《Devil's Basement: Colony Ragnarok》
Prologue: Isolation
Whether terrorists, rebels, or freedom fighters, the Providence Empire didn''t care: the Old Guard was dealt with swiftly in the Zadabakar''s Pride system. It was the only system where the puppet government established after the Great War defected wholesale to the Old Guard. A Providence task force quickly put paid to dreams of it being used as a base to launch raids into the fractured series of rump states where the once-mighty Second Zene Empire had been.
As the Providence vessels drifted through the debris field that had recently been the solar system''s defence fleet, their primary objective was to occupy the system''s two main population centres¡ªtwin planets known as the Sisters of Grace and Beauty. Yet, before that, there was the question of what to do with the planet above whose skies the battle had taken place: Grennow.
¡°The atmosphere is toxic and highly corrosive.¡± The vice-commander said to the admiral on the bridge: ¡°It''s so thick and heavy that at ground level, it acts almost like a liquid and will dissolve all but the strongest of materials. There''s also a cloud layer so thick our sensors can''t get a clear picture of what''s below. No known native species, but some tens of millions of humans and zene live in underground mining colonies.¡±
¡°Yes, I''ve heard of this place. If I''m not mistaken, they call the underground labyrinth of tunnels the Devil''s Basement.¡±
¡°The inhabitants have a small standing army and an ill-disciplined militia. We will crush them.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
¡°No.¡± The admiral said firmly. ¡°No matter how ill-disciplined, they know the lay of the tunnels and we don''t. If they choose to make a stand we''ll never flush them out of there. It''d be like chasing rats in a maze¡ªone to which they have the map. We''ve got more productive things to do. Let''s make an example of this world."
Chapter 1: Explosion
In a dark tunnel deep underground, a mountain of a man stirred. He sat up and raised his right arm. At first it appeared to be flesh, but the more he looked, the more machine he saw. Instead of mere fingernails there were retractable claws that doubled as fingernails and he quickly noticed the skin of each finger folded back to reveal a set of tools including a knife and several drills with screwdriver bits as well as bits for drilling holes. His feet were a metallic silver, but seemed as flexible as any feet should be. By feeling his head he could tell there was a bare metal plate instead of a skull. And then there was the light he was using to see. It took a bit, but he soon realised the light was coming out of his own eyes.
Who am I? He wondered, what am I? Am I human? Machine?
¡°I am...¡± he told himself the only thing he could remember; ¡°Operational Cyborg 1.¡±
* * *
A hydroponics farm is a large chamber dominated by several multi-tiered frameworks of platforms. On the platforms were tables of plants. Lamps provided light for the plants while a system of pipes and sprinklers provided water. Walking space around the tables of plants was limited, but it allowed workers to bring fertiliser and to harvest the plants when ready. The entire room was bathed in red light: since plants use red light most efficiently, the lamps all gave off red light to minimise waste light and electricity. Stairs made platforms accessible from above and below.
Several of these frameworks stood side by side in the chamber, each growing different vegetables. At floor level were doors leading in and out of the farm as well as rooms for tool storage and a mechanical room where the generator was housed.
Currently, the farm was empty except for a lone woman in mechanic''s coveralls holding a toolbox. She looked up and saw where the problem was: high on one of the upper tiers, the lights had gone out. Kyanite made her way all the way up there and examined the lamps.
¡°Well now, what''s wrong with you?¡± She asked the malfunctioning lamps. Whatever the problem was, it wasn''t immediately obvious. Fiddling with the bulbs and replacing some of them did nothing. ¡°Hmm...¡± She muttered, ¡°must be the wiring...¡±
A quick check revealed the wiring job was the worst Kyanite had ever seen. Someone obviously wanted to get the job finished as fast as possible without caring how well the job was done. It was even worse than the makeshift splicing jobs common back in her home station. ¡°Ah, there you are!¡± She exclaimed to herself after digging through a mess of cords to find the culprit; the wire connecting the whole platform to the main line coming from the generator was badly frayed.
¡°I''ll have to turn the power off to replace you. No time to waste!¡± Kyanite ran down the stairs only to trip, fly over the railing, and sail onto the floor of the next platform over, where she unceremoniously curled into the fetal position and sucked her thumb for a few minutes.
Recovering from her freak accident, Kyanite stood, dusted herself off as if nothing had happened, and continued running down to the mechanical room. The generator was unnecessarily user-friendly: enough to make a trained mechanic hit it with a wrench until it did what she wanted it to.
Once the power for the offending part of the farm was off, Kyanite switched on her flashlight and started to make her way back when the outside doors opened and two farmers entered. Seeing Kyanite''s light, they immediately rushed over.
¡°What''s the meaning of this? Why''d you turn off the power?¡± one of them demanded;
¡°Do you want your lamps fixed or not?!¡± Kyanite shot back, waving her wrench violently in the air, ¡°I need the power temporarily off to change the wire, or do you want a fried corpse instead of fixed lamps?!¡± The farmers, taking several steps away from this wild, wrench-waving maniac, replied,
¡°Calm down. A wire needs to be fixed? Are you the mechanic? Nobody told us you were in here. You can understand our alarm when the power went off; if it stays off too long, our entire crop will wither and die. Let''s take a look.¡± The farmer glanced at Kyanite''s wrench, ¡°And please put that away if you''re not using it.¡±
After the farmers had accompanied her back up, Kyanite gesticulated fanatically at the broken wire and shouted; ¡°You see!¡± With the power off, it was a simple matter of cutting out the bad wire and splicing in a new one. One of the farmers went down and turned the power back on: all the lamps lit up beautifully.
¡°Great! Thanks for your help!¡± the farmer said to Kyanite, who glared and fumed;
¡°Where did you get that wiring? This whole setup is atrocious, I''d think about redoing the whole thing before it all goes haywire. It''s the worst wiring I''ve seen in a while!¡±
¡°We got it installed by Ragnarok Habitational Services. I know they''re not the best, but they got the job done.¡±
¡°Really? And how much did they charge you?¡±
* * *
When Grennow was first surveyed in preparation for the earliest mining colonies, it was divided into a number of zones, called Areas, which were to function as provinces under the central Planetary Administration. One area, distinguished by the number 51, was near the north pole. The capital, Ragnarok, was originally settled as a half-way station on Express Line 42, which ran between two other, much bigger Areas. Area 51 was found to be rich in mineral deposits and so it quickly grew to include 21 primary line tunnels, 2 ring line tunnels, and one hundred and forty stations with a collective population of a few million.
