The sound of tea dripping onto the laminate flooring was the only sound she could hear as she looked at the limp form of Dr. Yahuei Li. Her heart pulsed in her ears, beating more rapidly than she had ever heard before. For the first time in a long time, she had misjudged a person’s intent.
Then, she blinked, snapping back to reality. The shopkeeper, Lurong, was asking her something.
“Wh-what happened? Is she dead?” His eyes were wide open. “Sh-should I call enforcers? She tried to attack you.”
“No," Inspector Chen said immediately, raising her hand. She didn’t have time to get caught up in an investigation. Dr. Li had no pulse, and there was no readily available technology to revive her from this state other than 2nd generation nanomachines, but they didn’t have the proper equipment to utilize those yet. She was in essence dead and unretrievable.
Yahuei inspected the body. The other Yahuei appeared to have been poisoned, or more likely poisoned herself so she could not be questioned. From the extremely quick onset, it seemed she had taken the poison before even trying to attack.
The Inspector needed answers. Why?
“Give me a five minute head start, then call the enforcers," she told Lurong.
She quickly readjusted her outfit, grabbed her bag, and stepped out of the store. She planned her route as she went. In order to reach the surface labs she would need to take the restricted elevators to the level 6 checkpoint. Only certain personnel were allowed past, her included, however it could turn into a problem if she was flagged for being associated with a suspicious death.
This smelled of a conspiracy of some sort, but she couldn’t make heads nor tails of it. But if a noble was involved they could definitely shut her down; she had to get to the labs before that happened.
The traffic moving through the Main Hub had died down immensely as most people were now at their workstations. She could move more quickly, without having to squeeze about, but it also made her stand out more. Inspector Chen kept a watchful eye as she moved through the open areas, needle-launcher at the ready.
As she neared the small cluster of administrative offices near the restricted elevators, a few enforcers strolled past her. She gave the proper salutes of a commoner but they didn’t seem to be paying too much attention. The elevator door had a black pad next to it that beeped when she pressed her palm to it. It would log her into the access record along with each time the door opened. To add to the security measures, these elevators were also monitored all day everyday by video. Once inside, she pressed the button for the 5th floor and scanned her palm again to gain access. The doors closed and she finally relaxed a bit.
Yahuei sighed and covered her face with both hands. A brief moment of vulnerability.
The elevator was quiet save for the faint beeps and the whir of the elevator as it ascended.
Inspector Chen knew assassination attempts definitely came with the position, but from Dr. Li…
Dr. Li was one of the few people she could have considered a friend. It was rare for the Inspector to make any sort of connection with anyone. Not just due to her position, but also due to her calculating personality. Dr. Li had always had a rather calm and nurturing aura to her in contrast. She would frequently pause to explain scientific details in her reports rather than rush through as the others in specialized fields often did. She was the embodiment of a “genuine good person”. It was almost unimaginable for her to be capable of violence. For her to have been able to catch Inspector Chen of all people by surprise was an impossibility, especially given the Inspector’s gift.
The elevator came to a stop at her destination and the highest floor it could reach. She stepped out into a rather cramped security checkpoint. The small narrow “waiting area” went barely two meters forward before hitting the security scanner next to which was a bullet-proof glass window. The lone security officer looked up in surprise.
“How did you get in here?” the man asked. “Civilians aren’t–” then he recognized her. “Oh I’m so sorry Inspector Chen! We weren’t expecting you.”
“Not to worry,” she replied. “I’m here for a sort of… surprise visit if you will.”
They still went through the motions of a security check just in case she was testing their security procedures (which often happened). He returned her needle launcher and knife after a cursory glance.
“Do you need me to guide you or…?”
“No need," she said with a dismissive nod. “I can manage on my own.”
Past a metal grate door at the back of the guard station was the Surface Labs. These were the three floors (F2, F3, and F5) that were used to develop and study “dangerous material” or in other words nanomachines. As far as the public was concerned, this whole area was abandoned and kept secure in case for some reason someone wanted to sneak back to the surface.
The Director Leeway Zhao greeted her on the way to the labs. He was still adjusting his collar having most likely just thrown it on upon hearing of her arrival. She beckoned to him to follow and continued walking in the direction of yet another set of elevators.
“Inspector Chen, what a surprise?” he said as smoothly as he could muster. “To what may I owe this visit?”
The Inspector so far could not sense any ill intent from the man, nor any of the other researchers they passed by who looked upon them with varying apprehension and curiosity. Still, she got the faintest feeling that they were trying to hide something.
