”’
‘We want you back inside Pandoke,’ said Meriti.
‘We need you.’
Zola flicked his head derisively.
‘Seriously.’ Enrike paused. ‘There are unexpected internal threats to the organisation. We want you back to help deal with these.’
‘This is the first thing that either of you have said all day that I actually believe.’
Meriti went to stand in front of Zola. ‘But that’s not the only reason,’ he said. ‘We are moving into uncharted technological areas that are sure to revolutionise the world. We need your help with this. Seriously, you can make a difference.’
Zola expelled air through his lips contemptuously. ‘Oh yeah?’ He turned and pointed to the terminal in the corner of the room. ‘Well, a good start would be if I could get onto the network.’
‘Oh yes, of course, of course,’ said Enrike.
‘What is the SesantiGO2084 project on the West Isles?’ asked Zola.
‘It’s a small project. Nothing much, although the government likes to treat it as top secret. It’s certainly not something that they had to go killing Arthur for.’
Zola looked into Meriti’s eyes, ‘Ok, when can I see Leilu?’
‘Very soon, I promise,’ said Enrike from his chair.
‘Well, until that time, just fucking leave me alone, ok?’
‘Except for the welcome home event, hey, young brother?’ said Meriti.
‘We’ll see,’ Zola mumbled. He stood by the door, watching as Enrike and Meriti left the room, followed by their rators. Zola heard the door click. He looked over at Arno and saw that it too was listening for the lock.
‘You’re doing a good job as my warder, Arno.’
‘Sir?’ It looked at Zola who gave a shrug and a wink.
Arno resumed its stance – at ease, facing forward.
Dronikus is a novel published in 2023, now being serialised here on Substack. You can read a chapter every week for free.
Liking what you’re reading? Don’t want to wait to see what happens next? You can read the full book now by purchasing a digital or print copy of Dronikus from:
AndAlso Books (print edition)
Amazon (epub), Smashwords (epub), Apple Books (epub), Barnes&Noble (epub)
Note from Marko Newman: Hi Dronikus readers. I hope that you are liking what you are reading. There is still a fair way to go in the story with many twists and turns to come.
For those who are joining the story I highly recommend you take the time to peruse earlier chapters to give you a bit of a lead-in to the story.
I suggest:
Chapters 1 to 3, 7, 9 and 12:
I have a favour to ask all readers: please forward the story (any episode) to anyone who you think may like this short weekly hit of fiction reading. Suggest that if they like it they could subscribe to the weekly post. Emphasise that it is free and that one can unsubscribe with one click.
If you are on Substack please recommend Hey, what’s that sound? to other Substackers.
I’m keen to hear any comments or questions or thoughts you may have. My email is: markonewman@icloud.com
Cheers, Marko