| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
Hrockas Steward watches as the ruins of the transfer warehouse crumble to
the ground on top of three visitors. All of their substrates survive, and
they go on with their day. That’s not the issue. This is a testing ground
for people’s new superhuman abilities. He expects damage. This is quite a
bit, to be sure, but the bots will rebuild as needed. The real problem is
that one of them is not in the records. Using the remote identifying system,
he can’t even see that she’s in the system at all. Not even a regular
retinal scan is coming up with a match. He has no idea how she ended up on
this planet, but he does know that her consciousness isn’t streaming, so she
has no business being in Underbelly. How did she get her powers in the first
place? “Run it back.”
“How far, sir?” the Custodian asks.
“As far back as it will go,” Hrockas clarifies. “I want to track her
movements since she first entered this dome.”
“There won’t be sound, sir. It’s a privacy issue.”
“I understand that, C-01131-1. I’m the one who designed the protocols. Now
show me her path. Show me the whole thing.” They watch the accelerated
footage in reverse. The mysterious woman leaves in a car going backwards,
and gets in a morgue drawer. The drawer closes, then opens again, and her
body is transferred out of it by the mortician. It’s taken to a jewelry
store where a blade is pulled out of her body, as well as a superhero’s. The
footage skips after that as she spent weeks in a private space with no
cameras. They keep watching her story, piecing together what she’s been
through by witnessing the events in the wrong order. “There. Right there.
What is that?”
“That is a maintenance tunnel that leads from the in-game subway to the
outside world,” C-1 replies. “It’s used to travel into the city without
interfering with the story.”
“How the hell did she know that was there?” Hrockas questions. “Keep going.
I want to see where she was before.”
“I can’t, sir,” the custodian explains. “I only have access to Underbelly
internal.”
“Right, I knew that. I’ll input my admin codes.” They watch more reverse
footage. She has not been on Castlebourne for long, having come in on that
second arkship. He does not have access to the ship’s sensors, so he doesn’t
know how she managed to stay hidden there, but he doesn’t care at this
point. She met with someone weeks ago who he recognizes. He takes out his
phone, and calls her. “Are you alone?” When she answers yes, he says, “then
this is a warning that I am teleporting to your location immediately.”
After he lands at the gym, she smiles at him. “Welcome, Steward.”
“I’m not in the mood, Tereth. Come with me.” He offers her his hand.
“Oh my, Hrockas. I am a married woman. What will my husband think?”
“Just take my goddamn hand.” Once she does and stops smiling, he teleports
back to the custodial wing of Underbelly. He then points to the screen. “Who
is this?”
Now Yunil has fully lost her joyful attitude. “Dont worry about it.”
“You know I can’t do that. What did you do? And before your respond with
some quippy lie, allow me to skip it, and reiterate with more fervor, what
did you do!”
Yunil sighs. “She wanted to stay unregistered. I gave her a clean ID.”
“You didn’t just give her any regular ID. You gave her admin access.”
“I...” she looks confused. “Did I? Wait, how can I do that? Our machine
should not be able to do that. It’s just for the refugees, mostly the
government.”
“That’s why it needed to be universal,” Hrockas argues. “You have admin
access to all non-utility and non-logistical domes. You even have access to
Military Dome, and you gave it to her too. Can you imagine if she had gone
there instead? She would have placed global security at risk, rather than
only her own life.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was that comprehensive. I didn’t know I was
granting any admin access at all. I thought it would simply allow her to
enter the domes. As a normal human, I assumed she would only go to safe
places. Are we in Underbelly?”
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“What happened? Is she okay?”
“I obviously can’t trust you with that information. I’ll let you agonize
over what may or may not have happened to her. But I’m not yet certain what
the consequences of your actions will be. I don’t care if you’re the Deputy
Superintendent. This is my planet, you’re all here as guests,
and I reserve the right to take it away from any individual at any time.
That includes you. Your husband can’t keep you safe.”
“Now, just hold on, asshole! We’re all grateful that you provided us
sanctuary, but that was decades ago. You can’t keep playing that card. We
already lived under a tyrant. That is the whole point, so don’t you dare
threaten me with exile, or whatever the hell else is on your mind. You may
technically own the planet, but we govern the citizens. There are more of us
than there are of you. The majority of your military is from the Corridor.
We give this world legitimacy, so stop acting like it’s a burden. I’m sorry
for what I did. I saw a lot of Dreychan in Mandica, and I wanted to help
her, just as I helped him. If she’s in danger, let me go in myself and pull
her out.”
Hrockas sighs. “She’s not in danger anymore. She found a loophole. We’re
still trying to figure that out. As for you...you’re right. I’m sorry for
treating you like burdens. I love that you’re here. I’m proud that I was
able to give you safe haven. It just seems like I keep running into these
vulnerabilities for people to exploit. First your now husband is almost
killed, using a different type of ID spoofing, then an Exemplar in Spydome
emerges, and shuts down an entire dome network with a single thought. I get
upset because I’m trying to protect you from the Exin Army. What if the
Oaksent finds another vulnerability? What if he discovers where we are?
Again, what you did placed only this Mandica woman in danger. I do not think
she’s a spy, but the next one who comes to you may be. Dreychan almost died
because people thought that’s what he was. Don’t let that happen again.
Don’t open the door. Proper procedure is there for a reason.”
“That’s a good point. I apologize again,” Yunil says, contrite.
He nods, but it’s still awkward.
“What...happened to her?” she asks. “You said she found a loophole? Did she
decide to become a transhuman after all? She said that she was against it
for herself.”
“She didn’t seem to do it on purpose,” Hrockas divulges. He runs the footage
back to the jewelry store attack. “It somehow happened to her, like a real
origin story.”
Yunil peers at the screen. “You do know that the Philosopher’s Stone is
real, right? I don’t know if that’s it, but it’s not just a story. Bronach
found it at some point.”
“Oh.” Hrockas looks at the Custodian. “Find out where that prop came from.”
“And that looks like the Sword of Assimilation,” Yunil goes on. “You should
talk to one of your executive administrators. Darko Matic is the one who
told me about it.”
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