What a mess… still, it could’ve been a lot worse.
Enforcer team leader Bor tiredly sighed as he proof-read his final report. It had been a long and exhausting week since his team had been called to handle the powerplant incident and its fallout.
It had started relatively normally, as far as emergencies went: a powerplant had had a critical failure with tragic consequences. Such a massive accident was extremely rare, but they had trained for that. They knew how to handle it.
Complications they had no way of expecting had sprouted one after the other, forcing him to adapt and make quick but high stakes decisions. They had trained for that too, but it had just been ludicrous.
For some unfathomable reason, two Residents from the first Circle had been present and wanted to be involved. They had no special authority, but forcefully removing them would take too much effort. They were not equipped to handle advanced mutants. Luckily, they kept each other busy with ceaseless bickering, so it was easy enough to put them aside and ignore the noise.
Overpowered children.
Their local contact was suspicious, but the rest of their retinue knew their job and were a helpful addition to the task force. At least until the civilian consultant had arrived, but more on that later.
The relevant specialist had easily found the cause of the incident; an undetectable misalignment somewhere had produced a phase-shift in some rays, which had resonated somewhere, accumulating energy until something snapped and released it all at once. Beyond the scientific mumbo-jumbo, it was plainly a freak occurrence, a pure accident, and easy to prevent in the future.
A testament to the dot’s habit of prioritising safety and drilling safety protocols, there had been a lot of injuries but very few deaths.
When reports of the slingshot room had arrived – a nickname that had somehow stuck – Bor had first thought it was a joke or an exaggeration, as witnesses tended to do, but many safety cameras had caught it. He had suspected foul play of course, how could that happen, and straight to the core? That was too much of a coincidence. He had sent a request to investigate, but rescuing the people inside took priority.
The mission always comes first.
The Main Computer had somehow managed to let them step in the no-man’s land, but they couldn’t get past the Wall. They had been in a dead-end until that civilian expert had arrived. He hadn’t seemed much at first; he himself didn’t know why he had been called, but he had quickly proven his value by identifying the true nature of the Wall. He even had a possible plan to open it.
He had also revealed the actual unreliability of the Residents’ men, and managed to make them stop their squabble for a moment. Bor himself hadn’t managed that.
The expert had nanites in his own body, which was insane, and incredibly creepy! Probably effective however, as the plan had more or less worked; although only the civilian expert and the two Residents had been allowed inside. He had hated that decision, but it was either that or leave the victims be and give up on the mission. He could only pretend the situation was still under control and give them what he could.
Not long after the Wall had swallowed the three, the expert’s “Box” had spewed an ominous warning. He hadn’t been quite sure of what to think at first, or why the expert hadn’t warned them orally beforehand, but that wasn’t hard to guess. They had quarantined the box and prepared as best they could against any nanite or nanite-controlled people. There was no protocol for that but other experts had been called for advice. From afar.
Strikingly, they had all mentioned the first one as reference for nanite construction and organic interfacing, and only one also used her own body as storage, but only in her ventral pouch, courtesy of a marsupial mutation.
After that they could only wait and adapt on the fly to whatever would come their way.
Whenever that would be.
It had ended up being hours after the operation on the powerplant side had been completed – without surprises, luckily. The Wall had opened swallow holes, revealing gurneys with two unconscious people, a man and a woman, and a covered corpse. A small memory unit was tapped on the later, ostensibly for them. The operation had not been a fruitless sacrifice, at least.
Their preparations had been useful, as it was the only reason they had detected that all three had been full of nanites. After that it had been easy enough to take care of it.
The same could be said of the gurneys themselves and one of the covers on the victims. They had been made of nanites too, but already deactivated. Bor hadn’t even known it was possible, but after the Wall it wasn’t as much of a surprise.
The memory unit, after a check for viruses and other nefarious components, had a brief but complete report of the status so far, right up to the group gathering in the computer room, along with a file in a format they couldn’t read.
They had adjusted their preparations according to the report, while the IT team had studied the other file. They had eventually identified a type of recording, which had made them strangely flustered. They had found an API to read the file like a standard VR recording; it was raw, unfiltered data, and an excellent proof and support for the report. It shouldn’t be a concern, but the veteran Enforcer respected the precaution.
Most don’t realise the administrative and legal struggle we handle behind the scenes.
