Warden yawned as he woke up from his dreamless sleep before he curled into the rug that had been in one of the empty rooms around Choir and now served as his makeshift sleeping bag. He was not being bothered by Choir or Surge or Wendy and for the first time since his day of execution he was able to just lie down and relax and try to bury all of his worries. He currently had no idea how long he had been sleeping for and how the prison was coping but since Choir hadn’t woken him he assumed that nothing calamitous had happened since he had fallen into his makeshift sleeping area.
Unfortunately needs of the flesh imposed upon his rest and he sighed before standing up from his sleeping bag. There were nearby rooms that allowed him to perform his morning ablutions, a necessity in a facility as large as Coldreach, but after changing into another Coldreach jumpsuit he realised that he was both seriously thirsty and hungry. Neither the shower nor the sink contained water but instead some seriously weird cleansing fluid that wasn’t ingestible but at least the space version of toothpaste didn’t poison his taste buds.
Desperately in need of sustenance he decided to get some advice from his newly-appointed head of security and the only person who could apparently speak throughout every room in the building through speakers that were often not visible.
“The kitchen is two floors up, about three corridors from your office, Buddy,” blue gull stated. “We used to have vending machines that you could access every few rooms but they were destroyed some time ago.”
“Prisoners have a lot of money?” Warden asked. “Or was it for staff only?”
“They were free. I genuinely just think one of the older Wardens just liked them,” blue gull admitted. “They’ve been around for as long as I can remember. They were self-restocking as well and updated to match the foods of the times.”
“That sounds awesome,” Warden admitted feeling an almost childish joy at that thought before he schooled his face. “We’ll add it to the list of things we need to fix. Right now the priority is making sure that we can get some food. How is Wendy doing?” he asked putting on the provided standard Coldreach guard belt and holstering his weapon.
“She’s still out,” blue gull stated. “On my advice she decided to eat and take a short nap before to adjust her condition. Hunting isn’t something that you shouldn’t do while distracted, especially when you’ve been sent to a new planet.”
“That was the correct course of action,” Warden admitted as he stepped out of the room heading for the stairs. “Wendy seems a bit too recklessly easy to please sometimes.” ‘She needs to learn how to curb that reckless easiness’; was what he didn’t say. It would be hypocritical after he shamelessly took advantage of her eagerness.
“I can’t believe that it is wrong to help make others happy,” blue gull said. “But even I; a representation of the Almighty’s benevolence know that it is not desirable to be kind all the time.”
“Does…He…you know,” Morgan started before he stopped himself. He didn’t really want to ask that question. “What’s Heaven like?” It was a question that he had sometimes wondered during the periods of his life when he believed in some form of benevolent afterlife and even now he still felt a pang of curiosity at hearing possible confirmation from an actual angel. Unfortunately he was to be disappointed.
“I cannot tell you,” blue gull stated with an apologetic tone.
“Were you forbidden to or can you physically not?” Morgan asked honing in on the word ‘cannot’.
“Yes,” blue gull stated returning a classic mathematician’s answer.
“Okay,” Morgan said as he reached the stairs. “What’s Hell like then?”
“Terrible place,” blue gull stated in a jocular tone. “A real one star holiday destination; would not recommend. The locals are unwelcoming, the temperature varies between uncomfortable extremes and the food is just awful.”
“It was a serious question,” Warden said not letting the matter go.
“Then I shall answer it by telling you that I am the wrong person to speak with,” blue gull stated. “If you’re seeking knowledge on the afterlife then you should set aside some time to ask the Necromancer. My jurisdiction only extends to the living. Incidentally I would be wary of going through the gardens right now.”
“Why,” Warden said pausing halfway up the steps.
“We lost a LEGA there a few hours ago,” blue gull admitted. “I have no idea what caused it but the drone was ripped to pieces where there was no surveillance. There is something inside the garden right now that is being very surreptitious and well…”
“I have the fighting ability of a sheepskin rug in a shear shop,” Warden stated. “Yeah I get it. Are there any other routes,” he said feeling his stomach growl its complaints at the possible detour.
“You can go through the security room just further down the corridor and to the right,” blue gull advised. “It has an elevator that leads through every floor and exits only a short distance away from the cafeteria.”
“Can you get a LEGA to escort me through the garden?” Warden asked. “Or two if you’re worried about them being picked off.”
“I can,” blue gull stated. “There are a total of fourteen LEGA that are available for escort. Currently we are generating a slight surplus of power so there should be no issue to mobilise them.”
“Are there any other dangers besides the thing in the garden and the Kingdom of the Dead that Surge is losing his mind about?”
“The Necromancer also complained about some sort of being in the bathhouse and sealed it off,” blue gull admitted. “I don’t have any surveillance in the bathhouse so I’m afraid even my middling expertise is unavailable for the purposes of identifying this creature.”
“So there is something in the garden and the bathhouse at least,” Warden said before he turned around. “Let’s see if we can get into the security room then. Are there cameras in there?”
“Yes, but they are heavily dependent on the condition of the room,” blue gull responded. “If a room isn’t connected to Central Server then we won’t get anything?”
