by Pal, J
“We didn’t have enough equipment to feed the remaining eggs,” Fin told us. “The newborns need cleaning. Once they’re settled, we can get started on the others.”
“Hold off on that for a while, Fin,” Kitty said. “In fact, if possible, put a hold on the hatching process. We’re on the hunt for more nests. We could find parts useful for other variants.”
“As good an idea as that is, I can’t execute any orders unless they come from the Hub’s owner,” the leader drone said, looking at me.
I hesitated. Did I want to give Kitty and Liam authority over the base? I trusted them both with my life, but giving them power over the Hub was probably not the best idea. Kitty and I hadn’t known each other for very long. We had the same goal, but what if she had different ideologies from mine? She still had part of a limiter installed in her head too. On the other hand, Liam and I had known each other forever. He was an arsehole, but he was our arsehole. However, he had a brashness about him and lacked compassion.
“We’re a democracy,” I said. “Decisions regarding the Menagerie need to be approved by all three of us.”
“Might I suggest you set up a voting system with the Hub Core? Then you can give your friends moderator access and share decision-making regarding certain floors.”
“We’ll sort that out later. If possible, freeze the hatching process for the remaining eggs. We’re going to go out scouting and pursue a nest not long after. There’ll be more parts. But, for the time being, focus on the hatchlings.”
Fin nodded and went back to work.
Liam sent his recon drone out straight away. He didn’t intend on joining us for the outing. The gun drone and his new body would keep him safe. Until the Menagerie prepared our pet platyhawks for the sky, we had no defense besides the shutters. Liam wouldn’t get to his planned defenses until we got his 3D printer up and running. Perhaps I’d need to divert some resources to the Hub Core as a deterrent.
Kitty’s golems and I went down to the ground floor. Besides Morpheus, there was a solid metal ball waiting for us. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it—I was disappointed. Kitty’s upgraded core had probably endowed it with incredible powers, but why couldn’t she divert some resources in appearance? After hearing several complaints regarding how ugly Pinky used to be, I expected her to make her golem cool or cute.
“How far are we going?” Kitty asked.
“Liam’s scanning the roofs and higher floors for nests. We’re going to check the ground and lower levels.” I tightened the Pogo Heelies as we left the building. Winnie rode on Morpheus, standing on the rear of the now longer frame. He sat clinging to the tinted shielding protecting Kitty underneath. “Those are some damn fine upgrades, Kitty. Your new golem coming with us?”
She nodded. The golem had sat immobile, leading me to believe it was asleep—the technopathic signal coming from it was feeble. Now the wheel-sized sphere rolled after us, coming to a stop next to Morpheus. I hoped the golem could do more than just roll.
Chapter Nine
Risky Shopping
The spherical golem had little trouble keeping up with us. It matched Morpheus’s speed, rolling right behind me. I clung to the upgraded bike golem’s rear as it picked up speed, weaving through car collisions, overturned buses, and debris with more ease than it ever had before. The best part of it was the silence Morpheus moved with. Outside of taking driving lessons in an electric car, I hadn’t spent much time with one. This felt no different.
Now that we weren’t in a rush to find shelter and terrified of every shadow, Kitty and I took our time riding around. After descending from the hill, we explored the sector, traveling outwards in concentric circles. We were careful to go down every alley and keep our eyes open for all signs of movement. We saw none. My goggles highlighted fragments of biometal plating on the floor. It appeared to be part of some sort of armor, and not from the platyhawks or crushers. We left them alone, prioritizing scouting over collecting them.
Our biggest question was: where had all the locals gone? Our last sector had been brimming with residents—we’d tried our best to avoid them, but there were plenty of them around. We had yet to see another human in this new sector though. I hoped they had fled and not gotten themselves slaughtered.
Chances were that most of the people in crusher territory had perished not long after the System had come online. It was almost nighttime when the nests awakened. Whoever had escaped the crushers had probably gotten picked off by the mysterious nocturnal beasts. I didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it, but a part of me hoped to find people we could help.
