Singularity: IC, Echoes of the Event Options

[grendel]

18:32:55 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

"I'm not sure if we'll have any success adding explosives to the requisition this late in the game, but I'll pass your request along to de Medici and OpsDiv."

Cyrenne's voice over the phone has the flat, atonal quality that tells Errand it's an electronic construct and she was either transceiver equipped or subvocalizing.

[Shadow]

18:33:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

"Understood, thanks for trying. I think were good to go, the soonest we get to do EQ check the better. Also, I hate to bother you with such a mundaine request, but I haven't eaten in almost 24 hours, any chance we could get some chicken, pasta, and other high carb, high protien foods? Also something to drink with sugar in it, Coke would be great, thanks again."

[grendel]

18:33:16 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

A dry chuckle sounds over the transmission.

"Unfortunately, we can't simply order takeout here on the compound. You'll have to get by with what's in the kitchen until we can move you to your permanent quarters. Sorry. We're still on track for gear issue at twenty one hundred."

[Shadow]

18:34:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand chuckles. "This is starting to sound like we'll have it on Tuesday. Ok, kitchen it is. Are we okay for wandering around looking for the Mess, or do we need a escort?"

[grendel]

18:34:27 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

There's a small silence on the line.

"No, I'm sorry, we don't have your corporate IDs ready yet. And I was referring to the kitchenette in your room. Is it empty? C8 reported that the temp quarters had been cleaned and stocked."

[Shadow]

18:35:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

"Right, ok, soy food it is. Thanks."

"Multi million dollar corp you think they could spring for a pizza. Ok lets go over this again. I wanna make sure we get it right."

Errand talks as he moves into the kitchenette and starts making food.

[Molljner]

18:35:30 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

"Errand, since you're up...please go light on the salt!" Tron said with the first smile in over six weeks....the last time he smiled, well Lone Star caught that one on tape....

[WinterRat1]

18:35:59 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Mako sits silently, listening to Errand's plan. As the ork and the hacker start gathering food, he rubs his chin thoughtfully and says, "Question. How are we going to ascend twenty-seven floors? I'm not in the greatest physical condition ever, but even if I was, that'd probably take some time. Can we rely on being undetected that long? Same thing for the descent. Jump twenty-seven stories into the water? If this building used to be above ground, even if the water's three or four stories deep, isn't there a good chance we'll actually hit the ground if we jump in the water from that high up? And not in a good way either."

[Shadow]

18:37:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Makeshift sandwich in mouth Errand stifle's a laugh.

"Yeah.." he swallows, "ahem, yeah that would not b good. Anything from above 80 meters is like hitting concrete. Less see, 5 meters a floor, thats uh..." he does some math in his head, "125 meters? Yeah. So that would be death. However, I threw on a grapple hook and 50 meters of line and climbing gear, so thats our descent. As for the floor by floor, shafts usually have access ladders you can climb up and down. If not we can use the stairs or the rope."

He finishes of his sandwich.

"It seems, from the intel, that once were inside were going to be good to go as far as detection. They don't seem to have anything active in the building, which I don't believe for a second. But we have to go in trying to be stealthy the whole time. That's why I want a plan for a fast exfiltration. Repelling down the side of the building seems alot faster than going back down the shaft. At the very least we can use a spirit to slow our fall.... " he looks to Mako for onfirmation.

[WinterRat1]

18:37:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Mako raises an eyebrow. “Yes, we can use an Air spirit to slow our rate of fall. But did you just say we have 50 meters of rope for a 125 meter descent? What are we planning to do, rappel down those 50 meters and then just jumping? Because I don’t want to be falling 75 meters and then have my air spirit get banished or killed while we’re on the way down. That’ll end our year of servitude real quick, but not in a way I think any of us wants. It’s fine to have an air spirit as a backup plan for getting out, but if we’re already exposing it to danger by using it as our air cover/fire support, then I really don’t want to have it also be our Plan A for getting out alive. Maybe you want to ask for more rope?�

[Shadow]

18:40:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

"Well it was an estimate, and that's a lot of rope to be swimming with. I'm not being cavalir about it, but we also have to carry gear into the place, added gear out of the place, weapons, armor etc. I don't think we can carry nearly 300 feet of line. Jumping off the building is plan B, not plan A. And no one says we have to exit from the 27th floor. Going out the window is if we get cornered or can't get back to the basement. Remember, when we leave the storm drain we have nearly 40 feet of murky, debris filled water to cross before we get eaten by a tiger shark. Not sure I want to carry so much gear that I am walking that distance, do you?"