“Those are the rooms that are offline,” Warden said. “So it would be connected to my office, the gardens your server, the cafeteria and…”
“The Power Core and the Low Risk Containment,” blue gull stated. “Reminder: there are currently two prisoners placed in Low Risk Containment.”
“Exinaught and the prisoner who was there at the beginning,” Warden said slowly trying to remember his name. “Can you give me a summary on the prisoner and his crime?”
“J.Leber: an Uffon who committed defrauded two million of his fellow Uffonians and used that wealth to construct a statue celebrating the Glorious Leader of his country in a poorly planned attempt at currying favour. The attempt was so poorly done that it was the final indignity that resulted in a spate of uprising resulting in the overthrowing of the local government and the death of the aforementioned Glorious Leader and his cabinet. At the end of the rebellion Mr.Leber was thrown into Coldreach for an indefinite period.”
“Interesting,” Warden said. “I can’t tell whether he was unlucky for starting that mess or lucky for getting out of it with his life. I will have to have a talk with him later. Is the Low Risk Containment near the security office?”
“You would have to go out of your way,” blue gull admitted. “Take the second door on your left now,” he said and Warden obeyed his instructions finding himself at a large steel door with a fingerprint scanner and keypad next to it. “Now type in the code 1785463892546.”
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“You are going to have to remember that for me,” Warden stated as he slowly typed the code in. “Human brains aren’t designed to remember random numbers.”
“You can change it if you want,” blue gull stated. “The previous Warden’s species was very good at numbers; they would all be considered savant by the standard of your humans.”
“Great, can you change the password to ‘thi5pa55w0rdhasn0numb3er5’?” Warden asked as he tapped the given password into the keypad.
“No issue,” blue gull stated with a sound that may have been a laugh. “I love creating future potential problems for future users.”
“Thanks,” Warden said as he stepped into the security room. The room itself consisted of a single long corridor with plenty of doors on either side evenly spaced out.
“It’s designed to facilitate quick responses to every floor,” blue gulls said. “When this place was full as soon as an emergency would trigger the doors would open and the arms of Coldreach would rush out to whichever floor the trouble was on. We had response times in minutes and resolution times in minutes more,” blue gull said; a note of sorrow sounding in his usually upbeat voice.
“So I just continue down the corridor and there’s an elevator?” Warden asked as he started walking. Casually he pressed against one of the doors only to find it locked and immediately gave up on it. He would do a more in-depth exploration when his stomach wasn’t doing its best impression of the Palace of Versailles… maybe that joke was a bit too soon at the moment. The army of his homeland had no kind thoughts towards that national monument and they eagerly displayed their hatred on the piece of architecture.
“Yes it’s just straight down the corridor and up two floors up,” blue gull stated. “You can’t miss it.” Warden hummed in acknowledgement as he walked down the corridor.
“Quite a walk,” he said about a minute later after listening to no other sounds except the clip-clip of his shoes on the steel floor.
“Yeah, security can be a long trek,” blue gull said sounding almost embarrassed.
“How do you achieve good response times at this distance?” he asked after what felt like another minute of walking in almost silence.
“I think the dimensions of the room may be a bit stretched,” blue gull said. “It’s unusual but not an emergency…yet.” The last words were said under his breath and Warden felt a small shiver run up his back.
“Is the room getting colder or is it just me,” Warden said rubbing his arms. “At least you don’t have to pay for air conditioning.” He stopped to zip up his tracksuit right up and then his face went white as the clip-clip of his shoes continued.
“Warden,” blue gull said quietly but every word penetrated his ears; drilling through the continuous clip-clip. “I’m sorry I’m going to give you some instructions now and I want you to listen very carefully to me. Continue walking as normal.”
“Anything you say,” Warden said continuing his walk down the corridor that seemed to stretch forever.
“Firstly don’t panic,” blue gull began.
“Really not the thing you want to say to somebody if you don’t want them to panic,” Warden snarked.
“Good, keep that sense of humour,” blue gull said. “You’re being followed. We need to get you in the elevator back to the kitchen and all those places you want to go. So this is basically the same thing that we’ve been doing but with a bit more pressure.”
“A bit,” Warden said placing his hand on the gun before removing it from its holster. He slowly tilted his head slightly trying to see what was following him and froze. He couldn’t do it, the unseen corridor was full of monsters, demons, ghosts; a spike of cold fear launched itself into his heart and he felt the room grow colder and the clip-clip start to get closer.
“Relax this is just like taking your driver’s licence,” blue gull said his voice sounding far away. “The Necromancer is just up the elevator. If you can just get to him; you will be fine.”
“And if I can’t?” Warden asked feeling an unending chill as he moved forward.
“Then he will come down and resurrect you again,” blue gull said. “There’s no need to worry, but this is a good time to practice your courage.” The ice in his heart lightened slightly at that and he took a deep breath of the cold air feeling his muscles slightly relax.
“Then how do I get to the elevator?” he asked looking at the endless corridor. His sole contact was silent before he suddenly spoke up again.
