High Pressure System: First Season Underground (24 page)

“Hey, that was my drink,” Chris fussed.

“Sorry, I thought it was for the dogs. These suits are miserably hot and they can’t sweat.”

Once they removed a majority of the bots, I was able to take Dobbers out of his suit and let him run around on the floor while we waited for Yodel’s turn.

“Ready?” Micah asked over the radio.

Aaron pulled the vent off.

I poked my head in the duct and that was almost a mistake. Bots were circling in, out, and around the vent opening, finding easy access to my head. I backed out of the duct and let Aaron and Chris clear the bots off me. I heard my voice in the duct, no doubt coming from the recorder on Yodel. The bots near the opening changed directions heading for Yodel.

“We had a bot issue. You can send him now,” Chris said in his radio.

I stuck my head back in the duct. Aaron handed me some hot dog slices. “Come here, boy. You want a treat?” The bots turned in circles as Yodel cowered and slowly walked towards me. They were covering him and the longer he took, the more effective he was at collecting bots. He was just out of reach though when his legs splayed out as if he has slipped on ice. I waved the hot dog in front of him so he could smell it but he was frozen as if he couldn’t move.

“Something’s wrong.” My voice echoed louder than I intended. All the remaining bots were swarming all over my arms as I reached for Yodel. If I pulled him at all, the bots were going to poke him. I reached further in, bots were on my face. I didn’t care, I wanted my dog. I tugged his front legs but the rubber suit stuck to the metal . “I can’t get him and I can’t see.”

Aaron pulled my hips back so I had to come out.

“Let me, I’m smaller and the bots don’t want me.” Aaron wiggled his way in the duct.

Chris grabbed hold of my hand turning me around and pulled bots off my face. They were having a hey day poking the heck out of me. I didn’t notice the pain as panic took over my sensibilities. “Hurry, get Yodel.” I couldn’t see what Aaron was doing.

“I got him. There is something wrong with him.”

When I could finally open my eyes, my face itched like crazy. Chris unfastened my rubber jacket. I could finally get to Yodel. We frantically undid the magnet belt and unzipped the suit with bots still attached. Yodel was shaking all over and it wasn’t his usual scared shake, it was worse. “I think he’s having a seizure.” I didn’t know what to do as my hands hovered over him for a minute until I decided to pick him up. “I need the blanket we brought down here.”

Aaron ran out of the room and down the hall. Yodel had no control of his body as he tremored. Aaron’s feet caught on the carpet when he tried to stop abruptly when he returned. Chris caught him before he face-planted on the floor and I grabbed the blanket. Wrapping him up, I left the room without my protection and ran down the stairs to the vet. The hall might have been crawling with bots, they might have stung me too. Yodel needed help.

I burst in the door of the vet clinic and scared the vet tech.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him, he was collecting bots in the ducts when he suddenly couldn’t move and he’s been shaking ever since.”

“Was he injected with anything?”

“He had a protective suit on but the needles can still poke a little bit through the rubber.” I showed  her my arm. “that was intentional though and I don’t have fur.”

“Let me take him to the back.” She took Yodel from my arms.

“Can I come too?” I asked.

She shook her head and squinted when she looked at my face. “I think you need to go to the medical floor.”

“I’m not leaving.”

When she disappeared into the back and left me alone, I felt lost. Completely useless. And guilty. It had to be my fault. I let them use him. Maybe he was reacting to something from the bots. I kept wiping tears off my cheeks. They made the injection sites sting.

Micah burst through the door. “Where is he? What happened to you?” He drew back a little as he examined my face.

“They took him to the back they wouldn’t let me go in.”

“Is he okay?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“You need to go to the medical floor.”

“No, no. I’m staying.”

“No, you really need to go to the medical floor. You won’t be able to see a thing here soon.” Micah grabbed my arm.

I pulled back. “I have to know if he’s going to be okay.”

“Wait here one second.” Micah went into the back room.

My cheeks felt really warm, and I was having a hard time breathing through my nose. When I touched my face, it was swollen. Very swollen. I could see the skin of my cheeks under my eyes and  I couldn’t open my eyes all the way anymore. I tried to breathe in and it was difficult. I grabbed the back of a chair and I was wheezing.

