by Drew Cordell
“I’m here,” she said over the radio, slipping out of one of the nearby alleyways and walking toward us. “I’ve been trailing you in case you ran into trouble,” she said, standing awkwardly by Marwin and Edgar.
“Caeldra, if you aren’t exiled, I expect you to avoid decisions like this in the future. Don’t make decisions you don’t have the authority to carry out,” Edgar said. “I understand you were out of contact range and didn’t have many options, but I feel the Guild would be in a much better situation had you not killed the Scavenger Guild members.”
“What they did was unacceptable, and my actions give us the opportunity to cover it up and blame the Harvesters for the destruction of the data,” Caeldra said.
“I understand that, but the constraints of our new operating capacity without the Slums has left us with limited resources and a dependence on the Scavenger Guild to continue our operations. You know that,” Marwin said.
“What happens when the Harvesters are gone? The Scavenger Guild won’t need us, and without us bullying them, they’d have no reason to give us food,” Caeldra said.
Edgar nodded. “You’re right, and that’s something we’ve been working on with their leaders. While we have no idea what’s going on in the Upper Level now, we have to assume the Omniscience Engine has the means to eliminate any infrastructure we attempt to rebuild on the surface. For now, our lives are confined to the Undercity. Until today, we had no reason to suspect the Scavenger Guild would withhold information that could help us save New York. Apparently, they had ulterior motives we’ll need to uncover before proceeding.”
Marwin paced back and forth. “We need to call a formal meeting and explain that Knight Squad felt the need to get the delivery back to the Guild after discovering the contents from the Scavenger Guild members before the Harvesters killed them. We can prove Harvesters attacked, and it won’t be hard to provide evidence that we acted in accordance to the terms of our contract,” Marwin said.
“I’m not too worried about the bodies, but if they know we have their data, they’re not going to be happy either way. They violated their terms of the agreement, but we also stole one of their shipments. It’s going to be tense no matter how this goes down. As acting commander of Knight Squad at the time, Caeldra is going to take some heat unless we back her,” Edgar responded.
“I’ll back her one hundred percent,” Marwin said.
“I will as well. Jake, Caeldra, let’s go talk with the rest of your squad. We need to have everyone on board if this is going to work. During the meeting, we’re going to need full statements from everyone.”
I nodded, and we walked over to talk with everyone else. Edgar and Marwin signaled for the rest of Shadow Squad to give us room to talk, and Martinez stood from the crate, holding a datapad tethered to the drive that was secured inside the crate.
“I’m almost done with the transfer,” Martinez said.
“When you’re done, wipe and torch the drive and we’ll get out of here,” Edgar said.
Martinez nodded and focused back on the datapad, fumbling with the screen through his gloved fingers.
Edgar explained the situation to Adam, Bailey and Leroy. All of them agreed to take Caeldra’s side to help the Guild through this.
Marwin stepped forward. “Caeldra’s not off the hook, but this is our best option to get out of this mess while still confronting the Scavenger Guild about the secrecy. We need to figure out what the hell is going on before we can make sense of any of this,” Marwin said. “We’ll be holding an emergency Council session that will exclude Scavenger Guild representation when we get back so we can interpret this data and make informed decisions.”
“What do you think about moving a few squads to River’s Port so we’ve got a military presence there?” I asked.
“Things are tense as it is; we don’t need to move armed forces to River’s Port without just cause. We want to be able to talk this through, but it needs to be very clear that something like this won’t fly in the future. We still have no idea what we’re going to find on these drives,” Marwin said.
“Actually, we do,” Martinez grimaced. “This drive’s data contains records of delivery to the Scavenger Guild from the Rail. The Government has been sending them supplies for the last three years under our noses. It started off as thought collection infrastructure then switched to food, water, and other supplies. It looks like they’ve sold us out to the Omniscience Engine.”
17 DECEPTION
“We should kill every last one of them,” Edgar seethed.
