Gena sat in the chair of her flat as she listened to Matt explaining their woes, waving his hands, adding some bravado to his acting. He leaned on the truth and leaned on the fact that they could help her. He never alluded to the police box, but only that they just wanted to go home.

At first, Gena had to do double takes, as Matt referenced things that didn't seemed to exist in this particular world, before he corrected himself and tried to generalize what did exist instead. She listened to him as she held a cup of tea around her hands, tying to comprehend everything he said. Eventually he worn himself out and asked for a drink of water, his voice nearly gave out from talking so much.

Gena handed him a cup of water, he thanked her, and emptied it completely. Once he finished, he waited for Gena's response. She sat in her chair quietly as she proceeded what she heard from Matt.

Behind him, she saw Ripley and the other two sitting on the sofa in the den. She tapped her painted nails against her cup as she tried to think of what he saiid and eventually, she replied with, "What do you want to know?"

"This smog, where did it come from and are there any truth to what we've been hearing," Matt asked her.

The smog started showing up around autumn of 2066 and at first; nobody thought of it, they mistook it for fog, since they become prevalent in autumn because of the rains. Only when people started getting sick and disappearing, did they realize something was wrong. By then, the Parliament House dug its feet while people demanded answers, the only recourse they had was evacuate the populace and live on Topside, forbidding anyone from going down into the Bottom ever again, lest they wanted trouble with the law.

Gena became an activist because she wanted to find out what happened to her sister, Ana, who'd gone missing when the smog started coming in. She wanted to help others displaced by the smog and by her own admission, wanted an answer as to what happened to Ana.

"I have been keeping an eye out for her, but I've never been able to find out anything," Gena frowned as she looked down into her empty cup.

Matt slowly nodded and motioned with his hand. "This smog, does it show anywhere else?" he asked her. She replied with, "The strangest thing, it's only this area. I've looked into other cities near and around Prudence, if it was pollution they've be affected too."

"Strange," Matt blinked. "You're saying it's not pollution."

"How can it be if it doesn't spread out to the outer areas?" Gena shrugged.

Matt glimpsed behind to his cohorts who all had looks of intrigue. It was strange that supposed smog from pollution would only affect one area and nowhere else.

"How often does it come in?" Matt asked her. "It wasn't in when we came here."

"It used to come in and out, infrequently, but now it's been coming almost every other day and staying longer than usual," Gena informed him. He frowned. "How long does it stay around, now?" he asked her. She replied, "Almost a month. It's been getting longer."

"And no one knows the cause of the smog?" Ripley inquired. Gena shook her head. Ripley frowned as she shifted in her spot before responding, "And the disappearances?"

Gena shook her head again. Ripley sighed before shaking her head at Gena's response. She then asked, "What were the victims doing at the time of their disappearances?"

"Trying to go down to the Bottom, back to their homes," Gena replied. "They've been paying people to take them down there, but we've never been able to find them."

She had something else on her mind and Ripley saw through her. She said something that caused Gena to shirk in her spot. "What're they doing for the disappearances on the Topside?" Ripley inquired.

It appeared that not only were people going missing down in the Bottom, but also they were going missing on the Topside. Nobody knew what the causes were, but it appeared there been some cover up where people were branded as chippers and didn't have proper IDs. They went missing and nobody went looking for them, because they were chippers, the punks of Matt and co.'s world. Quiet, nobody wanted word getting out that an official or such too gone missing, so they been skewing numbers, names, defamation if need be, all to ensure nobody would find out the truth.

"So that's why the rich and such left Prudence?" Matt gestured with her hands.
Gena nodded as she said, "What remained of them."

"So, what happens to the people go missing?" Arthur piped up. Gena looked passed Matt to see him and answered, "Nobody knows. There aren't any bodies, no blood; I can't even get into the morgue and check."

"I don't understand, how could this happen?" Karen shook her head; her vibrant red hair shimmered under the light. "Why aren't they demanding answers?"

