Chapter 35: Aud Are A Pain To Manage
After releasing Ni-6, he entered his office with a heavy breath. Behind his desk, he opened his HUD and extended a connection to the Eighth Headman, mind still in turmoil even while he forced his body to operate. His knuckles tapped against the surface, pushing him back into focus only after registering the dull throb from his wrists. Had he hurt himself back in the chamber?
The medical kit was still there, so he grabbed the waiting syringe and inserted it into his forearm. Prominent veins weren't the most attractive, but they had their own advantages. The plunger pushed liquid sun beneath his skin. He waited long enough for the familiar, comforting sensations to emerge and warmly coat him. While he waited, the other end of his call connected. "What is the Eighth planning on doing about the Nyx Breaker's return?"
"Straight to work? You're such a boring man." The receiver's voice was playful and free of strain.
"Answer me."
"You're such a boring man," she repeated. "You should consider taking a day off, or the stress will kill you before an Aud gets the chance."
"You're hardly contributing to my health, in that case. Tell me what the Eighth is planning on doing."
"What we're already doing, you mean? The Nyx Breaker enters the city through the maintenance gate, so it'll avoid catching the eye of the general populace. The only thing we need to concern ourselves with is anyone inside the Directory leaking that it's returned, and what the survey results were. The Third and my own are locking down what information we can." Her tone softened. "I heard about Fort Io. I'm--"
"I'm not going to be the only mourner." He had to remain objective and pack away his feelings for now. They were affecting him in all the ways he didn't want. "What about the survivor?"
"Good news there. The sitesman kept in contact after their initial transmission so that we could send her people access to the Ninth's data. They identified the surviving serviceman as Pa-5. She's--"
His heart slowed, and twice that day his legs lost their strength, forcing him to lean on his desk. He didn't hear what Eighth Headman said and didn't check if the communication was still going. One thought ran through his mind on repeat, washing away everything like a mantra.
She was alive.
And like that, the color returned to the world, and the murkiness that dragged down his thoughts vanished like it'd never been there in the first place. He gulped a fresh breath, appreciating the coolness of his office, how the low temperature soothed him. His eyes closed, and he found himself taking a moment. His arms went slack and he came to rest on the chair, staring between his legs.
He might've stayed there longer, content with the sudden bout of relief that cooled a once-raging mental state. But his ears chose to reconnect, supplying him with the receiver's words again. Right, the communication was still going. "--ght there could've been a reason for the lack of warning, and--are you listening?"
"I wasn't," he admitted. She sighed on the other end, but he could hear the smile.
"I'll tell you the rest when I'm in your office, then, so I know you're not blanking. Get out there for now and welcome the sitesman. You should check the condition of the Nyx Breaker while you're there."
"Will do." He ended the call and stared at the wall, struggling to keep his face uniform. But the smile won out, and once it cemented itself there, he found he didn't mind it as much as he would've expected. He exited his office and found Ni-6 by the door, still waiting. "You didn't need to wait."
Ni-6's eyes refocused. "You didn't dismiss me, sir." Checking that with his memory, he realized the younger between them was right.
"Sorry about that. The rough treatment, I mean." Ni-6 nodded, amicable, though the subtle signs of grief pinched him deep in a way he couldn't completely hide. "And I'm sorry for your brother."
"I thought I wouldn't have to hear that for a while. It hasn't even been that long since…"
As they walked, the Prime Beacon placed a hand on Ni-6's shoulder. He didn't need to specify. The fight against the Aud was vicious, exchanging human lives like currency to buy the deaths of Aud. Not even half of every generation survived their compulsory service, and among those that returned home, some bearing physical scars, and all bearing mental scars and plenty more mature, not everyone could leave the war behind. Not everyone wanted to. Those unfortunate people made up a significant chunk of the First's employees. Ni-6's father had been one of those people.
