Results tagged “underground” from City Eternal

The next day we crossed over Lake Michigan. We turned off the jet and instead placed the ship in the water, using all of the lift system's power for propulsion instead of floating. It doubled the speed it was capable of, but it still took us half a day to cross the lake. As we came close to the opposite shore, Michael scurried down the stairs into the cabin.

"Listen to this!" he yelled, and pressed a button at the inside control pad.

A crackle and lots of static came over the speakers. Jon looked at me, and I looked back at him, shrugging our shoulders in tandem.

"All I hear is static, Mike," I said.

"Obviously! Don't you know what that means?"

"Uh, nothing?" Jon replied.

"No! You only have static where there is a signal. Up until now, the radios have been completely silent, no static. Something is broadcasting near here, and that static is the proof."

"So there is something out there…" I said amazed. "Finally, we might get answers!"

"But how will we find the origin? According to the maps, Wisconsin is rather… big," Jon pointed out.

"I'm going to set up a directional antenna array below deck. By using that, we can figure out which direction that signal is coming from. Jon, I'll need you to get us out of the lake and floating again. I want to get this antenna up before we lose the signal."

"Sure thing," Jon replied, and scurried up to the deck.

A half hour later we were finally ashore. Michael had rigged up a directional filter for the ship's antenna, and relayed directions to Jon to drive towards. Over the next hour, the signal grew stronger. Before long, we were able to actually understand what was being said. Michael had Sienna, Anna and myself sit by the speaker and try to pick up on what was being said.

"Whatever the signal is, I did some analysis. It's a looping message. Try to figure out what its saying," he told us over the intercom.

We listened intensely, trying to pick out any words we could understand. Finally, the ship went over a hill, and the signal cleared up enough to understand. I yelled at Jon and Michael to hold their positions, and we focused on the message.

"Attention all Wisconsin dome residents: due to increased military activity from the New York dome, Wisconsin has been evacuated. If you still reside inside the dome, please evacuate to the pre-assigned encampment location. The dome has been placed under automated control. Life support and power is expected to last less than two weeks. The area is dangerous, and return access to the dome has been closed off due to the continually deteriorating infrastructure. Please make sure you have everything you need, and leave immediately. This is the final warning. This message will now repeat."

"They abandoned the dome?" Sienna asked.

"City Eternal must have really hurt them if they're abandoning the dome…" I replied.

Michael and Jon came into the room, and we explained what the message said.

"If that's true, there might not be any Wisconsin left to visit. Who knows how old that message really is," Jon said.

"Well it said the dome had two weeks of power remaining. Besides, if that message is still broadcasting, there has to be something left," Michael pointed out.

"Yeah, and since we know the general area the signal is coming from, we'll be able to locate the dome a lot easier."

Michael took the helm again, as we headed towards the direction of the transmission. It was only an hour later that Michael called down to us.

"Hey, I can see it, come look!"

We all scurried up to the deck, while Michael slowed the ship down to make it safe for us. Holding carefully to the railings as the ship slowed, we looked out towards the north, where Michael was pointing.

"My God… it's a disaster…" Sienna said fearfully.

The dome was in terrible shape. Two gaping holes were visible from our perspective, and a few patches of fire and smoke could be spotted as well. Like City Eternal, the original smooth plating shell no longer existed, but much of the inner structure also looked mangled and warped.

"No wonder that transmission said it wasn't safe inside. I'm surprised it's still standing," Jon remarked.

"Remember that bad feeling I told you about, Michael? It just became a whole lot worse," I said worryingly.

As the ship crept closer, we gathered our things in preparation.

"Should we pack the weapons?" I asked.

"I wouldn't take any chances," Jon replied.

I nodded and grabbed my gear. Besides the weapons though, we packed light, intending to scavenge for food inside. Our ship's food supply was severely limited, and with the sail situation, it could take us much longer than planned to make it back, so we tried to ration as much as possible.

I stepped back out onto the deck, as the ship carefully slid up to one of the dome's entrances. It was similar to City Eternal, that much was obvious, but in a state of disrepair. Frankly, I was shocked when the control panel came to life and opened the door for Michael. We slowly stepped inside, but didn't proceed far, as Michael wanted to try and access the dome's network.

"The main server is down. All I'm seeing are some random backups for the dome's major systems, like power and water. Even the civilian information is unavailable," Michael informed us.

"So, we're on our own," Sienna said.

"Looks like it," Michael replied.

"What are we even looking for?"

"Same thing we were looking for at City Eternal: access to their server. Assuming they were both built similarly, they should both have the same core server with some valuable information."

Jon and I started walking forward a bit, until we reached an archway. Beyond was an impressive set of stairs. The stairs were in fact so impressively long that we couldn't even see the bottom.

"Is this really the entrance?" I asked, looking at Michael.

He shrugged, and we all proceeded to descendinto the depths of the dome.

"I just realized something. Remember back at City Eternal, there was that underground city? The abandoned one? Maybe this dome is the same." Jon pointed out.

"It's possible. It never made sense for City Eternal to build atop a perfectly good city, so it stands to reason that other domes wouldn't do the same." Michael replied.

Michael grabbed a flashlight from the hefty backpack he was carrying on our behalf. It revealed a large door in the darkness. We opened the door not sure what to expect, but in hindsight I don't think we could have ever prepared ourselves for what we saw.

The door opened up to reveal a city not unlike what we saw in the City Eternal underground. But for the first time we saw it open, bright and free. Much of the city looked war torn, but it still had as beauty of its own. The devastation was made more apparent by local fires, and gaping holes in the fake sky, but the fire mixed with the dim lit sky gave a sort of hue to the city that normally you'd only see in old photographs of sunsets.

"So much destruction…" I said in awe.

"I'm amazed the dome still stands in this condition," Michael replied. "Feel anyone out there, Anna?"

Anna shook her head, holding close to Sienna.

Jon stepped up to a railing in front of us. Our vantage point overlooked much of the city, as if high atop a mountain. The city itself sloped downward in from the edges, in stark contrast to the perfectly flat City Eternal main floor. This meant that our vantage point was just one of an endless number along the edges of the dome.

He looked over the railing, curiously searching for something from what I could tell.

"There's a tram down there, what do you think are the chances of it working?"

Michael walked up beside him to look as well.

"No, look, further down the line the rail is broken. Without a map of the city or access to the computer systems, we'll never find a working one."

"So we're walking the whole way?" I asked.

"It's only about five miles to the center, right? Shouldn't take us long," Sienna said.

"That isn't five miles of flat ground though. It's going to be difficult to find a path to the center," Michael explained.

Sienna stepped up to join the other two at the railing, Anna in tow.

"Maybe we should pick a spot to take a break and get our bearings then. Like a halfway point," she suggested, as she looked out across the city in front of them.

"There!" she pointed.

I decided to join the group and see what Sienna was pointing toward.

"That clearing should be a good place. Looks about halfway, and it looks like it has a good vantage point of the rest of the city as well."

"Yeah, that should work, good idea," Jon said.

Michael stepped away from the railing, heading towards the spiral stairs going down.

"Alright, enough gawking. We're not getting any younger here."

"More stairs?" Jon moaned.

"I have a feeling that's going to be a regular sight around here. At least with all the support systems down. Best start getting used to it," Michael quipped.

I silently agreed with Jonathan's sentiments, not just dreading the climb down, but the much more unsightly climb back as well. I reluctantly shuffled in behind Jon, while Sienna and Anna followed.

"Yukari!" Jonathan yelled, turning his head rapidly towards me. "We're going to be in some deep shit! You think you can kung-fu those guys?"

"Kung Fu? Do I look like some sort of martial artist? I'm a swordfighter!"

