"What the fuck d'ya want?" the old man asked through a loud speaker above Edward's head. It was a new installation, and the volume was clearly jacked up as high as it could go. Edward winced.
"Hey, Moe. It's Edward."
"Eddie!" he bellowed. Moe was a jolly old fella, loyal to his last. He'd been a close friend of Edward's father, the two of them running the scrap yard together for years. Edward's father had saved Moe during the Infernal War, and it had cost him his life. "I can guess why you're calling, and I have what you need, but it's gonna cost."
Moe hadn't let Edward, or anybody else, inside the compound in years. He had his supplies dropped off outside the gate once a week, and had a heavily armed service droid who came out to collect it. "You saw the race, huh?" Edward said. "Hope I'm getting the family discount."
"Course you are. Thirty-five instead of fifty, 'cause I owe your daddy."
A bright red light accompanied by the whistle of high powered laser discharge illuminated the window of a building in Edward's peripheral vision. Edward dove to the ground. A camera on the end of a retractable arm popped out from a box on the side of the gate and stared down at him.
"What're you doing boy?"
"Laser fire, up in the window over there. I've got some unwanted attention on me."
"Ah, that one isn't here for you. S'Jubal Jenkins. Dunno what the creepy bastard wants yet. Just showed up. Doesn't know I've been watching right back. Just shot some girl up there. Kelley."
"She's after me. She alright?"
"Big hole in her, but Jubal won't let her die. They're kin of a kind."
"Good. Right." Edward stood up and dusted himself off. He often wondered how it was that Moe seemed to know everything about everyone, but there it was. "About the bike. I need two. One in my classic red, and one in yellow, and I need both shipped on separate transports to Hei Long,"
"Don't know if I have the parts for two full bikes, Eddie."
"Doesn't matter if the red one is just a shell. It's a distraction. Ship the yellow one under a different name... James Culver. Sounds normal, right?"
"Sounds good to me. How much trouble are you in?"
"More than usual."
"Alright, boy. Consider it done. You need it on credit?"
"Stick it on the tab."
"Last time, Eddie."
"Thanks, Moe."
Edward turned and walked away, picking up the pace in case Jane wasn't quite as incapacitated as Moe was making out. At the edge of the junkyard, he ducked back down the backstreets and ran off. If he was going to get a bead on Oren and get him to drop the bounty before the next race, he was going to have to work quickly.
Edward turned from the alley, and there it was. The Spire: a jagged spike three hundred meters high formed of black glass, and entirely indestructible. It had sprouted up at the beginning of the war alongside a hundred others over the world, but when the war ended, and the others disappeared, this one remained.
Like the Infernals who arrived with it, The Spire was a Tulpa, a construct of the collective human psyche, created to punish us for our transgressions. As far as the scientists could tell, The Spire was used to amplify the human subconsciousness, making it even easier for the Infernals to thrive. The idea baffled Edward. He often doubted that any of it was true. He preferred the idea that they were aliens who coincidentally looked like mythical demons and devils, or even that they came straight out of hell. That humanity could construct things capable of such cruelty was...
It was during the war that Edward met Ari. They had been in the same unit, trying to hold the line against a storm of nightmares. It hadn't gone well. Edward and Ari had been the unit's only survivors, mainly because they had been the fastest runners. They'd both coasted on that survival to create their public personas in the wake of the war, each avoiding any mention of the other's cowardice, bound to secrecy by their shared success and shared shame.
Edward placed his hand on the cool, sharp surface of The Spire. He couldn't remember walking closer to the thing. In fact, he couldn't remember much of anything. The ink in the glass in front of him shifted and swirled. He was swallowed into it.
He stood in a field of waving black reeds, the sky dark above him. A figure stood opposite him, a silhouette much like his own. "Edward," it said. "Good to see you."
"Where is he?" Edward asked.
The silhouette smiled. Edward couldn't see it, but he knew it was happening. "He'll be on Hei Long," it said. It's voice was a perfect copy of Edward's.
"Right. Thanks." Edward rocked in place for a second, but didn't make to leave.
"Was there something else you wanted, Edward?"
"No, I..." his voice trailed off. The silhouette's smile broadened further.
"You have to ask me. You know that. I can't help unless you ask me."
"It was you that saved me today, wasn't it? From Jane?"
"It was."
"Why?"
"Because I knew you were coming here. I knew because I knew what's Oren's plan was, and I knew where Jane would be, and because I know you best of all, and I knew that if I saved you, you would come here. I knew it because I am all of you, and none of you." Edward could see its teeth now. They were yellow, crooked and very sharp. "Do you know what else I know, Edward?" Edward didn't reply. He didn't need to.
Edward arrived on Hei Long, and received two things to his private quarters. The first was a notice to say that the crate containing his red bike had been destroyed in transit after a routine scan had discovered explosives planted on the engine. The note was marked with a big red CONTROLLED DETONATION stamp. The second thing was a freshly painted, egg yolk yellow Vormire Mk. 3. Not the fastest bike, but a reliable and sturdy animal. He pulled out a portable scanner and started to check it over for tampering.
"There's nothing there," said the voice in his head. "No need to check."
"Well pardon me if I don't trust you," Edward said aloud.
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