Chapter 1: Bell
Early Evening – Jonathan Monroe
“I’d take red over yellow, but darkness above all.” — Vita Gaupt, Tetrian poet (112–78 BW)
Aria’s briefing on what he could and couldn’t do with his sept badge (much more of the latter) tired Troy out. He closed it and looked at the two kids glued to the large window in front of him. The boys, who were around the same age — nine, maybe ten years old — were arguing about whether or not they would see Tautos. Vince never went Outside in these parts — his unit mostly did missions to the south of Ares — but he remembered that Tautos was one of the larger Demons, who wasn’t very mobile and preferred to stay in the Eastern Plains area.
“I’m telling you,” the first boy kept saying, “any moment now. Dad said so.”
Vince looked around the car, trying to spot their parents or caretaker. There, a male android to his left was carefully observing the boys. Not too close to bother them, but not too far if he’s needed. Someone tuned him nicely.
“No way,” the other boy said. “We’re at the last ark already. Five lots. Five lots!”
The train slowly came to a stop, and its doors opened to let new passengers and chilly air in. Arks near domes usually had heavy traffic, but this time just a couple of travelers got on. One of them, a middle-aged woman with a high implant rate — after years of service, Vince could tell — walked through the car and stopped near him, then asked if she could sit down on his bench. The car was only half-full and there were other empty seats, but Troy said he doesn’t mind. He really didn’t: she seemed like a quiet type, and they were close to the dome.
He turned back to the kids and noticed how they froze in place. The car fell silent; like many others, Vince disabled his window filters and shuddered.
1
Tautos was very close to the train — as close as possible, Troy thought. They were still picking up speed from the last ark, and the Demon was slowly turning His hideous head in their wake. The train was thirty, maybe even forty leagues above ground, and still the carriage was at the level of His eyes — three swirling lakes of dark silver and molten quartz. The hands of Tautos, which were probably twice the length of His body, were lifelessly lying on the ground. Despite His gigantic size, the Demon was painfully thin — bones had torn through the grey rubber of His chest, making it look like a barren piece of land enclosed with a scattered fence. Tautos was standing on His knees, and probably hadn’t moved for a long time — His legs extended several leagues into the ground, which couldn’t support the weight of His colossal body.
It took them several seconds to pass the creature by. Both kids let go of the banknote, which they tried to tear apart a moment ago, and it slowly fell between them on the bench. They sat down next to each other without saying a word. Vince noticed how their caretaker made a slight movement in their direction, but then stopped.
“Maybe they were supposed to see Him. Like a lesson or something.”
Vince sighed at his own lapse in judgment and turned to the woman now sitting next to him. She was looking away from the window and smiling. Troy nodded his head in the direction of Tautos.
“That’s why you got in?” he asked.
The woman looked surprised.
“How do you figure?” she replied. “Just because I was in the vicinity of that thing?”
Troy shook his head and pointed at a small device fixed on her belt.
“Your flux. It’s overheated. How many times did you jump?”
The expression on her face quickly turned sour.
“You’re right, mister detective.” She paused for a moment. “That creature… It appeared out of nowhere. Aren’t they supposed to be objective?”
“You could say that,” Vince confirmed. “If I recall correctly, Tautos is an Aspect. He probably concealed Himself. You know, status manipulation. Were you alone?”
The woman hid her face between her hands.
“What about the rest of your team?”
“I’m not sure. We crumbled. Our beacon… she panicked and jumped. I mean, He didn’t even move, He just… With His eyes…”
She was trembling. Either the shock was starting to wear off, or she had been trying to cover the whole thing up from the start, Vince thought. He tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey, your beacon came to her senses, didn’t she? Must have jumped a lot to find her mates.”
She didn’t answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Vincent saw the boys getting off their bench and heading to the exit in the company of their caretaker. They’re almost in Mira. He leaned in closer to the woman and said quietly:
“Listen, you’ll probably end up going to Mirian Ops. But they won’t help you, and you’re going to have a hard time. If you think that any of your mates are still alive — and unless you saw them all get killed, you have to assume that — you need to jump the track and head back to Nova. There, you need to find Bart Keats. Tell him you met Vince Troy on a train to Mira and I said he can help. Tell him everything and trust him. Got it?”