Jonathan grabbed the console hard, and it started to melt away. Sparks flew, and the tram seemed to cry in pain, as the steel screeched in stress. As the tram slowed, a sword began to form from the shell of the console. Jon worked quickly, resulting in a dirty and unremarkable blade, but adequate for what I needed.

Tobias drew a pistol from his trench coat, his only defense. Sienna also reached for hers, although I had doubts to whether she could bring herself to fire it. She was a strong-willed woman, but killing simply was not her way.

As we began to enter the station, Jon turned around and tossed me the sword. He then sat on the ground, taking cover behind the remains of the console. Anna sat against the wall in the back, while Sienna kneeled in front of her, with her pistol pointed at the station's arrival area. Tobias took up a similar position behind a bench in the middle of the tram, while I knelt against the rear side door waiting for us to arrive. Unfortunately we couldn't cover Michael too well, although I suspected he'd be the least of our problems.

I looked over at Anna who was clenching to Sienna's back, and asked her, "Can you tell how many of them are there?"

"Uhm… I think… sixteen?" She said.

"Oh, only sixteen?" I replied with a sarcastic tone.

The tram finally came to a stop. I peeked over the tram's wall, looking around for these soldiers. They were sitting silently, guns pointed at the tram.

"Not even a word," I thought to myself. "They have no intention of taking us alive now."

It was obvious that they were going to wait for us to make the first move, so I took the initiative. Because the tram was comprised of only half-height walls and no ceiling, I could easily jump up and out without using the door. I'd like to think I was stealthy enough to have moved unseen, but it was really a side effect of my speed.

My goal was to draw their fire away from the tram, so that they could safely get out and defend themselves. I kicked the gun out of the nearest soldier's arms, and tossed it into the tram. By this point, my movements were no longer a blur, and the others began to open fire. They didn't seem to be concerned with friendly fire, and thoroughly devastated the soldier I had just disarmed. I kept moving towards the next target, further away from the tram. Bullets zoomed past me from all angles.

I didn't have time to get fancy, so I brought my sword to bear. It was a more traditional short sword, rather than the katana I was used to. The weight was much different, so I had to be careful not to accidentally lose grip. I took down the next couple of soldiers in short form, using their bodies as shields when possible.

It was then that I heard additional gunfire, from the direction of the tram. I took a risk and glanced back, to see Jon wielding some sort of rifle. It must have been the other thing he was melting earlier. I also spotted Tobias opening fire with his pistol. I was confused as to why no one was using the rifle I had tossed them, until I saw Sienna of all people holding it.

"So much for not killing anyone," I thought to myself.

A bullet then whistled right past my abdomen. I felt a slight twinge of heat, and looked down to see the bullet had traveled through my shirt. That was enough motivation to finally stay focused at the task at hand. I didn't have time to check in on the rest of the group.

I moved towards the next soldier crouching behind a bench. Just before I reached him, another soldier popped out from behind a support column, and aimed directly at me. I dropped to the ground as fast as possible, attempting to dodge his fire, when I suddenly noticed he wasn't firing. I raised my head to see that he had dropped the weapon and was now clenching a bullet wound in the chest.

I flicked my head around to find my savior, but whoever had shot the soldier was already moving on to other targets. Taking a deep breath, I hopped back on my feet, and forcefully disarmed the man behind the bench. With him gone, the right side of the station was cleared. There was a loud call from the other side, ordering everyone to fall back to the surface. The gunfire suddenly dropped off, and the station fell quiet. My heart was beating so fast I thought that even Michael could hear it.

I absentmindedly tried to put the sword into the hip hilt, forgetting that it wasn't a proper katana. Annoyed with having nowhere to put it, I wiped the blade off as best I could, and haphazardly slipped it through my belt. Hopefully I wouldn't trip and gouge myself with it. Shirking the responsibility of helping the others off the tram, I followed the exit path of the soldiers, to make sure the area was clear.

The stairwell seemed clear. The team slowly worked themselves off the tram, and we made it over to the stairs.

"Is there seriously no elevator here?" Sienna complained.

"We can't flick Michael on yet, there's no way he'll make it all the way up from here." Jonathan informed us.

"Tobias, what does your reference manual say?" Sienna asked sarcastically.

Tobias glared at Sienna distastefully, but pulled his notebook out anyway. He grabbed a yellow bookmark hanging out of the top, and flipped to its page. Paging forward a bit, he finally found something.

"There's a service elevator about 50 yards down the track."

We turned around and walked back to the track. Although this was the last station, the tram line continued for a distance into a tunnel. There appeared to be a walkway along the side of the tunnel as well. Tobias and Sienna pushed Michael's stretcher along the grated walkway, the metal wheels rattling wildly.

The tunnel grew dark as we progressed. I was surprised just how dark it became, as the underground was barely lit itself. Finally we arrived at the service elevator. The elevator was locked by a key, which Jonathan made quick work of. Once inside, Tobias quickly covered the escape plan. The elevator went up to the 15^th floor of the surface maintenance area. After the elevator arrived, we'd need to activate Michael and run like hell. It wouldn't take the army long to figure out what we had done.

As Tobias finished up his review, I looked at Anna, who was sitting on the stretcher looking over Michael.

"He looks so peaceful; I wonder what he's thinking," Anna wondered aloud.

"He's probably worrying about us," I offered.

"He may look peaceful, but I doubt he is. Imagine being completely cut off from the world… no sight, no sound, no touch, no smell, not even taste." Jonathan explained.

"That almost sounds like… being buried alive," Sienna said worriedly.

Jon nodded in agreement. "It couldn't be pleasant."

"We're almost to the top, let's wake up Michael," Tobias said readily, as if he suddenly felt guilty for Michael's situation.

Tobias slowly and carefully rolled Michael on his side again, and pulled his shirt up. Jonathan hobbled over, and reopened the access panel. He pressed a couple of buttons, and the strange voice once again detailed the revival of Michael's robotic body.

As it continued, the elevator reached the final floor, as high as it could take us. I grabbed the back of the stretcher, while Tobias grasped the front. A hard push and a couple of thuds later, and we were out. We were once again on a grated walkway, except now we were suspended nearly 100 feet in the air. I tried not to look down.

Anna didn't take too kindly to the heights, hopping off of Michael's stretcher and hovering close to Sienna. Jon was careful not to trip or have his crutches become stuck in the grating. There was a silent sense of urgency as we moved, although it seemed there was no immediate threat. We had all seen enough action for one day.

By the time we reached the end of the walkway, coming closer to the walls of the dome, Michael had finally awakened.

"How much farther?" he asked Tobias.

"About five flights of stairs straight up," he said, pointing above us.

I followed his arm and saw, through the walkways above, many large metal tubes. There was a low hum, the hum of the ventilation fans.

Michael left the stretcher behind, and walked carefully with us.

"Think you can make it?" I asked, concerned.

"Hard to tell. Only one way to find out," he said, smiling.

"I'm glad you're not concerned," I muttered.

Michael made himself useful, and practically carried Jon up the stairs with him. Flight after flight, we kept moving. We were about halfway when Anna grabbed Sienna's arm.

"What is it, baby?" she asked.

"There's more coming, from below!"

"The stairwell," Tobias realized.

"We don't have time to stop and fight. We need to keep moving," Jon said, ushering us as much as he could with Michael holding him up.

"Jonathan!" I called from the back.

"What?"

"Couldn't you melt these stairs down? They don't seem too rigid."

"Good idea. Everyone get up here, I'll reform these stairs into a wall."

We slid past Jon, and he limped back down a few stairs. Grabbing the railings first, he proceeded to melt the stairs down into bars, like a jail. He continued to work as fast as he could, not attempting to secure the bars, just to deter the army and remove their passage (as around five stairs were suddenly missing). Once he made it up to the floor, he melted the floor up as we moved, ensuring that no one could jump or climb over.

