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                         Underground eXperts United

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         [Castle Chronicles The Sequel - Chapter One] [By The Chief]


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                             THE SERIOUS SERIES

                                 CHAPTER ONE

             "All right, no fooling around, this is for real."
                                                 -Elektro


  Darkness swept across the city. Fires from gas chimneys occasionally lit
up the sky here and there. The pyramid of the Coppacio Corporation managed
to steal most of the horizon from earth's own, reminding the beholder about
who controlled it all. Had the power. Ruled.

  The way the city was built made the pyramid look circular. Like a huge
black wall. Ceiling. Floor. Protecting the citizens from whatever there could
be outside, or, perhaps imprisoning them in what had been described as 'the
worst day anyone could ever imagine in Hong Kong'. The city. No one knew. No
one cared. It was the place for hustlers, dealers and whores. The low-life,
cyberpunks, techno-criminals. People one would expect in such a place, filled
with bars, pleasure domes, spare-part stores and small, crummy shops. By night,
lit by quartz-halogen lights, placed in strategic places on the Coppacio
building, and the surveillance vehicles' searching lights, making their rounds
over the city. By day, it was the same. No one could tell the difference. The
second floor of the city, generally called Corp Zone, held all the factory
domes, corporate mini-pyramids and business offices. The people working in
Corp Zone lived on the third floor, Roundgaarden. Basically a suburban city
with stores, cinemas, schools. No one in the city knew if there were any floors
beyond that. All floors were restricted areas for the citizens, except Floor 1,
the city itself. At the bottom of the ladder you could never climb.

                It wasn't just a city. It was THE MegaCity.


                            -----------------


  It rained. Castle didn't mind, waiting for the sushi he'd just ordered.
It always rained in MegaCity. He remembered a Coppacio corporate executive
trying to explain that it was due to outside forces. Holo power-plants and gas
clouds that other cities so shamefully used instead of the Coppacio
alternative; Dexamatic power-usage of black holes in deep space. Another
source claimed that the rain came from big acid tanks on top of the Coppacio
building, which formed the ceiling, and therefor the sky for MegaCity. A
source that disappeared the same day. The sushi, wrapped in an old newspaper,
was handed to Castle half a minute later. He folded the newspaper he'd been
reading, grabbed a couple of sticks and started eating. People, mixed with
an occasional Human Carbon Copy here and there, rushed past him as he stood
by the market. Dealers dealt and hustlers hustled. It was the rush hour.
It was always the rush hour in MegaCity, except around 4 in the morning.
The morning, Castle thought to himself. He hadn't been able to sleep the last
96 hours. The effects from some Pentaminehexadiamyl a dealer had supplied him
with he supposed, but he was happy about the sushi. It made him relax,
released the tension from his body, made him sleepy.

  A Coppacio surveillance vehicle circled above the busy street, blue
and grey search-lights flashing down the alleys. Someone ran. That wasn't
unusual in itself, but it was unusual when a surveillance vehicle was in
the area. You weren't allowed to run then. A bright red flash of light came
down from the vehicle as it descended. A scream and then silence. Castle
left the market, heading towards the vehicle. The CCS Officers were standing
arguing over something in front of a body laying in a pool of red, white and
blue mud. A body. Castle watched the scene with a strange feeling in his
head, looking down at the white feet that stuck out of the covering plastic.
A second vehicle arrived a couple of minutes later, taking the body. People
rushed past Castle as he left the scene. The market was full of people,
merchants screaming, selling everything imaginable. It was alive. It was just
another day in MegaCity.

  Closing the door to the apartment, he noticed the IML flashing. Someone
had left a message, but Castle went straight for the bed. His body hurt. He
needed to sleep. Badly. Stained plastic covered the floor, keeping the rats
and the smell from the apartments below out. The cracked bathroom mirror
showed a face that Castle didn't like, except from his own. Thrifleman.
  'Welcome home.'
  'How'd you get in here?' Castle asked, already knowing the answer.
  'We own the place, remember?' Thrifleman smiled putting the knife
back in the holder on the kitchen bench. 'Credit me with a certain
talent for answering obvious questions.'
  'Sure, sure...'
  'You look like hell, Castle. You've been high lately?'
  'Spare me your fatherly advice. Don't you know I've been out there
longer than any of you creeps would survive? Don't you know I can take
care of myself? I don't need the damn bureau anymore.'
  'But the bureau needs you, Castle.'
  'Don't say it. Just... don't say it.'
  'Perhaps you think you can live here, in the bureau's apartment
for free, doing what you're doing without anyone interfering, right?'
  'What have I done...'
  'Don't be smart with me, Castle. We never let anyone just leave
the bureau like that. We keep an eye on our men, regardless where
they are or what they're doing. I know. Believe me, I know.' He
shrugged. 'Well, if that's how you like it. If you won't play by
the rules...'
  'What will happen?' Castle asked lazily, heading back towards what
could be called the living room, with Thrifleman following sharply.
'You'll kick me out of this luxurious place? Take my gun? Have
me arrested? Go ahead. See if I care.'
  'Be serious for once, will you.' Thrifleman sighed. 'You know that
I would never do that to one who was once our best operative. It would
be highly unwise. No in the best interest of the bureau...'
  'You would fucking kill me.'
  'Standard procedure. You know that.'
  'Fuck you Thrifleman. Fuck You. What the hell is it you want me for?
You better tell me before I pass out if you want me to listen.' Castle
said, half asleep.
  'No need. I leave this envelope here on the desk. You study it,
thoroughly. We'll drop by to give you the final details later...'
  'No choice huh? Fine...'
  'You have four hours, Castle. If you're not ready when we get
back... Well, you know the procedure.' Thrifleman found himself
by the door.
  'Fucking great...'
  'It's good to have you back.'
  The door closed.
  'Sure...'

  Lights from the big commercial vehicles scattered the walls from the
figures made by broken glass trying its best to give an impression of a window.
Sounds from the streets, 47 floors down, reached Castles ears as he threw his
coat on the floor. Hanging his holster on the coat-hanger. Passing out on the
bed. Captured by nightmares.


  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Castle Chronicles, the sequel, is not continuing the *first* set of chapters
  in the first chronicles. This is the serious series, based in a not so-far
  future, taking over where the not yet finished Castle Chronicles series will
  end. These two series will co-exist for a couple of chapters. Finally there
  will be a link between the finished first Chronicles and the sequel, which
  will tie them together. You will not miss anything by not reading the first
  series, but you won't get the overall picture when the two links together.
  Be on the safe side, check out the first chronicles if you haven't already.
  Take a ride with Castle's humorous side before embarking on the black, real
  and scattered future of MegaCity.                - uXu 1993 -
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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                        Underground eXperts United 1993
                        Call ANONYMOUS -> +45-981-89771
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