by Jiny Lee
I asked Kimmy whether she'd like to come. She said she was afraid to join although she wanted to help us so badly. Bertie said she could help us without really going down with us. She could stay in the office and watch us through the monitor. Bertie said he was planning to build a camera and a new set of communication devices. Kimmy agreed.
Fox and Purple said they'd join, too. But Purple said he'd talk with the counsel members. He said, if the whole thing Hannibal said was true, there was a possibility that the Reaper left something on the top floor before he died. Intentionally or unintentionally. The chances were that he made a deal with the night crawler or he had no choice but to follow him. And it could be that Daug and the Reaper had some sort of connection in between. He doubted the last assumption, though. He said he needed to do some research on his own.
I decided to talk with Mark. I felt obliged to tell him everything.
26
I planned to go down to the first floor to see Mark, but I met him on my way in the middle. I met him on the stairs between the 65th and 66th floor. He said he was also on his way to the 100th floor to see me. I asked him the reason and he said someone from the counsel told him to see me.
We went up to the 100th floor and got into the Chris's bar. I bought him a beer. I asked him who it was that told him to see me. He said the man didn't tell him his name and he thought I'd know who it was. I said I had no idea. I just thought it was probably someone Purple sent.
I told him everything that I'd found out. I showed him the letter from Hannibal that I'd printed out earlier. After reading it, he carefully said, 'I'm not trying to defend Hannibal, but he was my old friend. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but.. he must have had a hard time, not telling anyone about it. It's a complex feeling. Thank you, young man, for showing me this and telling me everything.'
I could see his eyes filled up with tears but he tried hard not to drop any. I asked him if he knew anything about the night crawlers. Then he lowered his voice.
'The night crawlers... They are from the old stories that we used to talk a lot when we were young. Me, Hannibal, and Rachel and Juno, too. We heard it from the elders. It was a story told on our floor. Dark creatures of the night who are forever banned from the building. They thirst for our blood and we were actually born to be their food. I thought it's just a silly story to scare the kids. But it's weird that Hannibal mentioned them.'
I asked him more about the story. There might be a clue. He continued.
'Well, when we were young, the situation was much worse. People died everyday because of starvation. I was told that it was because of my parent's generation. They were the baby boomers in the building. No other generation had been as many as they were. We lacked food, clothes and everything. The cartel took more girls as sisters and more boys as workers. A lot of them went missing. That's what I heard. Everyone believed the cartel executed those young boys and girls, to cut down on the number of people. That was probably when the story of the night crawler was going around. Some mysterious creature silently takes people in the night when they are alone. Maybe the cartel must have made the story up, I don't know, or people made that up.. That's what I thought, but... Something's quite strange.'
I asked him what was strange. He seemed to be thinking what to say, or what words to say. He continued.
'If the cartel was executing people for controlling the number of people, why did only young boys and girls disappear? Why didn't they take the elders? What's the point in killing young people who can work but sparing old people who can't? Besides, I now remember that I saw the guards were investigating a missing girl. She was a girl next door to me. She was a little older than me when she disappeared like that. If the cartel was behind the disappearing people they wouldn't have to...'
'... investigate.' I continued. 'Hannibal knew the cartel had something to do with it, but he thought the cartel was only a part of it. There must be some other man, or some other people behind all this. Mark, we are now planning to go down and search the basement. We will dig a big hole down the basement and see if there is any hidden floors beneath it. I'm not sure if we could find anything, but if we did, I'm sure we would be able to find Rachel.'
He nodded. He asked me if there was anything that he could help me with. I asked him to tell me more about what he knew about the night crawlers. He thought to himself for a while and continued.
'Actually, there's one more thing. I heard that the night crawlers are actually the name of a bug, an earthworm. Does that do any more help?'
I said, 'I'm not sure, but thanks anyway. I'll talk to you later on my way down to the basement.'
...
After that, I went to Bertie's office on the 100th floor. I asked him how long it would take for him to finish the job. He said it would take a couple of days. He was designing a new set of equipment he called a Corsac armor. I asked him what's a corsac. He said it's a name of a fox in the region outside the city. He said 'The corsac fox is quick, agile, and can jump up very high and raid its prey swiftly. The most characteristic quality of the corsac fox is that it has an especially big sets of ears, which enables it to locate the prey even when all sources of visual information is blocked to gether with its extremely developed sense of smell.
I asked him, 'So, what's that to do with the armor?' He said, 'I presume that it would be extremely dark down underground. The descriptions from the witnesses also say that the night crawlers had very dark eyes. It might mean that their sights are degenerated, and they would rely more on other sensory stimulants such as their hearings or smells. We don't know for sure yet but they must be unfriendly fellas. Just believe in me, Endy. I'll show you the essence of the technology of the world outside.'
I said I'd believe him. I let him focus on his job and left his office.
