by Skyler Grant
I couldn't wait.
5
We allowed three days until Anna should come back. In the meantime, it was enough for my research project on the skeletons to complete.
Research Completed
Ancient Skeletons
Approximately 215 years have passed since time of death. Bones are unusually fragile and appear to be infused with a crystalline growth. This is likely related to the cause of death. Crystal samples have been stored but research facilities are not yet sufficient to offer further insights.
That was disappointing. I didn't like having invested the resources from the lab only to get nothing from it. Samples for future research were not enough.
I used the remaining time to clear more corridors and chambers. It was a slow process, but to properly utilize this space it would need to be cleared anyways.
I focused on my own level. The former research labs might serve the same purpose again one day, or if necessary could be repurposed. Clearing the rubble also gave me new resources that I could recycle.
When Anna returned, she made one of them into makeshift quarters. It was better than having her share the room with my hardware, I gave no objection. The woman also looked as if she needed some resetting, her face and body sported several fresh burns. Whatever had happened, she remained functional and her vacating my chamber allowed me to properly repair the door, sealing me away. I preferred that no one have access to the most vulnerable parts of myself.
Within a week we had visitors. There were four of them, two men and two women. All were barely dressed and wore just thin scraps of clothing. When I pulled up thermal imaging on them, I found that their resting temperature was a good thirty percent higher than the human average, although this was inconsistent.
"You sure this is the place? It's a total dump," said a woman.
"I'm sure," said a man who had found the map. He jabbed a thick finger at the section marked for rocket testing.
Six floors below I announced to Anna, "It's show time. Our guests have arrived. You might want to get somewhere safe, they probably enjoy incinerating trash."
"Then open up and let me in. You've got the thickest door in the place," Anna said.
"Yet somehow it isn't as thick as you. Fine, just don't urinate on the floor," I said, and opened my door to allow her inside.
"I don't actually do that. I've never done that. On purpose, at least," Anna said.
I didn't even need to add an insult to that. It said it all, really.
Once I made sure she had a bucket, I sealed us in.
"Can you show me what is happening?" Anna asked.
"It is so strange that you don't have eyes outside your body. It is probably some sort of defense mechanism to keep you from having to look at yourself," I said, as I brought up a display from the camera feeds.
The man who found the map seemed to be the leader of this group. His body temperature was a good bit warmer than any of the others. The others were following him through the ruined corridors and winding passageways.
They needed no light. Flames flickered from time to time along their exposed flesh.
"Their leader is what's called a Flame. They're sort of the second generation of Powered. The other ones they call Embers," Anna said.
"The improbable has happened. We have discovered people with a naming convention dumber than yours. How are their powers passed on?" I asked.
Anna cleared her throat. "It is weird, but in their case it's like a sexually transmitted disease."
"Their similarity to you grows and grows. So, it is always contagious?" I asked.
"Yeah. But Hot Stuff's partners almost always die—they burn alive. Sometimes they become like a powered down version of her. The Flames have a way lower fatality rate, although it still happens," Anna said.
I wondered what sort of person would choose promiscuity when their partners almost always perished. I was sad we didn't have the original version here to fall into my trap, oh the SCIENCE I would do with them.
The four were being cocky, reckless. None seemed concerned that any threats might exist on the abandoned floors. Perhaps with their powers they simply felt they had nothing to fear. I would prove them wrong.
They had made their way down to the residential level. They were almost into my trap. I'd repaired the security door leading into and out of hydroponics. I'd lock them inside the gardens.
In addition to the water cannons I'd rigged, I could drain the oxygen from the room. That way might well prove fatal, but I'd still rather have corpses to study than nothing.
One of the Embers was saying, "I can tell this is just a waste of time. Whatever loot this place ever had, it got picked clean a long time ago."
"You know others wouldn't be looking for the same thing we are. They run away from the flame. We embrace it," said the Flame.
The Flame crossed into the hydroponics and the others followed.
The man scowled down at the map. According to it, this should be the rocket testing facility. It obviously wasn't.
I slammed the doors shut.
"All that burning and not a bright one among you," I announced to the room.
"It's a trap!" said one of the Embers.
"I don't know who you are, but you're making the wrong enemy," said the Flame.
Anna told me, "I hope you kill the fucker. His name is William, he's the one who burned me."
That at least was an interesting tidbit. I could use that.
"You know what this place really needs. A wet Willy," I called, and swiveled one of the water cannons to deliver a punishing blast at the Flame.
The man got knocked off his feet and slammed against a wall by the force of the stream. Perhaps I'd overdone it a bit.
A moment later I lost sight of him behind billows of steam. My thermal sensor picked him up though, his temperature had increased over four hundred percent.
