Whilst not spartan, her room lacked any personalisation, clearly having been reset since the last unfortunate occupant, erasing any sign that they had ever been there. Although that did raise a thought.
If it was so hard to earn your way out, why was there a spare room? Had they earned their way out? Had there even been a previous occupant, the room being created for her upon her arrival? There were nan-screens on the wall where she could add photos, pictures, even change the colour of the walls if she wished.
Calling up the personalisation menu on her retinal monitor she sighed at the cost of adding even one picture. Herself and Li, in a small holopict no more than a hand’s length and height would cost ten credits. A day’s work. Many of the options were also greyed out as she wasn’t of high-enough level to pay for them. Clearly, individualism was also now reduced to a reward.
Even to add a picture of her sister was a price that was far out of her reach. She realised she was relieved at that. It was hard enough being separated from Li, having a picture of her would only hammer that home. That, and the fact that this was entirely her own fault. She couldn’t blame her parents for getting her into a debt that had carried over like Madam Sun could. It felt as though a spike of guilt was driven into her heart every time she even thought of Li.
The bed was functional, and she was pleased to see that both the foodmat and the shower were actually better than the ones in her apartment.
Scrolling through the menu on the food dispenser she sighed once again. Not only were all of the meals going to eat into her debt, pun not intended, but they were all incredibly bland and geared more towards providing sustenance than enjoyment.
She kept scrolling and then sobbed as she saw that anything approaching decent was again restricted by level. Even her damned taste buds were being punished.
Stop it! She thought. She was acting like a victim, something she’d never done in the past and it was something she wasn’t going to do now.
Opening the in-wall clothes printer she cycled through the clothing designs that had been provided. Her retina displayed various prices for each piece of clothing as well as short descriptions.
Nearly all of it was functional. Work clothes, protective masks, and armour. However, there were a few which were clearly designed for public holidays such as Emperor’s Day.
Picking one at random, she pulled out a qipao. It was black, with a stylised wolf in silver thread. As soon as she touched it, the description leapt out.
LONE WOLF
– A STYLISH QIPAO FOR SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THEIR OWN MIND AND IS WILLING TO STAND OUT FROM THE PACK AND FORGE THEIR OWN DESTINY. BEWARE, THIS WILL MARK YOU OUT AS ONE TO BE WATCHED.
Fuck it, bastards are never going to let me go she thought, and selected the dress, taking the credit hit.
LONE WOLF SELECTED – 50 CREDITS DEBITED.
+50 SOCIAL SCORE ADDED
The nanites in the short top and trousers she already wore immediately set to work, changing her clothing to match that of the Lone Wolf. As soon as she looked down at herself she regretted her purchase. She’d added nearly three days of having to hit the ten per cent bonus mark. And she still didn’t really understand what sort of work she’d be doing. Nor how hard it was going to be. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Stick to the boring food, the boring clothes, work hard and get back to Li!
She tried to check her personal STATISTICAL ANALYSIS and SOCIAL SCORE sheet – known as a SASS for short - to see how this affected her social score. Sighing, she closed it just as quickly. She was so far in debt that it barely even registered.
A chime sounded and a message popped up.
MAI XIO – PLEASE ATTEND THE SKILLS MISTRESS IMMEDIATELY.
DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?
She reached up and tapped the YES floating before her eyes. A golden guideline appeared, leading out behind her. She quickly had her clothing revert to what she came here wearing. That way no one could see what she had so frivolously bought having not even completed an actual day of work. Turning, she opened her door and followed the path.
Walking through the main room, she returned the nods and smiles of the other workers as best she could. There were a couple of other inductees, indicated by the LEVEL 0 INDUCTEE tags above their heads followed by their names.
Mai didn’t bother reading their names, she could always get to know the others once she had skilled up.
Skilled up. The thought made her mouth twist sourly.
I’ll be out of here before that, she thought, making a solemn oath. She was determined not to die neck-deep in shit. She could hardly get back to Li if she was dead, could she?
Another message popped up.
FIRST WARNING: ALL WORKERS MUST HAVE A
PLEASANT COUNTENANCE WHENEVER IN PUBLIC.
