|21|
There were lights circling concentrically above the chamber they had stopped in, and it was here in this hive of passages through some wing of Lothiraxl's sub levels that Casnar found himself waiting for Miranda and Kasumi to wake up…The women were now his liability and he did not have the nerve to leave them…Something Miranda had said about "It being too hard for you" ached his chest and head. He closed his four eyelids and thought about his company—bantons, Sieis, Mourele who was lingering still despite Casnar's knife to his belly, and the woman named Catherine….Opening his eyes in time, he saw her finishing a stitch to Kasumi's head and the hair was held aside by her careful fingers….She glanced at him once, but focused on her work. The place they were in was only temporary…It was lived in, he could tell by their arranged habits inside the chamber where tunnels connected every five or so paces and he could see they were comfortable living on top of each other…They somehow fit into clothes—though the wear was old, patched together, and their common language was what they had learned…Nothing educated—except for the one she called Sieis…He if any of them had some special relationship with the Assembly woman, constantly coming and going to check on her with her work, feeding her despite her insisting he feed himself or Mourele or someone else, their guest who was awake—Casnar. Sieis only gave Casnar a look—one that was dangerous and oversensitive….It reminded him of someone…Irikah.
"There," Catherine turned from Kasumi, laid on the bedding of some mix of mattress and blankets, "…She should be better with it having been closed….I don't know when they'll wake but we could try something….Are you ready for me to take care of your head?"
"What did you say you were going to try…Were going to say…I'm fine," she had turned towards a small receptacle—a hard pack she had open with various tools and collection sort vials…There were ingredients labeled in each small glass or plasticware as she picked through these.
"This is a stimulant," she held it up—a small clear tube with a very ugly, dried up fungus inside, "…In its life it was virulently poisonous where it grew on Faultoth, but when it dies, its chemical changes," she opened the vial and held the piece to her nose, "….I'm awake. She's not…." Leaning over to Kasumi, she passed the fungus under her nose and the woman's eyes popped wide open as she turned over and stood up….Casnar's mouth fell open.
Leaning opposite Kasumi's bedding, Catherine passed the fungus under Miranda's nose—with the same reaction, only Miranda had grabbed onto Catherine's wrist and locked eyes with the woman, "…Who the hell are you?"
Sieis came from behind Miranda and picked her up by the shoulder, turning her on her feet, "…Don't hurt her," his voice was deeply threatening, and Miranda had her gun out in his face.
Catherine placed herself against Sieis, blocking Miranda's gun with her hand, "…Please, I know you're scared and you don't know where you are—he's protective—they all are, but please they won't kill you if you put down your weapon and listen to us."
"Lawson, put the damn gun down," Casnar said softly, attracting her wild-eyed attention and Kasumi, who had already taken stock of their friends, sat on the bedding and looked around with a curious fascination.
Miranda reluctantly lowered the gun from Catherine's hand and Sieis's face, then touched her head where she felt the sutures from Catherine's work, "…What the hell happened to the shuttle?"
"That is a good question," Casnar said, "…But a better question is what happened while the shuttle was on its way to Grim….What were we hit by?"
"Some magnetic wave…I knew it was going to knock us out so I had the backups timed for an auto-reboot—but we were rolled….Where are we?"
"Grim Reaper, Lawson," Casnar winced as his head ached, not from personal pangs this time, "…We're inside Lothiraxl….Apparently according to these new friends of ours," he didn't tell Miranda what they had been trying to do, "….We're on the run from Alliance and the city's sentries….Lower levels somewhere."
They set to getting answers while Casnar received medical attention from Catherine—she spoke to Kasumi and Miranda, explaining to them what had happened while her puffs of breath tickled at his scalp….Casnar winced and grimaced as he felt something burn and the pinch of his flesh being sewn together.
"I've heard of Assembly….A little fanatical about spreading their outreach, they left the Milky Way…Kind of the antithesis of the Andromeda Initiative where those crews were being sent to find cooperative planets to live on….Assembly was intent on just taking everything with an imperialistic type of attitude…" She glanced at the bantons around them, "…How did you end up on their side." Miranda stared expectantly at Catherine, who came to sit beside Casnar and crawl forward to obtain more items from her hard pack.
