Chapter 16
Burgloth
It didn't take long for Artemis to find herself pressed up against the cold wall. She could feel it trying to leach her heat even through the thick jacket. Working quickly, she checked the door for traps and gave a listen. She didn't hear anything, not that that surprised her, after all, if there were bots waiting on the other side, they didn't have to move around and could wait there for years silently.
Checking the door, she wasn't surprised to find it locked, so she motioned for Gaige to come join her. Following Artemis's footsteps as close as she could, just in case there were any mines planted, not that either of them thought there would be, but it was better to be safe, Gaige made her way to the door and when she got there, she immediately double checked to make sure there weren't any booby-traps, and then got to work persuading the door to open.
Artemis didn't feel offended that Gaige had rechecked the door, in fact she was relieved since it meant that she was taking this seriously and was merely checking to make sure that something hadn't been missed, after all, they each had different sets of skills and experiences so what one of them might look for, the other might not.
It didn't take long for the door to swing open and once they made sure there wasn't a welcoming committee waiting for them, glanced into the cold dark interior. What greeted them was the first floor of the loading office, with a dark window on one side and the signs for bathrooms just ahead.
Hoping to get lucky, they snuck into the office and Gaige pulled out a portable power source. Plugging it into the computer, she got to work trying to find any record of the bots they were after, but after a few minutes she slumped back.
"Nothing." She sighed.
"Not that we really expected anything." Artemis added "I mean, you said they were likely taken off the production line, so there wasn't likely to be a shipping record on file, especially if they were being used for nefarious purposes."
"Yeah, but it would be nice if things were that easy, even if it was just once."
"But would we trust it if it was?"
"Probably not. Come on, I feel bad about leaving Deathtrap out there so let's get going."
Artemis nodded and led them to the end of the hall and after a glance through the door, out into the shipping area. It was a large room filled with crates, each about the size of one of the Holloway bots, which bothered her. If the plant had been shut down, why was there still things here, why hadn't someone seized the goods here, if not whomever had purchased the plant, if anyone, then why not some authorities or another corporation and barring that, why hadn't the townsfolk taken them, it wasn't like they had any big secrets to keep and they certainly could use the help, but it seemed as if no one had been here, like the employees had up and left at the end of their shift and never returned.
She walked over to one of the crates and gave it a quick once over. The label had been filled out and everything, it was a barista bot to be shipped to Waylan City, on planet Portobolo. Looking around confused she spotted Gaige looking at another crate.
"Got anything?" She whispered to her, causing her to jump.
"Stop that, seriously, stop sneakin up on me." Gaige hissed, holding her heart. "And no, I don't have anything aside from that good old freshly bubble-wrapped smell of a new bot."
"They wrap them in bubble-wrap?"
"What? No, it was a joke. They pack them in custom foam, jeez."
"Oh, I've never bought one so I wouldn't know."
"Well neither have I, but I guess I'd know more about this stuff then you. Still, this is weird."
"You mean how it looks like everyone just up and left?"
"Yeah."
"Well, let's get going, I want outta here as soon as possible."
"I'm with you on that."
Artemis took point again, slipping around the crates till she got to the back of the room where she found a large opening where the assembly lines ended, bots still hanging from it in nearly finished states. She guessed that the final bit would have to be done on site, probably so that they could install the proper security parts or whatever.
The various lines each held a different bot on them, from bright red ones with a light on their head and a fire extinguisher for an arm, to douchie looking barista bots, to ones that looked painfully generic, which she figured were for home use. Each line ended at a packing machine that she could see the crates lined up next to, as well as the foam that would form the inserts.
Moving into the factory itself, she quickly realized that she was in the secondary assembly lines, each one slithering around the room with partially constructed bots hanging on them. Each line took the basic body and added the necessary parts to customize it for whatever job it would be assigned to.
Cautiously stepping through the room, her eyes darted everywhere, feeling like the bots would activate the instant she looked away. Her general sense of unease had been growing ever since she'd set foot on the ice ball and she wanted nothing more than to get through with the place and put it behind her. Still, she wasn't about to do anything that would put the other two in danger, so she set out across the floor as cautiously as she could.
It didn't take long for them to get to the small door on the ground floor, the lines of the partially constructed bots went through a larger opening a ways up on the wall, and after a glance through, Artemis turned back to Gaige and whispered "You stay down here, I'm gonna get a better vantage point to keep up with you."
"What? Where're you going?"
