Entry Five – Days after Geonosis, Eleven
Coruscant's vast underworld, I am beginning to discover, is itself divided into little worlds of its own. Like the exposed strata of some great canyon wall it can be grouped into layers joined by proximity. Each such layer represents a number of individual levels. Every one of these informal accretions shares a certain identifiable character, a colloquial identity applied to broad clumps rather than individual numbered layers.
Though these divisions are generally not actually recorded in any official documentation, they seem to be well known. Many are linked to rather stark changes in physical structure. A huge portion of the underworld is comprised of levels devoted wholly to industrial processes where standard organic life cannot survive without advanced hazard equipment. These are perhaps the most obvious, given that all the access points are blazoned with stark warnings and it seems only droids ever mention them. Others, while accommodating life, present significant physiological boundaries. Levels 1371 through 1392 possess an atmosphere tailored to methane-breathing metabolisms that would kill the average oxygen-breather in seconds.
My current residence, on level 1314, is part of a block from level 1310 to 1335. It is considerably more hospitable to standard humanoid biomechanical processes than many neighboring areas. This is even reflected in the local name for the area, the Bucket. According to Officer Morne, who keeps stopping by despite the lack of any official business, this name refers to being as far down as you're usually able to go and still return to the surface someday. While many of the levels below are technically habitable and some do support permanent residents, none of them are zoned for residency and the government has fewer eyes and fewer protections available to anyone that far down. The whole bottom 1300 levels are primarily given over to essential industrial processes necessary to keep everyone higher up alive.
That goes a long way toward explaining the highly concentrated amount of criminal enterprise that seems to practically consume this region. This being as far as you can get from the authority high above on the surface, all the criminal flotsam washes up in the Bucket (I've begun to notice this name has all sorts of metaphorical convenience). It would appear that at least one syndicate has influence over almost all local businesses, and the quantities of illegal narcotics just on open display are staggering. I'm fairly certain I saw a deal for a commercial container's worth of death sticks conducted in broad daylight. Morne claims the police have things under control, but since I was approached by some fool seeking to extort me for kickbacks while he was actually visiting I find that assertion particularly dubious. Especially considering that the youth displayed no fear at all of the police, but sputtered furiously when he realized the little office suite he'd accosted belonged to the Jedi Order. Coming after one of our charities has to be the worst risk/reward calculation imaginable. Even so, I've ordered Dee-Dee to keep a strict eye on the medical supply inventory. There's nothing else worth stealing, and I will not have lifesaving tools taken away to line the pockets of some sneak thief.
I have begun the process of arranging a routine to my days here by opening the office as a free clinic for ten hours each day. I'll fill up the remaining hours in time. For now, I'm trying to ease my way through nearby neighborhoods. Thankfully there have been no major distractions yet. Officer Morne thinks the criminals are bidding their time. No one knows what enforcement, and especially punishment, will be like under the new emergency acts and therefore no one wants to go first. He also thinks that, with the war on, some of the smarter class of crime syndicates will transition as much as they can into ethically dubious but technically legal war profiteering. I confess my understanding of the criminal mindset is minimal, but this sounds plausible. At least one sign has been clearly visible, in the form of endless banners showing clones in full battle armor and sporting various political slogans. There is not much variety, yet, and they have not penetrated beyond the major corridors, but it seems no depth is too great for the Chancellor to wave the flag.
The reception of this white-armored imagery with their identical appearance and perfectly precise marching patterns has been rather cold. Even in human-dominated areas where patriotic symbols are painted on every door there is little pro-clone imagery. Politics aside, my guess is that no one knows what to think regarding this instant army that spilled out of vats in the distant Outer Rim. Confusion reigns. Several patients have questioned me directly in the hopes that a Jedi might have answers not available on the official feeds. If only that were so. Sitting here, I can only stare at the blank screen of my terminal and wish for knowledge of my own. Beyond the basic unknowns like who setup the contract and how in the galaxy the Kaminoans were paid, I simply do not understand why anyone would want to create a clone army in the first place. Certainly there are some efficiencies inherent in utilizing a single biological template, but a lack of diversity comes with vulnerabilities as well.