She crawled backwards and returned to cleaning Casnar's cut and decreasing the swell on his scalp, "…Sieis saved my life…He and I became friends," she said and smiled at the banton looking over them, "…He didn't speak a word of my language when I met him, but he was interested to learn, and I was too. He was kidnapped and I ended up rescuing him, and then Assembly came down and sank their talons into Faultoth…I became a rebel to Assembly and they tried to capture us together…It went from there." She left her fingers against Casnar's scalp as she paused to consider, or to dissolve whatever was happening in her own head, then resumed her care. "Assembly took everything from us….Now we're fugitives from the Alliance because we were trying to find a new home."
"How did you leave your galaxy?"
"We stole an Assembly ship—the jump drives still work on our ships unlike yours….But we didn't figure that out by looking at the interior—when we arrived in the Milky Way, I was trying to find Earth….There was so much changed and evidently you had gone through war—we were engaged by an Alliance heavy that knocked out our engines, boarded us and forced us into their brigs….We were interrogated….I was beaten when they accused me of being an indoctrinated spy for Cerberus and then the Reapers—I overpowered my captors, freed the banton here with Sieis, and we hijacked several of their shuttles and found this place….Quite without wanting to—the shuttles were preprogrammed to route back to their headquarters, so we fought our way through disembarkation and ran into the first tunnel we saw—there were more of us, but the sentries took a number out."
Hands leaving Casnar's crests, he heard some equivalent of a sniff and leaned out of the way as Sieis waved him over and led Catherine out, "…Catherine is sad…Please stay here and rest…Only because of Catherine are you here….Only because of Catherine are you given second chance." Looking at her hard pack, Sieis bent and closed it, lifting it as he walked Catherine to another bed of matting, and he called to the other bantons with a deep thrum—Casnar listened, his eyes remaining on Miranda's as in his head he was stunned….He could hear them speaking to each other, and Sieis was informing everyone that it was decided they would not be killed. He returned and knelt between Kasumi and Miranda, looking at them and setting his gaze on Casnar, "…You are welcome to stay. If you decided to leave, do not go without asking for Sieis," he pushed his hand against the clothes hung over his chest, "…Sieis will bring these ones to surface with Catherine, but then you are…Alone."
Miranda and Kasumi crawled onto Casnar's bedding and sat down beside him to look at the situation from three different perspectives—Casnar had a thorough appreciation for the bantons trying to survive under the radar, Kasumi was trying to figure out how they could live for ten years in these lower confines of a hostile habitat, and Miranda was contemplating what value Catherine would be to barter off the bantons to the Alliance or whoever wanted her so badly…Either one of Sieis or Catherine meant leadership to the others and there were about thirty there in the chambers they took up.
"How long are we sticking around here for," Miranda said out the side of her mouth.
"Anyone know what weapons they have?"
"That one, Sieis," Casnar watched him sitting next to Catherine, the two participating in some quiet discussion, "…Has some ring with an energy about it…He holds it like a weapon, so I won't guess it's some type of toy."
"How do they live here—unnoticed," Kasumi asked, "..Some of them are as big as Wrex…I'd hate to see them get angry…"
"You didn't wake up in the shuttle," Casnar muttered.
"Is the shuttle still intact?"
"Last I saw," he replied, "…But the Alliance has some type of agreement with the city—the place is patrolled by sentries…They're not the nicest looking things."
"I need a hackpoint," Kasumi said, standing, "…Somebody show me where I can hack into this city from a mainframe or even a catalogue?"
"You'll need to go to the surface…Or take down one of the mechanical sentries to do it," Catherine said, looking up from her lap, "…I recommend the former and we can take you, but you have to promise to not say anything about us."
"You're awfully trusting," Kasumi replied…Catherine stood with Sieis.
