Park by Aaron Stewart-Ahn Welcome to Gorgona Island, a former penal colony turned wildlife park where creatures have broken free from containment, to be hunted down by enthusiastic tourists. Aaron Stewart-Ahn – co-writer of Mandy, the Nicolas Cage psych-revenge masterpiece laced with DMT and demonology – reports from the end of days.

The wealthy man was demanding to examine What about the guests? the gun. Gonzo knew management was watch- The adult male is going to ing, and she was already in enough trouble. be trouble. The number-one rule was to accommodate the “Hey, chica, you think guests’ desires and, although instinctively she I can let just a round or two regretted it, the need to keep her job overrode off?” the man was fumbling her conscience. Impassively, she handed the with the slide lever. squat bullpup over to the silver-haired man. Checking… He’s got Gonzo stepped back to covertly shield VIP status. the man’s family. He was hoisting the gun up Gonzo held back the as if he knew what he was doing, but his finger cursed ‘fuck’ that rolled was already over the trigger, violating the through her mind, making most basic firearm safety principles. Gonzo sure she didn’t broadcast it. wondered if he even knew the implants in the VIPs were the worst. gun and her arm wouldn’t allow anyone other “Breton, I think she’s than her to fire it. thinking with someone. It was obvious from his clothes, his I don’t like it,” said the wife. dialect and his attitude that this was a man Management spoke who’d never had a day of compulsory service up in her mind: We’r e in his life. That aura of money had kept him dropping a waypoint in out of the conflicts in Venezuela or Singapore your vision. Take them in or even Oakland. He had no scars, could only the airwolf. Have them sit speak English. And the tattoos, like his neck- tight while you terminate the escaped that enthusiasm, repurpose it. Maybe even piece, were too much. Gonzo’s military tattoos subject. You’re authorised to give them loyalty make the kid feel OK. She had nothing against were hidden under her clothes, and she was reward points. the kid. self-conscious about the scar where they had I’m telling you, this guy has no price. “OK, gang! It’s not every day visitors to reattached her arm, and how the skin over Unlimited points. Comp them a visit to the Park get to experience this exclusive VIP her prosthesis wasn’t exactly the right shade, the birthing lab if you have to. incitement. We’re hunting. I’m gonna need how hairless it was. That was new. She’d never been to the you to get back in the airwolf and stay on The man’s spouse and child stayed behind birthing labs. The guests were always rich; board at all times. But I promise you a once- Gonzo. The wife was agitated, rolling her eyes only the ultra-wealthiest could afford to travel in-a-lifetime experience.” watching her husband’s pantomime of a badass. by air. Whoever this family was, now she “Let’s go hunting!” The father surren- The daughter was wide-eyed, maybe scared. knew, they were puntos ceros. The .000 per dered the rifle, passing it to her dangerously “What’s this, an Indonesian MN77? cent, with reserves of money that made them by the barrel. What kinda ammo you packing? Six-point- distantly related species on an evolutionary He reeked of bug-out adrenaline. He had eight-millimetre? Caseless?” tree. Her humanity wasn’t on their level. paid all this money to come see the rarest of The wife sternly cut in, “This isn’t one She got up on the airwolf’s standing platform life and the thought of it being extinguished of your virt games, Breton. We’re in a jungle. and started up the electrical quad rotors. was an even greater thrill for him. Her bionic I think we should go back. It’s dangerous.” Your quarry is faster than you and on arm reprised soldiering muscle-memory and “Daddy, what are you doing?” the move. Everyone in the Park is in danger secured the rifle. “We’re going hunting, dearest. A savage while it’s free. Its genetic signature has become The little girl looked up at her with such beast is on the loose. And your dad is good with too compatible with current mutations and pride and wonder she almost fell for it herself. a weapon,” he said, smiling at his child. we can’t risk it going full carrier. You’re the As she banked the airwolf around a Gonzo suppressed her anger as he waved best chance we have of containment. If you grove of trees, she riffed off her intro, too the barrel of the gun around at the treetops. fail, then we have an incident. The whole well-rehearsed, trying not to sound bored. Her logo chimed and management was in Park locks down. And you won’t just be fired, Sometimes the job was as much about acting her thoughts. we’ll invoke the debtor clause in your contract. as it was about being a park ranger. She went Gonzalez. You’re now on a tier-five. Do not fuck this up. back in on Gorgona Island’s history… Containment is breached. Subject is in your She kept her thoughts offline again. “A former penal colony turned wildlife vicinity. Lethal force required. In her retinas a thumbs-up jabbed at her reserve. During the conflicts it remained Gonzo thought back: I can capture it. and then the company logo flashed to end uninhabited, sitting empty off the coast of I’m sure of it. the chat. She composed herself, and tried to Colombia.” Danger is too great. Terminate imme- remember a time in her life, before the con- The rich woman interrupted. “You have diately. Make sure to do a dead check, destroy flicts, before conscription, before the years in incredible eyes.” brain and heart. We are sending a burn unit the camps, when she was briefly studying to “Ah, thanks.” for cleanup. be a paleontologist. At least she could bite “Where did you get them?”