Artemis just pointed up and Gaige let her eyes follow, but she couldn't figure out what she was meaning, so she gave her another look in hopes that she'd provide a bit more to go on, but she didn't, instead she lightly scampered off and hopped up onto one of the machines. She continued climbing till she was on top of the rail that the bots were being carried by and cautiously climbed her way up till she was heading through the higher opening.
Gaige couldn't help but shake her head, it wasn't like she couldn't have done that if she'd tried, at least that's what she tried to convince herself, it was just that she didn't want to, her fighting style was more appropriate for being on ground level. It didn't have anything to do with her worrying about staying balanced on the narrow beam while she shot or tried to dodge attacks, especially not with Deathtrap not around.
She pushed through the door, trying not to feel lonely. It wasn't that she was by herself, she could always look up and try to spot the other girl, but she couldn't turn to her and say something, or share a look. Gaige felt a strange sensation in the back of her mind, like she should be aware of something, but she couldn't figure it out, and besides, this wasn't the time or the place for it. Instead, she focused on the room she'd just entered.
Much like the last one, this room was dominated by heavy machinery, though the equipment in this room dwarfed the ones in the last. Which made sense to her, since this was where the bots were actually assembled. She could trace the production lines around the room as they went in and out of the various stages, which were easy to tell since the partially assembled bots were still hanging from the various lines.
Gaige looked around, from where she was within the tangled mess of lines and machines, she realized that she couldn't make out which way the offices might be. Suddenly glad that Artemis had decided to get a better vantage point, she looked up and for a second felt cold panic sink though her heart when she couldn't find the other girl.
She glanced all over the place trying to locate her, only to realize that she'd lost the line that she'd climbed up upon. She'd been sure that it was the one above her, but she could see where that one had come in from the side. She swallowed hard, unwilling to accept that she was lost and not wanting to head back to where she'd come into the room, if she could find her way at all, especially since she didn't know where Artemis would be by the time she got back.
She was about to either panic or call her on her ECHO, when she caught sight of an arm waving at her. She'd been almost right, the line she'd been looking at had come in from the side, but there had been another one directly above it that she hadn't seen, which was where the other girl was.
Gaige felt a wave of relief blow through her heart as she waved back. Artemis didn't seem to have picked up on any of the turmoil that Gaige was feeling since she casually pointed to one wall. Gaige looked around, trying to find a way to get that way, but couldn't see anything in her immediate vicinity that would allow her to get there, so she had to walk down the machine for a ways until she found a short ladder mounted on the side.
Climbing up and over, she took a moment to look at the room from a different vantage and found that it wasn't all that maze-like, it was just a jumbled mess thanks to the variety of machines and their placement. She was sure that if she worked there for a day, she'd be able to navigate it without any issues, but being there for the first time was what had thrown her.
She hopped down and made her way towards where Artemis had indicated, at least she hoped she was, it was a little hard to tell with the machines and lines going every which way. But it didn't take long for a wall to come into sight, though when she did get to it, she found that she had to backtrack to get around a large piece of equipment that had trapped her.
Eventually she found a large double door and looked around, trying to find where Artemis was, but she couldn't find any sign of her. None of the lines were near the door and in fact, most of them started a ways away. Wondering if she should use her ECHO, if not to call her then to try and locate her, she was startled by a soft cough next to her. Whipping around she found the other girl standing a few feet away, fist in front of her mouth.
"Damn it." Gaige hissed "I've asked you to stop doing that, so that's it, I'm getting you a bell."
"But I made some noise to let you know this time."
"When? That cough? When you were, like, three feet away from me?"
"Sorry."
"Yeah, me too."
"So, are you still going to get me a bell?"
"Yeah, but I'll make sure it's a nice one."
Artemis shrugged, looking a bit dejected, but quickly turned to the matter at hand and looked at the doors. "So, what's through there?"
"Wha? How would I know? I was waiting for you."
"And you didn't peek?"
"No. You know, as curious as I am, I'm not an idiot. I'm not about to get myself into a fight when I don't know where my backup is."
"OK, OK, I get it. It's a smart move. But with how loud you were being, I just..."
"What? Assumed that I'd looked?"
Artemis shrugged again, which caused Gaige to grind her teeth. She hissed out through them "Well I didn't, so there."
"Alright." Artemis responded a bit nervously "Well then, uh, shall we?"
Without waiting for a reply, she slipped the door open a crack and peered through. After a few seconds, during which Gaige calmed herself down and felt like an idiot, she pulled back and said "Seems like some kind of storeroom or something. Lots of shelves, couldn't make out if there was anything waiting for us amongst them."