I went back home to see if Kimmy was home. She was. She looked somewhat unstable and insecure. I asked her if everything was alright. She said everything was alright but she was worried if someone got hurt again. I assured her. I told her everything was going to be ok. She nodded, but she stilled looked concerned.
The next day, I went up to the top floor to talk with Jacques and other counsel members. Purple was there, too. He said the meeting was about to start and told me to join. I said I would.
The meeting started with saying the oath. There was a huge round table for the members of the counsel. I was sitting on a chair aside the table with Purple since we were not the members of the counsel. Jacques stood up before everyone and said something like 'I solemnly swear that I'd be honest, truthful, and righteous to the people before the goddess and her sanctum.' Then every other members said, 'before the goddess and her sanctum.'
What a puppetry, I thought to myself. Purple said, 'All these might look pretentious and funny but it's necessary in building a system. The more formality an organization has, the more integrity it can have, though it may look, hypocritical.' Then he smiled at me.
I somehow thought about the speech and all that religious bullshit taken place on Chigan Sar when the cartel was around. It was all the same to me.
After that, they began discussing politics, about the current projects, building this and building that... They were planning to make a long rail road from the bottom to the top of the building for street cars that could run on electricity so that the parcels can be moved easily up and down the floors.
At the end of the meeting, Purple took out the agenda about going down the underground. Of course Jacques knew about it, but you know, the formality. We had to follow the procedures. Jacques said he wasn't sure whether there were more levels below the current basement, but he thought nothing would harm and besides, if there were, it meant more space for more development. He suggested a vote and eight out of eleven members raised their hands to show they agreed. Three of them who didn't raise their hands were all from the top floors. I wanted to ask them why they disagreed, but Purple stopped me. He whispered in my ear that he'd tell me later.
So the
counsel meeting was dismissed. Purple took me to some place private and told me that some of the people who originally from the top floors seemed to know something about it and the three counsel members might be one of them. And he showed me a picture which he said he got from one of his reliable sources.
I saw the picture and couldn't help but make a small exclamation. Purple told me to be quiet. There was a black figure taken in the picture. Black tight suits made of leather, white skin, and a black eyes with no white part. It was similar to what Kimmy described. What was strange was not only its eyes. It had flat nose, and its mouth didn't look like human's. It resembled more that of an insect, a bug. To be more precise, it resembled a mouth of an earthworm, but with dozens of teeth on it.
Purple said he's going to show the picture to Bertie. He told me again and again not to tell anyone beside us about the picture and what I saw. I said I wouldn't. He said we were facing something bigger than we'd expected, and we might need more than 5 of us.
Purple went to see Bertie and I went straight to the police academy. I went to Alex's office and had one of his cadets to go please bring Fox here. After Fox came in to the office, I locked the door of the office and told them what I saw.
They agreed on what Purple said. We needed more men to rely on, and perhaps a few more men to go down with us. Alex said he had a few cadets in mind that we could trust. Fox said she had a few either.
After a short conversation, we agreed that Alex and Fox would call for candidates from the cadets and pick three to four of the them based on individual ability. But more importantly, their will. We needed someone who were willing to take any risk. Someone who had guts. We didn't expect such things as dedication or commitment. Bravery neither. Perseverance, maybe. What we expected the most in the candidates was maybe the boldness to be tall in front of anything unexpected.
...
It took only a few days for Alex and Fox to pick three cadets and brought them to Bertie's office. Two cadets and a cadette. The boys were called Steven and Josh, and the girl was called Nari. Steven and Josh were students of Alex and Nari was a student of Fox. Fox said Nari was her best student. She was good at using sword.
We asked them to show their skills. Steven and Josh demonstrated an unarmed combat together, which was impressive. But what Nari showed us was more than impressive. She told us all to stand back and pulled out a long sword she was caring in the sheath. It was a straight sword over two-feet long.
She bowed to us before she began. And then started to demonstrate a series of poses and patterns which represented the basic swordmanship and the ways to make attacks, parries, and an elaborate footwork. She blew our minds. It was breath taking. The lines she made was like she was dancing the most deadly dance. It was dashing. After she finished, I was applauding in awe and I didn't even know that I was clapping. Bertie said he would give her armor an upgrade so that she could exert her skill the most.
At that point, Bertie already had made eight corsac armors and two more for spares. He said he'd need one more day for minor adjustments. He said he was going to explain us the basic functions of the armor the next day.
Purple took the leader's position. He had us all sit down around the table and began briefing us on what we were up against. The cadets looked surprised but it wasn't like they were startled or flinched. I could see that they were ready for this. Their eyes were burning with expectations and thrills that you could feel when you're about to do something that you know could change your life forever.
27
The next day, we gathered up in Bertie's office again. Bertie told us that the armors were all ready.
The completed armor wasn't that amazing at a first glance, but it was definitely something. It was composed of an upper part and the lower part. The basic design of the upper part of the suit was similar to a normal combat jacket with a hood on it, and the color of it was grayish with a little tinge of red and brown mixed. I could see the mechanical augments on shoulders, and arms. Bertie explained to us that the jacket could read the electric signal from our muscles and would work like extended joints and muscles to empower our movements. But to me, it still just looked like a combat jacket with some pads, wires and metals.
