CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

HACKER PACK ALLIANCE

 

 

THE HACKER PACK had one of the largest fiefdoms in Berlin. Based at Hackerscher Markt, it spread to Friedrichstrasse and beyond. Stadtmitte was at its periphery.

Zoo Pack had heard fighting outside on Hacker territory. The most powerful Aux Pack in the north of Berlin was under threat.

The greeting between Ezra Pound and Holeman Hunt was a friendly, familiar one. They clenched forearms and banged their vast chests together like brothers, when they met on the platform at Friedrichstrasse. Zoo Pack weapons were not confiscated, and many of the Hackers had gathered to greet them.

The atmosphere was serious, though. It was clear that the Hacker Pack was suffering.

Ezra Pound put one huge hand around Holeman Hunt’s neck and looked at the fresh scar on the Alpha dog’s face.

“Holeman Hunt, you have been scrapping?”

“The Rathaus Pack, them have turned. Them have gone to the wild. Them have turned savage,” said the Alpha dog by way of an answer.

“Rathaus Pack, them scrap outside?” asked Ezra Pound.

“Rathaus Pack, them scrap everywhere,” said Holeman Hunt. “The Hacker Pack fiefdom, it grows small.”

“Zoo Pack, we have no fiefdom,” said Ezra Pound.

“You, my brother, you are welcome here,” said Holeman Hunt.

With Hackescher Markt abandoned, Friedrichstrasse had become the Hacker Pack’s base. It was crowded and many of the amenities were improvised, but a command centre had been set up. Ezra Pound was invited to join Holeman Hunt and his lieutenants to discuss the problems the new order was throwing up.

“Me, I have lieutenants, too,” said Ezra Pound. “Them have much to say.”

The room was small and too full of Aux. They sat and stood in close proximity, close enough to touch. The Hackers cast baffled glances over Ezra Pound’s lieutenants. They did not understand the presence of the two pups, including an invalid, or of the two low-status dams, or the old male. They did not understand why there were only two Aux lieutenants in the party.

“Us, why should we listen to Ezra Pound?” a Hacker lieutenant asked Holeman Hunt. “Zoo Pack has no fiefdom, and no lieutenants,” he jeered, gesturing at Pound’s entourage.

“Me, I have what you need,” said Ezra Pound. “Me, I have the bravest, truest Pack. Me, I have a Hearer. Me, I have a Believer. Me, I have a tale-teller who tells tales never before told.”

Ezra Pound spoke in the voice he used to rally his scrappers. He spoke with conviction.

“Me, I have the truth.”

He looked at Walter Sickert.

“You, speak,” he said.

“The ice, it is dying,” said Walter Sickert.

His voice had a visible effect on the people around him. The Zoo Pack had grown a little used to it, but the Warschauer Pack’s Hearer was a shock to the Hacker Aux. One of them buckled at the knees and had to steady himself.

“The ice, it is dying and Them live. The Warschauer Pack, them did not believe. The Warschauer Pack, them are gone, deader and dead. Killed by Them. The whistles in the tunnels, underground, them warn us of Them. There is strength in numbers. The Aux, we must stand against Them. The Aux, we must listen to the old legends. The Time of Ice, it is over. The Aux, we will live again. The Aux, we will breathe again. First the Aux, we must make alliances, tougher and tough. The Aux, we must stand together against Them, tougher and tough.”

Holeman Hunt stood. He waited for Walter Sickert to finish what he was saying, but his impatience was clear.

“The Rathaus Pack,” he said. “Them scrap with us. Them wound and kill the Hacker Pack. Gene the Hackman, him kept Them off the Lawn. Gene the Hackman, him got whet. Gene the Hackman, him was tougher and tough. Gene the Hackman, him killed Them.”

“Us, we are Gene the Hackman,” said Walter Sickert, slowly, one word at a time.

Holeman Hunt could not refute the Hearer’s claims. The force of his words and the tone in which he spoke them meant more than anything the Alpha dog could say, but his situation was more immediate, more pressing. Them weren’t killing the Hacker Pack, the Rathaus were.

Holeman Hunt stood at the centre of the command chamber for long moments. He could think of nothing to say. All he could do was plead.

“You, Hearer, does the Voice say nothing of the Rathaus?”

“Them are on the lawn,” said Walter Sickert. “The Aux, we must keep Them off the Lawn.”

Holeman Hunt didn’t speak again for several long seconds.

It was one of his lieutenants who spoke for him.

“The Rathaus, them scrap with us. The Rathaus, them kill and maim us. The Rathaus, them threaten our fiefdom. Us, why do we listen to a pup?”

Walter Sickert bowed his head and did not speak. He had said all that he had to say.

Ezra Pound stood up next to Holeman Hunt.

“Them can wait,” he said. “Hacker Pack, you make an alliance with Zoo Pack, tougher and tough. Make an alliance with Zoo Pack and Zoo Pack, we make an alliance with Hacker Pack.”

The two Aux embraced again, grasping forearms and banging chests. The deal was done.

“Hacker Pack, what do you need?” asked Ezra Pound.