20061122

Descent

“So where are we going again?” Ian asked as he practically ran to keep up with the Van Saar ganger.

“Not that you really need to know but I’m taking you to the old ruins we have. A while back Nimo, a former member of the team, fell down an abandoned mine shaft while he was out scavenging. Since then things have been pretty busy and we just haven’t had the time to go recover an item from him.”

A thousand questions raced through Ian’s mind all at once. How did the guy fall down this mine shaft in the first place? How did they know he did? If they did know why hadn’t they gone and rescued, or at least made sure, the guy was really there? And why are they sending me instead of one of their own to recover… whatever it is he is expected to recover? Was this guy really dead? Or had he just run off to some other dome to seek his fortune?

His thoughts distracted him enough that he failed to notice the loose I-beam. When it shifted Ian lost his footing causing him to fall to his knee and the resulting jar renewed the pain in his left side. Cacee, the ganger who was leading him on this ‘test’, had given him barely enough time to bandage it up. Nor the time to stitch it up, or any antiseptic, but it would do for now. It had to.

“You mind keeping up? Dyrke has you on a very tight schedule, and I wouldn’t want to keep him waiting. Not if you really want to run with the team.”

Ian said nothing, just picked himself off and jogged to catch up again. As he came within ten meters Cacee moved on leading the way once more. The path opened up into what had once been a small settlement. There were pools of various chemicals, some solidified – others emitting noxious fumes, dotting the landscape. Several of the buildings had collapsed, but it was obvious that none of them were currently occupied, at least not by ‘normal’ folks.

Cacee led Ian through what had once been the town square and into a severely dilapidated building. In the center of the room was a hole ten to fifteen meters across. “That’s it there,” the ganger said pointing to the hole.

“How do you know he fell, and how do you know he didn’t just run off?” Ian asked.

The Van Saar stopped mid-stride and turned. “You didn’t know the guy so I’ll let that slide. But we know he went down here because his rope is still attached, and his lasgun was found at the lip of the hole. He would never have gone down there without it. He either fell, or was pushed.”

Ian walked over to the edge of the hole. It was pretty impressive. At least five stories deep, probably more and it swallowed up the beam from his torch as he panned it around.

“Alright, down you go.” Cacee said as he knelt down next to the rope that was secured to some rebar protruding from the concrete floor. “I’ll watch your back from up here. Make sure you have a way back.”

Ian stood silently as Cacee fastened on a small web strap seat and connector. Once the ganger was happy that it wouldn’t just let Ian tumble out he connected another rope. “There’s actually plenty of hand holds. The rope is just to make sure we can pull your body back up if something should happen.”

“Thanks,” was all Ian could bring himself to say as he began his descent. The darkness that enveloped him was deep and it swallowed up the light as if it fed on the energy. Five levels, six, seven, as he neared what would have been the eighth floor the sound of something tapping against the ferocrette came up to meet him. Without further thought Ian jumped the final meter to the floor and drew his laspistol.

His torch cut through the inky blackness as he panned it back and forth trying to determine the cause of the sound. The light; however, would be swallowed up just as soon as he moved the light to look elsewhere making it hard to see. As Ian scanned a long tunnel he thought he saw some movement on the edge of his torch light, but it was impossible to be sure from here. Preparing to move down the tunnel he tripped sending the torch sliding into a nearby wall – the laspistol he managed to hold on to.

Cursing himself silently he remained still, listening for anymore movement. The beam of light from his torch ended up pointing right back at him. Looking away from the light to keep as much of his night vision as possible he glanced at his feet. He had tripped over a skeleton. “I think I just found Nimo,” he said to himself. The skeleton had been picked clean and its jump suit and kit was spread over a wide area.

As Ian stood back up the tapping returned and his heart skipped a beat. Dead bodies and noises in the dark are nothing new to anyone who has grown up in the hives, but this was different. He was by himself, and he suddenly felt very isolated. Crossing the ground quickly he picked up the torch and peered into the darkness once more. He had come through a hole in the ceiling of some long abandoned warehouse, adjacent to a wall. Scanning the immediate area around him it looked as if he was in the well of what used to be a freight elevator, and what was left of Nimo had been scattered all over. There were no bags, no salvageable kit, nothing that appeared to be of any value.

Glancing back up the hole he had descended through he could no longer see Cacee, just the rope disappearing over the edge above. As Ian’s eyes came back down to level there was more movement, this time the tapping sound came with it. Spinning to face where he had heard the sound the light fell fully upon the dark grey hide of a large spider. Two of its furry legs were extended towards Ian as if trying to reach out and touch him, meanwhile the fangs of the beast worked in a scissor like fashion. Ian’s blood froze in his veins. His mind raced with thoughts and actions but his body refused to respond to any of it.