TELLING IT LIKE ISN’T 85 DAZED SPRING/SUMMER 2020 “I didn’t. My mother was a Paisa from time, before we lost them. Before we lost a ridiculous-looking thing, with short legs and Medellín. Dad was Korean. It’s what I ended everything. I never, ever forgot that sound, floppy ears and a coat of fuzzy fur. up with.” but I forgot what it was like to see one.” “Don’t move!” Gonzo hissed. But the girl “Ama zing… I’ve seen clinics try for The father only offered a slack, “I never couldn’t resist, and her small hand was soon that look, last spring, and they didn’t even saw one before. It’s so small. It’s incredible, delicately tapping its black wet nose. come close.” the technology they must have to bring The dog rolled on to its back and its “Honey, let her drive the damn thing.” them back.” short limbs bent in the air. The girl was Gonzo pitched the ’copter up to clear Gonzo caught the reflex, the flutter, rubbing its tummy, and the dog’s tongue fell some foliage and continued her monologue: the rapid ascension, as the tall grass bent downward in delight. “Anyway, after the prion pandemic rolled in, wildly and downward, the sparrow already The parents came from the other direc- the island was completely empty…” leaping into the sky and away on its wings. tion, and the mother screamed. The father “Terrible tragedy. So much suffering,” A predator was lurking. was refusing to even touch his daughter, interjected the father. She had the gun drawn and was already shouting about infection. “And after Venezuela, Progena bought leaping down from the railings. “Stay here,” Gonzalez, status. Report. Dammit, the entire island. Here they would be able to she said. “Progena is offering you a chance to Gonzalez, did the family make contact?! use their radical gene manipulation, assisted visit the birthing chambers. But only if you Gonzo’s weight shifted in the sand, by their nano AI assemblers, to achieve stay here. Do you understand?” her prosthetic arm heaviest of all. She dropped what had once been impossible, the stuff of The father nodded, excited. the gun. The way her body settled, it felt like dreams and legends… To resurrect a lost past, Gonzo crouched into the grass, fol- she might sink forever, her whole being might the wonders of nature lost forever.” lowing a path of bent stalks. She could hear sink, until the tide came in and her head was the creature. It was buried beneath the lapping waves. ahead of her, rustling, She remembered the chihuahua her evading. mother had. The last dog she ever saw, until You are right on she came to work here, where Progena could top of the subject. You keep clones of all the extinct animals alive for had better nail this days at a time until the pervasive infection termination, Gonzalez. that was in the air and in the water got into Management cutting their systems. There was an entire facility into the silence of her dedicated to euthanising and burning the mind. Hunting mode cloned animals, before the new ones could was instinct, silent, come out as attractions for their few short without words. days of life, until they, too, were corrupted. She heard clank- The burners would be coming soon. ing metal and she After her mother had passed away knew that the family from the prion disease, she spent a year alone were leaving the in that apartment in Medellín, only nine years airwolf. She held her old. And the small dog always came to bed breath and heard the with her, dreamed next to her, little gasping father: “Let’s check it howls and kicking legs in its sleep. Sometimes out. We’re never going it would jump into her lap and almost seem to get in trouble.” to smile at her. The dog was her best friend. She felt sweat creeping out of the edges For a moment, she hesitated. Follow her Then the constables came for her, and peo- of her Progena baseball cap and took it off. gun-barrel and proceed with the hunt, or try ple in plastic suits came for her dog. She did “Mommy, mommy, look!” said the girl, to get control of the family? The family could her best to protect it, but she was only a child scrambling to the edge of the rails as her wait. She pressed on into the grass. and they had guns, and after they shoved it parents held her back. The father hushed She led with her weapon, as the grass away into a carbon sack she held on to some his daughter. Gonzo set the airwolf down in gave way to an embankment of beach sand. kind of innate rage and need to see an animal silent mode. It would be hard to rely on her hearing, with again, and decades later she could never Everyone was looking in the direction the ocean waves seemingly coming from afford to come to Progena’s island, but she the girl had been so excited by. Nothing: every direction. But then she saw tracks. could work there. only tall strands of wild grass swaying in Claws. She followed. She had failed. The child was touching ocean breezes. Further from shore, she heard the par- the dog, bonding with it, and no doubt she “There… Look!” the child whisper- ents calling out for their daughter. Not good. was infected now. screamed. She zoomed around with her implant eye, With her failure came a kind of strange Gonzo caught it. The grass bending ever followed the heat signature of the tracks, and elation, the same exhilaration of watching so slightly. And then the sound. saw that they led to a palm tree. And there, the sparrow take flight. Something new. The family gasped. Gonzo heard the the little girl was kneeling. Gonzo tucked Something liberating. Watching the child mother sniffling. Tears were streaming from the gun’s stock over a forearm and sprinted pet the dog, violating the systems that her eyes, her whole body convulsing. towards her as fast as she could through had been put into place for the sake of human- Soft chirps. Birdsong. the sand. ity’s survival, she felt something forbidden. A sparrow. Under the soft, dusk-light shadows of She desperately longed for the order of things Its petite bird-toes wrapped around a the palm fronds, the girl had one hand out, to change. thick blade of seagrass, head jerking in sharp, wide-open. She was smiling. The gun was adorable rotations, notes emanating from its no use now, or she’d risk hitting the child. snubby beak. Gonzo approached cautiously. “Mommy, isn’t it beautiful…? Why are Its hind legs were caked with sand you so sad?” and water. A droopy pink tongue fell out The mother wrapped her arms around of its mouth, and the tracks led right to its her child’s shoulders, “I saw one once, when paws. The dog whimpered, as if awaiting the I was a girl. Just a little bit older than you. child’s touch. It tilted its head ever so slightly In a tree. In a park in Paris. Only that one in a gesture of play and fondness. It was

DAZED SPRING/SUMMER 2020 86 CONFUSED NEWS