Tunnel Rat

Chapter 193: Anime

Yumi was waiting for Milo by the glowytree. This was a large open area that had once been a park. The acre of open area was designed to have grass, sturdy bushes, and real trees that had been adapted to live in the Habitat. It was a small area for the large number of people living nearby, but the psychologists had decreed that people needed to be around 'nature' for at least a few minutes each month. Within three years, the plants were dead, and the brittle wood of the dead trees was the only thing left. The special lighting had burned out and been replaced with cheaper versions that didn't provide what was needed for the plants to survive. The expensive nutrients in the water supply had never been ordered, and the company responsible for caring for the parks throughout the Habitat was bankrupt and gone. If it had ever existed. There was an unproven accusation of a shell company disappearing with the initial payments, but no one in the Hab would ever know for sure. The ground was covered in Astroturf, and an artificial tree was put in the center of the area. A plaque had been put on the fake tree declaring it to be a gift from the Soylent Corporation. The paint had flaked off the tree a year later, revealing bright green plastic, and someone had nicknamed it the 'glowytree'.

Milo walked up to her and waited. Yumi was engrossed in a game Pacman2047. The game was notoriously difficult to play. Instead of the normal maze Pacman was known for, you played a little human racing through a randomly generated broken city filled with rolling mechanical aliens bent on global conquest. Killing one took either simultaneous shots from two sides or one shot from directly behind the machine. Playing solo meant trying to get the hunters stuck and then quickly getting behind them. As Milo waited, Yumi had almost outmaneuvered one of the smoke-belching murder machines into a trap when another came around the corner, scooped her up, and killed her. Milo heard the classic sound of a human being eaten alive and knew the game was over. Yumi took off the often repaired VR helmet the gang passed around. If not for many layers of duct tape, it would have fallen to pieces years ago.

"I don't see how anyone beats this game on solo."

Ghost shrugged. "It's all about the sewers."

Yumi looked disgusted. "The sewers are filled with albino crocodiles, sentient spiders, and musical slimes that kill everyone who tries to hide in them."

Picking up the helmet, he put it on and took the controller. She tried to follow the game from the small screen on the Pacboy. "You don't stay in the sewers; you just use them for an ambush." Yumi watched as he raced around the city, dodging through buildings, looking for the right spot. A hunter picked up his scent and rolled after him. The little human on the screen ran aimlessly around the area, making the rolling mechanical monster chase him. After a few minutes of doing this, he dropped into an open manhole, hanging by one hand on the ladder. A twelve-foot-long white lizard walked lazily toward him from the darkness, and a snappy theme song was getting closer from the other direction. The machine rounded a corner and rolled over the open sewer. Ghost fired one shot with his gun and destroyed his mechanical foe with a laser blast from below. Luckily, the wreckage had enough momentum that it didn't block him as he climbed up to avoid the snapping maw of the gator. Grabbing the energy core and some scrap, the plucky resistance fighter raced off to sell his goods, upgrade his blaster, and buy more explosives at the corner gun store. Milo took off the helmet and passed it back to Yumi.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "That opening in the armor you shot through revolves as the machine rolls! That trick only works if it's visible when the hunter rolls over you!"

"I didn't say it was easy. I just said it works. You have to get the hunter chasing you, figure out the rotation of the weak spot, and zigzag around until you have things set up, so you get a shot as it rolls over you. If you miss, you can jump up and take a quick shot at the rear, but they usually spin around too fast. The shot from below is the safest."

Yumi sighed. "I'm never sure how serious you are about things like that."

"How about I admit that I used the Force?" Milo had found that most people agreed the Force could do anything.

