by Simon Archer
“At least,” Clem said, looking rather shell shocked. I couldn’t blame him.
“There were thirty people down there?” Kira asked, open-mouthed and clearly concerned. “Did they attack you?” Clem laughed again, though the sound was still hollow.
“You could say that,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Yeah, they attacked us,” I answered. “I think they were following us for a while before they showed themselves, though. I had a feeling we weren’t alone. I just didn’t want to voice it.”
“Yeah, I felt that, too,” Clem said. “Glad to hear it wasn’t just me.”
“Well, we’re binders, we do have a knack for knowing things about other people, sensing things about them,” I noted. “Wouldn’t be surprised if we could sense them watching us, too.”
“I don’t know, Nic,” Clem muttered. “I don’t think those people had souls. Would be hard to sense ‘em if they didn’t exist.”
I gave a hard laugh, though both of us knew that everyone had souls, some people just had especially damaged or shitty ones. And those guys definitely fell into that category, there was no doubt.
“What did they say?” Kinley asked. “Anything?”
“Just that we wouldn’t be able to beat them, they control everything in the city, the usual Evil McEvilton fare.” I waved a hand in the air dismissively. “I wasn’t able to get much out of ‘em before they attacked.”
“Then we just ran,” Clem sighed.
“Well, we blew them up, and then we ran,” I clarified. “That’s an important distinction. They are very anti-tech, it seems, so pointing out our advantages is important.”
“Is your eye okay?” Lin asked Clem, flinching and reflexively touching her own eye as she looked at his. I glanced over at him again and remembered the punch he’d taken to the face. The whole right side had swelled up into a painful combination of black, purple, and blue.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” he said dismissively. “Just a scratch. It’ll heal.”
“If you say so,” Cindra said, eyeing the wound with concern.
“Did you see anything else down there?” Kinley asked, stifling a yawn. “Anything interesting?”
“Yeah, the first thing we saw was a train car. Well, the first thing we saw after we blasted the second wall, anyway,” I said.
“The second wall?” Cindra repeated.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you guys weren’t on the call with us,” I said, pointing to the earpiece. “The whole thing wasn’t one big tunnel. After a long descent, it turned into some kind of a vast underground concrete wasteland. That is until we got to another brick wall, a way bigger one. We blasted that and beyond that was an old train station. That’s where we saw the train car.”
“Just one train car, too,” Clem added. “Alone. And it looked refurbished, at least on the inside.”
“Do you reckon they use it?” Malthe asked. “And that’s why they had the retinal scanner?”
“That’s the only possible explanation,” I reasoned. “I mean, why else would it be down there? And all alone like that, too.”
“Wait, hold up, retinal scanner?” Cindra held up her hands to indicate that we should slow down. “What do you mean?”
“Yeah, an automated voice asked me to input my retinas in a scanner to board the train car,” I explained. “Like it was going to take us somewhere else underground.”
“It makes sense, I guess,” Lin shrugged, slumping back against the wall. “If they all operate in the tunnels, they’d need a way to get around down there easily. The tracks and core tunnels would already be there, after all.”
“Yeah, that does make sense,” I said. “Those guys didn’t look or act like they’d ever been on the surface.” I turned to Clem. “Did you see how pale they all were?”
“No, I didn’t notice,” he admitted. “I was a little more worried about the whole being under attack thing. Well, maybe, I did. When that one guy got really close to me, the one who gave me this,” Clem pointed at his ever-expanding black eye, “I swore that his skin was so pale that it was almost translucent, like he hadn’t seen the sun in years. But then he hit me, and I thought it might have been a trick of the poor lighting.”
“That’s crazy,” I mused. “Weird. Maybe that has something to do with how freaked out about tech they all were.”
“Huh?” Malthe asked. “They were afraid of technology?”
“Well, our tech anyway,” I said before explaining further. “That’s how we got away. Clem started yelling like he was giving orders to drones, and they all froze and freaked out, giving us a chance to throw grenades at them. Good call on that, by the way, man.” I punched Clem playfully in the arm with what little energy I had left.
“Thanks, man, I thought it was worth a shot,” he said. “I’m glad you figured out what I was doing and played along.”
“You needed to fake a drone attack to get away?” Kira asked, her eyes wide with fear and anxiety. “You guys? They must have been really good fighters to overwhelm you.”
“Well, they were pretty good, but that wasn’t the problem,” I said, taking another look at Clem’s nasty wound. “It was more that there were so many of them.”
“Yeah, every time I knocked one out, it felt like two more popped up,” Clem said, shaking his head at the brutal memory.
“And by the time you downed those two, the original one came back up, or a fresh one came out of the shadows,” I added. “It was like a horrible game of Jack-in-the-box.”
“Those things always creeped me out,” Clem said, shuddering. We both laughed for real this time.
“Anyway, the important thing is that you guys are okay,” Lin said, giving us both a small smile.
Cindra nodded. “That’s right, and we know more now. That’s good.”
