Chapter Six

Story by Diamond Greyfell on SoFurry

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#6 of Crystal Lake

Crime Thriller following the citizens of the city of Crystal Lake, an Island City on the diverse planet of Terra.


Chapter Six

A car pulled up in the abandoned car-park just outside the south-west docks of Crystal Lake. These docks had been hardly used since the invention of shuttle however now they were used mostly for private boats of the most privileged in the city.

The car park was also falling into disrepair after several decades of neglect, parts of the walls were beginning to crumble under the weight of the structure. However the government had seen no need to replace it as only a few citizens actually used it.

The car that was turning into it new proceeded up to the second level and parked in a suitably discreet darkened corner. Some junkies had decided to make their home here and this place had become a refuge for the homeless on the higher levels. Janus turned off the engine and waited patiently.

He was not sure what he was going to find when he encountered this "Obsidian" who had asked for him. He was a low ranking scientist at one of Phoenix Grace's archaeological research sites and it did not seem that he would be much use.

Phoenix Grace, under the directorship of Ivan Grace had spent most of his time repairing public relations after the Equus Village Disaster, almost twenty years ago. Phoenix Grace had attempted to move the nomadic Equus people from their established settlement some twenty-five miles from Crystal Lake. Many of the local populace felt that the nomads were "unsophisticated" and were a danger to their culture, some even going as far as to discriminate against the equine-like race when they attempted to come to Crystal Lake to sell goods and trade.

Truthfully, a lot of people did not understand the highly spiritual nature of the Equus and saw them as a threat because of that lack of understanding. However Phoenix Grace, along with the Vulnira Government had discovered that their settlement was sat near a canyon with rich Coramaline deposits which could be used to build more efficient engine parts for their experimental shuttles. Phoenix Grace attempted to apply pressure to the Vulnira Government in order to have the Equus forcibly relocated.

Despite their agreement and various rumours of corruption and accepting bribes within the government, Phoenix Grace was given permission to look for a suitable relocation site so that they could begin strip mining the area. This enraged the Equus who felt deeply connected the planet and the land so they refused to be moved.

The Vulnira Government, wanting a swift resolution to this crisis, deferred authority over the matter to Phoenix Grace who claimed via local media that it was "economically viable" to do this in order to back public opinion for a forced relocation.

Out of fear and distrust of their foreign ways, the people agreed.

However the relocation did not go according to plan and the Equus began to peacefully resist, many refusing to leave their homes. Phoenix Grace, under the ruthless ownership of Cecelia Grace who had been a ruthless businesswoman all her life, ordered the troops to remove the Equus by "any means necessary".

This action resulted in the deaths of over one hundred and fifty people, with Phoenix Grace claiming it had been the result of toxic fumes that had unexpectedly triggered during their attempts to mine the Cormaline. Phoenix Grace managed to take some of the responsibility but suppressed the truth of what they had done.

In an attempt to mend public relations, Phoenix Grace had ordered a number of community and historical projects and had recruited scientists all over the world. They also provided for the education and upbringing of the few children that survived. As a result, Phoenix Grace was able to maintain most of their public approval and avoid a huge scandal.

However, when Cecelia died, almost ten years ago and her son, Ivan took over, Phoenix Grace became much less involved in the affairs of other governments, not exercising its huge political influence on many occasions, allowing the people to trust the company again.

Now Phoenix Grace was the face of pharmaceuticals all over the world.

Now Janus was wondering why an employee would want to talk to him about the yiff trade. Maybe, some high level executives at Phoenix Grace were using and he could expose them which might lead to the source of the drug?

He leant back and took out a cigarette, lighting it and running his paw through his hair. He looked like he had not slept well since the death of his husband and there was something more cold, more uncaring from the idealistic young fox that he used to be.

He never used to smoke until that day.

There was a knock at the window that brought him out his train of thought. He unlocked the car door and set his gun on the dashboard. A guy with a hooded jacket on got into his car. He couldn't at first tell if it was a guy or a girl.

"Are you Janus Everson from the DEA?" he asked quickly, confirming it was a male, despite Janus not being able to see his face clearly in the dark. Janus looked over to the mysterious male, examining him up close to make sure that this was not a trick or some kind of deception.

"Who wants to know?" he said quickly.

