Tartarus - Something’s rotten in the resistance

This vignette set up some future plot items. Life in the resistance is not all that hot.

The jittery old delivery bot rolled into Kell’s bay, a basket full of NCMs on its back. This was always how they found out about the culling, when “new” stock arrived. Kell scanned the first NCM and placed it on the shelf. There weren’t so many spare units that inventory tracking was necessary, but the resistance like to know where resources went. They picked up the next unit to scan, and recognized the serial number. This unit had been under their care for some time. Hands shaking, they scanned the device and shelved it next to the other one. 

Not for the first time Kell wished they were back on Styx. The Necropolis at Styx is the oldest dead world settlement and the largest. The Warren on Tartarus is the only independent dead settlement and the most dangerous. Kell had been assigned as a medical tech at Necropolis for 93 years. They had been a hacker for the resistance on Tartarus for 75 more.

The AfterLife “Career counselors” must have missed Kell’s hobby of tinkering with coding parallel systems in 1st Life, an undeclared avocation, otherwise they never would have assigned Kell to a position that gave unfettered access to NCMs. Kell was not the first reanimate to start hacking NCMs, but they were very good at it. So good that when Kell’s initial contract ran out the resistance approached them and arranged for Kell to disappear. 

In the Necropolis, Kell had had a constant supply of new reanimates in want of hacking. They paid reasonable fees for their services and were grateful. Kell had a comfortable life. They could have managed an indefinite sabbatical on the credits they earned hacking, though it would have been tricky to evade the company’s notice. Still, there were a handful of reanimates on that vast world who managed to be self-supporting from the services they provided to fellow reanimates. 

Life on Tartarus was much more tenuous. Kell was at the mercy of the resistance leaders and Elixir was always in short supply. They were valuable enough that Kell did not worry about being culled, but knowing that others were not so safe cast a shadow over everything. 

Kell had found Shanthi attractive and enjoyed her company. She laughed often and it was a pretty laugh. She was aging, experiencing fugues and hand tremors. Kell was able to help with adjustments and fluid changes. Kell suspected it was thinned fluid that was the source of Shanthi’s symptoms more than age. Once she had asked Kell out on a date. They had declined. Becoming attached to someone in Tartarus was dangerous. It was possible she only did so hoping that Kell had enough influence to keep her alive longer. Or maybe she really liked them.

Now they knew, the resistance had decided Shanthi’s skills as an electrical technician were not valuable enough to offset the cost of her frequent treatments. She had been drained, stripped, and spaced. The only evidence of her existence on Tartarus now sat in inventory. 

Kell wished they had said “yes” to her date offer. Maybe the shadow units would not have culled her if they knew Kell was fond of the woman. Kell had been thinking about the pain they would suffer if she were taken. They had not considered the pain of knowing they might have saved her.

Kell was done. One way or another they were getting off of Tartarus. They sat down and began composing the message worm.