“But they also know that we know,” Kinley said darkly. “Or at least they will soon.”
“Yeah, I doubt that we managed to kill all of those guys,” Clem said. “At least some of them probably managed to get away. I heard some run after us.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, biting my lower lip at the thought of it, “and they’re going to go tell whoever’s in charge.”
“That one guy seemed like he was in charge, didn’t he?” Clem asked, referring to the goon who had spoken to us. “D’you think he’s the head of the org or whatever?”
I shook my head. “I doubt it. Why would the head honcho be down in the tunnels waiting around for us? No, he was just some head goon or whatever. The real leader’s someone else.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Clem said. “I just hoped we might have got him, ya know?”
“Hey. We got some of ‘em. That’s what counts.”
“So, how do you think they found you guys?” Kinley asked. “Do they just have goons patrolling the whole tunnel system?”
“I dunno,” I said, stopping for a moment to consider this. “It would make sense if they did, but maybe not that many. Unless the org’s even bigger than we thought it was.”
“So, you think they knew we were going down there?” Clem asked, his expression dark beneath all the swelling.
“I don’t know,” I mulled this over. “I don’t see how they could’ve known, although I couldn’t see how they could’ve done a lot of stuff they’ve already gotten away with, so who knows. But maybe they knew where we were and sent a ton of people that way? Or maybe they knew we busted the wall in and then transported people over really fast? I don’t know. Either way, I think this is all the more reason to continue to be really, really careful. None of this stuff leaves this room or this group. Period.”
Everyone nodded.
“My lips are sealed, boss.” Malthe motioned as if to zip his mouth shut and then throw away the key. We all laughed again, though shakily.
“It’s all pretty crazy,” Lin said, leaning her head back against the wall now. “People who control the city of Termina but are afraid of technology living beneath our streets? Who
’d have thought?”
“I know, right?” I said, throwing my arms up in the air. “It’s completely wild, the whole thing. But they all can’t be afraid of tech, right? I mean, they have to use it to keep tabs on us.”
“Exactly,” Malthe said. “That’s probably why they have employees like Beaufort on the surface, to stay up to date on everything that’s going on and report back to them.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too,” I said. “Damn, I wish we could find that motherfucker.” I slammed my fist against my thigh.
“I know, I’ll keep trying,” Malthe promised. “Though I think I would’ve found him by now if it was ever possible.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s not your fault,” I assured him.
“So, what do we do now?” Kira asked, looking around at all of us from her position next to Kinley on the love seat. “Now that they know we’re on to them, I mean.”
“Well, the good thing is they’re afraid of drones and shit,” Clem said, “and we’ve got plenty of those things.” Even inside, I could hear the comforting lull of the drones outside.
“The question is, if they’re afraid of simple drones, how is it that they have so much control over everything and everyone in the city?” Lin asked.
“That is the question,” I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t have an answer right now, but we’ll get one, even if we have to capture one of these guys and pry it out of them.” No one needed to ask how. I could soul bond one of them and make them talk. We just needed to capture one of them.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, now that I think of it,” Malthe agreed. “Why would people this disconnected from reality scare anyone?”
All I could do was shake my head.
“I have to say, it is kind of appealing,” Lin said, and we all looked at her in confusion. “Going off the grid, I mean. I can’t say I’ve never thought about it. Our tech is great and all, and it makes us do a whole lot of cool things we couldn’t otherwise, but it’s kind of calming to think of disconnecting.”
“You’re not wrong,” I admitted. “Though I don’t think I could ever give up my service drones. It’s just too convenient to get anything you want any time you want, delivered right to your doorstep in seconds.” We all laughed again, less shakily this time.
“All I’m saying is I can sort of see the appeal,” Lin said. “Not of controlling everything, but of going off the grid in general.”
“Yeah, I can see how a cult like that would develop,” Cindra mused. “The question is why they care about what goes on in the city at all.”
“That’s another good question,” I said. “And another one I can’t even begin to answer. Why do they care? How does any of this affect them? Are they making money off foxgirl bindings in some way?” No one answered me. No one could.
“I guess we’ll just have to figure out how to find these answers,” Kira said, with an almost false cheeriness, though I could tell that she was trying to make us feel better by laying out a plan of action.
Kinley snorted. “Easier said than done. How do you suggest we go about doing that?”
“Well, I guess that’s another question that we need to answer, then,” Kira admitted.
“We could go back down there,” Clem suggested. “Into another entrance, even. Try to go on one of the train car things with a fake contact like Malthe suggested when we were down there.”
Everyone gasped at this suggestion and started talking at once.
“Are you trying to get yourselves killed?” Cindra asked, throwing her arms up in the air.
“You have a fucking death wish,” Kinley said flatly.
“There’s no way in hell that’s happening,” Lin said.
“I mean, we could try, but I wouldn’t suggest it,” Malthe said tentatively.
“I don’t know…” Kira said, her eyes darting around the room fearfully.