The spider crouched low and then charged in. That was all that Ian needed to convince his arms to react. As he thrust his right hand forward, squeezing off several shots from his laspistol, his left hand drew his knife. There was no time to run anyway. The las bolts struck home around the creature’s mouth causing it to hesitate. Without though Ian hurled himself in for the kill with his knife held over his head. But before he could plunge his knife in one of the spider’s legs batted him aside. Ian felt the hair of its legs against his neck and face as he was tossed aside.

The spider did not follow up immediately though. It seemed to weigh the options in the beam of the discarded torch. Ian did not hesitate however. Leveling his laspistol he took careful aim at the spider’s left eye and took a deep breath.

“Here’s looking at you,” Ian said and let fly his shot. It struck home causing the spider to spasmodically dance throughout the area, one of its legs kicking the torch and knocking it out. Ian began shooting round after round in the vicinity of where he had last seen the spider. Bright blue bolts of light briefly lighting up the room until he no longer heard anything moving.

Glancing down to where his hands should be Ian flipped the laspistol handgrip up. The charge indicator showed that he had used a considerable amount of the power up in his panic. His eyes slowly adjusted and he could now see a faint grey shaft of light from where he had come from. Inching his way closer he groped around until he found his discarded torch. Flipping the switch it came back to life. As he did the beam fell upon the grey spider once more. This time it lay upon its back, legs curled above.

The thing’s body was a meter long, and the legs two. Inching closer Ian shot one of the legs – just to be sure. It didn’t move. Sighing to himself Ian looked back up the hole once more.

“It’s going to be quite a load hauling that carcass back up there.” With that in mind he set to work.

-=-=-=o=-=-=-

“You know kid, you could have just skinned it down there. It would have been a lot easier.”

Ian sort of looked through the Van Saar ganger for a moment. “Yea, but this way I know you’d believe me.”

“It’ll do kid. I am giving you a go on this one. Best of luck with Katan though. He’s not known for his sense of humor.”

20061116

Soup Sandwich

Ian slid down from the small tunnel into the muck that had filled the small dome. For centuries seepage of chemicals and industrial runoff from unknown sources above found its way here. “What an interesting sensation,” he thought to himself. The bodysuit that fit him like a glove changed colors slightly indication that the chemical soup was indeed toxic. “Wonderful. I probably only have fifteen to twenty minutes before the suit becomes saturated.” Holding his las pistol above his head to keep it out of the mess he found himself in, Ian waded off to his left.

“Your first task,” Ian reviewed his briefing in his head, “is simple. You are to recon a small dome and retrieve a small package. Once this is done return to your entry point to turn it over to my team and provide a report of what you saw.”

“What can there possible be to see in here?” He thought to himself. All around him lay construction materials in various stages of decay. There were several small buildings leaning over on failed support beams and a stack of barrels protruding out of the mire. To his right was a single walkway leading to a drilling platform in the center. The walkway to, from, and immediately around the platform was the only continuous areas free of the liquid now coming to his waist.

The men, who he hoped would soon be his ‘family’, had dropped him off at the sewage pipe that helped feed the soup he now found himself in. Without instruction he had decided it best to stay away from the walkways as those were bound to be patrolled, and opted instead to use a circular approach to the center. This way he could get a feel for the layout of the area and get a better view for his report.

‘Plunk!’ Something hit the surface of the mire on the far sound and the sound echoed off of the distant walls. Ian peered through the darkness but could see nothing other than the ripples on the liquid. Now pointing his weapon into the shadows he continued along. His heartbeat quickened enough that he could now feel his temples throbbing to the rhythm. As he approached the far side of the dome he searched in vain for the cause of his earlier fear, but could not find anything.

‘Plunk!’ This time it came from behind him and to his right. Ian spun around aiming his pistol into the darkness. There was nothing except a new ripple upon the surface.

“Hey!” A form appeared up on the walkway and called out. “Who’s down there?!?”

Ian cringed as he realized his actions had caused a noticeable splash. The figure up on the walkway stepped away for a moment, but quickly returned with a handheld torch. With no other place to hide Ian slipped into the shadows of a stack of barrels.

‘Plunk!’ This one was much closer. It was the guy up on the walkway, throwing debris into the mire. ‘Plunk!’ The man above tossed another object into the soup. This time close enough to splash him. Each time the beam of light from the torch searched the shadows around the impact point.