Bertie said the most exciting part of the suit was the lining inside. He said the lining inside the jacket was made of artificial muscle fibers that could enable us to function at least fifty to sixty times stronger than human muscles. He also mentioned it could withstand most of the physical impact we might encounter during a battle at the same time.
Well, to be honest, I didn't fully understand what he was talking because he was talking in difficult numbers. How could I know what carbon nano something was, or what a griphin was? I'd spent my whole life in the building without any formal science education, so I asked him to speak in easy English. Then he said the jacket could block a bullet fired from a rifle even within a few yards.
There was no separate helmet. Instead, as I said, it had a hood that we could easily put on and off. I asked Bertie what the purpose of the hood was. He said the hood was also made of the same fiber like the other parts of the armors so that it can protect our heads from attack. But he said it was also for the most important aspect of the whole armor. I asked him what was it. He said, 'To look cool.'
I thought he was just kidding around at first, but maybe he was serious about that. One interesting thing about the hood was that it had a set of ears on top. I asked him why there were ears on it. Bertie said that's the part he put the most effort in designing. I didn't dislike it, but it's not that I liked it, either. Purple made fun of Fox, saying that she really became one. Fox laughed and gave him a gentle finger.
The lower part of the suit looked quite simpler compared to the upper part. It just looked like normal combat trousers with shin guards, knee pads and things like that. But it was also connected with some mechanical augments. It was also equipped with guns, a little pouches on the side of thighs and shins.
He also gave us a new set of assault rifles, and automatic pistols. We could attach our rifles on the back of the jacket, and there were extra pistol holsters belted on the sides. I carried those rifle and pistol and asked Bertie for another holster for carrying my revolver. He also gave us a few grenades each. The grenades were as small as cigarette cases, but he said the explosive power of it was stronger than any normal hand grenades existing.
There were a little differences between each other's armors. For example, Nari's had an extra sheath belted on the waist. Alex's had only one arm. It was because his mechanical arm didn't need any more augment. Fox's armor was made to let her move easier and faster in it, etc. Mine had nothing in special, except that I was given some magazines with extended load.
Finally, Bertie gave us each a goggle. The goggle could be connected to the armor and worked as an indicator that showed us the overall status of the armor. We could also change our vision; infra red, sonar, thermo visions. and so on.
To wear the armor, we had to wear a tight body suits. It wasn't a must, but to maximize the function of the armor and to reduce the possibility of malfunctioning, Bertie said we were highly advised to wear it, saying that the body suit helps the armor to better read the electric signal from our bodies.
Talking about that body suit, oh my goddess, it was killing me. It was sure that Bertie put all he could into the armors and didn't care a thing about this spandex. I was sweating like hell in that! I said I was feeling itchy and asked if everyone did or if it was just me. Everyone said they did, too.
We wore the armors and went to the hall on the 100th floor. We asked people to clear the hall entirely since it could be dangerous. People made room for us and gathered around to see what was going on.
We tested the armors for a while. Bertie told us to walk and move around a little bit first so that he could do the final touch like adjusting the angles of the joints, updating the feedbacks, and so on. The armor was so much more agile than I'd expected. The response was quick and I cou
ld feel the delays reducing as Bertie hit the keyboards of his tablet.
He then asked us to do some harder moves like running, stimulating the situation where we'd attack or avoid the enemies. At the end of the session, I could feel that the armor became part of me to a point that I couldn't even notice that I'm wearing it except the noise from the motors in mechanical joints and a weired contracting sound from inside the jacket.
The mechanical sounds of armor wasn't that loud. In fact, it was just the satisfying amount. It made me feel like my blood was boiling up high. The elevation. The empowerment. Bertie told us to be careful not to repeatedly make extreme moves since the armor would absorb most of the shocks but our bodies inside of it would steadily accumulate the stress. That was the same sort of advice Alex had with his metal arm. His arm could break the concrete wall like it was made of glass, but his human body couldn't easily stand the impact.
When the setting was almost over, Jacques came down for himself to see us. He saw us all wearing armors and said we looked like the soldiers in the city. Alex asked him if all the soldiers wear things like this. Jacques said 'They are much simpler than those of the soldiers outside, but yours will be much more efficient since no one else could do it better than Bertie. He's the greatest mechanic who ever existed.'
Bertie went back to his office with Kimmy and the rest of walked down to the first floor to commence our mission. One thing definitely good in the corsac armor was that I didn't feel tired even a bit after walking all one hundred floors down the stairs.
...
When we reached the basement, we first took a look at Daug's old vault. there was nothing inside but what we looked for any crack or opening on the floor or on the wall. And of course, there was nothing. We'd searched the place for more than three times. If there were something suspicious, we surely had found it much sooner.