PLEASE CONFIRM YOU UNDERSTAND
YES/NO
Thank fuck they can’t read minds! she thought as she tried to school her face into an emotionless mask. Jabbing the YES, she followed the guideline out of the common room and through a door which glowed with a golden outline. A sign, both physical and virtual, hung on it.
PERMITTED STAFF ONLY
ALL OTHERS WILL BE EJECTED
Mai stepped through the door as it opened automatically, dropping straight into the floor so quickly she thought for a moment that it had been a hologram. She found herself in a corridor which was in stark contrast to the room she’d just left.
It reminded her of a medical centre. Granted, it was much cleaner than the ones she’d ever been at. But the walls were a stark white, the lights were far too bright, and it smelt clean. Cleaner than anything she’d ever smelt in her life.
In a world-spanning city with buildings over ten miles tall,only the richest of society, the top 0.0001%, got to smell anything anywhere near fresh air.
Even those with access to the public parks didn’t really get to breathe fresh air. This corridor though, was practically aseptic. There were no smells of body odour, cooking or pollution. It was the freshest air she’d ever smelt. Opening her mouth she sucked it in, relishing how it didn’t taste of pollution.
The guideline ended a few yards down on the left of the corridor. A flashing exclamation point hung over the lintel.
Mai stood before the door, took a deep breath, and then keyed the door open.
“Mai Xio, welcome. I’m the Skills Mistress.”
The woman stood in the middle of the room, a pulsing exclamation mark above her head. She was plump, stood shorter than five feet, and had a pleasant smile.
A horrific image of the tiny mistress standing submerged in one of the sewer pipes popped into Mai’s head.
In direct contrast to her welcoming smile was the large and very intimidating nano-programming chair she was standing next to. It looked like an ancient torture device depicted in the holos and the very sight of it dried Mai’s mouth.
“Come on, don’t be shy!” the Skill Mistress smiled whilst patting the chair. “Time for you to get upgraded. Have you done this before?”
“A couple of times,” replied Mai, cotton mouth making it hard to speak. “For my old jobs.” She didn’t say that in her old jobs the chairs had been a lot more inviting than the one currently looming before her. Not that she’d spent much time in them. Nor in the jobs. Yet another bad trait of hers.
“Well, don’t worry. This won’t hurt,” laughed the Skill Mistress. “You’ll get to keep all of your old skills as well. Sit.”
The smile disappeared for a second to be replaced by a face suddenly hard and threatening. Carrot and stick seemed to be a common tactic here.
Mai sat, settling back into the soft chair.
“Let’s just take a look at your SASS,” the Skill Mistress said. Mai tried to hide an instinctive wince. She knew her skill sets were nothing to write home about.
“An underachiever,” the Skill Mistress drily remarked. “Well, let’s see about skilling you up.”
Mai gritted her teeth. It was like her mother was alive again. Always prodding. Always picking away. Never encouraging. Was that why she was such a rebel?
“Bitch”, she breathed out, barely knowing she was even speaking as the Mistress gave her a condescending smile.
Her head rocked. Pain flared in her cheek.
DAMAGE! 5%!
“Never, ever, insult me again,” snapped the Skills Mistress.
Mai gasped. Hand rising to her cheek she rubbed at the burning flesh, eyes watering from the sudden pain.
“Sorry. It wasn’t you. I was thinking of my mother,” Mai sniffed, fighting back the tears. It felt as though one of her teeth was loose. For a small woman, the Mistress had an impressive right hand. Mai was definitely not going to mention she was reminded of her mother. Who also had a mean hand when required.
“Well. Apologies. I didn’t have the context,” the Skills Mistress didn’t sound too apologetic.
A list of skills started to scroll before Mai’s eyes. It was too fast for her to read, but the Skills Mistress didn’t slow down until she reached Level 1 skills.
In the blink of an eye, the Skills Mistress selected the skills Mai would need, leaving their descriptions open so that she could read them.