Ian fought to control his breathing. Although it seemed like the man was alone, he was between Ian and his exit point. After the man on the platform threw a few more stones into the muck he seemed to lose interest. Letting out a long quiet breath he moved out from under the barrels and began to search for way up on the platform. Whatever Dyrke wanted was up there, sentry or no sentry.

As he slipped through the muck Ian noticed a sizable drainage tube. Instead of depositing more fluids into the mix, this one was positioned in a way that drew excess fluids off the top as it filled up, and it was large enough for people to get in and out single file. From here he could not tell how far it went, or where it went to. Turning back to face the drilling platform he noticed that it was also not visible from above. “This might be of interest,” he thought to himself.

From here Ian stuck to the wall. There were plenty of large pieces of junk sticking up out of the toxic soup to hide behind. Every few minutes the man on the platform came to a random edge and scanned the area below. And each time Ian stopped in place, not wanting his movement to give him away.

Finally he found a ladder up and out. Waiting for the man to perform one of his inspections Ian double checked his las pistol to ensure the barrel remained clean and the power cell was still charged. As the man walked away once again Ian slowly lifted himself up the ladder.

The top of ladder was midway across the walkway between the dome wall and the drill platform. Looking both ways Ian didn’t see any more people and he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the Emperor was smiling upon him and he hoisted himself up and over. As he stood up the drill in the center of the room began to bore into the dome floor below causing a roar of noise to fill up the room. The walkway vibrated unnervingly below his feet causing him to look down. When he did the sentry returned and began to shoot at him. Rounds whipped by and impacted around his feet..

Looking back up towards the drill he saw the man now crouching behind a console shooting at him. The jig was up and there was nowhere for him to hide. There was nothing else to do but charge headlong into the ambush.

“AHHHH!!!!!!!” Ian’s screams were drowned out by the massive drill picking up speed. He squeezed the trigger on his las pistol sending bolt after bolt of ionized atoms into the console the man was hiding behind. Ian’s shots drew closer and closer to home and the man stopped shooting back as he sought cover. The last five meters Ian hurled himself through the air and over the console, headlong into his attacker. As the two men crashed into a heap they slid into a small pile of boxes. Ian felt a sharp pain in his ribs. Regaining his feet he looked down. There was now a long gash across his ribs and he was now bleeding profusely. Even with a quick glance he could tell that his ribs had saved him from a much more severe wound, and that it would take several stitches to close it back up.

Setting his face with a grim determination Ian reversed the hold on his knife and renewed the assault. His victim had been dazed and barely lifted his arms up in defense as Ian’s knife found its target. The man never said another word as he slumped to the ground.

Without moving his hands Ian looked around the platform. What would Dyrke possibly be interested in? Then he looked back down the walkway towards the dome wall. It disappeared into a small tunnel that was lit on to the edge of his line of sight. There was no movement. “Good,” was all he said to himself. Only then did he look back down at the man underneath him.

It was another juve, but not from house Van Saar. The kid was dressed in the traditional vest and bandana of house Orlock. A stub pistol lay beside his limp right hand. “Why would the Orlocks entrust this place to a juve?” Ian asked himself. Withdrawing his knife, and without thought, he checked the kid for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. Standing above him Ian leveled his pistol at his victim’s head. It would be such a simple thing to ensure the kid never reported back to his gang. His hand began to shake. Dropping his head and hand Ian sighed. “Let the hive swallow him if that is his fate.”

He stepped over the juve. As he lifted his eyes back up to look around the drill platform again his gaze fell upon a small satchel. Kneeling beside it Ian threw open the flap. Inside were several notebooks, and two data slates. Refastening the flap Ian stood to leave and he noticed another person. Waiting at the sewage drain he had entered from stood one of Dyrke’s men, waving him over. He quickly crossed back through the mire and into the small tunnel.

“Did you get what you were looking for?” the man asked.

“Just this,” Ian said as he handed over the satchel. “Oh, and there is another drainage tunnel on the far side.

“Good work kid. You get a go on your first task. The name’s Rogers by the way.”

“Nice to finally be called something other than ‘little rat’.”

“Well, I wouldn’t get too used to that,” Rogers said. “You still have to face the other three tests before anyone on the team even will consider calling you anything else.” Without waiting for more he turned to lead Ian back the way they had come.

Ian glanced down at his wound and winced. “Any chance to get this taken care of,” he called up to his escort.

“If you want you can drop out now. Otherwise,” Rogers said as he turned back around, “you’re just going to have to wait until this is all over.” Shaking his head Ian declined the offer. “Good. Besides, if my premonitions about you are correct. You’re going to eat these tests up.”

“Just great,” Ian thought to himself, “nothing like being given a soup sandwich to eat.” The pair left the hum of the drill behind them and headed back from whence they came.