“Okay,” Micah burst through the door and grabbed my arm. He was almost dragging me up the stairs. I couldn’t do it and I couldn’t talk. He stopped, took one look at me, and lifted me up. It slowed his progress but we were almost there. Using his back to open the door, I tried to let him know he could put me down. He ignored me and opened the door to the waiting room.

“Emergency here,” he yelled, looking in each room.

“Shh,” a nurse said. “Whoah. Doctor!”

I could barely see. Micah set me down on a bed. Then I was fussed over and someone jabbed a needle in my leg, like really hard and they even left it there. I wasn’t able to complain out loud, I still couldn’t breathe.

Someone washed my face with strong smelling stuff. They placed an oxygen mask over my mouth. I clutched it tight against my face and tried to inhale.

“Take it easy. The epinephrine will start working here soon. What are you severely allergic to?” Nurse Becky asked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t severely allergic to anything that I knew of. The nurse talked to me until breathing was easier. I could feel the swelling around my eyes ease up. At some point they had stuck an IV in my arm and were administering more drugs.

When I could finally see again, I reached for Micah, wanting him to come closer.

He was rather shaken as he grabbed my hand. I pulled the oxygen mask away from my mouth, “How’s Yodel?”

He let out a nervous laugh. “He might be better off than you. They were still evaluating him when we left. The tech will come up here when they figure out what’s wrong with him.”

I nodded and closed my eyes so I wouldn’t start crying again. I didn’t let go of Micah as they kept a close eye on me.

“What happened?” Brandon stood in the doorway.

“Severe allergic reaction from the spider robots.” The nurse listened to my chest. “She’s doing much better now. That was a scary few minutes there.”

The fact I didn’t know how bad I looked kept me from hiding under the sheet. That was until I saw Brandon’s face. He was not very good at masking his impression of how I looked and I must have been hideous.

“Are we in competition now as to who can look the worst? Judging by your expression, I must have won.” My voice was rather scratchy.

“No,” Brandon shook his head emphatically. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s that bad. Do you Micah?”

“It was all over your face when you saw her. No point in trying to smooth things over. If there was a competition, the poor girl wins.” Micah shrugged apologetically.

I hung my head. “Don’t anyone bring anything like a mirror in here or you might have to bring me back to life.”

“It looks like the worst is over. The swelling is starting to ease. How does your mouth and throat feel?” the nurse asked.

“A tiny bit better.” I was aware for the first time that my tongue felt enormous. I shook my head in aggravation.

It took some time before the swelling eased completely, they stopped checking my blood pressure and Brandon realized he wasn’t any use standing around once all the excitement was over. Micah stayed though. The longer it took for the tech to come, the more anxious I was that something terrible had happened.

I chewed on my lip and watched the clock. Too much time had passed. “Is there some way we can find out how my dog is doing?”

“Oh, the vet tech has been here already. We couldn’t let another person in the room.”

“What? I’ve been waiting to hear from them.” I sat upright and started pulling the tape from the IV off my arm.

Everyone pushed me back in the bed.

“I want to know how my dog is doing.” I struggled to get up. “Let me go.”

“The tech is still here,” Nurse Becky said. “Man, those meds are doing their job.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?” I resigned myself back down on the bed completely mortified.

The tech nervously looked around the room at everyone as she approached the bed.

I sat up again, fearing the worst.

“Your dog is stable. All we can figure is perhaps he had a seizure. Has he had them before?”

“Not that I know of. He survived Parvo as a puppy but that’s it. Aren’t seizures bad?”

“If this is his first, it could just be a one time thing. However, if the seizures continue, it might be something to worry about and Dachshunds are prone to seizures. So far we can’t find anything serious and we haven’t seen any signs yet that he will have more. Could have been triggered from the stress of the event. He’s a sensitive pup. Perhaps the Parvo experience explains his sensitivity to us in the clinic. He’s rather distressed when we handle him now that the seizure is over. We’ll observe him for a few hours to be sure it isn’t something more serious. Especially with what just happened to you. We want to rule out potential contamination from the bots. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything to worry about. He’s doing fine now.”

