ALL NOVEL Chapter Twenty-Four: Where Do They Sell Paddles
"Well, this stinks." I say, dropping into the water with my new rubber boots. The things almost fly off when I take a step. Why is it always like this? Well, at least I am not getting my clothes extremely dirty. After we did some planning, we decided that, if we were to go down there, we needed some gear, so after a trip to the car and some stalls, I am now kitted out in a gas mask, dark green rubber boots, and a sparkling magenta poncho. Yeah, that last one was not my idea, but needs must and all that. But if anyone ever sends any evidence to the bitch, I am going to do something extreme.
While trudging to the water, I notice my body automatically takes certain motions to correct my stability and balance. I love this learning program; I might even get addicted to them if only I had enough points to get more of them.
“Sam, can you get me a map and check where this pipe is going and coming from?”
“Sure thing, give me a bit; let's see, it is coming from a mostly residential area and is going towards some of the industrial zones.”
“Cool, thanks.” I say, while I start walking upstream
“Hey, wait!” Anika shouts. “Why are we going this way?”
“Because corporations suck, so, they will flush a bunch of chemicals down the drain, meaning that the area downstream should be extremely dangerous. With, like acids and stuff. So nobody would go down there.”
“And that is allowed?”
“Not really, but if you bribe the government as well as the sewer maintenance company a bit, nobody is going to look.”
“I see. Well, I guess that is just how the world works. Is there any way to change that?”
“Not unless some samurai is going to shoot some officials; that might motivate some change.”
“Hey, are you girls good with going in alone? Shouldn’t you have called for backup or something? All of this is rather expensive,” Cierra asks.
“We could call in support, but we can’t be sure they don’t have someone on the inside with that kind of budget.”
“So you think we might have a mole.”
“I am not sure; I am just saying that it is possible. Then again, this can also be a complete inside job. We don’t have all the facts yet. So as long as we can handle it on our own, then that is better.”
“I see, but if you guys are in any danger, I will call a security squad.”
“Sure, no problem.”
As we keep walking through different tunnels, trying to figure out which one is the most likely exit point, we hear something. Anika raises her hand in a fist and then throws some… I don’t know... gang signs at me. I am just going to assume that it means stay behind me.
We slowly walk to the noise and find a man sitting on some type of home-built raft in a slower part of the stream. He, well, he does not nearly look healthy, but he has some kind of mask on, so that is something, I guess. Big hunch as well.
“Hey, who are you?” Anika asks.
“Me, I am no one, but the people call me the rat man. I live here, collecting valuables you surface dwellers dump down here.” He says in an old, raspy tone
“Surface dwellers? ” I ask, wondering if one of Lyssa's patients escaped.
“Yeah, you live on the surface, where I, the Ratman, live under the ground.”
“You do realise that the pipe we are in is suspended about 40ish meters in the air? You are nowhere near the ground.” I say while putting some trackers on him, just in case,
“You should not believe the lies of the sky folk.”
“Who are the sky folk?”
“The creatures riding in their metal boxes across the sky, of course”
“Evelin”, I hear Sam say, “focus.”
“Ah, right, mister Ratman, as the current leader of this tunnel, have you seen a man about this tall in a green raincoat perhaps go through here about three weeks ago?”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t; what is it worth to you?”
“Uhm, Anika? “I say, turning to her
“How about a thousand credits, and you tell us everything you know.”
“Acceptable, but payment first”
After the payment has been made, he goes into his pile of trash on the back of his raft and, comes out with a wet mop of hair and hands it to me.
“There was such a person he dropped this and went up shaft 4-76. Don’t know where he went after that.”
“Thank you,” Anika says, and we start walking in the direction pointed out. “Well, that was something. What are the chances of him telling the truth?”
“I don’t know, but I put a tracker on him, and this thing is the real deal. At least, it is a Gen 3 or 4 tec wig, very fancy, feels and acts exactly like normal hair, but you can switch the colour and stuff. They are worth at least 10k credits. Wonder why they abandon it?” I say, still examining it.
“Can we use it? For, I don’t know, tracking or something.”
“I can try and track the serial number, but I'm not sure if anything will come from it.” I say, some more trudging through, frankly, disgusting water. It's kind of crazy what people stuff down these things; it's no wonder someone is down here looking for treasure. We finally make it to our designated exit and climb out of here. We find ourselves in the inner courtyard of an apartment complex. I quickly spot some cameras and get into the network to see if I can find anything.
And as luck would have it, the crazy guy was truthful. Our guy did turn up here, and that is not even the best part of all this. He did not go into a vehicle. He just went up a few floors into an apartment.
I do a happy jump. “Finally got you.” I say.
Anika completely tenses up. “Let's go then. I want to know who is behind all of this.”
We quickly march up to the apartment. Personally, I would have preferred stealth, but there is no stopping an angry mother. Well, at least not by me. The first problem we come across is the door to the apartment.
“That is strange,” I say.
“What is?”
“The lock is, how you say it, way too secure.”
“You can’t break it.”