I wouldn’t take things to the same level as Metalsmith and demand people provide McGuffins to earn refuge in my Hub. They’d, of course, need to contribute to the running and security of the Hub, whether that be cleaning, helping run the Farm, or going out to gather materials. As long as they didn’t try to loot us or blindly worship the Alvans, we’d allow them to find a place in our group. Liam considered the thought too idealistic and had begged me to avoid bringing people in until we got better defenses. I had reassured him that I wouldn’t unless we encountered someone in dire need of our help.
I kept my thermal scanners on as we explored. They couldn’t see through walls, but I stayed on the lookout for buildings that were warmer than the others. Much to my disappointment, I only spotted parking structures, warehouses, and underground storage units with signs of heat within. Neither Kitty nor I wanted to risk exploring them, as we were sure they housed the nocturnal beasts. At least that’s what we had observed in crusher territory.
After a couple hours of exploring, my goggles detected a working extraction unit. We approached it warily and were glad to find it was from an old bakery’s freezer. Kitty and I spotted an open window on the building’s second floor and sent Winnie in to scout.
“It’s clear,” Kitty told me after her golem had explored the building. Winnie came down to the front door and let us in. Morpheus stayed by the entrance while the new golem followed us in. “I named her Miley.”
“Miley? Because she can roll a mile in the blink of an eye?”
“No!” She laughed. “She’ll come in like a wrecking ball and clobber your face in. Don’t you get it? It’s like the song.”
“I get it.” I chuckled. “Can’t tell whether it’s lame or funny.”
“As if your naming skills are so much better than mine. Pogo Heelies? That’s so not very creative, is it?”
“You just wait,” I said, poking her side. “I’m going to make a jetpack drone called McFly. Then we’ll see who sucks at naming.”
“Then you’re going to make rocket-powered boxing gloves and name them Biff.”
“You’ve got me pegged.” Kitty planted a playful peck on my cheek before focusing on exploring the building.
It came as no surprise that the pastries in the display case were dead. The refrigeration had probably helped them last a week longer than they would’ve, but now they were moldy and disgusting. We happily raided the beverage fridge though. The cartons of yogurt drinks had long shelf lives, so Kitty stuffed her pocket with those. Meanwhile, I dug through the different bottled juices, checking the expiration dates. All but the orange and apple juices had gone off. I loved the former and hated the latter. I guzzled down a half liter container of orange juice and placed a few more in my pocket.
The dry store was a treat. Sacks containing several varieties of flour sat stacked against the wall. We found large amounts of sugar and salt too. But that wasn’t the best part. We found giant mason jars of homemade jams and relishes. They were all neatly labeled, detailing their contents and the date they were made.
Almost everything in the fridge had gone bad. The vegetables were moldy, and the trays of brined or marinated meat looked too slimy to risk. However, we found loads of cured meat in vacuum-pack bags. After a little searching, we spotted the two restaurant-grade “VacPack” machines too. The labeling was in German, but we deduced one was for raw goods an
d the other for cooked food. I disassembled both. I’d make better versions of the machine once home.
The freezer was the real prize. It was packed with chicken, large joints of pork, beef and lamb, as well as a few game meats I didn’t recognize. Perhaps adding a translation feature to my goggles was the next order of business.
“Now, this is a good find!” I exclaimed, grabbing a box of veal schnitzel.
Once we had a Farm up and running, we’d be set for fruit, vegetables, herbs, and beans. The meat was a whole another story. I figured the Menagerie could solve that problem. First, we’d need to find a System-modified creature we’d happily eat. Liam suggested the forested, red-threat-level sector would be the best place to find such a beast. Checking it out would have to wait until the pylon came down.
“We’ll have to make quite a few trips to get all of this home,” Kitty said. “I spotted a couple of shopping carts outside, but I doubt they’ll be enough.”