Health & Safety
Health and Safety is paramount in ensuring that loyal citizens are able to perform their daily duties in a manner conducive to living a long and healthy life.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Waste Management
Waste Management ensures that a worker knows how to safely deal with the waste created by others more successful than them.
Use Armour
This allows workers to use their nanites to form armour and opens up the armour sub-menus. There are many different types of armour available and they all have a high BIO-MASS cost.
For those in the culling, armour is used to soak up damage inflicted by opposing cullers long enough for the wearer to either close with and kill their opponent, or to make their escape.
Treat Serious Wounds
-Heal is an umbrella term, Treat Serious wounds is a much more specific term. You wouldn't use this to treat a slight bruise or a broken bone. This is for real trauma. This is a skill vital for workers in dangerous environments. As long as a citizen follows and utilises the Health and Safety skill, Treat Serious Wounds should never be needed. Accidents happen, however.
Treat Light Wounds
-See Treat Serious Wounds, only you would use this to treat broken bones, nasty cuts etc. Light wounds are to be expected in all manner of working environments, even if said injury is merely a slipped disc.
“Brace yourself.”
Mai gasped as if a bucket of ice had just been thrown over her. The skills loaded into her skull in an instant, the nanites that coursed through her blood accepting the new programming.
NEW SKILL!
HEALTH & SAFETY!
NEW SKILL!
WASTE MANAGEMENT!
NEW SKILL!
USE ARMOUR!
NEW SKILL!
TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS!
NEW SKILL!
TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS!
“Right. We’re done. Naturally, you’ll have been charged for those skills as part of your initial debt total. Additional skills will be charged to your account as you progress.”
Mai stood, still shocked at the sudden dump of information. Her brain raced. Musical scores interspersed with words from stories danced across her vision. She hadn’t had so many skills unlocked at once.
“You might find yourself slightly discombobulated for a few minutes. Just remember that these skills, aside from the healing ones, are all PASSIVE, and you don’t rank up in them.”
Mai nodded, head feeling as if it was going to burst. She felt sick, faint, and facts and figures raced through her brain unbidden and unstoppable. Having knowledge dropped directly into her brain made her feel as though she’d just been spun in a centrifuge. This was a much different experience than she had had in the past, that was for sure.
“Try not to throw up. That’ll be a five-credit clean up charge.” Warned the Skills Mistress.
“Why are all my skills at twenty per cent?” Mai choked out, trying to get back to some semblance of normal.
“Child, that’s the base skill for all skills that are downloaded. Didn’t they teach that at school?”
“I used to clean and such at home as a kid and then after my parents died, I had to look after my sister, Li. I didn’t really get much of an education, managed to graduate, only just though. And because of that I started to skill up before I had any downloaded, so I never actually had any skill register at only 20%.”
“Ah, that’ll explain the skills such as Street Smarts, Freerunning, and other more nefarious skills. Larceny and Spot Hidden?” She squinted over at Mai. That, or you didn’t pay attention..”
Mai tried to keep her thoughts hidden, choosing a lizog puppy as something positive to focus on. They were popular companions in the city as nothing they ate was passed through as waste. No house training required. Although they did have to be trained as to what they could and couldn’t eat.
“Now, remember. For every level, otherwise known as a percentage, you have in a certain skill, you have a second of activation. So at twenty per cent, you have twenty seconds. Every skill also has a cooldown. The base of a cooldown is two hundred, minus whatever per cent you have in that skill. So at twenty per cent, the cooldown for any given skill is one hundred and eighty seconds.”
Head still spinning, Mai gave a jerky nod to show that she understood. This was all stuff she should have known, but she suspected that most people just took their skills for granted. But having actual targets meant that this knowledge was now more important. Knowing how to time activation was also going to be important. She didn’t want to hit a cooldown when she was close to earning a work target bonus. A burst of speed at the end of a shift could be all that made the difference.
“What about skills in the other areas?”
“You’re a level zero sewer worker. You won’t be granted any further until you’re a level one sewer worker. You’ll just have to rely on natural talent. If you don’t work hard, you won’t progress, and you won’t be rewarded with new skills. Won’t be able to improve your life.”