She nodded. The usual announcer with the voice of an empyrean creature — Vincent often thought that if she ever asked him to get off in the middle of nowhere, he would probably listen — informed her passengers that they are one minute away from their destination.
“Good. You’ve got an open channel? Here’s his comm point.” He paused and then added: “However you look at it, that was your lucky day.”
She finally removed her hands from her face and looked at him with eyes red from crying.
The train came to a stop.
Mirian station was universally considered to be one of Kyosian post-War architectural marvels. Before entering the dome, trains went through a large structure, which was jointly maintained by Mirian Ops and TFX corporation. Technically, it was part of the station, but most rides passed it by, and even when they didn’t, only the passengers with proper clearance could get on and off. In truth, it served as big Outside research lab — with a shared reality, but without protection from an Axis field. Since Demons rarely came that close to the city, and Precursor, as the lab was unofficially called, was well-defended against other threats, Mirians were inclined to think that the benefits of testing new technology in the field without interference outweighed the potential risks.
That, and they had a reputation to uphold. Most Kyosians would say Mira is the most technologically advanced dome city on the continent. Five hundred years ago Axis fields like the one they passed just now effectively destroyed the objective reality on Kyos, and no sept dared to improve upon generators built by Norma Tali. None but the Miras, who managed to increase their Axis output by 20%, thus gaining more land for their city. This happened gradually, over the course of centuries, and now that they were riding through this reclaimed territory (which Mirians, whom few could challenge in their love for numbers, called Zone 0 ring), Vincent noticed how buildings here look like a giant patchwork, with each floor representing another layer of Mirian history.
The main Mira–Nova terminal was located in Zone 2, the nearest one to the Axis pillar which supported the dome. After the hunters finished their scan and the Station Master confirmed there was no esper threat (of which Vince thought: “Was there ever here?”), synthets, androids and a couple of penguins poured from the train onto the platform, disappearing into one of many corridors of the station moments later. Just like in other domes, a train to Nova was leaving minutes after the one from there arrived, leaving little time for someone who was, for whatever reason, heading right back, so Vince decided to make sure that his new acquaintance, unstable as she was, catches her ride. She did, and after she left Vince found himself standing on the platform almost alone.
Almost, but not completely. He noticed two young men who, he could swear, started circling him like Corrupted vultures. They seemed almost pure, which was a surprise, at least in Mira, so Troy was somewhat intrigued, even though he was convinced nothing good comes from strangers with old-fashioned binders in their hands. He had nowhere to run; they had probably figured it out and were getting more and more confident as they approached.
“Mister…” One of them stumbled, unable to read Troy’s ID. “Sir, we’re conducting a social investigation. Just one question…”
Vince sighed. Who doesn’t dream to hear those words?
“Alright, but just one.”
They looked very excited.
“Do you know that half of the passengers you arrived here with have an IR over 40%? And that on this ride, there were 10% more androids than the last year’s average?”
Vince didn’t like their questions, even less so the manner in which they were presented. He knew where this was going. Then suddenly, he got an idea. Having quickly convinced himself Aria’s instructions were vague enough, he enabled the sept ID that was assigned to him in Nova. The eyes of the young men widened.
1
“Technically, that was two questions,” he said. “As you can see by my ID, the answer to both is ‘yes’. But I only promised you one, so for me going the extra league you’re going to answer one of my questions.”
Troy could see how their sense of danger alarmed them, but they still hesitated about whether or not they should leave.
“Where did you get those numbers? Let me guess: invasive scans? Or did you just latch onto the hunters’ local network? No, wait, don’t answer. I want someone with an Ops ID to hear that, too.”
That did it; now he was talking to their backs. They moved fast, trying to look like they suddenly got very busy, and Vince decided that he should follow their example before he attracts someone else’s attention. After all, he didn’t really need a guide to get around. She was just supposed to let him know how the local transport system works, maybe give a couple of useful tips. It would take more time, but he could certainly find Germa on his own.