He was still digesting the content of the file when the Wall moved again. Four people this time, all conscious, including the Residents. That was still two people missing. As last time, the newcomers had immediately been quarantined and examined. The Residents had complained of course, but mentioning the expert’s name with his warning had made them cooperative enough.
They were not bickering either. It almost made them seem like different people.
As expected, that pair had nanites in their bodies; they had swallowed the balls in front of everyone. They had forgotten about it – somehow – but they had still them deactivated and extracted with great relief.
The new pair, a petite woman and a massive man, were clean of nanites, but the man was in a sorry state and barely hanging on to consciousness. He lost it as soon as he was around medical personnel. The diagnostic they had received in the first report had probably saved his life. The woman was worried but fine, physically.
The three conscious ones gave reports of what had happened, along with another memory unit containing a copy of the files they already had, and another that continued where the other had left, up to the group’s separation.
Those reports were… hard to swallow, and way above his pay grade. In his career, he had seen more than his share of disgusting behaviours, he could understand – not accept – falling for your darkest urges amid chaos, but coldly risking the Shelter as a whole? That was insane! And they hadn’t found any evidence of intent behind the incident, even now it still looked like a true accident.
Just, who is behind all this?
As uneasy as it had made him, Bor had no other choice than to transmit the news to relevant parties, more able to analyse and react to the news. It was too much and beyond him.
There had been two people still in the Core, but he had been unsure on whether to wait for them. He had ended up keeping a reduced force around what had become the expected exit point, just in case.
Hours later, the civilian expert had arrived, but something was distinctly off. He was worryingly pale, he shuddered and twitched sporadically, but more concerning was his attitude. He seemed to be… not all there. He hadn’t reacted to their presence, questions or commands for uncomfortably long seconds, and when he finally had, he hadn’t spoken a word.
Whatever had happened in there, it had deeply shaken him.
He had eventually been put in quarantine close to the others, and at the weak insistence of the medical staff, he totally purged his body of nanites. For the first time in years, according to his medical file. The idea was disturbing, and it would take days due to the complexity and depth of his integration, as opposed to the Residents done in minutes, but explaining the different types of nanites and how they worked to the nurses, so they could follow his check-up, had helped him come back to normal.
Before purging his nanites, he had made another memory unit. The content was as the others, plus a separated file labelled Punishment. Bor was genuinely glad it only recorded physical perceptions, as he didn’t want to feel what seeing and doing that first hand had been.
Deeply shaken, indeed.
Silver lining, those recordings were comprehensive enough that he wouldn’t have to be interrogated for a report and go through all that again.
Unsurprisingly, part of that last recording had been censored and cut from the public report; besides the identity of the involved people. Not the expected part however, only the part about the unknown group of people willing to kill en masse for personal profit. The punishment had been marked for sensitive content, but not hidden.
Bor had still been allowed to use the hidden parts in his investigation about the felon group. That was what he had spent the following days on, to no avail. Even the most obvious point, their affiliation with the Black Market, was too hazy, too disputable to throw an accusation. Not to say he had been stalled. Quite the opposite, everybody, suspect or not, had been fully cooperative even if not cordial. This lack of resistance had been the most frustrating part, somehow. Every potential lead had been barely not enough to prevent plausible deniability, hardly clean enough to not warrant a search.
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Until this morning, when he had received the order to close the case for lack of progress. Again, a not quite suspicious enough point; it was slightly more than the minimum period of no progress required to give that order, but far from enough for an affair of such proportion. That group was dangerous!
They could be anywhere. They could be anyone!
Alas, he was out of leads to pursue, he didn’t expect any new ones, and even the Main Computer didn’t find anything to say. He could only summarise his findings in his last report and go check on the quarantine wing of the healing centre.
***
“Goodbye Miss Pen, see you tomorrow! Don’t push too hard.”
Aran bid farewell to her main customer of the last few weeks, an old woman, former teacher and way too active for her own good. The tailed girl couldn’t tell if it was innate or due to a mutation, but she was more concerned with the state she kept finding her home in. It was average in size, well-furnished and homely, but constantly covered in moulted fur! It wasn’t an abnormal fur loss, it was even pretty common among the older furred population, but she had to come and clean the place basically every day. There were things Miss Pen simply couldn’t keep up with, and she wasn’t particularly interested in this specific task either.
What a strange teacher she must have been.