“Dr. Li has told me everything," the Inspector responded as vaguely as possible. “I’m just here to confirm with my own eyes.”
She stopped in front of the lab elevators and beckoned for him to lead. She had intended to visit the 2nd floor labs in order to check on the progress of the Second Generation nanomachines, however, she let him lead the way in case he had other secrets to inadvertently reveal.
The Director stepped forward and placed his hand on the scanner. The doors opened almost immediately. He pressed for the F2, the second floor labs as she expected.
“We’ll stop by F2 for a hazmat suit. We’ve been trying to monitor the situation with cameras but those cut out a week ago," he said as the floors ticked up going from F5 to F3.
“Certainly," Yahuei nodded in affirmation, concealing her confusion at this statement. Why did they need hazmat suits? What were they monitoring?
The answer was soon revealed. After donning the hazmat suits they headed back toward the elevators. The Director hesitated.
“Even though we are still in suits, we should stay in the elevators," Then he pressed the button for F1.
Back when they had first opened the underground bunker, there had been a large tunnel allowing everyone to pass through. Afterwards, they had collapsed the tunnel and sealed it up leaving only a small side passageway to the surface. This was also sealed up for the most part but it was originally planned to be reopened in the distant future should the Rust ever be wiped out.
The entrance to that side passageway was F1.
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As the door dinged open and they were met with darkness. The Inspector could hear the sounds of dripping coming from the room. At least three different sources. As the Director fumbled with the lamp attached to his forehead it dawned on Yahuei what he was showing her.
The tunnel was supposed to be sealed tight. As the harsh beam of light clicked on she saw it. The ceiling was patchy red-orange in at least three different areas.
“It started with one small leak around two weeks ago. Barely noticeable," The director shone his light at the biggest patch on the right. The fleshy surface seemed convulse, reacting to the light. Short fingerlike appendages pulsed outward, turning toward the light. “Now…”
The Inspector turned her light on and shone it at the floor. The ground was sunken in with a reddish scab-like texture. Red streams of thick liquid pooled around. Areas on the wall that had been splashed had begun deforming, sloughing off like skin to reveal a pink membranous interior.
Drip-Drop.
A chill ran through her.
The Rust was here.
***
“What is your progress on the 2nd generation?” Yahuei asked as they stepped out of the elevator back into F2.
“Well, we’ve been trying to work fast, but we’re also trying to evacuate the second floor so that's holding things up a bit," Director Zhao crossed his arms and stroked his mustache. “But overall I think we’ve got it. We can start testing with TK-waves within a few days.”
They had been cleared by the elevator’s sensors of contamination so they entered a decontamination area and began pulling off their suits.
“That’s better news than you may think," the Inspector said. “If we can get them to work, they can hold off the 4th gen machines and buy more time.”
“Yes… I’ve heard it can even partially cure individuals who aren’t severely infected," the Director said. “In fact that was one of the things Dr. Li had been planning to test out.”
He paused.
“By the way, where is Dr. Li?” he asked. “Didn’t you meet up with her? Why didn’t she bring you here?”
“Well…”
Suddenly, she heard the elevator doors open. Four enforcement officers stepped out with wrist needle launchers at the ready.
“We are looking for Inspector Yahuei Chen, she is being detained as a suspect for Doctor Yahuei Li’s murder.” The man in front announced.
Through the clear glass of the decontamination room, the Inspector could see one of the scientists point toward them. The officers locked eyes with her. The Director froze and looked at her completely bewildered.
“Wh-what…?”
Inspector Chen gave him a resigned look. There was no escaping here. She raised her hands up and surrendered herself to them. There really wasn’t much she could do now, and although now she had some answers, she had no idea how she was going to utilize them. As the enforcers cuffed her and brought her to the elevator doors, Inspector Chen could only hope that she would be able to deliver this information to the President and not be “lost in transport”. It seemed like someone was trying to make sure he did not find out about this.
Something deeper was moving behind the scenes and it did not look good for them.
***
The Rust had arrived.
Word spread through the Ocearana like wildfire.
Whether due to the storm or simply on its own, the Rust had crossed the sea to their sanctuary.
“We need to leave, there is no other choice," Becca’s mother, Lisa Skye, slammed her fist down on the table.
It had been just one day since the storm had passed. They were holding a meeting in a conference room to decide what to do next. In the room were the five leading members of the settlement’s operations plus the Vestuge’s Captain as well as four Wing Leaders and ten Unit Leaders including James, who had sort of snuck Becca into the meeting.
