[NPC Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Lucky Paine]

[Level: 1, Sub-Level: 4]

Lucky was under the distinct impression that she was running out of time.

In a literal way, maybe, because there was a wall of gushing water following behind him in a superheated geyser, radiating steam and blistering heat.

“Go, go, go!” The boy clung to the back of his chair, his green subtitles obscuring her already foggy vision.

“This is hard enough as it already is.” She snapped, flicking her wrist to make a tight twist through the pipes, and up into another escape, just a hair’s breadth away from being boiled alive. Ten thousand gallons of steaming water rushed past them, and she hissed in pain as a few flecks sprayed onto the pants of their legs.

“Hanging in there, kid?” She turned to ask Asadullah, who was still clinging onto the back of her wheelchair.

When she craned her neck around to look at him, his hair was standing on end, puffed open in layers of hair, ears standing at attention. Those were very uncanny to look at, so much so that she had to tear her eyes away.

“Yeah.” Asadullah agreed, adjusting his grip on the handlebars in the rare moment of stillness they had, “How much longer?”

“Almost there.” She replied, “The failsafe is right around the corner. According to the map.”

“You can’t possibly trust that thing.” Asadullah frowned. The map she’d stolen of the megasized hydraulics system had seen a lot of wear and tear during their harrowing journey. Now, the ink was bleeding, and the map was curling from the damp. It was a little hard to read, but the bright red X was hard to miss.

“We need to work with what we have.” She advised him, “If this is smeared? Let it be. Won’t need it again after this, anyway.”

Asadullah gave her an unimpressed look, his ears twisting to mimic the flat look of the eyebrows. She bets he did this a lot.

“No need to risk it all, though.” Asadullah warned her, “We want to do this right. Use the least amount of resources that we have to, come out the least bit injured. No need to make it worse than it already is.”

“We are two very different people.” Lucky shook her head, “But, that is a better way to live by than my methods.”

Asadullah puffed his chest up at the compliment. A single glance could tell you that he was desperate for more positive reinforcement. She made sure to pay him more compliments through the days they would be stuck with him.

All the worry was for nothing, though. The last leg of their journey in the pipes was much easier than anything they had endured to get there. Especially the tidal wave of vapor-hot water.

Compared to all that, this was easy.

Except not so, as they found the vault-like door of the failsafe room completely impenetrable. Her legs beat against the door, producing loud clanging sounds that echoed down the winding halls. Asadullah grimaced, clapping hands over his ears.

“Isn’t there a quieter way you can do this? It already smells overwhelming in here.” He complained.

He was right. She could do more than just blast things down. Most engineers preferred a more elegant solution than resorting to plain explosions, she was just a different breed.

But a different breed could still pick heavy-duty locks. She didn’t need many tools to get into the notches, spinning the wheel around until the bars all aligned and the vault opened. Even once they had managed that, the whistle of steam and faraway rush of water sent them darting into the room. The door slammed shut behind them, forcing them to stay inside the humid room. Just as well, better to be humid than to deal with what was outside.

“Okay, what now?” Asadullah asked, darting to his feet. Already she could see his feline eyes begin to glow, catching the scraps of light available to them.

“This will be simple.” She told him, taking her own pace in feeling out the tin walls that sounded discomfortingly hollow now. It couldn’t be rushed, as she needed bare hands to feel out what she needed, “We’re looking for a failsafe switch to turn this off.”

“And what is… this?” He asked, “I mean, is there a reason why you people have a giant underground system of tunnels that shoot nothing but hot water and steam and sometimes metal boulders?”

“It’s a water-supported pneumatic travel system that people thought would overtake railways.” Lucky explained, “Now, it is only used to shoot water from one place to another. And all those weapons I was paid to make. And also, bands of rocket-powered pilots that they have to kick out every month or so but somehow make their way in again?”

“What?”

“I dunno, bruv, just what they’ve told me.” She shrugged, “Never seen them, though, so it should be okay.”

“I’m trusting you on this.” Asadullah grumbled, reaching forward to paw at a switch covered by a rough tarpaulin, “Hey, this what we’re looking for?”

It obviously was, just by first sight. The thing was huge. Easily as big as her entire arm. With no other doohickeys around, either. And it had a red-tinted lightbulb connected to it, just waiting to light up. Could no one do things subtly around here?

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Well, it suited her purposes, so it wasn’t worth putting up the fuss to complain about it. Even if the urge to write a strongly worded letter to the chief of design of this place about the dangers of sabotage was bubbling inside of them right now. Week-old habits die hard, she supposed.

One strong metallic leg lunged forward, pulling the switch down. The light lit up red, and somewhere in the far-oof distance, a siren began to ring.

“Alrighty, fellas, let us depart!” She announced, turning around to find the exit hatch and its accompanying ladder.

“Wait, that’s it?” Asadullah asked, blinking in confusion, “Nothing more… permanent?”

“Yeah. The failsafe creates a blockage at the mouth of the entrance, where the main storage of water for this program comes from. And the only way to clear it is through a maintenance center in Rustage territory. And even though this system is made for cooperation with other factions, the Rustages will never let them set foot in their territory to clear it.”

“That’s clever. But it was also just a switch!”

“Yes, well, safety precautions are a tool to exploit.” She advised him, “And in this case, the best tool in our inventory.”

