Chapter 25

Apate 3

"Well, that's new." Gaige said, cocking her head at the door.

They were at the hub that would lead to what they hoped was the administrative building, but standing in their way was a metal door, closed and presumably, locked.

From where they were, they couldn't see any control panels or means of opening it.

"So now what?" Artemis asked.

Gaige bit back her snippish response, knowing the other girl wasn't trying to pass of the responsibility of thinking on to her, but was genuinely looking for insight from the person who knew the most about things, so she answered with "Now, now we get to look for an alternate way in."

"I was afraid of that." Artemis sighed "So I suppose it's either going to be a ductwork crawl, or a control panel in another building, presumably some kind of security station."

"Neither actually. We're gonna have to go outside."

"Oh, that's not...wait what?"

"At least one of us is going to have to go outside and try and get into the building from there."

"What's wrong with my ideas?"

"Well, first, we have no idea if there's any ducts going into the building, or if they have their own closed off system, which is more likely. Second, we have no idea where the security station might be and I, for one, don't want to spend hours or even days wandering around looking for it, especially not when it might be in the building, we're trying to get in in the first place."

"Oh, uh, that makes sense."

"Right, so let's try and find a way out."

Gaige looked both ways, trying to figure out where an access hatch might be and decided that back would probably be the best. It wasn't like she'd seen one, but she felt that if nothing more, the building where they thought the bots were being worked on was that way and there was probably a way out from there.

As they walked, Artemis asked "So, uh, where are we going? I mean, I know we're lookin for an external hatch, but we just came this way and I don't recall seeing one, not that I was particularly lookin for one, but still."

"We're gonna look for the hatch and if we can't find one, we're gonna look in the building that the bots were being worked on in, alright?"

"Oh, that's fine, but we missed the turn."

"What turn?"

"If we wanted to go back to that building, we needed to follow the light blue line and it turned off back there a ways." She motioned behind them.

"Wait, so you actually paid attention to that? And you remembered which line went where?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, we were intending to go back, right?"

"Now I feel foolish." Gaige muttered, turning around and heading back.

"Besides, even if we found a hatch in this part, we couldn't get back to the offices from here, not without climbing over the walkways at least."

Gaige looked around and realized she was right, from where they were, there was no way back to the building, everything was cut off by the maze of walkways. She kicked herself again, she should've been paying more attention to that instead of just looking around.

She quickly found the light blue line and spotted the arrow that told her which way to follow it, so she set off that way. It wasn't long before she let out a sigh and turned to the other girl.

"What?" She asked "I know that silence, you wanna ask something but don't know how, so just spit it out already."

"Oh, um, it wasn't really anything important, I was just wondering about a couple of things, like why that door was sealed."

"Cause they didn't want anyone to get in there."

"But who would've? I mean, no one's found this base yet, right? So, who're they worried about finding it? And for that matter, why'd they shut this place down? I mean, they could've still been making things, right? So, why'd they shut down?"

"Well, that one's easy, they had no money to pay their employees. Everything got seized."

"By whom? I mean, I'm not one to pay attention to these kinds of things, but who seized all their money?"

"Hmm, I guess it wasn't really seized, but their assets were frozen or something, I'm actually not all that familiar with it myself, but I'd guess after the ECHO of Holloway bragging got released, the government of Eden 5 must have been forced to act, no matter how corrupt they are, that kind of inter-planetary and inter-corporate scandal can't be swept under the rug, so they must've entered the main corporate offices and taken control, shutting everything down."

"And who enforces that? I mean, this is a moon, and it's not like any corporation's out here? So, why not scavenge everything you can?"

"Well, there's no doubt records of most of this stuff somewhere and someone's sifting through it, but that's gonna be bogged down with a mess of red-tape, I mean, any time multiple corporations are involved, things are gonna get dicey real quick. Each one's probably torn between claiming that none of their stuff got stolen because they didn't fall for that kind of corporate espionage and claiming that they were hit the hardest, so they should be in charge of the investigation, which would allow them to try and sneak off with some other corps tech, and since none of them want the others to think them weak, they don't want to claim they were hit, but they don't want anyone else to sneak off with their stuff, especially not for a second time, so they're all trying to figure out who gets to lead, who else gets to participate and all that junk, meanwhile, nothing's getting done, the company's in limbo, their assets sit around losing value and the red-tape builds up."

"Sounds like you know a lot about this kind of thing."

"Not really, I've just tried to get a few patents back in the day and that's a nightmare cause this planet only recognizes it if that corporation does and that corporation only acknowledges it if that one acknowledges that they've got this patent, but that planet doesn't recognize their claim on that tech because it's similar to the one they stole from that corporation and claimed as their own, but that corp won't recognize it as anything but theirs so they ban all products from that planet from being sold on their planets and so on. And that's just to try and claim ownership of one idea."

"So how do any corporations co-exist?"

"They don't, not really. The thing is, once you're big enough, it takes someone of similar size to stand up to you, which is why so many planets fall under the protection of a corporation."

"But most of them out here don't, so what do they do?"

"Ignore what's going on out there and keep doing what they want."

