Fragment of Destiny
Chapter 20 - Grafting

Demetrius exited the skimmer in front of Raiden’s Den, he should have been smiling but this was not how he had envisioned his grafting day. Standing here alone. It was always supposed to be the four of them together, but first Brian, then Tess. He felt again the agony of discovering she was a crystal-less. Like the closing of a heavy book, Demetrius cut off the memory. Yet the image of her face lingered, taunting him. He had tried to contact her since his graduation but it was as if she had vanished. Even her father didn’t know where she was anymore. At least he still had Samuel. Not that there had been much chance for interacting over the past year. Even so, Samuel would still be his friend.

The twin frosted glass doors of Raiden’s Den slid open, and Demetrius welcomed the tranquil guarded. Even now he got a tingle of the slack-jawed amazement he had felt the first time those doors opened. When Tess had originally gone dark Raiden’s Den had been his only lead. However, the investigation had gotten him nothing but a name, Yami Renkofski. The man was an enigma, someone even the enforcers hadn’t been able to pin down. Demetrius loathed abandoning his search, but without access to enforcer channels, he was at the mercy of strangers who clammed up at the mention of this elusive figure.

A few paces into the garden Samuel sat eyes closed on a wooden bench, his hand clutched around the student’s pendant on his chest.

“So, you like this place as much as I do,” Samuel said as Demetrius approached.

“How could I not. There is something about it that just resonates inside of you isn’t there? Something abstract but beautiful. Worth every plate of ergo protecting it.”

“That it is. I didn’t even know it was here until today,” Samuel and opening his eyes. His mouth twisted in a smirk as he took in Demetrius’s jacket. “Well damn. Lab corps hu, What part?”

“Bio-engineering.”

“Isn’t Tess’s father the lead over that department?”

Demetrius nodded.

“How’s Tess taking it? I know she had her heart set on that assignment.”

Before Demetrius had a chance to answer Samuel’s entire demeanor changed.

“Wait, what happened? Is she ok?”

Demetrius took a seat beside Samuel, already his breathing had become labored. A violent stabbing sensation ripped through his entire body as every muscle convulsed in unison, then it passed taking with it the painful memories of Tess. Filling his lungs with new air he began to explain everything to Samuel. From the original meeting with the professor, his own searching, and the less than cordial way the enforcers had told him to stop his investigation.

“So that’s it? She is just gone? After all the two of you have been through? I never expected you would just give up,” Samuel said.

“Give up,” All of the information from his investigation cycled through his mind in that instant, “No, I haven’t given up. It’s just without enforcer access I have no leads. They even confiscated all of my files.”

“But they didn’t get anything did they?”

Demetrius shrugged, “No, not really. I never logged anything overly important.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Demetrius Cross, correct?” Interrupted a voice from behind them. An older man with a bald head peeked over a hedge at them.

“Yes, that’s me,” Demetrius said. The man bobbed with satisfaction and rounded the hedge to greet them.

“The name is Jotham. Miguel sent me to summon you.”

“Who's Miguel?” Samuel asked.

Jotham looked down his nose at Samuel, despite his short stature, “He is our upper cast grafter, he handles all of our high-end clients,” Jotham said with a slight bow to Demetrius. “Now let us be off we don’t want to keep him waiting. The Hali can wait here.”

Samuel tensed visibly. Had Demetrius not been so well restrained Jotham would have a bruise instead of a shine on his head, “He is with me.” Demetrius said through tight lips.

“Well of course. This way if you please,” Jotham said with a stammer of surprise at being forced to include Samuel. Demetrius hadn’t realized even people in sector six held the prejudice so strongly.

From the meandering garden, Jotham led them to the central spire from which each section branched off. Spanning three levels up and three down, though Demetrius suspected there were several more that had not been included on the official grid.

At the uppermost level, Demetrius followed as Jotham looked momentarily puzzled at the five identical hallways leading off to destinations unknown. Halfway down a hall that seemed to have been chosen at random the little man smiled and bobbed his head with satisfaction.

“Yes, this is the one. I never can tell. It’s deliberately confusing if you ask me,” Jotham said while retrieving an ID card from his pocket. Placing it into a reader at the end of the hall a seamless section of wall parted before them.

“Miguel will be with you shortly. Please make yourselves at home,” Jotham said ushering them inside.

The grafter’s apartment had a cozy late first-summer feel to it. The walls were a splash of white and aqua-blue with row upon row of identical picture frames that cycled through cascading images.

“Its beautiful work isn’t it?” Someone said from across the room.

Miguel was a sun-darkened man wearing shorts and an open shirt exposing a chest full of dark curls. He smiled knowingly back at them.