Each corridor leading away from the platform was carefully labeled, but there were so many that Troy decided to just get out of the station and find his bearings then. For that, he figured, any of them would do. He headed for the closest one, but just as he was turning the corner, he bumped into a ball of energy emerging from the corridor with incredible speed.
“Mister… Phew! Troy…”
It was a woman, and she quickly caught her breath, apologized for being late (but not for almost knocking Troy down) and introduced herself as Vale, his guide. She was short, maybe half his height, and all the more enthusiastic for it. Questions seemed to pour from her mouth faster than she thought them:
“Where do you want to go?”
“What do you want to see?”
“How about renting a Ghost?”
“And driving to the personal assistants market?”
And so on. The pauses between the questions were very short; he was maybe supposed to answer them all at once.
“Listen, Vale.” Troy finally found an opening and struggled to sound polite. “I don’t need any of that. I’m here on a job, not as a tourist. I just need to get to this address.”
“Ah!” She lowered her voice. “I’ve seen your ID. You’re here as an Envoy, right? That is very impressive. It’s about that incident, right? With the Talian girls?”
“They are not from Tali.” Troy was beginning to think those two guys on the platform weren’t so bad. Maybe he should’ve asked them for directions. “They’re from Esper Grove.”
“Right… Why would anybody need to adopt them if they lived in Tali?”
“Right?” confirmed Vince ironically.
After trying his patience for a couple more minutes, Vale gave up and explained to him the best way to get to Germa, and then to the Pyrax hotel (“Did you know there’s a peninsula called ‘Pyrax’ to the north? I heard they have a Collective there!”), where Troy would be staying for his trip. She gave him several comm points and practically forced him to promise he will call if he needs anything, anything at all. After that, she walked him to the right exit (the one he picked by himself was, of course, the furthest from the one he needed) and put him on the clockwise Linkway to Zone 1B.
Domes handled their Axis differently, but each made a show out of it. Some, like Novians, achieved unique circular patterns on their fields; Artasians turned theirs into a giant display; Somians experimented with the dome’s color and density.
In Troy’s opinion, Mirians bested them all. Unlike other domes which projected their fields from the ground up, Mira was supported by a colossal pillar of streaming energy, which exploded into a beautiful flower high above the city. Vince could see it flickering between buildings; that wasn’t Axis, of course — what he was observing was just light — but someone certainly did a good job with it. The color palette in particular was very impressive: all kinds of blue and purple were giving the central part of the city a very characteristic shade, which the citizens themselves called Mirian blue.
Germa lived on the other side of the city, but Vale, who programmed Vince’s route, assured Troy that by Linkway, he’ll be there in less than an hour. The surface of the Linkway was powered by Axis, and the buses like the one he was on picked up nice speed without any interference. This is smart, Vince thought. Ares, his home city, was carved into a rock, and Aresians didn’t have the luxury of building a proper public transport system. Nova, where he was staying until recently, had an unnecessary complex layout, where everything seemed to move in chaos (when ground and air traffic did actually move). Mirian Linkways ran like clockwork.
The track constantly changed elevation, sometimes reaching as high as fifty leagues above the ground; every time that happened and they were passing another office skyscraper, synthets in blue shirts and androids in white dresses appeared almost within arm’s reach; as far as he could tell from their IDs, half of the buildings in the city belonged to the TFX corporation, a company which was founded by people of questionable background during The March of the Damned some two hundred years ago. When he once asked Jacob about how sawbones could get official support of their sept, the latter shrugged his shoulders and said: “They were talented people. Their talent was needed.” No wonder Mirians were so efficient.
Troy was distracted from his thoughts by a notification telling him to get off. Just like Vale promised, he was almost at Germa’s place in forty minutes. All that was left was to take a long, narrow street uphill to his apartment complex.
Germa’s place was right on the border between Zones 1 and 2 (Vale made sure to point out that technically, it was still Zone 1). Vince got used to the fact that in Nova, you could see all kinds of Kyosian folk anywhere you went, be it the Rim districts or the city center. In Mira, the social hierarchy was more apparent; the closer Troy got to Zone 2, the less diverse his encounters became. The street he was climbing now was called Leather Feather — Vince was surprised it was not just numbers and some letter (which would still be better than this weird name), and thought that it’s probably one of those streets Jacob titled during the days of his pro-penguin campaign after one of their clans. Pinz loved Jacob, that was a fact. Mira was their waypoint to Kyos, and Jacob did everything to make them feel comfortable here, acting (however hard it was for Vince to admit) not from some ulterior motive, but based on his principles.