Scanning out of the entrance, the two of them left Ardiseg Hall. They headed for the nearest railskipper boarding node, one block down. Having one close to the One-Light Directory's main building was an easy way to achieve accessibility, especially since the bygone members of the Fifth responsible for laying the foundations of the city had made the questionable choice of constructing the ground floors of the residential scraper halfway across the city. Before the railskipper network, there had existed a considerable time delay in the commute for government employees.
They crossed through a smaller crowd, entering the boarding node after skirting around a noisy pair arguing about the hair color of their infant. The child, held in the father's arms, looked back and forth between its parents. The door, which had slid back to admit them entry, closed, cutting them off. He sighed in relief and was about to start walking when Ni-6 tugged his sleeve. "Sir, your band."
He looked down to see it was still wrapped around his bicep, and visible for everyone in the mezzanine. Already, some of the people around them had noticed. A child pointed and faced admonishment from her mother who looked on. He removed it with practiced ease and slid it into one of his pockets, with Ni-6 mirroring his actions out of habit. Together, they crossed into the mezzanine and stopped in line.
The queue didn't occupy much of their time, with railskippers arriving, emptying, and filling with fresh passengers before departing. Around three minutes in, they entered a deserted car and found seats by one of the windows. One of the supervisory staff came by and offered them a refreshment, but both men declined. Ni-6 preoccupied himself with his HUD while the rest of the cars emptied and filled, and the Prime Beacon looked out the window.
They build the boarding areas for railskipper nodes high, around the nineteenth story of every ceilingscraper, to give ample space for the convoluted and undulating network of rails running from one side of the city to the other. With how high up they were, he could see more details on the buildings around the boarding node than the streets below. Small dots of movement were recognizable as the crowds he'd been among them earlier; they were larger than when he'd observed them from his lodging within the residential scraper. Looking up, past the outlines of scrapers stretching far into the distance, he could see the inside face of the Last Light's walls.
Though the residential scraper was the tallest work of architecture humanity erected in the Last Light, its walls were no less impressive, stretching around the city in a wide encirclement. Though he couldn't see them from here, he knew there were patrols on the walls too, walking between emplacements built into the fortifications and staring out into the empty expanse of the Gaiss Hollow. Beyond them still would be the Halo Beast.
He took in as much as he could because once the railskipper departed, it would be moving too fast for him to see anything outside the window aside from a blur of dull colors and lights. A beep sounded from the ceiling, and the doors facing the boarding area closed. Three seconds later, he felt a faint thrum beneath his feet, spreading vibrations throughout the railskipper that massaged everyone within. They weren't overbearing or uncomfortable by any means. Then the windows, as promised, only showcased blurs beyond and he felt negligible pressure, signifying that the railskipper was in motion.
He traded that sight for Ni-6, turning and readjusting himself in his seat to become more comfortable. "Pa-5."
"What? Sorry sir, I didn't hear you."
"Pa-5. She's the survivor the Nyx Breaker found." It felt good to tell someone else.
Ni-6 smiled, and some of the tension left his body. "That's great! I'm happy to hear that." But not all of it. "I wish we had more good news than that alone, though."
Though it wasn't his responsibility to do so, he reassured his subordinate. "This isn't the first bastion outpost humanity has lost, and it might not be the last. All we can do is build more in the future and reestablish routing points to drive the Aud back."
"What about the entry to the greater western tunnel system? With Fort Io gone, it'll need collapsing to stop any hordes escaping the tunnels."
"Send a communication to one of my generals." He thought for a moment, then added, "Have them redirect the Ancheros away from its northern watch. If Aud do appear in the flatlands, the Ephemeral Palisade should be enough."
In the time Ni-6 contacted one of the generals beneath the Prime Beacon, their railskipper had traversed the distance to their destination, and begun to slow. The blurs outside became greater and more defined, until once more, if he looked outside, he could see streets below, scrapers above, and the walls in the distance. They disembarked, exited the boarding area and the mezzanine, and found themselves outside one of the boarding nodes of a different district. This district was closer to the walls, and factories and refineries filled it, clear signs it belonged to the Fifth.
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