“Be objective; think clearly,” Marwin said, putting a hand on Edgar’s shoulder.
Edgar shrugged it off and walked away, kicking a pile of trash in fury and sending its contents sailing across the sidewalk. Returning to the group, he stood by the crate. “Martinez, call it in discreetly.”
Martinez nodded, calling in the suggestion to Command over the radio to relay the information to the Council.
“Wipe those drives and let’s get out of here,” Marwin said.
“Hey, can we talk later?” Leroy softly asked Caeldra. She nodded, then walked over to talk with Mary and Bailey.
“All this time and we’ve been depending on the Omniscience Engine for supplies. Unbelievable,” Edgar said, still furious.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked.
“I think we’re going to kill them all and take River’s Port,” Edgar responded.
Marwin put a hand on Edgar’s shoulder again. “It’s up to the Council. We all need to cool down and take a step back before making any decisions.”
Shadow Squad returned, and our combined group departed back toward the Guild Hall, the silence heavy and almost unbearable. When we arrived, the Council was waiting for the data, and Edgar, Marwin, and Martinez followed the rest of the Council away for a meeting.
“All Runners and Soldiers, report to your designated squad rendezvous and await further orders,” the PA system echoed through the Guild Hall.
“You heard. Let’s get down to the staging area and make sure our gear is ready to go. Grab new mags, batteries, and anything else you need,” Caeldra said, once again taking control of the Squad.
“Jake, Caeldra, we need you,” Marwin said as we were walking away.
“Leroy is in charge while we’re gone; Mary is second in line,” Caeldra said to our squad.
I gave Mary a kiss on the forehead before walking off with Marwin toward the Council Hall, still carrying my full backpack of gear.
When we entered the room, guards sealed the door behind us. Martinez had already pulled up the data extracted from the drive, and it was projected on the holo displays on the surface of the desk. Tomas, Rachel, Chloe, and Clark welcomed us, but Alex was in his usual mood. Caeldra and I propped our weapons and packs on the wall and took our seats with the rest of the Council. I noted the Scavenger Guild representative wasn’t present, but I didn’t bother asking where he was.
“Jake, Caeldra, you can read the data summary Martinez created while we get started,” Rachel Hensley said. I noticed they were all in normal clothes, dropping the formal robes due to the frequent meetings.
I thumbed through the data, moving my hands through the projection and examining the summary. Martinez had cryptographically proven the validity of the data. There was no question the Omniscience Engine had been supplying the Scavenger Guild from the start.
“I’m not certain, but it looks like the Scavenger Guild may have set up an agreement with the Government prior to the collapse of the Slums. By these shipment records, it looks like they were stockpiling supplies months before everything went down,” Martinez said, pulling up the relevant delivery files and displaying them on our screens.
“That means the Omniscience Engine knows everything we’ve been doing for the past three years,” Marwin said.
“It doesn’t make sense. Why keep us alive?” Edgar asked.
Caeldra cleared her throat. “Because they needed us to take out the Harves
ters. We depend on the reactors in the Undercity to keep the Guild Hall running. The Harvesters don’t care, and we all know they would have blown all the reactors if they had the chance. The Government has been using us to kill the Harvesters and using its resources for something else.”
There was silence as Caeldra’s words were contemplated.
“And once the Harvesters are gone?” Clark asked.
Marwin spoke up. “No more supplies for the Scavenger Guild and the Omniscience Engine leaks the records to us. Those blast charges weren’t planted by the Harvesters; they were planted by the Omniscience Engine. It wanted us to know what the Scavenger Guild did. It wants us to tear each other apart. The data we recovered from Adrihel’s office is very real, but we haven’t found anything that can help us out of this mess yet.”
Rachel jumped in. “If our Guilds kill each other, then the Omniscience Engine doesn’t have to worry about the Slums anymore. It’s banking on the fact we’ll either wipe each other out, or have no resources left to do anything to stop it.”