“No. We’ll need a proper trailer for Morpheus or a new vehicle for transporting resources.” Perhaps it was time I explored devices that could facilitate dimensional storage. Considering how my power interface could store disassembled parts, an “inventory”
had to be possible.
I checked the floor with the thermal scanners once more and, much to my surprise, found a third cooled door. Its temperature wasn’t as low as the fridge’s or freezer’s, but there was some machine at work keeping things nice and cool. A cellar, perhaps?
“It’s a basement,” Kitty said, opening the door. Unfortunately, the lights weren’t working, so we sent Winnie down first. “It’s a second kitchen. Considering the temperature control, it might be for making pastries.” She continued when I looked at her quizzically, “Most pastry work requires butter, and it melts much too quickly at room temperature. My sister used to be a pastry chef in London.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” I commented. “Was she working the night of the broadcast?”
Kitty nodded. “She’s strong and tenacious. If anyone is going to survive this mess and come out on top, it’s her.”
We left the topic there and headed down the stairs. The less we thought about family, the better. We advanced with caution, using the Charge Launcher’s barrel for illumination. My goggles didn’t pick up anything. The floor housed a dough mixer, several high-end blenders, and a few ice cream machines. I disassembled it all, happily adding the parts to my growing pool of crafting materials.
We were sure we had struck gold when I spotted the curing cupboard. It had large chunks of meat hanging from hooks. I wanted to take some of it with me, but there were large storage boxes in the way. Kitty was helping me move them when everything around us trembled.
“What the hell was that?” Kitty asked, looking at me, alarmed.
“It can’t be the crushers,” I said. “I checked the maps. We’re well out of their territory.”
“Maybe they detected the Telepathic Null Zone and got sent over to investigate—”
The building groaned again when I put one of the heavy boxes down and stepped away. “It’s the floor,” I said. “It’s not stable. We need to get the hell out of here.”
Kitty nodded, and her golems headed towards the stairs. Miley was crossing the middle of the room with us behind her when the floor cracked. I froze, trying to regulate my breathing and get my racing heart under control.
“Careful! This place is going to collapse.”
Then we heard a scraping far below us. Kitty looked at me, wide-eyed. I mimed breathing in and out deeply and shot her a reassuring smile. Miley stayed in place while Kitty carefully took a step towards the stairs.
The scraping stopped.
Kitty sighed, her shoulders relaxing, and her golems followed her towards the stairs. I hesitated for a second, looking between the curing cabinet and them. Were we making a mountain out of a molehill? What if the building hadn’t settled properly after the System rearranged the world? On second thought, no. Better safe than sorry. There was too much on my shoulders to take unnecessary risks.
Kitty and her golems were almost at the stairs, so I hurried after them. What we’d found upstairs was plenty. I needed to stop behaving like a greedy dumbarse. I was halfway across the room when a loud thud sounded from below the floor. I managed to stay on my feet, but the floor gave way under Kitty and her golems. I activated the Pogo Heelies and launched myself towards them, desperately hoping to catch Kitty before she slid down the slanting floor into the darkness below. Unfortunately, I was too slow. Her golems fell into the hole, and she followed them, reaching out towards me and screaming.
Chapter Ten
Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty
Now wasn’t the time to hesitate. I used my new technopathic abilities to communicate with my goggles and turned up their sensitivity to light and movement. Even though the infrared vision was damn useful, I wasn’t used to it, and trying to process the information made my eyes and temple sore. I needed to be clear-headed going in after Kitty. For all I knew, she could be separated from her golems and hurt.
Damn it! Why had I never gotten around to making a new comms device for Kitty?
Even though it was tempting, I didn’t dare call out to her in the darkness. What if she wasn’t alone? Any communication could alert a monster down there to both of our locations.
While staring into the hole, I regretted not investing in night vision. My friends and I were into nerd culture, but nothing military or stalkerish. I didn’t know how night vision worked, but since my lab coat now had camouflaging capabilities, it was time to kit out my goggles properly.