***
A gentle buzzing that grew louder and louder until she couldn’t stand it any longer woke Mai the next morning.
REPORT FOR DUTY IN THIRTY MINUTES
DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?
She accepted and hurriedly got ready before eating a bland meal of lichen noodles and protein, not willing to pay the credits it would have taken to add even a modicum of taste. Steeling herself, she keyed the door open arrayed in her new worker clothes. She detested having to spend the credits to get these after making the purchase earlier for clothing she didn’t need and having only done so out of spite. As far as she could determine.
“Mai Xio,” a man in his mid-twenties stepped forward, an exclamation mark pulsing over his head. “I’m Andries Louwe, we’ll be buddying up.”
Mai blinked up his SASS. It was impressive. He’d maxed a couple of work-based skills but what was interesting was a Title in red writing.
MOGWAI BANE
What the fuck? She read through the list of skills he had as quickly as she could.
Sewer Combat
This is a specific environment-based skill. Usually only Sewer Workers and Urbexers have this skill as no one in their right mind would wish to enter the sewers. Whilst sewers resemble tunnels and vice versa, the conditions in sewers are vastly different to those found in tunnels.
SPADE MASTER and PUGILIST were also listed. As quickly as she could, she read through them.
Spade Master
A spade master is capable of wielding a spade with grace and precision no other can ever hope to match. They're able to move 25% more waste than any other and do so consistently. This is a PASSIVE skill. Once a day they're able to ACTIVATE it for thirty minutes. Doing so results in a 100% increase in their speed. After the thirty minutes they are then locked for one hour at a normal person's speed.
Pugilist
Pugilists are experts in the use of the fist and elbow. They can duck and dive, bob, and weave with the best of them, throwing out crashing blows that will put any opponent onto their rear.
Pugilists are able to SPECIALISE in one specific strike such as JAB, CROSS, UPPERCUT conferring a base 10% bonus to all damage. Each additional level in PUGILISM confers 1% to the damage.
Once, during each fight, they are able to ACTIVATE the SPECIALIZATION, conferring +20% to damage, and +10% to CRITICAL HIT
Then she moved onto the achievement.
Mogwai Bane
As all loyal citizens are aware, Mogwai are demonic creatures of myth and legend. Some workers in the more undesirable sectors, such as Waste Management, claim to have fought such creatures.
Upon killing more than 20, they achieve the title of Mogwai Bane, conferring a number of additional skills upon them. This is all fictional however, and workers should not expect to achieve this title.
“It’s rude to SASS someone without their permission. You should know that,” his tone was cold, his naturally friendly voice now set in stone. “I suppose you have questions?”
“MOGWAI BANE? Aren’t they urban legends?”
“They are. Ancient history from before we colonised this planet. But the name fits the creatures.”
“Demons? We have demons in the sewers?”
He shrugged. “Like I say, it fits. Don’t sweat it though, they’re not common and shouldn’t be in any of the areas I’ll be taking you to.”
Mai could hear the lie in his voice. You didn’t get to be the bane of anything unless you’d killed a lot of it. Palms sweaty, she wiped them on her work trousers.
“But if we do come across one. Run. I’ll kill it.”
***
Mai sucked air greedily through the filter-mask the nanites had built over her face the moment they left the habitation area. Even that split second had been enough to have her heaving. It had felt as though she could cut the air with a knife, and the stench had her eyes watering. For a brief moment she worried if she could catch a disease from those few breaths.
They stood on a platform roughly one pace above a vile morass. Blocked by a small chain-link fence, steps leading down into the mess.
“Watch your footing,” Andries handed her a long pole.
MULTI-USE SURVIVAL STAFF -5UC
DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?
Resisting the urge to shove Andries into the waist high shit before them, Mai selected yes and thanked her mentor. Another notification popped up.
MULTI-USE SURVIVAL STAFF TEMPLATE ADDED
BIO-MASS REQUIRED – 1%
She’d be able to create one at will from now on. The BIO-MASS cost was nice and low, which she appreciated. All she had to do was add the staff to her favourites and then she’d be able to form it easily.