“What about blowing the reactors?” Alex asked.
“We need the power, and we still have no idea where all the extra power is going,” Edgar said. “Can you find anything about the other districts where the Rail is running?”
Martinez lifted the datapad. “No, it’s just shipment records. I can’t see anything about the districts outside of the country, but maybe we could find something in the main Omniscience Engine files we recovered.”
“Could we parse through it without losing progress on our current query?” Edgar asked.
“Yeah, we’ll just have to divert some resources. The code is constantly changing on the live version of the Omniscience Engine’s framework, but the historical records should remain constant. If we can isolate those file types, maybe we can parse through the code faster,” Martinez said.
“Jake, Caeldra, did those Scavenger Guild members appear to know what was going on with that delivery?” Chloe asked.
“No, but they did mention a third-party business partner the Scavenger Guild had been dealing with. I broke that asshole’s nose, and he still wouldn’t talk. They knew what they were moving, but I don’t think they knew anything about the third-party responsible,” Caeldra said.
“Do we know anyone who works from the Docks?” Chloe asked the Council.
“No. It’s been empty for a long time, at least we thought it was. This third-party could just be an Omniscience Engine front. Maybe some kind of advanced robot that doesn’t run on the main signal?” Edgar responded.
I nodded. “If Infinitum had another physical form, it would make sense. From what I understand, Infinitum, or the Omniscience Engine, can take control of anything within range of the main Omniscience Engine broadcast, but the physical form in those specialized bots can operate without it. There was a robot like that stalking Caeldra and me in the Undercity before I ended up in Olympus; it could have very well been the same form Infinitum took when it attacked in Olympus.”
“If that’s the case, then it would make sense. It also means Infinitum has a new physical form. If it’s in the Slums, then it might also be able to control other robots remotely through short-wave transmissions,” Martinez said.
“We can’t play into this. It wants us to destroy the Scavenger Guild. They betrayed us, and they’ll pay for that, but not until we’ve stopped the Omniscience Engine. Whether we like it or not, we need their help and we need any information on their so-called business partner,” Edgar said.
“I second that and move for a vote,” Marwin said.
Chloe called the vote, and it passed in favor of working with the Scavenger Guild rather than resulting to violence. “We’ll wrap up with a few other things, but Jake and Caeldra, you can go now. As a reminder, everything we talked about is confidential. Go ahead and report to your rendezvous locations, but we’ll call a stand down shortly. Caeldra, we will be discussing your actions and potential consequences, so don’t leave the Guild Hall until we’ve summoned you again.”
“Yes ma’am,” Caeldra responded as we picked up our gear and left the room.
“You really think this could all be the Omniscience Engine?” I asked, keeping my voice low so no one could overhear us.
Caeldra shrugged. “It makes sense. I think we need to pay a visit to the Docks to see if we can find any trace of it.”
“Believe me, if it’s anything like Infinitum’s last physical form, then we’re going to need a few fully armed squads to back us up. Marwin got lucky when he destroyed the last one, and it nearly killed us all.”
“We’ll be careful. If it’s operating in the Slums, it would have to be in the Undercity to recharge unless it’s nuclear-based.”
“All right. Can we talk privately for a moment?” I asked.
She nodded and led us into one of the empty study rooms on the second floor. We sat down at the desk.
“Three years ago, when the robot locked me in the room with it, it gave me the location of another bunker with the real box I was intended to find. The problem is it’s located in the Depths,” I said, producing the red data card from my backpack.
“You can’t be serious,” she said. “Last time we went to one of that thing’s bunkers it almost killed us both. I lost you for months.” Caeldra met my gaze, appraising me and searching for answers in my eyes. “I can’t lose you or anyone else on my squad again.”
“I know, but we’re better prepared now. It said it was something just for me, but if I can help the Guild then it’s a risk I need to take.”
