The next day, I lay relaxing in bed, the gentle panting of Snuffles keeping me dozing. With Tidefall closing, I had no interest in going back in like I'd planned. Besides, I got enough yesterday.
What finally dragged me from my cosy bed was the urgent need to pee. Dragging myself out of bed and taking care of business, I then headed off to the Pit. I was dying to tinker with my haul from yesterday, but I really needed to check on it first.
Skyla would've called me if there was a problem, but still. Grinning as Snuffles whizzed this way and that, nose to the ground, during the 45-minute walk from my workshop to the Pit within the Fortress. Nodding at the guards, I entered the labyrinth of tunnels in the Fortress, navigating through them with a familiar ease, bumping into Merek, who was just leaving, empty glass vials in hand.
"Sup Aleric." he said. He had shot up like a beanpole over the last few years, taller than even me at my 6'3. But stick thin, I probably weighed double him at this point.
"Merek. How are the new augments?" I asked.
"A dream. No rejections so far. The oldest ones have just been weaned off the drugs completely. I will keep monitoring them for a few days, but after that, I think we nailed it."
"Good to hear. Keep me posted. How's Thul? I haven't seen him in a while."
Laughing, Merek said. "And you won't. Not for a long time yet. He's neck deep in new research. Monster Ospoeriosis." I raised my eyebrow, confused but interested. Seeing that, he shrugged. "It's on some blood brought back from the wastes. Has him all in a tiss."
Nodding, I clapped him on the shoulder and stepped into the Pit. As I did, a chirpy voice called out. "Hey Aleric. Come to check on us?"
Grinning, I went and hugged her. "Skyla. Can't have you push me out. How you doing?"
"Good. Have you seen what Merek got me!" Now that was an unlikely pairing, but they'd really bonded over the years, working in such close proximity. They couldn't be more different, but they made each other happy, and that was all you could ask for down here. Besides, they made a cute couple, even if they could be sickeningly sweet and lovey-dovey at times.
Smirking, I said. "Who do you think got him the supplies?"
"You knew! You kept that quiet."
I stuck my tongue out at the girl who'd grown on me like the sister I'd never had. She'd changed from the brash, loud girl I'd first met into the confident force of nature she was today.
"How are the dogs?"
"Good, had a new litter last night."
"Any problems?"
"A few. The last four were difficult births, born weak. We managed to save two but not the others. The last one was stillborn."
Sighing, I nodded. It happened. "Well done. Is Gwen in with them?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes."
"I will pop in and see how she is doing in a second. Anything else to report?" I said as I moved over to the cogitator in the corner.
"Nope," she said, popping the p with a grin.
"Good."
Sitting down, I started to go through reports and make sure nothing needed my input when she said. "I am surprised you are not diving again. Didn't fancy the risk?"
"Diving again?"
"You've not heard?" Shaking my head, she continued. "There was a massive find. Some vault or other."
"Ah, well, it'd have already been picked clean if word had gotten to the surface."
"That's the thing. They couldn't get it open. According to Hann, the discoverers have been looking for a techy to get the door open."
Hmm, Hann, the boss of the fortress would know; he was well tapped into the goings-on within his domain. Feeling my interest rise, I asked, "And they didn't blast the doors down?"
"They tried. Didn't even scratch it."
"Huh." I sat back in thought. Did I want to get involved? I had a good haul already, but a locked vault like that might have some real prizes. I couldn't remember the last huge find, but it must have been a few centuries ago. "Do you know how many others are going down for a slice of the action?"
"No idea, but I do know several Court groups are."
I tapped my fingers on the table in thought, mulling it over. The last time a find like this surfaced, it was big. Instant noble status big. Did I want to risk missing out? The timings would be much tighter than I liked. I'd need to check how long it would stay open for, but if there was time. I was tempted.
I really shouldn't; it was a needless risk. But I couldn't help myself.
---
Word spread fast. As I made my way down, the warning signs, louder than yesterday, kept me on edge. I watched as dozens of groups moved down. It wasn't a huge number, but it was more than I was truly comfortable with.
All I knew was that it was going to be a bloodbath by the time we were done. Over a thousand relic hunters, mercenary groups, gangers, and other hivers crammed into a small area with valuables in the mix. Yeah, there was no way this wasn't ending in a fight.
Halfway down, I bumped into a large group of Court members. Knowing some of the veterans of the group, I headed over. After a bit of talking, I joined their group, at least until we reached the vault. Safety in numbers and all that.
With a large group, it was relatively easy to reach the vault. It was down a different path than the one I took yesterday, but it still ended up in the same sterile lab-like facility, with its white-tiled corridors and harsh lights. By this point, a crowd had gathered outside the vault. Stepping into the room, I took in the size of the door. High up near the ceiling, 'Testing Containment Laboratories' was etched into the wall, which wasn't the scariest thing I had read, but I did wonder what kinds of tests would warrant the ridiculous blast doors.
