The structure of the Lake Washington Sanitation Complex is an engineering marvel. Columns of concrete rise hundreds of meters into the air, each braced against each other using massive steel beams. In the center, just North of Mercer Island, lies the command and control tower for the whole complex and the ventilation outlet for the Underlake. A truly gigantic building covering an area of several city blocks, it dominates the entire Underlake. The Tower takes in billions of cubic meters of air per hour, filtering all of it to harvest useful gases and ensure the city above does not smell what happens below, and houses the central administration complex for the Company's sanitation operations.
To the West of the tower is the Union Sanitation District. Covering the former Lake Union and Union Bay, this utterly gigantic sewage treatment complex takes all of the wastewater from the connected areas of the megacity and outputs two things - potable water fit for use in the city and a rich brown powder which the Free State primarily exports to the Alaskan territories for use on the many organic farms of that region, supplying the world’s elite with high-quality, and highly profitable, produce.
Recycled materials are taken South for processing in a large sorting and reuse complex near former Seward Park. Lithium, steel, aluminum, plastics, and even precious metals flow from the complex - which differs from recycling complexes elsewhere primarily by the scale of the operation and the level of automation CWM has achieved. The plant itself has few workers, mostly maintenance personnel checking on the fleet of repair drones which keep the facility humming and hired security tasked with keeping thefts of recycled material to an acceptable margin.
But the real marvels of the Underlake are the Pits. Every single dumpster, every single garbage bin in the city above eventually empties into these structures. Over five hundred massive steel spheres are buried under the bedrock of the Underlake, rotating once per day. After any magnetic objects are removed, the minimally processed garbage is dumped into these bioreactors, which take two weeks in turning everything from your grandmother’s casserole to biodegradable plastics and wood products into a rich, loamy soil.
It is in the Pits where most of the Underlake contractors working with our company find employment. While the bioreactors are still, the tops are open to allow off-gassing. Any willing individual can descend into these bioreactors to harvest valuable materials. Everything from non-magnetic metals to recyclable plastics to consumer electronics and even cardboard is purchased by the recycling complex. These independent contractors can either take goods in exchange or credits directly, and it is via this trade which the Company employs the null-citizens of the Underlake profitably, and by this trade which we control their lives.
In the event of Antithesis infiltration into the Underlake, please contact upper management immediately. Do not worry. The Company has a contingency for every possible complication.
Note: The Company denies all involvement with both null citizens or any criminal activity in the Underlake. All communications to the media regarding Underlake operations must go through a manager of Vice President level or higher, or the CWM Press Office. Failure to comply with this policy will result in immediate termination and possible revocation of citizenship.
-Classified internal Cascadia Waste Management briefing document for newly hired middle managers.
Luke, Underlake
Setting your bones manually, one by one, was not fun. But it was a hell of a lot better when blasted out of your fucking mind on alien narcotics than it would be trying to splint everything using human drugs.
Luke, please elevate the broken segment of your left femur approximately five point three millimeters. You’re almost there. Yes. That’s close enough. Please hold everything still for twenty seconds.
Intayis was, quite possibly, the best surgical assistant anyone could want. They’d started on his broken ribs, as one was threatening to puncture his lung. Once those bones were more-or-less back into shape, Luke and the magic voice in his head moved on to his leg. He’d be on his feet soon. What did he ever do without magical alien micromachines?
It had been three or four minutes since the end of the fight with Junk’s people. Zim’s twitching had stopped, and the young man was starting to moan a bit as he came around, thanks to the healing properties of the nano-repair suite.
Beginning the process of dragging the bodies of Zim’s salvage crew outside, Luke started interrogating his AI.
“Intayis, I need some help. Help me wrap my mind around what’s happening in the Underlake.”
Of course. I have taken the liberty of scanning local news and data feeds over the past few minutes. I have a hypothesis about the type of incursion we are facing.
“They’re not all the same? I mean, these are plants, right? Don’t they act according to pre-programmed instructions, or something? I thought what they were doing was the equivalent of eating all of us and turning us into some sort of alien tree creature colony?”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
If the Antithesis were so simple, even a race as primitive as humanity would have been able to successfully eradicate them with little assistance from the Protectors. After all, humanity is singularly talented in finding ways to blow things up.
“Yeah, you’re right about that. Okay. What kind of fight are we looking at?”