The scaffolding and stairs seemed to moan, and I wondered if Jon had mistakenly removed some supports in the process. We didn't waste any time to find out, though, and charged onward. Jon had moved as quickly as he could, but Anna let us know they were rapidly approaching. I could actually hear them clambering up the stairs below, and many shouts for us.

As we approached the floor we were heading for, Michael suddenly let go of Jon. He grasped the handrail tightly, but kept moving.

"Michael, are you alright?"

He nodded, but was silent.

We kept moving, only one more flight to go. He slowly crept up with us, as if every step he took would cause him to fall. He was waiting for his legs to finally fail him. We were on the last steps, I could see he was struggling as much as he could. Then he stopped for the final time.

"I'm sorry," he said, and collapsed there on the stairs.

"Shit!" Jon yelled. He grabbed Michael's arm, while gesturing to Tobias to grab the other. Sienna and I realized it was going to take more than one and a half men to drag Michael up, so we went to grab his legs. We pushed and pulled as hard as we could, and little by little, we moved him up those last few stairs. Once we were on the floor, Jon struggled to make another stretcher for him.

While Jon worked, Tobias walked across the walkway towards the ventilation fan. We could hear the wind howling through. He looked up and down the round vent duct, and grabbed onto a handle. He struggled with the handle for a while, finally resorting to using his leg for leverage, he popped the door open.

Without warning, a red light flashed and an alarm blared.

"The alarm is for the filtration system being bypassed, just ignore it!" he called over.

Jonathan had just finished with the stretcher by now, and he was looking visibly worn out by the effort. He had used his powers a great deal today, and I'm sure his head was pounding. Unfortunately, Anna's visibly worried face told me we didn't have time to sit down and relax.

The new stretcher was much lower to the ground, so that we could easily roll Michael onto it. Once we managed to get him on, we took off for the vent door Tobias had opened. The alarm continued to sound, and I couldn't help but worry about what sort of trouble it would cause. We fumbled our way into the ventilation shaft, and the wind ripped us apart. I felt like I was going to fall over. Tobias led the way, carrying Anna on his back. Sienna and I pushed Michael, while Jon carefully pushed his way forward.

It wasn't a long walk before we reached the ventilation fan. The fan was massive, over 10 feet in diameter. It became harder and harder to push forward toward the fan as we approached.

"This is the last obstacle before we make it out of here! We need to shut this thing down!" Tobias yelled over the roaring motor and wind.

I felt guilty, but I looked back at Jon once more. He nodded, and we helped him up to the fan, holding him so that the force of the wind wouldn't knock him back.

He placed his hands on the motor, and concentrated deeply. He was straining and fighting the pain in his head again, and I could tell he was having difficulty. Suddenly, with a cry of pain, he let go of the motor and grasped his forehead.

"Jon, are you alright?" Sienna asked, also concerned.

He shook his head, but placed his hands back on the motor again anyway. Again he tried to melt it down, to stop the fan in any way he could manage. However, just like last time, he let go, yelling out in pain.

"I… I can't do it, it hurts too much to concentrate!" he cried.

"Sienna, isn't there something you can do?" I demanded.

"I can't do anything for the mind. It's too complex," she explained.

Left with no other option, I grabbed the generic sword Jon had made for me earlier. Drawing it from my belt, I looked around the fan for some place to stab it, possibly jamming it or breaking it. Having difficulty finding a weak spot in the motor, I took my sword and jammed it as quickly as I could in the blades.

Milliseconds later, one of the blades struck the sword, and to my surprise, snapped it cleanly in half against the supports I had jammed it against. I let the remaining half drop to the floor, and looked back at the others.

"Well, I'm out of ideas!" I yelled.

Jonathan's body crumpled to the floor on impact. I couldn't help but look at his bloodied body. As if to confirm the possibility of his death, the parachute collapsed on top of him, hiding him from view.

Then Anna said the words I had been hoping for.

"They're both still alive, I can feel them!" she cried.

I let out a huge sigh of relief. Sienna grabbed Anna's hand and started running toward Jonathan.

"You two check on Michael, we'll handle Jon!" she told us.

I glanced at Tobias, we took off for Michael. Once we reached his body, Michael turned his head and looked at us. Overall he seemed rather unscathed, except for a growing puddle of a dark, smelly liquid under him.

"My… batteries… resorting to life… support only… tell… Jon…" he said faintly, before he went silent.

"That didn't sound good," Tobias said.

"You always say that," I responded.

I carefully rolled Michael onto his back, and took a look at where he was leaking. His shirt was torn up, and he seemed to be leaking from the hidden panel in his back.

"Is this battery acid?" I asked Tobias.

"It could be, I don't know."

I looked over where Jonathan had landed. Sienna was working intently on him, but I could see he was moving now.

"You stay here with Michael, in case he wakes up. I'm going to tell Jon," I said.

I bee-lined it over to Jonathan. Jonathan looked up at me, and smiled a bit, before wincing as Sienna pushed on his leg.

"Jon, Michael's hurt. He mentioned something about his batteries, and being on life support."

"Son of a bitch," was all he could say. He moved to get up, but Sienna held him down.

"Don't get excited, you can't walk with your legs like this. Let me finish!" she instructed him.

"He could be dying right now!" he responded, furious.

"You won't be much good to him if you start internally bleeding!" she replied, just as furious.

Jonathan turned his head to look straight at Sienna, and just looked deep in her eyes for a moment.

"Alright, alright! We'll help you. Just take it slow," she offered, defeated.

I wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, while Sienna did the same on the other side. We slowly lifted him up.

"Agh! Ow! Shit, shit!" he cried, obviously in pain.

"I told you! Your left tibia is shattered! Don't put any weight on that leg or you might break the fibula too!" Sienna yelled at him.

We slowly hobbled over to Michael. As we crossed the street, I started looking around. I hadn't given it much thought, but we had made a LOT of noise. It wouldn't take long for the rest of the military to locate us, as a dark cloud of smoke and flame continued to rise from the building above.

"He hasn't moved since," Tobias said, as he helped us place Jon on the ground softly.

Jonathan looked over Michael's broken and battered backside. He touched the rust-colored liquid that lay in a puddle on the street, and sniffed it.

"It's battery acid. Which means, if he's on life support, he doesn't have long to live. We need to get him on some mains power, and fast." Jonathan said sternly.

"That's good, because it looks like the world caught up with us," Tobias said, pointing to the people rushing out of a late-night restaurant down the street.

"How are we going to get out of here though? Jon's in no condition to run, and we can't carry Michael out of here!" Sienna said exasperated.

"Jon, make yourself some crutches, and make up a stretcher for Michael. I'll intercept those people and buy us some time," Tobias said.

Jon nodded, and reached beside him to begin creating some crutches out of the ground. Anna tugged at my arm as Tobias ran off to talk to the restaurant people.

"The army is coming, Yuki! They're not far!" she informed us.

It became clear that we were in for some serious trouble now. Jonathan finished his crutches and started working on the wheeled stretcher. I glanced at Tobias, who seemed to be distracting the mob of people who were being overly curious. However, just before I turned my head back, I saw someone point towards us. Tobias motioned heavily, although I couldn't hear what he was saying.

However, it was obvious that whatever he said, they didn't buy. Tobias turned around and took off towards us.

"Get moving! They saw Jon!" he yelled.

"Saw Jon?" I thought to myself. So what?

Then I looked back at him, and it dawned on me. He's forming a stretcher out of concrete with his own bare hands. Of course they're going to freak out!

Jon finished up the stretcher. Although it was barely more than a slab of metal on wheels, it was enough.

At first Sienna and I tried to pick Michael up, but he was just too heavy. I waved at Tobias to hurry up and helped Jon to his feet. Meanwhile, Anna was holding her head and trying to figure out how close the military was now.