Lisa was originally the Driller on board the Ocearana, in charge of recording drill progress as well as training the crew and ensuring a safe workplace. Next to her at the conference table was the Rig Manager, a rugged man by the name of Miguel Martinez. The Rig Manager was essentially “captain of the ship”, in charge of all ongoing aboard the Ocearana. Besides them both, there were no other management members originally part of the rig.
Miguel raised his hand in a calming gesture. “I understand your position, but you have to realize you can’t just say ‘leave’ and have people go ‘Alright where next?’”
He continued. “Our folks have done a lot of work here remodeling and growing food. This place was ‘hope’ to them. You can’t just tell them to leave that.”
Across the table was the Head Wing Manager, a lanky young man by the name of Guillermo Torres. He was the boss of James’s boss. James, a Unit Leader, was in charge of a housing “unit” or a row of rooms on a floor. The Wing Leader was in charge of all of the rooms on all the floors of a “wing” or entire side of one of the oil rig’s four edges along its rectangular structure. The Head Wing Manager was in charge of all of these.
Guillermo asked, “Do we know for sure? Maybe the eye was–”
“Yup 100% sure at this point," said the woman next to him abruptly. Cathryn Hills, the Engineering Chief, was probably the oldest person here at around 95 years old. Despite her age, her position had allowed her nanomachine treatment, so she looked around 30 or so years of age. She was also James's great grand-aunt. “Scanner readings show that it is nano, not to mention the fleshy bits appear to be expanding in size. We may have to eject the scrap pile pretty soon.”
“And what about the woman that found it?” asked Guillermo. “What do the scans say?”
“We scanned her fingertips, unfortunately we had to amputate most of them. We’ll have to monitor her for a bit to see if it had a chance to spread anywhere else.”
“How many ships do we have available at the moment?” asked Lisa, pushing the conversation forward.
The rig manager responded, “Well, the Kepler needs quite a bit of a workup. It was hit pretty hard by the storm and we’re definitely going to need its research mini-sub, plus it's got those excavation arms.”
Lisa added. “We’ve also got the three fishing vessels: the Fishstick Factory, Mary Ann the Tenth, and the Great Terror.”
“Oh scratch off the Great Terror," Cathryn said. “Ship’s pretty much done from the storm. Engineering is scuttling it for parts.”
“The Whiskernash is also being repaired," Miguel listed off, “It's probably the biggest ship we've got, but a lot of that’s in tanker space which… to be honest isn’t really relevant at the moment.” He looked at Cathryn, “Think we can retrofit that or something?”
“Well absolutely,” the Engineering Chief said with a cheeky grin, “Just give us a whole month or two.” Then after a moment of consideration: “Ok fine, we’ll see what we can do.”
“Well all that’s left is the Romierra. It's a transport ship so… but it's also kind of small.” Lisa finished off the tally. “Maybe can hold like 40 people but that’s all it’s good for.”
There was a short moment of contemplation.
Then, the fifth member of their small council leaned forward and spoke for the first time. His name was Francesco Corrino, their Head Chef, but also the man in charge of all inventory.
“So, Captain Larkke?” Chef Corrino said, raising his eyebrows at the Captain of the Vestuge. “You’ve got the biggest ship here. What do you think?” He lit a cigarette.
“Well,” the Captain started, as he watched the Engineering Chief snatch the cigarette out of the man’s hands and put it out (“We don’t have nano-tech anymore to cure our lung cancer, do it outside”). “This is a pretty hard ask. You’re telling me to go from a crew of 24 people to… let’s say 200+?”
“Well, some of our people are seafarers, they can help out on your ship," Lisa replied.
“That would be welcome, sure, it IS a bit difficult running a ship this size with only 24 people,” he said. “But that’s not enough, what about power? Food supply? What’s in it for us?”
Lisa sighed angrily, “Did you forget that we allowed you to stay here during the storm?”
“Yeah, but we also are the main reason you are able to trade with other colonies," Captain Larkke retorted. “Listen, I appreciate what you’ve done, but I really have to consider the people on my ship’s best interests.”
He continued, “I can take a few people, maybe 20 or so to help crew my ship, but then we’ll be setting off on our own. I don’t want for me or my people to be subjugated to your rules or the rules of your colony. With all due respect, I’m going to have to decline.”
They argued back and forth for an hour longer. The rig offered a leadership position, parts, mechanical work, soil, but all to no avail. The Ocearana had a total of 367 people to place, and the Vestuge just didn’t want to have to deal with that. They would stay for another week and see if anyone was willing to leave the colony to go with them, then they would depart.