I nodded. The relief I felt overwhelmed me. Being stuck in the hospital bed didn’t help, though.

“If they keep Rachel here, I’ll come to check on him in a bit,” Micah said.

She nodded and left.

Micah awkwardly patted my shoulder. I didn’t dare look up at him. I was probably still hideous. One by one, the hospital staff left the room. I must have attracted a few more staff members during my fit. I wiped my eyes dry once everyone left except for Micah and the nurse.

“You okay?” Micah asked, sitting in the chair next to bed.

I turned my face away from him and nodded.

“You’re face is almost back to normal, you know.”

I shook my head.

“You can say it, tell me I was wrong.”

I shook my head once more.

“I’m sorry, Rachel. You warned me.”

“They said Yodel is going to be fine.”A burning fire like I’d never felt before began to swell in my chest. “Dobbers is still with Aaron and Chris, isn’t he?”

“Yes, you want me to go get him?” He was on the edge of his seat.

“No, use him to go collect all the bots. Dobbers will be fine. I’m done with this jealous computer ex-girlfriend of Brandon’s. It’s time to fight back.” Did they have anything in their med closet for vengeance angry?

It didn’t help my anger and frustration at all when they told me I had to stay the night. Something about the bots targeting me and it not being safe. Of course they’d make me stay when I didn’t want to. I couldn’t exactly tell them about how safe I was at Micah’s.

After Micah went back to collect more bots with Dobbers, he returned to visit with me and promised to take care of my dogs. After that, he waited at the vet clinic for them to release Yodel. He brought my dog for a quick visit even though the hospital staff was against it completely. It brightened my mood considerably. Yodel was happy to see me too and he looked as if nothing terrible had happened earlier in the day.

The next morning, after almost no sleep in their terrible bed, they let me go. I went down to the new Control Room.

“Rachel!” Aaron jumped up and gave me hug.

Everyone else was too wrapped up in what they were doing. I got a couple nods. It was like a production line of surgeons working on their little tinker toys.

I was grabbed from behind and Micah’s chin rested on my shoulder.

“Missed you,” he whispered in my ear. “They set you free?”

Brandon actually looked up and frowned at the two of us.

“Yes. I didn’t want to miss phase two.”

“Nope. I don’t think you’re a part of phase two anymore,” Brandon said while engrossed in what was on his screen.

“Yes, I’m a part of phase two,” I said emphatically. “I will go no matter what you say.”

Brandon and everyone else in the room looked at me.

Micah let me go and looked me in the eye. “Are you serious?” he asked. “What did they give you up there?’

I glared at him. “Adrenaline. Seriously, I’m going. This computer has messed with the wrong person. I will have everything to do with taking her out.”

There was no argument that could sway my determination. Eventually all arguments ended when they realized they were wasting their time.

That night we were set to go. All the bots were in massive containers on wheels. I was told to wear my rubber suit. They gave me a voice changer facemask thing so the bots couldn’t identify me. Pretty cool. I breathed heavily in and out of the voice changer. Jim was the only one that laughed. I needed to school Micah on some classic Science Fiction movies. Our other guy, Ashton hardly said a word.

I’d never been in the big industrial elevator shaft. It took four of the men to open the wall that was actually a massive door at the end of the hall. Behind it was a mechanical one that covered the way into the shaft. The oversized latches were unhitched and it opened sideways once Brandon punched in a code.

I stood a safe distance from the ledge. There was nothing to protect us from falling in the shaft until the elevator arrived.

When it settled on our floor, it was a basic metal box with a light that flickered in the roof. Because I saw the innards of the shaft, my confidence in the lift system was a little shaky.

The four containers full of bots were rolled in and the four of us situated ourselves in the little bit of room that was left.

We were all silent as the motor vibrated us as we were slowly lifted to the surface. That hum, the muffled noises of the bots moving in the box, and little click sounds when we passed a floor was all we could hear and the pace was tediously slow.

“We need some elevator music,” I said. There was nothing to watch or even hint at how far up we were.

