NO PLANET

'KAUL KATO' (Chapter 5)

Ky was breathing wildly, chest heaving. His eyes darted left and right coming to rest on the reflective panel on his wall. He saw a boy in the reflection sitting bolt upright, sweat beading at his temples, mouth panting, tightly gripping an out-stretched gun aimed out in front of him.

"Fuck." He shouted, throwing down the gun.

He was in his hut. He knew that. It was just a dream.

Ky wiped the sweat off his forehead and scrunched his hair before letting his arms just drop exhausted at his sides.

"Fucking dreams." He muttered to himself.

He stood up and walked to one side of the room, to what he called the kitchen but what could hardly be considered one.

Ky didn't care. It was all he needed. It consisted of a single table and a synthetic maker. He whacked the single button on it and it buzzed. Letting it do his thing he walked to his dirty cracked wash basin and watched himself in the mirror.

What was happening to him recently? First the colour in the speeder. Then the colour in the dream. The vividness of it. He shuddered just at the thought. He rubbed his eyes.

Ignore it.

He inhaled a deep breath through his nose and exhaled out through his mouth, taking in those sounds he'd come to associate with morning over the last 9 years. He hated it. The whir of the synthetic maker, the constant drip drip drip of the leaking basin. It made him frustrated. Made him feel trapped. No matter. Haul in some Level 3 and 4 runners with his new speeder and soon he'd be out of here. He'd be on his way to find the answers he needed.

Bzzz bzzzz. His wrist vibrated and a single colour illuminated from under the skin. A green light. He was being called in.

Ky heard the synthetic maker ping and grabbed the little purple cube that had been ejected out of it and threw it in his mouth whilst chucking on some clothes and tucking his pistol into his back belt. The purple cube was his standard breakfast and dinner every night. Every nutrient and sustenance a life form needs to carry out a day. Even now Ky still grimaced through the powdery metallic taste. Through the first two years he had had to force himself not to throw it back up. He missed the roasts Angela used to make, or any food for that matter, he thought as he walked out the door.

The humidity beat down on Ky just two feet out the door. It had been relentless over the last few weeks. The planet of Arc-9 was due a storm anytime now. A big one. He could sense it somehow. Maybe it was the uneasiness of the Knarls, small scurrying creatures that crept through the city's sewers and gathered in alleys. They'd been acting strange for days now. Running into dust roads to get hit by speeders. Piling on top of each other in the beating sunlight. Ky kicked one of their mangled dead bodies lying out in the road as he walked through the city, mosquitoes preying off it already.

Ten minutes later and Ky was at the building Don Kato called 'D'igh Treyl' 'his Temple'. It was ridiculously lavish and elaborate compared to the rest of the city. Don Kato had clearly had it built in white and gold to reflect off the pounding sunlight and cause his onlookers to squint and shield their eyes at his glory. Ky stared through the searing rays and approached the door. Ignoring the barrels of mounted charge guns that trained down on him from guard towers on either side of 'D'igh Treyl' he kicked the door twice. A huge shuffling behind the door could be heard accompanied by little scuffles from the left and right. A slat in the huge door slid open and a huge mouth poked through. Two far smaller slats opened on either side and two pairs of tiny yellow eyes bore down at him. Then the huge mouth roared.

"Password" in the Arc-9 native language, which happened to be stupidly long for such a simple word. Ky stood there watching dully at each stained plate-sized tooth roar the stupid words. Long stringy wads of slobber began to fly out, Ky having to dodge a few. Tempted to go for his pistol and just fire a couple of charges through the slat at risk of being gunned down by the towers, the mouth finally finished.