“The Necromancer says ‘turn around and walk backwards’,” blue gull stated.
“Turn around to__” Warden said feeling a resurgence of fear.
“Relax its all fake,” blue gull reassured. “It has to make you scared. It’s not strong. As soon as you get to the Necromancer this thing will be paste. Just trust me and slowly turn around.
“Okay,” Warden said after a pause where he wrestled against his uneasiness. Like ripping a Band-Aid off he spun around pistol ready to fire and saw__an empty steel corridor. Despite its emptiness he could feel no release from the ever-growing pressure.
“Now slowly walk backwards,” blue gull said snapping him out of his alert state and he slid his finger off the trigger and started stepping backwards. The clip-clip sound no longer arose but he found the lack of it uneasy. At least previously he was able to know where the being was. Now for all he knew it could be anywhere. The only place he was sure it wasn’t was the one place where he was looking.
Warden walked backwards into the unknown for a period only slightly shorter than twenty seconds before his back hit into cold hard steel and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Whirling around on his heels, he was confronted by the reassuring image of an elevator door with five buttons.
“Hit the second button,” blue gull said calmly and Warden gleefully complied pressing the button with a tad too much vigour. A welcoming blue light shone from the display above the elevator and he felt his fears start to melt away.
*crunch* the sound of breaking metal behind him caused him to turn on his heels once more. Subconsciously he expected to see an empty corridor once more and once more his expectations betrayed him.
It was vaguely humanoid; something in his brain registered that as everything else in his brain focused on the all-consuming eyes. Molten golden eyes locked onto him and a malevolent look froze him in place. His hand holding a gun felt like it was a million miles away. As he contemplated raising his weapon and shooting an equally valid image of him raising his gun and shooting himself appeared in his mind’s eye and all will to lift the weapon disappeared.
The thing moved in a lope quite unlike any creature he had seen before and Warden instinctively stepped backwards against the cold metal of the lift. The thing came closer and closer and his heart rate rose at just the same time. His thoughts were frozen to such an extent that he barely managed to hear the soft *ding* before the door behind him opened and he fell backwards into the elevator.
His paralysis broken he managed to scramble to his feet just in time to see a long fingered hand reach into the elevator shaft before the door slammed on the hand severing it in a burst of blood and gore. No it wasn’t blood and gore but a strange oily black substance that the limb dissolved into.
*ding* the elevator sounded as it slowly began its ascension and Warden felt a mild sense of relief before the oily black substance rippled.
“No, no,” Warden said stepping back as the black oil resolved itself into something vaguely human-like. It stood three metres tall with a hunched over and emaciated frame and limbs bent in strange directions. Its head consisted of a single pair of eyes that opened slowly revealing a sadistic malevolence communicated through those orbs. It stepped forward and its entire body shook as it did so making a clip-clip noise.
Warden’s gun was in his hands once more but it weight was unimaginable. His mind was cloudy with fear and panic. There was a core of defiance in his heart, some part of him that was unwilling to die but as he sat on the floor, not even realising that he had fallen, he saw no other way out. Death loomed in front of him gazing down at him with a sadistic look in its eyes before they widened in shock as a hand of bone tore through metal of the lift latching onto the chest of the being. The last thing that Warden saw of it was the sight of two golden eyes filled with terror before it was pulled through the hole in the metal door that by all logic it shouldn’t have fitted through.
The sound of tearing and crushing noises accompanied by pained screeches and wet dripping sounds came from the other side of the door for a few seconds before a single dying scream sounded out. Two seconds later the door opened to reveal Surge who was wiping his hands.
“Congratulations you survived your first encounter with an Undead,” he said in a jovial tone despite the situation. “That’s a lot more than most people can say.”
“Thank you,” Warden said trying to convey as much gratitude as he could in those two words. He tried to get to his feet but it felt like all strength had left his body. “I can’t feel my legs,” he admitted embarrassed. His pride was taking too many continuous knocks lately.
“Perfectly natural reaction, Mate,” Surge said as he bent down to lift his boss up putting his arm over his shoulders. “It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that Undead are the enemy of all life. Even the weakest ghost can prove to be a nightmarish existence towards the living.”
“I couldn’t even fight back,” Warden said full of self-recrimination.
“You’ll build immunity towards it,” Surge said. “First time is the worst or so I’ve been told at least. I’ve never really experienced it myself. As Undead are the natural predator of the living, Necromancers are the natural predator of the Undead. I’ll loop around the frequent areas and try to clean them out.”
“Thanks,” Warden said. “I think I can walk now.” He took a few experimental steps and found that a lot of the terror had faded under the bright lights of Coldreach. The terrors below had been replaced by a joyous feeling of once more escaping the reaper’s scythe.
“Good because I’ve been meaning to give you a full examination and finish activating the Personal Administrative,” Surge stated watching him.
“That sounds like a perfect idea,” Warden said right before the hunger that had been forgotten in the middle of the crisis returned to hit him like a bus. “Right, we can do that after I’ve done a little hands on inspection of the cafeteria.”