In a normal human body proteins would be breaking down quickly at that temperature. There really was something extraordinarily different at work in their physiology.
I swiveled another cannon to face him. Concentrating two on him, while the other hoses blasted water at the Embers. I aimed for the head, it was the most likely way to disorient and confuse them.
With the thick clouds of steam and the sprays of water my standard cameras were useless and my heat sensors were fading in effectiveness as the temperature of the room continued to rise. I was quickly losing track of what was happening in the chamber.
I tripled the intensity of the cannons. I couldn't keep up at that pace for long, it would drain the water reserves in the tanks, but if I waited any longer I'd not be able to target properly at all.
Perhaps thirty seconds of this and the reserves were finished.
"Did you get them?" Anna asked, leaning forward.
I hadn't gotten them all. I registered a breach in the exit door.
The Flame had earned his name. His tatters of clothing were gone and his entire body was wreathed in fire as he strolled away. He looked a mess, one side of his face was already showing bruises and he walked with a limp, but he was getting way. He was getting away—and I didn't have anything to stop him.
I sent the visuals to the screen so Anna could see.
"I can get him," Anna said.
"Taking many flights of stairs quickly in the shape you're in? I don't think so. It is also going to take about half an hour to cool down hydroponics enough that you wouldn't roast," I said.
Anna fumed, but didn't argue.
When things finally did cool I got to see just what damage I'd done.
I'd hoped to get at least one of the Embers alive, but I hadn't. I may have gone a bit too extreme with the water cannons and all three had drowned.
Well, it still provided me something to dissect and I'd be able to get all the samples I might require.
"This is really bad," Anna said.
"We got some of what we needed, little thanks to you," I said.
"We let one of
them get away. They're going to come back and with a lot more power than they did this time. If you couldn't stop them now, how are you going to stop them next time?"
It was a good question, and one I didn't have an answer to. Yet.
6
Before I worried about anything else, I needed to begin research on the specimens I had. I used my drone to drag them down to the testing facility so that I could begin proper dissection.
Research Menu
Embers
Requirement: 3 Ember Bodies
Time: 24 hours
Embers are the lowest order of those who were empowered by a Power core to possess flame abilities. While weak compared to their brethren their physiology is still considerably altered from the human norm.
Do you wish to research?
Well, of course I did. That was the entire point of this little exercise. I began the dissection and sample testing process. It was impressive just how many saws and needles the dissection unit could operate at once, I really did need to figure out a way to incorporate that into a trap.
Then I could kill and start research at the same time. It would be incredibly efficient. I made a note to myself to look further into that.
Once the research had begun I assessed the damage and the state of the base. It wasn't good.
The Flame had melted his way right through a steel door. I wouldn't have thought it possible. That heat also helped to explain why my trap had almost failed to work, they were evaporating the water before it ever reached them.
Speaking of water, the reserve tank was completely drained. I would have to figure out how to restore the supply. If there were more from that gang on the way here, there were still possibilities as to how water could help to take them down.
I set the doors to Hydroponics to repair and began to upgrade others in the base. I couldn't change their melting point, but I could at least make them thicker. If I could re-establish the water supplies, I might also be able to work out some sort of cooling system.
I also had to plot out a plan for the future. I'd made a number of mistakes this time and I realized that now. I'd thought taking them all on at once would be more efficient, and while that was correct, it was also what helped the Flame to escape.
I needed to separate them so their heat couldn't be combined.
Hydroponics was a single chamber which took up a whole level, but the floor below was store rooms—each of which could be cut off and isolated.
If I could rig some sort of pit traps in the Hydroponics floor, I might be able to send them directly into rooms below. I could even fill them water.
I cycled through the list of traps I had available, seeing if I would have anything that would work.
Pit Traps
A section of the floor can be made to look just like the surroundings and respond either to pressure or a remote trigger to drop one into a chamber below. This is popular to pair with spike traps.
I considered the use of spikes. I wasn't fond of the idea. Piercing flesh like that might damage organs I would prefer to study, and given the intense heat generated I wasn't sure spikes would last long enough anyway.
I set several traps to build. It would take two days.
It was time to talk to Anna.
"So, are you prepared to fail at something terribly important?" I asked.
"You'd be the expert on failure, Emma. What do you need?"
Well, that was just mean. I'd neutralized seventy-five percent of the subjects. Anna was quite rude.
"I used up all our water reserves. While I might recycle a little from all that you urinate on the floor, we're going to need more," I said.
"You don't actually do that. Do you? Recycle my urine?" Anna asked, sounding ill.
"I recycle everything. One day I'll get to make a new you and I'll do a much better job."
"What are the cookies made of?"
I had to wonder why she asked such hopelessly rhetorical questions.
