#monkeywrites

His opinion on the other man was limited. Cletus was a good student, had an inflated ego, and was an expert at (knowingly? unknowingly?) saying things to piss people off. He was quite lucky that their friend group put up with him, but it was mostly from Goal’s forgiveness and his disinterest. 

“Is there a problem?” He asked as he walked away, still wanting to stay on schedule for lunch.

Cletus pulled himself from his slump, stepping up beside him, “Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t.”

He made his way into the cafeteria, collecting two trays and joining the line. Cletus lingered, rejoining him when he’d purchased everything and sat down. He watched him with such a serious look.

“Spill.”

“... my drink?” Argus lifted his cup, “On your lap?”

“There’s got to be a reason that you’ve chosen to do this.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do you have no self awareness-?”

Cletus froze, suddenly noticing a hand that had appeared from below the table. It wriggled about, slapping the table, until it caught hold of a chip on Argus’ tray and vanished

Peering below the table, Cletus was greeted by the sight of Rufus, nibbling away.

“I have a second tray for a reason you know.”

His eyes lit up and he scrambled out from underneath, cozying up beside Argus as the tray was slid before him. Cletus sat in shocked silence, watching until they’d finished and left. He didn’t move until Goal came to poke him.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

He stood, pulling at his hair. 

"I just- I just don't understand. Why of all people him?" 

Goal tilted her head, watching Cletus now pace in frustration. 

She sighed, "I think I'm the one who doesn't understand. Why are you so hung up on this? Argus has never really gotten on with anyone, and you know he only hangs out here because he's technically my brother." 

“Yes, but I know he understands the social implications of who he chooses to interact with.”

"I think it's good he's made a friend." 

“It’s the principle of things! He’s friends with a natural disaster!”

She sighed, poking a finger into his back to get him to leave, even while he still muttered under his breath. 

“You know what I think?”

He frowned at her as they arrived outside a classroom, “What?”

“I think you’re jealous.”

“Jealous?! Of what, the fleas he's catching?”

“That he doesn't care about what people think of him, when that seems to be the only thing on your mind.”

“That's not -!” But he couldn't finish his retort. 

Goal shrugged with that little smile she got when she knew she was right, slipping into class. 

He stood outside for a moment longer. 

A stomp brought silence.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Th- this imbecile, he com-completely messed up my order! I-I'm not even sure it's liquid."

The cup sloshes with the viscosity of slime.

"I see. Our apologies for the mistake. Let me correct that for you."

His words and actions feel robotic, like he's done this a thousand times. Taking the cup, it's thrown away with controlled anger.

"Rufus, give the man his money back. It'll be comming out of your pay check."

Cletus couldn't help but smirk as the lowly worker frowned and fished the cash out of the register, though he couldn't quite here whatever they were mumbling. The manager turned and began operate the coffee machine.

"And you will be taking the coffee station training again in your own time."

Feeling vindicated, Cletus lent forward on the bench, savouring Rufus sour expression. Though as his cash was thoughtlessly tossed towards him, that expression became devious.

"Here you go sir. Please enjoy the rest of your night and do visit us again."

There was no sincerity in his words. The cup was slightly crushed as he handed it over. On returning to his booth, Cletus realised he wasn't even sure if the manager had checked what drink he was to remake. He took a tentative sip.

It somehow tasted like nothing, yet left his lips curling and nose flaring as it travelled down his throat.

And in the distance, he heard;

"So when are *you* taking the barista training?"

The command centre was buzzing with activity, men in green uniforms with tinted helmets pouring over controls and screens of data, all working to keep the massive spaceship functioning. On the top level they had entered on, a central station showed a holographic map of the system, which was being observed by the bridge commander Bailiff Argus.

“Guests on deck!”

One of the men called out as they approached, and Cletus frowned. Not being about to see the faces unnerved him. He’d much prefer to read someone's expression to know how his words were received. Argus at least had some transparency to his visor that let them see his eyes. They stopped on the opposite side of the display, Goal reaching out to touch one of the little planets.