20061106

Awakening

The sound of an air handler drew him slowly out of slumber. The first few minutes Ian just laid there trying to remember where he was. He remembered that he had not returned to his own apartment for fear of being tracked down by his family, and not being a member of any gang yet there was nowhere else for him to belong, so where was he?

He could tell that he was in some kind of bed, and that the blanket that now covered him was not threadbare. There was also a light on somewhere in the room... Was that perfume he smelled? That’s when Ian remembered the Escher from last night. What was her name again? …Amber.

Just then Ian felt the bed move, like a weight being shifted. When his eyes shot open Amber was propped above him on all fours, her face only a few centimeters above his. She peered into his eyes as if looking for something.

Time stood still for a few moments. Ian’s brain flooded with thoughts, but none of his muscles responded to his immediate commands.

“Uh… what happened,” Ian finally stammered.

“It was pretty funny really. We came back here, chatted for a while; you climbed into bed and passed out.” Amber said as she sat up and leaned against the wall. She had a huge smirk on her face. “You slept like you didn’t have a care in the world… or that you were even aware that you were in a woman’s bedroom…odd behavior for a man.” She seemed to contemplate the last point.

Ian blushed as he realized where he was. “I… that is… I meant no offense…. I mean…”

“It’s alright,” Amber laughed. “The other Cats are always telling me that all men want to do is…”

“Oh!... Well, um… that is…” Ian’s face was beginning to turn red and sweat started forming on his brow. Sitting up he continued to be at a loss for words. “I find you very attractive… and given the opportunity I’d…”

“You’d what?” Amber asked leaning towards Ian once more.

BAM, BAM, BAM! Both Ian and Amber jumped with a start as a woman with green hair barged through the door.

“Amber! Stop playing with your new toy and get your ass moving!” And with that she was gone, leaving the door ajar.

“I’d better get going. The girls are going on the prowl today. If I do well I might earn my colors.” Amber leapt off the bed and cleared half the room. Spinning around she snatched up her pistol and sword holsters from a chair and faced Ian. “See you around the bridge Ian… There’s nothing here for you to steal so… just pull the door shut when you leave,” and then Amber darted out the door.

Ian stared at the doorway for sometime not knowing what to think. “I fell asleep! What was I thinking?” he said to himself with a grin. After a few minutes he threw the blanket aside and stood to leave. His holster remained at his side… with the las pistol. A quick check showed that the power cell still had its full charge. “Best to get on with it then,” and then Ian stepped through the door pulling it shut behind him.

Ian walked down the stairs into the main room. For a long time he just stood there trying to figure out where to go. Before he could figure it out the man from his first foray into the proving grounds stepped up behind him.

“Dyrke is waiting for you little rat.”

Ian spun around, “I…”

“Shut up Rat bile. You’re only going to get one shot at this, and Dyrke is not one to like surprises. Especially the stunt you pulled yesterday. Fortunately for you the kid’s going to make it, albeit in a lesser capacity… Move it.”

Ian followed a few paces behind until they reached their destination somewhere within the Bifrost’s lower levels. “Wait here little rat.”

“Um, wait. What’s your name?” Ian called out to his escort’s back.

“You don’t need to worry about that little rat. Not until you pass the ‘Q’ course.” And with that the man left the room.

Dyrke didn’t keep him waiting long. “I’ve been told that you have made yourself at home here at the Bifrost little rat.”

Ian cringed at what was becoming his nickname.

“On to business,” Dyrke said. “This will be slightly different than the normal rotation as we are short on time and initiates.” Ian shifted. Dyrke continued, “there will be four phases that you will be going through. They are back to back with no breaks in between. The only pause you will have will be for direction from one of my team. Do you have any questions?”

“So, do you mean when I pass these tests, I’ll be…?”

“IF you pass them,” Dyrke interrupted. “The overview is this. Phase one will be a reconnaissance type of mission. You will have to move in and around a particular target and then retrieve one item of ‘interest’. From there you will do what we refer to as a deep insertion, “there were chuckles from the others who had since come into the room. Dyrke peered over Ian’s shoulder and silenced the room once more. “Once you complete this test you will be making a trip to the sump, and if you survive this far you will have to make a journey that your wildest imaginations can not come up with.”

Ian shifted his weight and looked around the room. Maybe… this was not such a bright idea after all. All he’d wanted to do was get out of Hive City, have a little adventure. When it was all said and done maybe even return home to a nice job. Now… he was not sure if would survive these tests. Why had he even gotten out of that nice bed?

“Alright little rat, time to die.”