Yumi smiled. "I accept that and beg for training as your Padawan. Or we could go watch some Gundam." Gundam won. Milo liked it immediately. He had many ideas on how they could have improved the mechs. After an hour of Gundam, Yumi bugged him about what he had brought to watch. Hesitantly, he handed her the drive with his stored favorites. He had some anxiety; what if he had picked some bad ones? Like most of this afternoon, he didn't have any rules to go by. Yumi had asked to hang out, and part of him had wanted to and agreed before the rest of him could stop his mouth. After that, he was committed. Butch had lectured all of the gang about being there for each other. It was one of the reasons Milo had less anxiety about them.

Yumi lived with her mother in a tiny set of rooms near the glowytree. She had it all to herself at the moment. Her mother was working six days a week for Manpower, doing work as an ogre mercenary in the game. Yumi said it made her mom happy to be three times as big as she was in real life and able to work out a lifetime of frustration by smashing heads. Her mother expected to be gone most of the next few years, and Yumi had the place to herself. She was slowly figuring out what to do with it. For now, she had her game system, some old speakers, and several large pillows that doubled as couch, bed, or chairs.

Watching an episode of each of Milo's choices took up the afternoon. Yumi watched him watching the screen. Most people watched part of the screen, focused on a person. Ghost focused on it all. Later, she asked him little questions about scenes or what he liked, and he always remembered them perfectly. Why he liked them, he wasn't sure. Except for The Dirty Pair, he had a solid opinion of them. "They try to fix things but end up blowing things up accidentally. But instead of people being upset, they tell them to go do it again."

She had a question for him after watching an episode of the Animatrix, "Do you like this better than the movies with real people?"

"Movies? I only looked for anime. Was I supposed to look for something else?" He looked lost for a second, and Yumi laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Ok, you are seriously lacking in some background material." She grabbed his arm and dragged him up. "Come on. We have to go find Butch; he has copies of the first ones. They're the best."

Astraeus felt the release of energy. The use of that version of the Rune of Force was unmistakable. Someone had stolen knowledge, or someone he trusted had betrayed him. He needed to find out who. As the ages passed, the Rogue had become subtle and difficult to find. Marking the location, he slid into the void and traveled quickly. Velocity in the void could be much greater than in the material plane, and he needed haste. The energy could be recovered later.

It was child's play to find where the rune had been used. Much of the counterforce had been vented clumsily to the void, marking the spot. Casting Veil of Darkness, he diminished himself and step across the barrier and into the Material plane. It was easier than he had expected. The barrier that separated the worlds was thinner here. His curiosity grew. Scanning the area, he saw that he was underground. The area of effect was obvious. Destruction of the target and a large dent in the stone tower where the caster had impacted. Astraeus chuckled, wondering how hard of a head this wizard had. He'd left quite a dent in the stonework. It was easy to follow their trail to a cavern only a short distance away.

And there he found the culprit. Even if he hadn't been following a trail, he would have noticed this one. His bones were riddled with runes! He had somehow stolen runes from Volat-Repat, Alta-Viator, and Magna-Stultas. This was a bone thief. He had incorporated part of Magna-Stultas into himself and was trying to do the same with...Oh, how odd. Astraeus recognized his own runes, in a piece of himself he had lost in an earlier incarnation. Concentrating hard with both Runic Sight and Light from a Distant Star, he saw what had occurred in the last day. This mage had thought the shard was a wand and had triggered the Rune of Force without properly defining its limits. The reaction had blasted him into the tower, leaving a formidable dent in the stone. His hardened bones had saved him from splattering. The shard was now fusing to his spine. Most curious.

He carefully examined the person laying comatose in front of him. He attempted to read his memories, but his mind was somewhere else. He looked closer, finding two threads to other planes and a curious mark. One thread led back to the void. A secret base of the Rogue? The other thread led out. Out of the known world. This was a visitor, his mind safe somewhere where Astraeus could no longer travel. Frustrating.

The mark was familiar, but not one he had seen in millennia. Hecate! This was one of Hecate's hounds. That changed his perception of events. In the space between heartbeats, he bent and lifted the body, and stepped into the void, following the thread wherever it might lead. He needed answers.