“Inspector. Ma’am. You’ve familiarised yourself with the mission details?”

Cletus held his head high, “Yes. We’re to visit the habited locations in the Deponia system in an effort to drum up more workers for Elysium's launch.”

“Snk, Ma’am.”

Cletus saw Argus’ eye twitch, but the Bailiff simply cleared his throat.

“That is a very basic overview, but ultimately yes. We will be escorting you for the duration, providing transport and security, but we will keep our distance so as not to… intimidate the locals.”

“So you’re our babysitter, sir?” Goal snickered again.

“Yes. Because you both clearly need to be watched closely. This plan is vital to the survival of all Elysians, so I trust you can take your job seriously?”

Cletus scoffed, “Of course we will. We understand the severity of the situation clearly.”

“I’m not sure you really do.”

Argus turned away to speak to another soldier, so Cletus tapped Goal of the elbow to get her to lean down. 

“What is going on with you?" He whispered harshly, “I brought you along to help with negotiations, not antagonise our allies.”

“You brought me along? I remember volunteering because you’re the one prone to starting fights with your words. But if you don’t need me, I’m sure they’ll happily drop me at the next station.”

He grumbled. He didn’t want to be up in space working like this, but he particularly didn’t want to be doing it alone, or with just these faceless soldiers. That look Goal had was one where she knew she’d won. 

“Whatever just, let go of whatever hangup you have with the Bailiff.”

“You’re no fun-”

“This here,” Argus changed the holomap, drawing back their attention, “Is our first stop: The Floating Black Market.”

“Is that… an asteroid belt? We’re seriously going there first? Why not an actual planet, with oh I don’t know…a surface and air and proper gravity?”

“The Market is a gathering point for vagrants and the displaced. Plenty of people desperate for work, and just as many that won’t be missed if they go missing.”

“So kidnapping is still involved! Why am I even here then?”

Cletus quickly wilted at the glare that landed on him, avoiding it by turning to peer out into the darkness outside. 

“We depart immediately.”

—

The space craft felt more like a barge than a ship to Cletus. Sure, he’d been on neither in his life, but enough media showed him that ships were vessels for moving people in relative comfort, and barges got cargo from one place to another.

And he was really feeling like a piece of cargo, cramped in a tiny living compartment for the duration of their travel. 

-

Cletus checked the seals on his hazmat suit for what could have easily been the fiftieth time. 

-We’re opening the airlock-

With a dull hiss the first door cracked open, letting him step towards his current fate. Even with his orange tinted visor he could see through the window of the second door just how rusted and derelict the foreign ship was. A tiny two man shuttle is what Elysium's records listed it as, but its condition didn’t look fit to support any life. 

-Cycle complete. Opening-

He swallowed, checking the seals one last time. Once the door was completely open, he paused.

-Well?-

“I-Inspector Cletus, beginning investigation.”

He approached the vessel, watching flecks of space dust and metal fall away with just the movement of air. With careful steps he circled the craft, making a few notes of damage and the tinted windows, before daring to step closer to the door. He holstered his datapad on his belt so he had both hands free to grip the wheel, twisting it with great effort as it squealed in protest. More debris fell as he pulled, giving him sight into the low emergency lights. 

“I’m now…” He sighed with a hiss of the air filters, “Entering the ship.”

It groaned with his steps, and on flicking on his multitools light, the inside looked barely better than the outside. Thankfully there was little to explore: A small supply space, crew quarters, and bridge, all in a neat line.

“It’s a mess in here. Looks like the crew devoured everything and then headed off for a nap.”

Stepping over the discarded packaging, and seeing no movement from the pilots seat, he dared to peer into the crew quarter cryo pod- and immediately reeled back.

“Urk!”