A dozen metres tall and easily fifty metres wide of gleaming silver.
They made an impression.
Nudging the gangers to the far corner, I made sure we were standing next to the wall on our left. Our group was given a lot of space, so we ended up right near the front, next to the vault doors. I also subtly positioned myself and Snuffles close to the wall, putting as many of my fellow gang members between me and the others as possible.
I had no qualms using them as a meat shield if needed; I didn't have any attachments to any of them. Turning to Garrik, one of the veterans I knew, I asked if he could see what was happening. He was tall enough to look over the crowd.
"Not much, only a cluster by the edge of the door and a man hunched over the controls."
"Can you describe him?"
"Tall but hunched over. Dirty red robes. Some staff. Why?"
"That is the techy they got, so hopefully we won't have to wait long for the doors to open."
"Agreed, the vibrations are giving me the creeps."
"My brother said we still have several days." One of the gangers said.
I snorted. "We'd be lucky to get twelve hours, let alone a day."
"I suppose you'd know." Garrik said. We lapsed into an uneasy silence, the only sounds being the low mutter of a few gang members. But our heads were on a swivel, looking for trouble.
My wish for a quick door opening was not answered, and we waited for several more agonising hours. I was about to call it, not entirely sure, but I guessed we had 6 hours before the defences activated once more, but that was closer to 5 hours, as it would take time to reach the surface. But finally, a cheer rose from the group huddled around the door.
As they stepped back, the door shifted. A deep clunk echoed through the chamber as the massive bolts and locks decoupled. I was expecting it to swing outwards, but instead it glided back into the wall, silent as a whisper, before sinking into the floor. In moments, it had vanished, leaving a smooth floor without a hint that the door was ever there.
With the way clear, everyone surged forward. I made sure we weren't the first wave; who knew what traps might be waiting? But with nothing obvious, we followed. It was a massive room, pitch black, my helmet's night vision barely helping, showing me only the faintest outlines of what was ahead.
Large, looming shapes dotted the room, clearly machines, all sleek and shiny new. They had everything from fabricators to welders, the lot. Off the sides were doors leading further into the facility, all inexplicably wide open. That sent some alarm bells ringing.
We marched further in, and with a blink, the lights flickered on, still as harsh as ever. They would've blinded me, like everyone else, if it weren't for my helmet. With the lights on, I got a proper look at the place. A vast workshop with every machine conceivable and dozens of passages branching off of it.
There didn't seem to be much loot; most of the workstations were clear, but there was the occasional item that was snatched up. Ignoring it all, I read the signs above the doors. Most were uninteresting, like quarters or a food hall.
Again, it made me wonder what they were testing to need a place like this? Hopefully, whatever it was, was dead.
'Viewing Rooms/Command Centre' caught my eye. Nudging the rest of the gang, I pointed them in that direction. I wanted them as meat shields for a little longer. The rest of the hivers had spread out, each going in different directions, with still more moving through the doors.
The corridor looked the same as everywhere else, except for one thing. As we neared the command centre, following the signs through the winding passages, the pristine white walls started to show scorch marks seared into them. At first, it was just one or two, but over time, more and more started to appear.
I wasn't the only one to notice. The gangers eyed them and the area around us warily.
I stepped into the control centre, a cylindrical room, monitors and controls lining the walls. Scattered across the floor were bodies, long decayed to bone. Once again, I let one of the other gangers step in first.
There was a flurry of activity, everyone trying to grab some loot, until a veteran said. "Stop. Collect it all, and we will divide it." He obviously saw the same greedy eyes I did. "Equally."
While they started to grab the loot, I investigated the cogitators. They still had power, but after it asked for a password in that ancient Gothic tongue, I gave up with it. As had been proven, I didn't have the gear to hack it. Not yet.
I noted a drive of some sort that looked to be in good condition, so I pencilled that in as part of my haul. Hopefully, it would have something interesting on it. In the corner, near the main controls, was a body, and if I wasn't mistaken, it was the leader of the facility. Or at least, that was what his badge suggested.
He was crumpled before the controls, fallen awkwardly, hand outstretched like he had died while pressing a button.
Looking at the bodies, it looked like a handful had been guarding the leader, while the others had been attacking. At least, that was how it looked to me. More importantly, and I was no expert, but some of the limbs looked twisted… deformed.
That didn't spell good things. I felt a surge of worry about what it all meant and started poking through the controls.
I couldn't tell much, but what I could see was the tremendous amount of power feeding two systems. The first was 'containment,' and if I wasn't mistaken, that was the final button the leader pressed before he died. The dried blood seemed to confirm it. The second main power draw was 'Cold Storage Archives.' I clicked through some of the controls, very carefully; I didn't want to activate some self-destruct button or something. I navigated the menus. The menus didn't have the vaults' location, just that it was far deeper.