[grendel]

20:55:42 Monday, 13 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Housing Bay Two, Temp Quarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Mako shrugged, unwilling to press the point. Errand seemed to have a handle on things, and, worse come to worse, they could always descend inside the building before blowing an exterior wall and rappelling out. Or jumping as the case may be. Silence descended on the room, broken only when Tron clicked on the trideo and started paging through the available shows.

Not really wanting to watch trid, Mako stepped into one of the three identical, anonymous rooms. The furnishings were utterly spartan and practical, different from just about every other place he’s ever lived in his life. He wondered at all the unanswered questions floating around, and how radically his situation had changed in less than twelve hours. Who was de Medici working for? What corporation did Singularity belong to? Why, if they had all these resources, did they need to take three runners out of jail in order to break into a flooded Ares building? He hoped after they got back from this run that he’d at least get a chance to get good and drunk. The whore on the airplane had gone a long way to satisfying the hungers of his body, but it had been far too long since he’d partied.

A soft chime sounds from the door. Tron, the closest, rose from the couch and touched the flat plate by the bank of light switches. The door slid aside to reveal Cyrenne, dressed now in a one piece matte gray jumpsuit and long coat.

“Gentlemen,� she announced, “it’s time. If you’ll follow me.�

The four of them take a different route through the building, emerging only minutes later into the interior of the hangar. Voices, indistinct through the mesh curtains, call back and forth nearby. Just outside the doorway are five long tables festooned with gear, neatly laid out and arranged.

The first table holds three dual tank cutting torches, bulkier than the standard miniwelder, but capable of operating underwater, three OXSYS artificial gill systems, three large waterproof duffle bags, each of them capable of holding 0.1 cubic meter. A grapple gun with two 100m spools of stealth line and three catalyst sticks. A box of twelve high intensity chemlights finishes up the first table.

The second table has three sets of diving gear: fins, facemask, snorkel, buoyancy compensator, weight belt, dive armor, lightweight tank and regulator. Each piece is done in a mottled gray/dark blue/black digital camouflage.

The third table holds weapons and tactical gear, with a Blackhawk Omega Elite tactical vest, a Serpatech Level II thigh holster, and a STRIKE left leg drop platform with a pair of magazine pouches and a dump pouch, Cougar Fineblade knife, long blade, AZ-150 stun baton, two Colt Manhunters, a Colt M-23 assault rifle, ten flash-bang grenades, four pistol magazines and six rife magazines.

The fourth table is full of electronics: four Transys Avalon commlinks, three sets of trode nets, a simrig still in its shrink wrapped plastic coating, an electronics kit, one set of goggles, a black plastic case labeled ‘contacts’, two briefcase sized black ABS plastic Pelican dry cases, two sets of plastic restraints, a maglock passkey in a slim plastic sleeve, miniwelder, squencer, a pair of wire clippers, two thermite burning bars sheathed in protective plastic, four one-meter long liner cutting charges and two detonators. An Ares Predator IV, AAC Evolution silencer, Serpatech level II holster, and four clips are the last things on the table.

The fifth table holds a neatly folded set of actioneer business clothes, as well as four boxes, each neatly stenciled with the number 4. Also on the fourth table, currently lying dormant, are two MCT Fly-Spies and two Cyberspace Designs Dragonflies.

Errand glances over the gear, frowning when he notices that only one of his rifle clips carries the blue/yellow banding of AV ammunition. All other clips carry the double black band of Ex-explosive, except for three of Tron’s pistol clips, which carry white bands.

