/Killian
The med-room was rather spacious, with around 16 beds, a bunch of things in fridges, a bunch of things to cure a small army in case of a certain need. I was called by David to come over, whilst I was on the agriculture floor with Isabel. This woman is such a balm to the whole mess that's currently brewing here.
"Evie asked for you both." - David came up to us, looking highly agitated, worried even.
"What's wrong?" - I asked, then felt Isabel's hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her, she just shook her head.
"Let's go." - She calmly said, as she gave me a smile.
We followed David up and then through whatever mazes this side of the bunker had, ending up in med bay, with Ana, Michael, Sujin and Jane on the patient beds.
Isabel looked at Evie, who stood there, looking at her.
"The boss said that Iron City folk did something." - Evie let out.
"Have you checked them?" - Isabel asked, as she came over to each one of them, as they all seemed to be hooked onto the system by now. Analyzing their heart rate, pulse, whatever else these monitors were showing.
"Might be the toxin they used in the Iron City. I've checked the list. I am not sure." - Evie let out.
"I'll take care of them. What else did she say?" - Isabel asked.
"Security level 7. Monitoring the situation." - Evie replied.
Isabel gave a nod.
"You may go, Evie." - Isabel went over to the fridges with chemicals. Looking at the options that were displayed.
David took a seat on one of the beds.
"I heard from Evie that they went off to the point that Feng suggested. From the record box which Jane wore, like a camera we got the footage. I checked what could have set them off, but I don't know. In the car they used the special meds or something. But they all got like this when they were getting up here." - David was nervous.
Isabel moved swiftly, as she took blood samples from each of the patients, then checked it under the microscope.
"Please, say something." - David let out, worry permeating his tone.
"It's alright, kitty. We got it covered. They'll be up in a few hours. Go tell Mia and BongCha to come up to the admin room. Tell them that I said it's because of white lilies. They'll know." - Isabel's voice is gentle, calming, sing-song kind which alleviates all possible worries.
"Ok." - David said and left the room.
"So what exactly is this?" - I ask Isabel, as I'm still eyeing the situation.
"Ehhh, sweetie." - Isabel begins. - "By the look of it it's more than one could chew. Though I'm glad Ana made me check the chemical mixes of all the substances which that damn place used. Making antidotes to each one. Though, quite the hustle that was, within a span of a few days. Though, they sure seem to use some neophyte peasant ways of concocting things. Not classy at all." - Isabel continues.
"So it's poison." - I've summarised.
"It's a mixture of that, as well as something which would make you see some really bad things. But worry not, my dear. In my hands it'll take a day, maybe, at best half a day. They'll be back to normal." - Isabel smiled at me. - "Better tell me how you like to go with me in the plant section and learn about all the great things that selection can do, to both cure and kill."
Indeed - I sort of began having a pull towards Isabel, as she came to our floor. Polite demeanour, calm, collected. Unfazed by the antics of Verin, smiling at Niko's provocations. Even a few times laughing out loud and finding common ground with Ary. She's such a breath of fresh air, which calms the storm. She was the one to come to me and ask if I'd wanted to show her the agriculture floor, in her words 'Enjoy a little stroll'. She was pointing at flowers and plants, explaining how in the right way they could be a great medicine, a great healing tonic, or a deadly poison.
"I wonder about the nightshade you told me." - I say to her.
"It does not grow here, although I am sure that some seeds should be stored here." - Isabel replied, as she was mixing up something. Now the setup on the desk looked like a chemistry lab project.
Precise motions, right measurements, heat appliead… What on earth was she doing?
I came to like observing her. Like she had it all sorted, figured out and knew what and how she was doing. That gave me both some relief and courage.
TaeYeon came into the room. Walked over to check on Ana, then Jane, then looked at the others. Let out a deep sigh.
"That would be unnecessary at the moment, she would not like it." - Isabel softly said.
"They dared to mess with us after asking for help. She's too soft-hearted." - TaeYeon sat in the chair near Isabel.
"We learn, we adapt. She was right to rush. So we can sort it out now." - Isabel turned to TaeYeon with a smile, but somewhat it felt chilling. - "Don't worry. They'll regret ever using such tomfoolery to begin with." - Her voice was still cute, but the words made me feel a shiver down my spine.
"Level 7 huh?" - TaeYeon stretches out. - "Should I prep more toys with recoil, in case some lunatics dare to meddle?"
"TaeYeon, please…" - Isabel looked at him, still smiling. - "Make a few dozen really sturdy ones, with a pizzazz which blinds and takes their hopes to the heavens. We can make a whole sea of white lilies, but…" - She looks at Ana. - "She'll ask to wait. Hmmm. So let us prepare. Just in case she agrees to use the great old methods of retribution." - She turns to TaeYeon. - "Right?"