Shrugging, I was just about to walk away to look at the pile of loot the others had gathered when a glint caught my eye. Crouching down, there was a tiny chip on the floor. It had fallen out when I moved the bones. Looking closer, I could see it had fallen from the leader's skull.
That could be important.
Slipping it into my pocket, I searched the other piles of bones and found a similar chip in each. Slipping these in as well, pretty soon I ended up with a dozen or so of the chips and then rejoined the others.
"-Seniority first." One of the veterans was saying.
"Well, by that logic, Aleric should go first."
Hesitating, the veteran grimaced before begrudgingly turned to me. "You get first pick."
Hiding my smile, I sifted through the pile. Most of it was scrap, but there were some relic weapons in there. A pistol like mine and a very nice sword.
But none of those were what caught my eye. No, that went to a broken blade handle near the bottom of the pile. I picked it up and nodded. "I don't feel like I can take the best stuff, so I'll leave them for the others and just take this."
The other gangers' faces lit up, especially the veterans, who looked very pleased and grateful. Thanking me, he immediately grabbed the relic plasma rifle. A very nice bit of tech and on the surface, the best in the room. Until you realised the blade handle had a sophisticated shield built in.
Now, it was useless to the rest, but for me, if I could reverse engineer it…
I also pocketed the data drive I saw. "Is that the last of it? Good, then let's go this way." I led them to the observation rooms, hoping to get a look at whatever was in the containment field.
Like all the other doors, they'd been forced open; creepily, they were forced open from the inside of the observatory room. Stepping in, we saw more bodies, many pressed up against the glass windows. The scratches on the inside looked like they were desperate to get into the chamber. Two large panes of glass had also been blown in, scattering glass across the room.
Looking out of the observation room into the huge chamber, it was pitch black. The only light was the swirling blue shields. Inside them was a strange gem floating in the centre of the energy bubble, glowing a dim purple, pulsing slowly to an unseen beat. The gem or crystal was massive, about the size of my torso, cut in strange, uneven patterns, with different scripts on each face in a language I didn't recognise.
As soon as I saw it, the hairs on my arms stood on end, and a tingling crawled across my skin.
I did not like that crystal one bit.
The room's darkness shattered as the door opened, and several hivers filed in. Just like the rest of the facility, the lights flickered on as soon as they stepped inside. I could now see all the tools, items, and even jewellery littering the table and benches around the edges of the chamber.
I recognised some of it. One piece caught my eye, a small ring that, unless I was mistaken, was a digital weapon. Crazy tech that I very much wanted to get my hands on, to understand if nothing else. How they could shrink or fit a weapon in a piece of jewellery, I had no idea.
The group spread out fast, trying to grab as much as possible. But more and more hivers poured in. The gangers around me swore before most of them bolted out of the room. I was tempted, really tempted to follow, but I knew how this would end—a slaughter. I did note the individual who claimed the digital weapon. Maybe I could trade for it later. Or he could have an accident. Either worked.
A few other gangers, veterans mostly, had the same idea as me, staying to watch the carnage unfold. I'd just turned away to investigate another part of the facility when a shout rang out behind me. I turned in time to see the shouting turn violent, one of them sliding a blade into the other's chest.
That was all it took.
The fighting turned violent in seconds.
People were drawn to the noise, the Court member who had gone running amongst them. Then the inevitable happened: a shot was fired, and that released the floodgates. Gunfire tore through the room. Some of the newer hivers who'd just arrived froze at the doorway before leaving.
Probably a sensible decision.
In almost slow motion, I saw a slug go wide, striking one of the shield emitters. It hissed, sparking, and then the whole energy shield flickered before falling altogether. The second it failed, red lights flashed throughout the facility, with an incredibly loud warning claxon going off.
It was hard to see in the harsh light, but it looked like the gem brightened as well, pulsing faster.
The prickling sensation on my skin returned, magnified a hundredfold. Without conscious thought, I started to walk toward the gem.
I needed it.
I blinked, confused. Why did I need the gem?
I slowed to a stop, thinking hard.
Then I felt it, that familiar pressure on my mind, like tentacles poking at it, squeezing. Panicking, I threw myself into my meditations and instantly felt the difference. The feeling gradually dulled, then vanished.
Looking around, the other gangers weren't so lucky. A few stumbled towards the door. Two had thrown themselves out of the smashed observation windows.
We were twenty metres up…
Even Snuffles wasn't spared, his eyes glowing the faintest purple. "Snuffles come. Snuffles, come! SNUFFLES, COME!" I sprinted over to him, grabbing him, but was just dragged along behind him. Trying a different tactic, I sent some static through the vox as loud as I could.