“Look, Jake, it just doesn’t seem like a good bet. What if the Omniscience Engine set it as a trap? That robot did kill two Guild members after all. Does Mary know about this?”
“Yeah, I’ve told her about it. She’s on board, but there hasn’t been a good opportunity to go. I don’t know much about the Depths, but from what I’ve heard and researched on my free time, it’s not somewhere we could visit during a day trip. We’d need a lot of gear to make it there and back.”
“I don’t like it, especially with all of this garbage with the Scavenger Guild. We could be deployed at any moment, and we’re on the verge of war unless we can handle this situation properly. There’s too much hinging on a single point of action to take this risk on the side. I’d say there is a good chance we’d all die from the journey alone, and that’s without a trap waiting for us in the Depths.”
“I have a feeling the robot wasn’t lying. Besides, the Omniscience Engine doesn’t want me dead; it wants my ability to create Paragon Thoughts.”
“Which is why this could be a trap. If it’s waiting in the Depths, you’re not going to be able to escape. I haven’t been deeper than sub two hundred, and past that point there isn’t power. You’ll need an oxygen tank to boost your mask in order to breathe.”
“It could be a trap, but it could save New York. It said this box is just for me, and I have to believe it could help us.”
“Look, I’ll go with you and I’ll talk to Leroy, but there’s no way the Council is going to approve this. It would just be you, Mary, Leroy, and me,” she said. “We can ask Bailey and Adam, but I’m not making this mission mandatory. It’s too dangerous.”
“That would be great. Maybe we could talk to Edgar and Marwin, and they could set us up with a fake mission as a cover up while we do the run.”
“The Depths are no joke, and I don’t know if we’ll be able to scavenge full gear for four. We’d need four working environment suits. It’s a stretch, and my training for operating in the Depths was minimal at best. Small mistakes down there can cost us our lives; no one will come to save us if something goes wrong.”
“You’re in?” I asked.
Caeldra sighed. “Yeah, I’m with you. I’ll talk to Leroy while you talk to Mary again. If everyone is on board, we’ll talk with Marwin and Edgar and see if we can make this happen. If the Guild is planning on moving in on River’s Port or investigating the Docks, it may have to wait. I’m in
terested to hear how the call with the Scavenger Guild goes once the Council is finished with their session. There’s no way everything is just going to be fine. Besides, I’m not off the hook for my actions yet.”
“If we can find a way to stop the Omniscience Engine by doing this, then we can rebuild New York and start a new society. The Scavenger Guild will pay for what they did, but we can’t afford to wage war against them while the Omniscience Engine is still online,” I said.
“I know; we’ll figure it out. I’m sure Leroy will be on board. Seems like we’ll be going on a trip to the Depths,” she said, standing from the chair and opening the door.
“Thanks, Caeldra,” I said, following her out of the room and back toward the staging area where the rest of our squad was waiting.
Other squads had assembled in groups around the lower level, checking their weapons and packing up their belongings. As we approached Knight Squad, Mary walked over and hugged me while Caeldra went off to talk with Leroy.
“How did it go?” Mary asked.
“It was okay. I can’t talk specifics until after the Council makes their announcement. Also, I talked with Caeldra and she’s on board for the mission to the Depths to recover whatever the robot left for me. She’s going to talk with Leroy, then we’ll bring it up with Edgar and Marwin.”
“All right,” Mary said, looking around to be sure no one was listening. “Are we going to war?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t look like it right now. That’s all I can say.”
The PA crackled above us. “The Guild is returning to normal activity. Squad leaders, check your wrist links for briefing,” the voice said. Caeldra walked back over to us with Leroy and pressed the screen on her wrist.
“Same stuff they told us, Jake,” she said, motioning everyone in Knight Squad to circle around for debriefing.
Caeldra was summoned back to the Council and was absolved of her actions. While killing the Scavenger Guild men wasn’t the right decision, her intuition something was horribly wrong was correct. With her cleared, it was time to plan our trip to the Depths.