1
Despite being so close to Zone 2, Leather Feather was still a lively place. In almost every building, there was a shop on the first floor, and in almost every shop, there were synthetics for sale. Many were tended by androids; they sat outside, sending invites to everyone who passed them by and who was careless enough to leave an open channel. Some were busy with clients: abusers like Bart with IR above 65%, daisies with high implant rate but without modifications visible to the naked eye, and their age-long ideological opponents, nutcrackers, who were browsing through wares looking for something old and ugly to proudly display on themselves. Once someone parted with their lot and made a purchase, they headed deeper into the store to permanently try it on: infamous Mirian sawbones, who only worked on androids at first, have long since expanded the variety of their services, and even Jacob’s efforts to regulate the market couldn’t save more legitimate companies from struggling with this competition. Showers of sparks poured forth from windows in small alleys branching off the main street; Vince saw how in one of those, they briefly lit a decommissioned Boulder. A giant mech, which must have been shoved in there by some kind of manipulation, stood abandoned near a brick wall littered with holograms. Its cooling unit was ripped off, and a couple of kids were picking it apart, closely watched by two penguins smoking on the porch of what was, judging from the pink neon sign, a “Pin Bar”.
Germa’s complex was almost at the end of the street, near the high wall on which Zone 2 stood. The entrance was open; Vince walked in and found himself in a spacious, well-decorated lobby. An android concierge politely gestured to him.
“Can I help you, sir?”
Troy opened his channel.
“My name is Vincent Troy. I’m here to see Mister Stone.”
The concierge checked his ID and got a confirmation from the terminal. The timestamps on the notifications were less than a second apart — a very impressive result. And that was just a concierge in some Zone 1 apartment building!
“Of course, Mister Troy. I’ve just let him know that you arrived. Would you like me to walk you to his apartment?”
Vince casually waved his hand as he headed towards the elevators.
“It’s alright, I already know. Twenty-second floor, last door on the left.”
“It’s actually twenty-third floor, Mister Troy!”
“So much for her famed attention to detail,” thought Vince about Aria; he had little doubt about who was right.
“Last door on the left” turned out to be quite a walk. Troy figured there were about fifty apartments on each floor; the building seemed much smaller from the outside.
The door opened when he approached. He entered the apartment and heard a loud shout: “Come in, come in.” Vince took off his shoes and went ahead into the next room.
“Mister Stone, Sir?”
“Please, Germa’s fine.” Stone, who was sitting at a dining table in the center of a large living space, stood up to shake Troy’s hand. “I was told you served in Ares?”
“Yes, with the Boars.”
Vince took a moment to look around. The apartment was nice and felt lived in. Germa decorated it in a mixture of contemporary and Tetrian styles; this wasn’t unusual, but Troy was surprised to see flowers and birds on the walls of an Aresian’s home.
“Not bad, not bad at all! That’s one of the good ones. I think… I think Centurion Aiden was its XO until just recently, wasn’t he?”
Vince shuddered.
“Indeed he was.”
“Well, I’m not PSF anymore, so you can stop calling me ‘sir’. Even plain lieutenant’s not necessary. Sit down. Before I fill you in on what I know, tell me what you got from Aria. Hades, I’m sorry… A drink?”
Troy politely refused.
“Well, your loss. I prepared this just for you.” He opened a fancy bottle standing on the table.
“I only know the gist of it,” said Troy while Germa was pouring himself a glass. “Five girls recently adopted from Esper Grove disappeared at the same time.”
“Yes.” Germa took a sip and frowned. “Short and to the point, I like it. But you have to be accurate. Not at the same time — on the same day. Don’t overlook small details like this.”
Vince nodded.
“I understand.”