“Like Cai said at the briefing, we don’t have enough time to modify all the gear as you requested. You’re going to have to work with COTS for the time being. When you return from this op, we’ll be able to make the desired changes to your equipment.� de Medici shrugs apologetically, clearly not happy with the upgraded time table.

“Check and make sure everything fits and is what you’d like. We have two and a half hours before you’re scheduled to depart here for the docks. Cyrenne and Kiyonaga will accompany you in the boat. Your commlinks have already been tuned to primary and secondary tactical frequencies, and encryption has been synched. Once clear of the building, just signal, and they’ll pick you up. The water sled has already been pre-positioned at the dock.�

He steps back to let his team check their gear.

[Molljner]

21:00:12 Monday, 13 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Housing Bay Two, Gear Room, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Tron looks over toward the tables, puts his hands together and cracks his knuckles.

Short Timing on the op order, and they still manage to get almost everything. Better start checking!


Tron briefly looks at both Mako and Errand and makes a bee line toward the electronics table. He picks up the contacts, and puts them in.

Ah...to see again!

He then selects one of the trodes sets and a commlink and starts to check the programs, matrix access and other internal functions.

[Shadow]

21:10:00 - 22:00 Monday, 13 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Housing Bay Two, Gear Room, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand let out a whistle at the sight of the weapons. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was nice. He smiled as Tron shot off for the comlinks like a kid in a candy shop. Before Errand even made it to the weapons Tron tossed him his own comlink. He synched it up with his image link and it was old times again. He quickly went over the tac gear, harness, ropes. clothing, all seemed to be good. Once that was done he checked the weapons.

The Predator was first, it was Tron's, but he was busy with the electronics. It didn't take him long to make sure their were no factory defects. Then he loaded and un-loaded it 15 or 20 times to make sure the action was smooth. After he squared the Pred away he moved on to the more reliable (in his opinion) Colt made weapons.

After some time the assortement of gear had all been checked. Errand was dressed in tac gear head to toe. The dive armor was more combersome then he was used to, but considering the nature of the Op, the beter choice then bringing along normal clothes and switching out after the exited the water.

"Cyrenne, whats our time look like, and would it be possible to put some B-A-L rounds down range somewhere?"

[grendel]

22:01:16 Monday, 13 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Range 2, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Cyrenne glances at de Medici who nods in response. She turns back to Errand.

"This way." Instead of heading back into the building, she opens a panel in one of the mesh screens, revealing a hallway in between the cordoned off areas. She glances back before stepping through, her eyes on Mako.

"We have weapons on stand-by even though you didn't request any. You're welcome to join us."

With that, she steps through. The hall seems to follow the center of the hangar, and Errand catches a glimpse through the screens as he passes. The cordoned off areas seem to be workspaces and storage areas, many of them full of shelving units with anonymous gray plastic cases stacked on them. One, though, is a motorpool, and he scans a dozen security vehicles, all wearing the same slate gray camouflage, all of them armed. At the end of the hall are a pair of pre-fab buildings again, one long and low, the other two story and a little more conventional. Cyrenne heads for the single story structure, but gestures towards the other.

"That's our shot house. Fully configured for live fire, it's modular so we can shift mock-ups based on target surveillance. This one's the basic range, though."

The soundlock is large enough to hold all four of them, and she waits until Tron closes the outside door before opening up the inner one. The room inside is well lit, with ten individual firing lanes. Vaguely (meta)human shaped silhouettes hung from tracks in the ceiling, each currently five meters from the benches.

"It's only twenty five meters, but the targets can mimic a (meta)human at three hundred meters. You've all got commlinks now, and access to the Singularity network. You can control the targets wirelessly, choosing the range they come up at, the length of time they're exposed, how much of the target is exposed. The computer will even vary the vulnerable locations on the target, requiring you to either hit head, center of mass, or left or right torso locations in order to score a kill. There's also diagrams for grouping and zeroing if necessary."

Cyrenne stepped to the range master's booth and exchanged a few words. She turned back to the group.

