Viktor emerged from the access ladder through a cloud of dust.
“Covering our tracks, eh?” Ava stood with the others on the far side of the room. Viktor looked back and noticed giant footprints in the dust. The air on the far side of the room was clear but humid. The Meridian underground was cool as power systems ran to perfection.
“Glad to help,” Viktor shrugged and coughed as the dust cloud faded. Behind him, hunks of material continued to fall down the shaft.
“That was better than planned,” Kai reflected on how long they were trapped in that closet. He was proud of the team and knew the challenges ahead.
“That was nothing like the plan,” Sarah interjected.
“She’s ain’t wrong cap’n,” Ava throwing slang cheekily. It was her way to cover up concerns during the backdoor install. She tried to forget the near-catastrophic consequences of her security bypass, opening up a feedback loop and causing the abacus to nearly spiral out of control.
“Now, back to our alibi” Kai started. “If Viktor’s scans are correct, Maya and our rescue team are approaching fast.”
“Aye, aye, cap’n,” Ava was in a mood. Kai stifled a sigh, feigning indifference.
“Sarah, you and Ava need to cover our biosignatures,” Kai added nodding towards Viktor, “Stay close. First, we slow them down, and then back to our favorite closet,” he said with a forced smile.
Sarah in protest, "I'm sorry, back in the who…?" Then it dawned on her, "Oh, hell no."
"That's right. Only this time we trap ourselves on purpose," Kai said, straightening his collar, a wry smile playing on his lips. "But professionally, of course."
Viktor processed, "Tactical repositioning for strategic advantage."
"Tactical embarrassment is more like it," Ava said from the shadows, adding, “Looks like my gear is working again”.
"Maya's team will beat us to this point," Kai said, his voice tinged with frustration. "That is, unless we can slow them down." He added a waypoint to the confined access chamber, a grim reminder of their recent ordeal.
"Here," Viktor pointed to a corridor. "Collapse this, and they'll have to double back or clear the debris."
"Perfect," Kai replied, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "A little strategic delay. Nothing too obvious, just enough to give us the edge."
Viktor's combat systems hummed to life. "Finally, a real tactical operation—"
"No explosions," Kai interrupted.
"Minor structural modifications?"
"No structural anything," Sarah muttered, obsessed on how they'd fit back into that cramped space again and for how long. Her gear illuminated Kai’s dust-covered face as she moved closer to cover his biosignature. "Be careful, we can’t afford to leak a signature or have any more equipment malfunctions."
Ava materialized beside Viktor. "Maya's team is clearing the first junction. Time’s a wasting Mr. Tank."
"What the…? How did you..." Viktor started, his exoskeleton gear whirring as it automatically moved into a ready stance. Ava smiled broadly.
"Don't ask," Sarah and Kai in unison.
"Remember, we're dedicated professionals investigating infrastructure anomalies. Very concerning anomalies," Kai reminded them, his voice dripping with mock seriousness. A collective eye roll swept through the group. "Just don't forget."
“The plan all along, eh?” Sarah couldn’t resist.
“Got it, collapse the damn underground for cover,” Ava snarked.
Viktor turned to follow Ava, but she had already vanished. "I hate when she does that," he muttered, ducking into a ventilation shaft.
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Charlie, Maya, and the team emerged through a cleared tunnel entrance. Short of breath but much closer to their destination, “Life signs have been missing for over an hour. I don’t think we made it in time Maya.”
"This whole area's readings are changing," Li said.
Mitchell added, "That corridor's structural sensors keep..."
"Look out!" Maya shouted, pulling Charlie back just in time. A section of the corridor collapsed, a wall of debris blocking their path. "We need to find another route," she said, her voice grim. Rubble was followed by another crash as a large water containment unit fell in a mixture of metal, water pouring out. “What happened to our containment protocol?”
"Sensors failing out of the blue is new," Charlie grumbled, spinning to collect new readings.
Maya offered concern, "We better double-check containment protocols and recalibrate just in case. It could just be lingering instability that isn’t registering…”
“Already did, but will again. That shouldn’t have happened… not that quickly, not without some external event,” Charlie had no explanation.
“Best to double back and take that safer route," Maya said with disappointment.
“Prudent,” Charlie agreed. “So many readings unexplained, I'd swear this place was haunted. How all 4 life signs vanished at once, these structural misreadings. Woa, hold up,” Charlie said. “A faint life sign, recalibration might have helped after all… wait, what? It's gone again. That was Kai’s signature.”
“That’s great news!” said Maya, reinvigorated. “Let’s move as fast as safety allows!”
Charlie puzzled over the readings. There were so many glitches since shutting down the power from Meridian. Even the life sign vanished as quickly as it appeared. It was nowhere near the destination. He scratched his head and doubled the quality checks.
