Chapter Two "The Search For the Drone"
Simon looked at his check-list:
Light Drone (at Tau?)
Omega Space Gun Climb (Do last)
Structure Gel Vile (Ross?)
Power Suit Room(Jin or Simon 2)
"Hey Catherine, what do-" he stopped himself. "What would Catherine do? What would she do? He sat down in the chair at Phi's control room; looking down at the Omnitool he could reminisce on the times she would tell him what to do and how to. He had to think like her, not try to match her in smarts or neurological sciency stuff, Simon used her logic.
Going through some old secretary room he found a board, some pins, and sticky notes. He wrote down his list and set it up alongside with dangers and other notes on what was also in the same places. Simon thought back to every conversation they had where Catherine was explaining.
You want to go upstairs to the comms center. It's the room with the domed ceiling.
Take a look at the engine room and see if you can figure it out. Maybe there's an override or something.
No, no, it's not like that. The A.I. isn't a persona, it doesn't feel or think like we do. It's more like...it's more like a cancer.
Take the stun baton from the box I opened and hunt down a robot with a working tool chip.
We don't have to worry though, because with the DUNBAT the ARK could have been in the Mariana Trench-it will hold for anything.
Ok, your new body most likely has senses similar to those you had as a human. And your mind, only knowing one way to perceive the world, superimposes that skill set on top of your new features.
Catherine always knew how to make things make...actual sense. Like the WAU not being as personified as her or him. And the ARK transfers...he just wanted to be out of this hell so bad he only half-listened to her, never trying to understand it completely until the end. Then she was gone and here he is now. What would Catherine say about this? Simon took a deep breath, closed his "eyes" and pictured everything. How this would go if she was here.
Simon rolled the board over so Catherine could see it from the monitor. "If we're going to get you a body this is what we'll need," he told her. "Think of it as my, happy birthday to you, I just don't know which to get first."
Catherine, if she could, would be smiling at this. "Simon, I told you that you didn't have to. I can do without a body." From her screen she saw him just staring at her, although he had a blacked out helmet she managed to see his face. She told him that perception was everything, and thanks to Dr. Munshi's records she saw what he looked like, so she saw the Simon Jarrett of Toronto that she heard so much about. If she was going to be stuck for all of eternity
down here, she better get to know her only companion.
"Nope. If we ever do try and leave this place and head back up, I don't think there's any terminals up there that work. I'm going to need you with me every moment."
"Aw, that's sweet of you. I'm sure that you'll regret it when I talk your ear off."
"We're friends. You can't ever do that."
Catherine was silent for a moment. He called her a friend. She never had any among Pathos-II, there was Strasky and Reed but they were probably being nice just to get on the ARK. Just when it was about the ARK or when people kept killing themselves over her project. Now here was Simon, not a scientist or anything but that Guy from Toronto, who called her a friend. If she could blush she would and her insides would butterfly.
"Friends forever."
"Always."
She took a look at the board, examining everything he had written down for each one. "The Omega Space gun would take too long to climb up and back down for, plus you would be carrying the Power Suit down with you and those aren't exactly light. Balance is key, it's like climbing a mountain except that the fall isn't quick. It's also more painful.
Tau's possibly has the other things on our list: the Power Suit Room, the Structure Gel, and the Cortex Chip if we're right in that it's even there. It's not without its risks. There's still Jin roaming around where we'd have to link it up and the process can draw attention. Finding the chip from the drone may have you crawl through the WAU infested parts of the place and most of the cameras are down.
Hmm…
Head to Tau, find that cortex chip, it's almost as important as the Power Suit but drones aren't easy to find down here, especially the ones we need. Find a room called "K-23", I think it was some kind of experimenting room or an infirmary. There should be a vent somewhere, crawl through that and begin your search there."
Simon smiled and shook his head. "Catherine," he spoke, softly and out of his comfort zone, "I...Catherine I…"
"Yes, Simon?"
He shot awake. "No time to waste. Tau, here I come." So he went out into the Abyss once more, retracing every step that led him from here back to Tau, although he had to do more work to reach the entrance. The area was dark, despite last he checked it was around 12 p.m. yet it did not show. He remembered the talk he and Catherine had on the long way down from the Power Climber. She told him about how should would go to the roof of where she lived to watch the world go by. When he heard that story, he didn't think that they were going to repeat it but in the back of his mind he had the thought of it in-case the ARK didn't work out. Here they are now.
Simon found the room that Catherine suggested when he thought about her, indeed there was a vent in this experimenting room. Inside the test chambers there was the Structure Gel leaking into the drain, there were dead fish reanimated by the WAU still flipping out. He wondered if the WAU reached the surface, what it would do with the bodies still there, with what's left of them. Could it still bring them back? Would it do that, finding a body and restoring its mind again? Catherine might have explained it to him how it does it but still, could it?
Climbing through the vent reminded him of Upsilon and Theta, a monster lurking below him. The Construct then Akers, and now Jin Yoshida. Often he would watch the infected Power Suit follow his echo, the tendrils twirling and shooting out when it believed to have found a poor soul. He must have been one of the last to go since the records he found didn't make any mention of his infection. One last desperate escape to the surface? To Omicron?
The vent was a straightforward, dropping down into a section he hadn't seen before. It must have been one of the rooms the WAU blockaded. It was full of Omnitools, tools, boxes and crates of supplies and other things Tau must have needed. Then there was a window showing another room. It was strange...the style and architecture was entirely different. It was almost not mechanical at all. In the center sat the Light Drone, Cortex Chip completely out in the open, almost illuminated. On the right of the window, there was a door of the same design. "Almost too easy."
How could it be a trap? The WAU doesn't have the power to make room sentient and kill him? Does it? He didn't want to waste anymore time debating and running the risks, everything would be worth it. So Simon went for it.
He carefully stepped inside the room, every step there was a CH followed by a VRIK when he took another step forward. The Light Drone looked over at him, staring directly at him. The vocal box spoke to him: T-t-trap...trap….TRAP...TRAP! GYAHHHHHHH!
The room began to close in until something wrapped itself around Simon's foot! He was flung up, his head struck the ceiling. His vision began to bug out, he could see the room start to break apart to reveal the jaw of a whale malformed by the WAU, with a burst of energy he charged, snatching the chip and making it back into the room as the Structure Gel began to fix the hole. With only a small foot of water leaked in, Simon set it on the table before resting against the wall, just taking a quick nap, he promises...