"How much ammo are you going to want? We've got non-lead frangible that makes it easy to clean up at the end of the day rather than letting you burn through the more expensive stuff."

[Shadow]

22:05:31 - 22:32:04 , 13 October 2070 ��" Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Range 2, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand smiled at the magnificent range, it was better even then the Marine kill houses. "200 rounds each weapon will be fine. If there's anything wrong with them that will be enough to let us know."

He dialed into the range comm and put the tarets at 40 meters, the probable max range of any engagement in this Op. He sat all three of his weapons down, graciously excepting the ammo from the Range Master. He dropped out the current mags in teh Manhunters, replacing them with the frangible rounds. The weight felt right as he picked up the live weapon. His smartlink immediatly sprang to life in his eye, letting him know ammo, type, target, range, and a few other little details that came in handy.

Taking the traditional shooter stance Errand raised the weapon, lining up the front and rear sights in the perfect sillouhette. The large calibre hand gun roared 15 times in a row, sending the rounds down range. The targets danced as round after round penetrated them. His commlink linked to the Ranges computer told him exactly where each round went. He repeated the proccess with each Semi-auto untill all 200 rounds were gone. The weapons performed flawlessly.

Next he un-slung his M-23, loaded it, and braced it against his shoulder. It took only a minute of semi auto fire to "zero" the weapon to 40 meters. Normally he would have gone longer but the odds were that it was all going to be close combat. If he could have he would have gotten a shortened barrel for his Battle rifle. Another 200 rounds to break in the action, some semi, burst, and full auto. All of it seemed to go very well. His skills had atrophied little in the six weeks since he was imprisoned.

"Ok, I'm good to go."

[Molljner]

22:05:31 - 22:32:04 , 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Range 2, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Tron follows Errand to the firing line. He expertly loads the non-lead frangible rounds, and proceeds to run 100 rounds through the barrel of the Predator.
Errand swears by Colt, but the Pred works fine for me!
At 25 m, Tron drills all the rounds straight through center of mass on the meta-human target.
Sure is nice to know the back-up weapon works! Now, the only thing left is to activate the drones.

While the comlink feels slow, Tron was able to download his program suite from the hidden node on the matrix. He sets about upgrading the firewalls in each unit to 6.
Never can be two careful. These will come in handy after I get this comlinks response upgraded to a professional rating.

The calm demeiner barely masks the excitement. After all the jail time, it was good to breath "semi-free" air, and at least it wasn't sitting in a cell doing nothing. Besides, it was just like a year long extend job...right?

[WinterRat1]

22:05:31 - 22:32:04 , 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Range 2, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Mako shrugs in acceptance at Cyrenne's offer. He was far from even being considered proficient with a gun, but he knew how to use it. Besides, the practice couldn't hurt.

Taking the gun and ammo the range master offered him, he aimed the gun down the field at the targets and worked his way through the rounds, taking care to focus on the proper procedures, methods, stance, routine, etc.

He bared his teeth as the rounds tore into their targets haphazardly. I can't wait to let loose with some real power. Enough of this gun drek. First chance I get, I am absolutely FRYING someone with a spell. The only question is which one. Hmmm...

With that pleasant though bouncing around his mind, he passed the rest of the practice time at the range in relative quiet.

Once he was finished, he turned to Cyrenne and said, "Maybe it's not a bad idea for me to bring a gun, just in case. Should I keep this one or do you have a different one for me? And where can I go to start working on summoning some spirits?"

[grendel]

22:37:16 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Cyrenne shakes her head.

"That's a range weapon, I'll get you something else from stores."

Mako shrugs, handing over the Predator IV before following Kiyonaga out of the range and back down the wide hallway to another part of the hangar. The room is fenced off by the mesh screens, and is empty save for one long table against the wall and several folding chairs. The slim asian, who hasn't spoken in the entire time that Mako has known him, gestures to the room before stepping aside and heading back down the hall towards the staging area. Mako shrugs and sits down to work.

23:41:03 Monday, 13 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Headquarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Tron pokes his head through the door. "Ready?"

Mako shakes his head. "No, I've only bound one, I still have to do the other."

