Zax hadn’t been particularly worried about Canary’s physical state, even when she and Cat didn’t come back. Her mind was in the more dangerous place, but Cat had shown he was afraid of hurting her, and he would be able to stop her from doing something definitive if she tried.
That was why his stomach dropped when he passed the last corner and beheld Cat sitting toward him, on the ground, staring at his own almost feet, looking defeated. He was too far to see the details, but the girl was nowhere in sight.
Cat looked up and when he noticed them his defeated look instantly changed for a defiant one.
“What happened? Where is she?” Zax asked when he was close enough.
Cat just put a finger on his lips and pointed at his back. Zax went past him and spotted the cover draped over his back, hiding a shapeless and motionless bump. He put it aside and sure enough, there she was, unconscious, and somehow grasping Cat’s fur. Who knew that the Circle’s fashion of putting big holes in clothes to show off the not-skin could have a practical use?
Zax softly removed the cover and diagnosed her with the scanner still had on his belt.
“Good, she just fell asleep, she didn’t faint. Low but stable cerebral activity.” Zax stated aloud, not bothering to keep his voice down.
“That’s good, right?” Cat whispered.
“Very.” Zax nodded, not lowering his voice. “A restful sleep, no dream and no nightmare, that’s just what she needs right now. Surprising, too. You must’ve done something good, to calm her down that much before exhaustion caught up. Good job. Physical health… as good as can be expected.”
“That part doesn’t sound good…”
“Not ideal, but she’s not in danger. No internal injuries. Several sprained joints and muscles, many bruises and slight lacerations, but nothing life threatening. No sign of pregnancy either, but I don’t know how accurate a basic scanner would be at this point in time. Any reason you keep on whispering?”
“I don’t want to wake her up…”
That made sense, but for some reason it didn’t feel right. A glance at Dog, still behind the trolleys turned gurneys, showed he wasn’t convinced either.
Zax didn’t comment and tried to pry her hands open, but she resisted. He could have forced her – her strength wasn’t enhanced – but he decided against it. Instead, one after the other, he put a corner of the cover against her palms as he pulled them from the fur, making her instinctively grab it instead. He then had Cat help him move her with minimal movement.
They put her in a gurney behind them that hadn’t been there moments before, first draping it in one of two strange sheets with a metallic shine that laid at its foot, then putting the patient in, covering her more thoroughly with the second sheet, setting a neck brace and strapping her down.
“To make sure she doesn’t fall off during travel.” Zax explained when Cat protested. “We may need to move fast.” He reminded him.
That was when Cat noticed the rest of the strange procession that had arrived. Zax was in front, guiding the first gurney for turns to take, then, attached to it was another gurney, and another, all the victims equally strapped and neck braced. Dog was behind that chain, pushing it and dragging something else with a harness. Even with their mutations, that was a serious load. None of that was the strange part however, not even the hopefully unconscious bodies on the gurneys. The problem was-
“Where do all those come from? I’m pretty sure we came with only two trolleys, and they can’t split? And what’s in the back?” Cat queried as he moved forward.
“Just things that don’t need a gurney or real care to move.” Zax grabbed his arm. “You can look later, I just built what we were missing with nanites – I had real ones as templates – but the place is still unstable. We have to go ASAP, and the stairs are bound to be difficult.”
“What? But you said here was a good gathering point?”
He had indeed offhandedly mentioned it, in a whisper, just after checking the shower.
“You heard that? Well, I didn’t mean us. It was for the nanites. It’s the first object in the hallway, so it’s an obvious landmark, and its shape makes it good to orient them in space.” Zax explained, pointing up with a finger.
Every conscious eye went to the ceiling and reflexively moved back. Or tried to, for the bed-ridden one.
Above their head was shapeless swarming mass of… something. It was hard to describe, as none had ever seen something like that before, even in simulations of natural environments. It was a mix of mist, running water, and… ink? Or shadows? And shadows? It was… floating just below or pooling on the ceiling, masking it.
