Running as quickly as she could, Mai was soon far enough away from the restaurant that the kill marker dropped off her map.
Doesn’t mean I’m in the clear though, she thought as she slowed to a gentle walk, chest heaving. Her stomach was also rebelling, the food making her stomach feel bloated and heavy.
She still had a way to go until she reached her destination, and she knew that there was no way she would be able to run the full distance. Not if she wanted to keep her last meal down.
It rankled. Having to move by foot wasn’t normally a problem. People lived their normal lives rarely leaving their own level, or hab. It made perfect sense considering every hab block provided its inhabitants with everything they needed bar the more exotic goods.
She just wished she had a rotor car, or a one-person drone so that she could complete the mission quickly. Mai had never walked, or run, so far in her entire past life as she had in the last few days of the Culling.
Then again, nothing to say that I wouldn’t get blown out of the sky.
Pushing the morbid thought to the back of her mind, she entered the crowd, put her head down and tried once again to blend in.
*
Dim lights flickered as Mai hugged the shadows on the wall. The whole district put her on edge. Although she was on the six-mile, she was in a vat-born hab block. Although they were attached to certain families or corporations, the vat-born never slept in their owner’s houses.
Every citizen of the Empire knew their history, and even now Mai could see the text they’d been forced to memorise. Something which she’d always thought was utterly pointless considering the fact that the text was archived and easily available for anyone who wanted to read it.
The Seditious and Cowardly Revolt of the Ungrateful Vat-born occurred three thousand years, five days and twenty hours ago. Unbeknownst to the Celestial Court, a caretaker in Vat Warehouse One Million and One, inserted rogue code into the educational software downloaded by default into all new-born Vat-born.
Over one hundred thousand Vat-born were infected with the code before the treachery was discovered. As the Emperor’s Loyal Servants started to hunt the faulty vat-born, their actions triggered a response. Over half a million loyal citizens were killed in the first ten minutes of the uprising.
By the end of the first day, more than three million loyal citizens had lost their lives to those they trusted and viewed as loyal fellow citizens. Drastic measures were taken, and every Vat-born was summarily destroyed by order of the Celestial Court.
The end of the Seditious and Cowardly Revolt of the Ungrateful Vat-born saw over five hundred million vat-born destroyed, and nearly six million loyal citizens dead.
Since then, not one vat-born has broken their conditioning.
Mai laughed bitterly at that. It seemed that everything she was taught was based on lies. Mogwai didn’t exist, Anna hadn’t broken her conditioning and escaped to a secret base in the sewers.
The location’s a perfect hiding place for the rebels, no-one in their right mind would believe that real humans would want to come here. Even if they did believe all that mogwai-shit about how they’ll never revolt.
Whether or not they would revolt didn’t matter. In order to be the perfect servant to the people they served, they were Bonded. Acting upon every whim and wish of their owners, Vat-borns were beholden to no-one else. Everyone had heard the horror stories. The vat-born killed and ate normal humans who strayed into their territory and various other forms of horrible death.
Having met Anna she couldn’t quite get rid of the idea. Anna’s hatred for her former masters was visceral. But that was because her conditioning had broken.
Vat-borns were designed to serve. It would have completely gone against their very DNA to do otherwise. Now that she actually had time to think about it, she realised that the horror stories were most likely designed to make humans distrustful of vat-borns and to keep a firm barrier between them.
Still, she couldn’t risk coming up against another Anna, and she especially didn’t want to have to fight any Cullers now that she was so close to her destination.
Three more turns, one set of stairs and I’m ‘there’. She was exhausted, constantly being on edge was taking a dreadful toll on her. A little bit of paranoia was supposed to be healthy. It kept people on their toes and meant that they weren’t conned by every stranger they had the pleasure of meeting. But this much paranoia had her jumping at every noise and twitching at every shadow. It felt like she was simultaneously being followed and watched.
Her guideline flashed, indicating that she’d reached her destination. As before she stood looking at a bare wall. No indication that there was a door or secret base behind it. Either Anna had told the truth, or she’d sent Mai on a wild goose chase.
Voices from the vat-born hab blocks either side of her echoed along the small alley she was standing in. It was spotless. Not something she’d have expected in a vat-born ghetto, but then again she’d never been in a vat-born ghetto so had no idea as to what to expect.
Nothing for it, she thought as she rapped her knuckles on the wall. It hurt and produced absolutely no result.
DAMAGE 1%
“For fuck’s sake,” she cursed. Her shoulder blades itched even more, the sense that she was being watched growing by the second. “Right, I know you’re here, so just open the fucking door. I’ve got a delivery to make and I’ve had a really shitty few days.”
Counting, she decided that she would give it thirty seconds before forming as much explosive as possible and blasting her way in. That or just dumping the chip on the floor and leaving.
“No need to get pissy,” a voice called out from above her. Looking up, she spotted a small girl.
“Yeah, no need for language like that, we’re respectable people,” a woman emerged from the shadows, followed by three others. All of them were wearing nano-stealth cloaks. And all of them were vat-born.