"I'll go, add to the arsenal." - He got up, his eyes on Ana. - "She better get up soon."
"Yes-yes dear, I'm working on it." - Isabel sounded cheery for a moment.
TaeYeon left the room.
I decided to lay down on one of the beds to rest. Because it seemed that Isabel would not really share much with me. Even her talk with others that came along with her - seem like something, well, something only they understand. Some shared bond or something. That kind of makes me feel jealous.
Such a bond existed with me, Niko, Ary… Now it seems like it all fell apart. Or that we seem to drift apart. I just hope that Niko doesn't do more damage to that guy, Hikaru. He seems to have been through a lot. Though, he looks like he's spaced out a lot lately. Ary is with TaeYeon for some reason. Well, I guess creating some things out of whatnot with that guy is fun. I just could not grasp it. Verin sort of got it on with BongCha. It felt like two outcasts got together. That, or maybe the whole premise of the intelligence was a good glue that stuck them together.
After Michael and David met with Niko, she seemed to become a little paranoid. Walking off to the area where the wetware is, to check if there's any other people who might have been known… Even checking other levels and other "survivors", but most are still in the system. She even got in a large fight with Ana at some point. Ana and Evie with a few other robots were taking out and into the compost some of the dead, who died in the system. Maybe it was indeed "cruel", as Niko shouted. But at the same time - there is no burial here, no cremation, just compost… And leaving the dead in their cryo-pods is not the best option. Mummification of remains is one… Prolonging suffering in the system - seems like a bit of a torture. So in that aspect - I'm not sure who is right or wrong here.
In this time, in this situation - it's hard to tell.
The silence was nice. I even dozed off for a bit.
"Oh it sure feels like a hangover." - Voice pretty tired, somewhat hoarse.
"Feeling better?" - Isabel gently replied.
"I have a feeling those fucks dared to find us. Ugh… water?" - Hoarse voice asked.
"Sure. Here you go." - Isabel replied. - "So what do you think, Ana, are they going to be a bunch of silly geese?"
By the sound of it - Ana sat on her bed. Some rustling started with others, as they too began to wake up.
"Oh, let me bring you water, my dear plants." - Isabel joyfully, softly let out, as she shuffled about to get water for the others.
"Khem-khem! Those fucks." - Sujin seemed to wake up next.
"Ana, you alright?" - Michael got up.
"Ugh, like a hangover." - Jane's voice came on.
"Can I kill them all?" - Sujin asked, rather annoyed.
I turned around on the bed, to look at them. The lot was sitting on their beds, as they checked each other.
"Isabel, how long and what's the condition?" - Ana asked.
"Four hours. You managed to get back rather quickly. Judging from the footage - they took the antidote before the whole sitting. Any orders, your majesty?" - Isabel replied with a smile.
"Let's go to the office. I'm sure those bastards are here." - Ana got up and walked out.
"So, we're all on board with blowing to smithereens the bastards who dared to mess with her?" - Isabel smilingly checked the others, as they were getting up.
"I wouldn't call her quee…" - Jane began.
"On board." - Sujin cut him off. - "They messed with the wrong one."
"You seriously think of her as queen?" - Jane grimaced at Sujin.
"Ah, the yong'uns." - Isabel smiled at him. - "If she's dead - we're all stranded. So we sure as hell won't dare to kill the only person who can open or close this place. If we all want to survive, that is. So yeah, until she gives the authority to some others - she is our dear Majesty."
Oh, so that's what it was. So currently the only person able to open and close the entrances to the bunker is Ana. Oh… Oh that's fucked up if she dies indeed. But then again - having only one person with this much power in here is rather unbalanced.
"Could she add people to the list or something, so we all could come and go?" - I asked Isabel, as I sat up in the bed.
"Ah, the cute little thing. If only it were as easy. The damned system is rather more messy than that." - Isabel replied.
"It's only BITTech personnel. And only them. Even if there's others - we're yet not aware where exactly they are in here. Like the levels to this side of the bunker. Some things are only available to her. And I'm not sure if her death would open the place or close it for good. So yeah. We need her." - Sujin added. - "Come on. Let's check what happened out there."
Sujin walked off towards the office, I assume. Others followed her. Isabel stayed. She looked at me.
"Don't you want to know?" - Isabel gestured to me to come over.
In the office it looked like a strategic meeting, in a sense. There were all of us. And I truly mean all of us. The others were brought up here from wherever they were on the other side of this bunker. Niko, Verin, Ary… All the first ones, all the new ones. Everyone.
Ana had a smirk on her face, as she was watching the monitors.
"Quite daring of you to 'summon' us here, Ana." - Verin being her typical sharp-tongued self.
"Assuming it is not for a walk in a park, sis." - Ary sighed, as he sat on the couch.
