*
Following Alza's curt statement, they entered the Waterworks, with the difference between the pod room tunnel and the service areas becoming immediately noticeable. No extravagant posters would ever be found between the rusted pipes and uninsulated wires. No cheerful messages to pod inhabitants existed in this dank and dirty place. It was a place for working, a place where luxury and comfort did not belong. Overhead, bolted to the low, waterlogged ceiling, were hundreds of finger-wide pipes.
In these pipes, thousands of gallons of water and coolant flowed to countless destinations, bringing cooling relief to overheating machines and liquid happiness to parched residents. Even though humanity was asleep, a low hum could be heard, a sign that the station was still alive. With the generator as it's heart, the core as it's brain, and the pipe-works as it's veins, the Station felt like a living, breathing thing. And now, that thing was dead-set on capturing them, changing the Station from a safe haven into a prison.
A few minutes later, the weary group emerged from the claustrophobic tunnel to find a large, pipe filled room. In the centre of the room was a sluice gate, which regulated the amount of water allowed into the massive tanks which dominated the rest of the room. A churning stream of water ran through the room, partially hidden beneath a sturdy panel of bulletproof glass, while turbines transformed the ferocity of the river into power, which was then sent to the generator to be redirected to the rest of the station.
All in all, the room's design spoke of purpose, not aesthetics, which made navigation somewhat hard. On the other side of the room, partially hidden behind a drooping pipe, was a small door. Most of its steel-grey surface was taken up by a large, heavy looking valve, which would prevent water from flowing out of the room during an emergency. The only other exit was the corrugated set of bars that prevented pieces of flotsam from travelling from the river to the lower levels.
“Something is wrong.”
It was the phrase that Kingston had been dreading, ever since Maloch had first announced his 'too easy to be true' plan. Somehow, he already knew what the re-mech was going to say, but he still had to ask, just to be sure.
“What's wrong?”
The Maloch took a step forward, his heavy foot landing squarely on the glass covering that separated them from the raging river. The glass gave no sign of breaking, and indeed, seemed to hardly notice the extra weight. Maloch, ignorant of the danger beneath his feet, raised his four-fingered hand and pointed to the sealed door. “That,” he said, “Should not be closed.”
Whatever scenario Kingston had been imagining, it had been far worse than a simple closed door, so he gave a curt laugh and said, “So it's closed? Can't we just open it like the last one?”
Maloch ignored Kingston's jovial tone, and instead, said, “This was the biggest flaw in my plan. As long as we are in the main sectors of the station, Guardian has us at his mercy. I'm afraid that the amount of time required to get through that door would be too great. We will have to find another way out, and quickly.”
Maloch's solemn words had immediately stolen Kingston's smile, and his serious tone forced Kingston to ask, “But, what does it matter if we're still in the main sector? Guardian is an AI, so he has no way to physically manifest. What can he do to us without a physical body?”
“Have you forgotten about the laser incident in the decontamination chamber? Even if Guardian is a digital entity, he is still able to reach out through the machines under his control. And one of the greatest weapons in his arsenal is a little thing known as NEURO-997... from your expression, it seems that you know of it?”
“What is NEURO-997? It sounds like a chemical of some sort?” Barsch had been leaning against an errant pipe for support, but now he stepped forward with a curious look on his face.
It was Kingston who answered, though it felt as though he really did not want to speak.
“When I was receiving information about the stations, one of the planned defence measures was a gas known as NEURO-997. It was completely odourless and colourless, making it undetectable to humans. Although the effects took several minutes to fully kick in, they were devastating once they did. Neuromuscular paralysis that lasted several hours, in addition to temporary retrograde amnesia and a couple of really nasty side-effects. At the time, I thought that it would never be allowed, but I guess I was wrong...”
“Indeed, it is as you say. However, due to Revelation Station's dangerous location, it's creators deemed it necessary. They reasoned that any hostile wildlife that made it into the station would be quickly knocked out by the gas, allowing maintenance re-mech's to eliminate it without hassle. In addition, I learned that the gas has a second function. In the event that the human inhabitants started rioting, the gas would be deployed in order to subdue them, after which they would be placed in cryogenic pods until they were deemed safe.”
“And you think that Guardian is going to use this gas against us if we don't escape soon?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have no time to waste. I don't think we have enough time to backtrack to the hub room, so our only options are to either open that door or find another way out of this room.”
“What about the river?” Both Maloch and Kingston turned in surprise, after having completely forgotten about Alza since entering the room.
In perfect unison, they said, “The river?”
“It seems that all we would have to do is break the glass covering and the grate. If you are looking for a way out of here, there is no simpler option. Additionally, Guardian wouldn't expect it, so he couldn't possibly have laid a trap on the other side.”
Barsch spoke then, surprising Kingston and Maloch for the second time in as many minutes. “Um... Is it just me, or have we had really bad luck with rivers lately? Remember that time outside Wareven? And then when we were in the canyon? Do you guys really want to do that again?”
“Do you have a better idea, Barsch La Tergan?” asked Alza. Her voice was colder than it had been in a long time, so long in fact Barsch had begun to hope that she had changed.