Just another way that they add to my debt. Keeping me here rather than letting me get back home. To Li.
There was a crust of excrement covering the river before them. It was roughly thumb-thick which broke easily as she tentatively stepped forward. Underneath was a liquid soup that bubbled up out of the hole she’d made.
“It’s warm!” she gasped, surprised at the heat through her clothes.
“Chemical reaction. Make sure you’re hydrated at all times. You’ll be drenched with sweat by the end of a shift.”
Wading further in they continued along the sewer with Mai struggling to push against the flow since the level was at her waist.
“Always move upstream if you can. If you slip it can be hard to regain your footing and you do not want to go through a macerator. And if you’re walking with the flow it’s much easier to slip.”
Something brushed past her leg.
“What the fuck! Something just touched me.”
“Probably a piece of rubbish. People throw all sorts of things into the sewers. Including pets.” He waved a hand dismissively.
“Is that what Mogwai are?”
“Pets. NetherCity dwellers. Escaped Vat-troopers. Faulty droids. Like I say, don't …”
There was a ripple in the sewage ahead of her.
“What was that?” Mai asked, having to consciously relax her hands from their death grip on her staff.“Probably nothing.” That didn’t put her mind at ease. “Gases build up and burst out of the sludge. The current can also cause things to happen if there’s a blockage.”
Mai still didn’t feel particularly reassured, but when nothing happened, she put it to the back of her mind. They continued to wade for a while before stepping up into a tunnel where the level of waste dropped considerably.
“Since this is your first day, we’re going to take things easy. There’s a fat-berg up ahead which is why the gunk here is so shallow.”
Shallow? It’s up to my bloody knees! Mai thanked every god there was for the mask covering her face. She’d chosen cherry blossom as the scent to mask the stench of night soil around them. Well worth the one UC.
“What’s a fat-berg?”
“It’s like an iceberg only made up of fat and anything else that gets stuck to the fat,” his tone implied that he felt it should have been obvious to her.
“Fat?”
“Yeah. Look, people are pretty crap at following the rules,” he laughed and waved his hand at the both of them. “And so a lot of restaurants and citizens tip fat into the sewers. The fat congeals and, through some weird science stuff, gradually builds up until it’s too big. Some of these things can be hundreds of feet long and as tall as the sewer.”
Looking up, Mai found that hard to believe. The pipe they were in was at least three times her size.
“Fat bergs are also good places to find cool things as they tend to gather up artefacts and the like as they move along the sewer.”
“How do artefacts get into the sewers?”
“People are dumb I suppose. Also, one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure. Something gets broken up in the nine-mile levels. The owner’s rich enough to just buy another one and dumps it instead. Somehow it ends up in the sewer. We find all kinds of weird things.”
“Like what?”
“Armour, weapons, droids, robots, jewellery. It’s crazy. One lad managed to clear his entire debt on his first day when he found a molecular-bladed Jian.”
She licked her lips at the idea of being able to find something which could clear her debt in one go.“What’s a Jian?”
“A sword. Buddha knows how it got down here.”
“Anything else I should be worried about?”
“Well, aside from cullers who are only dangerous to us when they’re trying to kill each other and we’re caught in the crossfire, there are also gangers, bounty-hunters and people who like to call themselves urbexers.”
Mai stopped walking. They’d already been wading upstream for a good thirty minutes and the resistance from the muck surrounding them was nothing like water. “And why are they dangerous?”
“Because they want the artefacts for themselves. We’ve lost a few people to them when they wouldn’t hand over what they wanted.”
“As if things aren’t bad enough!” snapped Mai.
Andries shrugged. “If you have something they want, even if it means you can buy your way out of here, just give it to them.”
Mai resumed wading, determined to find a way to keep anything she discovered to herself. There wasn’t a chance in the five hells that she would let anything stop her from getting away.
“We’re nearly there.” Andries pointed at an intersection, “Your first fat-berg.”
Mai was just about to reply with something incredibly witty and sarcastic when a terrible screeching filled the sewer.
“Brace yourself! Mogwai!”