“Okay, okay, okay,” I said, holding up my hands to signal for everyone to shut up. “I don’t think it’s a very good idea, either. We need more information first. Malthe, keep looking for more intel. In particular, look and see if you can find any images of burly dudes with translucent skin or whatever.”
“And with a scar above his eye,” Clem added, indicating on his own face where exactly he meant.
“Right, yeah,” I said, pointing at him. “The head goon did have a little scar like that.”
“If he’s ever come up on the surface, I’ll find him,” Malthe assured me.
“I’m sure you will,” I said, nodding my thanks to him. “Meanwhile, we’ve got this crazy ass Parliament session tomorrow about repealing all the rules so the other binding corps can band together. So we’ve got more immediate problems than the tunnels.”
“Agreed,” Lin said. “We need to reach some of them. They can’t have all abandoned their convictions.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” I said, turning to her. “Let’s you, Kira, and I all try to cold-call them in the morning before the session. We three have relationships with these guys, we worked on getting them elected. We might be able to reach them, though I doubt it.”
“We’re on it,” Lin said, exchanging a look with Kira.
“Good,” I said. “Then, after the session, we’ll have a board meeting. But no one breathe a word of what happened tonight to anyone else, okay?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“When we win, it’s gonna feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders…” Clem said, shaking his head and his voice trailing off as he envisioned such a wonderful day.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said. “We won tonight, even though it might not feel like it right now. We found these guys out, discovered the tunnels and the trains, and we all lived to act on that information, but we have to be on high alert. Whoever these people are, they have some kind of power and influence, enough to turn the whole city against us in a single morning. We have no idea what they’re capable of.”
“Agreed,” Malthe said, his nose back in his watch. “I’m sending extra drones to TelCorp headquarters and everyone’s apartments.”
“Good idea, thanks,” I said. “Don’t want these people infiltrating the place if they hadn’t already. And keep tabs on the burner phone calls.”
“You don’t even need to ask, boss,” Malthe said. “I’m refreshing it constantly. Nothing new yet. Not since I found the whole thing, anyway.”
“Okay, so what are we going to say in the board meeting?” Kira asked. “What are we going to tell everyone about what we’re doing, what we think?”
“We’re going to tell them part of the truth,” I said. “That we’re not sure what the fuck is going on, and that we’re trying to figure it out. And that we’re really worried about everything that’s going on and are trying to communicate with Parliament and the other binding corps about it. That’s it. Nothing about the tunnels, nothing about anything else.”
“Won’t people see that we basically blew up a building?” Clem asked.
“Eh, nobody gives a shit about that building,” Malthe said, shrugging. “But I already erased all evidence of it digitally. It’d take someone actually going there and looking at it to realize that anything happened, let alone that you guys were behind it, and I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
“Awesome, thanks, Malthe,” I said. “So yeah, that’s what we do. We tell people part of the truth. I realized when I was lying about all of you to Elias and co. that keeping a lie close to reality makes it easier to tell.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Kira said. “Though I wish I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, staring down at the coffee table.
“So what about the other binding corps?” Clem asked. “Are we gonna do anything about them?”
“Well, first, I want to stop that new legislation from being passed, like I said,” I reiterated. “But barring that, and I really doubt we’ll be able to stop it given how things have gone so f
ar for us, we’ll just have to stop them if things get bad.”
“What d’you mean, bad?” Clem asked, his expression dark.
“If they start taking us again,” Cindra answered for him, wrapping her arms around herself at the thought. I reached down and squeezed her shoulder.
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t think it’ll happen right away, but who knows now that they’re joining forces. This is uncharted territory in a lot of different ways. But yeah, if they start messing with people again, that needs to be our priority, just like last time. The rest can come later.”
“I’m glad you said that,” Lin said, smiling at me. “I feel the same way.”
“I think we all do,” Malthe said, and I nodded.
“We do,” I agreed.
“So what, we go to war with the other binding corps?” Clem asked, looking a little green, and not just because of his colorful bruises.
“Why not? It’s not like that’s a new concept, even before we took over TelCorp,” I said. “I think it’s been heading in this direction for a long time. The other corps have been pissed at us for decades for cornering the binding market and pushing them out of business, for the most part. The only reason the other corps can get any clients at all is that we’ve priced some of them out of the market entirely. Even without the foxgirl issue, I think something like this has been coming for a while now.”
“Well, that’s a happy thought,” Clem said, suppressing a yawn.
“Yeah, I’m afraid we’re in for a pretty big showdown here,” I said. “But at least when we come out on top, then no one will question it anymore.”
“And we won’t have any competition,” Malthe grinned, and we all laughed weakly again.
“Okay, everyone,” I said. “It’s getting late. Way past late, actually. We have to be up in a couple of hours to beat the traffic to the north side. Go to bed. Get some sleep. Try to forget about all this for a little while. And tomorrow, we’ll deal with it all again, try to get to the bottom of it. Just don’t breathe a word to anyone.”
They all nodded, and we lazily went off to bed.