Verin glared in Ary's direction.
"We're having guests. There's over 40 troops outside, scouting out our perimeter. Checking all the damn sides one can check. All to find a crack, a hole or pretty much anything to get in." - Ana said, as she sounded rather annoyed.
"We had a call with Feng. He gave us coordinates of a place, requesting that we go there. We did. There were people. A pretty decent settlement with, I assume over 500 people. Sort of a town that was abandoned and reclaimed by this lot." - Sujin explains.
"They all seem to be either escapees from the Iron City, possibly rebels. Though fuck knows. That guy sent some information, but all in all - we're still in the dark." - Jane added.
"You mean we got exposed." - Ana cut in. - "Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back. And thus, we went to quench our curiosity, found a bunch of hostile jerks, barely made it back. Now I wonder if what Feng said about that help is even valid. Having such a 'warm welcome' for us in that place."
"We did kill 10 of their people." - Jane shrugged. - "They used primitive, by comparison, weapons."
"They used sophisticated levels of toxins." - Isabel cut in. - "They have advanced levels of knowledge when it comes to psychotropics, toxins, poisons and whatever one can do with either psilocybin or even MDMA just to mess with shit. So they ain't that backwards." - Isabel sounded rather angry in a sense. That came as a surprise to some.
"They seemed to establish their power using chemicals. We have the old school way of firepower. So if they're good at close manipulations - we're better at far distances." - Ana lets out coldly.
"Kaboom?" - Isabel smiled.
"Perhaps." - Ana looked at her.
"They had kids and elders in there." - Jane added.
"In what warfare in what age have you seen kids and elders NOT being killed?" - Isabel waved her hand.
"It's always women and children first." - Sujin adds. - "The humiliation, the mutilation, rape, abuse and then death. And it does not matter if crusade is fueled by religion, morals, ethics, higher power or a better future. Whenever it is war - nothing is off limits. Because it IS WAR."
"So you want to tell me you'll go guns blazing on them?" - Jane asks. Sujin shrugs.
"Are you sane?" - Niko gets into conversation. - "Killing people ain't normal no matter how you pose it."
"Tell that to first settlers, Hitler or even the possible cults and religions that killed 'in the name of god' or something." - Sujin looks at Niko.
"We're talking about war against the people who we know nothing about! Shouldn't we first get to know what they want?" - Niko keeps pressing.
"She ain't wrong." - Verin gets in. - "Even if we have the upper hand in this, it is still better to see what they do if there's some sort of representative that's out there having a chat with them. They might communicate."
"Or lay siege. Let us not forget that we still know jack shit about the events in the outer world." - Ary runs his fingers through his hair. - "They might think that THEY have the upper hand. Therefore they are here. Outside and waiting. If we send anyone out there - where's the guarantee that they won't kill said person?"
"Then we send an android." - Evie joined the conversation.
The whole room looked at her. Yeah, aware of what she was, but heaving to be such a sacrifice was still not the best option.
"Fuck!" - Ana smacked her palm on the table.
"Hun?" - Michael gently let out, as he leaned in.
Ana seemed angry. Somewhere near the tipping point.
"Fine." - She looked at Niko. - "So we DO send someone." - Then she looked at Ary. - "And we do send someone able to live no matter what." - Then she turned to Evie. - "But that means that I'll have to get Elis and Grant."
Evie seemed surprised for a moment.
"They're… here?" - Evie seemed to shake somehow. Disbelief. Do androids do that? Are they capable of it? Ana got up from her seat, then walked over to the hall.
"You lot stay here and keep watch on the situation. I'll go grab a few more androids." - Ana let out.
"Alone?" - Sujin asked. Ana turned around and scanned the room. Somewhat it felt like an assessment for a moment.
"TaeYeon, Ary, come with me." - Ana finally said.
The others looked at each other. TaeYeon and Ary followed Ana out the hall.
"I suppose Our Majesty just picked the successors." - Isabel said, as she looked at Sujin.
"As much as TaeYeon is volatile, he's still cold calculating. Not sure about Ary." - Sujin replied.
"Ary is a paranoid humanitarian." - I added.
"More like a calculating bastard with a thick hide." - Verin rolled her eyes.
"Ehh. Well, whatever works - works." - Jane shrugged.
"Do you really think she's a good fit to lead?" - Niko asked, as she looked at the people around the room.
"Could you do a better job, princess?" - Michael cut in.
"Out of all of us present - she's the only one who can open or close this can of worms at will." - Sujin eyed Niko. - "Do you have that ability?"
"Not yet." - Niko almost hissed back.
"Ambition surely is a thruster helping forward. Though, let's face it - when dealing with situations that need political skills, leadership and well, the know-how of this damn bunker - there ain't many of us who qualify." - BongCha sighed. - "Even if I call myself the Queen of Joseon and proclaim the land mine - without the knowledge of how the kingdom works - it would be a bunch of empty words."
