The transition from the Grand Atrium to the sub levels was not a staircase because it was a tactical descent into a high security throat. I stepped into a maintenance shaft that smelled like expensive cologne and rotting meat. My internal sensors were once screaming in agony but they were now purring with a terrifying and artificial silkiness thanks to the Thread Smith patch.
STABILITY: 44.8 PERCENT
LOCATION: CROWN SECTOR RESTRICTED ZONE
I accepted this job for one reason only. The Glass Architect thinks I am his hired help but he has actually given me the keys to the server room. The sub levels of the Crown Sector are off limits to everyone except the maintenance crews and the dead. By becoming the gardener I have become invisible in the one place where I am most dangerous.
As I reached the bottom of the shaft the air grew heavy with the hum of surveillance. I did not look up because I already knew they were there. Three flying surveillance cameras drifted above me like metallic dragonflies while their red lenses scanned my porcelain frame for unauthorized code.
"User ID Izou," a mechanical voice announced from a speaker in the ceiling. "Status External Contractor. Task Pathogen Remediation. Do not deviate from the assigned coordinates."
I ignored the drones and kept walking. Behind the thick reinforced glass of the observation decks I could see the Guardians. They were towering figures in polished black armor carrying lances that crackled with blue electricity. They were everywhere and they were watching me with the cold indifference of statues.
"Nice place you have here," I muttered while I flexed my golden claws. "A bit heavy on the security for a bunch of decorators but I suppose everyone has their hobbies."
I arrived at the Nursery of Lost Echoes and the sight was offensive even to my scavenged senses. Below the steel grates I could see rivers of black waste code flowing toward a central drain. This was where the High Ground dumped the memories it no longer wanted to keep.
This was the weed the Glass Architect could not touch.
It was not a plant because it was a Data Leech. It looked like a massive and tangled knot of fiber optic cables and translucent flesh anchored to the ceiling like a parasitic heart. It was pulsing with a rhythmic violet light that matched the frequency of my own visor. I was not just here to pull it because I was here to read it.
I began my work by reaching into the mass of cables. I made sure my movements looked like manual labor for the cameras above while my internal systems began a deep dive into the Leech core. I was looking for the Archive Root because I wanted to see what the Sovereigns were so desperate to hide under the floorboards.
"True Identity Recognized," a voice whispered from the walls. It was the Leech itself. "Why have you come to the basement little king? Did you run out of porcelain to break?"
I did not answer because I was busy downloading a map of the entire Second Floor. Every vine I severed gave me a new piece of the puzzle. I was collecting names and access codes and the locations of every hidden vault in the sector.
"I am just doing some yard work," I said for the benefit of the drones while I tore a thick bundle of flesh from the ceiling. "But I have always been better at destroying things than remembering them. Let us see what you have been hiding."
I felt the Overclock kick into high gear while my vision turned a sharp and high contrast violet. I was not a hero saving a garden because I was a thief reclaiming his throne.
CURRENT STATUS: THE ARCHITECT PRIME
STABILITY: 44.5 PERCENT
MISSION STATUS: INTELLIGENCE GATHERING IN PROGRESS