Jim hummed some tune. Then Micah started humming some silly version of the
William Tell Overture
and we all groaned.

“Never mind.” I covered my face in mock disgust. I gave him a side-glance and laughed when he seemed totally entertained by his own antics.

The elevator came to grinding halt. The doors opened to a hot concrete space, kind of like a parking garage with massive support beams in a smaller scale. The bus we arrived in was on one side. The backend of a box truck faced us on the other. We pushed our rolling containers out of the elevator and stopped. It was a huge slope to the top.

“Just to review our plan, we have to roll these things up that hill, out the door, and across the field to the lobby. The drones land right outside. We should be protected in there even though half the hill protecting the lobby is gone. All we have to do it set up the boxes and release the bots when they’re here. Should be pretty painless. The main thing is staying out of sight. We have no clue how the drones will react if they detect us. They might have movement or heat sensors onboard. We want as many of these bots to load up in the drones as we can get. With the mesh fabric, we can cover the openings and perhaps we will be lucky to catch a majority of the bots before they invade the bunker. Once the drones are gone, we go back in with the containers, hopefully loaded with more bots so we can bring up another load of them for tomorrow night. Got it?” Micah asked. “Oh, and avoid any puddles.”

We all nodded.

The nice thing about the boots was they had great traction for climbing the concrete slope with the heavy container pushing back.

Micah opened the side door. It was two layers. The second metal one screeched as it opened. We all blinked in amazement at the gorgeous sunset on the horizon. A few pink fluffy clouds were in contrast to the intense orange and yellow of the sky around the sun. As the intense orange faded overhead, the sky turned to an intense vibrant blue blending into violet. I could stand there until there was only a night sky with stars overhead. Even then, I could stay for hours to take in the constellations, the real ones not the simulated ones, that I actually knew.

“I can’t get weepy. I can’t wipe anything off my face,” I said when I saw the others were rather emotional too. A light breeze cooled the desert heat at the end of the day. I could only feel it on my face though. How I wished I wasn’t wearing the sauna suit. However, once we were all outside to take in the whole view, the landscaping was not as beautiful as the day we arrived. The grass was dead, flattened, and washed away in chunks from the flooding. The newly planted trees, if they were still standing, were dead twigs with not a leaf left. The ground away from the landscaped mound was cracked as if it was so parched because water hadn’t touched it in years.

“Let’s hurry. We don’t know what time the drones will be here. They prefer just after dusk.” Micah motioned for us to get a move on.

We rolled the containers over to the lobby. Unrecognizable from the day we arrived, it looked more like an oversized rodent burrow with the gaping holes in the side of the mound. It was also scarred with splayed out black marks, in fact those marks were concentrated almost entirely on the mound.

I scanned the sky overhead for storm clouds just in case and paused. Not a cloud. Just a couple of stars. Mars and Jupiter were just beginning to make their appearances.

“Rachel,” Jim pulled me out of my trance.

“I’ve missed it so much.” I shoved the container to get it rolling again.

When we reached the largest opening, we took a corner of each container and heaved it into the lobby. Dark and shabby, far from the welcoming first impression of our new home. The lights didn’t work anymore. The carpet was gone. Sand filled the pits in the concrete. The fancy paneling was faded to white at the bottom where it hadn’t been eaten away.

As we paused to recuperate from the weight of the containers, the silence as night fell was ominous. Only the breeze made the faintest sound and there was nothing for it pick up and blow away. All of that was gone.

“We need to detach the wheels and set up the mesh.” Ashton handed me a roll.

Jim helped me with my container. However when we were working on his, the wheels and axel wouldn’t come off. The two of us struggled to unclip it from the underside. Bots stirred inside. Ashton and Micah already had their two containers set up near their gaping holes and were duct taping the mesh to the walls after they had stapled it down.  It served a dual purpose, prevent the bots that were altered from infesting the bunker again, and collect any new ones.

We finally got his box set up. Micah and Ashton helped us with the mesh. We were working on my box when Brandon called us on the radio and I wasn’t the only one that jumped.

“Something is stirring this way. Turn off all radios and listen for its arrival instead.”