"You won't be our concern once you're in the city…You'll be the enemy, seeing you're coming up from under the streets, and by the time you tell anyone about us, we'll be gone—it would serve you better not to say you know us or have seen us though," Catherine pressed her lips together, "…Lothiraxl has more for you to worry about than us."
"Do you know what's going on here," Casnar asked, standing too and going over to her, "…I'm trying to find someone who we believe was brought here some weeks ago…Braith Shepard…She would have come in with the Alliance."
"I wouldn't be able to tell you," she said, "….You'll have to go to the surface. The city may be safer for you while you can blend with others…My friends….They can't."
"How do you know what's going on outside…How did you know our shuttle was adrift?"
"She's lying," Kasumi said, "…There's some connection she has to external cameras or to the network if one exists in this place and I bet there is—"
Sieis stood up and moved Catherine away from Casnar.
Casnar stared at the woman whose eyes went very wide around her blue irises, and Sieis took out the weapon to hold menacingly towards him, "…This one will go to the surface now….Catherine does not have to obey you—" Backing Casnar up towards the others, the rest of the bantons started to collect their belongings and pack up, "…You have been welcomed here and now you go to the surface—the Alliance will take you from us and give us more food and gear to do what we need to do—start moving that way."
"Why," Casnar asked, "…Why give us to the Alliance instead of help us maybe move you off this city?"
The others paused to listen as if an electric current had gone through them, "…How would we leave with your help?"
"We can figure out a way, I'm not the least bit worried about not getting off this city…I intend to as my final plan," he hesitated and added, "…I need to find the woman I mentioned…She's important to me like she is to you," and Casnar glanced to Catherine from Sieis. "Will the shuttle still be there where we left it?"
Catherine went to her hard pack and popped off a circular disc from the back….She held it in her hand as she brought it over to them, "…We can check…This is my technology from Assembly….It is my personal zonepad and it interlinks me with whatever source is nearby….So I can directly connect to the city from…from my catalogue. A catalogue is my memory in a way….Everything I have stored from my experiences alive….I can choose what to share because obviously there are some things not worth mentioning to an entire ship of your colleagues," she smiled, her teeth porcelain white. "I can also do other things, such as interact with systems….Like this one."
She brought up a warm glow over the disc as it laid itself open and began to activate…
"Neural links are attached to our retina when we are born in the Assembly, others may receive an operation like myself," she started to pass through the squares of data blocks coming up, brief glimpses of frozen stills, reports, and diagrams, "…And we catalogue everything into one mind….the Archivist."
Kasumi wiped an imaginary drip of drool off the corner of her mouth as she watched the tech light up in Catherine's eyes and the woman start sorting through the zonepad's space, "…That is connecting right now to what?"
Catherine's blue eyes shown with miniature refractions of the display above the zonepad as she glanced at Kasumi, "…I'm connected to the city…It's a network like any other….But then there's more…We…Actually, I made the guess we could try it after we encountered our first sentry attack, and it's helped us survive for all the time we've been here…I've managed to observe each sector over the span of ten years and we can evade them and predict their behaviors….But since about two weeks ago, there's been a change—"
"My mate….Braith….I lost her in as little a timeframe…She should have been able to reach here from Earth…" Catherine appeared thoughtful as she pulled up camera views from beyond the city….Casnar stepped closer to see the external shots of the Grim Reaper, "…Kala….So that's what it looks like…"
The main portion from which Catherine showed them the lower half of the system had a view of the bulk of a Reaper's aft dome—the head—which spanned from her angle outward through what technological device she was viewing from…The rest of the Reaper was out of sight as the angle couldn't turn from where she focused, and gradually the dock snatch with its clasp over a shuttle was brought into view.
"Still there," Miranda muttered aloud, "…How about you show us some more of this system…The city itself," and at a twist of a thought, Catherine turned the view inside out, pulling the interior of Lothiraxl and the Grim Reaper into sight for them all….Casnar put it all to his memory, but there was so much detail, he would never be able to map it out…
"This could be like trying to find a needle in a haystack," he murmured, using the human colloquialism…
"Where can we find safe havens," Miranda asked, "….Ship dockings, arrivals, anything Alliance that's come in….Something small, I bet…If I know how they liked to use the Normandy for ship movements under the radar, they'll have been furtive with something small and quiet…."