Tobias finally made it back, although the mob of people were close behind. He grabbed Michael at the arms, I grabbed him at the legs, while Sienna wrapped her arms around his midsection. After a couple of tries, we managed to get him on top of the stretcher. Tobias grabbed the stretcher, and started pushing Michael, while reading his notebook.

"Come on, this way! We need to get underground again!" he said breathlessly.

"They're almost here!" Anna cried, pointing to the direction they were coming from.

I looked down the road to see two armored cars and police turning the bend. The mob stopped chasing, instead pointing us out to the military. If I could, I would have slapped every one of them.

We ran as fast as we could, with Tobias leading the pack. Jonathan did his best to keep up, with Sienna and Anna staying at his side. I followed behind, watching to see what the military might try.

Tobias took us to the closest underground entrance. Sienna kicked the gate open, and lo and behold, there was an elevator.

"Well isn't that convenient?" I said.

Tobias punched the button, and the doors opened immediately. Once we crammed inside, Tobias hit a button on the panel, and the doors slid shut. However, just as they closed, there was a gunshot. I heard the bullet hit the backside of the elevator.

"Aah!" Anna screamed, grabbing her right ear.

More guns fired at the elevator, making distinctive pinging sounds against the door. But it wasn't seconds later we began moving down.

Sienna pushed me to the side and looked at Anna's ear. She was trying to do her best not to cry, but it was obvious that she wanted to. Sienna pulled Anna's hands away from her ear, and surveyed the hit. It was bleeding, but it seemed to have only nicked her earlobe. Sienna placed her hands on the ear, and not moments later the ear completely healed.

"It's okay, you're fine now," Sienna reassured her.

"Thank you, Sienna," Anna said, sniffling.

"Well, now you can brag to your friends that you've taken a bullet!" Jon remarked.

Sienna slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ow, okay, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood!"

It didn't take long before we reached the bottom. The doors slid open, and we rushed out. Tobias once again took the lead, and we ran down this open walkway. It was rather unnerving, as we were still hundreds of feet above the bottom of the underground city. The floor was comprised of a frosted glass, but it did little to reduce the feeling of vertigo. I instinctively reached for my wakizashi for reassurance, only to remember that it was gone.

Dim signs above us seemed to indicate another tram station was up ahead, but I couldn't see it. Tobias had pulled out a lighter and was reading his notebook again, while Sienna took over pushing Michael. I looked at Jon, who was visibly in pain and tired.

"You know Jon, you could probably sit on the stretcher if you want," I offered.

He just shook his head and kept hobbling along.

We hurried along as fast as we could manage, constantly checking for any sign of the military. After about a quarter mile of walking, we came upon the tram. Tobias stopped and turned around to face us. He closed his notebook, and raised his lighter up to his face, which wore a rather grim look.

"We have a choice to make. Michael needs power. This tram station has power, so we can connect him here. But if we stay here, there is a good chance that the military will catch up to us. The other option is to take the tram now, and hope Michael's life support holds out until we arrive at the other end."

There was a moment of silence while we looked at each other in the glow of the lighter. None of us wanted to make the decision. It took a while, but Jonathan soon spoke up.

"I think… that if he was able to talk to us, he'd tell us to keep going."

Tobias nodded, "I agree. While we might be taking a greater risk to his life, we put everyone in danger by remaining where we are."

I didn't like the idea at all, and I was about to protest, when Anna walked over to Michael and began to feel his forehead.

"He's… scared. Alone… I feel trapped, and cold. It's… a terrible feeling," She said softly.

"We can't leave him like this. I'd never be able to forgive myself if he died while we were trying to run away." I insisted.

Sienna grabbed my hand as she stood next to me.

"I'm with Yukari. He's in this condition because he tried to save us. He kept that helicopter flying. The least we can do is to make sure he lives to see the outside again!" Sienna added.

The men looked at each other and sighed. Tobias grabbed the stretcher and took us to what seemed to be an old ticket window. He left the stretcher there, while him and Jonathan went around. A few moments later, Tobias's head popped up from behind the ticket counter, with a wire in hand. Jonathan hobbled back around, and grabbed the wire from Tobias.

"The voltage is low, but it should be enough to get him online," Jon said while reforming the wire.

Once he was finished, he flipped open Michael's back, and inserted the wire. Tobias jumped over the counter and helped Jon roll Michael onto his side.

Suddenly there was a flashing light, and then a beep. A few seconds later, an unfamiliar computerized voice emanated from Michael's mouth.

"POST CHECK COMPLETE. Initiating full spectrum diagnostic. Core system is functioning. Power system is critically damaged. Motor and balance system is damaged. Adaptive electronics are functioning. Sensual input is functioning. Life support system is functional. Diagnostic complete, attempting repairs to motor and balance. Motor and balance system is operational but at reduced functionality. Attempting repairs to power system. Primary and secondary power systems are critically damaged. Combined power capacity reduced to 7%. Life support power system is operational but at reduced functionality. Power capacity reduced to 13%. Rerouting all available power to life support. Bootup complete, passing system control to organic interface."

Everything went silent again, but then I began to see his eyes fluttering.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he spoke, in a whisper.

"Michael, we're all here," Sienna said, holding his hand.

"I can't see… almost all of my power is being redirected to recharge the life support battery." He explained.

"It's okay, we're alright. We made it out okay. We're in the underground, by another tram station. We were worried you might die!" Sienna told him.

"Not… quite. I still had another 472 seconds left!" he said, chuckling.

Michael may have found his previous situation to be funny but I didn't. I glared at Jon and Tobias, making sure that they knew damn well that if Sienna and I hadn't stood up for him, he wouldn't have made it.

"Michael, we can't stay here for long. The military isn't far from here. How much time will it take for you to recover so that we can jump on that tram?" Tobias said worriedly.

"Five minutes will give me about an hour on life support. The battery is damaged, so waiting any longer is pointless."

"An hour should give us just enough time to get out of the dome. I hope." Tobias calculated.

We had Anna take a seat and concentrate on detecting the military. Tobias managed to find the light switches for the terminal, and we were greeted with our first illuminated view of the underground city proper. It was readily apparent the state of disarray the underground city had been left in. Towering buildings rose deep from within the earth, crumbling and crisscrossed with cables. Numerous platforms were hanging between the buildings, acting as walkways.

It seemed as if the original inhabitants built the city higher and higher, while leaving the deeper recesses to degrade. It was not difficult to make out that the upper portions of the city were in much better condition. However, even with that distinction, it was difficult to believe that this used to be City Eternal, a clean and prosperous city as the one just above our heads. I could make out small encampments on the platforms, with empty cots, pots and pans. Trash littered the walkways, and pieces of buildings lay strewn across them.

There were also a few faint signs of life down here. Bugs of all types thrived in the musky environment, but oddly enough, I had spotted two hawks already. Rats could be seen scattering about in the distance, avoiding the light. Even more surprising was the discovery of lights below. While we had seen them last time, I didn't actually see anyone down there. I could make out one person now, who seemed to be keeping a close eye on us. I guess that the sudden illumination of the terminal was like a shining star in this artificial cave.

As we waited for Michael to recharge, Sienna attempted to better heal Jon's wounds. She managed to piece together his shattered leg, but without proper medical equipment it was still fragile. Tobias and Michael spent the time planning our escape.

Michael was able to tap into the CARMEL network and find us a new way out. It was decided that even attempting to go back the way we came would be suicide. Instead we would take a higher route. Once we arrive at the end of the tram line, we would need to climb up many stairs and ladders, until we reached the ventilation shafts. Then we would need to somehow stop one of the fans and follow the shaft, through the particulate filter, and breach the dome's shell to finally escape outside.

Of course, all that planning seemed solid enough, but there was one logical flaw that the two of them were apparently unaware of.