"Right, so, shall we?"
Artemis led the way into the room and as Gaige followed, she tried to take in the massive amount of shelving that filled the area. Each rack ran from floor to the ceiling high above and was covered in boxes and parts, all of which she could identify as being for the bots.
Looking around, she found that there was another entrance a ways down the wall they were standing on, but other than that, she couldn't see any other way out of the room, but that didn't tell her much since she couldn't see the far wall from where she stood.
"Any idea where the office might be?" Artemis whispered to her.
Gaige just shook her head. It was probably on the second floor or higher, but that wasn't always the case, take the factory on Jaka for example. She thought about it some more, but without any clues, she couldn't get anywhere, so she just shrugged.
"Didn't think so." Came the reply. It didn't sound disappointed, so Gaige figured that Artemis must have run through the same train of thought. Still, that didn't help them, so they started to walk the perimeter of the room, checking for doors.
Gaige wanted to go through the first door they came to, but Artemis stopped her.
"We should check to see how many other ways there are before we decide."
"Why? We didn't with the last room. For all we know the office was on the opposite wall from where we left."
"Maybe, but the size of the room, plus it's placement compared to the shape of the building indicate that it's against at least one outer wall."
"Really?" Gaige was genuinely surprised, but had to ask "But what if it isn't? Or if there's a small room or stairwell over there?"
"Then we'll have to go back, but until then, we should scout out as much as we can. Plus, when we get attacked, having a lay of the land could prove invaluable."
"Shouldn't that've been, if? If we get attacked."
"No."
"Yeah, I didn't think so. Well, shouldn't we check what's behind this door before we head out, so we don't have to come back in case?"
"I...yeah, that makes sense." Artemis conceded before pressing lightly on the door to move it open as quietly as she could. On the other side was another room filled with crates and miscellaneous things.
Gaige peeked around her shoulder and whispered "I think it's probably the receiving area. That'd make sense, since it'd be on the same wall as the shipping department."
If Gaige was right, and neither of them had any cause to doubt her, then that told them how twisted they'd gotten in the assembly room, not to mention how big the receiving area and the storeroom they were now in was.
Having figured out what was through that door, they made a loop of the room, spotting two more doors on the far wall as well as a freight elevator. They looked at the elevator for a moment and then up at the high ceiling.
"Do you think there's another floor above us?"
"What's the other option?"
"Down, it's not like the elevator goes sideways."
"It could, I've seen it before."
"Really?" Artemis said, turning to look at Gaige.
Gaige nodded "Yeah, but I doubt this one does, the building doesn't seem to be big enough to warrant one of those, so it probably goes up. I mean, if I remember the size of the building, that'd make sense."
Artemis nodded "Yeah. Well, let's check the other doors first, see what's in them and if we can't find a stairwell."
"You wanna take the stairs?"
"No, but it'd be safer to do that then to get ambushed in the elevator."
"I still hate it when you make sense you know."
"Yep." With that, she went to the nearest door and peeked through, finding the stairwell that she'd just mentioned. Showing Gaige, they headed to the last door and found a short hall with bathrooms on one side and a break-room on the other.
Heading back, they took the stairs, which wove back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, but eventually they came to another door.
Pausing before they went through, Gaige stated "You know, if the offices are up here, then there had to be another way up that we missed."
"What, you don't think that the office workers wandered through the entire plant and storage to get to their desks every day?"
"When you put it like that, it does seem like a possibility." Gaige said with an eye-roll.
"Whatever, shall we?"
"After you."
Artemis pushed open the door and scanned the room. It was another large room filled with shelving, much like the last one.
"Why would they have a second room like this? I mean, why drag all this crap up here just to store it?"
"If they hadn't, they would've had to build the ground floor much larger to store all this stuff." Gaige responded, looking around.
"Then why not build it that way? I mean, it's not like this was a building they just happened to find or anything, so why not build it with enough space?"
"Efficiency I'd guess. Think about it, if you had to heat an entire building, which would be easier, a long flat one, or a taller one that you only had to heat the lower level?"
"I guess. But I bet the employees weren't happy with this setup."
"What employees ever are?"
They headed out into the room and moved around the out edge. At first glance they'd thought it was as big as the one that was down a floor, but as they started around, they quickly realized that, while it was still large, it was considerably smaller than the other one.