“It’s not the standard Imperium uniform you’re used to, I know. Doing what I do for a living has its benefits. This apartment, and the freedom to wear whatever I want, and to charge whatever I want. It can be a great thing to be a freelance worker. How? I know you’re thinking it.”

Both Demetrius and Samuel nodded in unison. In his exhaustive study of Imperium assignments, Demetrius had never seen open slots for freelance work.

“Sure, you could get your crystal grafted by someone within the Imperium proper, but as I am sure you are aware our fair nation is not big on the aesthetics. No one wants a hack-meat grafting job done by some novice, so people come to me. As for my prices. The more I charge, the more Central gets to collect in taxes, so they let me do as I please. And…” He paused, giving Samuel a disgusted look, “…And I don’t do work for Hali’s.” He turned back to Demetrius, “He can stay if you really want or I can have him let out.”

Demetrius had never been one to punch a person the way Tess had but he damn sure didn’t need to give this pompous ass any of his money.

“It’s alright, he is a jerk, but he is the best in Central right. Hell, probably the entire Imperium? Don’t worry about me. Who knows maybe I can talk him into giving me a break.” Samuel said in a low voice so only Demetrius could hear.

“Miguel,” Samuel said holding out his hand to the grafter.

“It’s a shame that you feel that way, but I always respect a man who stands by his convictions. I’ll go wait outside.”

There was an awkward silence as Samuel continued to stand there holding out his hand. Instead of shaking Samuel’s hand Miguel slapped it away giving a grunt of disgust. Looking far less dejected than he should have Samuel turned for the door, but before he reached it, Miguel stopped him.

“Wait. You know, you don’t have to leave. You can stay and watch. Hell, I’ll even do your grafting for you. Don’t worry about it. And you know what you’re a good friend,” He said directing his last comment to Demetrius.

Demetrius eyed Samuel who had a bit too smug of a smile on his face.

“What did you do?” Demetrius whispered.

“Nothing,” Samuel said with a shrug.

“Alright so which one of you wants to go first?” Miguel asked clapping his hands together before Demetrius had a chance to call Samuel on the blatant lie.

“How about the Hali?” He said with a smile. Samuel cringed at the pejorative but accepted.

“Good, now come sit here,” Miguel said gesturing to three stools beside a low shelf lined with several fist size boxes. “Where did you want the work done?” Samuel gestured to his upper arm just below the left shoulder. Demetrius nodded, It was one of the most common places for a crystal to be grafted, the same location he had planned for himself.

“Alright then let’s get that jacket off you and get started. What design did you have in mind?”

“The Imperium crest in red, the same as my crystal, and the letters I.E. underneath in red as well.”

“Oh! gonna be an enforcer are you, Hali,” Miguel laughed uproariously, “You have got to be the most optimistic Hali I have ever seen!” He laughed again tears coming to his eyes.

“Right, right, ok,” Miguel said as he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. Still grinning he reached up to the shelf, snatched a small box, and placed it on a stool beside him. Popping the lid Miguel retrieved several colored vials and two small cloths. Unstopping several of the vials he dabbed his fingers into the colors he would need. Like a typist at a keypad, he worked his hands across Samuel’s shoulder dabbing bits of color at random. Seemingly satisfied with his mess Miguel wiped the excess ink from his fingers.

Taking Samuel’s shoulder with both hands, he began kneading it as if readying dough for baking. Demetrius watched in amazement as with each push and pull the ink began to smear into place. In only a minute an eclipsing moon with a crimson flaring halo resided on Samuel’s upper arm. Streaks of purple reached out over a blinding white that flared around the eclipse before becoming blood red. The elegant flowing script of origins in dark crimson looked more like some strange symbol then the letters I.E.

Taking a brush and a vile of clear liquid Miguel slathered a dripping coat over his work. Passing a hand slowly over Samuel’s shoulder the clear coating shimmered a brief moment. Then Miguel was at it with a towel scrubbing furiously as the stuff flaked away like a bad case of sunburn. What was left was the image of the Imperium crest in blood-chilling crimson.

“Now the Crystal,” Miguel said holding out an open palm to Samuel. Carefully Samuel removed the crystal from his student's pendant and handed it over. With a flourish, Miguel aligned the crystal at the apex of the eclipse. The skin around that point shrunk back like plastic before an open flame. Miguel pressed the crystal into Samuel’s flesh until it was nearly flush. Samuel ground his teeth and grunted, clutching his leg with one hand while the other was balled in a shaking fist.

“Alright all done. Have a seat over at the bar,” Miguel said directing Samuel to the kitchen. Dashing behind the high counter Miguel retrieved a bottle of creamy brown liquid and quickly poured Samuel a cup.