“I didn't say that; what I mean is that you would only find this kind of system in high-priority places, like the mansions of the rich and stuff. I am pretty sure even a second-hand model is still worth like 250k credits, and then we are not even talking about the subscription fees to keep the software and security up to date. “
“Security?” Anika says, while I hear Sam giggle in the background
“If someone messes with it in the wrong way, an inter-squad of security, armed to the teeth, will arrive.”
“So what you're saying is that you can open it but not without security showing up, and why do you keep laughing?” Anika says, almost annoyed.
“Well, it is funny if you would know the type of lock this is.” Sam says, still laughing.
“How so?” Anika says, clearly not as amused.
“Well, look at the lock. Where is it from?” Sam asks between giggles.
Anika examines the lock for a bit. “It's made by New Hope”, she says in surprise.
“Correct, that lock is the entire reason most of the locksmith department hates Evelin.”
Anika looks at me and asks, “What did you do?”
“Why do you assume that I was the one that started shit?” I ask with a fake gasp.
“You have a track record of being a bitch to people that look down on you?”
“You know what, fair point. Anyway, there was this security testing thing the managers of the department wanted to do, to test their new locks and determine how secure they were. So they invited a bunch of people from the internal security department to crack their lock to show how secure they were; at least, that is what they said on the surface. What they really were trying to do was embarrass us, and mostly Le Mond, in front of the whole company.”
“I don’t think I remember him ever getting humiliated “, Anika says.
“That is because Le Mond, for all his flaws, at least understood what cards he had, and how to make them the most useful.” Sam says, taking over the explanation, “So he said that he would take the entire department to a fancy dinner if we could embarrass them instead. So we spent a long time writing code to break into all kinds of locks.”
“And you were the one to break all of their locks.” Anika says while turning to me.
“Nope.” I say, with a bright smile. “You see, I misunderstood the assignment, so during the show, my coworkers broke all the locks within 10 minutes. After which, I walked out with my own locked door and challenged their department to break it. You see, when Le Mond told me to embarrass them, I did not even think about breaking their lock. The only thing that I thought about was how to make a better lock than them, and that is what I did. It took them an entire month to get far enough to trigger the security squad.”
“I can see why they don’t like you, now.” Anika says.
“Yeah, the food we got after was amazing; Le Mond was so happy he took us to dinner for an entire week.” Sam says, “But I don’t remember you being there.”
“That is because of me, I think.” Cierra says. “I was so proud that I took her to dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower.”
“Ooh, yeah, that was an amazing night. Kind of sad to think that entire thing fell down in the Paris incursion.” I say.
“Not as sad as the locksmith department when corporate decided to sell your lock instead of theirs.” Sam cuts in.
“I see now, really funny. Can you open the lock or not?” Anika says, a bit of her impatience slipping in.
“Yes, I can. I just have to suspend the licensing for this one and go to town. This might take a bit”, I say while grabbing the codes and stopping all services.
Sometimes, I wish I had designed things to keep other people out, not myself. Anyway, after releasing control to Lyssa, the lock manages to budge, and the door becomes unlocked.
“Okay, that should do it; now I'd like to warn you again. This is an expensive lock, so expect danger inside.” I say.
“No problem, I will activate full combat,” Anika says when suddenly her head is encapsulated by a helmet, and her arms open up, one revealing some kind of assault pistol, the other an electrified rod. Yep, I totally forgot how scary she could be. Kind of wonder how much all that gear would cost in points. Having a zap zap stick sounds fun.
I open the door, and we step inside. There is nothing here. Well, nothing is the wrong word. There is just a chair with someone sitting in it, someone with a green raincoat. Anika slowly starts to walk up to the person while I stay in the entranceway.
“Identify yourself!” Anika shouts at him
“Evelin, I am so glad that you could finally make it. I have been waiting so terribly long.” The man says in one of those creepy, happy voices
“You know me,” I say. “Care to tell us who you are as well.”
“It is always only questions with you, isn’t it? You are never sure of yourself. That is why you are still a slut stuck under some rich woman.” the man says, unbothered.
“The fuck is your problem? You have just been threatening Anika's kids just to get the chance to insult me?”
“But even when you’re so small, you have such a big ego, always thinking that you’re the smartest person in the room, never thinking that anyone can be your equal.”
“Are you just here to spout nonsense or what?” I say, trying to calm myself down.
“Evelin, there is something wrong,” Anika says, while motioning for me to come closer.
“But with all those smarts, you don’t even know the most powerful weapon that you have, Cierra Agroria. You hold her leash. You can make her do whatever you want.”
“Well, that is a disgusting way of thinking.” I say,while walking up to Anika, and then I see that this is not a person. It’s a disguise suit of some kind. Someone goes inside, and the entire exoskeleton will close around them, making them appear like a different person. Expensive stuff
“So it’s a prerecorded message then,” I say, “since there is no signal or anything.
“It would appear so.”
As the doll keeps on talking, I take off the coat to have a better look. It is sound-activated. It seems there are no external connections, and when the message ends it should...
“FUCK, THERE IS A BOMB IN HERE!” I shout, as I start sprinting for the door.