Stations were where the inhabitants of the Devil''s Basement lived out their lives. Ragnarok began as a large area dug out of the rock and dirt. Girders and pillars were built to support a steel-reinforced concrete ceiling holding up the miles of rock above. Catwalks accessible by sketchy elevator or even sketchier ladder were built around the girders for maintenance purposes.
Construction then began on the city. Apart from the lack of a sky or natural lighting of any kind, it looked like a normal city with parks, and blocks of buildings with alleys between them. Buildings had concrete foundations dug into the rock beneath them while the structure itself was typically made of bricks. Bricks were produced by tightly compressing Grennow''s yellowish dirt and crushed rocks in a tamping machine. Millions of tons of dirt and rock was always leftover from mining activities as well as from hollowing out spaces to build new stations or expand existing ones, so it was a readily-available and cheap building material. Hauling it to the surface to dump it was expensive, so as much of it as practical was used for other purposes.
Streets consisted of wide sidewalks with two to four railroad lines in the middle¡ªrailroads being the most efficient and therefore primary mode of transportation in the Devil''s Basement. Lights lined Ragnarok''s streets and avenues. In the absence of a sun, the street lights were on a timer that automatically dimmed the lights at ¡°dusk¡± and brightened them again as ¡°dawn¡± arrived. From street level, the ceiling was invisible¡ªplunged in darkness as it was¡ªbut from time to time tiny lights could be seen eerily bobbing and waving around as maintenance workers checked on the status of the girders keeping the ceiling from crashing down on the people below.
To give residents something to look at besides depressingly grey concrete and dirty yellow bricks, occasional splashes of green were added. Some streets were lined with trees or bushes, supported by sunlamps. Public parks dotted the station, complete with grass, flowers, trees, and park benches. Flower gardens were very popular across the inhabited parts of the Devil''s Basement, often appearing both in public workplaces such as office buildings as well as in people''s yards and under their windows.
These sights didn''t interest Travertine. Standing at the edge of the sidewalk next to the rails, he gazed out at the concrete pillboxes and protected gun emplacements that comprised the Armistice Line separating the People''s Republic of Ragnarok from the Collective Union of Ragnarok.
In the ten years since the armistice that ended the Second Line War, little had been done to rebuild the ruined sections of Ragnarok; instead, rubble had been cleared to make room for more bunkers and gun emplacements. The capital had once been home to slightly over half a million people, both humans and zene, but most had since been killed or fled, leaving whole neighbourhoods completely abandoned. Tens of thousands of soldiers and dozens of armoured trains manned the line, staring each other down all day every day since the armistice. Investors didn''t seem too keen on sinking their money into such a place for some reason. Worse, negotiations for the final peace treaty were due to begin soon, but mounting tensions between the two sides made the prospects of successful diplomacy look bleaker and bleaker.Stolen story; please report.
The only section of the city still doing well was the Neutral Zone, which had been under the control of the 1st Ring Cooperative since the conclusion of the First Line War, when the People''s Republic and Cooperative had been allies and split the station between them. The Cooperative had remained aloof of the bloodshed of the Second Line War.
As Travertine stood there, the regular broadcasting on the public telephradio (since radio signals don''t reach far underground, dwellers of the Devil''s Basement aired music, talkshows, and news on speakers over one-way telephone party lines and dubbed it ¡°telephradio¡±) blaring in the streets was interrupted by a breaking news bulletin:
¡°Breaking news:¡± Began the male zene voice; ¡°A few hours ago, there was an explosion in one of the deep mineshafts under Ragnarok, trapping over one hundred miners behind an avalanche of rock and dirt. Rescue workers are already on site, but fears are running high there might be another bomb to trap the rescuers like there was last month. This is the fourth bombing in the past three months, and people are getting more and more concerned. They demand to know what the legitimate authorities of Ragnarok are going to do to protect us. With me now is Gneiss Hyaloclastite, spokesperson for the mayor''s office. Mr. Hyaloclastite, what do you make of these terrorist attacks?¡±
¡°It''s just appalling. That anyone would carry out such attacks on civilian mines, and at this point in time, tells me that not only do the perpetrators have no respect for life¡ªhuman or zene¡ªbut it also tells me they want to disrupt the peace process.¡± It was the voice of a human, in a classic Unionist propaganda ploy. Humans were frequently used as spokespeople for Unionist government departments as part of their campaign to bring humans and zene together in support of their political line.
¡°Why do you say that?¡± Asked the news anchor,
¡°The deadline for re-negotiating the armistice is coming up in a few weeks. If anyone wanted to ruin hopes of continued peace and eventual demilitarisation of the Armistice Line, carrying out bombings like this latest attack would be just the way to do it.¡±
¡°What could be the result if these attacks continue?¡±
¡°It''s hard to underestimate how bad of an effect this has on prospects for peace. The People''s Republic won''t clarify their position on the attacks or the perpetrators but these terrorists, these ''Red Wolves,'' have only attacked mines belonging to companies based in the Collective Union. Now, I don''t know about you, but for me, I don''t see how we''re not supposed to conclude that the People''s Republic is behind all this.¡±
¡°Is that the general feeling at the mayor''s office?¡±
¡°Oh, not just the mayor''s office, it''s the general feeling in the military and with the government over in Serenity. Chancellor Hellbringer said as much in his speech after the last attack. If the Republicans don''t denounce the Red Wolves¡ªdenounce them hard and denounce them soon¡ªI don''t see how else we''re supposed to interpret what''s going on.¡±
¡°Are you saying this could lead to a Third Line War?¡±
¡°I''m saying exactly that. We can''t sit idly by while they kill our people again and again. Our government and military must act to protect the lives of the people of Ragnarok!¡±
¡°And it can''t act too soon, at this stage. That''s all the time we have for today. Thank you for your insight, Mr. Hyaloclastite.¡±
¡°Thank you for having me.¡±
¡°Our prayers go out for the miners still trapped, and we''ll keep you posted on any new developments.¡±
* * *
The Stretching Ivy Plaza was an open area covered in grass with dirty yellow stone walkways winding between high trellises entangled in ivy supported by sunlamps, with benches scattered throughout. Workers from the nearby office buildings spent their smoke breaks here, alongside local riff-raff who had nowhere better to be. It was then that the news about the explosion broke. Immediately, the mood on the plaza changed.