"And how exactly do you plan on climbing those stairs and ladders? We're certainly not capable of pulling you up all of that." I pointed out.

"Well, I can make it with some crutches, but as for Michael…"

"I'll have to walk up," he said.

"Uhm, forgive my ignorance, but how do you plan on doing that?"

"My batteries have about 3% charge. If Jon powers me up when we reach the stairs, I can wring out the last bit of power and walk up." He explained.

"That plan couldn't possibly fail!" I said sarcastically.

"Well if you come up with any better ideas you let me know."

I was attempting humor with the remark, but I was really masking my fear. His plan was incredibly risky, and if it fails, we could be in serious trouble. None of us were prepared to leave Michael behind in the event something happened to him, and yet this plan could leave us with no choice.

"Are we ready to go?" Tobias said, nervously.

I walked over to Anna. She was deep in concentration, trying to keep track of the army above. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"They're getting closer. I'm having trouble keeping track of them. They split up into two groups."

I glanced back at Tobias, who nodded.

"Let's get the hell out of here, then," Tobias called to everyone.

Michael powered down, and Jonathan propped himself onto his crutches. He seemed to be in less pain after Sienna worked on him some more. Tobias and I wheeled Michael onto the tram, while Anna and Sienna turned off the lights. Jonathan flicked a few switches on the tram's dashboard, and the tram came to life. Sienna and Anna came scurrying back, and jumped on, as Jonathan moved us out of the station.

Once again we were moving, at a great speed. The tram whipped between outcroppings from the ceiling, and the tops of buildings below. We passed by station after station, even some inside of buildings. As the stations sped by, I could sometimes make out evidence of recent activity, but not a soul around. I was somewhat comforted by that fact. I'd had enough surprises for one day.

As before, it took us a few minutes to travel. Anna seemed to have given up tracking the military, and was nestled close to Sienna at the back of the tram. Sienna seemed to be experiencing another headache, a result of all the healing she had done. Jon and Tobias were going over the route in Tobias's notebook. I was most concerned about Michael, who laid as still as a statue on the stretcher.

All those fears and concerns disappeared, however, as we approached the final station.

"The station, it's lit up!" I yelled to Jon, trying to be heard over the rushing wind.

"Yeah, I can see that, thanks Miss Obvious!" he yelled back. "Anna?"

Anna looked up, and nodded fervently. "It's those soldiers!"

"Turn the tram around! Find another way out!" Sienna called from the back.

Jonathan carefully hobbled over to the dashboard, and pressed a few keys. He then slammed his palm on the screen in anger.

"They've locked us out! There's nothing I can do!"

"There has to be brakes, how else would it stop?" Jon said nervously.

"No, I'm serious! There's no stop, no brakes, nothing!" Michael said furiously.

Jonathan and Michael went into a panic, which in turn put the rest of us in a panic. They combed through the control panel as fast and carefully as they could, looking for any reason why the brakes wouldn't be working.

"If we can't stop we'll have to jump off," Tobias said.

"Are you crazy?" I replied. "Look at the speed we're going at!"

"It's better than reaching the end of the rail and crashing into a wall!"

At this point we all broke out into an argument over the best way to deal with this increasingly dangerous situation. I wasn't sure myself how long we had until we reached the end of the rail, but I did know we were rapidly approaching our destination. For a moment I thought I heard Anna say something, but I ignored it, continuing to argue with Jon about how idiotic he must be to forget something so important. But then she yelled louder and there was no mistake.

"HEY!" she screamed.

We all fell silent for a second and looked at her.

"Can't we just put the tram in reverse?"

Jon and Michael looked at each other for a moment before it dawned on them. They both turned around and poked a few things on the control panel before the tram lurched again and began to slow down.

"You mean to tell me neither of you thought of something so simple?!" Sienna exclaimed, her hands at her hips. The two just hung their heads in shame.

I unzipped my hoodie and threw it off. It wasn't any warmer out, but I was sweating terribly. Up ahead I could see the next platform, which I assumed was our destination. There didn't appear to be an open stairwell to this one, however. Instead was just a small staircase which leads up to a large outcropping on the surface ceiling. My legs were already sighing in relief. I was not looking forward to climbing all those stairs back to the surface.

"Alright everyone, up ahead is our stop. We'll be heading up those stairs about two floors and once inside that building, we'll be very close to the CARMEL. From here on out there is a strong chance we'll be encountering security systems so be careful and keep your eyes on me in case I stumble upon something." Tobias laid out for us.

The arrival was hardly as smooth and quiet as Tobias had originally hoped for, with the tram jumping and rocking viciously the last couple hundred feet. When it did finally come to a rest, we all stepped off, and I took the time to stretch out again after being tossed around like a ragdoll.

"That was scary!" Anna said.

"Without a doubt, Anna." I agreed, glaring at Jonathan.

Once we were all composed, we headed up the stairs, Tobias once again taking the leader position. He continued to refer to his notebook. Once we reached the surface building, he looked at some signs on the wall and held the notebook up next to them.

Tobias then ushered us to follow. We climbed another couple flights of stairs until he put his hand up to stop us.

He then approached a grate on the wall. He indicated for Jon to come forward.

"Can you get this grate out of here, without triggering the pressure alarm behind it?" he asked.

"I can try," Jonathan offered.

He stepped forward and once again placed his hands on the grate. Slowly but carefully he melted the grate to a pile of molten steel. He was careful to leave the frame of the grate intact, so as not to trigger the alarm. He then reached inside, and also melted two large metal bars that were obstructing the path.

"That should do it."

Tobias thanked Jon and told him to take the front position, in case there were any other obstructions inside that would need to be taken care of.

Following Jon, Tobias said "Once we're inside we need to be silent. While they don't use audio sensors this deep inside the compound, there is staff inside at all hours. We can't risk them discovering us."

This was the most nerve-wracking part of the journey thus far. We no longer had plausible deniability to protect us from any curious police officers. If we were discovered now, we'd be forced to fight, and it was a long way back home.

For some reason I was stuck with taking up the rear this time. At this point I was glad I had worn my climbing gloves. The vent was ice cold, and although the gloves were open fingered, it was nice to be able to use the palms of my hands without freezing solid.

We climbed through the vent for at least ten straight minutes, taking various zigzagging paths that had me lost almost immediately. Tobias was continuing to follow his notebook, and nudged Jon to take a right turn here, and a left turn there. I was growing evermore curious to where that notebook came from and how he managed to scrounge up all this information, but now was hardly the time to be asking such questions.

Just when I was really wondering if this vent ever did end, we all stopped. I tried to look ahead to see what was going on, but Sienna's ridiculously flowery skirt was blocking my path. Don't ask me why her skirt jumped out at me so, it was just so … loud that I couldn't possibly ignore it.

Anyway, we started moving again, and finally I noticed that we had reached the end, as everyone began to climb out. The vent terminated under the floor of the CARMEL's datacenter, so Jonathan had disassembled the grate slowly rather than making an obvious melted gap. After we all had climbed out of the ventilation system, Tobias had us gather in a close huddle.

"Okay, this is it. Michael is going to break into the CARMEL's systems. Our job will be to give him as much time as he needs to get the data. You all know what you have to do. Just keep quiet and be on the watch for anything suspicious." Tobias said.

We nodded, and Michael rushed off to the main computer terminal in the room. He immediately went to work, his hands becoming a blur on the keyboard as they coaxed the computer into giving him what he wanted.

Anna took a seat and concentrated on locating the presence of others inside the datacenter.

"There are fourteen people around us. None of them seem to know we're here." She said, confirming our successful infiltration of the datacenter.

"Good work, Anna, now let us know if any of them get close to this room," I said. Sienna and I then took a seat at the far entrance to the room. Jonathan and Tobias sat at the other door.