"We lived for hundreds of years." - Verin thinks aloud. - "And yet this is how much we're capable out here?"
"More like - we lived in the dream for a long time. Hence the whole fairytale of the good and bad." - Michael adds. - "But in this real world, what even are we? Sure, our backstories might be quite the great set for a legend, but now, like - right now… Bunch of people who look similar due to systems mess, leaving us like a herd of albino cows. Characters are all over the place, because we've all been through whatever hell we made. Oh and now we're in goddamn 'brave new world' which fucked up so hard it threw out all common sense out the galaxy. So yeah, we can be divided, bicker amongst ourselves like idiots and try the age old 'divide and conquer' technique. Though with what will be left - the fuck you think you'll do in here for years? We all want to go out and explore. Because we want to KNOW what is out there. We all do. But being pissy about whatever happened in the system and being hell-bent on that to then be the petty brat or a cunt - won't solve our current happenstance no matter how hard you pound it."
"Not to mention - we can't really print ourselves here, to prolong the 'humanity'." - Jane let out.
"And dating in between us? Can you imagine?" - Michael kept going. - "White right now. All of us. Even though when we got here we were all shades and colours. And now? Fuck knows if the peens and vageens work how they are supposed to. We've not even checked if we can multiply."
"You can pop into my clinic and I'll do the due diligence to check all of that." - Isabel smiled.
"And since when are you a medic?" - Verin asked sarcastically.
"Since I have a doctorate, little bird." - Isabel replied with a smile.
"Jesus…" - Jane breathed out.
"Mmm-mmm, nah. No religion is saving us out here." - Mia spoke up. - "But yes, the whole ordeal about the reproductive system does sound like something we all should check out. I mean, in case we do the do and either want or not want the consequences of the fornication. So, Isabel, sign me up."
I was pinching my nose bridge as I was a witness to such a mess of conversations happening. Like a throw into the chat room back in the days of chatrooms. A pure chaotic mess. Conversations kept on going for a bit. Somehow it started to feel like a sibling squabble session even.
"They're setting camp." - Evie got our common attention.
"What?" - Jane walked over to the monitors, checking.
"Oh shit… That ain't right." - Sujin walked over and checked what's showing, then pointed to the screen side. - "That looks like our vent they're about to mess with."
"That is a decoy vent." - Evie elaborated, as she looked at what Sujin pointed out. - "The actual ones are on the other side of this mountain. And we did well during repairs to cover them."
"That still leads to us somewhere." - Sujin added.
Evie fell silent.
"It does." - Evie replied.
After a moment Ana, Ary, TaeYeon and two more walked into the room.
"They're trying to mess with our vent!" - Sujin called out.
"Protocol 9 on that, Evie. Don't get soft on them." - Ana coldly stated. - "Now, here's Elis and Grant. These two shall be the ones to get out there and try to have a conversation. Evie, instruct and update them."
Evie got up, walking over to the other two androids, which looked rather stiff yet.
"They're…" - Evie said gently.
"Had been wiped clean for storage reasons. So go get them updated to the working condition, render all data, so that interactions are smoother. Might take a day, but do it. Oh and," - Ana looks at Evie. - "Don't you fucking dare attempt that shit again. I'll wipe you clean if you do." - Threatening tone, cold, as if ready to disassemble android into factory components.
"Understood." - Evie replied, then took both androids by the hands, making them follow her.
"So," - Ana looked at the others. - "We now have someone who'll play representatives, while we'll be alive and well. Though, as we can see - these bastards wanna play a game. So we play. It's not necessarily 'sitting ducks'. Though we are now observers to their failure. Niko, Verin, Mia - you shall be monitoring the movement. Let me know if there's anything else that goes south. Ary, TaeYeon, proceed as we decided. Use what you need, who you need. Now you have the capability to. I'll go to rest some more. Sujin, Jane, Michael, if you still feel like shit after the outing - med-bay is a place to rest. Coz that's where I'll be."
Ana once more set out into the hall, Michael followed her. Sujin and Jane stayed in the room. Mia, Niko and Verin were also now in here, with Jane and Sujin. Others disbursed. I went along with Isabel.
"You should go to your room, sweetie. Get some rest. I feel like we're about to get real busy real soon." - Isabel hugged me, as she led me to the elevator that takes me to our side of the bunker.
"Get some food, get some rest. I'll come get you when the time comes." - Isabel gently nudged me to the elevalor.
I went as I was told.
Room with a few other beds. The damn dormitory type of arrangement that we sort of got used to. I wonder what happened with Ary and TaeYeon. What interesting quests did they get? Wondering so much indeed… My eyes closed too easily, just like sleep whacked me out of order.