The home helper, done with her last task of the day, went to her usual hanging point this week, the medical centre Zax was in.
She had been quite confused when he had left his apartment in the middle of the night, then worried when she heard of an incident in a powerplant near the core. It didn’t take a genius to add two and two, but the public reports didn’t help; there had been nothing requiring a common handyman with a knack for nanotechnology and a hobby of studying mutations. Because of the Residents? Seemed unlikely.
She had been on site, but it was barred by Enforcers. She couldn’t get closer, too risky. They would see her. She had been ready to look for a new mark to spend the night with, but the key card Zax had given her was still active. The neighbours were kind and wouldn’t be surprised by her presence, so she could keep using it.
She wouldn’t dare to admit it, but it had been a relief.
She had kept an eye on the situation, but there was nothing that could involve Zax. All the hype about a team in the Core didn’t help, although it was a noteworthy moment.
She didn’t learn anything about Zax until late the next day, when he sent a message on her bracelet. It didn’t say much, an apology for his hasty departure, that he would be busy for a while yet, to not worry about him and that she could keep using his apartment. It was great news, dampened by how much more relieved she had felt that he was fine than at being allowed to stay. She hadn’t thought about him as a mark for a while, and she wanted to help his self-esteem issues, but… was she getting attached? No, she knew she couldn’t. She was simply confused because she had never stayed in one place so long. Yes, that had to be it.
She had kept the unpleasant thoughts away by focusing on the strange part of the message: the sender was unknown. A few queries to her bracelet revealed it to be a certain healing centre that had been heavily featured in the news recently.
After some hesitation, she had gone to it, to see if she could figure something out. The message had been of reassurance, but Zax being kept in such a place for an undetermined duration and unable to send a message by himself had her imagination run wild. The news didn’t mention any responder being hurt.
To her surprise, she had been led in and to the quarantine area, a normal wing that had been specially equipped to handle any kind of contagion. It didn’t see much use.
Zax was resting in a sterile room. They were separated by a glass wall but could still talk to each other. He looked… tired. Also surprised and glad to see her. He roughly explained what was going on and what had happened, to her great stupefaction.
Per precaution, the doctors wanted to remove every foreign body before letting him go. He didn’t believe it was necessary, but as the one with potentially affected brain cells he couldn’t trust his own judgement either. It would still take several days to safely remove them all; they had not been made and programmed with easy absorption and expulsion in mind.
From then on, she came by at least once a day. She only wanted to keep Zax updated on her progress with the Stat Maker game, get his advice on how to improve her score and continue their programming lessons for the WIL stat she wanted to add, but the lack on any technology in his bedroom made it challenging. The knowing glances between nurses told her rumours abounded in their back, but she didn’t care.
As they were discussing, Aran noticed something subtly… off, with his demeanour. She couldn’t quite place what it was, but it was there. She didn’t believe it was an effect of nanites, but she decided against bringing it up. She was no expert; he was.
She had met other victims of the incident too. Eety came by regularly, and she had made the tailed girl come to Glob’s room for introductions; their quarantine had been lifted immediately on arrival. They mentioned two other men with them, but they had already left. The singer wasn’t a patient anymore either, but her large friend was still bedridden and hadn’t been relocated. The two of them were nice and awkwardly hiding their feelings for the other. It became even more annoying once they told her what the other had done for them, especially with how they said it, out of the other’s earshot.
You’re both clearly in love, just say it already!
Several days later, Zax was purging his last nanites and would soon be ready to leave. Aran had come for the occasion, but her heart almost stopped when she passed the threshold to his room, instantly regretting not paying attention before entering. In front of her stood a behemoth of a man, all in muscles wrapped in a threatening uniform. An Enforcer uniform.
When he turned to look at her, the glint on his eye killed any hope of escaping she could’ve had. It was not a low-ranked simpleton, no, it was a high-ranked, experienced leader, and he was staring straight at her.
***
It had been a long and tedious week for Zax, but it was finally coming to an end. His last nanites had been evacuated and stored with the rest. He would examine them later; the centre and its staff didn’t have the tools and knowhow to help with that.
His last physical and psychological tests were quickly done after that. They should have been the only tests, but he had insisted in getting as much data as possible during his purge. If he had to redo everything, he’ll make it worth as much as possible. It wasn’t that often he had access to such accurate readings, so it was a good opportunity.