More than that, I cannot shake the feeling that it is somehow cruel to produce people solely for the purpose of combat. I've reviewed the edited template that the Medical Corps was cleared to examine as part of the development of treatment protocols. The clones have been modified to age at twice normal human speeds, but given extraordinary physical nature of their model, most will still live for forty to fifty years. The war cannot possibly last that long, what happens when it ends? Could the Republic not have built its own droid army if the prospect of conscription was too terrible? I suppose there is probably some strong strategic reason I cannot imagine, I was never any good at military exercises, but the absence of an answer gnaws at me.
But the clones are not my responsibility now, the inhabitants of this Bucket are. I need to focus on learning all I can about them. Some things have already become clear. This region's structures were built to accommodate a standard-sized humanoid form, and consequently humanoids overwhelmingly dominate the population. Humans are the most numerous species by a considerable margin, but my initial impression is that they do not constitute an outright majority, a clear deviation from Galactic City. The other species are mostly representatives of the usual mixture found in advanced industrial civilization throughout the galaxy, with Rodians and Twi'leks particularly common. Outside that well-established group there are a few uncommon species that appear regularly enough to be a noticeable presence, Biths and Siniteen most recognizably. I have not yet determined what draws them here. There is also a boundless diversity of rarely seen humanoid species scattered about in pockets.
Non-humanoid species are relatively rare. The uncompromising built environment no doubt combines with the usual prejudices to dissuade them from residing here. Deviations exist, of course, with two being easy to recognize; Ithorians and Anacondans. Perhaps surprisingly, and in a pattern I have not seen before, these two species appear to partner closely. They form a core component of the Environmental Stability Guild or ESG, the society of workers who devote their lives to maintaining the local environment as a habitable space. Apparently the Ithorians are primarily responsible for atmospheric balance and the Anacondans the hydrological systems.
Regrettably, the evidence suggests that neither group is doing a particularly good job. My suspicion is that lack of resources is the primarily deficiency, though when I spoke of the subject with Morne he immediately blamed corruption. I confess that is likely a significant issue as well, and there are doubtless other factors involved. Regardless of the cause, the air and water quality here is universally poor. Already I have observed a clear pattern among my patients. Whether bacterial, fungal, parasitic, toxic, or viral in origin, the majority of their ills trace back to chronic exposure to these marginal conditions. Many face illnesses further exacerbated by a lack of key vitamins and trace minerals. Supplements are added to the synthesized feedstock that provides the majority of the calories available on this level, but I suspect the various combinations have not been properly calibrated to match the needs of the many uncommon species living here. The members of these rare populations are already forming a disproportionate segment of my patient pool.
If I have time I must try to get a closer look at ESG's procedures. There must be some way to improve the overall quality of the environmental controls. Otherwise nothing will prevent continued suffering.
Notes
This entry makes clear the rather literal explanation behind the overall title of the piece. However, it seems to me that this sort of multi-level banding would be common throughout the underworld, leading to a sort of 'nested worlds' construction overall.
Most of the images of the underworld in TCW involve Ahsoka's brief period as a fugitive there. Those episodes involve a nearly omnipresent police presence, one that keeps her almost continually on the run. However, this has to represent a massive priority deployment, not the background level. I just can't imagine an area that displays such obvious government neglect on the visual level would have a massive police presence, so the police will generally be portrayed as weak and outclassed in this piece, though they may gain resources over time (the Ahsoka episodes are also set much later in the war, after considerable militarization has happened).
There's some speculation about the clones here, notably the bit where Nema estimates most will live 40-50 years total. This is based on the idea of Jango Fett being some kind of physical freak almost certainly to at least hit 90. The presence of clones in Rebels seems to sort of bear this out, as even clones in their relative 60s appear hale and capable aside from their war injuries.