I''ve seen this before. Rook thought to himself. Whether it''s the government or some upstart ¡°revolutionary,¡± people are always at each other''s throats. Lounging on a bench, the ageing man watched people''s reactions. Snatching hurried glances as they went about their business. Police eyeing each passerby with suspicion as if a pickpocket could be the spark to ignite this powder keg.
When the Great Uprising first started, the Ragnarok Colonial Council had used this trick more than once; planting a bomb here and there reminded people of who was going to keep them safe. Rook knew because he''d helped plant some of them. This place could blow at any moment. The stress isn''t good for my bones. I should get out of here.
Rook put out his cigarette in an ashtray, drew his long coat around his body and pulled his fedora low. But I''ve got a job to do.
* * *
Across the plaza was a row of stores. Kyanite leaned against a street light smoking her own cigarette. She glanced up at the clock at the centre of the plaza. Her appointment was still hours away. Convincing the farmers they should replace their wiring had taken some doing, but when she made it clear the risk they were running with such terrible wiring, they slowly began to agree. Ragnarok Habitational Services (RHS) had obscenely over-charged them on their shoddy work; she had replaced the wiring for a fraction of the original cost, which lightened the farmers'' mood. She had promised to come back in a week for a free check-up.
Although she hadn''t spent long in Ragnarok, she was beginning to build up a loyal customer base. With them spreading the word about RHS, small businesses might actually have a chance to get off the ground without selling their souls to the big conglomerate.
Crushing her smoke under heel, Kyanite headed to a store nearby called ¡°The Yelling Mechanic''s Life Support Shop.¡± Inside, staring her in the face as soon as she stepped in was a whole shelf full of parts for air scrubbers, all of them with a clear, crisp, ¡°RHS¡± written on them.
¡°Admiring the RHS section?¡± Boomed the voice of the proprietor from behind a another shelf; ¡°It''s the latest stuff on the market!¡± Kyanite snorted and glared at the shelf in response. ¡°My name''s Scoria by the way.¡± Continued the proprietor, oblivious of Kyanite''s displeasure, ¡°Speaking of RHS, I just sold a big batch of RHS ventilation equipment to the Collective Union military for their frontier outposts on the border down in the warrens below the station. Mechanics are out there installing them now.¡± Scoria paused to breathe; ¡°You look like a mechanic yourself. If you have time, I had a four-man team heading out tomorrow, but two of my guys got sick.¡±
¡°Hmm...¡± Kyanite didn''t like the idea at all. There was no telling what might happen being so close to so much RHS equipment all in one place, and probably installed improperly to boot. On the other hand, going out now could help get her foot in the door to service the outposts when the equipment inevitably broke down.
As the mechanic weighed her options, the door opened. A huge creature walked in. At almost seven feet tall, he stooped slightly to get through the door. Kyanite was speechless at the sight. She had never seen anything like it: human and machine seamlessly woven into a single creature.
¡°I''m looking for work.¡± Spoke the man-machine. Scoria recovered much more quickly than Kyanite;
¡°That''s great! I was just telling this young woman I need people to go install new ventilation equipment down in the warrens. How much experience do you have?¡±
¡°None. But I''m a fast learner. My name is OC-1.¡±
¡°Excellent! I still need someone with experience to fill the junior mechanic position...¡± The proprietor glanced expectantly at Kyanite:
¡°I''ll do it!¡± She responded immediately.
* * *
Almost an hour''s train ride from Ragnarok, Travertine arrived at the scene of the explosion. Space had already been cleared for them in the mine office complex, so Travertine and the other arriving staff set up a makeshift clinic right away. It took several hours for the rescue workers to finish clearing a path, but when they did the patients poured in and all the staff were running off their feet. Triage nurses decided who would see the doctors first based on the severity of their injuries while other nurses bandaged those not too badly hurt and orderlies ran for whatever the doctors needed. But, thankfully, there was no second bomb.
One patient¡ªa female zene¡ªwas brought to Travertine unconscious and in critical condition. Having been hit in the head by a falling rock, then spending hours without proper medical attention wasn''t good for her health. However, Travertine was a well-trained and experienced surgeon, and he and his team managed to bring the zene to a stable condition.
Late that night, after things had calmed down somewhat, Travertine was checking on his patients. When he went into the curtained cubicle that served as a room for the unconscious zene, he found she had awoken.
¡°I saw them.¡± She said without looking at him. Travertine''s eyes narrowed. He closed the curtain and approached the makeshift bed on the office desk;
¡°Saw who?¡±
¡°Two men dressed like mechanics.¡± She replied, turning her stalk eyes toward the surgeon, ¡°Humans. They put something¡ªI couldn''t tell what it was, something like a big tool box¡ªin the tunnel and left. I thought they were just doing their job, you know, they were at one of the ventilation pipes at the side of the tunnel. But then it exploded.¡± She went on to give Travertine a description, as best she could remember, of the two suspects before losing consciousness again.
Chapter 2: Witness
Aw hell, Thought Travertine, of course I''d be the one to hear something critical. The surgeon wrote down what he heard for an anonymous tip later, should the need arise. He also checked to make sure he had stashed his pistol under his long white coat. It''s a dangerous world. No telling when it might come in handy. No telling whether the saboteurs were still around or not either.
* * *
Rook arrived on the same train as the medical staff. The conductor wasn''t keen on letting a private detective on the train specifically transporting medical staff and equipment to the site of a terrorist attack, but one doesn''t survive the things Rook had been through without being able to talk one''s way in and out of much tougher situations. He made his way to the director''s office at the office complex where he was greeted by a short, stocky zene secretary listening to a telephradio station.