The Underlake does not present an easy infiltration opportunity for the Antithesis. The lake surface above is airtight, and all inputs are adequately screened for unknown biological matter via the sewage system and the air intakes. The only possibility here is if a remnant of a prior incursion infiltrated via a weakened section of the lake floor some time ago and has been building a stealth incursion. It is probable that as the stealth hive grew, it eventually came into contact with Zim’s pit crew and has activated as a result of the perceived threat.
“Okay. What does this mean for us? Are there going to be Samurai sent to help? Are we stuck on our own? Will we be drowning under alien bodies within the next five minutes?”
I believe this particular hive was not organized for offensive action yet. If I am correct, and it is a stealth hive, then it has likely focused on building hive infrastructure and accumulating biomass, while concealing itself from potential threats. This means that we have a brief window to act.
“So, you’re saying there’s a chance?”
Of course. Antithesis grow using available biomass. We must do what we can to deny the Antithesis as much biomass as possible. Your capabilities as a Vanguard will grow exponentially with every Antithesis model you eliminate, but with every second, the biomass in the immediate area will be converted to incubate models more dangerous than the Sevens you faced. I see two major potential sources of biomass in the Underlake, besides the inhabitants.
“The compost pits and the Union sanitation complex.”
Yes. Both represent large stores of nutrients which the Antithesis would seek to control. Since your friend was attacked in one of those Pits, it is likely that the hive is already using multiple bioreactors as nutrient sources for new growth. If we disrupt that, then we can disrupt the growth of the hive.
“But aren’t there other Samurai who can handle this?”
Yes. However, current media feeds place the most active and capable Vanguard in this geographical area at other hot spots, actively engaging the Antithesis. It appears that the local military response was ineffective and allowed several satellite hives to escape destruction after the recent incursion. If you would like, I can alert the local network of your presence and officially request aid from local Vanguards.
“No, Intayis, I don’t trust CWM. Can you break their firewall, or access the open Internet and not just the CWM intranet?”
I could, but it would take the purchase of multiple cyber-warfare tools. You do not have the points required to purchase that catalog. It is a quite complicated firewall, and it would require both physical access to a CWM control facility and a Class I Cyber-Warfare suite in order for me to effect a breach.
“Then, we are on our own.”
By this time, Luke had just finished dragging the last body outside, that of his former friend, Junk. He bent down to search her, unstrapping the thigh holster she used to keep her pistol secured, and taking two spare magazines from her belt, under the overalls. Dragging her body on top of the other two, Luke doused them with kerosene, and used a laser torch to ignite the fuel.
It was the best he could do for them - make sure they couldn’t be used as plant food.
Moving back inside, Luke saw Zim stirring awake, and pulled up a chair by his friend. As soon as the young man’s eyes began to open, Luke gently placed his arm on a shoulder wet with sweat and worse.
“Hey, Z. You doing okay, buddy?”
“Luke? Where am I? What happened? I…. I remember a bite, and I came back here, but…”
Just then, a notification in his Aug gear.
Humans saved: 1
Points added
New total: 26
“I guess you’re going to be okay, Z.” Luke held his friend’s hand. It was shaking, and clammy, but he felt Z needed human contact more than anything else.
But it wasn’t to be. Hearing a noise from the airlock, Luke stood, turned, and saw another shape coming in through the broken airlock. A woman with blank eyes was moving in, stumbling in the harsh light of the airlock. “Z, we have company. Can you get up?”
Zim groaned in reply. “Company?”
“Antithesis. Model Sevens. It’s what bit you. Almost killed you, too. Got the rest of your crew. And I think they got more crews, too. Cover your ears, kid.”
Zim’s eyes went wide, but he lifted shaking hands to his ears, pressing them tight against his skull as if to block out the world. Luke set his feet wide, drawing the Colt pistol from his thigh, thumbing the safety off and drawing a bead on the stumbling shape, moving in through the door.
Luke checked the chamber of the ancient pistol, finding a round seated in firing position. Eight rounds per magazine. Three magazines. One in the chamber. That means twenty five shots, and it didn’t look like his new friend was alone.
Aiming high, Luke calmed himself. One deep breath through his regulator in, then out. Push on the grip with the right hand, pull with the left to provide stability. Cocking the hammer, he put gentle pressure on the sensitive trigger of the pistol until, almost taking him by surprise, it barked and bucked.
The woman’s left eye vanished into a red ruin, and she collapsed. She was missing the back of her skull, and white shapes moved in the mess.
Target Eliminated!
Reward... 5 points!
Current points: 31!
More shapes moved in the dim light outside. Zim screamed and fell off the exam table, right into a pool of congealing blood. It wasn’t going to be a good day.