They found another set of bathrooms and then continued along to the wall closest to the assembly lines. On that wall they found a door that led to a narrow hall, on one side was cement, but on the far side the wall was made of mesh, with small doors set into it as it overlooked the factory floor. Moving out and to the first door, Artemis looked out and saw that it was an access point to the upper machinery. At the far end of the hall, she could just make out a solid metal door that looked to be the maintenance department.
Ducking back through the door she let Gaige know what was out there and immediately regretted it when Gaige started for the door.
"Hold it, where do you think you're going?" She asked, catching her arm.
"I just wanna see what they've got in there."
"Maybe later, after we find what we're looking for, if we aren't attacked, you can make Deathtrap sit around in the cold some more while you poke around in there."
"That's low."
"It's true."
"But that doesn't mean it wasn't low. But you're right, let's move on."
Artemis nodded and led them around the room till she found another door. This one led to another room lined with shelves, but on them she could see boxes of all sizes, including ones that seemed about the same as the ones that the bots were being shipped in.
Pointing them out to Gaige, she waited while the other girl got a good look at them from the doorway before they fell back.
"Those look like bots to you?"
"Could've been, my eyes aren't as good as yours."
"But you could at least tell that they were roughly the same size, right?"
"Yeah."
"So now what?"
"What do'ya mean?"
"Well, do we go in there?"
"First off, it's not like we've got a choice. And second, we should probably finish searching this room first."
"Yeah."
They quickly and quietly made their way to the last wall and found nothing. Sighing, they headed back and made their way into the room, keeping an eye on the suspicious crates. Moving around the room they found the wall furthest away from the factory floor had a single door that led to a hallway. Opposite the door they were standing in was a row of doors that might've led to offices or conference rooms, but they couldn't be sure without entering. Rather than continuing that way, they made their way up the wall in the storage room till they found another set of doors. Opening these led to another hall, but something about this area told them they were in the right spot.
It wasn't just that the area seemed cleaner, but the wall opposite them was made out of a different material, something that Artemis didn't recognize, but Gaige had seen in the office she'd worked in.
Hustling out of the storeroom, they made their way to the door that would lead into the office area and into a different world.
The floors were suddenly covered in carpeting. The walls were covered in framed pictures and plaques. There were dead plants sitting in the corners and on low shelves. Even the ceiling was different.
Gaige nodded and they headed deeper within, checking the rooms as they went. At first, they didn't find anything but a few mundane offices, nothing that would help them find where Holloway was or any clues about where the bots had been modified.
It wasn't until they found the first locked door since they'd entered the place that they finally felt like they were onto something, that they were in the right place. It was located behind a small waiting area with a desk next to it for what they guessed would've been the secretary.
Gaige got to work on it and it wasn't long before the door swung open revealing the office within. The room obviously belonged to the building supervisor, not just because the furnishings were much nicer, but the overall air of the place spoke of arrogance and leadership. The desk was wood with metal accents and the papers were still strewn across it from when the place had been in use. On their side of the desk were a couple of chairs covered in vinyl that looked decidedly uncomfortable, especially compared to the rather luxurious one opposite. The walls were covered in plaques and shelving which they both hoped they wouldn't have to go through.
Gaige went to the computer sitting on the desk and tried powering it up, but found that it wasn't working. Cursing at the expected result, she dug out her portable power unit and plugged it in. This time the computer booted up, but she was promptly met with a log-in screen.
Cursing again, she started searching around the desk for the password while calling out "Help me look for the log-in stuff, you know, user-name and passwords, things like that."
Artemis shrugged and started looking around the outer part of the room. Gaige joined her after a minute of searching through the desk, but it was quickly becoming apparent that they weren't finding anything.
"Can't you just bypass it or something?"
"Maybe, but that'd take time."
"And looking around here isn't?"
"OK, fair, but it might also have a security system in place so if I try and use the wrong password too many times, we get locked out for good."
"Oh, well that sucks."
"Yeah, so it's better to look first."
"Well, I don't think we're gonna find anything in here."
"In here...you might be onto something."
"I am?"
"Yeah, hold on a second, well, actually keep looking and I'll be right back."
With that Gaige left the room leaving a confused Artemis to continue searching.
It didn't take long for Gaige to return, triumphantly holding a scrap of paper.
"You found it? Where?"
"About where you said it'd be."
"I did? Where was that?"
"In the secretary's desk. See, a lot of bosses are useless without their aid, so it stood to reason that they might have the log-in info stored in their desk."
"Oh, uh, guess that makes sense."
Gaige nodded and headed back to the computer, quickly logging in and starting to scroll through the info to locate anything that would be useful.