"All I know is, they're about to install a curfew, nobody out past dark and anyone who gets caught is going to jail," Gena rubbed her eyes. She heard Ripley, "If they go to jail."

Arthur turned to her and asked, "Are you suggesting this is intentional?"

"Nobody is this woefully ignorant," Ripley only said.

Gena hammered out a plan with the four.

With her connections, they could take a "hacked" hovercraft down into an area of the Bottom where police haven't gone through. Supposedly, it being under construction at the time of the smog, police had no reason to keep watch of the area. Locals called it the Burrow because of the giant hole in the center of the construction site for the sewage lines meant for the future buildings slated for the area. Much of the hole filled from rain and a deep pool formed below the hole, there were some stories about it, but most of it was tall tales by parents to keep their children from going near it because of how deep it is.

It seemed a good place as any to hide while they investigate the smog.

"I don't know what's down there. Far as I know, the smog is the only concern we have. We'll have breathing apparatuses, these ones are legitimate," Gena rubbed her eyes.

Arthur slowly raised his finger as he asked, "Legitimate?"

There been a slew of fake breathing apparatuses over the years. One news story had a fake breathing apparatus with fake filters that impeded people's breathing to the point at least three people suffocated from wearing it. Some suffered allergic reactions from the plastics used for breathing apparatuses that caused welts and one case; a man became deformed from a severe reaction.

It got to the point that there were breathing apparatuses from official sources found to be fakes. With fakes becoming increasingly similar to the official counterparts, people couldn't trust them.

Finding legitimate breathing apparatuses was a daunting task, but if anyone found one, they could make fortunes.

Gena found hers by pure luck and she had to hide them from everyone, even those she worked with, because of how rare they were. If they found out, they'd hassle her for them, if not try to steal them.

"People just want to go back to their homes," Gena admitted. "They're not bad people, they're desperate. Living up here is no way of living."

It was late, Gena let the four stay in her flat for the night. She made up beds for them, giving Ripley the sofa. With everyone situated, they tried to get some sleep; they'd go down into the Bottom after the sun went down.

Karen and Arthur went to sleep relatively early on, Matt and Ripley were the only ones awake.

"Strange, isn't it," Matt mused as he lay across his makeshift bed. He glimpsed over to Ripley who stretched out on the sofa. Her dark eyes moved to meet his as she responded, "What is?"

"A world, not like our own, similar, but not," Matt mused. "It's amazing to think it's real!"

Ripley's eyes moved to look up at the low hanging ceiling. "Do you think there are more?" Matt wondered. Ripley frowned as she replied, "I don't know."

"I wonder how many are out there," Matt continued. He heard, "We wouldn't be able to see them all in our lifetime."

"True," Matt nodded as he shifted in his spot. "But it doesn't hurt to think about it, I mean this is a chance at a lifetime of discovery!"

"A chance," Ripley echoed.

They fell asleep and when they woke up, Gena paced around the kitchen with a concerned look on her face, the rumors were true and the curfews for late night until 4 AM installed and a crackdown on unauthorized hovercraft modifications.

"Something must've scared them," Ripley summed as she sat at the kitchen table. "We need to get down there, Gena."

Gena frowned as she shifted in her seat. Their meticulous plan been thrown asunder by the news, they needed the hovercraft to smuggle the breathing apparatuses down below. It wouldn't be possible to hide among the smog with officers tracking for all and any hovercraft on their scanners.

"Is there a way down there without the hovercraft?" Ripley asked her.

Before the evacuations and the permanent relocations, there were elevators that took patrons down into the Bottom, it was before hovercrafts became commonplace and cheap enough for the average folk to purchase. The last maintenance done on they happened weeks before the evacuations started.

Gena didn't know if the elevators still worked or not, she hadn't been to them in years. Nobody she talked to ever tried, so they didn't know either.

"It's worth a shot," Karen gestured.

Arthur pointed out, "Can we get to them without being found?"