Michael kept us informed on how he was doing, but it was obvious that this was going to take some time. I knew the longer we stayed here the better the possibility of us being discovered, so I was desperately trying not to chew my nails.

Sienna glanced at me, and held my hand.

"It's alright, Yukari, they're not going to catch us. We'll make it out of here just fine." she said trying to calm my nerves.

"No, it's okay, I'm not worried," I lied.

After a few close calls, and nearly an hour of waiting, Michael finally gave us a soft cry of victory.

"I've got it!" he said excitedly, holding up a disk case.

He then tossed it to me for safekeeping. I put it in the messenger bag I was carrying. It was understood that I had the best chance of escaping the city if something happened, and the data was too valuable to lose.

We all had gathered around the vent where we had entered at this point, and I was more than happy to get the hell out of there. But then, without warning, Anna suddenly cried out, "They're coming!"

"What? How many?" Tobias asked.

"…at least twenty!"

"How close?"

"Really close!" she cried.

"We need to get out of here, no-" I started to say when there was a loud bang at one of the doors.

Not seconds later they surrounded us, weapons raised. It was the military, special forces. I looked at Tobias, waiting for the signal. Luckily we had planned for this situation. I was to take off with the data, while the others fought their way out. This way their forces would be split between trying to recover the data and to capture us.

"You are all under arrest for breaking and entering into a government facility, and for stealing top secret government data." The commander informed us.

A couple men then moved forward to handcuff us, when Tobias coughed, giving me the signal.

I gripped the messenger bag tightly, and took off as fast as I could over the rack of servers next to me. Tobias was correct, they wouldn't dare shoot in this room for fear of damaging CARMEL.

"What the hell? You two, with me, we're following her. The rest of you, cuff these guys and take them back to HQ." I heard the commander yell from behind me.

I burst through the door they came from, and started the brutal climb up the stairs. Finally I reached the surface level, and ran outside. Bad idea. Outside were three squads waiting for me. I dashed back inside, dodging gunfire that destroyed the glass windows and the door. I headed for the stairs again, planning to head for the roof, when I heard the elevator doors chime. Inside were the three from below.

Since I wasn't able to make it to the stairs themselves, I ran full out toward the wall, and ran up the wall. I only had a short distance to build up speed, so I just barely was able to jump off and reach the second level railing. I pulled myself up and over, and the men below began firing again, while running up the stairs.

They didn't have a chance now. I sprinted across the lobby's second floor to the other side where the stairs resumed, and climbed as fast as I could. Skipping four or five stairs at a time, and bouncing off the walls at each turn, I made it up the thirty six floors to the top, bursting through the door there to reach the roof.

I took a moment to look around, and found a good path to get out of there. Once again I ran full tilt, this time toward a neighboring building. Jumping off at the edge, I grabbed the fire escape on the side of the neighboring building. I heard the sound of a helicopter nearby, so I decided to go down a flight on the fire escape and break into the building through a window.

It was an empty office full of cubicles. I didn't bother to take in the scenery, and took off toward the other side of the building. With our cover blown, I had no reason to avoid using weapons, so I pulled out my pistol and fired at the window ahead. As the glass shattered, I threw myself out of it toward the building across the street.

Not having any time to regret my decision, I feverishly pulled the trigger at the oncoming glass wall approaching me. The glass shattered, and I landed in a roll inside the building. Doing my best to ignore the glass shards embedded in my backside, I kept running. At this point I had no clue as to where I was running to, but I had to do my best to keep my momentum up and lose that helicopter.

I took a right turn in this building, and shot out more glass. Leaping through, I then realized the building on the other side was not one of the newer buildings, instead featuring the older concrete design. With no way to simply blast my way through, I braced myself for impact with the wall.

I slammed into the wall, and couldn't avoid bouncing off of it. As I fell, I twisted myself around as quickly as possible, and managed to grab a ledge on the building with my fingertips. I wasn't able to hold on, but it gave me enough leverage to swing my legs back in and break through the window below.

After narrowly avoiding a fall, I shook the glass off of me and took a second to catch my breath and look for the helicopter. I could still hear it but I couldn't find it in the sky. I decided to the next building over, which looked to be at least a hundred stories tall. A new construction, it featured the new mirror glass design, rather than the old concrete.

I kicked out the window facing the building, and took a few steps back. And then a few more. And a few more. I did not want to miss this jump. When I felt satisfied I could get the necessary speed, I took off. Jumping through the window, I noticed that over the course of the past few jumps, I had lost a lot of altitude. I was only about five stories above the ground now.

This wasn't the best time to be making such observations, however, as I was flying through the air toward the oncoming building. I pulled out my pistol, fired off the last couple shots in the clip, and watched the glass slowly fall away. It was at this point as I fell toward the imploding window that I may have misjudged. Inside, it was suddenly apparent that I was about to fall into an open lobby, not an office floor. This was not going to be a good landing.

In an effort to not become a splat upon the marble floor inside the lobby, I grabbed the bottom edge of the broken glass window, dropping the empty pistol. A large piece of broken glass cut its way through my left hand, causing me to scream in pain and let go, while my right hand held on and left me hanging on the inside of this lobby, three stories above the ground.

Below was a security officer already on the radio, and I could see the lights from police and military coming down the street. I let go of the edge of the window, and slid partway down the glass wall, before kicking off and doing a roll. The security officer let go of his radio and pointed his gun at me.

"Put your hands in the air!" he ordered.

"Yeah right," I thought to myself. "Like I'm hanging around here to get captured."

I jumped into action, drawing the only sword I was able to carry without being too bulky, my wakizashi. He fired a couple shots at me, but I was already moving too fast for him to make contact. I cut his outstretched arm, causing him to drop the gun, and kneed him in the gut. He crumpled to the floor in pain. Satisfied, I took off for the elevators. No way in hell I was about to run up the hundred or so floors this building stood at.

Even though the elevator was one of those turbo lifts that rapidly brought people to the top of the building, the ride still felt like an eternity. Once I reached the top floor the elevator serviced, I ran out and climbed the stairs. Only two more floors up and I made it to the roof. I kicked the door open, only to be greeted by the sight of a helicopter and the commander from before stepping out.

"Drop the weapon, Yukari! We know who you are now!" He yelled over the sound of the helicopter engine. "You have nowhere to run, we have the entire building surrounded!"

I took a moment to consider my options. I doubt I could make it back down the building the way I came, the place was probably swimming with soldiers and policemen. Taking on the commander and a squad of soldiers onboard the helicopter was beyond even my superhuman ability.

I decided to drop my sword.

"Good, now show us the disk," the commander demanded.

I pulled out the disk case from my messenger bag and showed it to him. He slowly approached me and took it from my hand. Once he put it in his suit pocket and was about to bring out the handcuffs, I kicked him square in the chest, and grabbed my sword. I took off to the left as fast as I could toward the downward slanting part of the roof. He ran after me, the squad right behind him. I jumped over the edge and began to slide down the inclined glass roofing.

The commander reached the edge of the flat roof, and yelled down at me laughing, "You forgot your disk, Yukari!" He waved the disk case above his head as if to mock me.

As I slid down the roof with increasing speed, I pulled the disk out of my messenger bag that I had cleverly taken out of its case. I waved it above my head, and looked back at the commander with a grin.

His face went immediately from a victorious one to an angry one, and he ordered the squad to fire at me. The glass started shattering all around me, as I swerved left and right as best I could. The end of the incline was rapidly approaching, so I slipped the disk back in the messenger bag, and braced myself for a big jump.

As soon as I hit the ledge I pushed off the building towards the one across the street. It hit me as I was flying through the air that I had to be insane. I was diving from a rooftop, running blind, and nearly a thousand feet in the air. One false move and I was done for. It also occurred to me that I did a lot of thinking in midair for some reason and that if I didn't want to die I should probably keep my mind on where the hell I was headed.

