“Nothing about the Antithesis is how it seems. While they are technically plants from space, they will grow into creatures like the Model Threes, a large doglike plant with a bad attitude and three-hinged jaws.

While they act as scouts as dogs would they are also a plant with the function to grow an antithesis hive itself given enough time and resources.

That’s why it is important to understand that everything Antithesis has to be destroyed or we’ll have a reinfestation of murderous weeds.

Remember, never underestimate the enemy.“

* Excerpt from “Facts about our Invaders - An Antithesis Almanac” August 2052

***

Standing in the empty service tunnel I closed my eyes.

The sinking feeling in my gut won’t go away anytime soon, I knew that from experience but I could still try to regain some sense of mind. Breathing carefully for a few minutes I hoped not to run into that group again anytime soon.

While I was at it, I opened my eyes and scanned the walls. Were there any cameras here?

Probably.

I still wanted to remove my disguise. What kept me safe from the experience I just had. Seemed useless right now, I still was recognized as Pele.

Sighing I put on the glove I still had dangling at my side and turned to leave when I remembered the screen.

Turning to it I found it just had the diagnostic information for the security door, no blue text box.

I was in a hurry to get away from the antithesis behind the blast doors so I couldn’t disassemble the screen to see who accessed it and why.

The why was obvious, to help but what did they mean they could only save two? And how did they know who to talk to? The time between the start of the killing and when I made it to the door was like 20 seconds. No security personnel could’ve zeroed in on the problem that fast? Could they? Also who pulled the emergency klaxon? Was it the same person?

These questions distracted me from my plight for a while as I made my way up the tunnel. My feet making the usual hollow thuds on the catwalk as always.

I made my way to a junction and I paused. Since I didn’t know my way around this section I could easily get lost. Also I didn’t want to run into the group so taking a separate tunnel might be my saving grace.

Looking around I couldn’t see where the other group went, no evidence of dust on the floor being disturbed or anything. I was about to decide when a screen on a nearby wall flashed blue.

“Lost, Pele? The others have gone to the right.”

“Don’t call me that.” I replied to the monitor. It blinked a couple of times and then the text changed.

“Lost, Engineer? The others have gone to the right.”

I smiled at that. “Thanks, but I’ll go left.”

I waited for a response but the blue box flicked back to the monitoring of the vital systems in this area. Shrugging I moved to the left.

Into the network of tunnels as I left the flashing red glow behind, the lights act as a guide through the gray metal panels that cover the curvature of the endless pipeline that circumnavigates the arcology, across the miles of the megastructure and back again.

I knew that I would return to my little region of wires just like these and everything would return to normal. Like before.

No horror lasts forever, and no trauma can’t be untreatable or repressed in the modern world. I just focused on my way forward and getting lost, metaphorically, in the lights and current flowing past me again.

After a while I came across a problem. The way before me was blocked by metal struts and a cart of tools to repair the collapse. Turns out even the steel can crumble with enough ware and tear.

Luckily the ladder to the space above was nearby and I could climb out. I didn’t want to leave the relative familiar scenery of the cabling, even if it was nearly my death less than an hour ago.

…Fuck.

I needed to move on.

I climbed the ladder to a room I didn’t recognize. It was some sort of maintenance closet with a shelf full of cleaning supplies and disposal containers.

By now I could check if I could connect to the mapping software provided to all Macroons so they don’t end up completely lost. As a technician of RuCorp I could see into the service tunnels and a couple of the secrets of the Arcology were revealed to me.

Opening my tablet I saw a problem, somehow the internet was down. Maybe it was just in this section while repairs are underway but it was unusual, especially if someone was talking through the monitors down below.

Maybe it was just a wireless problem?

Regardless I needed to keep moving, the obvious exit was the door in front of me.

Opening the door I found myself inside a hallway, I guess I was in one of the building sections of the arcology, probably for business or governance as I could not detect any food stains typical of cafeterias.

Walking down the hallway in a random direction I came across a mess, bloody bodies lay in heaps, bullet holes embedded into the walls and people. A massacre in full illumination.

The closest was a man in dark green clothing of janitorial staff with a bloody smear as it looked as if he had crawled away from the killing but bled out before getting to safety.

I made to turn around when I saw something in the room itself, a desk that was probably used for a security booth that had multiple screens displaying different camera views of the building.

As I paused the monitors flickered and flashed blue. AGAIN!

“The ones in light blue are security. Check the inner pocket of the one on the chair.”

