Leaving Mar behind, Ezok and Eleanor followed the narrow back alleys, crossing tunnels flooded with water and passing dimly lit passages. The air grew less dense, and the sinister shadows of the lower levels gave way to the softer shadows of the mid-area.
Without a map, they could easily die, encounter monsters, poisonous vapor clouds, or walls that suddenly spewed fire. With a map, the journey became much safer and faster.
They hadn't brought excessive food supplies, as Mar had been paid far more than necessary. The backpacks of the teenagers contained just enough food for two days. The psykers decided to temporarily settle in the mid-levels, where there were plenty of food warehouses.
Ezok stashed the grenade launcher in his backpack, taking only water supplies and tools with him. Eleanor brought a little water and ammunition.
"Makes you think, doesn't it?" Eleanor said softly, clearly curious. "It's like being in another world here."
Ezok looked at the open space where metal structures alternated periodically with rotten wood. They were overcoming abandoned technical premises. There were no steam or water pipes, and the open areas were not littered with garbage and sewage.
"Yes, but we're not here to enjoy the sights. We need to find shelter so our journey isn't in vain," Ezok replied, holding the maps in his hands.
Soon they reached the mid-levels, and the first people began to appear in the corridors. The watchful gazes of those around did not leave the teenagers alone. The mid-level was a place where poverty bordered on the opportunity to get cash, and everyone was on their guard. The poor were ready to seize any chance of survival, even if it meant changing their status.
Gangs were actively fighting in the mid-levels, while in the lower levels they hid. Shram had warned them about all the local gangs, but the owners changed too often.
The artificial lighting in the mid-levels provided the vitamin D so desperately needed by hive residents, so they didn't look like pale zombies.
Since childhood, Ezok had been gathering information about the hive. He had awakened his warp abilities much earlier than Eleanor. From the very beginning, he had developed a training program based on fear of the Chaos Gods and base knowledge.
He knew nothing about other psykers, but Eleanor also felt her power. They were both aware of the thin veil stretched across the entire world.
Every use of their abilities tore holes in this veil. The emotions of dozens of people weakened it. Ezok had always warned his sister against trying to penetrate this veil or tear it.
This restriction minimized the use of warp abilities, and deep knowledge was required to increase their effectiveness. Only practice gave an understanding of how to influence the thin veil covering the world. Eleanor was curious, but Ezok knew about the Chaos Gods and their threat. He understood very well that tearing the veil could lead to bad end. Therefore, the use of psychic abilities in combat was an act of suicide.
During combat, it was impossible to constantly monitor the veil. It was difficult to stop at the right moment - the enemy could simply kill you. The emotions of the soldiers filled the world, greatly weakening the veil. Ezok was even afraid to imagine psykers using their abilities in battles.
His thinking were interrupted by a pungent smell. They turned a corner and saw an open space with artificial lighting.
Finally, they reached the warehouse district. Everything here was organized more neatly. Metal containers lined up in rows, and the light of the artificial sun played among them.
The hive section was adapted to the needs of the meat corporation.
The extensive open area included three zones: residential areas for workers, a processing plant, and corporate warehouses. Barbed wire fences created mazes of passages.
Armed guards were on duty, not letting the poor in. The appearance of two new faces put the guards on alert. Five people armed with autoguns stopped the brother and sister.
"Who are you?"
Ezok raised his hands, the grenade in his hand changed the guards' perception. Their intentions could be aimed at using the two poor teenagers, but the boy was from a gang.
"We're looking for work. We were told they're hiring in this area."
Two guards tensely watched as Ezok held the primed grenade.
One of the guards was about to stop the girl, but his experienced comrade stopped him. He pointed at Eleanor and raised his rifle, then mentioned the nearest gang.
"House number 1230. There you'll find the Orange Elephants."
Eleanor was embarrassed to find herself the object of attention. She cautiously hypnotized them, "Thank you for the information, uncle."
Ezok stashed the grenade and quickly pulled out a homemade mechanical timer.
Eleanor's psychic abilities caused a chill. The five guards lowered their weapons and felt sympathy for the teenagers. The captain handed Ezok an autopistol, and the others shared food, money and ammunition. There was nothing strange about their actions.
"Do you have your own house?" Ezok helped to Eleanor's hypnosis. The two psykers had almost fried the poor man's brain, he howled in pain for several seconds and then began to respond.
While Ezok nervously watched the timer, his sister slyly searched the people's pockets. The captain answered as if he had lost all emotion. "My house number 1203, provided by the corporation."
Ezok took the keys and forced the hypnosis, so they could settle in man house for a while. The man jerked again from convulsions, and the likelihood of a stroke increased sharply, but the security captain would stay with his friend this month.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
As soon as the teenagers left, the guards forgot about the meeting and continued their patrol. Only the captain held his head and asked his subordinates to walk slower. The entire meeting took only 96 seconds. Another 48 seconds later, the warp disturbances ceased.
Powerful abilities like hypnosis caused too many disturbances. Brother and sister freely used only low level abilities.
Psykers like them could feel warp oscillations, so psyker hunters must also possess this gift. Long ago Ezok had developed a rule of changing locations, limiting the time he used his powers to three minutes, and they did not return to the scene of the crime for a week.
Eleanor had heard from her brother a lot of terrible things not only about the Chaos Gods, but also about the Emperor and what would happen if they were caught. She always got nervous when she saw a representative of the Ecclesiarchy who handed out food.
Brother and sister headed towards the specified house, carefully studying the unfamiliar streets, because gangs always left someone on guard.
Eleanor felt a slight headache and complained to her brother, "Whispers... It's worse here than below. The veil is torn in some places."