"But why don't the corporations just, uh, seize them?"

"Most do, but it's not all that easy, I mean, that's what Hyperion was trying with Pandora a number of years back, right? The problem with it is that you still need to have an army to counter any incursion attempts by a rival corporation. Think about it this way, if a nest of animals decide they, um, want to destroy their neighbors, say, a smaller nest, they could throw their entire fighting force at it and decimate it, right? But while they're doing that, the next nest over could attack their nest, destroying their non-fighters, which means that while they win the fight, they come home to nothing."

"Ah, that makes sense, I guess."

"Look, this isn't my area of expertise, in fact, most of what I just said was me spit-balling to try and figure it out by applying the most logical thing I could to it, doesn't mean I'm right, not by a long-shot, but it seemed to make sense to me. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I don't know. Don't go thinking this is the one hundred percent correct answer to your question and go spreading it around, it's just what I think might be likely. That's all."

"Got it. But it did make sense. But then which authorities would any footage of us here be leaked to?"

"Uh...I donno, maybe the government on Eden 5? Or maybe Holloway could leak it to one of the corporations, like Maliwan and have them come after us or maybe put a bounty on our heads."

"Oh. But on that same note, aren't bounties usually put up by a person?"

"Actually, that's about half of them, the other half are either planets or corporations that want someone for a crime against them. Take my case, since..."

She cut off when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder, Deathtrap, who'd been trailing along with them invisibly the entire time, had tapped her, trying to let her know something. Stopping and thinking about it, she had been about to give away who she was underneath her disguise.

She nodded and cleared her throat "Well, not to give away personal details here, where anyone might be listening, let's just use a, uh, hypothetical person. Say someone, uh, builds a machine and it, er..."

Artemis seemed to have caught on to her roundabout way of saying that she couldn't talk about her specific case, so she volunteered "Stole something and, uh, killed someone in the process?"

"Sure, let's go with that. So the inventor would be wanted for, let's see, depending on the planet it happened on, creation of illegal tech, breaking and entering, theft and murder, probably with some kind of caveat. So, if they're caught right away, nothing happens, but if they flee, then the government can issue a bounty for them, specifying the conditions, such as dead or alive, what kind of proof is required and all that. But, and this part depends on the planet, but it's this way on most of them, if the government issues a bounty, the family of the dead person can't. It's got something to do with interference in a government operation or some such. But let's say that the government only issues a bounty for murder and the tech thing, then the family might be able to issue one for the theft, but it would have all kinds of stipulations on it that can't interfere or contradict the government one, like they can't have a wanted dead on it, if the government one is for a live capture, again, depending on the planet."

She paused a moment and continued "Still, that doesn't preclude them from hiring their own bounty hunters and they can instruct them to capture the person alive, have them brought to them so that they can kill them and then hand over the corpse for the bounty. Granted, if they're caught doing that, they'll likely get charged with murder, but they'll claim that the bounty was trying to escape, so it usually goes nowhere."

"Ah, I think I get it now."

"Good, but how did you not know all that before? I mean, how've you survived without picking any of that up?"

Artemis looked down, a bit sadly and muttered "It's not like I've been anywhere that's like that. I mean, I've lived my life on the fringe of civilization, half of the planets I've been on barely had a government, let alone anything like corporate protection."

"Oh, yeah, guess that makes sense. Sorry for not thinkin of that." She turned away awkwardly and tried to switch subjects "Anyway, enough killing time, we're almost there. Wait, what're you doing?" Gaige asked as Artemis suddenly drifted off to the wall as they entered one of the hubs.

"Something's been bothering me for a while." She replied, moving near the wall and examining it closely "I mean, why have these hubs if there's not more to them than just an intersection?"

"Well, most of them have a vending machine, or a communication post."

"Yeah, but what else?"

"Well, it's easier to have an intersection like this than to have to perfectly seal the four walkways together, not to mention they can seal the doors in case of a breach."

"Yeah, but shouldn't there be a hatch to lead out? I mean, in case they need to do maintenance?"

"Hmm, you're probably right, but there'd need to be some kind of airlock for it."

"Only if the outside pressure was different, or there was no air out there, but if that was the case, why'd they have that dome over the entire facility?"

"To trap any air that leaks out and as a secondary safety measure?"

"Ah, that makes sense, sorry for wasting our time."

"Nonsense, there's undoubtedly an escape hatch in here somewhere, but the problem is that it probably would be wired to an alarm, we need an actual maintenance door. Good idea though." Gaige said, trying to cheer the other girl up.

It didn't work all that well, since she slumped along after Gaige, looking a bit defeated. She knew better than to try and be smart, it wasn't what she was good at, better to leave that to the experts. But then what was she good at? That thought kept haunting her, like it had been since she'd joined with Gaige, and like all the previous times it had drifted into her head, she couldn't think of anything, she knew if she said it out loud, Gaige would get mad at her, tell her all kinds of things that weren't entirely true to try and cheer her up. Well, either that or she'd smack her again. So, it was better to keep quiet and trail along.