Ashton shut off the radio as all four of us listened and scanned the horizon. The mesh obscured the view and the stars had been snuffed out by clouds.

“Weird. The skies are usually clear when the drones come in.” Jim stepped closer to the biggest gaping hole to get a better look through the mesh.

“I wonder if the storms know we’re out here?” I asked, backing up against the wall. Bravery was so much easier down deep, floors below. It seemed my courage was fleeing from me now.

The wind picked up.

“I doubt it. Radio silence is a good idea right now. We might as well settle in for a wait.” Jim took a seat on the floor.

The rest of us joined him sitting close beside each other with the best view to the outside. I scooted closer to Micah. He discreetly rested his hand on mine. It gave me a rush when he squeezed it and didn’t let go.

My tension eased as we shared our favorite sensations from being outside that we were enjoying the most.

“There’s no wind, not even a light breeze now,” I said pulling the voice changer away from my face so I could whisper.

“Hear that?” Ashton asked.

We were silent as the sound of humming started to build.

“They’re coming.” Micah was on feet heading over to his container.

We all followed his lead. The stars and the moon that was now making an appearance for us cast light in the gaping holes. We could see Micah as he held a hand up for us all to wait. He would release his bots first. We had no idea how many drones would come. What we didn’t anticipate were the bots that we hadn’t captured in the bunker crossing through the lobby, heading for the drones. There weren’t very many and fortunately they didn’t seem to have a clue who I was. They were searching for a way out through the edges of the mesh, though.

The drone hovering over the field in front of us was far bigger than I had imagined. I guess I didn’t realize how big a drone had to be that was delivering hundreds of bots.

Micah released his bots with no problems. We stayed out of sight as it landed and his bots loaded while new ones left the drone.

I had to smash a few that were making some progress on my duct-taped edges.

Another drone had been waiting to land. More bots arrived in the lobby from the bunker.

I turned to Micah to see if he wanted me to let them out. He was keeping a close eye on Ashton as he opened the small sliding door on his container for the eager bots to escape.

The amount of bots in the lobby trying to get to the drone was growing. Jim was dealing with even more than I was. However, he didn’t have the protection I had. I popped open a piece of duct tape and they scurried out. The ones trying to get in were fortunately closer to Micah and Ashton. Large numbers of them filled their containers. Not enough remained inside. They scurried around the perimeter of each hole trying to get in through each of our mesh covers.

The second drone left. We expected another but it didn’t come right away. I crawled over to Jim. He was dealing with bots coming in and out. He didn’t notice he had shifted his container out of alignment. His door wasn’t going to open.

I tapped his shoulder and showed him that the container was misaligned. We checked but didn’t see any new drones yet. Even though it would have been easier for me to go around to the other side to push it, I didn’t want to be spotted by a drone and grabbed a corner to help him lift the container to pull it instead. We struggled when it was hung up on something. The bots in the lobby crawled up his back and stung him when we lifted it again. We were just supposed to shift it sideways and pull when it unexpectedly slid towards us and he dropped his side. I couldn’t maintain my grip when the weight in the container shifted when it tilted. It dropped on his foot and ankle, knocking him to the ground. Jim mashed his fist against his mouth to stifle a yell. I grabbed the edge to shove it off.

When I glanced up, Ashton and Micah dove to the ground before I saw the drone hovering right in front of our gaping hole. I turned just as there was a bright flash and the blast knocked me off my feet.

I came to and all I felt was pain. Opening my eyes, I had a great view of the floor and my arm. I didn’t know my arm could bend that direction. Yellow orange flickering light illuminated the room. I moaned when I tried to move. Then I saw Jim. Still as could be on the floor. A dark puddle expanded under his head.

“Jim,” I whispered, moving my body only brought on a surge of agony like I’d never felt before.

Micah dropped to his knees and blocked my view. His face was bleeding as he leaned closer blocking my view of Jim.

“Your arm, oh man. Rachel.” Shaking his head, something dripped on my cheek from his face and he wiped it off.

“A storm is coming,” Ashton yelled.

Micah gently rolled me onto my back. The pain that shot through me made me see stars and turned everything black.