----------------------------------------
Kai’s team returned to the closet. Viktor made easy work collapsing the tunnel, proud of his idea to remove the support harness around the water silo. It gave them plenty of time to get back. Kai could stop worrying about their power packs draining, the mission was nearly complete. Just wait a bit longer. Kai climbed back onto Viktor's legs, assuming his previous perch. Sarah and Ava tried to find more comfortable places but ended up in the same old positions, pressed flat against the walls. They did the best they could to avoid Viktor’s elbows and oversized torso. Ava secured the hidden access door to Meridian, locking it and disabling the bypass that enabled a power feed that nearly overloaded the abacus. As smooshed into the wall as she was, relief encompassed her.
“Turn off the cloaks,” Kai said, still breathless from exertion and sweating heavily in stifling heat. He tried opening the outer door where the abacus was set off, but it wouldn't budge.
“Hope this doesn’t take long,” Sarah said uncomfortably while shutting off her gear. She felt vulnerable and angry squishing into her old position.
Viktor stood in the middle of their human puzzle, exoskeleton scraping the fourth wall.
“Less time than before I hope,” Ava replied, also dropping her bio cloak. “Quick, say something clever to lighten the mood.”
Viktor announced on the beat, "Command: Save new strategic formation." A smile crossed his lips as he suppressed a chuckle. Maintaining calm kept his exoskeleton from crushing his friends.
"Because nothing says 'rescue me' like a tactical sardine can formation," Sarah didn't miss a beat.
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"Formation Name: Human Christmas Tree,” Viktor quipped back, unable to suppress a laugh. The formation instantly registered as their tactical control system was still being shared.
"Now, now," Kai maintained a serious tone despite his impossible position. “We should be thinking about when assistance arrives,” he said. “How about a team-building exercise… trust falls should do it, but vertical. And without the falling part."
Groans erupted simultaneously from his trapped teammates.
"Better document the exercise for the retrospective," Ava's innocent tone was one she used often in Kai’s meeting marathons.
"Excellent thinking," Kai nodded, nearly losing his balance. "A post-rescue debrief and training session on confined team dynamics. Viktor and Ava present while Sarah, I expect you to make it extra meaningful."
More groans.
“I can’t believe I’m trapped in here again with you people," Sarah's complete honesty made Ava laugh harder.
"Glad I wore hard-toe boots,” Viktor quipped again with impeccable timing.
Sarah groaned, “Yup, just what I ordered, a steel-toed boot massage.” Finally cracking an unseen smile adding, “Kai, how about this for meaning: ‘How not to get into ridiculous situations twice in the same day.’”
“Add a moment of sharing around innovative problem-solving skills, and no one will miss it,” Ava added.
“Oh,” Viktor said softly. But then there was a long pause. They waited with bated breath for a joke.
“Viktor?” Kai said after several moments, concern growing.
“I’m… I’m so sorry,” Viktor managed.
“Out with it,” Sarah snapped, losing patience.
The attack came silently but with devastating effect - Viktor's exoskeleton was not designed for confined-space ventilation. He unleashed a silent but deadly weapon, leaving a trail of gaseous destruction in a "whoosh" that filled the air.
“Oh, hell no,” Ava replied. The cloud had nowhere to escape.
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"Is that...?" Maya squinted upward.
"Multiple life signs, Ms Linlee," Li's voice carried from behind her left shoulder. “Charlie, I can't explain it but sensor logs show all four were present during every single reading for the past two hours.”
Maya thought the team had gone through enough to be on a first-name basis but didn't say anything. She was proud of their work and getting so far. She was delighted there was a chance to save her friend Kai.
“This rescue will go down in the books”, Mitchell added. The team rapidly cleared debris from the room's entrance while life signs registered from the far wall.
Inside the closet, Kai heard the rescue team approaching. "Remember, investigating anomalous readings," he whispered.
"And innovative space management," Viktor whispered back.
They heard Charlie's voice. "These readings violate physics. They are packed in tighter than raisins in a cookie."
"And yet..." Maya's voice held a mix of amusement and concern.
“They are just behind that far wall,” Mitchel added.
As if on cue, a muffled cry echoed from the wall across the room: "Help! We're trapped in here!" followed by an unintelligible whisper: "Was that convincing? Should I try it again with more panic? Let me, I am panicking."
"Kai?" Maya called out. "Is that you?"
"Maya! Thank goodness!" Kai's voice carried a perfectly calculated air of desperation. "We escaped the collapse but got stuck.
A series of thuds and whispered arguments filtered through the wall: "Tactical yourself, your elbow is compromising my tactical ass!"
Maya was able to approach the wall and tapped. It sounded hollow. "How many are in there?"
"Four!" came four voices simultaneously.
"Kai, is everyone okay? We’re very close now, there was a ceiling collapse in the room and we are clearing away debris against the wall. Please confirm your team's status."