"You'll have to do it on the road, then."

"All right." Grimacing, the shaman followed Tron out the door. They passed through the staging area, down another wide hall, before coming out into another large open area of the hangar. This apparently served as Singularity's motorpool, as over twenty vehicles were parked in neat rows. Only one was fired up, though, a sleek black Ares SUV. Errand came around from in back, finished stowing all the gear. Kiyonaga slid into the front passenger seat, while Tron sat behind him. Cyrenne handed a web belt with a holster and set of pistol mag pouches to Mako.

"It's a Colt Manhunter," she explained. "It's got a laser sight since I know you don't have smartlink. The rounds are explosives, three full clips plus one in the weapon."

A faint smile slid across her lips before she strode around the front of the truck, climbing into the driver's seat. For a moment, Mako thought Errand would sit behind her, then realized that there was already someone in that position. In the end, he and the ork ended up sharing the rear bench seat.

"Who's that?" hissed Mako, indicating the stranger in the car with a lift of his chin.

"Driver," replied Errand out of the corner of his mouth. The slim shaman shrugged again, then got down to the business of binding his latest spirit.

04:27:11 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Singularity speedboat APOGEE, southbound, offshore LA, CFS

The semi-planing hull hit another wave, lifting clear of the water before bottoming back out with a thud that jarred Errand despite the padding of the jumpseat. Spray from the water misted back over him in a cold, clammy caress. The low cloud cover over the eastern horizon reflected the sodium orange streetlights of the greater Los Angeles sprawl. It was the only illumination; the moon had set nearly three hours ago. He could tell that Cyrenne hadn't been happy about the delay, she'd wanted the insertion to be well underway by this time. But Errand wasn't going in until Mako completed binding the last spirit.

He glanced over the side of the boat at the fast moving water and grimaced. It was dark, ink black, and he knew it was only going to get worse. While they'd waited, he'd checked the inertial nav system of the Sled to make sure it was aligned and tracking properly, but that did little to reassure him. They couldn't use the high power lights since it would surely attract the attention of the guardian bio-drone. So they'd be on minimal illumination the entire time until inside the building. He felt a tap at his shoulder. Kiyonaga flashed him a palms open sign, and he nodded. Tron and Mako caught the motion and started unbuckling before he could even pass the five minute call to them.

Carefully, the three of them made their way to the rear deck of the high-speed vessel, slipping their facemasks down and double checking their scuba gear. One by one they went over the side, maneuvering carefully into one of the seats of the sea sled. Errand was last over, glancing back in time to see Cyrenne flash him the two minute sign. He nodded. It was a long two minutes.

The sled came free with a jerk, its front wings catching the wake from the APOGEE and diving beneath the surface of the water. Errand twisted the hand throttle, pushing them deeper despite the desperate animal fear that clawed at the back of his mind as the darkness swallowed them. Silence. He exhaled harshly, clearing his regulator and feeling the flow of bubbles past his face as the sled descended. He shivered as the chill Pacific water slid through the interstices of his wetsuit. It would warm quickly, though. Dimly he could hear the deep bass thrum of the APOGEE's waterjet engine as the speedboat arrowed away. All he could see was the faint amber display from the sled's instrument cluster: the course and depth indicators and the small false 3-D display of their location based on what the sled's inertial nav system told it in comparison to the last good GPS fix it received. Errand drove them deeper, feeling the pressure of the water increase. Eighty meters was about the limit for the dive equipment they'd been given. Any deeper and he would have had to ask for full face helmets and double tanks. And decompressing from that dive would have taken a dangerously long time.

Silence and total darkness surrounded them. Errand couldn't see his hand when he reached up to touch his facemask. The only thing that told him it was there was the way the light dimmed from the instrument cluster as it passed over it. He had no idea how close or how far from the bottom they were. He about jumped out of his wetsuit when Tron grabbed his arm, immediately backing off the throttle, though. He glanced over at his compatriot, barely able to discern his outline. He could see him gesturing, pointing to his facemask with two fingers, then resting his hand on the joystick controller for the sled.