Scent couldn’t penetrate the suit, but his mind filled it in, the smell of rotting meat only ever something he’d encountered in his fridge. His skin crawled, but after a steadying breath he looked again. It’s condition wasn’t as bad as he first thought, skin only pulling away in a few places along the exposed arms, feet and face. Human, probably male, dressed in possibly maintenance worker gear, perhaps the flight engineer? He checked the other pod, but didn’t find the captain, only empty air. He squinted back into the first pod, and doubted the dead man’s qualifications as he noted more wear and patchiness of his clothes. Scanning the ‘room’, wall panels here were ripped open, wires in tangles and stripped. Moving to the front, the controls looked untouched, with the autopilot still engaged even after systems had failed, but more wires and components were in tatters. He took out his data pad.

“Hypothesis: A Deponian scavenger entered the vessel looking for food, maybe parts, and managed to activate its launch. Once in space, they tried to seal themselves in cryo, however as per the system's flaw, it only lasted as long as the ship's CO2 and thus they passed away. Considering the level of, urh, decomposition, the time of death doesn’t seem to be long ago.”

He gave the interior another once over. 

“Nothing of worth remains. Even if power could be restored I doubt any useful or interesting information could be gleaned from the ship's system. I’d say the only thing here would be several diseases which would be better not spread in the community.”

He hit enter, sending the snippet through to the Prime Controller. 

‘Hopefully that’s enough for me to leave.’

Somewhere above a piece of metal shifted, raining flecks of rust down. As he tried to step out of the way, he stumbled on a wire, which then snaked away under the floor panels. 

‘Come on you bast-’

His data pad chimed, and he gave a sigh of relief. The order to return blinked welcomingly, letting him tuck away his datapad and swifting exit the ship and head to the airlock. Once inside, he deposited his tools in the contamination tray and let disinfectant sprayed from all sides, drenching his suit. He’d have liked to be drenched several times over, but the first doors opened once again, leading him to carefully remove his suit and return it to the locker. 

As he adjusted his hair back to its correct position, the looming form of Ulysses hovered behind him. He turned, swallowing as he gave a small salute. 

“You will speak to no one of what you saw in there.”

A shudder ran through him at the dark tone, “S-sir?”

“We can not let word of living Deponians spread. It could jeopardise this entire city should the Elder’s find pity in their hearts.”

Cletus knew this was meant to be a one way trip, turning the city around would mean abandoning Utopia.

“Of course sir.”

“Alter your report, list it as an accidental launch of an empty ship on auto-pilot.”

“And the… evidence?”

“Your note of potential diseases gives a good excuse to jettison it back into space. But the Elders have the final say, so this place will be on lockdown until further notice.”

He nodded along, finding the excuses believable, though he wished they could have faked the entire inspection to save him from having to see the corpse. Once the Prime Controller had left, he collected his cleaned tools and began to alter his notes as he walked home. 

However, no matter how long he showered, he just didn’t feel clean.

—

“Time to get up, you wrenched stowaway!”

Rufus jolted, smacking his head against the glass.

“Ug, who put a forcefield over my bed…?”

He glanced around, slowly remembering that this was an entirely different bed. It was the one in the little ships he’d come across, the one that was-

“Am I at Elysium yet?!” He sat up again, this time with enough force to shatter the glass, which scratched gashes along his face and arms as he pulled himself out, stumbling to check the front window. Rather than the blackness of space, he squinted to make out the blackness of a room, which looked incredibly clean. 

“YES! I DID IT!!”

“I think you mean I did it.”

Rufus turned on the spot, eyeing the other man in the ship who glared at him. He looked oddly familiar, though he had some sort of wiggly wire coming out of his sleeve and into an open panel- 

“Hang on, that uniform… What the hell is an Organon doing on my escape pod?”

The whole ship groaned as the man clenched his teeth and fury lit his eyes.

“That’s BAILIFF to you junk rat!” Rufus was unable to react fast enough as wires shot out from the broken controls, entangling him, “And you’re the one who jeopardised my entire plan by scavenging where you shouldn’t be. So I think it’s time to introduce you to the airlo-”

A sudden shock came over his features, and the wires quickly retreated, letting Rufus stumble to catch his footing. After meaninglessly brushing himself down, only managing to flick congealing blood on the floor, he smugly put his hands on his hips. 

“What’s the matter? Rufus’ bod too hot to handle?”