“Their foster parents first called each other, and only then went to the Ops for help. Here — just like Aria asked, I got their report channel for you.” He winked and put a small datacard on the table in front of Troy. “It’s not real-time — the updates come in once an hour — but that’s why it’s pretty much untraceable. I’m not sure you needed me for this, though… I heard that you were friends with Jacob Mira.”
“We’re only acquaintances. I don’t think he’d help.”
“It’s alright. What Aria asks for, Aria gets. At least from me!” Germa laughed, and Troy noticed how the man becomes more relaxed as their conversation goes on.
“Anyway, the logs contain chatter from the very beginning, so you might find something useful if you dig around.” He pointed at the report. “The hard info’s also there. Last seen, profiles, Meshnet traces, things like that. It wasn’t enough, obviously, or MO would’ve found them already. Syl knows they’re trying — with their asses on the frying pan they move and think surprisingly fast!” Germa laughed again.
Vince thanked him and took the card.
“Listen, Vince,” continued Germa; that was the first time he called Troy by name. “Some say girls just up and ran away from home together, and it’s a popular opinion, but don’t be swayed by it. Here’s something you won’t find in that report: like many, I was curious about how this adoption thing would play itself out, so I followed the news on Meshnet. And let me tell you, it’s hard to imagine even one girl having serious troubles at home, let alone all of them. Although maybe one would be enough, it could be this ‘solidarity’ thing.” He paused for a moment to think. “Doesn’t matter. I still don’t think it has anything to do with domestic violence. You’d be better off going after a hate crime angle.”
“I have trouble suggesting that,” Troy admitted. “The report says they all lived in different parts of the city; how, then, would someone, even a group of people, have managed to plan, let alone pull this off, unnoticed? Maybe if it happened in some other DC, but in Mira…”
Germa raised his finger.
“It’s unlikely, yes, but still doable. As for how much trouble this would be, see for yourself how desperately Mirian Ops has been trying to deal with it, and how all the septs — and I can assure you it wasn’t just Aria — already made their move. It’s a big deal, and if the goal was to involve politics — well, then it’s a high stakes gamble and whoever made the bet has resources to spare. And besides, I didn’t say they were taken separately. They could have gotten together for this or that: maybe they were baited, or maybe it was someone’s birthday; Hades, maybe this wasn’t the first time and they had snuck out before, it just ended up well and parents didn’t mind playing along, thinking that they’re humoring the ‘wild nature’ of their new kids.”
Vince frowned, and Germa hurried to add:
“I’m not trying blame anyone. Like I told you, I doubt this has anything to do with the girls’ Mirian families. But if the foster parents think that they themselves are at fault, partly or fully… Well, just think twice about anything you hear from them on that channel I gave you, that’s all I’m saying. You understand?”
Vince nodded. He was surprised at Germa’s wit; Aria spoke highly of him, but Troy had just realized that the man who refilled his glass twice already wasn’t merely an informant.
“I’m also not trying to push you in any particular direction,” continued Germa. “Just keep an open mind… And call me if you need anything. Aria didn’t ask me to babysit you, but she can make anyone feel motivated.” He smiled and stood up, letting Troy know that their brief conversation was over.
Vince was already in the doorway when he asked Germa about the android downstairs. Stone proudly punched himself in his broad chest.
“Fast, yeah? That’s my guy! I mean, I tuned him. What, did you think I got a place like that with a generous Aresian pension… or Aria’s allowance?” Germa burst into laughter. “I own a small manufacturing company here: we produce concierges from TFX’s dummies, and I don’t mean to boast, but my boys and girls are in every fifth building of this city.” He winked at Vince. “Including, my friend, a couple of offices of Mirian Ops.”
Pyrax hotel was just a bit further into Zone 2 (Vince was hoping for a nicer place; at least his sept ID helped him get through a zone gate without hassle). Another android concierge (could this be one of Germa’s, too?) checked him in, and after having inspected his room, which looked like a large closet with a bed someone put in there by mistake, he headed to the roof. He was going to pick the lock, but the door was open; he went through and looked around. Chairs were standing here and there next to the Talian solar batteries (probably one of the few pieces of technology Mirians didn’t manufacture themselves), and the floor was littered with leftover food, glass bottles and plastic bags, so either the roof was accessible to guests, or whoever run the hotel simply didn’t care.
