The No Names

by Frank Albelo

  “What are you doing, Gamma?” I asked her. I had remained as quiet as possible while she concentrated on the door, so my sudden question made her jump, dropping the wood and metal. She fumbled to try and catch both things, failing spectacularly. I chuckled and helped her pick up the metal; it looked oddly familiar. The triangular piece was about three inches long and had a wide two inch base. The whole thing was bent like an L, probably the issue with getting it into the crack of the door.

  “Where did you get this? I haven't seen any loose metal pieces laying around,” I asked, turning the metal over in my hand.

  “It's a part of our suits,” she said hesitantly, “When we slid because of the earthquake, this piece was loose and I pulled it off by accident.”

  She looked scared that I would reprimand her, but I just held her shoulder steady, a small clap as the metal of our armors clinked. “That is perfect, Gamma. Thanks to you we might not have to bust down the door. No need to be concerned, we are all working together and trying to figure out what the best course of action is.”

  The girl perked up visibly. In my periphery I saw the others smiling from their spots further down the stairs. I wasn’t upset about Gamma keeping the information about the metal. There had been constant problems since our little sledding trip, but now that we had it we could proceed.

  I laid the piece of metal flat on the larger step at the top, where the door swung out, and hammered it flat with my wrench. It took several tries to flatten the piece with how small it was since I was not wielding the most appropriate of tools for hammering. I chuckled internally at that, considering all I had been using it for since I got it.

  Once the piece was about as flat as it was gonna get I imitated Gamma, attempting to wedge the metal and push back the handle’s latchbolt. After about a minute of struggling, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

  “I can do it. Not that I am proud of it, but there is a reason I got dropped here.” I turned to see Zeta holding out her hand.

  I conceded the metal and picked up my pipe wrench. After only a couple of seconds, I heard the latch click, and the door pulled back an inch. Zeta had unlocked it.

  “Everyone, HUDs. Delta, grab your stick. Epsilon, I want you closer. Your quick thinking served us well last time.” I said looking over my shoulder at the Digits.

  I received grim nods from everyone as they activated their helmets. As much as I wanted to point out how impressive we looked getting ready to ‘storm’ the next floor, the dangers of Dun Lund had been killing my optimism.

  As everyone moved into position, Marvin next to Epsilon, I swung open the door.

  Chapter 6: Lost Mind

  I waited patiently for a few seconds, listening for any sounds that might indicate mutants. I strained my eyes staring into the dark. As I tentatively put a foot inside the room, the entire ceiling lit up with phosphorescent white light.

 

 

  I immediately had to step back, the sudden change of light had blinded me, and based on the grunting next to me it had also blinded Delta. I quickly activated my shaded visor, trying to fight off the spots in my vision and tensing for the impact to come. However, when none came and we had enough time to adjust to the new level of lighting we moved into the room.

  The room was perfectly square, unlike the previous tiers which had been slightly rectangular due to the stairs. In the center of the room was a large circular desk of sleek metal. There were two openings on either side of the table and ten pristine wooden swivel chairs within the circle. I looked at the table and could almost see shimmering markings like those in the passage. A few seconds later they faded into the smooth stone. I recognized what the word had said. I now had confirmation that whatever was happening to my body was connected with the city. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was a whole separate matter.

  Considering our issues with overeager youths, I cast a glance behind me, but Beta and Gamma were staying well back. With the room actually lit, checking the nooks and crevices was a simple matter. Other than the desk and chairs, I noticed there were wires of some kind extending from the table into several ports in the ground of the floor.

  I was fascinated by the room. It had to have been some kind of command center, obviously, but there was no evidence of what had happened in the city or what kind of operations were run in the building we had entered.

  The first to plop into one of the swivel chairs was Delta. The older Digit quickly leaned back and propped his legs on the table. I was about to comment we should make sure we were safe, but the man was already snoring by the time I made it to him.

  I sighed, but continued searching. Beta and Gamma looked content. Their backs were against the far wall while they talked about the wooden piece we had found in the previous floor. When I walked by them I heard a suggestion to make a rough spear out of it, like the ancient humans. I mulled over their suggestion as I ran my hands over the different surfaces in the room. Epsilon and Zeta were content to lounge in the swivel chairs, glad to have something more comfortable than the ground and uneven rocks.

  Marvin stood firmly in the path of the door, so I was sure we would have time to react if something came at up. I eyed the circular windows, not completely convinced that the mutants wouldn’t be able to come through them.

  Lost in my own thoughts for several minutes, I heard a loud click when I ran my hand over a section of wall. I snapped to attention, and I heard the wooden chairs behind me scraping on the stone floor. The others were not as relaxed as they had appeared.

  I took a step back from the section of wall, as the others moved closer to me. I picked up my wrench and held it over my shoulder, ready to swing. However, the click only indicated an apparent secret section of wall. As the wall swung out slowly, I could see a ladder clearly illuminated by the room’s fluorescents. I activated my helmet and stuck my head in the opening, a quick in and out motion. I noticed that through the opening I could see the ice and stone ceiling of the city.