The centre was black, opaque, sturdy and impossible to miss, but the fringe was both impossible to trace and constantly moving, changing and twisting. The in-between was gradually more see-through, lighter and misty, revealing solids within. Minuscule balls, leaves, flies, snowflakes and many other things too small to be recognised, moving, merging and splitting in new things without rhyme or reason.
It was made even more eerie by the lack of any sound, smell, or even pattern in its observable movements. No wonder nobody had noticed it before. It was not moving along any imaginary wind current and it was not following any ordered structure or sequence; it seemed to just, follow its own whims, each part going in its own direction at its own speed, splitting and merging, sometimes resisting others, or resisting nothing at all, or not resisting at all.
Their individual aims were inconsequential, only the whole mattered, regardless of what part succeeded or failed.
Zax was called back to reality by a shocked shout.
“What the trees is that?!”
“I know right?” He blinked and grinned from ear to ear. “Fascinating! Not something you’d ever see outside the Core, that’s for sure. Who knew a high concentration of active unfixed building nanites would produce such beauty? Too bad we can’t bring it outside, even the weakest 3G disruption would destroy it in one exposure.”
Only silence answered his excitation while the others slowly processed what was just explained.
“Anyways, let’s keep going. The stairs are too small to move all the gurneys at once, we’ll have to split the group. It’s never a good idea, but I have an idea to speed things up.”
A few commands and mostly useless hand gestures to show he was doing something later, a small part of the swarm visibly separated from the main mass and went to the staircase, invisibly covering every surface they safely could, where they locked themselves in place to be used as spatial reference. It was a normal part of any improvised nanite construction, but the sheer scale sent thrills down his spine. He even had to add a loop to the usual program to automatically keep taking more nanites until it had enough! Since he couldn’t just measure or estimate how much he would need for the whole staircase…
“Let’s start with Canary. She’s the closest.”
He and Cat pulled and pushed her gurney up the stairs while the nanites recorded their passage. They measured the direction of the wheels and the heights of the legs to keep her body even, as well as the pressure on the gurneys, the elevation of each step and many other factors, then calculated the ideal changes to give the gurneys and the stairs themselves for optimal passage, then the stairs alone for the non-nanites gurneys. The programmer still had to manually check everything of course, but he didn’t spot any glaring or dangerous error.
After that it was simple; he would push the gurneys up one after the other, and the nanites would build a ramp under the wheels, adapt the height of the gurney’s legs, and the wheels’ direction for ideal passage, then unmake the ramp so he could put his foot down without slipping. All that without his input, solely using his position and movement. A dynamic nano-construct at a macroscopic scale; it would be decadent and useless at any other time and any other place, but-
It’s so awesome!
He hadn’t felt so excited about using nanites since his first personal program. Some of this building code he didn’t even know before! He was glad he never disabled the editor’s writing help. The travel with the non-nanites gurneys wouldn’t be as comfortable, since his nanites would only be able to adjust the stairs, but it would still make a notable difference.
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He pushed Ram up first by virtue of being at the front of the remaining group, not forgetting to scan him for any change in his state and to tie it to Canary’s gurney before going back down, and when Dormouse passed the threshold Canary had woken up and was talking Cat into unfastening her straps.
“Don’t.” Zax interrupted before Cat could make a decision. “Sorry girl, but it’s safer and faster if you just lay down until we can stop moving for good. Even if you can stand – which I advise against. But we can lift your back if you want. It would let you see in front of you. How do you feel? Physically?”
He was scanning her even as he asked, the device was still at his belt. She hesitated, glancing at Cat and only answering when she got a nod of reassurance.
“I’d like that, please. And I… think I’m alright? It aches… er, everywhere, but it’s all better now.”
The melodious voice was hesitant, and the way her legs squirmed under the coverings alluded to a certain body part aching more than the rest, but Zax didn’t point it out as he tilted the upper half of the mattress.
“Slight aches? What about itching? None at all?”
“… maybe a little. I didn’t even notice.” The question surprised her, but she answered honestly.
“Don’t scratch. You could keep going until you bleed. And emotionally? How do you… feel?”
