Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 55

Master, it was the only thing that kept him going.
Long ago he had given up any hope in humanity and
the idea that what he was doing actually made a real
difference. Instead, he now accepted the fact that he
existed for one reason and one reason only - to punish
the wicked.
And tonight he would fulfil that purpose once more.
Opening the doors of the cargo vehicle, he dragged
out Marqus’s limp body and effortlessly slung the 180
kilogram weight over his shoulder. He crossed to the
centre of the warehouse, which was still shrouded in
darkness, and dumped Marqus’s unconscious body on
the Void Gateway - a large circular platform that lay
flush with the warehouse floor. Appearing like nothing
more than an ordinary turntable during its inactive
state, the ancient transportation device accessed the
Void, the folded space within space, as a means to
traverse hundreds of light years within mere seconds.
Abdiel crouched down and removed the incapacitation
disc from Marqus’s swollen neck before stepping back
off the gateway platform once more. Marqus immediately began to stir. Wasting no time, Abdiel tapped the
back of his own left hand, prompting the display of his
neural communicator to appear from thin air. The virtual screen extended between his knuckles and wrist,
it appeared like a hologram floating just above his
skin, but in reality, the communicator’s hardware was
wrapped firmly around Abdiel’s wrist. The innocuous
looking metallic bracelet was a highly sophisticated
computer, capable of connecting with the core system
through the Void Gateways themselves. The display
was hidden from mortal eyes, with it linked through
Abdiel’s dermis to his occipital lobe, allowing him to
see in the correct light spectrum to discern its display,
while at the same time rendering it invisible to anyone
else looking on.
Pulling up the file of his latest prey, ‘Marqus Qatar’,
Abdiel tapped at the virtual keys on the back of his
hand, uploading the final incident report. He was
verifying that he had physically observed the monster
committing his crime, and the rest of the report was
set up as a tick and flick.

***
As Marqus began to regain consciousness, he felt groggy and confused. Opening his eyes, he struggled to
remember where he was or how he had gotten there. It
was only when he attempted to sit up that all the agony
and memories came flooding back like a tsunami of
pain and fear.
“Fu…” he started to scream. Incredible pain grasped
the right side of his body, stealing his voice away from
him.
Frantically looking around, he tried to get his bearings.
Surrounded by darkness, there was a sudden but brief
flash of light from an opaque window high above him.
It illuminated his surroundings for an instant, before
everything was plunged into darkness once more. Another flash came; it was the intermittent glow of distant
lightning outside. Using the random flashes of light to
probe the darkness that enveloped him, Marqus was
able to discern he was in some sort of warehouse.
Where is he? Marqus thought to himself, hoping that
Abdiel had left him alone somewhere.
He clenched his teeth to mask the excruciating pain
that permeated his every fibre, and rolled onto his back
to have a look at the area behind him. As he turned like
a beached whale stranded ashore, all hope for escape
was swiftly dashed.
“Just doing your paperwork, tubs,” Abdiel said, tapping
away at the back of his left hand, “Shouldn’t be long
now and you’ll be on your way.”
***
Abdiel had already sent the data package to the core
network and received the automated reply as Marqus
starred up at him.
‘Gateway read.’
Each transport had to be logged, especially those destined for Hell. All of the traveller’s details were recorded; their destination dependant on their crime.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Abdiel said, again retrieving the

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