"From Nederlinds," Casnar said, "….It would have come from Earth….I doubt they would have taken her by way of an errand route….If she needed medical attention…."
Catherine glanced at him, "….Is she sick?"
"Yes….And I think she has something in her….Something not natural," he looked hopefully to Catherine from the display.
"We can search the hospital database," Catherine said, and the image of the Reaper wide station turned into a zooming view of a structure that projected cross-wise through the surface of the city and partially into its lower levels, all delineated by green lights and transparent lines in a complicated grid…Casnar could see thousands of small pricks of light popping throughout the model one by one and so fast they were immediately lit to them, "…And if she has a dual entity, we should find it."
"This tech of yours is worth a fortune," Miranda said, impressed with the ease by which Catherine moved from the resources she had, "…Assuming it's real and not some fabrication….You have lied to us already about being connected to something here we could have used when we first asked…"
Catherine grimaced, "…We have to be careful….As you said, it is valuable….And it doesn't work without me," she glanced to Kasumi, telling her in that look alone the zonepad should not be stolen without severing the connection to the computer that supplied its control—Catherine's own brain.
"If the zonepad is destroyed, will it harm you?"
"It would be instantaneous," she said, "…and it would have to be if I were connected….But I would live, and then be helpless. And we would become vulnerable in ways we strove to avoid and succeeded at with regard to the city and its sentries."
The view was looming closer to a room that was visible through its walls, and in it were multiple halos of light forming into decisive silhouettes of people moving a body it seemed from a table…And as Catherine started to tune in closer to the room, bringing to appearance actual features of the clothes and faces—Casnar snarled, "…It's that prick, Alenko!"
For a brief instant, he thought he saw a view of Braith's face and she looked in pain, but the zonepad shut off as Catherine blinked her eyes several times and stared into the space where everything had once existed, "….I've been kicked out….I've been kicked out, Sieis….Oh, clouds!" She turned the zonepad, attempted to re-engage it, but the device was dormant in her hands.
"What happened," Miranda demanded, "…You said only you could control it—"
"There's a mutual understanding between the tech and that of the city…Myself….I've been allowed to access it before—I think I did something….Something I wasn't supposed to do," she stared at Casnar, "….She's at the hospital in the eighth level subground….You can reach it from here."
"Will you help us find her?"
"We don't have much of a choice," she said as the bantons grew agitated, "….The sentries….They're coming…."
And the lights throughout their chambers began to blink on and off, Casnar turning with the others as a faint buzzing was picked up through his inner ear and the bantons' all started to thrum in alarm to each other….Grab everything and follow Catherine….Grab Mourele….Leave him….No!….We need to leave….Sieis, what do we do!
"Can we evade them," Casnar snapped, trying to get Catherine's attention while Sieis was calming the others, "….Or if they know where we are, can and will they kill us?"
"Hold on," she tapped away a cover on the zonepad, pulled out a cartridge, reinserted it and covered it again, "….Classic reboot," she managed to smile despite the gravity of their impending circumstances, "…I'm connected," her eyes shown briefly and returned to their normal blue, "…Follow me, everyone."
Sieis picked up Catherine in his arms and purred at her as several walls laying in sequence ahead of each other parted from the joints at the sides of the chamber and led into more lightly blinking tunnels, "…Casnar," Kasumi said and pointed to the ceiling of the chamber behind them, but as the door higher up started to slide, they were bodily picked up like Catherine was by a banton each and moved with frightening speed and a worthy agility through the escape route Catherine was operating. The first of the bantons through the walls with Sieis and Catherine made it, but a bright burst of firing lasers cut through the others carrying Mourele behind them, and Casnar, Kasumi and Miranda saw from over the shoulders of their transporters the bodies fall and lay still as mechanical arms lowered from the ceiling to collect their remains.
