Hellsborough Chronicles - Hellsborough and The Dark Peak
The semi-mythical Van Hallam's adventures in Hellsborough and The Dark Peak.
The finished version of Dark Peak: Hellsborough Chronicles Book One, is now available in Kindle and paperback formats from Amazon -- or you can download the first 7 chapters for free in ePub or Kindle mobi format from Hellsborough Library
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Introduction » Chapter 1 » Chapter 2 » Chapter 3 » Chapter 4 » Chapter 5 » Chapter 6 » Chapter 7 »
I made it back to the guest house without incident, and the snuffles behind me faded into the distance, as Shad clearly realised that his job was done and returned home to Van -- or to do a little bit of haunting on the streets of Hellsborough; probably both.
Back at the guest house my way in was blocked by the clowns who had clearly decided to do an impromptu performance for some of the other guests. Pandora was amongst their number, and it did cross my mind that she might be waiting for me to return home, possibly to keep an eye on my movements, because, as I said, the currency of the clowns is information, and anyone spotted with Van might be of interest, regardless of whether what I was doing was of any importance at the time.
That got me to wondering about how she knew I would be staying at the guest house. I could quite as easily have stayed with Van for the evening, he lives alone and has plenty of rooms in that old house of his. Which led my thinking onto the clowns and how they fit into The Dark Peak demographic. Clowns are not entirely human, in fact they are not human at all: They just appear to be human. The clowns share as many similarities with the xin, the nascenti and xaexs, being denizens of The Dark Peak and hatched from eggs, rather than born in utero, as we humans are. Similarly to the rest of the denizens they are able to breath unaided in the murk, as well as being linked into the hive mind, as all those in The Deak Peak are, which led me to thinking about the psycmask. Of course, that would be how Pandora knew that I was at the guest house, rather than at Vans, since, the psycmask linked me into the infotainment systems of the vast organic network and by necessity the hive mind. She would simply have picked up the information on my whereabouts from there.
This power of telepathy, this hive mind, is well developed in all of the denizens, and accounts largely for the simplicity of their language and the relatively few spoken words exchanged even in long conversations. It is the universal language of The Dark Peak, through the medium of which the higher and lower animals of this world are able to communicate to a greater or less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species and the development of the individual.
And that is the dichotomy of the psycmask; the council issue one has the infotainment services built into it, which means that your brain waves are connected to the hive mind as well as you are constantly bombarded with images, news -- propaganda, the chattering of the hive mind -- and augmented data, or rather a view of the world that you are allowed to see -- according to your rank within the world -- your social standing. Yet, without a psycmask, breathing in Hellsborough is difficult -- and almost impossible in The Dark Peak, were you to venture out there.
Add to that, if you have the feeding attachment, the automatic delivery of nutrients designed for your health and wellbeing, and there you have the perfect way for the overlords to control the human population. It isn't illegal not to wear one, of course, that would be far too dystopian. Which is how Van is able to wear his modified version that does nothing but aid his breathing. Van has no need for an augmented view of the world, nor the propaganda -- the news, the infotainment, the constant chatter -- and the powers that be are fine with that. They can still monitor his wereabouts, should they want to, using the organic network. Or the clowns. Or just other inhabitants who are wearing psycmasks -- which is the majority, and why I wear one when I'm here to blend in as much as I can -- although these days, because most folk wear nanotechnology versions, which are essentially invisible, I look odd wearing a mask -- but it's not that different to the off-world after the pandemic.
The crosslanders, if you see them at all, since they tend to keep to their own areas: The ghettos and the estates on the other side of the great road, they'll probably for-go all but the most minimal of psycmask for breathing purposes, or maybe use an alternative type of purification mask altogether, or maybe nothing at all, since in Hellsborough the griminess of the air -- the murk -- is not as bad as it is in The Dark Peak.
Anyway, I slipped past the clown troupe and into the guest house, making straight for my room and letting myself in. By the time I had got into my room, the slight noise from the clowns had subsided and they had gone, so maybe they were waiting for me to show myself after all. Whatever, I bade it no mind and got my head down for the night, I'd had a skin full of ale, and tomorrow was an altogether new day.
---
I got to thinking, said Van when I met him the next day in the bar, last night, after we had parted, about the type of people that the xin are. In fact, said Van, I have been ruminating on it all night and throughout the contents of a bottle of my favourite brand of dark rum, and well into this morning.
So you've not really slept then, I hazarded.
In and out, he said, In and out; I never sleep much anyway, so not really all that unusual.
So tell me, what sort of people are they, the xin?
You never know where your next meal is coming from and you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, this may be your last day in The Dark Peak, so you better make the most of it.
Is that how they think then?
It is, and so do I, said Van, quickly enclosing his hand on a fly which had landed on the palm of his hand. Care to join me?
No, I'll pass on that thanks.
The xin are hardy and warlike, and there's a reason for that, chewed Van. Last night I mentioned an enclosure that I was able to clamber on to avoid death when I first arrived in The Dark Peak.
When Shad got killed the first time, yes I remember, I said.
Yes, when Shad got killed, that's correct.
Where is Shad by the way?