Companion to Chapter 32 of AUP.
CHAPTER 2: LIFE FORCE
The tunnels were dark as Timmy walked through, gazing around at the underground paths. Using his lantern, he gazed around, looking at the tunnels before him.
"How'd you find these tunnels?" he asked Rasputin, who grinned.
"These tunnels are ancient," he grinned. "In antiquity, the monarchs were able to use it as a secret passage of escape, if necessary. In the past millennium, they have been used for communication for the Resistance; our people use them to travel. A few of them have been blocked off, and the ones closer to the Upper District of Kremniy were discovered by the authorities; however, most of them are safe for us to travel. We are heading to the Lower District now to hear General Ivan Trotsky."
"Who?" Timmy asked confusedly. Rasputin's eyes went wider.
"How have you not heard of them?" he asked. "He's only the great leader of the Resistance! A great revolutionary, one meant for the ages!"
"Um… okay," Timmy frowned. "But what are we needed for?"
Rasputin grinned. "You're going to pledge yourself to the Resistance, in front of the people of the Lower District – those who are in the Resistance, anyways. He's giving a speech." He sighed. "Oh, I just love the man! He's the best speechmaker ever!"
They reached a pipe. Timmy stared at it in confusion, and then turned towards Rasputin. "Are we in a storm-drain?"
"Yes, we are!" Rasputin said cheerfully. "Or heading up to one, anyhow. We're crawling up closer to the surface. There's a chamber higher where everyone is standing!" He climbed into the pipe; with a shudder of disgust, Timmy followed him.
It was slimy and wet. The tunnel was barely large enough for him to crawl through, although thankfully there was no smell. I can't wait to get out of this place…
He had never been very adventurous. His family had been quite disappointed that he'd showed no interest in magiball, instead preferring to stay inside and learn physics and math. Loving and supportive, but disappointed nonetheless. Of course, his older brother had been great at everything, and a prodigy at the one thing they'd coveted – magiball.
Needless to say, Jay Singh's dreams had been completely supported all throughout his life. Lilia and Ishaan had taken him to magiball practices, got him lessons with the best instructors, and cheered when he'd gotten a scholarship to Indra University for his skills. He was lauded as somewhat of a celebrity in their hometown. He played in a minor magiball league based in Vyagrha, a province of Magix.
Timmy had barely known him. Jay was forty years older than him, and had already established himself in magiball by the time Timmy was born. But every step of his childhood, he had always felt as if he was in Jay's shadow. His teachers fondly remembered him as "Jay's brother", and even some of the students seemed to know who Jay was.
Timmy hadn't been born with natural talent. He wasn't a prodigy like Jay, or even like Tecna. Everything he'd been good at, he'd had to work hard for, his entire life. His parents had gotten him an Iyer tutor for math and physics, and he'd spent countless hours reworking problems. Even then, he would never be as good as someone like Tecna, who had been born with natural talent, and had worked far harder than he'd ever done in his life. He sighed and gazed out of the tunnel's opening, and then he froze.
In front of them was a pitiful group of people, huddled and cramped within the tiny chamber. Their faces were gaunt and exhausted, and many of them had missing fingers or even toes. They all had soot all over their faces and clothes.
"This is the Resistance?" he whispered to Rasputin.
"Don't be foolish," Mara snapped, walking up to him. "Our forces are far too vast to fit in this small tunnel. Our General moves around from place to place, making small speeches for the people of the Resistance."
Timmy looked over at Ivan, who was speaking in a high, excited voice. The language he spoke sounded slightly different from Unified Zenithian, and he knew that the people of the factories must speak a different dialect or maybe even a different language altogether. He stared up at Ivan, slowly taking him in.
The man had long indigo hair that fell down to his shoulders, knotted and tangled like that of a sailor's. He had a rugged look in his eyes, one that seemed as if he'd been through a lot. His beard and moustache were also unkempt. He spoke in a pompous manner, but in a voice that seemed to have strength embedded inside.
Rasputin sighed, his eyes adoring. "Isn't he a genius?" he grinned.
"Uh… yeah," Timmy said, frowning. Suddenly, a man stood up, stopping Ivan mid-speech and shouting at him.
Timmy backed away, startled. "What's he saying?" he whispered to Mara.
"He's tired of suffering for so long," she answered. "He wants results, not empty promises."
Ivan was trying to calm the man down, speaking in a stern voice, but it wasn't helping. The people behind the man were shouting at him too, angrier and angrier.