A zene is humanoid in overall shape (although they would dispute that: according to them, humans are zenoid in overall shape). The most immediately obvious difference is the shape of the head. Zene heads are a fleshy, flat cylinder full of muscle, cartilage, and brain matter. Their brains are remarkably resistant to blunt force trauma, considering how they''re able to flop their heads up and down without ever giving themselves a concussion. Mood can be deduced from the position of the head: both ends bent slightly upward means so-so; bent dramatically up means happy; bent down means sad; perfectly straight means angry.
The other major difference in outward appearance is that zene skin is covered in scales except for some particularly sensitive parts which are normally covered by clothing. Although they lay eggs (which have a resilient leather-like shell), they feed their children on milk in defiance of certain theories on scientific norms held dear by some (human) scientists.
¡°Private investigator,¡± Rook flashed his card, ¡°I need to see the director, it''s about¡ª¡±
¡°The bombing.¡± Finished the secretary in an annoying, squeaky voice, ¡°You can''t meet with the director right now. He''s meeting with police investigators.¡± placing a special emphasis on ''police'' that told Rook she didn''t have much regard for private investigators: ¡°If you have to, you can wait over there.¡± The secretary pointed an eye at a row of chairs. ¡°But be quiet.¡±
Sighing, Rook sat down. As he waited, a special news bulletin interrupted the music.
¡°We have another breaking news bulletin on today''s terrorist attack. Minutes ago, someone telephoned the mayor''s office and delivered the following message.¡±
A pause, then another voice, distorted with a voice changer, spoke:
¡°The glorious Revolution has struck again. You''re pathetic. You think you will be protected by hiring soldiers and mercenary thugs. Or am I repeating myself? Chancellor Hellbringer sits in Serenity and you all make-believe that you suddenly care about us humans, but the People see through your lies. The humans of Ragnarok rise against you! The humans of the South rise against you! What you''ve seen today is just a taste of what''s to come: Thirty-Two Nineteen will happen again!
¡°To you humans out there, I know your load is heavy, but take heart. The next Great Uprising is about to begin! Glory to the Revolution! Red Wolves drink zene blood!¡± The recording ended with a bang, indicating the messenger slammed the receiver down hard.
¡°That was the voice of an unidentified messenger of the Red Wolves.¡± The voice of the telephradio host returned, ¡°The Red Wolves are a terrorist group based out of Utopia, capital of the People''s Republic. They''ve been responsible for every other terrorist attack in the last...¡±
The door to the director''s office opened and out walked two zene in police uniforms. One of them spotted Rook.
¡°Rook?¡± He asked, cocking his eyes to one side, ¡°At the front line of revolution again?¡± Barely suppressing an audible groan as the two approached him, Rook replied,
¡°Yeah, it''s a curse. Can''t seem to stay away from it, no matter how hard I try.¡± The officer laughed;
¡°You always say that. I''ve never been able to figure out whether you consistently put yourself in harm''s way by accident or if you''re secretly addicted to the thrill.¡±
¡°I just have a strong sense of self-preservation.¡± Rook shot back with a wry smile;
¡°That''s true.¡± The officer nodded his eyes, ¡°Well, this time we''re after the same quarry but on different teams.¡± The officer extended his hand. Rook glanced at it and paused before shaking it. ¡°May the best sentient win.¡±
¡°Wishing me luck? You shouldn''t have, you''ll need it yourself.¡±
¡°Ha! Keep your wit sharp enough you and won''t need that tunnel gun.¡± The officer pointed at the slight bump in Rook''s coat where he hid his sawn-off shotgun.
¡°You always had a penchant for pointing out things that should have stayed secret.¡±
¡°I know.¡± With a grin, the officer and his partner took their leave.
¡°The director will see you now.¡± A squeaky voice almost made Rook jump before he remembered the secretary was still in the room. He looked up to see the secretary wasn''t looking at him, but the office door was still open so he went in.
¡°You PI?¡± Asked the director, looking up from his desk,
¡°Yes. What can you tell me about the bombing?¡±
¡°Nothing.¡± With an air of finality, the director went back to his paperwork. Not one to take no for an answer, Rook sat down, uninvited, in the chair across from the director.
¡°You''ve been here the whole time and you can''t tell me anything? What kind of a mine director are you?¡±
The director didn''t look up. ¡°Nothing you don''t already know.¡±
Rook pulled out his notepad and pen. ¡°Go on.¡±
As it turned out, the director really didn''t know much, Rook reflected as he closed the door.
If a Third Line War starts, it''ll be even harder to get out of this shithole. This place is a fuel dump surrounded by smokers and those high and mighty goons calling themselves police are only going to cock things up even more. I need to sort this mess out soon.
Continuing the investigation would have to wait until the rescue workers dug the miners out. He glanced at the secretary, who turned her eyes up to see him. With a sigh, she said,Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
¡°If you have to, you can wait over there.¡±
* * *
Warehouses lined the street near the edge of Ragnarok. Holding a piece of paper, Kyanite made her way along the rail line until she found the one she was looking for. That strange man-machine calling himself OC-1 was already there, along with a man and a woman. They had the door of the warehouse open and were loading boxes onto a waiting train.
¡°Hello!¡± Kyanite called,
¡°Hello!¡± Replied the man, ¡°Are you the mechanic who''s supposed to be coming?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°I''m Gifrag Berylbraids, head mechanic for our little expedition.¡± Gifrag put down the box he had and offered his hand.
¡°Kyanite Moonlet. Pleasure to meet you.¡± Kyanite shook the man''s hand.
¡°Good to have you aboard.¡± Gifrag smiled warmly with a twinkle in his eye. ¡°Now let''s finish getting this stuff loaded.¡±
* * *
The train was not much bigger than a speeder. Inside the cab was a seat for the driver (who had introduced herself as Amber), and two benches that could seat up to six people. In front of the cab was the engine. Behind were two cars full of ventilation equipment.
OC-1 sat across from Kyanite, who was eyeing him intently. Something he was getting used to. Still, how dare this worthless sack of flesh stare at me. I am so much smarter than she could imagine being. My brain can calculate numbers in a fraction of the time these meatbags take. My databanks commit to memory more than a meatbag like her will learn in her lifetime! The only thing she''s better at than me is mechanics, but soon I''ll know everything she knows about that too.
