The Industrialist

Chapter 2: The Market

Lance Berkley, lanky but tall features, weaved through the populated market as he sought the Trading Hut, almost inconspicuous to the disorderly sprawled market stalls with wide offerings of survival commodities.

The traffic irked him every time.

This Trading hut differed from other stalls in which rare-level items almost mysteriously found their place. Mostly for illegal exploits.

People gathered in the market to trade scraps and replenish food supplies at noon. Even at noon, the sky was still dim. Fog lamps faintly illuminated the marketplace. However, augmented by the multi-colored neon lights bordered the store signages.

Chaos seemed to define such a place, despite that, the order of things, the merchants establish the flow of trades, was understandable by the marketgoers as if there was a system.

The smell though, unpleasantness was an understatement.

Even this time of day, the sun’s rays hardly penetrated through the thick swarm of accumulated pollution that crammed the skies causing thick-cottony clouds. Even so, people could determine the time of day by the Ochre-colored overcast. Knowingly, behind the shy definition of daylight, the sky masked the sun.

It was as if the sky was bleeding internally, like a hematoma. It screamed for help or redemption, waiting for eternity to let darkness fade into its proper place.

Dust heaved the streets supplemented by the grimy clothes of low-life citizens with the unending guffaws of each corner, would immensely irritate a newcomer.

Visiting the market was of grave necessity, surpassing his hate for a hopeless disorder. Otherwise, one could not secure scarce food supply and commodities.

That particular day, his itinerary was different. It was because of his discovery of a scrapped Infused Electromagnetic Battery.

Lance craned his head, his sight streaking through in between the gaps of the heaving huts, as he was startled by the reverberating annoying sound of whirring electric rotors that exhausted heat.

Robotic Police on hovercrafts hummed overhead darkening further the gloomy overcast. Flying over the metallic huts as if the commoners were prisoners.

Their inspections had been more frequent and stringent about the new Orders for peace, pursuant to the hope of locating rampant rebel activities. It seemed forever that they were chasing these rats. Secondly, their ongoing investigations for the cause of one Abominant that infiltrated the city seemed to have faint progress.

An Abominant that defiled the City was never done before after the walls were established.

’What happened, father?’ Lance thought.

They took down the monster for one whole day, deploying the full might of the police force as the Abominant was aggressive and elusive. It was even summer and supposedly the weakest season for the monsters.

The expectation was altered, the creature was at its peak movement and strength, surmounting their energies during the winter season.

These creatures had only the undomesticated nature of a beast but what transpired was different. It had a taste of intelligence.

Trained, maybe.

The Abominant, although with many weird forms, was a wolf-like creature equivalent to the size of three cows. With thorns placed on its shelled back making it impenetrable to normal bullets.

Eventually, the creature killed a dozen unfortunate citizens as it ravaged City blocks and a couple of police tinmen – as people would call them.

It was a mystery that such a creature had managed to slip through the wall’s defenses.

Many were dumbfounded posing doubt on the walls’ integrity and posed chronic unrest to the citizens.

Secretly, Lance knew how. Despite his knowledge, he doesn’t want to share the information as genocide would ensue for the cowering rebels underneath the colossal walls.

Assessing the possibility, the rebels made the Abominant slip through the defenses. The theory was sound and the motive was undoubtedly subtle.

’Why?’ Lance thought.

He hated the idea that these rebels, fighting for humanity against the cause of science and fighting for the preservation of the moral code, had leveraged monsters to orchestrate unimaginable events that would destroy the image of the Corporation and the Government. Eventually, endangering innocent lives.

However, even with this minute but growing hatred, Lance supported the Rebels. His father did too.

He and the Rebels had a similar agenda - the fall of the Corporation. Alone, it was an impossible feat. With the Rebels, a new possibility arises.

The Corporation held the most powerful role in governance, almost omnipotent, leveraging politicians by their necks, and of course, with the infinite resources funding their endeavors.

Stopping them was a slingshot to the moon.

The Corporation was the savior of humanity as venerated falsely by the citizens. Blindly, citizens believed that God had bestowed the key to humanity’s survival.

This was the notion that every commoner believed. Religions of different factions sprouted based on this hilarious notion.

Finally, Lance reached the Trading hut after elbowing himself away from the population. Gasping air and replenishing energy, he indulged a few gulps of water from his jug.

"What is it again, lad?" A fat-built bald guy, with boils on his cheeks, greeted him with a fearsome stare.

"Roger, my knight in shining armor." Lance greeted with a light smile plastered his expression, portraying a fake reverence for the merchant. "I have to get my hands on an Energy accelerator and some scheme electric boards."

The kid’s smile never ceased to curve across his face. Roger grumbled upon witnessing a sarcastic fabrication of joy. For a few dull moments, Roger answered with only a blank stare.

"These items will cost you a fortune, lad." He finally said. "I do not have that now in my inventory." Roger continued, "Especially for an Energy accelerator. You do not need that kind of equipment, do you?"

"Well, that’s unfortunate, Roger. I have a science project in mind and I want to share it with the Corporation."

Roger shook his head with a series of indiscernible curses.

"I wonder why you want that, kid. You will need maybe 1000 units for that, or even more, and the boards, maybe another 100 to 300 units. You must be out of your mind! Some people would spend that much for supply and utilities."

In this era, food and water were almost as expensive as jewelry. Gold and diamonds were only pleasured by the fortunate ones and the high-ranking Science nerds – The Electronic Tiers and the Industrialists.

"Let me worry about the payment, Roger. When will the items arrive?"

"Kid, for maybe a year or two." Roger’s laugh reached the heavens. Right after, the merchant’s face turned sour to discourage the stupidly annoying kid in front of him.

"You got to be kidding me," his voice escalated. "I can never finish my project on time. Why is that long?"

A deep sigh was released from the disgruntled merchant.

"First, Energy accelerators are only needed for special grade power sources which we can never have on our hands, so there is no demand for those things. Secondly, these accelerators can only be found in Axiom Trench. Can you imagine that kid?"

The thought of Axiom Trench gave Lance gooseflesh. A trench so wide that all the high-grade scraps were disposed of. Even the thought of accessing the place was nearly impossible. Decades ago, some illegal merchants established stalls near the Axiom until they were run over by Abominants.

An area never sanctioned or regulated by the reach of the corporation. It was miles beyond the boundaries of Axe Central and even farther from the abandoned Bay City.

The wide trench served as a breeding place for the monsters, as information had spread.

"I can assure you, you will find a lot of accelerants there and some rare finds. Thinking about coming back alive is nuts, kid. I will be needing specialists to scrap on that place, and that would cost ya! Greatly."

A glimpse of hope was once found but then faded as the information sunk in. The Infused Electromagnet had to function in a stable state as the Accelerator can regulate the energy the battery produced. Scientifically, it would boost with its internal dielectric components for the Battery to be reenergized like a perpetual generator.

The design should be self-sustaining, independent from other energy sources to power the electromagnetic battery and supply the needed power. An accelerant would suffice the requirement.

Lance could imagine the engine humming as energy flowed in and out of the battery and the synchronized noise that the accelerator provided. It was supposed to be in perfect harmony.

"A specialist?" The boy asked.

"These were highly skilled people who knew the ins and outs beyond the walls. Such skills are rare to find, boy. Therefore, for you, there is no hope of finding such a remnant."

The merchant snorted as if Lance had no hint of hope. He laughed stupendously hard occasionally.

"What now, kid? You should go along. I have a lot of things to do." The merchant concluded.

"One more thing," Lance retorted as the merchant turned his back inside the shop but stopped as the hopeless kid rekindled a jolt of energy. "Where can I find this specialist?"