How can he see? wondered Errand, then almost immediately realized the answer. Reluctantly he gave up the controls, feeling the sled start forward again under Tron's guidance. They slipped forward slowly, rose, then fell deeper. After only a couple of minutes they stopped. Errand glanced at Tron, who motioned over the back of the sled. Leaning over, Errand risked the light, using the low-light flashlight he'd requested to illuminate the seafloor.

Or, as it turned out, the sidewalk. The sled hovered barely a meter off what was an intercity two lane artery, or had been before it dropped eighty meters below sea level. He could just see the large, twin covers that gave entrance to the storm drains. It was going to be tight, but it looked like the sled would just fit. All they had to do was get the hatches opened.

[Shadow]

04:27:11 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Singularity speedboat APOGEE, southbound, offshore LA, CFS

Errand fished a chemical light, the special low light kind, cracked it and slipped it into the sewer. He could see maybe 5 meters with his low light mod kicked up to max. It looked clear, but the sewer cover still had to come off. Climbing opff the sled, movements slowed by the water, he knelt down and got a firm grip on one side of the storm drain, and pulled.

[grendel]

04:33:57 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, offshore LA, CFS

Even before being submerged in salt water for eighteen months, the twin hinged covers over the storm drain junction were subjected to twenty years of environmental abuse. Their action, once smooth on polished stainless hinge pins, was now jerky and corroded. Yet no match for Errand's strength. Using his buoyancy compensator to pin him to the bottom, he braced his feet against the cement and pulled. The cover opened with a tortured, nails-on-chalkboard squeal that was all the louder for being underwater.

[Molljner]

04:33:57 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, offshore LA, CFS

It had been a relatively smooth insertion. Visibility wasn't totally poor, it was perfect for an insertion. Just as Errand grabs the sewer drain, Tron gets a sinking feeling.

Noooooooo The piercing scream of the steel giving way....stealth shed.

We got to move quickly..

Tron slips past Errand into the sewers, he motions for the other two to follow quickly...

That tiger shark is going to be a problem...

[WinterRat1]

04:33:57 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, offshore LA, CFS

Mako scanned the ocean in the astral, knowing his spirits were helping them move faster and keeping them concealed from any prying eyes. He kept his senses alert, particularly for the tiger shark.

His lips curled underneath the mask in disdain. It was unworthy of its name. If it crossed them, he would show it the true meaning of the word.

[Shadow]

04:35:00 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, offshore LA, CFS

Errand grimaced both from the exertion and the noise.

Damn fool, should have burned it. To late now.

He motioned for Tron to drive the sled in. Bracing himself he looked around carefully for the shark he knew would decend on them any second.

[grendel]

04:52:26 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, inside the storm drains, offshore LA, CFS

It was a tight fit all around. The storm drains were built from meter-wide sections of concrete pipe. The sled fit, but only in the widest part of the pipe, which meant the three of them ended up lying down on their bellies in order to squeeze through. And that was disregarding all of the accumulated detritus which floated in the drains, the leftover remains of years of pollution, now suspended in the inky waters of the Pacific. Bits of paper and plastic, leaves, grass clippings, empty plastic bottles, one shot drug ampules, slap patches, protective plastic sheathing for trode nets. You name it, it floated past as the sled zipped through the pipe, brushing past them in a swirl of water. A curtain of bubbles surrounded them, the manifest form of Mako's air spirit, using its powers to accelerate their journey. What should have taken almost an hour only took fifteen minutes. Or would have, if the tunnel had run true.

Luckily, the spirit's powers work on both steady state and dynamic state, killing their velocity quickly enough to prevent them from smashing into the smooth wall of rock which blocked the tunnel. Errand motioned, and Tron swam forward, pushing against it in several places, even knocking against it. He shook his head, putting his fist against his hand.

Drek, solid.

Errand sighed before backing the sled slowly. They would have to head back to the last junction which exited the tunnels. The nav display, if correct, said they would have fifty meters to cross until the safety of the building. He smiled grimly.

And this time, I'm cutting through the hinges.