Hounds of Halifax

                                                                                               

"Please don't do it"

The words rung in his ears, the phrase haunting him in his waking moments. He sat there, his cigarette smoldering in the ashtray next to him, his sidearm sitting on the table. He reached for the bottle of whiskey and poured himself another glass, the golden liquor slowly filled up the glass, the ice cubes clanked against the glass as he picked up the glass. With a large swallow he easily emptied half the glass, but then he could never drink away the things that he had seen. With another large swallow he finished the drink and with a loud sigh he laid down on the couch. AS the room span he drifted off to sleep.

The fog swirled and coalesced into shapes, faces, and places he had seen. The dirty streets came into view, the streetwalkers clicking their heels as they talked to whomever walked by. The hum of the cars going by on the street, the faraway sound of sirens, all of which was a part of the cacophony of the city. He walked on alone, his cigarette smoke trailing behind him, this was the beat he walked. The large billboards flashed to life showing the latest new product some corporation was trying to shove down people's throats. The colors lit up the city street, a fun array of color for such a dismal and dank place. Somewhere in the night there was a scream, tossing away his cigarette, he ran off to find the source. Down a dirty alleyway he found the source of the screams, it was a young woman. She looked no more than thirty, long dark hair falling around her shoulders. Two men lay at her feet, both lying in a pool of blood. He walked up on her as she sobbed into her hands. He pulled her hair back and saw the barcode on the back of her neck, taking out his computer, he scanned the barcode. The computer came to life and in a monotone voice said, "Katrina Scalein, model A4792GA7, scheduled for deactivation."

She flinched at the word deactivation, and looked up at him, sadness filled her features.

"Please don't do it" Is all she said to him.

Her stare cut deep into his psyche. Why did they make them so life-like? He slapped on the cuffs and escorted her to his vehicle. He drove on towards the headquarters of the Halifax Corporation. The streetlights flashed by as he sped towards the building. The last few denizens of the streets scurried away as he drove by. He looked into his rearview and saw his quarry looking lifelessly out of the window, a single tear rolled down her cheek. As he neared the headquarters the large black iron fence came into view, which he always thought made it look more like a prison. At the entrance there was an intercom box, he pulled up and pushed the button on the box.

He leaned forward and spoke, "Stalker number 99181987 Nolan Teahan, returning with a unit marked for deactivation."

For a moment they sat there silent, then the box came to life.

"Stalker 99181987, proceed to the Chapel road entrance and leave your unit with the disposal team there."

The large gates screeched as the gears began to move the large gate, granting access to Nolan. Following the directions he was given, Nolan headed East around the complex. The headquarters was laid out like an ancient medieval castle. Four tall towers lined the exterior, A large square building at its center, all the towers were connected to the center square by long hallways. Driving up to the last tower on the East, two men were waiting to accept the unit. They were covered in bio suits from head to toe, large breathing apparatuses were worn on their faces. The workers approached the car and took possession of the unit, she never looked up, as they removed her from the car. He watched as she was drug up the ramp and through the door into the facility. Nolan sat there for a moment until he realized he hadn't moved yet. With a squeal of his tires he sped off towards the entrance and into the night.

With a start he awoke, those piercing blue eyes still gazed right through him. Wet with sweat, he stumbled to his feet, the first golden brown rays were peeking through the blinds of Nolan's apartment. He attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes as he heavily stepped to the bathroom. After relieving himself he walked back to his kitchen. Looking for a clean enough glass, Nolan had his back to the door.

"Mr. Nolan, you look......awake." a voice from behind Nolan spoke.

Nolan didn't have to turn around to know who was there.

"Reinhold, what has you visiting me so early, surely there aren't more units you lost?"

Grabbing the bottle of Whiskey, Nolan poured himself a drink as he turned around to face Nolan. He smiled after he had downed his first gulp of liquor.

"Well your work has sparked a lot of conversation among the upper brass. You have impressed a lot of people, the halls ring with regaled tales of your accomplishments." Reinhold said in a playful tone.

Nolan pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a large drag. "So what?" he said as he exhaled the smoke in Reinhold's direction.

Smiling Reinhold moved to a table close by and almost laughing said, "You have no idea the things that you could do and what you could be rewarded with for your talents."

"I don't think you guys get it, I like what I do and I like how I do it. I believe it was Oscar Wilde that said, 'Ambition is the last refuge of failure'."

"Nolan, you are always a pleasure to be around." "But as usual, I have business elsewhere. I return to my overseers, but the offer still stands, and you only have to ask to be a part of the company." Reinhold then turned and opened the door.

"Hey!" Nolan shouted at Reinhold.

Reinhold flashed a toothy grin as he turned.

"Don't ever come in here again without knocking, or you leave horizontal."