But in hindsight it probably wouldn't have mattered in this case. As I was falling down across the street, I noticed the building across from me was the new glass type. Without my pistol to blast out the window I couldn't jump in. My only other option was to use my wakizashi and hope that it punctures the glass.

I put the sword in front of me, with both hands on the hilt, and braced for impact. I collided with the building, and thankfully the force was great enough for the sword to puncture the glass, but it did not shatter like I thought it would have. Instead the sword lodged itself in the glass, and I nearly lost my grip on the sword.

Once the shock of the collision faded, I looked around for any possible ledges to grab onto, but the wall was flat, all glass. I tried to move the sword in and out, attempting to make the glass open up so I could break my way in. Also no luck. Then I heard a dreaded sound of a helicopter. I looked down the road, and sure enough, it was barreling towards me.

"I have to get out of here before that helicopter reaches me, or I am a goner," I said to myself.

The dome drew ever closer. I zipped up my hoodie, and took one last look at the direction of the camp. I could just barely make out the glow of lights in the sky. Looking off to the left, I could see the trashlands, aptly named for being the dumping site for the city. It was hard to believe that this very ship came out of there. After diverting my eyes from that eyesore, I once again found myself staring at the dome.

My gut was wrenching terribly. Just the thought of going back there was making me ill. But if this information we retrieve could give us the upper hand, I had to try. There was no sense hiding; sooner or later they would be after us.

Then the moment finally arrived. We reached the dome. Alongside the boat, there was a massive gate, one of the many disposal gates. Michael came up from the cabin, followed by the rest of the group. He walked over to a small panel on the guardrail adjacent to the dome, and pressed a button. The rail lowered, and a platform extended over towards the gate. Michael took the initiative and walked across to the gate.

"Everyone ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Jonathan replied for everyone.

We walked across the platform in single file. Michael took one last look at us, as if to silently acknowledge that there was no going back now. He then touched his forehead for a moment, and the ship began to retract its platform and sail away to its preprogrammed destination.

Michael then began to study the gate. He looked up and down and all over.

"Something wrong?" Sienna asked.

"Well this is odd… I thought there was an access panel here." Michael said quizzically.

"You mean you're not sure we can even get inside? We did all that planning and preparation and we can't even get in the door?" Jonathan snidely replied.

"I was just through here last week, the panel should be right… here!" Tobias said, slapping a panel on the wall.

"If that's true, then let's see what's behind that panel," Jonathan suggested.

Tobias backed away from the metal panel on the wall, and let Jonathan approach. Jonathan then placed his hand on the panel, and it began to glow white hot. Seconds later, a hole appeared in the panel, revealing an access panel.

After Jonathan finished with creating the hole, Michael walked up to it and looked inside.

"Jon, you idiot! You melted the access panel! I can't do anything with it now!"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," I said exasperated.

"Fine, I'll just melt the entire bloody gate down, how's that sound?" Jonathan said agitated.

"No! No, don't do that. Not unless you want the entire city after us." Tobias cautioned.

"So what the hell are we going to do now?" Michael asked, eying Sienna and myself.

"Don't look at us; you guys were the one that planned this operation, you think of something!" I said defensively. I wasn't about to be blamed for their fuck up.

"Why can't Michael just use the access panel's wires?" Anna suddenly suggested.

Jonathan, Tobias, and Michael then looked at each-other with such a priceless dumbfounded look that I'll never forget it.

"You… you think you could do that?" Tobias asked Michael.

"I guess so… I mean, I've never tried it, but in theory…"

Jonathan reached in through the hole and carefully pulled out the remains of the access panel. He flipped it over and disconnected a cable from the back of the unit.

"Looks like a typical etherwire cable, you have a connector for this don't you?"

Michael nodded and reached under his shirt behind his back. He pressed something, and a panel opened. Jonathan took the cable and attached it to him.

"Ugh, that's disturbing on so many levels," I said, cringing.

We all stood there for a few moments as Michael worked his magic. He seemed to be concentrating rather deeply about what he was doing.

"What the hell? Tobias, I thought you said this area was going to be empty!" Michael said unexpectedly.

"I did! Is there someone inside?"

"There are two maintenance guys inside according to access logs. I'm trying to find them on surveillance."

I looked over at Jonathan. Sienna put her hand on Anna's shoulder and held her close.

"They're three floors above. We need to get in now or we're going to miss our window." Michael said.

"We're waiting on you!" I reminded him.

As if to shut me up, the gate lurched into action. While the entrance slowly widened, I took a peek inside. Inside was a dank dark hallway, and it smelled of fuel and trash. Certainly fitting of a disposal gate.

We waited for Michael to detach himself from the wall, and we stepped inside. He pressed a few buttons on the gate's access panel, and the gate slowly closed behind us.

"I'm never going to get the smell out of my clothes," Sienna complained, shaking her blouse and holding her nose.

I didn't notice from the outside, but there was the sound of machinery off in the distance. Although it was nearly pitch black now, I could see some lights at the end of the hallway. Tobias took the lead and we slowly followed. As we drew closer to the lights, I noticed that the area ahead seemed to be a sortation center for the trash.

"Someone… no… many people… are coming here!" Anna suddenly yelled.

We turned around to look at Anna, who had one hand in Sienna's, while the other was holding her forehead.

"The men are looking for us, I think… they're confused but determined…"

"We need to hide then, and fast," Tobias warned.

Jonathan suddenly ran ahead and pressed his hands against a wall.

"Jon, what are you doing?" Michael asked.

"There's a vent here. I'm going to open up the wall so we can hide inside, and seal the wall back up behind us."

"That… that will work," Tobias accepted, caught off-guard by the idea. "Here I thought we'd have to run like hell."

Jonathan concentrated on making an alcove in the wall for us to hide in. Anna continued to monitor the mysterious men. Michael tried to jack into the area's security system to look them up. Tobias stood behind Jonathan, apparently amazed at his handiwork. Sienna knelt down next to Anna and was talking with her about the men. I felt left out, and just stood around looking like a dork.

"I've found them on the security cameras. We don't have much time, Jon."

Jonathan simply nodded, not breaking his concentration on the wall. I walked over and stood beside Tobias, watching Jonathan form the inner room behind the wall. At this point, he climbed inside the newly formed hole, and created the small alcove where we would be waiting.

"Jon… you need to hurry," Sienna said. "Anna said that the men seem to have noticed our presence here."

"Alright, it's done, but it's going to be really cramped. Everyone inside!"

Jonathan ushered all of us inside, with him being the last to go in, to seal off the entrance. Slowly the small alcove grew darker and darker. We all kept readjusting, trying to find a comfortable position inside. Anna was the only one lucky enough to have enough space to sit down, while the rest of us were forced to stand or lean on whoever was closest.

Not a moment too soon, Jonathan sealed off the entrance, and we heard the sound of footsteps.

"Sir, we're picking up some strong heat readings down this corridor."

"Trace it to the source, and don't you dare lose them!"

"Yes sir!"

The footsteps grew louder, and it was now evident that there were a significant number of soldiers in the hallway. In the pitch black of the alcove I couldn't see the others' faces, but I had a feeling they were just as uneasy as I was.

"What the hell?" One of the voices outside exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Sergeant?" Another replied.

"The heat readings just stop here. There's no trace of where they went."

"Damn it! We're not going to lose them. I want a full search of the area conducted. Leave nothing unchecked. I don't care if it takes us all night, you hear? You know how concerned the General has been about the break-ins recently."

"Y-yes sir! You heard the man, split up and tear this place apart!"

The sound of footsteps scattered, and we all let out a small sigh of relief.

"Everyone just keep quiet, we're not in the clear yet," Michael said softly.