¡°Mmm...¡± He heard her murmur, ¡°mechazoid frog...¡± She whipped a notepad out of her coveralls; ¡°I''m just curious, but how are you made? Which parts are organic and which parts are machine? You see, I''ve got this idea for a¡ª¡±
¡°I don''t know the answers to your questions.¡± OC-1 responded, glaring slightly, before looking away and proceeding to ignore Kyanite.
For her part, the mechanic didn''t appear offended. She spent the rest of the trip flipping through various pages of her notepad, cross-referencing them in the bigger sketch book she pulled from her toolbox. Every so often, she looked up OC-1 again, then scribbled away furiously before flipping to other pages and cross-referencing things again.
* * *
Everyone''s mood sunk even lower as they made their way toward the elevator. Zene''s heads drooped down, their eyes hanging low.
¡°Why is everyone so sad?¡± He asked Father. Tears glistened in Father''s eyes. As the elevator went down and the blast doors closed above, Father tried to answer, but his voice would not obey him.
Ever since that day, thirty years ago, when the Isolation began, Travertine''s father had raised him to take his place. As if any day the Isolation would end and surgeons would be needed for the Old Guard''s efforts to rebuild the Second Zene Empire¡ªand to rebuild the solar system of Zadabakar''s Pride as one of the empire''s closest allies. Travertine''s family had been among the humans to share in the Old Guard''s dream.
Surgeons were needed alright: the First and Second Line Wars produced hundreds of thousands of dead and even more wounded. Still, as Travertine''s memory of life before Isolation gradually faded, his father''s faith never wavered. After the Ragnarok Colonial Council seceded from the planetary government, after the riots, famine, and epidemics, after the First Line War and the collapse of the colonial council, his belief stood firm.. When the colonial council gave way to the Collective Union, a new fire burned in his heart. The Collective Union, he told Travertine, could crush the rebels, reunite Ragnarok, perhaps even join with neighbouring Areas to form a new planetary government so they would be ready when the Isolation ended. Surely the Old Guard on the Sisters of Grace and Beauty had not forgotten them.
Discharged from the military after the war, Travertine became part of the shuffling mass of veterans aimlessly meandering the streets of Ragnarok. He still carried his old man''s dog tags. The blood he had wiped off years ago, but he could never wipe his mind of the sight of his father hitting the floor, shot through the throat. One of many to fall to Red snipers.
Travertine woke with a start at the noise, not having realised he''d been asleep. He reached for his gun just as the curtain was pulled back.
¡°Doctor!¡± Exclaimed the nurse, ¡°You''re still here?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± Travertine let his hand fall to to the armrest of his chair, ¡°I must have dozed off, I was so tired.¡± No need to tell her why he was keeping guard over this particular patient. ¡°Who''re you?¡± the surgeon turned to the human next to the nurse,
¡°Rook. Private investigator. I heard there''s a witness here.¡±
¡°There is.¡±
¡°May I speak with her?¡±
¡°I''d rather she rest.¡± Travertine glanced at his patient, ¡°She was hit in the head by a falling rock and suffered mild traumatic brain damage.¡±
Rook took several steps into the cubicle, ¡°If she has information on the bombers, it''s vital to get it out as soon as possible. The well-being of all stations inside the 1st Ring is at stake.¡±
Having nothing to counter this with, Travertine got up slowly and went to the patient.
¡°I''ll leave you to it.¡± Said the nurse as she closed the curtain.
¡°Ma''am? Ma''am?¡± Travertine said, gently shaking the patient''s shoulder until her eyes opened. ¡°Someone wants to talk to you.¡± The zene raised her eyes slightly to look at Rook.
¡°What?¡±
¡°I''m Rook. Private investigator. I''d like you to tell me what you saw.¡±
¡°A human? How do I know I can trust you?¡±
¡°I wouldn''t.¡± A voice said from the door as two zene police detectives brushed past the curtain. ¡°You stay outside. Make sure everyone out there minds their own business.¡± One told the other.
¡°I see I''m still half a step ahead of you.¡± Smirked Rook. Looking at Rook with one eye and the witness with the other, the zene detective went on,
¡°Rook here is a shameless bastard, but he likes to stay on the winning team so he won''t betray us.¡±
¡°You always knew how to inspire confidence in your old friends.¡±
Ignoring Rook again, the detective turned both eyes to the witness. ¡°I''m Lieutenant Zadabakar Bluescales. Please tell me what you saw.¡± Bluescales and Rook both took out their notepads as the witness sat up in her bed.
¡°I didn''t see much. Two men, dressed in mechanic''s coveralls, put something that looked like a big tool box at the side of one of the tunnels, next to the ventilation pipes. They left and shortly afterward came the explosion centred on the spot where they left the box.¡±
¡°Anything else? Facial features, hair colour, symbols on their clothes?¡± Asked Rook,
¡°I didn''t get a good look at their faces and I can''t remember their hair colour. Their coveralls had letters on the back.¡± She squinted in thought. ¡°Three of them.¡±
¡°What letters were they?¡±
¡°I picked up enough of your human language from my co-workers to comfortably carry on a conversation, but I can''t name a single letter in your alphabet.¡±
¡°Can you remember enough to write them down?¡±
¡°I can try.¡± The zene took Rook''s notepad and hovered pen over paper for a while, trying to remember. Eventually she scribbled something, but it didn''t resemble anything Travertine would call letters. ¡°I''m sorry,¡± she passed the notepad back, ¡°I can''t remember. It was definitely three letters though.¡±
¡°Is there anything else at all?¡± Bluescales asked,
¡°No. That''s it.¡±
Chapter 3: RHS
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your tongue out with a pair of vice-grips. Get it?¡±
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¡°me to investigate RHS. As in, you won''t touch it with a ten-foot pole.¡±
¡°st Ring, and they''re based out of the 1st Ring Cooperative. They''re also on the Financial Advisory Board. We can''t just start a police investigation on them, we need to approach this with more tact. We need someone with more...¡±
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Chapter 4: Suavity
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¡°these hoses into the electrolysis chamber.¡± The two followed the hoses to the next box-like chamber, ¡°When the catalyst chamber is done with the carbon dioxide, the electrodes light up in here to split the water. Hydrogen is looped back to the hydrogen holding tank over there, where it goes back into the catalyst chamber and oxygen is siphoned off into the oxygen holding tanks over here so it can be re-introduced into the atmosphere via those hoses connecting it to the ventilation system.¡±
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st Ring Cooperative¡ªto bolster the garrison and ensure the continued neutrality of the Neutral Zone.