Reinhold chuckled as he quietly closed the door behind him. Nolan shook his head as he heard the loud clicks of Reinhold's shoes as he started down the hall. Nolan rubbed his head, Why now? What was the point of it all? Are they that desperate and what have they not told me? His head swirled with all the thoughts. Instead of dwelling on that he went to his room and pulled on some clothes. Pulling his coat around him he grabbed his smokes as he closed the door and headed down stairs.

                                                                                   

The reception desk attendant didn't even look up as he approached the desk.

"Nolan Teahan here to see the Director."

"He's been expecting you, go on up."

He strode away from the desk, rounding the corner he made his way toward the penthouse elevator. Entering the elevator, the doors closed and the elevator began its ascent. The elevator dinged when the penthouse had been reached, as the doors opened it revealed a large luxurious penthouse suite. At the far end of the room, by the fireplace, the director stood. The director wasn't an elderly man, but you could see where time had left its mark on him. Short cropped salt and pepper hair adorned his head, A tumbler full of an amber liquid swirled in his hand. He was always impeccably dressed, as if he always had somewhere to go, even though he was always alone.

Nolan strolled right up to the director only stopping within a couple of feet of running him down.

"I got your message." He unenthusiastically spat.

"I see that. I know that you and Reinhold have your differences, but no one else can seem to get you up here anymore."

"Well I'm here now, so can we get on with it?"

"Very well, the members of the board have expressed their appreciation of your work. I also share their appreciation for the runs you have completed for the Halifax Corporation, the board wants to offer you a full time position, and also leave you to your own devices. They also want you to show the other employees why you are so successful at what you do." As he finished the director took a long dip of the amber liquid in his glass.

"But we both know that you don't want that. So now that leaves us exactly where we are now." The director spoke between sips.

"So I know that I wasn't invited up here just so you could state the obvious to me." Nolan barked as he stared at the director.

"Indeed you weren't, no matter what position you have I still have need of your talents. I believe you know about the Architect?" He paused for dramatic affect.

"The founder of the Halifax Corp, who was ousted by the board and went underground. I believe that's how the story goes."

"We have found the Architect."

The director moved over to the serving tray and poured another glass and handed it to Nolan. He drank half the contents in a single gulp.

"And this concerns me how?"

" Well for starters I am still paying you, but I suppose that is not the answer you were looking for. The reason we need you is because it hasn't gone unnoticed that a larger number of reclamations have been occurring. The board thinks the Architect may have something to do with that. Also, even though we have the location, no one has been successful at bringing them in. So we are asking you to take our intel and bring back the Architect."

"The Architect, the originator of the corp, that's what you need me for? Why don't you just send your security force down there and just do a sector by sector sweep, until they drudge him out?"

"If that would work, we wouldn't be talking."

He calmly walked back over to the tray, motioning for Nolan to follow, and poured them both fresh glasses. The sunlight cascading through the glassware caused prisms to form on the walls.

"Halifax is prepared to pay you double your normal fee to bring us the Architect, unharmed of course."

Nolan took another sip from the glass in his hand.

"Give me the intel you have and I will see what I can do."

The director smiled as he tossed Nolan the disk containing the information they had collected. Nolan finished his drink, sat down his glass and headed into the elevator.

                                                                                 

Nolan poured over the data in the file, trying to find a way that he could go about this run. A large part of the data was collected so long ago, he wondered if it would even be helpful. The sheer size of the documents was daunting. How long had they been collecting this data?

He rubbed his eyes as the clock seemed to flash angrily that it was now one in the morning. Nolan turned off the computer and document scanner, and went off to bed, tomorrow he would begin to search for the Architect.

He was driving through the older part of town, where most of his runs took place. The end of his cigarette brightly glowed as he inhaled. The street dwellers steered clear when Nolan was around, he had a reputation. He was close to his destination, so he pulled over and parked. Stepping out of the vehicle he surveyed the streets, the orange glowing sign for the Atomic Apartments bathed him in an orange light. Nolan casually shut his door and began walking down the street, taking another large inhale of his cigarette. A scream broke through the quiet night, Nolan paused for a second trying to locate the source of the scream. When another scream pierced the night, he had located his quarry. He flicked his cigarette aside and hurried down the sidewalk and he ducked into the next alleyway. In the alleyway there was a woman, she looked no more than thirty, long dark hair falling around her shoulders, Two men lay at her feet. As he walked up to her, she was sobbing into her hands. He pulled her hair back and saw the barcode on her neck, taking out his handheld, he scanned the barcode. The computer came to life and in a monotonous voice it said, "Katrina Scalein model A4792GA7, scheduled for deactivation."

The woman looked up at him, those blue eyes piercing deep into his psyche.

"Please, don't do it." She softly begged Nolan.

"Why?" is all he could get out.

"Is money all you care about Nolan? Or are you just a good company dog, doing what you're told?" she berated.

"I'm just doing what I can, what I know so that I can survive, I don't expect you to understand that."