Gaige knew what was going on behind her, she could feel the depression rolling off the other girl, not to mention that she'd seen her body language when she'd had her idea shot down. It had actually been a pretty good idea, one that Gaige herself had overlooked, but that didn't change any of the reasons she'd shot it down.

She didn't know how to cheer the other girl up anymore, at this point she'd pointed out all the things she was good at multiple times, but it didn't seem to sink in, so rather than getting into it again, she felt that she should let it slide this time, mostly because she didn't want that kind of discussion to be caught on camera and she knew they were being watched, at least some of the time, though if anyone was actually watching live or if it was just being recorded, she didn't know.

So they moved the last little ways in a heavy, oppressive silence. All three of them were grateful when they finally got to the building and even more so when Gaige spotted a door on the exterior, one that had been hidden from view from their previous angle.

Neither of them said anything as they headed down the walkway towards the large building. Each of them was trying to figure out what to do next, Artemis was trying to figure out how they were going to get from the airlock to the management office and once there, and more importantly, get in. It wasn't like they would have a vent access on the exterior, nor were they likely to have another airlock, much as she hoped it would. Even if it did, it would no doubt be locked and trying to force it would result in an alarm being raised. Then there was what to do if they could actually get inside without activating any alarms, getting to the boss's office, getting the information they needed and getting out without setting off any alarms seemed impossible, even for them.

Deathtrap was trying to calculate the possible escape routes, how to get back to the door they'd entered, if it was possible to do without entering the factory floor and if not, what the best way to protect Gaige would be. It wasn't that he wouldn't try and protect Artemis, he would, but she was still a secondary concern to Gaige, that would never change, much as it pained him to admit.

As for Gaige, she was thinking something completely different as they walked up to the building's doors.

They passed through, finding it strange that they were standing open after the building had been used recently, but they supposed that the crew that had been working there hadn't bothered taking the time to lock up after themselves, considering the place might be found at any point, they'd probably gotten their jobs done and gotten outta there as fast as they could.

Still, it gave them a distinct sense of unease.

They slipped past the door, scanning the area for any kind of traps, but found nothing. In fact, the entire place seemed deserted, just like the rest of the facilities, not that it did anything for their ease of mind.

The room wasn't very deep, going in only a dozen feet or so, but was easily twice that in length. There were two doors, one straight ahead of them, the other on the side that the airlock was, so Artemis headed there first, only to stop when Gaige went for the other.

"What're you doing?" She hissed.

"I wanna see something first." Came the nonchalant reply.

Gaige continued over to the door and peeked into the room beyond, but her shoulders immediately slumped, causing Artemis to walk over and peek around her.

From where they were, neither of them could see much, but it was clear that the room was massive, dominating the building. Directly ahead of them was a set of stairs going down, which surprised Artemis. She couldn't figure out why Gaige had seemed down, she could clearly see into the room and all the partially assembled bots within. There were still at least a dozen in states of disassembly on the tables lined up in the middle of the room, with boxes and cases around them.

She tapped Gaige on the shoulder and moved away from the door. As soon as the other girl joined her, she asked "What's up?"

"I wanted to see what they'd been up to." Came the slightly evasive reply.

"Alright, so you've seen it, let's go."

Artemis led the way to the other door, which opened into a short hall. On one side was a bathroom and a closet that held a bunch of bathroom supplies. The last door, straight ahead of them finally led to the airlock, which displayed a number of things on the panel next to the door.

"Right." Artemis said, not even bothering to pretend she understood any of it "So, how're we getting into the office?"

"Huh?"

"Well, they might not have any external entrances, right?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right. Well, if they don't, you might have to climb onto the roof, there should be an access point up there."

"Maybe, but then what? Do I have to pull you up or are you gonna be waiting outside for me to let you in?"

"Yeah, about that, I'm not going with you."

"Wait, what?"

"See, someone needs to go through the stuff here and try and figure it out and since the alarm is probably set to the office, we won't have time to come back, right? So, since we need to get outta here as quickly as possible, we need to split up."

"So why do I get the office? You should go, I mean, you're the one that can handle the computers, I have no idea what I'd be doing."

"I can walk you through that over the ECHO."

"Why can't you be the one that goes?"

"Cause, I'm the one that has to stay here. You might have to go through a vent or something once you get into the building, I mean, the security's probably active over there, right? Plus, I'm the one that can understand the bots better. I mean, you don't have any real experience with them, other than destroying them, do you? Didn't think so, which means that I have to be the one to go through them."

"Why do I feel like I'm getting played?"

Gaige shrugged, but behind her mask, she did look apologetic.

"Fine, but you're going to have to carry most of my stuff."

"Why's that?"

"Well, if I'm gonna have to go through a vent, I can't be carrying all this stuff, so you're going to have to take it, after all, we don't have anyone else to carry it, do we?"

Gaige stopped, catching onto what she was meaning. Sure, Deathtrap could easily carry the pack, but it would look weird on the security footage for a pack to be floating along by itself, which meant that she'd be the one that had to deal with it.

Letting out a groan she conceded "Fine, but you're gonna have to take as much as you can, and then help me pack."

Artemis just shrugged in response.