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So, incomplete records on one end and erased records on the other. someone in RHS was doing a little dirty dealing with the Red Wolves. I''m going to have to find out who... and I know just the place to look next.
st Ring Cooperative was a staunchly capitalist, democratic federation made up of eight semi-autonomous stations, all of them on the 1st Ring Line which connected several major lines together. It intersected Line 1 twice. Utopia and Serenity were both on Line 1 where it met 1st Ring Line: Utopia north of Express Line 42, Serenity to the south. Although both the People''s Republic and the Collective Union claimed Ragnarok as their capital, the de-facto centre of administration of the former was in Utopia and the latter was in Serenity.
Their candidates always won the elections, and their policies were always the ones that got through congress and senate. No wonder, with the involvement of the innocuously-named Financial Advisory Board, a ''think-tank'' which ''advised'' the government on ''matters involving economic concerns.''
not selling their souls to corporatism, the corporations only grew bigger and wealthier. Special free trade agreements were made as part of the peace treaty, lowering tariffs and restriction of movement on goods being transported by corporations that were on the Financial Advisory Board. The few companies dealing in construction and life support based out of the Republic and Union were small and feeble compared to those in the Cooperative.
st Ring Line not affiliated with any of the above three groups had made a military pact called the 2/3 Alliance (named for the intersection of Lines 2 and 3). The situation there was even worse. Without a central government to protect local interests, the stations were almost completely under the sway of the Cooperative economically¡ªand, to a large degree, politically as well.
st Ring. Serious competition was virtually unknown. Like many such corporations, they had contracts with the armies of both the Republic and the Union.
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Chapter 5: Comrades
that sounded exciting. Travertine grabbed his telephone and called the number given for inquiry.
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¡°feel the man on the other end beaming; ¡°You have experience in spelunking?¡± Whilst technically all people in the entire Devil''s Basement were spelunking at all times (except on rare visits to the surface), the term had come to refer to travelling anywhere off the beaten track outside the main rail-tunnels.
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¡°really worried about though are the rumours of....¡± the man paused and when he resumed he did so in a hushed tone: ¡°rumours of slavers in that area. Wildmen who kidnap travelling miners and mechanics and take them through Almighty-only knows what route in the warrens to some stations either in the 2/3 Alliance or on the 1st Ring to sell them into ''indentured servitude''¡ªa polite term for slavery. According to the rumours, this gang is led by a pair of ex-Republican military men who still address each other as ''comrade,'' so that''s what people call them.¡±
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¡°our guns pointed at you, so put your guns down!¡±
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st Ring while the stockholders could get rich off tensions over the Line and RHS would snap up contracts to fix everything in the aftermath.
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¡°Your boss?¡± Asked the leader. He was dressed in a uniform of the Red Army of the People''s Republic of Ragnarok. The other three included a human woman and two zene males, each of whom wore a mixture of ragged clothing: all four also wore a headlamp, a backpack and a cloak that could double as a sleeping bag. Judging by their appearance and the leader''s comment about ''living out here,'' it seemed the best guess was that they were wildmen¡ªpeople cast out of their stations for criminal activity (or for getting the wrong people mad).
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¡°don''t want a gang of angry wildmen tracking you through the warrens.¡± He was ignored by the newcomers, who filed back through the door with the mechanics in the middle of the line.
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Chapter 6: Rescue
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¡°someone updated the software controlling all the automated valves.¡± Between two fingers, he held up the same flash drive he''d held up before.
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¡°all the carbon dioxide in the holding tanks for the recycler and the generator as well as the carbon monoxide and hydrogen oxides into the outpost''s atmosphere. The valves will be locked open. It doesn''t take much carbon dioxide to suffocate a human or zene, and it takes even less monoxide to kill one. With the outpost''s air poisoned, your men will meet with little to no resistance when they launch their assault. The Union will blame the Republic and thus begins the Third Line War. With the Union''s frontlines weakened, a stalemate is less likely to develop like it did last time, giving the Republic the opportunity to finally capture Ragnarok for good.¡±
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¡°Hello!¡± Scoria greeted them at the door of his shop, ¡°I wasn''t expecting you all to be zene!¡±
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¡°This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
¡°our command, and at our command they dug through thousands of tons of dirt and rock to get at the precious minerals on which our noble society depends.¡± The picture then switched to showing humans hard at work in a tunnel using hand tools (large earth-movers still existed of course, albeit not nearly as many as before: that didn''t fit with the ad though). ¡°With the Human-Zene Great War on, parts were no longer available and we lost what our forefathers once had¡ªmighty machines capable of driving themselves and doing the work for us.¡± Finally, the picture switched to a smiling zene female in an office. ¡°Here at Labyrintelligence, our vision is to return to the old ways, to restore the technology our forefathers had. To build a better future for our children, we at Labyrintelligence are hard at work rebuilding the computers and the manufacturing tools necessary to once again have at our command the mighty machines¡ª¡±
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¡°all there is to know about a corporation called Amber Ravine Military Hardware.¡±
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¡°all of them, not just those of the Collective Union, in spite of efforts made to re-program me¡ªwhich means that peace must be kept. So, in a way, I do care, even if I lack what you would consider to be emotion. As for you...¡± She tilted her head slightly, ¡°you have emotion, but don''t seem to be too concerned with anything beyond your own well-being. Why is that?¡±
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¡°still a lieutenant?¡±
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¡°and all their comrades. You with me?¡±
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¡°want with us?! I''ve never been kidnapped in my life and today I''ve been kidnapped three times! Isn''t enough enough already?¡±
¡°you anymore. We just want to teach the motherfuckers who dared ambush us a lesson in why wildmen are the masters of the dark and they are just a bunch of larping station rats.¡±
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Chapter 7: Tunnels
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¡°have to, comrade!¡± Comrade Sergeant grinned back.
