Station, стр. 66

knowwhat they would face if they crossed the Skirt. Skeelis rosepitifully as Hadder glared at the crowd, bowing to the man who hadtaken his arm. "Thank you, kind sir, they will sing songs ofyour.." Hadder would never find out the kind of songs they wouldsing as Skeelis launched into an attack with his remaining leftarm. Anticipating the ruse, Hadder effortlessly sent the blow wide,blocking it with the appendage he held. He then swept the bladedarm in a horizontal arc, neatly cutting a line across Skeelis'sexposed throat.

Skeelis dropped to his knees, a waterfall of bloodappearing at his neck. He tried to say something through thebubbling river, but failed and fell forward, quite dead. The fightwas finished, and Hadder was finished. But the Rage, it was farfrom finished.

Hadder bent over the body, his body shaking withangry energy, and used the bladed arm to remove the fiend'sremaining arm, followed by both twisted legs. Finally, Hadder tookSkeelis's head in his arms and sawed at the leathery neck until itcame free in his hands.

Hadder left the head on the sand and collected theother appendages. With an armful of parts, Hadder marched over tothe stands and began tossing the bloody appendages into the silentcrowd. "You want meat! Here's your fucking meat, you fuckingsub-humans!" Crowds parted where the meat landed; it seemed eventhese Risers had a limit to their insanity.

In the sandy sea of disbelief, blood-soaked Hadderwalked calmly back towards the coliseum gate, picking up Skeelis'shead on his way and cradling it under his left arm. As heapproached the gate, the four guards remained unmoving. Haddermoved in close. "Get the fuck out of my way, Riser scum." Theguards looked over to The Krown, who simply nodded, the hint of asmile on his pale face.

As the guards moved aside, Hadder stepped throughand began exiting the coliseum. Behind him, he heard the familiarvoice of Vizzano, addressing the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen,my lovely Risers, I give you…the Meat Show!" The place exploded inapplause.

Marlin Hadder sat across from The Krown, caked inthe fiend Skeelis's dried blood. Red flakes fell periodically,drifting down like ghoulish snowflakes to rest on the table betweenthe two men. While Hadder had hoped to leave the Rising directlyfrom the Meat Show, a regiment of Risers had met him outside thecoliseum, stating that The Krown was requesting a private meeting.The word "requesting" fell out of the warrior's mouth coated indisbelief and annoyance. Apparently, the Risers were unaccustomedto their king making requests; he only dealt in demands.

To his credit, The Krown had offered a hose withwhich Hadder could wash off what was left of Skeelis, but Hadderdeclined, thinking it better to wear the badge of victory for awhile longer. The two men now sat in a private tent, with only atable, two chairs, and three half-naked serving women holding traysfull of drinks. Both The Krown and Hadder had drinks in front ofthem, Hadder's already almost empty. No guards were present,showing Hadder how little The Krown thought of his chances if hewere to launch a spontaneous attack against the Riser leader.

Hadder leaned forward, elbows on the table,fingering his almost empty glass, adrenaline and Rage stillpresent, but slowly fading into the background. The Krown leanedback comfortably, studying Hadder for an uncomfortable length oftime. Finally, he spoke.

"I look upon you as if for the first time, MarlinHadder."

Hadder looked up and met the giant king's greeneyes. What may have passed for a smile hung heavy on the oversizedman's face. "What do you want, Krown? Our business concluded withthe death of that murderer Skeelis."

The Krown laughed lightly. "But business neverconcludes, does it? The execution of one deal simply leads to thenext. And so on and so on. Our last deal was executed, successfullyso I would say, and now I would like to propose another venturetogether."

"Let me guess, you want me to help you bring uponthe Fall of Station."

The Krown's smile became a wicked grin. "Yes, youcan certainly help me in toppling this infernal stalemate. Butyou're only looking at one side of the deal. What about what I cangive to you?"

"There's nothing you can possibly offer me."

"How about a chance to play for the winning team?How about a chance to avoid a second, this time permanent, death?You see the numbers I have at my disposal. You see the animals thatI lead. You think Skeelis special? He was an excellent killer, nodoubt, but I have ten more just like him." The Krown's head cockedto the side as if he had just thought of something. "No one's toldyou, have they?"

"Told me what?"

"The tide has already turned, Hadder. The Risercrusade cannot be stopped. Every day more Setters cross the Skirtto join my ranks. Look around you; how do you think we run so deep?You think I have kidnapped these people? No, Hadder. The Stationexperiment has failed, as it was always meant to. These limitedlives are no longer enough. The people demand possibility!"

"Possibility?"

"Yes. Possibility. Do you know why children, bynature, are happier than adults? It's because their lives are infront of them, with no limits. Dreams of being president, or aprofessional athlete, or a fucking astronaut abound; there are norestrictions. Our rebirth in Station made us children once more,another chance at life and the world at our fingertips. We even gottools that we didn't have before, tools that would ensure successin this new life." The Krown sighed heavily, took down theremainder of this drink in one large gulp. He motioned for one ofthe serving girls to bring more. As she delivered the beverages,The Krown stroked her bare breast absently, slapped her naked assas she returned to the edge of the tent.

"But as the shine of this new life wore off, webecame aware of the walls, became aware of the rules that controlus. Our lives grew small, a Groundhog Day of experiences. And I sawus for what we really were - calves. Our movement was restricted,our activities were contained. Our muscles became weak and tenderas we transformed into veal. And that's what we became - softmeat.

"It was this realization that led to the Risermovement. It is this realization that