"We’re cramped tighter than a genie in a bottle, but okay,” Sarah replied.
“Four clowns in a clown car!” Viktor shouted.
“Like four cats in a hat!” Ava shouted.
“Yes, I think we are okay,” Victor added. He resisted saying, 'like a hotdog in a bun.' But his belly rumbled anyway.
Maya said, “Good to hear you haven’t lost your sense of humor. Shouldn't be long. We just don't see an opening.” She turned to Mitchell, “How do we get through that wall?”
Kai said as a distraction as he quietly opened the internal latch, "Maya, your emergency containment protocols were brilliant! The seventh and ninth harmonics? Really inspired!”
Garcia and Wong pushed aside a metal roofing beam and the access panel opened. They would struggle to describe what they saw. Viktor's exoskeleton had somehow achieved a twisted configuration that defied explanation. Many would comment, in hushed tones, about the smell.
“Thank God,” said Sarah finally drawing a deep breath of fresh air, still unable to move.
"Just a routine inspection gone bad," Kai attempted to slide off of Viktor’s shoulders but felt his leg wedge against the wall. He climbed back on his perch. "Though I must say, the structural integrity here is concerning."
"Very concerning," Viktor agreed helpfully, his combat-grade systems trying to calculate an exit route from their human knot.
Charlie stepped forward, adjusting his light to see better. A human game of Tetris gone wrong. Incredibly, someone was perched like an office-attired gargoyle. A large man, made larger by a bulky exoskeleton, consumed nearly all of the space. He couldn't see anyone else but could see the other walls clearly over his shoulders. So many hours, “Have you guys been practicing chess or what?”
"Best of thirty," Ava noted. Charlie couldn’t see her. He shined his light towards the voice attempting to figure out her location and how to extract them.
Viktor's exoskeleton calculated a solution and began spinning internally. It began executing before he could give them a warning. Still entangled with everyone else, the resulting chain reaction turned his dignified exit plan into a session of human dominoes.
"Perfect extraction," Viktor said finally, from the bottom of the pile. "Exactly according to tactical projections."
Maya helped Kai up. He began stretching to restore his composure. Dust wafted off of him. "We definitely should document this area for future safety protocols," he said.
"On it…," Ava announced, jumping off of Viktor gracefully. She gathered Viktor’s contortion configuration he had saved, timestamped it, notarized it, and included detailed biometrics. “Done.” Charlie's tablet registered a complete incident report.
"Okay," Kai said with an awkward expression, a mix of nerves and pride.
"The surface readings..." said Mitchel continuing to scan the area and structures around them. "... The Truth Gate collapse is causing mini shock waves through the district."
Kai began, "I have several observations you might find—"
The ceiling groaned ominously. Everyone looked up through the missing ceiling to the one above it. Viktor finally made it to his feet
Maya suggested softly, "Perhaps Kai, we should continue this discussion somewhere less... architecturally experimental?" Though her eyes held questions, it was time to complete the mission. "Let’s get topside and help assess the damage. Li, best route?"
"Most direct path is through Maintenance Junction C-7, but these structural readings...", Li said.
Kai shared Symmetrist navigation with his team, poking his team to confirm.
"Anywhere has got to be better than here," Sarah felt a lump in her throat. She finally processed what she just heard about the Truth Gate collapsing. Several long seconds later she added, “... stuck in an access closet I mean”
"Give it time," Ava whispered close in her ear after sneaking up on her.
Sarah refused to acknowledge.
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Shouts from the street level echoed as they neared the surface. The noise was clear – an angry city discovering its feet of clay. The Truth Gate's collapse and disrupted power triggered growing dissent. They moved closer carefully, the scope and weight of the city's crisis settling on their shoulders. The sounds of social order crumbling were nothing they had experienced.
"Some days," Viktor muttered, "I really wish tech just did what it was told."
They all felt it – the absurdity of the gravity of what waited on the surface. Maya put her hand against the wall, feeling its strength and hoping to draw from it.
"Maya," Kai's voice lost its consultant polish. "You okay?” The others continued to climb to the surface past them. Charlie passed and paused slightly ahead, something still bugging him. He watched the two on the stairs.
Maya looked at Kai.
He had never seen her this way. “It's not your fault Maya,” he said.
“But it is…,” she faltered. He moved to support her weight. He leaned in to whisper, his words bringing strength. He was right, even with the devastation. Her actions were based on her knowledge at the time, her persistence saved the city when no one else could.
Kai stood back slightly, adding, “Looking back only makes sense when we look forward to making a difference. You have that in spades.” He waited. When she looked up, he met her eyes and smiled. He hugged her until strength returned to her legs. Then he said releasing her, “Thank you for saving the City, Maya. Thank you for saving my team, and for saving me.”
As the team neared a room close to the street, they heard the people. Thousands of them, moving through the district.