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¡°did notice the ceiling looked a little weak, but not that weak.¡±
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¡°long time. It''ll also take us out by Dawnseeker, that''s a ways from Ragnarok, and there''s no telling if¡ª¡±
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Chapter 8: Wolves
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¡°are wolves down here, any sound could attract them. Everyone stay close and be on your guard.¡±
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¡°that for?!¡± She could barely get the words out of her winded lungs as OC-1 hit the ground in front of her; ¡°You have a sword in your arm?!¡± She exclaimed when she spotted the blade:
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¡°Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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¡°is the area they disappeared in, so this must be their train. What trouble have these mechanics gone and gotten themselves into?¡±
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¡°got to find them. I won''t be able to pay my rent otherwise. Maybe the people in the nearby military outposts will know something we haven''t heard, or maybe they can tell us something about the Comrades'' method of operation that''ll help us find them.¡±
Chapter 9: SmartDoor
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¡°Comrade Sergeant to you.¡± He retorted as he turned around to guard their backs. ¡°Alright, I want a firing line right here. Nothing gets past this spot.¡± He ordered the others.
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¡°some people thought we needed intelligent door consoles.¡± He finished with a roll of his eyes.
¡°SmartDoor console?¡±
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¡°th, 3146.¡±
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¡°th, 3141, on orders from Mine Director Sandbay Strongarm. Will the current operator please identify themselves?¡±
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¡°th, 3146. This unit is responsible for the hermetic door next to this unit. This unit sealed the door leading into Happy New Beginnings Mine at exactly 11:00 PM, August 17th, 3141, on orders from Mine Director Sandbay Strongarm. Will the current operator please identify themselves?¡±
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¡°The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
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¡°knew it! Who said violence never solves anything?¡± Kyanite cheered, waving her arms in the air. The group ran through the hatch, Mad Dog and Den Mother going last to cover their retreat. On the other side, Kyanite immediately spotted an emergency release lever which closed the door again before any wolves could get through.
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What, he wondered, might I find if I were to check the munitions production record along with the export records and compare those with the import records at the other end?
then take a detour to wherever they were going. They had to rely on the fact that Dawnseeker was small and out of the way to avoid arousing suspicion.
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strictly company secrets anyway. Come on.¡± In a swift motion, the money disappeared into a folder and the secretary led Rook into a room off the lobby where rows of filing cabinets were stored.
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¡°you.¡±
next munitions cargo was scheduled to leave.
Chapter 10: Headquarters
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¡°How is he?¡± Kyanite asked Comrade Sergeant as he sat down next to Nationalist, who was still out cold;
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¡°I can''t get lost forever.¡± He smiled back at Travertine, ¡°I''ve got a nickname to uphold.¡±
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¡°I can help it.¡± Travertine fit his surgeon''s bag into the backpack and put it on.
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¡°good sign because it means we''re on the trail of something, or a bad sign because it means we''re not alone down here?¡± Travertine asked rhetorically while Immortal examined one of the bodies.
¡°Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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¡°quite what I''ve been working on, but it''s a viable prototype.¡±
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¡°Fine.¡± The colonel rolled his eyes,
¡°you end up here, and... weren''t there four mechanics?¡±
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Chapter 11: Contention
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¡°their outposts that are going to be attacked.¡±
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¡°should tell the authorities. If those traps the mechanics were talking about aren''t uncovered...¡±
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¡°you''re starting to sound like the fatalistic one.¡± Travertine noted with a wry grin;
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¡°he doing?¡± Immortal asked in shock,
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¡°Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
¡°What for?!¡±
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together, but if you want to head in the same direction at the same time as me, I won''t stop you.¡±
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Order? What do you take us for, a military outfit? We''re wildmen, tunnel rats. I don''t give orders, I give suggestions by virtue of charismatic authority.¡± He returned to his drink with an air of finality.
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¡°that. I mean a civilised competition.¡±
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Chapter 12: Kharlyria
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¡°Our purpose? I''m here gathering information on a case, what I still don''t understand what you''re doing here.¡±
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¡°stopped you from finding out what it would be like.¡±
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¡°a country and the country. You don''t know what ''country'' and ''city'' are, instead you have ''stations,'' ''tunnels,'' and ''warrens.'' No wonder your suicide rates are so high.¡±
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is Rook''s own signature. Rook is pretty well-known around here, if he sent you to see Kharlyria, then you''d better be on your way.¡± He hit a button and the gates opened. ¡°Once you get through security, go straight to the top floor. I''ll let them know you''re coming.¡±
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¡°Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
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¡°map?!¡± Asked Kyanite in surprise,
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¡°st Ring Cooperative.¡±
¡°What?!¡± The gasp rose from everyone simultaneously except for Travertine, who already harboured such suspicions thanks to the witness he''d patched up not so long ago.
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¡°keeps nations from going to war? If nations believe they have more to gain by remaining at peace than by going to war, then they will remain at peace. What can convince two nations that they have more to gain by peace than by war? Interdependency. If two nations engage in mutually-beneficial business with one another, they may find war will upset both their economies and benefit no one.¡±
¡°allowed to do business across the Line without going through all kinds of red tape.¡±
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¡°have become deeply linked by all the trade being funnelled through the Cooperative. For example, the Republic is not self-sufficient in terms of food while the Union produces a surplus. Cooperative businesses import it from the Union, then export it to the Republic¡ªsome of that goes on right here in Ragnarok. The Union, meanwhile, isn''t self-sufficient in hydrogen. Without fuel for their trains, their civilian economy would fall apart along with any hope of an effective war effort. There are hydrogen deposits elsewhere, but they''re further away and therefore much more expensive¡ªas is producing hydrogen through electrolysis. The Republic, of course, is rich in hydrogen.¡±
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¡°on!¡± Exclaimed Comrade Sergeant with no small amount of excitement; ¡°You said we should find a worthy competition, Comrade Kyanite!¡± With that, he headed for the door,
¡°civilised competition!¡±
¡°more civilised than a kill-count competition?¡±
Chapter 13: Bridge
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¡°my case!¡±
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¡°very generous tip. Well, I think my people are almost done, so again, it''s been a pleasure.¡± Finished the engineer finally. A short pause, then footsteps toward the door.
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¡°any they''re bound to be in here.¡± They spent several minutes rummaging through the squeaky old filing cabinets. The office light was off, but OC-1''s enhancements amplified the light coming in the window. He had no idea how Rook could see his hand in front of his face, but they had soon compiled a stack of papers.