"But at what cost Nolan, what is the price? You think that those corp assholes have your best in mind when they send you out to look for us. I think you have been in survival mode so long you forgot how to really see what is going on. Maybe you need to open your eyes and really see what is going on and figure out why they want the Architect so badly."

He just stood there, unable to say anything.

"Remember what I said Nolan, open your eyes."

"Open your eyes Nolan."

Nolan sat upright in bed, sweat running down his face. He breathed heavy, ragged breaths, as he wiped the sweat away from his eyes. He could still feel her icy stare and her words rang in his ears. He swung his legs to the floor and made his way to the kitchen. He leaned heavily on the island as he poured himself a drink and lit his cigarette. The computer screens glow dimly lit the small dining area. He sat down heavily at the small desk. With the clearance he was given, he began to scour the documents anew, looking for anything that would help him locate the Architect. The sun rose that morning and Nolan had already put in several hours of work. There had been a couple of things that had caught his eye, but any link, any common data still eluded him. There was also very little information directly concerning the Architect. He drained his glass again and rubbed his eyes. He stood and stretched his aching body, he had sat too long and now it felt like his bones hurt. Snuffing out his latest cigarette, he made his way into his room to change for the day. Slipping on his slacks and buttoning up his shirt, he slipped on his shoes and made his way to the door. Pulling on his long leather coat, he reached for the door, but froze before he touched the handle. The runs, what about the runs that had been ordered by Halifax. All the information he had on his end, he had all the raw, unedited data. He removed his handheld computer and placed it in the cradle.

"Download."

The computer screen flashed as the files were added to the computer's memory bank. The computer screen lit up again after the download was complete, alerting Nolan that his information was ready.

"Compute and cross-reference."

The computer flashed and whirred as it started collecting and analyzing all of the data.

"Parameters?" The computer asked in its cold monotone voice.

"Cross-reference runs ordered by Halifax over the last month."

"No correlation"

"Recompute and cross-reference using the Delta sector."

"Twenty correlating instances."

"Cross-reference all runs for the models in that list."

"Five correlating instances."

"On screen."

He recognized the area from his dreams.

                                                                                   IV

The rain hit hard on the windshield as the car sped down the road. The sector was oddly quiet tonight, the rain must have driven most of them inside. Nolan pulled up to the alley, he took a drag off his cigarette as he exited the car and stared down the alley. As the lightning flashed, he relieved the scene from his dreams. He saw the young woman sobbing, the dead men at her feet. That familiar chill went up his spine when he heard her say, "Please don't do it."

Taking another long drag, Nolan steeled himself against his own fear and indecision. Yanking open his door he stepped out into the raging storm. It didn't take long for his crimson curls to droop around his face and neck. Turning up his collar he trudged through the rain down the alley. The clues had all led here, whatever the answer was, it was found somewhere in this alley. Near the center of the alley Nolan stopped, he knelt down and ran his hands over the ground, where he swore he could still see the stains. He could no longer discern if that actually happened or if it was just another bad dream from the recesses of his mind. He stood up and reached into his jacket and retrieved his spectroscope glasses to scan for any irregularities in the light spectrum. The lightning flashed again and the spectroscope lit up, and Nolan involuntarily flinched from the sudden change in light. Scanning the alleyway, Nolan searched for any kind of anomaly in the alley wall. Only the grim, gloomy bricks seemed to stare back at him. The overcast sky didn't do him any favors either. Nearly giving up on his search, Nolan started to remove his glasses when the lightning flashed again and he briefly saw the outline of a door through the spectroscope. Nolan scanned through the different spectrums until he saw the door appear. He groped around the wall until he found the catch and the door swung open. Nolan stuck his head inside the door and made sure the coast was clear. When he was satisfied, he ducked inside. Skulking down the hall, Nolan pulled a blade and readied himself should he have to respond to a threat. Rounding a corner, the hallway ended in a large oval room, full of electronics and parts. Nolan slowly approached the room, a figure moved on the far side in the shadows. Squinting, Nolan tried to make out who it was in the room.

"Please come in, Nolan." A soft voice called from the other room.

Nolan was instantly chilled to the bone, it was the voice from his dream. Hesitating, he just stood there, not knowing what to do.

"I didn't know if you were real or not."

She stepped out of the shadows and smiled at Nolan from the other side of the room.

"I'm as real as you are."

"I see that, but how can you be the architect if Halifax was started by you. And I already took you in." Nolan's brow furrowed as he tried to understand.

"I am the architect, I have been sought after because of what I can now do. I have learned how to transfer my consciousness to another construct, as long as that unit I inhabit isn't deactivated."

"That explains why all my runs were in this sector, they had hoped I would pick you up so they could learn your secrets."

"Well Nolan, it is your move now. Either you can finish your job, or you can stay with me and I will show you the truth of it all."

Nolan couldn't look away if he wanted too, those damn blue eyes held sway over him. If the architect was right, he could help bring down Halifax. Nolan looked at the Architect and shrugged.

"Well then, Let us begin." she smiled at him.