TH - Book 2 - Chapter 39 - Deep trouble

“This place reeks,” Skyler hissed as I inspected the twisted remains of the Model Eight we’d seen from above. We had to repel from the tunnel down to the catwalk in order to get a look at it, a harrowing process that I wasn’t eager to repeat any time soon. “I’d heard that the canal area had been flooded by garbage and sewage, but I never imagined it could be this bad.” 

“I heard the government tried to drain the canals, reclaim the area, but even with the help of the samurai they couldn’t keep the place from flooding again. They would have had to cover the entire basin in a water proof coating to keep the sea water from seeping in, and the costs would have been enormous.”

“They should have tried harder,” Skyler grumbled.

“Not going to disagree with you there,” I replied as I poked the dead beast in front of me. Once I’d had enough I stood up and took a couple steps back. “I’m no expert, but I think this thing has been sitting here for a day or two, it’s already starting to break down. I also don’t see any other antithesis blood in the area, which means either those Threes found a way down, or they jumped directly into the soup.”

“Let's hope they found a way down,” Skyler whispered, “because I don’t even want to even think about diving down into that swamp to investigate. Let’s check out the nearby support pillars first.”

I nodded, and once again directed my drone to lead the way. This area of the canals was completely unlit, so we needed to rely upon the drones lights again as we made our way across the old rickety bridge network and over to the nearest support.

The concrete pillar was over fifty feet wide, and covered in a patchwork web of pipes, wires, string lights, and debris. A series of makeshift platforms wound around the structure, not only giving people access to various parts of the web, but also supporting several small, makeshift hovels. As we inspected the structure I also noticed a handful of malnourished people staring at us suspiciously from various hiding places.

“I can’t believe how this is how the city utilities are delivered,” Skyler muttered. “There have to be hundreds of wires stretched haphazardly between each pillar, it’s like a rat's nest down here.”

“These aren’t the main utility lines, those are maintained by the city and I think they’re suspended from the bottom of the plates,” I said glaring into the darkness, trying to get a good look at the ceiling above us. “I heard that some individuals, and corporations ran independent networks through here for privacy purposes, but I never expected the system to be so vast… and disorganized.”

“This is private?” Skyler scoffed. “Anyone could come down here and splice into these wires.”

“If they could find the right one,” I muttered, glancing around. “I don’t think the antithesis came this way, there are still people here. I doubt the antithesis would have passed up an easy meal.”

Skyler sighed. “Well, thanks to the stupid hex plate architecture this city’s built on there’s a pillar for every city block. That’s hundreds of supports just along this wall, and hundreds of thousands in this cavern. It'd take us years to check them all manually. I’ll start sending my drones to the nearby supports, see if I can find anything, but I feel like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack here.”

“All we need to do is find a place to start, we can narrow things down from there,” I reminded her. “I doubt the antithesis went that far from the tunnels, even if they have a command model it’d be hard for them to suppress their base desires and completely ignore the undefended people around here. All it’ll take is a single casualty to point us in the right direction.”

“You know it sounds pretty morbid when you put it like that.”

“I know, and I don’t like it any more than you do, but if we can find a single casualty that might lead us to the antithesis, and allow us to save hundreds, or thousands of other people,” I explained. I crouched down, and glanced around the cavernous area, trying to figure out what to do with myself. “While you’re doing that I guess I’ll give the powers that be a call. We’ve been sending them updates, but we really should make sure they have all the details.”

“Sounds good. You want to move back to the perimeter wall then? I doubt the locals are going to attack us, but I feel like it’s probably better to get out of their space, just in case. Especially when we’re both going to be heavily distracted.”

“Good plan,” I muttered. 

The old steel bridge complained as we crossed back towards the catwalk, and I swear I heard something snap, but it thankfully held long enough for us to get across safely. As soon as we set foot on the other side I set my drone between us and the tunnel, just in case something else slipped through, and put my back against the wall before making the call. 

I used my augs to pull up the contact number I had for the Cascadian Military, and waited for it to connect. 

[This is Adriana Howard, how can I help you today?] the measured, even female voice on the other end of the line said.

[Ms. Howard? This is Cleansing Rain, we met at the start of the incursion. I’m calling about the tunnel my partner, Cleansing Rain, found. I’m sorry if I sound a little awkward, I just expected this number to go to some sort of switchboard, or secretary pool, not through to your private line.]

[Please, don’t worry about it. I’m sorry if you were confused, but just so you know the Cascadian government places all samurai in high regard, you’ll never be sent to some low level clerk, only a lesion like myself. Now how can I help you today? You mentioned something about a tunnel? Just a moment,] I could hear Ms Howard shuffling through something, and she came back a couple seconds later. [Oh right… I see. Although I wasn’t personally aware of this issue, it is marked as a priority. It appears that Grey goo is also investigating. Would you like me to bring her into the call?]

[If you think she’ll answer?]

[I doubt she would have left a note in the file otherwise. Give me a moment.]

[Ahoy hoy, Grey Goo here. Oh, it seems like my junior finally decided to give me a call and check in on me, and Adriana too? It’s my lucky day. To what do I owe this pleasure?] Grey asked cheerfully.

[As you know my partner and I were investigating a suspicious tunnel, and it seems to have connected to the canals. We’ve lost track of the antithesis we saw enter, so I thought I’d report while Rain searched with her drones,] I explained.

[Yeah, I saw the preliminary report that your AI filed earlier. It’s concerning. I’ve ventured down to investigate myself, but I’m afraid I haven’t been able to find the tunnel, there weren't any coordinates included in the file. Can you make out the identification code on any of the nearby supports? I’d say they’re hard to miss, since they’re painted in twenty foot tall letters, but they might be obscured by all the cables and junk.]

I squinted into the darkness, looking back at the support Skyler and I had been at just a couple minutes earlier. There was something there, almost completely obscured by the crap that had built up over the years, but thanks to the string lights I could just make it out.

[KL5-Z97-Y, I think]

[Excellent, I’ll head that direction. See you soon!] Grey chirped, before hanging up.

I just sat there, stunned for a minute. [Is she always like that?] I finally asked Adriana.

[No she can be quite serious when the situation demands it. She’s been in some serious fights over the last year or so, and I suspect she’s just started loosening up a little now that we’re finally getting the antithesis under control,] Adriana explained.

Part of me really wanted to know more, but I refrained from asking. Maybe Grey would tell us when she arrived. [So… is there anything else you’d like to know about the current situation? I know that our AIs have been filing reports, but I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed.]

[You don’t have to worry about that, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that protector AIs are extremely efficient. Not only do their reports include every possible important detail, but they’re structured in a way that’s completely intuitive for the reader. I wish everyone was so throughout,] Adriana sighed. [I’ve already added the support Id to the report, so the cleanup crew knows where to go, but if you have anything personal you’d like to add, feel free.]

[No, that’s fine. Skyler and I have just been relying on our AIs to report for so long, I felt we should check in,] I explained.

[Don’t worry about that. I’m here just in case you need any help, or requests from the government, we don’t expect samurai to report in regularly. You’re free agents after all. Is there anything else I can help you with today?] she asked.

[No, I guess there isn’t,] I admitted. [Thanks for your help.]

[You’re very welcome. Feel free to call anytime. Goodbye!] 

When Adriana hung up I blinked a couple of times before looking around again. I immediately noticed that Skyler was looking at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I found something,” she replied quietly. “But you’re not going to like it.”