"Answer the question..." the voice replied with a serious, but somewhat frightened tone.

"Yes, I'm Detective Everston" said Janus, feeling somewhat bemused by all this cloak and dagger nonsense. He felt like he was in a spy movie.

The figure pulled back his hood to reveal the elongated face of a white horse. He checked around the car park to see if there was anyone there and turned his large green emerald eyes onto Janus.

"My name is Obsidian Greyfell, I work at the Everonth Mountains archeological dig." he said quickly, as if he was seriously pressed for time.

"Uh-huh..." nodded Janus. "and what does this have to do with me?"

"I am getting there!" interjected Obsidian quickly. "Well, a few months ago we discovered pieces of this artifact which appeared to be of an origin that we have never seen before. There was lots of fused parts of metal that we couldn't account for in the region. Further digs are underway but we uncovered some chemical vials from this area... but they were stolen. Take a look at this."

Obsidian dipped his hand into a small brown satchel that he brought with him and produced a small piece of crumpled up paper which he passed to Janus. On the piece of paper was a list of numbers and picture of what looked like some kind of chemical chain that Janus had seen in school one.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak nerd.." said Janus with a sarcastic quip.

Obsidian sighed and was kind of hoping that he would not have to explain himself. "Well... those were the chemical analysis of the content of the vials stolen from the dig. See anything familiar?"

"No... should I?" asked Janus, feeling this might have been a complete waste of time.

"Those are the chemical compositions from those vials and this..." he produced another piece of paper, this one notably cleaner. "This the chemical analysis for Harprognatus Exornus, commonly known as Yiff".

Suddenly a thunderbolt went off in Janus's head as he compared the two images, both were identical. It was the same chemical. Janus could not actually believe it when Obsidian had claimed that the chemical was not even natural in origin, that it might have originated from another planet... like aliens... The whole thing sounded ridiculous.

"So where does this stuff come from?" Janus asked again, just to be sure he heard it right.

"We don't know, we have never encountered anything like this before. It is completely possible that this chemical is not actually naturally occurring on this world."

"Oh come on!" laughed Janus as he smoked his cigarette. "You don't seriously expect me to swallow that?"

"Well personally, I don't care because it is the truth. We don't know where it comes from. All we know is that somebody stole it from the dig site and is now manufacturing it as a narcotic."

Janus felt like he needed a drink. "Alien Drugs!?". This all sounded like something from a science fiction movie rather than real life, he figured that there was probably another explanation that Obsidian had not accounted for. He looked like the type of person who would jump to the conclusion of "aliens" pretty quickly, like one of those nutjobs on "The Alien Conspiracy" television show.

"So, do you have any idea who it might be?" he asked, after a few seconds of silence.

Obsidian looked around again, making doubly sure that Janus and him were completely alone before he indulged him.

"Well, I reported the vials as missing and a few days later, Phoenix Grace commandos sealed off the camp. They also made me sign a nondisclosure agreement so I would agree not to talk about our discovery with the press or the police."

"Well... fat lot of good that did!?" sneered Janus as he threw the used cigarette out the window.

Obsidian did not look impressed at all, infact that statement had produced a rather annoyed look.

"You may want to take the piss but I don't. Phoenix Grace has people watching me ever since we made this discovery. There is something seriously wrong here. Are you going to help me or not!?"

There was an awkward silence in the car for just a few seconds before Janus turned the key and ignited the engine. The car sprung to life. "So... what do you want me to do?" he asked, turning the car out of the spot and proceeding down the ramp into the street.

"Take this" said Obsidian, pulling out a short rectangular card which he passed to Janus as he went to get out the car. "Its my key card, replace my photo with yours and it will give you full access to their central office building in Upper City, where you can investigate. If you don't find anything, at least I can rest easy."

Obsidian looked around him before stepping out of the car, not so much as wishing Janus goodluck before proceeding to rush off to the stairs of the car park. Janus sat in the car for a moment, thinking over if this guy was actually mad or not.

The card at least appeared to be genuine. He was not sure what he was going to do yet but this plot had only deepened. He had a burning desire to find out who was responsible for the murder of his husband.

He would follow each and every lead until he found that person. There would be no trial, no prison, no judge, no sentence. There would on be the sweet bliss of revenge, and he did not care who that person was in life.

They would suffer as his wife did.