  “This must be some kind of roof access. I will go up quickly and tap twice to say it’s safe to follow me. If you hear a bunch of screaming… well, please come up. It would definitely not be safe in that case.” I let out a nervous chuckle at my poor joke.

  I was concerned I would encounter one of the mutants outside and get pushed off the building. As we knew from Eta’s predicament our suits were not indestructible by any stretch, particularly to blunt impacts.

  I hooked my wrench to my shoulder armor and began the slow fifteen foot ascent. The chute that contained the ladder was barely able to contain my armored bulk, but I managed to make it to the top. There was an opened latch at the top, and I stopped at the top rung to hold my wrench in one hand.

  I jumped, clearing the edge of the chute and landing five feet from it. I looked around quickly, only noticing nine different sized straight protrusions reaching up from the roof. I stomped my foot near the chute and heard Delta huffing and cursing, the wider older obviously having trouble making it up. Once he was up and stomped for the next person, Gamma peeked over the edge.

  “Since it's safe, we are just going to stay inside. Also, Beta's suit has been making a weird humming sound and beeping. We aren't sure what that’s about.” Having given her message the girl dropped back down the chute, landing with a this.

  “Hopefully it's just the batteries finally giving out,” I said, while looking around, mesmerized, at the underground city.

  “It sure is something. Not that I have seen much other than smoke and grime, but I have no clue who managed to build this place. Much less in this shithole,” the gruff man replied.

  I couldn’t help but agree with Delta. The more time we spent on Dun Lund, the more mysteries piled up. Even if the USG was physically capable of completing a project of the magnitude of the underground city, there was no evidence of recent work. They wouldn’t have gone through the trouble to build this city for it not be used by their troops stationed here. The only explanation wa
s that they had not been the ones to build the city, and that did not instill very much confidence as to what we would find within.

  Delta sighed gently and turned back to squeeze down the chute. I lingered for a moment, weighed down by the innumerable possibilities, but shook it off and jumped down the chute. The fifteen foot drop felt... easy. I wanted to attribute it to being in better physical condition than I had since working the Lunar mines, but the persistent messages in my head made that doubtful.

  Inside the lit command room, I noticed everyone huddled around Beta. There was a slight beeping and humming coming from his direction and I joined the others. I examined the battery pack belt closely, looking for the disengage of the pack and not the whole belt. Anticipating my thoughts, Beta pointed to a small latch directly adjacent to the batteries. I had forgotten he had helped remove the battery belts I had stashed in Marvin.

  Quickly undoing his pack, the four by two by two inch block dropped into my hand. I examined it more closely as the beeping it was producing died down, however I decided to wait to analyze it when I saw Beta. He was shivering as the less intense, but still significant, cold of the underground city seeped through his armor. I set down the pack and retrieved one of the ones we had taken from the dead.

  “I would like everyone to take a moment and learn how to do this. It’s imperative that you know in case I’m not able to change it for you.” At the mention of my possible absence Beta stiffened.

  I obviously didn't want to die, but if I did or was for some reason indisposed it made sense that the others should be able to manage themselves. I unlatched the battery pack from the belt I had retrieved, cracking off chunks of frozen blood, and showed it to everyone. I wasn’t trying to insult their intelligence, the exchange was simple, but hopefully making it as clear as possible would make it easier to remember in a pinch.

  After I had replaced and relatched the battery, a slight wave of heat came off Beta's armor as it reestablished homeostasis.

  Beta smiled widely, now free from the oppressive cold. I gave everyone's armor a critical eye. We only had a limited amount of battery packs and no way to recharge them. Considering Beta's recent expenditure we might all be due for a recharge soon.

  “Alright, well. I think we can make this our command center while we are exploring. We should definitely try to move the dogs out of the way downstairs and pile them on the way out,” I said.

  The others were nodding as I spoke. I felt odd giving a 'rally the troops’ type speech, but everyone seemed perfectly fine with deferring most decisions to me.

  “I doubt we will have much light once the star is gone. I can't imagine the planet light to be of much use in the city. We should try to explore more of the surrounding buildings and bring whatever we find back here.”

  “Great, I'm ready to roll! Let's kill some mutants!” Epsilon looked oddly excited about the whole situation and, while I couldn't deny the shred of excitement I shared, I knew there had to be bigger threats than the dogs out there.

  Once everyone was readied up, having taken a replacement battery belt with them, we made our way down the stairs. I clasped the teeth of my pipe wrench on the belt Beta’s new battery pack had come from, allowing me to also carry rocks with the others in addition to the ones stashed inside of Marvin.

  We made our way out of the building without incident and out onto the visibly darker street.