Mai was impressed. She hadn’t even considered that the rebels would be so well equipped.
“So I was being watched and followed,” sighed Mai, kicking herself for not listening to what was becoming an obvious development of the increase in her STREET SMARTS skill. Still, on the sunny side, she was getting successes which counted towards levelling up even if she wasn’t actually recognising them as such at the time.
“Please, follow us.” The woman gestured to the door behind Mai which as she turned she saw was now open.
Smooth bastards, she thought ruefully. Why didn’t my street smarts get all twitchy when that opened? Maybe they did. Maybe I was too busy looking at their snazzy cloaks to pay attention. Again.
She followed the woman through into the rebel’s base. This was different. As soon as she was through the door she found herself in a short corridor with another heavy-set door before her. Looking around she saw a number of slits in the walls and holes in the ceiling.
This is a kill-chamber, she shivered as she realised just how much danger she would have put herself in had she tried to break in.
“This way,” the leader tapped on the wall to her right and stood aside to wave Mai through the portal which opened. Like the entrance to the base, it was whisper quiet.
“Sneaky. Enemies concentrate on the door ahead of them rather than looking for the door they actually need,” Mai said, bowing slightly in respect. As she did so she activated SPOT HIDDEN, kicking herself for not doing it sooner.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“And once they blow that door, they find another, and another, and another. All whilst we’re doing our best to cut them to pieces” The woman smiled.
Mai decided that she liked her far more than she liked Anna. Trusted her more as well. She seemed to be a lot more organised than Anna was.
“Anna sent me,” she said as they entered the rebel’s base. There were a lot more security measures here than at the other base and Mai was certain that some of the patches of paint in the first corridor had been mismatched as if they were painted over damage.
What she truly appreciated however, was that there was no manhandling of her. They even let her keep her backpack without asking to search it.
“No doubt as s test of your loyalty and to see whether you’re suitable material,” the woman smiled.
“Material? I’m not some sort of jumpsuit!” Mai exclaimed.
“Not that kind. The kind that would be of use to us. Help us in our fight.” Another smile, and not one which made Mai feel stupid for getting confused. She had herself for that.
Mai said nothing more as they made their way into a communications centre.
“Please, the chip?” The woman held out her hand.
Reaching into a secret pocket she had crafted into her jumpsuit, Mai pulled out the chip and gently placed it into her hand.
“I hope that this is actually useful and not just a ‘ha, well done you’ve delivered the chip’,'' said Mai as the woman slotted it into the base of her skull. Just the thought of placing something so large in her skull turned Mai’s stomach.
Didn’t realise she was a cyborg! Mai was slightly overwhelmed at the way the world was changing so rapidly. It had gone from her apartment, Li, and their neighbours, the people on their level, to a world she had only ever experienced through holomyths. Utterly bewildering.
“We’ll soon see, won’t we? Shush now.”
Mai shushed and dropped herself into a comfortable-looking chair. It was anything but, lacking any padding worthy of the name. Beggars couldn’t be choosers however, and she was just glad to be able to take the weight of her feet.
“Ah. Okay,” the woman said. “You’ll be pleased to know that it wasn’t a waste of our time.”
DELIVERY CHIP MISSION COMPLETION
NEW TITLE! – POSTMISTRESS!
YOU GET THE MESSAGES TO WHERE PEOPLE NEED THEM TO GO!
“Any chance you’re going to tell me what was on it?” Mai asked as the woman turned her attention back to Mai. She thought she probably knew the answer, but there was no harm in asking.
“Somewhere between zero and absolutely not,” laughed the woman. “I’m Biyu.”
Mai took the proffered hand and shook it as firmly as she could, matching the woman’s tough grip. Biyu’s hands were rough, not soft like a normal civilian’s. Like Mai’s had been before she entered the sewer. Biyu was someone who clearly didn’t mind getting their hands dirty. It made her think what Anna’s hands might feel like.
“Nice to meet you Biyu, I’m Mai.”
It was a strange custom. Everyone had glyphs above their heads declaring to all and sundry who they were. But until they had actually introduced themselves and you had introduced yourself to them, you only ever thought of them as ‘they, he, or she’, never by name. In a city of billions, privacy was the most important aspect of life. Even if the Celestial Court monitored your every move.
“Have you eaten recently? We have a...” Whatever she had been about to say was cut short by a huge explosion.
DOMINATION – HOLD THE BASE AGAINST THE ATTACKERS
DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?
“What the fuck! Were you followed?” Biyu reached out and selected YES, Mai following her just a second behind. She closed her hand to hide how much it was shaking. She’d thought, stupidly she now realised, that she was actually going to be safe for a while. To be able to rest. And that thought had meant that she’d been particularly shocked by the sudden eruption of violence.
“No! The only people that even tried to do so were killed! And they were only Cullers!” cried Mai. But the doubt she felt must have made its way into the tone of her voice.
“But?” asked Biyu as another explosion rocked the base.