I stepped over the scene, careful not to tread on any body or blood. The man who the screen was directing me to had slumped back, something metallic was sticking out of his chest and a pool of blood was surrounding the wound.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Don’t worry. They are all dead.”

“That’s not what worries me.” I muttered as I reached into his jacket and grabbed what was hidden inside. A pistol. A semi-automatic pistol. It wasn’t a fancy thing but it was heavy and bulkier than in the media. This was a weapon meant to kill.

On the side it had its model, a Hammerhead, with a small icon of a strange aquatic creature.

Looking at it in confusion I glanced at the monitor.

“It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.”

I guess that was good advice. I pocketed the Hammerhead and a couple of spare magazines of pistol ammo. I read the ammo type, 10 mm, interesting.

“Where now? I don’t have mapping right now so I am a bit lost.” I said to the monitor, hoping that it would reply. It was being a lot more interactive than before. I wonder why.

“If you want to find a place safe from Antithesis, locate a Vanguard.”

“A vanguard?” The term was slightly unfamiliar. It took a moment to remember why. “You mean a samurai?”

It didn’t respond and after a moment the screens flashed back to the security camera footage as before.

Dang it, I need to ask it more questions before it disappears like that.

I guess I had to find a Samurai.

I’ve never looked for one before. Much like I haven’t looked for a CSO or CEO before. In the hierarchy of society they are just one step below the head of a corporation but they have enough firepower to destroy corporations so they can not be ignored.

Honestly it would be easier to find my way to a CEO’s office and hide in there than finding a samurai.

Shrugging off the suggestion monitor made, I stepped across the room and peered through the door.

More dead, blood filling the hall in streams, showing the slight slope created to help with drainage. Stepping lightly about I caught the smell of something else.

Something…floral. Like the smell of flowers, real flowers, not the artificial perfume the receptionist of RuCorp wore. Strange that a scent would be prominent in the aura of death I was literally hopping through but it stood out to me.

I was halfway down the hall when I saw the screen flash blue with a single word:

“DUCK!”

I was midleap when I read it and decided not to argue.

Falling to the ground, I let my feet collapse underneath me and I fell bottom and then back to the ground in a less than graceful tumble. Looking at the ceiling I noticed the tentacles piercing the air that I used to occupy.

The sharp ends of the black and green tentacles were caked in dried blood. They stretched back into the neck of an Antithesis.

The creature was missing a head but the neck stretched long like a giraffe and into a blocky form of the same dark black and green material as the tentacle before me. Pinkish flaps pulsed at the base of its neck as if gasping for air.

Pulling the pistol as I lay sprawled I pointed it up at the creature and fired.

The heavy recoil had the gun smack me in the face and the shot grazed the creature, unperturbed by my attack the antithesis moved along the wall trying to get its tentacles close enough to catch me.

“A Model Four Antithesis. They are known for their ambush tactics and paranoia gas. Please do not breath more than necessary in this area, your poor excuse for a respirator does not filter this contaminant. Their weakness is where the neck connects to the main body.

Good Luck.”

The screen that gave the warning now gave advice I would not belittle.

Rolling to the side I got up and shot at the creature, now bracing for the recoil of the heavy pistol.

The bullets didn’t stop it as it continued its march in my direction.

Fuck…

I backed up slightly and paused. The monitor said that it had a weakness, and so far the monitor hasn’t steered me wrong…yet.

Breathing carefully as a mass of tentacles flailed just a meter away, edging ever closer. I readied the Hammerhead and placed a shot into the base of the neck. It recoiled this time.

Carefully I placed more and more bullets into the stem, focusing entirely on the process. I didn’t realize the tentacles were within reach of me until one grabbed my foot and dragged me to the floor.

Dazed for a moment I held tight to the weapon and instead of trying to break free of the tentacle’s grasp, I let it drag me closer to the Model Four.

Its tentacles were waving lethargically from what I assumed to be blood loss but I needed to end it so as I got closer to its extended neck I twisted to the side and placed the remaining three rounds in the magazine into the neck joint, effectively decapitating it.

As the neck fell so did the body, crumbling to the ground with shaky breaths before lying still.

Kicking the tentacle away I stood up. Gross antithesis blood coated my boots but I didn’t care too much about cleanliness at this time.

Rereading the warning I realized the danger of the paranoia gas and after reloading the Hammerhead, more away from the corpse, hoping to get on the other side of an air conditioning unit from these things to breathe a bit easier.