The Bailiff regarded him with contempt, before straightening himself up.

“You are disgusting-”

“Aw.”

“-But… perhaps you could be of use to me. Maybe.”

He turned, the back hatch opening for him as he stepped into the plain room. Rufus followed close behind, savouring the smell of clean air, though he quickly noticed the Bailiff was keeping a set distance from him. When he had to pause to open the door, he pointed a finger without looking up.

“Do not come closer.”

“Hrm? Why not?” He leaned forward, watching his hand pull back, “Am I really that icky to you?”

“Yes. Whatever you are inflicted with, I’d rather not catch it.”

Rufus looked himself over. So perhaps his wounds had stopped healing a while ago, but they didn’t hurt, and some holes made excellent storage. In fact, he reached under his shirt, fingers slipping into the gash in his belly, where after a bit of wiggling, he pulled free a still wrapped ration bar. He ignored the sound of his companion gagging as he unwrapped it and chowed down.

“So, what’s first on the agenda?”

The Bailiff was again using the wires in his sleeve to try to access the door, but he pulled back as he spoke, “Tell me, for what reason were you trying to get to Elysium?”

“To get away from that stinking trash heap obviously.”

“That’s all?”

“Uuuh… yeah pretty much.”

“Well then, you wouldn’t be opposed to me taking control of this place?”

“Are you going to take it back to Deponia?”

“No.”

“Blow it up?”

“No.”

Rufus tossed the wrapper aside, “Meh, go for it. Oh, but I think I should get a say on how things are run!”

“Sure, you can be in charge of parties.”

With an excited fist-pump, Rufus barged forward as the doors hissed open.

“I can’t believe I let myself be dragged along on this stupid excursion.”

No one spared Cletus a glance as the five emerged from the overgrowth, out onto the cracked pavement of the parking lot. Before them loomed the massive structure of the abandoned shopping mall, stretching off into the distance.It was a mild evening, warmth slowly fading now the sun was on the other side of the building, with a breeze that gave way to quiet squeaking of broken lights and rustling of dried out bushes.

“Alright, according to the map-” Goal took the folded paper from her pocket, something she’d copied from the library archives, “There’s a fire escape that leads into the cinema. Hopefully since this end is so far from the entrance and damaged areas, it should have the least amount of security.”

Toni gave a small laugh as she dropped her cigarette and snuffed it out with her toe, “Don’t you find it ironic we’re sneaking in through a fire escape, when this place was shut down because people couldn’t escape the fire?”

“Let’s try to respect those who gave us the urban explorers dream location.” Goal pouted.

Rufus scoffed, “My dream location would be one of those spooky mental hospitals in the woods, that was also used to perform unethical experiments in an attempt to make some type of super soldier, that ultimately they lost control of and were destroyed by. But I guess potentially haunted by holiday shoppers' works too.”

The scavenger rifled through his pockets, producing a hand-held camcorder which he shoved into Argus’ hands.

“Okay, start filming.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re in charge of recording our adventure!”

Argus scowled, “No, I’m in charge of dragging Goal’s body back to her Father when this all goes wrong. That’s all.”

“It’s gonna be ages before we get to anything exciting, so just make yourself useful in the meantime, arsehole.”

“Oh I could end this whole excursion right here junk rat.”

Goal stepped between the two, pushing them apart by their shoulders.

“We agreed- no fighting, they’ll be enough of that if the guards find us. Please play nice.” She pulled her sadded eyes, “For my sake?”

Rufus stuck out his tongue in victory, while Argus muttered something under his breath and shoved the camera into Cletus’ hands, ignoring his confused protests. Pleased at the resolution, Goal turned and led the group across the cracked ground to a rusted stairwell that still clung to the outer wall. Red flecks flitted through the air as each scaled the steps, Rufus causing a mighty groan in the structure when he pushed forward to reach the door first. While chained, the crowbar he pulled from his coat made short work of the forgotten door, opening a dark hole into the depths.

At the back of the group, Cletus spared one last glance at the outside, flicking on the camera with a forlorn sigh.