Ezok pulled tiny sweets out of his backpack and gave them to his sister.
"I've told you before, strong emotions weaken the barrier between demons and our world tremendously. Aunt Mar's needs are simple - when she eats good food, she is happy and calm. It is more difficult for people to lose a good life; greed, anger and hunger that comes after a well-fed life."
Ezok noticed the torn veil and frowned. The psyker who caused this would certainly die - hopefully it was not a demonic summoning.
He understood the emotions of the mid-level residents best of all, having been thrown into the Warhammer world himself, he had felt similar feelings.
Eleanor quickly ate the candy and calmed down. The whispers still urged her to look beyond the veil. After three years, she was already used to this deception. The torn veil had become normal, and Ezok calmed her down.
Twenty kilometers from them, a massacre or orgy had probably arisen - this was no psyker. Ezok reassured his sister and they walked on.
Brother and sister reached the old tin door and used the key. The home of the commander opened up before them. Behind the door, which hung on rickety hinges, another reality began - cozy but permeated with some kind of tension. When they stepped over the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them, leaving only a faint creak, and the room swallowed them in dim light.
As expected, the security commander had his own "cogitator" - a device capable of processing information, accessing the hive network, and creating complex simulations. In the corner of the room stood a massive desk with a built-in screen, displaying flickering light lines. Multicolored indicators pulsated to the rhythm of silent activity.
The room was filled with dark steel chairs that created a cafeteria atmosphere. The walls were painted in deep shades, but rust showed through in places.
In the corner there was an alcove with a soft armchair. This was where the security commander liked to relax. Next to the chair was a table littered with maps, photos, tools, cheap lho sticks, and various documents.
Two doors led to the toilet and closet.
Eleanor immediately ran to inspect the toilet. She had only seen something similar in Shram's house. Ezok was interested in the cogitator.
Next to it lay a sheet of paper in Gothic. The tech-priestesses had written down all the procedures the security captain needed to follow to operate the device.
Ezok ignored the religious nonsense and immediately applied his abilities. He was felt a headache, but there was no warp disturbance. He immediately assumed this was a simple computer without an interface.
Taking the sheet, he went through the instructions, immediately noticing the authorization command and key commands.
The psyker indulged in playing with the terminal, while Eleanor just snorted at her brother's behavior. She started rummaging through clothes, even finding good boots. Then the girl enthusiastically began stealing delicious food from the closet.
So a few hours passed.
Eleanor clapped her hands on the armchair. Ezok looked away from the cogitator and at his sister. The girl held out an open can of food and a spoon.
"We'll have enough food for a long time. I checked the clothes, the boots are mine, and you take everything else."
He shrugged and turned off the cogitator.
"We'll stay here for a week, don't forget about the neighbors. Each of them is our potential enemy, they can report our eccentricities to the Imperium."
Eleanor interrupted her meal and pointed at him with a spoon that had a piece of grox meat on it, "Let's stay for two weeks, it's just your paranoia. We won't use abilities in the house anyway."
Ezok chewed the meat, "It's enough that we're new people who don't work, settled in someone else's house. Don't forget how Zel died."
Eleanor remembered the psyker who, unlike them, did not hide his abilities. She could not imagine how the lower level residents were able to report him to the Adeptus Arbites.
The girl quickly finished eating, and then decided to eat all the sweets without sharing with her brother.
Ezok relaxed and leaned back in the chair, the psyker was slowly falling asleep.
In this safe pace, a week passed. Ezok constantly tinkered with the cogitator, he finally figured out the logic of this device. The processor power was not enough for rendering, but it was enough for very complex calculations. Examining the board, he saw obvious homemade connections between several small boards.
The screen was very durable. This computer was made for the military, and the people who designed it did not have access to lithographic equipment. He saw one of the cogitator's motherboards at Scram's place - it was a board from an ordinary radio.
The cogitator itself uses the board only for various external inputs, not using the soldered antenna. The cogitator itself was simply a huge repository of authorization commands.
Ezok counted more than ten logins and passwords in the instructions for the mechanicus, and the cogitator divided functions between different accounts. Changing the password was impossible, and verification was performed at the hardware level.
He could try to resolder the board to change passwords, but he could not even try to circumvent restrictions. The antivirus functions could not be disabled, and antivirus processor resource consumption was around 70%.
The psyker could assume that trying to write malicious software will be bad choice. The cogitator was constantly looking for viruses and violations in the hardware settings.
Connecting to the hive network was only possible to receive news, and there were no commands to send data. Ezok was sure this limitation was related to not knowing the right login and password. With the right login and password he could send data over the network.
If earlier he had only dealt with radios and primitive alarms, now he was studying a computer in the Warhammer world for the first time.
His game with the cogitator brought an unexpected result. He thought about the possible vulnerability of all devices existing in the Imperium.
Logins and passwords were the basis of the Mechanicus' power over technology. The device's functions were inaccessible without logins and passwords, and repairs were impossible without a password and login to reset the data.
The network that connected the devices was very extensive, he remembered that in books it was mentioned that the Mechanicus could take control of robots that located in another solar system.
The power of the tech-priests was held up by logins and passwords, and if he got those passwords, with luck he could turn off entire Imperial armies.
For a psyker like him, this was an opportunity to create a fake Inquisition ID or authorized psyker sanction.
Eleanor watched as her brother was still messing with the cogitator. She could not understand where he got so much love for mechanisms from.
Ignoring him, she continued sewing her clothes. There was old men's armor in the house, enough for her new combat suit.
The lack of knee pads had already been a problem on the last mission, she had to heal her knees, and shrapnel protection would allow her not to fear servitors so much. These creatures constantly interfered with them stealing supplies.