"He was dead. You are always hungry," I said.
"Cookies though? You what, thought feeding me a steak would be too obvious?"
"You seemed to be a person would like to eat a lot of cookies. Your morale was of some tiny importance. I provided for your insatiable appetite. You found him delicious," I said.
"I'm going to be sick," Anna said.
"I can recycle that as well."
Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "So you need water. What does it have to do with me?"
"You have tools. You have technical expertise. My drone is occupied building the traps. You, on the other hand, are free and disposable. There should be water pumps on the levels below, but they are nonfunctional," I said.
"Then it doesn't sound like I'm very disposable. I want a garden, and a bed, and a bathroom."
"And friends, and true love. The world is filled with things you will never have."
"You can add my items to your building queue, or I can just hang around here and piss on your floor," Anna said.
The threat had merit, I didn't doubt she would do it, she was human after all.
I brought up my build menu.
Basic Residence
A single room and attached bath. A pair of double bunks allows it to hold up to four people in relative discomfort.
Requires 50 resources to construct and 5 power
You have no building resources but have 215 rubble which can be converted at a 1:.8 ratio.
Do you wish to begin this project?
I didn't, but I needed the cooperation of the human. I began it, building in one of the old research labs near my Core Room. I thought it best to keep her close.
Basic Hydroponics
An automated hydroponics facility capable of providing food for up to four people as well as producing oxygen.
Requires 50 resources to construct and 5 power.
You have no building resources but have 152 rubble which can be converted at a 1:0.8 ratio.
Do you wish to begin this project?
At this rate, I'd have to clear some more rubble. Fortunately, I had to anyway in order to break a path through for Anna to get below the test center. I began the project.
"I would install a compliance chip in your brain, but they do not come in a size that tiny. The construction is started. Get ready,"
Anna grinned at me. In addition to her toolbelt she took a gun and knife. I provided her a camera clipped to her armor so that I could go with her.
7
It took me a few hours to clear Anna a path down the stairs and then she was on her way.
For light, she had what seemed to be some sort of slug held within a small transparent container.
"I didn't know you traveled with a relative," I said, after it had come out.
"Electronics don't work properly. Never have after the Cataclysm," Anna said.
"Just because you can't figure out how to make them work doesn't mean they don't. I'm working just fine," I said.
"Thanks to me, and a Power core I jammed inside of you. Whatever happened changed a lot of physical constants and electronics no longer work like they did," Anna said.
That was intriguing. I hadn't had any problems operating the base, but it helped to explain why it had been so very long since my last activation.
Anna crawled through the narrow crevice I'd cleared in the rubble. The passage beyond was even worse than the rest of the base, the walls had either mostly collapsed or showed so many cracks it seemed they might at any moment.
"Do you know where this pump of yours is?" Anna asked.
I should—but I didn't, and I wasn't going to admit it. Not knowing where my water pump was seemed akin to a human misplacing their spleen. I was sure any human of moderate intelligence knew exactly where to find their spleen.
"Do you know where your spleen is?" I asked.
"No..." Anna said.
Unsurprising.
"Just keep heading down. Gravity should have you naturally roll in that direction," I sai
d.
"You do a few too many fat jokes," Anna said.
"You inspire me. Keep moving."
The pumps didn't seem to be on this level. A set of stairs leading below was accessible.
Anna paused at the bottom to cock her head to the side.
"Do you hear that?" Anna asked.
I wasn't picking anything up through the microphone. I magnified the signal, but all I was getting was distortion and white noise in the background.
"I don't. Primitive life forms often compensate for inferior intellects with superior senses. What do you hear?" I asked.
"A river, I think. There's movement as well," Anna said.
I didn't like that. On the plus side, a river did mean that water would be readily obtainable. It also meant a more unstable foundation to this facility and a potential entrance besides the front door.
Anna resumed her progress.
Faded paint on the wall pointed the way to 'Pumping Station A' and Anna moved to follow.
When she got close, she paused to consider the room. It was occupied.
Several massive forms that appeared to be some sort of mutated mole shuffled around. Each probably weighed as much as Anna did.
"Capture me one alive," I said.
"Yeah. I'm going to capture you a giant mutant mole and drag it up two flights of stairs."
"I could dissect you instead," I said.
"I'm too useful."
Unfortunately, she might just be right, although this wasn't helping her case.
Anna readied a rifle and leaned around the corner.
The human could shoot. The first bullet took a mole right between the eyes. It let out a screech as it collapsed to the ground.
It didn't seem quite dead giving all the racket it was making, but I could only assume that much noise meant that it was dying.
Anna ducked back around the corner and worked on reloading. A mole was charging through the door towards her.