His results came clean, with no medical or mental aftereffect from the nanites, not even from the long exposure. There had been no deviation during the week either, but he would match that to older tests later. On his own. He did feel strange without his HUD and background processing, it had been years since he last was without them. He would have to stay that way for a bit, if only to make sure he wasn’t addicted. His pride wouldn’t let that happen.
I control my nanites, they don’t control me.
Incidentally, the doctor stated he was in great physical shape for a baseline human, but in a bad emotional state, which was not a surprise. They advised a therapy, but they couldn’t force him.
He would leave once he got his belongings back, but someone was waiting for him in his room.
“Oh, hello Aran, hello Officer Bor. Great news, I’m clean and free to go! I already reviewed my analysis of the recordings and I didn’t see anything amiss, so they can be used as they are. No tampering that I could detect. I didn’t think you knew each other?”
“We don’t. She just arrived.” The Enforcer clarified in his usual stoic manner.
If mutations could do inorganics, he would definitely be stone.
Aran stayed uncharacteristically silent, nodding her assent. Her tail was straight as an arrow.
“I am out of leads. I was ordered to stop my investigation.” Bor continued.
“Already? Isn’t that a bit early?” Zax was surprised, but didn’t slow down his gathering of his belongings.
“It is, but I can’t justify asking for a delay. I really have nothing new to try, and I don’t think more time would help.”
“Well, Ram woke up but he didn’t remember anything, so that only leaves Dormouse. She’s been confirmed hibernating and not comatose, but I don’t know if they can wake her up safely. I don’t think she’d know something new though. I know you can’t say too much, but did you discover anything at all?”
“That group relied on a deducer, probably close to leadership if not the leader themselves. They had skill and patience, but a change of head pushed them out and the replacement is not as good, or too hasty.”
“Nothing new then.” Zax sighed. They had established that long ago, that was low level profiling.
“Should you really talk about that?” Aran burst out. She recoiled when the two turned to her at once, but she had no other choice but to explain her thoughts. “That sounded like… very sensitive information. Not the type you say in front of others. Or discuss with a civilian. Wait, you are a civilian, right?”
“I am.” Zax’s confirmation unstiffened her tail. A bit.
“I kept coming to him because he has a good head on his shoulders and was directly involved in the start of this investigation. He might notice something he first dismissed as irrelevant.”
“The records should circumvent that, but they weren’t as trustworthy before my exams.”
“What I said can easily be inferred from the published public reports. The case is about to be closed; the rest should follow suit.” Officer Bor explained. “Instead of guessing who is part of that group – if they are still one – it’s more effective to make sure everybody knows about them. Since they have spies, that makes accounting for their future actions easier.”
“Transparency of information is a strong part of the dot’s philosophy and culture.” Zax completed.
“Yeah, sounds familiar; but I didn’t think it would apply to… something that big.” Aran defended, still uncertain. She fiddled with her tail as she spoke. “It’s something huge involving the whole dot. The whole Shelter, maybe.”
“That’s precisely why everybody should be aware of it. It will make people more alert and able to see something weird happening in front of them. There will be chaos at first, but with the Main Computer to parse and filter the pranks, the paranoiac accusations, and the petty revenges, it will make their task easier overall.”
“The Shelter will handle that information their own way. I don’t know how.” The officer noted. “They don’t have big processing power. I heard they had different politics on information management. But leaders will know. Handling it will be their responsibility.”
“And since they lost two of their main strengths, their former leader and their secrecy, they will either make another mistake soon, or do nothing for a while.” Zax concluded.
Done with his business, Bor left them to talk with someone else. Zax had gathered all he needed, although he had to go around the whole hospital wing to get everything. Partitioned isolation and all that, with a medical staff who didn’t want to touch his nanite related belongings.
Ludicrous, but at least I am sure they are as I left them.
On the way out they saluted the last duo and promised to go karaoke together when Glob was fully healed. Zax departed, Aran was following but at the last moment she shouted to the pair “You are both in love! Deal with it already!” and slammed their door shut.
Zax didn’t comment, but for the first time in what felt like an eternity, a small smile adorned his lips. Aran was flustered, but she hid a smile of her own.
Once home, looking around, a realisation finally dawned on Zax. He felt a weight he hadn’t realised leave his shoulders.
It’s over. It’s actually over.
He had planned on parsing the benefits of this ordeal, but he elected to collapse in his own bed instead.