Zax made sure to keep his voice and face level, to not show any personal emotion; anger, sadness or pity. It had to be a normal question, just like the others. It might have helped since she answered, even if in a very low voice, but it was hard to tell. He didn’t have much experience in that field.
“I… don’t know.”
“Mhm.” Zax nodded, it was expected. “Do you want painkillers? Or sleeping pills?” As she hesitated, and Cat could only shrug uncertainly at her new wordless query, Zax gave a slight push. “Personally, I don’t advise it. Pros: it would give you a good rest for sure, you won’t be agitated on the way and you won’t have to see what happens next. Cons: you won’t be able to process things immediately, and we don’t know how long before we reach hospital. I guess the actual question is: do you think you can handle it now, or do you want to push back handling it ‘til you have better a help than us?”
He might have spoken too much, as her expression was more confused and worried than hesitant or thinking.
“Well, take your time. The pills are still there if you decide later.” Zax took two boxes from his pockets and shoved them on by one in Cat’s hands, out of her field of view. “That for pain, that for sleep. For her size, only half a pill, and only one type at a time. Wait at least two hours before giving a second type. Clear?”
“Clear.” A nod answered him.
“Good.” Zax nodded back, then turned back to the patient and put his hands in front of him, as if waiting for something to fall from the sky. “This is for you. The scan gave me your size, and it leaves your feathery areas exposed. I can cover them too if you want, but free air would be good for them right now, let the skin breathe. When we stop, not now.”
As he talked, a small cloud of nanites flew from the stairs and condensed themselves in a bundle of adjusted basic clothes, that he wedged between her outside cover and a binding of the gurney. He was already one foot on the stairs when he was called back again.
“Wait! How is… how are the others? Are we… really in the Core?”
“… Glob is seriously hurt, but he should be fine as long as he stays awake.”
She closed her eyes and released a shaky breath, but Zax had left before she opened them again. She forgot all about the questions he didn’t answer to.
“Took your time.” Dog noted when Zax arrived back downstairs.
“Yeah, Canary woke up so I checked on her. R-”
“Oh thanks the stars!”
Glob could barely see his friend be hoisted up earlier, even with his elevated back, but he had been surprisingly silent so far. He finally let it out at the news.
“Ready to go?” Zax ignored the interruption.
“I can’t push all that at once. Not through stairs.” The mutant admitted.
“Just take Glob for now. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“… You sure?” Dog glanced uncertainly at the load tied to his harness.
Specifically, the tied up, blinded, deafened and gagged Molester, bound kneeling on a rolling plank.
The wrapped body of the most unfortunate victim and part of the equipment they had brought with them was on a second larger one. More of a wagon, really. Unfortunately, they would have to leave the rest behind; they had no way to moving it all plus the victims at once, even if Cat had been there. Nanites could be used in many ways, but making motorised transport would take too long as Zax didn’t have that kind of blueprints, and they didn’t have any energy source beside themselves anyways.
“The staircase is covered with my nanites, so he won’t win a fight. Plus, you know, where would he go?” Zax shrugged. “Even if he does run away, he’ll just die here. Alone. And only the stars know how long it’ll take. No big deal. May even make things easier for us.”
“That’s not… never mind. Let’s go already.”
“Can I close, my eyes? That thing is, really creepy.” Glob pleaded, staring uncertainly at what was left of the nanite swarm still bristling above the shower.
“… Granted, but only if you keep counting aloud. You can’t-”
“I can’t fall asleep yet, yes, I know.” Glob curtly cut him. He had heard that sentence too often already.
Zax took the stairs after Dog and Glob. As expected, the non-nanites gurney, required to handle the large man’s weigh, was less wieldy and comfortable, but the nanites around them still helped, smoothing the slope and cushioning the walls. On the other hand, the prisoner felt the change of mover and tried to wiggle out, but he was bound too tight and strongly to do anything.
When that was confirmed, Zax mostly ignored him and ordered the nanites to seal the threshold and follow him. No sense in leaving them behind. Then he focused on climbing, straining under his load despite it being roughly the same as Dog’s, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through. Until a glance at the swarm gave him an idea: could his nanites help with that too?