Squinting at the monitor for a second I paused, asking “Can the section’s recycler filter out the Antithesis gas?”

“Congratulations on surviving! And to answer your question, yes the filter can remove any Model Four gas. The paranoia gas isn’t very effective on humans but in large quantities it can have a terrible effect so the warning is warranted.”

“Why are you more talkative? I appreciate the advice and warnings but I don’t like surprises.” I asked, hoping this time it didn’t leave me hanging.

The display remained the same for but a moment before shifting, instead of a textbox it was an arrow pointing down the hallway where other monitors were, the next lighting up with blue light.

“We can talk while you make your way out of this ambush.”

Following along, I was careful of stepping on dried blood and watched the ceilings and shadowy corners whenever I came across them.

“I have a vested interest in your survival. Why now? I needed to know if you would follow instructions and advice.

Seeing as you are curious, I’ll let you ask me three questions.”

Not this again. Next they’ll ask for two truths and a lie to break the ice. I don’t need another coworker or stranger trying to get chummy because we survived a near death experience together, or at least I was the one in the near death experience.

Still, three questions were useful.

Seeing how they never introduced themself I won’t ask. I wouldn’t want to give out my name to anyone I rescued, albeit it is because my name is tied to a disaster of what many consider to be my own making, rather than social anxiety.

Who are you is another question most ask that doesn’t really help the situation.

Perhaps I could ask for the exit? But they are seemingly guiding me there now.

I got one.

“How did you know to close the doors when the other Antithesis attacked?”

“...Interesting question. I should say I am made aware of any Antithesis in this region caught on camera, I make it my point to contain the threat and keep as many civilians as possible alive and unused as biofuel for the Antithesis threat.”

Nodding along I passed an elevator with an Out of Order sign on the front and the floor number screen flashed an arrow pointing to the right.

“Second question. What was that Alien? You seem to know the models of Antithesis but I’ve never really studied them seeing as Macroon doesn’t have incursions.”

“The Antithesis that attacked you in the service tunnels was a Model Nine, a stealth based model that uses its fur to mimic its surroundings to blend into its environment. In that room it was disguised as a bunch of cables on the ceiling, unnoticed by all the technicians until it struck. All but you…If I might ask a question of my own, what clued you in on the presence of the Antithesis? That Model are known to fool electronic sensors and the naked eye.”

A genuine question and if they wanted to know what clued me in to help their identification software or technique I was welcome to share.

“Honestly, nothing that could be identifiable. Just an instinct of danger.” I couldn’t put it into words, the feeling of urgency, of danger while in that room.

The feeling of warning others was less important than fleeing the area first. Another regret to add to my character, I should’ve warned them. I could have saved them!

Stepping into the directed elevator the doors closed and the number screen flashes blue as if in response to my internal monologue.

“Good thing you started moving or everyone in that group would’ve been killed.”

I looked confused at the screen. “My running saved people?”

“Yes. My calculations predicted that if you stayed, the Model Nine would’ve cut through the group as a whole as everyone was bunched together. As you left a couple of the others stepped back to let you through, giving enough space that the Model Nine only struck three at the same time instead of all fifteen that were surrounding the circuit board.”

I sighed in relief, I guess my cowardice could sometimes help others as much as it hurt them.

“This is your stop. Good Luck.”

Staring at the screen as it switched back to the floor number as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

I was greeted by a pack of eight doglike creatures ripping through a couple bodies on the floor, they all turned to me and closed the distance in a flash.

I pulled my Hammerhead up and threw lead into the incoming pack of Antithesis, the first few fell but the rest kept coming and as the closest pounced forward, its three hinged jaws opening to encase my face in the maw of teeth it paused midair.

I put a bullet through its head and torso before it was thrown away from me.

I was confused but I still had others rushing me…

I looked down to the pile of Antithesis sliced clean through and they lay in uneven pieces across the floor, plant “blood” leaking out of the parts.

“What the-” I exclaimed when I saw something moving at the other end of the hallway. I lowered the pistol when I saw it was a person.

When my Hammerhead was lowered they flashed forward, kicking on bursts of air over the corpses and landing only a meter from me.

“Welcome to the Samurai Community Newbie!” said the figure dressed in whites and blues, their full faceplate an opaque light blue, a wire trailing behind their passage.

“I’m Sky-Blue Wire! I hope I’m the first to meet Macroon’s newest Samurai. Call me Sky.” I felt the smile in his voice as he reached a hand out to shake.