  “We probably only have a few hours before its pitch black in here,” said Zeta behind me. She was holding up her fingers to the ball of light in the distance.

  I nodded, activating our helmets and shuffling to the building across the street from B1, as Beta took to calling the command center.

  ● ● ●

  Before night fell on the underground city, we managed to clear through three more buildings. The first building, the one directly across from B1, was full of rotted wood. It wasn’t only doors and chairs, but stacks of wood that had all rotted. I was curious about the amount of wood this city had and why it had all seemingly rotted when the temperatures were near or below freezing.

  I didn’t spend long on this contemplation, considering we were attacked by two more mutated dogs and one mutated cat. The mutant was smaller than the dogs but much faster. Marvin was able to pin one of the dogs, while I dealt with the cat and the others pelted the other dog. While no one was injured while dealing with the mutants, Marvin and I now sported new claw marks on ourselves. The cat managed to latch onto my left arm and kept trying to knock me to the ground, even after I punched its head into mush.

  When we reached the top of the building, this one was five tiers, we took our night time meal and Gamma whittled pointed ends on most of the sticks we had found. While not exactly fruitful, we had managed to acquire assorted wood planks that had yet to rot. Delta then sported a four foot smooth plank while the others all had sharpened wooden spikes. I felt much better now that the group was at least armed. Through the fight I had I heard advancements for Metabolic Hyperburn and progressed to 5% of Conditioning. While I wasn’t sure what they related to exactly, fighting and physical activity prompted them.

  I hope advancing is positive, I thought.

  It was also during this break that battery packs started to hum and beep. I watched attentively as Delta, Epsilon and Zeta replaced their own packs, handing me the emptied ones.

  Rejuvenated and full of spunk due to our victory, we pushed through the other adjacent buildings. These had combinations of desks and command rooms, but none of these contained anything of particular interest. On the top floor of the last building we found a segmented hexagonal cubicle area. One of the larger cubicles in the back had a metal chair.

  It was funny how a simple metal chair had gained so much value to us and not even for its intended purpose. After several minutes of wrench smacking and chair tossing Delta and I eventually managed to dislodge the bracings from the back rest of the chair. Delta and Zeta held onto the rectangular lengths and Beta pushed the swivel chair base down the stairs. I had plans for the metal base and cushion.

  As we made our way down the third building, Gamma and I had to pause to switch out our batteries. It was dark by the time we made our way to the top floor of B1. Marvin had to guide us forward, almost as if we were inside one of the unlit buildings. While distracted by my yearning for a flashlight, we stepped into the B1 command center. Now much better prepared than the first time, we entered with shaded visors.

  Even as our eyes became adjusted to the light we were already dumping off the loot we had acquired from the search. I kept my wrench handy, and everyone had their spikes tucked in between their belts, held at the ready. The rigor and tension of the day had worn me down, and the moment I set my head against the stone wall I fell fast asleep.

  ● ● ●

  I had a dreamless sleep but I jerked awake, feeling as if someone were watching me. I jumped up to my feet and checked over the rest of the group. After a quick headcount I inspected the entrances, wrench in hand. Seeing that Marvin was shut down in front of the door and that the hidden chute opposite of him was shut, I relaxed. The other Digits were sound asleep. The closed nature of the room allowed us the least fitful rest that could be had considering our predicament.

  I stretched, working blood into my stiff arms and legs. I needed to use the restroom, but didn’t want to disturb the others. As far as I had noticed, none of us had needed to use the bathroom since entering the underground city and none of the buildings had provided a place to use for that. While staying dirty was not a super serious issue, sanitation for waste was extremely important.

  I mulled over this as I reviewed Marvin's inventory and status.

  We had enough rations for another three days and enough water for one more; it would be beneficial to take a trip to the surface. I decided to bring it up once everyone was awake. I instructed Marvin to move out of the doorway quietly and I snuck down and around to the back of B1. I kept my wrench handy while doing my business, but nothing happened.
/>   Happy for the uneventful trip, I returned to find the others ready and disposed.

  “Had some business to attend to?” Delta joked.

  I chuckled lightly at the man, the others smiling as we gathered around Marvin for our breakfast rations. While we were sitting I suggested we all head to the surface after collecting the bodies of the other animals. The others seemed to agree that getting more rations wouldn’t hurt, even with three days remaining.

  Thankfully, the involvement of Marvin in the fights with the mutants allowed him to charge up. The charge cost for carrying the bodies was more than offset.

  Unloading the extra batteries from Marvin, as well as all the rocks we had stashed inside the ATC, I glanced at the connectors for the spent battery packs. Ideas continued to bubble up, but I focused on the task at hand; if we wanted to reduce the impact of the surface trip on Marvin’s power we needed him only carrying rations.

  It only took a few minutes to offload Marvin, while Beta and Zeta organized the meager resources we had acquired from our looting the day prior. I could tell Beta was a bit crestfallen about the results of our search.