He looked like he was about to open his mouth and say something strange, but then thought better of it. Lucky could take a gander on what he had been thinking about. The Inventory belonging to this Console they claimed to have. Their Miracle Tool. She bet that it had a better tool inside it.

That made her incredibly bitter, if that thing actually existed and wasn’t just a figment. That all of these people had also corroborated. She wished dearly to be given the chance to see it. She knew that she would never have the chance to, but the desire was still there, burning deep in her mind.

“How’re you going to get up that ladder?” Asadullah asked instead, sizing up the width of her chair and the spindly ladder.

She grinned, recalibrating the springs in the legs as she turned around, reared onto the legs at the back, and the front ones plunged into the wall with a force they had not previously. It jammed into the brick, but when she pulled, followed out like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The chair began its upward ascent, climbing intently up the wall, until it finally open the hatch and climbed right outside. Asadullah stared at her in wonderment, and then followed suit, making it up in less than half the time.

“Show off.” She scoffed, playing up her jealousy a tad.

“You’re one to talk.” He replied, grinning back at her as if he was proud of the joke he had come up with. It wasn’t a good one, anyhow.

“Alright, next stop.” She continued, pulling out her checklist, which had come out considerably more intact than her map of the pneumatic moisture systems, “We’re going to an artificial lake.”

“And we’re going to destroy it?” Asadullah asked dubiously, “Isn’t that the antithesis of our goal?”

“Our goal is to shut down major pollutants. And the ‘artificial lake’ is being used to create more oxygen for the tanks by splitting up water molecules, instead of the better method of pulling it out of carbon dioxide, hence contributing to said major pollution.” They explained.

“Oh, alright, that makes sense.” Asadullah nodded his head, perking up significantly as he strapped on his mask and continued walking, “Hey, is this ecoterrorism?”

“Are we walking through a smoggy hellscape stripped of any natural vegetation?”

“Uh, yeah, but- ohhh alright, so that’s a yes, then.”

“Good lad. Full steam ahead?” She suggested. He nodded sharply, and she grinned at him the best she could behind her own mask, “Then our destination should be in… that direction!” She consulted her compass and wheeled them around to face the right way.

The Oxygen Tank Production Facility, called the OTPF for lack of a better descriptor, was a unique structure. It was on ground level, and a distinctly private building, with the same amount of funding any Gunnerson project had. Yet, it wasn’t inside a fish bowl like everything else. Even Sanctuary had buckled to the need of a glass barrier protecting it from the smoke. Yet, the OTPF stood tall, the last stance, surrounded by a strong barrier of armored carts that were not quite tall enough to stop her from extending the legs out to full height and being able to catch a glimpse of that alluring blue water.

“I think I can jump it.” Asadullah offered, but he didn’t sound sure enough for her to agree to it.

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” A soft voice whispered next to them, making Lucky nearly jump out of their skin. They might be a boy, she thinks, but had learnt with experience that such things were never quite so clear. But they had light brown skin that seemed unnaturally pasty in pallor and had striking hazel eyes. Some strange dye must have been used to tint their hair teal, as she could see the more normal strands of brown poking out from underneath the rash hue. They tried to cast their mind out and identify whether this was meant to be Ben or Tench, but she didn’t think either was right. Who was this person?

Asadullah, however, seemed to recognize them, as his eyes lit up and he rushed forward, scooping the newcomer into a hug, “Terry!” He cried out excitedly. The person let out a small squeak, and Asadullah quickly separated, words spilling across the world like brands of light.

“What are you doing here? How are you here? This is an Individual Sub-Level, you can’t do that!”

“Well, this is dimensional travel, and humans aren’t meant to be doing that, period.” Terry pointed out with a placating pat on his shoulder, “I just decided to jump into that Warp Point Ben pointed out and see if it worked even if another Sub-Level somewhere else was occupied.” Their voice was already raspy at the end of the explanation, and Ben wondered if they weren’t used to speaking.

“How did you know to meet us here?” They asked, trying to not let herself get too disconcerted by this interloper, “Michael never mentioned you.”

“Because Terry wasn’t with us then.” Asadullah explained, “We found him afterwards.”

“And he… joined?” Lucky asked, feeling… strangely hopeful, “You can just do that?”

Can I do that? was what she wanted to ask, but the answer was obvious. The Console couldn’t come in here, so there was no way for them to join [Party(Main)].

“I found this place scoping out the algae spores that are being spread everywhere.” Terry added, signing now instead of talking. Best to do that, since it must be a strain to talk through the smog attacking their lungs. She should offer them a gas canister, but she didn’t have any extras on her, “Figured that if there’s fungus growing, then there must be things for it to grow on.”

“You thought right!” Asadullah gave him a high five, “Now, you wanna blow up this place with us?”

Terry’s eyes widened in alarm, mouth working at nothing in his terror as he shakily signed out, “You can’t do that! My objective is to find samples of plant life to return to a local. And there has to be plant life in there!”

There was? That was news to Lucky. But Asadullah was looking at her accusatorily, so she had to back down quickly.

“Okay, we’ll get you your precious plants, and then we can blow it up.” She compromised. Terry nodded in agreement immediately.

“I suppose it works.” He agreed, his voice a squeaky, rasping mess.

[NPC Log End!]