Even that didn't seem to get through, although I could feel him hesitate. Desperate now, I felt that energy flowing through me during my meditations and tried something I had never done: pushed it into another.
It didn't do much at first. Then slowly, as I learnt, I could see it working like waking from a nightmare; his glowing eyes faded, and he shook his head, confused, whining.
"You with me?"
"Woof."
"Good." I said, letting out a shaky breath.
I looked back through the glass.
Chaos. A frenzy had overtaken everyone.
One hiver was hammering another man to death, his own partner if the matching outfits were to be believed, using the blunt edge of a blade. People kept pouring in; even those I saw walk away were back.
Pretty soon, there were hundreds fighting in the room, all with that faint purple tint to their eyes. Whatever was happening, I wanted no part of it. It looked like warp fuckery, and even with my Self fragment, I was not equipped to deal with it.
Time to go. Immediately.
Making sure Snuffles was in tow, we hurried for the exit. I flinched and nearly jumped out of my skin as someone lunged at me from the doorway. My gun was out and firing before I even registered what was happening. Ignoring the dead body, a Court member, we kept moving.
Relief flooded through me as we reached the first main hall and saw the vault door was still open, but it twisted to horror as I felt the pitch of the floor's vibrations shift.
I should still have several hours!
One more reason to get the fuck out.
Running for the door, I spotted a metre-square box of polished metal with glass panes to see inside it. Hesitating, I waver. Fuck it. I veered straight for the nanofabricator. It would let me do so much more. Heart hammering, I yanked open Snuffles' pack, grabbed my tools, and started to unbolt it from the table.
The sound changed again, quieting and slowly fading away. I was fully panicking now. Something wasn't right. It had never made a transition that fast before, even at the end of the shorter Tidefalls. Had the alarm done something?
Wasting no time, I cut the cable instead of detaching them properly.
Hopefully I hadn't damaged it too badly.
"Snuffles!" I called. He moved into position next to the table, and I slid it off onto his back. Securing it to him as best I could, we set off at a sprint. If it was damaged or fell off on the run, so be it. We were out of time.
We sprinted for the surface. Behind us, the sound of gunfire faded into the distance. Then there was silence. Nothing, no noise, no vibrations.
There wasn't a more terrifying thing at that moment, as it meant only one thing.
The defences were activating.
From unseen vents, a faint wind stirred the heavy air, brushing past me. Soon, the bottom of the corridor started to fill with the thick black smog, swirling around my pounding feet.
We reached the upper sections, slick metal underfoot and grimy walls. My lungs were burning by this point. I was sorely tempted to ditch my rifle, and I would if I needed to. Snuffles was in the lead; even with the awkward box on his back, he was easily outpacing me. Unfortunately, there was no room on his back. With him in front, I just focused on placing one foot in front of the other.
We were nearly out when I heard it, a soft hissing pop behind me. Unable to help myself, I looked back and watched as a corpse was slowly vaporised, the water evaporated, and the flesh and bone powdered from the heat.
It slowly travelled up the body.
The smoke had filled the tunnels by this point, and I would have needed to slow down to find the right path if I didn't have Snuffles guidance. Ignoring the stitch in my side, I pushed forward, keeping ahead of the slowly approaching death. Finally, the exit appeared; putting on a burst of speed, I threw myself across the line.
Safe.
Collapsing to the floor, I took deep, gasping breaths, desperately trying not to throw up.
One of the guards raised an eyebrow at me. "Any others coming out?"
Unable to reply, I was panting too much, but moments later, I didn't need to as a huge plume of smoke belted out of the tunnel, like ash erupting from a volcano.
Whistling, the same guard said. "Cut that a little close, eh?"
Laughing, I could only nod. Once I had my breath back, I checked on Snuffles, who, unsurprisingly, was fine. "Good boy. Who's a good boy? Yes, you are. Clever boy." I said, stroking him as I did. Even better, it looked like the fabricator had survived, a few dents but none the worse for wear.
I tried to roll to my feet, but now that the adrenaline had worn off, it stopped masking all the aches and pains. I'd definitely pulled something, and my knee was starting to ache. I must have banged when I fell at some point.
While I was just lying there working up the energy to move, I froze before grinning. I had two new sparks floating in my mind. I touched the first: survived a warp event. And then the second: survived archeotech defensive protocols.
I felt them; my grin faded at the implications of just how much danger I had been in.
Remembering the loss of control and how crucial it was to mine and more importantly, Snuffles survival, it was pretty easy to decide where to put both of the sparks. Popping them into Self, I felt two shivers as it jumped. Like always, milestones seemed to have more effect than my regular sparks, and it jumped on the cusp of tier 3.
A shiver ran through my body, like someone had walked over my grave. The rush of knowledge was minor, but it was like I had discovered a muscle or limb I didn't know I had.
The extra experience solidified all the training I had been doing over the years.