There's going to be an all-out riot if they don't stop! They were far too close to the surface for this kind of argument; sooner, or later, they were going to get caught by someone, and then what? There'd be fighting, and these people would all be taken into custody. People whose only crime was being born into poverty. He gazed around at those people, whose faces were full of anger.
He could understand their pain very well. To them, a few small gains or trites from the Resistance weren't enough – they needed tangible results after investing their time – and their lives – into the Resistance. If Ivan didn't give them something soon, they were going to leave – and he could tell he needed the support of these people.
Just like how I need Tecna's support. All this time, he'd been unbelievably miserable at not having Tecna by his side, and frustrated that his search for her had, insofar, been futile. But now he saw what frustration and impatience could do to an entire movement. But I have a solution for these people… Without stopping to think, he shouted, "I can help!"
The people turned their heads to him in confusion. Eyes narrowed. He saw Ivan's eyes widen in surprise, and Rasputin staring at him in bewilderment. Mara smacked him on the head.
"You fool!" she hissed. "You can't do anything. What do you expect to be able to" –
"I have an idea," he insisted, pushing past her. "I have a solution for your problem."
No reaction. He realized, with dismay, that most of the people didn't speak any of the Common Tongue. Of course. These people were barely educated in their own language, much less the language of the UR. Ivan glared at him.
"Captain Mara," he said, "haven't you taught recruits to keep their mouths closed unless spoken to?"
"Don't blame her," Timmy said boldly. "I'm an idiot of my own accord."
Ivan laughed. "I like this one," he said. "Fine, then. Come on up here." To the crowd he said something in Unified Zenithian, presumably a translation.
Timmy stood up on the rock, gazing around the room. He felt self-conscious as he looked at them, taking everything in.
"Do you all remember the girl, Anastasia, who sacrificed herself for the Omega Portal?" he asked. "She is alive. I don't know where she is, but I'm going to find her. And once I do, I'm going to help her with the Resistance."
Rasputin translated. The people looked at each other in disbelief, staring up at Timmy.
"They want to know how you know she's alive," Mara said from the back. "And quite frankly, so do I."
"I just do, okay?" he insisted. "Listen, if we can find her, she'll do everything she can to help you. We need to find her."
"But how do you know?" Rasputin translated for a cyborg woman. "How do you know she's alive? These people aren't going to just follow you because of a gut feeling."
Timmy wanted to punch someone right at that moment. Why can't they just understand? But he knew that if he lost control of his emotions, no one would be willing to follow him. He swallowed hard, gazing up at the group of people.
"Even if she's not alive," he said, "I know she's integral to the operation somehow. Before her death, she was closely monitored by Igor Vasiliev, Secretary of Public Health."
"Igor Vasiliev?" Mara asked, her eyes narrowed. "That man is dangerous. If your girlfriend was mixed up with him, there's no way she's alive."
"But if we can hack into his files, we can find out exactly what he's doing," he pressed on.
Mara laughed. "Good luck with that. We have a whole group of programmers, and no one's been able to hack into anything Zenithian-related. The entire thing is heavily encrypted."
Timmy felt defeated as the people of the Lower District stared at him, their eyes narrowed. He could tell that they didn't think much of him. He let out a sigh.
At that moment, his device beeped. Startled, he opened it and stared at the words on the screen, his eyes wide.
TRACE POSITIVE, the device read. LIFE-FORCE FOUND WITHIN SUBJECT.
Timmy let out a gasp. "I don't believe it," he whispered.
"What did you find?" Mara demanded, snatching the device from him. "What is it?"
Timmy snatched it back. "It's a device searching for her life-force," he breathed. "I had a strand of her hair with me, and analyzed its DNA with this. This has been scanning all throughout the realms, and trying to find if she's alive. It just came back and told me she's alive."
"But where is she?" asked Ivan. Timmy frowned, staring at the device.
"It gave me a reading relatively quickly," he said, "which means she must be somewhere near here. The device didn't tell me where she is, though."
"Very helpful," Mara said sarcastically.
"It is!" Timmy insisted. "Don't you see? She worked in Vasiliev's laboratory before this, which means that she knows more about it than anyone else! And she's a wonderful programmer, and she's a strong warrior! If I find her and bring her back, she will help us win!"
"Anastasia the Resurrected," Ivan mused. "The one who should've died in the Omega Portal, but came back to life. She will make a powerful statement amongst the impoverished people, particularly the cyborg population of Zenith." He gazed at Timmy.
"Very well," he said. "We will join you in your bid to find Anastasia Ivanova."
"Thank you," Timmy breathed. For the first time in ages, a strength filled him from the inside. He could see a path ahead of him, one that would be difficult, but which he would follow every step of the way.