We kept still and silent for what seemed like an eternity. I do know it was at least a couple hours. My knees were on fire, and it was becoming incredibly stuffy inside. Michael kept us informed on how their ridiculous search was going, and finally gave Jonathan the signal to break us out of this prison.

Once the hole was large enough, we practically spilled out of it. We all immediately crashed to the ground, except for Michael who chuckled at our misfortune.

"Ha ha very funny, Michael," Sienna said snidely.

"What? It's not often I get to flaunt my metal knees!" He said laughing.

After we composed ourselves and were able to stand again, Tobias led us down the corridor and out of the sortation center. It was well into night time now, so the streets were clear of people. The city was much like I had remembered it from years ago. Although this was the industrial district, which surrounded the outer edges of the city, there were a few restaurants sprinkled around, as well as a hospital. The streets were spotless, with bleached white concrete. Cars were rare in City Eternal. Most people either employed the use of the public transit systems or rode around on motor scooters, and because of this most streets featured large walkways.

The buildings were new construction as well. It was easy to tell when a building was new at a glance. The new buildings all used new metal and glass construction, giving them a clean, open look. Older buildings, such as the hospital, used the bleached concrete like that of the streets, which was much cheaper and more plentiful to produce at the time.

Although there were a lot of factories and plants in the industrial district, it was nearly indistinguishable from the inner city skyscrapers. The government focused heavily on the look and feel of the city. They passed numerous laws governing the design and construction of various districts, to ensure that regardless of their purpose, they would all have a unified theme, of City Eternal.

I had to admit, being back inside the dome, and seeing the clean city streets, gave me a feeling of being home. The nostalgia quickly waned though. Putting my hands in the hoodie's pocket, I continued to follow Tobias.

We managed to make it the requisite five or six blocks without being noticed, before Tobias brought us to the old underground entrance. Jonathan stepped up to the rusty, reinforced steel door, and melted away the locks. Michael then shoved the door open, exposing us to a dark stairwell. There wasn't a single light in the stairwell, and I couldn't see the bottom.

Tobias reached into his pocket and retrieved a flashlight.

"Ready for some urban-style spelunking?" he asked.

"As long as it doesn't smell," Sienna replied staunchly.

"Can't make any promises," Tobias said with a grin.

With Tobias once again leading the group, we traveled down the stairwell. Jonathan brought up the rear, stopping to seal the door up again after we were all inside. Once the door was closed, we stepped down the stairwell a few floors. The stairs didn't loop around like typical stairwells did; they simply went down in one line. After a short while the walls ended, leaving only railings and the stairs themselves. For a moment I thought I could see some spots of light in the distance, but I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Certainly this underground area couldn't be that vast.

Tobias then stopped us on the stairwell and briefly shut off the flashlight.

"Let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you'll see why I mentioned spelunking," he instructed us.

Michael, who obviously didn't need any time to adjust his mechanical eyes, was the first to comment. "It's… incredible. I had no idea this was all under the city."

After a minute of standing there, my eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and I could make out what Michael was referring to. The reason I couldn't see the stairwell is because it was so amazingly long. Traveling down for what I guessed was at least 50 or 60 floors, the stairwell was dropping us right into the center of a massive underground city.

"Welcome to the old City Eternal," Tobias said.

It was an amazing sight. We were only seeing a glimpse of the top of this underground city, and already the scale was massive. The buildings seemed to go straight to the center of the Earth. I could spot the tram system we were heading for on a platform off to the side of the stairs below. It was only one of many such systems connecting the buildings, all suspended hundreds, if not thousands of feet above the ground.

"There's not much we know about this old city. What we do know is this old city was scrapped in favor of the new one built above. We're not sure why the government chose to rebuild directly on top of these remains of the old city, but we believe it might have something to do with the lack of resources. Rebuilding on top of the old city saved a great deal of work creating a new dome, and there was already a reliable water supply.

We think that this is where the first refugees hid. However, it became far too dangerous to live down here. Buildings are in disrepair, and are constantly falling apart. Food is scarce, meaning they were forced to travel to the surface city regularly. The last real activity down here was when the refugees were forced out by the government after they caught on. Many thousands were left outside to fend for themselves, leaving us with the refugee camp as you know it today. An interesting factoid: our impressive power system was stolen from this very city. The government came down one day to retrieve it, and it was no longer there. The bastards went ballistic once they figured that out." Tobias explained.

As we continued to walk down the stairs, I couldn't help but look around. Above was a sky of metal, much unlike the holographic sky projection the surface city used. Immense beams and poles stretched from the ground and the sides to suspend the new city above the old. I couldn't imagine the engineering required to hold such incredible weight spread over such a large area.

Although the city was mostly dead, there were a few areas that still had light, areas that seemed to be relics of the construction of the new city. I really hadn't imagined things. The place was cold and damp, and with the sight of steel everywhere, it certainly felt like a cave. But those lights calmed my nerves, reminding me that regardless how lifeless this old city may seem, there was still a connection to the "real world".

Finally, after scaling down the stairs for what seemed like an eternity, we reached the platform for the tram system. The tram sat upon a large single rail, and featured two open-air cars. We each grabbed a seat as Jonathan and Michael went to work on trying to get the ancient thing running.

"The rail system should have power according to the reports Tobias gave us. It's just a matter of getting this thing up and moving." Jonathan told Michael.

Michael fussed around with the control panel for a few moments, obviously confused and frustrated. Then suddenly the tram lurched to life… for a second, and then went silent again.

"The blasted lift engine won't come start!" Michael yelled to Jonathan who had stepped off the tram and was looking under the front car.

"This engine is rated for 12 amps, what are the rails supplying?" Jonathan asked.

"8 amps, just like all the power systems up on the surface." Michael replied.

"Figures. It'll run on that, but it's going to take more than 8 to get it started."

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" I asked snidely.

"Shut up and sit down Yukari, last thing we need is some of your lip." Jon replied annoyed. I laughed.

After doing some strange electrical rigging with capacitors or something that I didn't really understand, Michael was ready to give it another try. Jon jumped back onboard the first tram car.

"That should do it, charge the capacitors and try it now."

Michael pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the tram car lurched again, but this time remained floating just slightly over the rail.

"Alright, we're up! Time to get moving. Next stop, the CARMEL datacenter!"

The tram jumped a couple times, obviously stiff from decades of disrepair. But to the credit of her original engineer, the thing did move smoothly once it was up to speed.

"It'll take us about 10 minutes to reach the platform where the datacenter is. Just sit back and enjoy the view." Michael informed us, like a true tour guide.

I was more than happy to take the time to give my legs a break. Anna looked to be enjoying herself, as she kneeled on the bench in the back and looked down at the expanse below us. Her hair was whipping strongly around her head and she had to constantly push it out of her eyes and mouth.

Sienna was a bit smarter about it, though, and was allowing her hair to flutter behind her in the breeze. She closed her eyes and seemed to just try and find some peace in the rather hectic day so far. I only wished I was able to relax as she was.

For whatever reason, Jon and Michael were bickering over something pointless about the tram, while Tobias was looking over his notepad. I never really paid attention to it before, but I seemed to remember Tobias checking his notepad regularly. The leather-bound notebook had seen better days, as it was faded and falling apart in places. It didn't seem to bother him however, as he continued to write in it.

As I wondered about what Tobias could be writing, he looked up and closed the notebook.

"Michael, we're almost there, try slowing the tram down gradually so we don't make too much noise. I don't want to trip any alarms when we arrive."

Michael nodded, seemingly happy to finally break away from Jon's endless debating. He walked up the control panel, and pressed a couple buttons.

"Uhm, are we even slowing down? You don't have to be that gradual." Tobias remarked.

"Jon!" Michael yelled abruptly.

"What?!" he replied.

"We don't have any brakes!"