"Whitt's Plaza, it's the only way down to the elevators, it's become a homeless camp but we can sneak down there," Gena pondered. "I don't know how well they'll take to us sneaking around their camp though, but the police generally don't patrol over there often. Not much stock keeping two warring homeless men from beating each other half to death."

"We'll take our chances," Ripley said.

Matt crossed his arms, "Could it be because of the disappearances?"

"Someone said that a little boy went missing on the Topside and they found his shoe on the side of the railing. His mother thinks he fell over the side, but nobody really knows. My contact said that the police found large handprints on the side of the railing, as if someone was clinging there. It's recent too," Gena grimly said.

A little boy, about four or five, taken by an unknown person or thing, to where and why, it was something nobody wanted to think about it. Since it happened in broad daylight with a few witnesses saying they saw the boy flopping over the side of the railing, it was harder for the police to sweep under the carpet and thus the curfews were a response.

"Oh my god," Karen covered her mouth at the thought something happened to a young child.

Arthur bit down on his bottom lip as he tried to think good things, afraid of what the truth of the child's condition would be.

Matt blinked as he shook his head lightly. The thought sent chills down his spine.

Ripley sat there quietly, but her face gave off subtle hints as to what she was feeling.

The plan started around 11 PM, there was some rain coming in and with thunderstorms, nobody wanted to be outside in the dreary mess, they'd have plenty of cover to get to the plaza and the elevators.

They took their breathing apparatuses, air tanks strapped to their backs, and Gena led them out of her flat into the darkness.

Pattering of their feet and Ripley's cane echoed throughout the night as they struggled to walk through the flooded streets and followed Gena through winding alleyways. Ducking time to time as they heard the noises of hovercrafts and sounds of people walking around, they carefully fled into darkened paths and stayed close together, as the paths became thinner and claustrophobic. Tanks scratched against the brickwork as the five came down a path of stairs to the bottom half of the Topside.

The path widened and Gena led them further out until they saw statues of various figures from various parts of history with a broken massive water fountain in the center of the statues. Smell of burning coal among other unimaginable scents didn't bother the five as Gena was used to it and the four didn't smell it at all because of the breathing apparatuses.

Gena hunched as she walked with them towards a path behind the tents and ducked when she heard rumblings of angry homeless before gesturing the others to follow her close. There were narrow escapes, but thankfully, most of the homeless they encountered were high or drunk too notice them.

The stairs down into a subway like structure were in horrid state that several times, they'd almost trip because of broken or missing steps. The moment they came down into the waiting area, they plunged into the darkness with faint light coming from Gena's flashlight.

She led them to the elevators and tried every one, but none of them worked. Their battery cells went flat and there was no way to get a battery for them to use.

Ripley asked to take a crack at it and Gena stepped aside as she stepped in front of the elevator. She looked to the panel beside it and stuck her cane in her left hand before putting her right hand over the panel.

Bzzzt…. Bzzzt… bzzzzzzzzzzzzttttttt!

The elevator whirled and whined as it slowly turned on and the panel lit up with a touchscreen flashing with a "Welcome!" splashed across the screen.

Ripley sauntered back and clenched her right hand as she took deep breaths. She refused Matt's help, Karen and Arthur looked to her, worried, before she waved her hand at them.

"How did you do that?" Gena asked her, marveled at the elevator suddenly springing to life soon after Ripley touch the panel. Ripley shrugged her stout shoulders and replied, "You don't want to know."

Gena touched the panel and called for the elevator.

"I don't know what you'll find down there," she admitted. "But I hope you have a plan."

"We'll be fine, right?" Matt looked behind to the other three that had various looks on their faces, Arthur's didn't help as he fidgeted in his spot.

Gena had something to say but didn't, Ripley saw it and said, "If we find anything, you'll be the first one to know."

"Thank you," Gena told them as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped into the elevator. Matt touched the touchscreen on his side, the elevator doors slowly closed, and they plunged deep into the depths below Prudence.