“Drink this, it will help the pain.”

Samuel sipped the liquid and cringed.

“It grows on you I promise,” Miguel said laughing as he turned to Demetrius. “You’re up. So, what is it going to be?”

“At the cost of being completely unoriginal. I wanted to get the same design, in the same place only with L.C. and Imperium standard colors,” Demetrius said.

Miguel made a show of being disappointed but waved Demetrius to the stool and began his work. The process was quick and painless until the end when Miguel began to insert the crystal. Demetrius had never been stabbed before, but he imagined this had to be a similar experience. When Miguel had finished the entire left side of his body burned like an out of control rash.

Taking a seat beside Samuel, Demetrius waited with gritted teeth for Miguel to serve up the anesthetic. Drink in hand he slammed it back in three large gulps. The liquid had an interesting mix of sweet and bitter and it burned like fire going down. After only a few seconds he was beginning to feel disoriented and light-headed.

“Alright, now the fun part,” Miguel said taking a shot directly from the bottle before snatching a picture from the wall. A swift double-tap brought up a terminal interface.

When Miguel had finished tallying up the bill Demetrius placed his phone on the display for the payment. The device chimed and shone green as the words “Payment accepted” scrolled across the screen. Miguel handed the data pad to Demetrius to finalize the transaction. Demetrius stopped just short as he nearly choked on the price. Thirteen-hundred hollos! Demetrius grit his teeth in a fake smile as he pressed his thumb to the pad. He sighed inwardly visualizing his new account balance of fifteen hollos.

“Thank you, Mr. Cross, and remember to tell all your upper caste friends who the best grafter in Central is. All right Hali your up,” He said turning to Samuel who looked to be asleep at the counter.

Demetrius jabbed him in the ribs with a finger. Not hard, yet it was enough to make him nearly topple off the bar stool as he snapped awake.

“Time to pay the man,” Demetrius said clamping his face in a tight smile as to not growl at Miguel.

Samuel rubbed his eyes as he looked at the figure on the display. In a moment he shared that same tight-lipped smile. Stumbling as he got to his feet, Samuel clutched Miguel by the wrist for support. For a brief instant, Samuel’s crystal flashed a brilliant red before dimming back to a mild glow as he pushed away.

“Sorry, I…uh…” Samuel said struggling for words.

“I think I understand. What was I thinking?” Miguel said with a sympathetic grin, “You’re a broke ass Hali. Look I’ll tell you what. If you end up magically making it into the enforcers I’ll let you keep that piece of work free of charge as a gift for doing the impossible. But when you don’t, and you need to get the grafting redone because this one says I.E. You come to me, but this time you owe me for both of them,” Miguel said slapping Samuel and barking a crude laugh as he placed the datapad back on the wall.

“Thank you, that’s very kind. I will be sure to come see you when I do need to get it redone,” Samuel said giving a slight bow before turning to leave. Demetrius followed as Miguel showed them out.

With the door firmly closed behind them, Samuel sighed and gave Demetrius a weak smile.

“I am not sure what just happened in there, but I know you did something to make him change his mind, and to get out of paying,” Demetrius said locking eyes with Samuel. “Abilities like yours should not be used as toys or for personal gratification at the expense of others. I should not have to tell you that. Promise me you won’t do that again.”

Samuel shrugged and started to walk away. Demetrius reached out a hand and caught him by the arm. “Samuel I am serious using your ability like tha-” A bright crimson flash crossed his vision, and he let go of Samuel. Demetrius frowned, attempting to piece together what he had been saying.

“…I guess it’s probably fine. I’m sorry, you really shouldn’t have anyone else telling you what you can and can’t do with your ability.”

Samuel looked shocked at the words and Demetrius just shook his head. Empathic manipulation, it was a shame he didn’t have such a useful ability, if he did, he could easily compel the enforcers to share their resources in his search for Tess. In that moment it felt like time froze.

“Your crystal allows you to alter the state of a person’s emotions. You can manipulate what they feel and therefore what they want to do,” Demetrius said, half in question.

“Demetrius, I’m sorry it was an accident.”

“No, no, this is good. Do you realize what this means? For one, you won’t have to pay that jerk anything, and two, you can ensure you become an enforcer tomorrow when you meet with Marshal Jenkins. Once you’re an enforcer we will have access to the enforcer network. We will be able to find Tess!”

“I’ll do what I can. I’m sorry,” Samuel said a look of agony on his face. Without another word he turned and fled down the hall to the central spire.

Demetrius watched him go. He knew now that Samuel had used empathic manipulation on him, accidentally though it was. Yet even knowing what had been done to him he couldn’t recall ever feeling any different.

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