The view was nice; Troy couldn’t see the Axis pillar — it was hidden behind one of the four large triangular structures surrounding the center of Mira — but Pyrax had fifteen floors and was taller than most building near it, so he could see his half of the city. It was true night, short three hours of both Hades and Logan absent from the sky, and Mira was tangled in a web of myriad artificial lights.
Vince found himself a sling chair which looked slightly more comfortable (and less dirty) than the rest, put it closer to the edge of the roof, sat back and tried to relax. He turned on his dome filter to see the stars more clearly, but the night was cloudy and all he got were a couple of Usurpers hanging above their entry points.
He decided to call Bart.
“Hey kid!” The man was laid-back as always. “Who did you send me today?”
It took Vince a moment to understand what he was talking about.
“You mean that woman.” He paused for a second. “I met her on a train. She seemed to be in trouble… I thought you could help.”
“Help who? Me or her?” Bart chuckled. “I know you think I’m just scratching my synthetic balls here, but I don’t need you taking pity on me, kid. What, you’re some kind of fucking therapist now?”
He wasn’t aggressive, and Troy knew Keats well enough to know where this was going, so he just kept silent.
“Well, good job.” Vince could hear how Bart pulled on a cigarette. “Now I’m in this mess, thanks to you.”
“Are you going to help her?”
“I’m already helping her. Take a look.” Bart turned the video feed on, and Troy saw the familiar bowels of a Stormrider.
“I know a Boar who owes me a favor from back in the day, and he’s in Nova Corps now,” explained Bart. “So we’re Outside, kid. She came on the last train, and there’s no way anyone from her group will make it out there until dawn. To be honest, I think they’re all dead already.”
“I hope she didn’t hear that. She didn’t seem very stable to begin with.”
“She’s sleeping. But yeah, that’s the thing…” Keats rarely made pauses, and when he did, it was to say something he really struggled to put into words. “She seems… Off, somehow.”
“Of course she is. She left her squad Outside to die. Anyone with a shred of conscience…”
Vince bit his tongue, but Bart didn’t seem to notice.
“That’s not it, kid.” He snorted grudgingly. “Forget I said anything. I’ll tell you more once we get back. How’s your thing going? Found those girls yet?”
Troy sighed.
“I just got here, Bart. But from what I gathered, it’s not going to be easy. I spoke with Aria’s informant. A clever man, but he insists on some crazy conspiracy theory.”
“Don’t call it ‘crazy’, kid.” Bart cut the video off. “Don’t dismiss it. Who sent you there? Aria Nova herself. It’s a big deal; I bet Mirian reporters would jump out of their pants if they knew.” He snickered. “Let me rephrase it: they will when they know.”
Troy sighed again.
“That man, Germa — he knows Aiden, by the way — gave me the MO’s channel…”
“How generous of him,” Bart added. “Must be Aiden’s good influence.”
“Yes. Anyway, I looked through the logs on my way to the hotel, and they’ve been doing a good job. But they still couldn’t find anything in three days — anything useful at all. They know this city inside out and have virtually unlimited resources, so how am I supposed to turn up anything, especially when even with that shiny badge Aria gave me I could only get access to the official logs under the table?”
“What about Jacob?”
“Jacob is the last person I want to talk to about that,” Vince refused.
“Too bad. I think he’d help.” Someone called Bart over the cargo bay speakers. “Alright, kid, we’re over Eastern Plains. I need to wake up the girl and get ready.” Vince heard how he stood up and stretched. “Don’t worry about the case. Aria has a good eye, so have a little faith in yourself. Besides, that’s not the first time you need to find your way around in the dark.”
He paused for a moment and added:
“Although I wish I didn’t know that.”
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Red Crown ♡
Now it’s bonus time! Since Mira is heavily featured in both Red Crown and Minotaur, we wanted to make sure that the city feels real, so many of its aspects — especially its layout and infrastructure — were designed in detail and visualized.
Check out the gallery below to find out more about Mira’s urban planning, as well as the work on Red Crown illustrations!