“Matt, you dumbarse,” I muttered to myself. We were spending too much time thinking about the future and losing focus on the present. “Get in. Find Kitty. Get out.”
A quick thermal scan didn’t tell me anything. There was too much dust in the air, and parts of the structure were agitated from the collapse. Winnie had hopefully saved Kitty from getting seriously injured. Unlike humans, the little bear golem didn’t suffer from shock or hesitation. Perhaps Winnie had grabbed Kitty and then used his stretching abilities to arrest her fall. On switching off the infrared vision, I spotted a soft golden light in the distance. It was a golem core’s light! Kitty was probably using Winnie or Miley to illuminate the darkness.
I was preparing to jump into the hole when crashing and banging from the shop above put me on high alert. The collapse had created quite a racket and sent tremors through the entire structure. Were the shelves collapsing, or had the noise attracted predators? Unwilling to take a risk on the matter, I aimed the Charge Launcher’s barrel up the basement stairs at the door at the top. If an unknown appeared, I’d shoot first and ask questions later.
Deep breathing helped keep my heart from jumping out of my chest. Bloody hell, I was used to a sedentary life and preferred it. It had been just over a month since the apocalypse, and my body still wasn’t used to all of this stress. Much to my relief, it was Morpheus who appeared at the doorway. Well, it didn’t look like him, but I recognized the golem due to the Flash-Gun-enhanced headlight shining down at me.
Kitty had used her upgrade to turn the bike into a full-on transformer. Morpheus stood well over two meters tall and had legs to match the skinny arms. The wheels had moved to sit on his back, and the handlebars stuck out from the top of his head like horns. The golem’s new structure made it easier for it to climb down the stairs, but he still had to move sideways. There was less room between the wall and the railing than at the base.
“Kitty, is that you controlling him?” I asked in a whisper.
“Oh.” The construct was now a sentient entity with a mind of his own. Morpheus had made the conscious decision to abandon his job of keeping watch to go after Kitty. Since she was technically his parent, the golem probably cared for her deeply.
“Can you dim your light?” I asked.
Lacking the power of speech, Morpheus didn’t say anything. Instead, the headlight’s intensity weakene
d until it was no brighter than a night lamp.
“Perfect. Keep it that way unless I say otherwise. If there is something down there, we need to stay as quiet as possible.”
Morpheus nodded.
I took the lead climbing down, and he followed, barely fitting through the hole. The dim headlight and my hypersensitive goggles—thanks to the upgrade I’d gotten from the platyhawk queen—made looking for hand and footholds possible. I hoped whatever was down there wasn’t impervious to the Charge Launcher or the Sonic Shotgun.
Morpheus’s body shifted in size and width as we moved through narrow passages, heading towards the golden light. His ability to shift and reshape must have been modeled after Liam’s interactions with his drones. I couldn’t tell whether it was Kitty signaling us or Winnie making a desperate attempt to make contact. I wanted to believe Kitty was conscious and had the sense to remain silent, but reality often disappointed me.
The bike golem froze all of a sudden, and I followed suit, lying flat against the smooth gray bricks like him. My ears hurt moments later, even though I didn’t pick up any additional sounds. The heads-up display on my goggles suffered distortion for a couple of seconds before going back to normal. It took me a second to figure out what just happened. We’d been hit by a sonic wave outside of my hearing range, followed by a light technopathic pulse. I could still sense the lingering effects as my devices repelled them. My power outmatched the opposing one. It shielded the devices from alien detection and control.
When Morpheus hastened his descent, I knew there was something else in the darkness with us. There was no way to tell whether it had detected us or not, but the aggressor probably knew of Kitty’s presence and had unleashed the wave to feel her out. We needed to get to her as soon as possible and provide backup against whatever monstrosity was hunting us. What if it was the nocturnal beasts? It was likely they patrolled the sewers or whatever this underground structure was. It was mostly brick and mortar, so it could have been part of a subway system as well.