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¡°is safer to keep them out here in the middle of nowhere than in their headquarters in Utopia.¡± Rook took off his coat, wrapped the stack in it, and tucked it under his arm, ¡°Grab that map.¡± He waved at a map on the wall on which was marked what was presumably the route taken from the office they were in to the frontline staging areas where Red Wolves were waiting to launch the uprising.
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¡°other way. They are right behind us, in case you did not notice.¡± OC-1 grabbed Rook, one arm supporting his back and the other under his knees. ¡°Now turn off that flashlight.¡±
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and Rook couldn''t see a thing.
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¡°Me? But I''m a mechanic, not a fighter!¡±
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¡°Comrade Sergeant, we''ve been over this.¡±
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¡°try to get outside the blast radius! These fuckers ain''t fucking around!¡±
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¡°more casualties. We could just wait for the police to get here.¡± Said Immortal;
¡°now.¡± The Colonel replied,
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were wanted criminals, after all, and they probably didn''t want their name to be floated in front of a police lieutenant.
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¡°get these?¡±
¡°we did a bit of spelunking.¡± Replied Rook with a sideways glance at OC-1, ¡°Found them in a facility in some long-abandoned tunnels near here.¡±
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¡°both Line Wars.¡± Rook muttered;
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Chapter 14: End
¡°Well, preparations for the celebration of Ragnarok''s first year of independence are well underway.¡± The telephradio blared as Kyanite set down the filthy filter. ¡°We''ve got a special guest on the show for today, Captain Rook Pearlfolk! Rook, you were involved in the early stages of the process of the creation of the Independent State of Ragnarok. Tell us, from your point of view, how that went.¡±
¡°Thanks for having me on the show, it''s a pleasure to be here.¡±
¡°Pleasure to have you.¡±
¡°I''m sure I don''t need to remind your listeners of how tense things were back then. We were on the brink of a Third Line War¡ªand I''ve been around since before the Isolation, so I know what I''m talking about when I say we should all be glad Kharlyria and the rest of us pulled off what we did.¡±
¡°Hey OC-1, Rook''s talking about us on the telephradio!¡± Kyanite told her business partner as he came in with the replacement filter.
¡°Oh? Is he saying good things about us this time?¡±
¡°I think so.¡±
¡°With all the bombs the Red Wolves kept setting off,¡± Rook was still talking, ¡°I didn''t think it was possible at first, but after it came out that the Red Wolves were being supported by Ragnarok Habitational Services, the Republic promptly denounced them openly as traitors to the cause of revolution and raided their headquarters in Utopia, which gathered more evidence against them and built up some goodwill across the Line that helped set the stage for the negotiations that followed. Of course, I wasn''t involved in that¡ªbut I was involved in the flurry of court cases involving RHS and Dawnseeker Arsenal''s involvement with the Red Wolves. High-level cases like this can drag on for years, but public outcry was so huge both companies had to shut down, or sell assets to local branches which went independent. A lot of people¡ªincluding myself¡ªwere outraged when the directors walked. We couldn''t prove they were directly involved with the Red Wolves, but I can''t say I was sad when most of them met with... untimely ends. Lots of people were mad when those guys walked, but nobody ever found out who was responsible for the assassinations.¡±
¡°Hey, he''s talking about us too!¡± came another voice from the other end of the mechanical room,
¡°Don''t say that so loud, Ferrous! You want someone to overhear you?¡± Kyanite hissed;
¡°That''s Comrade Ferrous to you, Comrade Kyanite. How would you like it if I stopped calling you comrade, and just called you by your name?¡±
¡°I''d like that a lot, actually.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
¡°Bah! Back in the glory days of the revolution, you''d have been strung up for saying something like that!¡±
As they talked, Kyanite took a fresh filter and put it in place of the old one. She winced as her right shoulder protested having to lift something above her head, but she couldn''t complain. If the gun had been any closer when the bullets left the chamber, or if he''d been using a higher calibre weapon than an SMG, the last bullet would''ve gone through her brain rather than getting lodged in her forehead, Travertine had told her. Compared to that, a stiff shoulder was nothing.
* * *
Standing at the edge of the sidewalk next to the rails, Travertine gazed out at what had once been the Armistice Line. Before the formation of the Independent State of Ragnarok, it had been two solid walls of bunkers facing each other, barbed wire in front, guns trained on the opposite side, soldiers staring each other down. Guards at checkpoints did thorough checks of every person and thing that crossed the border. Behind the bunkers had been stacks of rubble, the detritus of the war no one had bothered to clean up.
¡°Back then, you were just a private detective.¡± The telephradio host went on, ¡°How did you become a captain in the newly-founded municipal police force?¡±
¡°I used to be in law enforcement under the Colonial Council. I was looking to leave Ragnarok, but when Kharlyria offered me a job in the new police force, I couldn''t say no.¡±
¡°The chance to be part of building something new?¡±
¡°Nah, I''ve just spent too many years of my life in Ragnarok to ever really go anywhere else.¡±
¡°That''s it? That''s why you accepted?¡±
¡°I''m an ornery old man, I''m entitled to my view of the world.¡± Rook and the host both laughed.
Travertine took another look over the old Armistice Line. Most of the bunkers had been torn down, though some remained as monuments to the bloodshed of the past. Rubble that had lain untouched for a decade had been largely cleared and new construction was going up every day. Kharlyria had an excellent understanding of how to attract investors. Not to mention Ragnarok''s mere geographical location at the heart of the rail network made it prime real estate¡ªwhen it wasn''t teetering on the brink of armed conflict.
True, a lot of people were hesitant to accept an artificial intelligence as the prime minister. She''d barely gotten into the position in the referendum. People were warming up to her though, with the new-found prosperity she was bringing the station, along with the old devices and technologies she was starting to re-introduce.
Some people were sceptical about a single independent station being able to act as an effective buffer between the Republic and the Union. Relations remained cool between the two. Yet, ten years of armistice now finally leading to a lasting peace agreement had warmed the ice a little. People could do business across the Line through Ragnarok¡ªand now that they didn''t share a border, they would have a harder time finding an excuse to upset the new status quo.
For now, it seemed, that was the end of that.