Ever since he had awoken for the second time, he had thought that Alza seemed... nicer, more open, but his thoughts of a cheerful Alza were crushed by her harsh statement. She was the same apathetic, emotionless girl he had first met in the glade. It was a disheartening thought, that he had failed his goal of changing her into a warm and sociable person.
Out-loud, he said, “No, I don't.” However, in his mind, he whispered to himself, “I haven't given up yet. I know that she isn't completely cold. I just have to try harder to make her open up!”
“Then, if there are no other suggestions, let us proceed with my plan.”
There were no suggestions from either Maloch or Kingston, so they dutifully followed her commands without question. Before any thought could be given on how they would survive the freezing, bone-breaking force of the river, they had to find a way to get rid of the glass cover. Always the pragmatist, Maloch suggested merely firing his mining bore laser into a weak point in the glass, and carving a hole through which they could enter. However, the flaw in this plan was quickly pointed out by Kingston, who explained that the glass had been specially made to be both projectile and laser retardant.
While Kingston, Maloch and Alza stood around the river, Barsch had found a seat on a disused pipe several feet away. Although his drowsiness from the cryogenic gas had mostly worn off, he still felt light-headed, as if his brain had been wrapped in cotton. He sat there, his mind drifting idly from one thought to another, feeling quite useless and unhelpful. It was because of this absent mindedness that he was the first one to notice the blinking red light in the corner of the room.
At first, his addled mind thought that it was a mere trick of the light, but, as the minutes passed, and it refused to disappear, he became more and more worried. Slowly getting to his feet, he made his way over to the light, which appeared to originate from a small black box embedded in the wall. After making his way through the
jumbled mess of pipes and tubes, Barsch made it to the offending glow. Taking a closer look, he noticed that the device had a small grill underneath the light, which reminded Barsch of a speaker system he had once seen as a child. Reaching forward, he placed his hand on the pulsating light, mesmerized by its repetitive pattern.
Suddenly, without any warning, the box spoke, “Good evening human male. I am glad to see that you awoke from your little nap safely. Please understand, I did not want to kill you or your friends, but you forced my hand. I told you to leave, and you refused... so in the end, this is all your fault. However, you should not think of me as evil or malicious, I am simply doing what my programming tells me. And right now, it is telling me that you are a danger to my children. I was made to keep them safe, you see? And I will not let anything, not even a human, threaten them!”
In that instant, Barsch knew who he was speaking with. He knew before he even opened his mouth to ask, “Who are you?”
“I Am Guardian, and I will save you from yourself!”
“Kingston! We have a problem over here!” he cried, falling backwards in his haste to retreat.
Hearing the panic in his young protégé's voice, Kingston looked up immediately. A half-second later, Maloch and Alza followed suit.
“Barsch, what's wrong?” he asked, in a worried voice.
The moment Kingston had called out, Barsch had begun making his way back, but no matter how far he went from the box, the voice followed him.
“Why do you run, human? Surely you don't think that you can escape from me? I have already sealed all the exits, and in a few minutes, the gas will finish filling the room, sending all of you off to a nice, long, sleep.”
Barsch stopped. “What did you say? What gas?”
“Oh! I had assumed that you had noticed. Well, never-mind, it's no big deal. I have been filling this room with NEURO-997 since you first set foot in the Waterworks. By my calculations, you have about three minutes before you succumb to its effects. Use them wisely or try in vain to escape, your choice...”
“Kingston?” asked Barsch.
“I should have known that he would do something like this... there's no way that he would ever give us a chance to escape. Alza being able to open that door was probably part of his plan too.”
“What do we do? Have you made any progress with the glass?”
“Very little. The main problem is the reactive crystal layer. If we could get past that, it would be a lot easier.”
“Why can't you get past the crystal layer?” asked Barsch, trying to forget the voice for a moment. It had reminded him of a man he had once met as a child. The man had had five children, and had almost killed a U.N.O.E food distribution clerk after he had refused to give enough food for all five. It had taken half of the settlement to stop the father. Barsch could still remember the look in his eyes; the look of a man who would do anything and everything for his children. “I wonder what happened to them, in the end? Did they make it to a Station? Or…”
Shaking himself from his reverie, Barsch approached the others. Reaching Kingston, he fell into step beside the old man.
They talked as they walked, both displaying an outer calm that was disproportionate to how they truly felt. “Well, the glass itself has a layer of crystalline nano-structures running through the mid-line. These nano-structures have been made to react to any outside interference by changing the glass's structure at a fundamental level. For instance, if we hit it with a pressure wave, it will immediately reconfigure its molecules into a form that cancels out the wave. The same thing happens if we try to use lasers or sound. Even Alza's powers don't seem to have an effect.” The old hermit looked away as he said this, his failure in finding an escape route obviously weighing heavily on his mind.
“Wait, you said that the class reacts to everything that hits it, right? So what would happen if we were to hit it with multiple frequencies at once? Would it still be able to change its structure to all of them in time?”
Once more, Kingston stopped in surprise. It wasn't that the thought hadn't occurred to him, but the way Barsch said it made something go click in his mind.
“Of course! If we use the combined force of Maloch's sonic cannon and my solar staff, we might be able to overload the crystal layer! Barsch, you’re a genius!”
As Kingston rushed off to find Maloch, Barsch whispered under his breath, “Great… now if only someone could tell my dad that…”
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