As it turned out, they could. It took some trial and error, some tinkering in the code and it was only possible thanks to the confined space they were in, but he managed to make them support his pushing effort continuously. From the outside, it seemed like wires or tentacles grew from the walls, roof and ceiling, wrapped around or grasped at the closest part of the load or the puller they could, then pulled themselves taut. Harder to notice were the many compact pillars growing under them, but nanites were not plants, they couldn’t push by forcing their growth.
On the other hand, it could never be used outside the Core. Besides the usual problem of unpredictable disruption fields, it would be too scary to look at for any potential customer. A pity, it was really helpful. Any backward movement was made impossible, and Zax still had to pull by himself, but the rise could now be done in as small increments as needed.
He arrived panting and sweating, but not too far behind the others. He quickly gave Dog his harness back, made one for Cat, and the three rearranged the gurneys to have the pair carry a similar charge.
Glob and Canary found themselves side by side, pushed by Dog and Cat respectively. They hadn’t asked for it, but it seemed to be the obvious thing to do. For some reason, the two survivors hadn’t talked to each other since they joined. Glob was back to counting with his eyes closed, and Canary was making great efforts to not look at him. Ram and Dormouse were lined up in front of her, Molester was bound to Cat’s harness, out of sigh of the others, the lost one to Dog’s, and Zax carried the gear they had left himself.
They went on their way, backtracking. The only sounds were the rolling of wheels, Glob’s counting and Molester’s occasional struggle. But instead of leaving the factory, they went to the work room.
Zax turned the computer from earlier back on while the others pushed the separated gurneys in, conscious patients first. They were confused, but didn’t speak up. Zax opened the communication channel with the Core, activated the camera and synchronised the computer with the scanner. That antique didn’t have adequate drivers, but that wasn’t a problem; most modern systems didn’t either, it was just too niche. That was why the scanner had them ready to be downloaded and installed on any compatible system. His nanites had a similar problem when interacting with other machines, but he made their language compatible via commutable plugins instead. None were made for dead languages, but luckily, one of them was compatible with the scanner’s.
When they were done, and Zax had altered Molester’s full head cover to let him see and hear only, their report began:
“Zax speaking. Targets found. Medical and psychological assistance required. Urgently. Downloading medical scan results now.”
“Complete.” The computer replied, showing the Core accepted that method of report. That was a pleasant news, it would be more effective than talking aloud.
“Downloading personal sensory memory and appropriate drivers.”
“Complete.”
“Downloading cognitive memory and appropriate drivers.”
“Complete.”
A nod to Cat and Dog and they made their own reports. They didn’t have nanites in their brains recording everything, so they had to give it manually. Or vocally. Zax was impressed at how concise and orderly they were, but then he remembered parts of the conversation between Dog and Glob.
Right, they are part of a security company. They must know how to give a report.
“Requesting permission to send dead and unconscious victims outside for emergency treatment.” Zax queried when they were done.
“Complementary report required.”
“They are unconscious! They don’t have any report to give! Just make sure they stay under watch and punishable when they wake up if you’re that worried! And what do you want us to do with a corpse?! An autopsy?! Even the other’s reports won’t change a thing about it! And the dot has way better interrogators than us.”
“Granted. I will assure transport.”
Zax turned towards the pair, but they were already on the move.
““Going!””
“Don’t forget that we are not allowed to leave yet. Just push the gurneys outside the changing rooms.” Zax shouted, hopefully before they went too far.
“Interrogators?”
“Outside?”
“Mm?”
“Changing rooms?”
“Allowed to leave?”
“Mm mm!?”
The remaining patients’ doubts and confusion gave way to actual worry. Molester was already not in peace, and felt even worse. After all they had been through, just what was going on?
“Er, yes. Sorry.” Zax tried to explain what he could, but he had to stay vague. He didn't want to consider it, but the Core’s doubts had a solid footing. “Someone high ranked suspects this accident was actually an attempt against them. Maybe just probing defences and reactions, maybe a diversion. Maybe a burglary? We don’t know, they didn’t tell us. But you can’t leave before they know you have nothing to do with it.”