“But I was certain that I was being watched and followed towards the end of my journey. When you appeared with your people I assumed that was why.”
“Hells. How you’ve managed to live this long I’ll never know. What’s your bio-mass level?”
“It’s fine. I’m ready to fight,” Mai said, projecting confidence into her tone.
“Good, because from the sounds of it, you’re going to have to.” Biyu turned and pressed a button on a keyboard. A darkened screen mounted on the wall sprang into life. Even wearing a mask she would recognise the man anywhere.
“Fuck. It’s Sharktooth,” gasped Mai. Her legs wobbled, shock washing over her, goosebumps raising all over her skin. All appetite gone she stared at the apparition as if it was a living nightmare. For her it was a living nightmare.
“A friend of yours?” Biyu looked over at her suspiciously, clearly not understanding Mai’s reaction.
“Anything but. He’s a psychopathic killer who has more teeth than nature provided and who likes to use them to tear chunks from his living victims.” As she spoke she winced at the flashes of memory her brain insisted on throwing up on her mind’s eye.
She called up the Culling scoreboard, stomach sinking as she saw just how far up the leaderboard he was. Top ten per cent. Mai didn’t bother looking at his Cull count, she didn’t want that to add to the fear she could feel building up inside her. In fact, she was surprised that she didn’t have an INTIMIDATED glyph above her already.
Licking her lips, trying to get some moisture back into her mouth, Mai tried to focus on bringing her heart rate down from ‘fit to burst’, to just ‘racing so fast it’s going to take five years off your life’.
“Think you can take him?” Biyu was barely paying attention to Mai now, the flickering of her eyes telling Mai that she was busy directing the defence of the base already.
“I already have once. But that was in training. He’s way ahead of me now. He’s got seventy-one kills!” No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t help looking at the Cull tally. Fortunately, because she’d searched for him specifically, she couldn’t see her own Cully tally. It wasn’t something she needed to know. Knowing would only add to the weight she constantly felt upon her shoulders as it was.
A third explosion, much bigger than the previous two sent dust raining down on them from the ceiling. Inwardly, Mai cursed. Such activity was sure to bring more Cullers. And if it didn’t bring them, then surely the Imperial Police would be turning up to see what was going on.
“He’s through the first and second fake doors already. We need to stop him,’ Biyu flicked her finger, sending an order.
Biyu’s arms turned into light machine guns, whilst a suit of light-weight anti-kinetic armour formed over her body.
“Templar Defender Mark Five,” Mai said to herself as she identified the armour. Mai did a quick search, saw that it was unlocked on her menu and formed it over herself for ten per cent biomass. As she did so, she did a quick scan of the description.
Template Defender Mark Five is a light anti-kinetic suit of armour made from super-light composite materials. With multi-spectrum visuals, it allows any base defender to continue fighting even when their opponents are blinded.
Anti-kinetic does not mean this suit is capable of defending you against energy weapons.
“Nice! Even got thermal optics,” she activated the latter as the lights in the base went off.
“Glad you like it. You unlocked it when you got to this base. Probably unlocked a different suit when you arrived at Anna’s. Follow me.”
Mai selected her gladius and went with the double-barrelled SMG. Whilst she wasn’t particularly keen on seeing how well it performed, she was looking forward to seeing it shred her nemesis.
And this mix of ammunition is going to really shred him, she thought grimly. She filled her magazines with a combination of RIP rounds, explosives and incendiaries.
The RIP rounds were designed to fragment, sending bits of themselves in an expanding arc from their point of entry. They had a 20% BLEED bonus and caused bleeding at 15% per second.
Explosive rounds were just that. They weren’t much use against normal flesh, but if they hit a bone the damage they caused was devastating.
What they were far more effective at was destroying armour faster than the nanites could repair it. And whilst the nanites were repairing the armour, they were decreasing their owner’s bio-mass. Other bonuses were that they caused the Pinned, Stunned and Bleed status effects.
Incendiary did what is said on the tin. It didn’t matter where they hit, the target would be splashed with a highly volatile liquid which erupted into flames as soon as it was exposed to air. This would cause Panic, Burning, and Shock.
All of this would set her bio-mass firmly in the single digits. Pulling a bio-mass bottle out of her backpack, she took a hearty swig, increasing her bio-mass to just over one hundred and fifty per cent.
“Here,” she handed the bottle to Biyu. “Try some of this. Doesn’t taste brilliant, but you’re going to love the effects.”
Biyu squinted at her, then drank.
“What in the five hells! This … this is amazing!”
“It’s what’s in the supply drops. Have you never tried to capture one?”
“Tried yes,” said Biyu as she handed the bottle back. “But there are so many Cullers we can’t even get close. And the supply drops always self-destruct anyway.”
Mai made a show of pulling another bottle out of her backpack and setting it on a table beside her.
“A present. A way of thanking you for treating me far better than Anna did.”
Biyu said nothing, just nodded.
“Let’s go shark hunting.”