Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 012 - Part 1

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Troubles and Tragedy

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The Enclave

But when she got to work the next morning, things were not so simple. Friday aside, all Dassah really wanted to curl back up in bed with TheirWorld.

After spending two hours trapped on the monorail trying to not have an anxiety attack, Dassah took a deep breath before entering the university office, bracing herself for whatever was behind the door.

Bahena nodded at her. “You can relax,” she said. “Stella isn’t here yet. Just focus on catching your breath and trying not to worry.”

Dassah walked over to her desk.The TV monitor in the center of the office was swirling with images and videos of officers and dogs going through streets, and people doing tear filled interviews.

“Authorities are now confirming reports that more than one body has been found in the hex city of Io,” the usual blonde announcer was saying. “While the EP is not yet confirming a connection to those killed in the recent string of murders that has been spreading through the hex cities of Myrrh, Waithe, and Cy, sources are reporting that the killer’s MOs appear to be the same. People in the areas say that…”

“It’s so sad…” Bahena said, then looked at Dassah, “You haven’t heard from Stella, have you? Do you know where she lives?”

“She lives in Darten,” Dassah told her. “She shouldn’t be too bad off - the trains are probably packed, though.”

“At least she should be safe,” Bahena sighed. “You’d think that they would be better at keeping transportation up during these times of crisis…”

“I’m kind of surprised the trains are running at all,” Dassah said, staring at the screen where an officer was going on about security measures. “From what I’ve been watching, the entire Io City Hex is shut down. They have trains running through, but they aren’t stopping inside. Each train is being stopped and searched before going in or out. The other trains can’t move until the track is clear, so…”

“Even so...” Bahena growled, the sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve seen a hex shut down. Chaos. Absolute chaos.” The dinosaur woman looked at Dassah with a slight grin. “You are doing pretty well for someone who’s only been here for a few months.”

Dassah simply smiled sheepishly as Stella walked through the office doors looking unusually disheveled. “Good morning,” she waved to them as she staggered over to her desk and flopped down. “What a damn nightmare this is. Ugh, you’re watching this?” She scrunched her nose at the TV screen.

“Of course we are,” Bahena told her. “You realize that one of the bodies they found was only two stops away from us? It’s closer than the distance between here and your house.”

“La-la-la, I don’t want to hear it!” Stella said, plugging her ears, then looked over with a shocked look on her face. “Wait - ‘one’ of the bodies? What the hell happened while I was trapped in those tuna cans?”

“There are at least two, from the looks of it,” Dassah told her. “We are still waiting on confirmation. You should pay attention to the news once in awhile - it’s important sometimes.”

“Scary…” Stella shivered. “So what are we supposed to do today?”

Bahena stared at her tail twitching. “Don’t check your messages, either, I suppose?”

“Not this morning,” Stella shrugged. “Avoiding a guy. You know how it is.”

“...Stella,” Dassah said, tapping a pencil on her desk. “Check your damn messages.”

“Alright, alright,” the young woman took her phone out with a sigh. “Oh, what the hell - he didn’t even massage me… Ah! Classes are canceled today?”

“It’s because of the transportation systems,” Bahena told her, sounding exasperated. “Things are only going to get worse until the evening, probably. But if you actually read the message all the way, you’ll see that everyone is expected to come check in and attend a safety seminar, so it wasn’t a completely wasted trip.”

Groaning, Stella asked, “Couldn’t we have done that remotely?”

“Not in this case,” Bahena said.

“Does that mean that we can leave once the seminar is over?”

The dinosaur woman nodded.

Dassah shook her head and turned her attention back to the TV screen. “Hey guys,” she said. “Look.”

The other two looked up at the floating monitor as the blonde announcer, who looked to be reporting on scene, came back with a large ‘Breaking News’ banner flashing across the screen. “We are just now receiving confirmation from the EP that the body count has risen to four in the Io City Hex, and they do appear to be connected to the recent murders in the other cities, bring the total confirmed number of victims to 29.” She looked behind her and waved her hand in the general direction of the scene. “You’ll see here that - that the officers here are from many different branches of the Enclave police - most notably, perhaps, are Police Chief Mari Landau, head of the Galiamori PD, Detective Ulari Zi, who is the lead Detective for the Homicide Department, and Detective Corvax Sai, who is serving as the representative of the Virtual Crimes Unit. All three of them are - I don’t know if you can see them - but they are over there getting ready to hold a press conference. They are going to be informing everyone of the events of today, as well as giving us as much information as they can about what the process is that they are going to be following during this ongoing investigation. Please stay tuned.” With that the screen went back to the red headed man, who was going over the events of the morning.

“Four bodies?” Stella’s face was white. “How does that just magically happen? What have the police been doing?”

“We don’t have enough details to be making any real judgements on the EP yet,” Dassah told her, leaning back in her chair. “I’ve looked into the case a bit, but they aren’t announcing a lot to the public. The MO is always the same, but unless whoever is doing it can be in more than one place at a time, there are multiple murderers - maybe a group, or even a sort of gang - which means even if they find a guilty party, the murders still happen. Plus the only connection that all the victims see to have is that they are either human or valkyrian.”

“So some kind of human-valkyrian hate group?” Stella asked.

“Speculating on the matter is pointless,” Bahena sneered. “The police are good at their job - let them do it. In the meantime, if you see anything strange, report it - its that simple. Or call me and I’ll make the bad people butter the sidewalks.”

Feeling her lungs tightening, Dassah cleared her throat and pointed to the screen where the tall, black haired valkyrian woman with the commanding presence Dassah had seen give the press conference the day before, stood surrounded by reporters. Corvex Sai and another, a well decorated bug woman flanked her. The reporters were loud, filling the microphone of the camera with tons of questions. The bug woman- who Dassah assumed was Ultari Zi, stood with four arms crossed, the long antennae coming down from his head twitching, it’s emotionless, compound eyes glistening in camera light, and mandibles gnashing together.

Those mandibles suddenly opened wide, and the bug woman stood at attention and shouted: “Respect! For! The! Chief! ...worms.” The area suddenly went silent. “Thank you. Worms,” The bug person said. The valkyrian woman at the front nodded to him and stepped forward.

“Greeting citizens of the Enclave,” she said in a firm, but soft voice. “As you know, I am Police Chief Mari Landau. With me today are Detective Ultari Zi, the detective in charge of this case, and Detective Corvex Sai, of the Virtual Crimes Unit. We have come before you today in humility and determination as we mourn the loss of our great citizens to what cause, is yet unknown. For four months now, our academic continent, the Enclave, has been plagued by this unknown menace. Thus far, the men and women of the EP have been unable to stop, or prevent, these deaths - and for this, we experience the most heartfelt regret. There are no words of consolation that we can offer friends and families looking for justice, other than this: We will catch them...”