Minutes ticked past as she worked and Artemis hung around behind her, feeling useless. Rather than continuing to lurk, she started examining the rest of the room, looking for secrets, more to kill the time than any real thought of finding anything, so when she found a hidden panel, she was surprised.
"Find anything?" She called back to Gaige, while working on the panel.
"Not yet, jeez, keep your pants on, I mean, I've just started."
"Oh, uh, guess that's right."
"Why, you bored or something?"
"I was, but now I'm wondering what's behind this."
"This what?" Gaige said looking up and spotting the panel the other girl had slid out of the way, revealing the hidden door behind it. "When'd you find that?"
"Just now."
"And I suppose you want me to open it for you?"
"Eventually."
"Get outta the way." Gaige had immediately hopped up and made her way over to the control panel and got to work. It took a bit longer than the other door, speaking volumes about how heavy the security on it was, but it eventually gave way and slid aside revealing a small room behind it crammed with a computer terminal and various other technological looking things that Artemis couldn't make heads or tails out of.
She stepped out of the way and let Gaige in so that she could push the chair out of the way and get to work on this terminal.
"You don't wanna finish with the other one first?"
"Nah, I can always go back to it, but I've got the feeling that this one's where the info we want is being stored."
Artemis shrugged, she had no reason to argue with her about that and she knew that talking would only extend the time it took Gaige to figure this out, so she silently leaned against the door and waited.
The minutes ticked past and just as she was wondering if she should check in with Deathtrap and let him know what was up, Gaige declared "Got it."
Artemis just waited for her to continue and after a second Gaige let out a sigh and said "You know, when someone declares something like 'Got it' you're supposed to say something like 'What'd you get' or something like that."
"Oh, uh, sorry, so, uh, what'd you find?"
"Close enough. Anyway, there's a lot of stuff in here, internal memos and shipping manifests and most of its useless, but I did a search for anything that's been sent after Holloway's supposed death and came up with three hits."
"And...what are they?"
"I don't know yet, I was about to get to them."
"Ah, well, sorry for slowing you down."
"Rrrgh." Gaige growled, tugging her hair "Stop that. Seriously, you're not slowing me down, or holding me back or anything like that. I mean, if it wasn't for you, I'd still be wasting my time on that other computer."
"Oh, um, I guess."
"No guessing about it. Now let's see what we've got." Gaige opened the first document and scanned through it "Junk, junk, junk. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing here, just a notice to close the factory until further notice, effective immediately. Moving on. Next one's, nope it's basically the same as the previous one, telling them to lock the doors and that any missing items, tools or products will be investigated at the appropriate time. Useless. Well, except that it kinda tells us why it looks like everyone just up and left and didn't take anything."
She continued on to the last message and froze, Artemis leaned forward to read it over her shoulder.
Initiate emergency override Protocol: Marcie 18.
Activate all available units.
Send units 26359-26892 to Apate 3
All others set to standby.
Authorization code: H37M51962
Activation condition: Read
Approval: Holloway 1
Artemis swore as she read it, even though she didn't understand most of it, she did recognize the approval.
"So, he is alive." Gaige muttered, staring at the name at the bottom.
"Yeah. But what worries me is the rest of it. It looks like he's setting up a trap and since we've got what we need, we should get the heck outta here, now."
"I'm with you." Gaige sprung up, pulling out her ECHO and just as she was about to call Deathtrap and let him know what was up, it crackled to life as a frantic "Urgurg" Came through.
"Shit." They said in unison, dashing for the door. Gaige suddenly stopped and leaped to the desk.
"What're you doing?" Artemis cried.
"Can't leave this behind." Gaige said, yanking the cord out of her power supply.
"Is it worth dieing over?"
Gaige didn't reply as she dashed past the other girl and into the hall, making a beeline for the door. Artemis followed close behind her when the entire building gave a terrifying shake, sending them bouncing into the wall. Not waiting to see what was next, they pushed off and started forward again, only for the building to shake again.
"Earthquake?" Gaige shouted, looking around as she tried to move forward.
"I hope so." Was all Artemis muttered, sending a cold wave up Gaige's spine as she questioned 'What would be worse than an earthquake?'
She'd made it to the storeroom door when she got her answer. The entire building started to tilt as she heard a series of metallic screams and the ground gave way, tilting sideways. She slid uncontrollably towards the door that they'd been trying to get to, only to be shoved from behind, sending her clear of the door.
She turned to see Artemis fall through it just as the wall became the new floor.
