Embers After Flames, Chapter 12.1 (Patreon)

12.1

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For just about anybody else, upgrading Augmentations from the old generations to the newest would be a very simple process. Take the C6 injections and wait.

In absolute truth, Raven was likely no different. C6 Augmentations were gradual and thorough.

Even so, however, for Raven in particular, I could allow absolutely nothing to go wrong. Therefore, the entire procedure gets my personal attention.

There were, however, only two places on the planet where that would actually be meaningful. The first was back on Belius, under a mountain and a fallen Grid.

The second was in Institute City.

As such, I had extended the invitation.

Now, both Raven and Walter had arrived.

“Do forgive me for not leaving the door open.” I said, letting humour colour my tone. I again spoke in dual voices, one my true one to Raven, and the other my synthetic one to Walter. “As much as I’d have liked to, clearing the snow out of there is a real pain when it builds up.”

Raven was in LOADER 4. Walter, meanwhile, had the transport. Ayre had not brought her AC, and was simply riding alongside Raven’s brain and nervous system.

The entrance to Watchpoint Alpha opened for them, though I refrained from opening it completely. I hadn’t been lying about the snow, even if it was admittedly usually rain by the time it actually reached the bottom.

Raven came in fearlessly, finding a spot and then simply cutting thrusters in order to fall. Since that was just slightly less than twelve kilometers from sea level, with a bit more from the actual entrance, that was one hell of a long fall.

“Wheeeee~” Ayre giggled.

I heard Walter sigh.

His transport, much more sensibly, simply started to lower.

“Did the PCA really build their main core directly on top of the Coral mass?” Walter asked, after a few seconds.

“That, and more.” Was my answer.

Raven reached the ground first, of course. LOADER 4 was standing by the door in complete stillness as Walter’s transport came down. Since the corridors were a little narrow, I’d taken the liberty of providing a tram for the transport to land on, which would carry it throughout the tunnels.

“Feel free to go explore.” I encouraged. “Walter’s transport won’t be moving quickly, and there’s a lot of random gear around in here that I haven’t gotten around to putting away, yet.”

Raven was flying off before I even finished the sentence. I wasn’t sure if it was impatience, boredom, or curiosity. Raven’s Augments made it a little hard for me to properly map the emotions.

“The PCA actually kept some cool things down here.” Ayre told Raven.

Raven quickly poked through every nook and cranny. All the doors were already open, every passage available, and so Raven quickly flew around the entire place.

Curiosity? Indulging Ayre? A looter’s instinct?

The first and third were basically the same thing for AC pilots, but I’d like to think it was the second.

By the time that Raven had finished poking everything, the tram had brought Walter to nearly the next area. Raven caught up just in time, and then quickly went through that place, too.

At least Raven is having fun, I suppose.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to get all the way through on the trams.” I said. “The Enforcement System did not conduct complete maintenance, only the absolutely necessary portions. Parts of the line have fallen into disprepair... but don’t worry. You’ll be able to get to where you need to go.”

The next sector opened soon. They arrived at the third part of these depths, into the same room where the Enforcement System’s mainframe remained.

Not much had changed down here. All the defences were still in place, though they remained offline. There were C-Weapons that had been added to the guard force, but not many.

True to what I’d said, though, that’s where the tram line ended. The tunnel had caved in there, leaving the only way to access the area to go through the air.

Raven Boosted off immediately. Walter’s transport restarted, lifting off before following out.

Raven dropped, again, quickly heading towards the lower area below the Mainframe, where the tunnel entrance awaited.

That area, as it happens, was something that I had renovated... if one counts having the ICE WORM drill through that tunnel a few times in order to widen it as ‘renovation’, anyway.

I did. It was the main limit for getting things in and out of Institute City at the moment. Needing an Armored Core or an MT to get through there efficiently was great when you’re on the defense... but I’m not on the defense anymore, am I?

“Don’t mind the Mealworm canisters.” I said, as they entered the much-wider-than-before tunnel. “They’ve been down here for decades. Their contents escaped a very long time ago.”

Raven did pause to look at a stray Mealworm that had somehow not been crushed by the passage of the ICE WORM.

“I hadn’t realized they could grow that large...” Walter commented as they passed.

“These Mealworms have mutated rapidly in this environment.” I explained. “All the traits that make them actually useful are still there, but their ability to incorporate Coral biologically has expanded significantly. They don’t need oxygen anymore. Coral carries all the energy they need for bodily operations. Hence, they grow to sizes that any other life form would find too intensive to maintain.”

They passed through the area, and then came to the final drop. When I’d woken, it had been a crevice, nearly exactly vertical, about seven and a half kilometers long.

This too had been modified, though the ICE WORM hadn’t been the one to do it. No, that particular achievement had been the slow work of years, with REPAIRER drones having carved it into something smoother and wider.

Again, Raven simply disengaged Boosters and fell. Walter took the slower, more controlled way.

Lights dotted the passage every hundred meters. They went by quickly.

Once they reached the bottom, there was only one place left for them to go.

Straight forwards, onto the outcrop that overlooked everything.

It had been four decades since the last time that Human eyes had seen the sight of Institute City. If one had asked them, what they could have said would be simple.

A ruin.

They’d have described an utter mess. A city that had been torn apart very literally, with entire sections of it torn and thrown around. Infrastructure had been destroyed, people had been killed, and the only reason that the city hadn’t been buried forever was because of the Vascular Plant.

The Vascular Plant had once stood so tall that it had stretched all the way into orbit. It was by far the most massive megastructure that had been constructed on the planet. When the Fires had ignited, the top of the Vascular Plant had fallen to Rubicon, and the massive disk of its upper section had sheltered the city’s core.

In the aftermath, it loomed overhead, supporting who knows how many tons of rock and ice on top of itself.

The only thing that moved in the city were a few machines, operating autonomously in defensive mode, still following the protocols they’d been installed with even in the face of nearly complete destruction.

Of course, the people who’d been asked this question certainly wouldn’t actually answer. The last people who had seen Institute City had been PCA personnel, and it was far more likely that they’d simply shoot the person asking questions.

Regardless... That had been forty years ago.

I heard Walter’s sharp intake of breath as the City came into view.

These days, Institute City looked nothing like it once had.

What greeted Raven and Walter was a hive of activity. Machines flew through the sky, carrying cargo pods through the air. The entire industrial zone was alight, an endless array of foundries, chemical plants, factories, material synthesizers, and fabricators stretching into the fog-covered distance shining brightly as they continued their endless operations.

Buildings stood tall and proud, their smooth white exteriors clean and whole. The roads were flat, arranged carefully, with bridges and trams connecting the various different fragments of ground that the shifting earth had left behind.

There were even a few trees dotted around here and there. Small little pieces of greenery that broke up the white and grey. All of them had been reconstructed from genetic data, and then carefully cared for since it wasn’t like we had actual sunlight down here. The pervasive light in this place was a reflection off of the ceiling and walls of the cavern.

UV lamps had been specifically installed in the parks. Irrigation had gone through a now much stranger utility system.

“... It really is Institute City.” Walter murmurred. “No wonder we couldn’t find it... I see you’ve done some renovations.”

“It was a hell of a thing that buried this city.” I said. “The seismic events alone upended the entirety of the terrain. Whole chunks of the city were raised, lowered, pushed around. As much as I would have liked to put it all back to where it previously was, I’m afraid there was no way to move around that much earth without the PCA noticing.”

“Why rebuild the city at all?” He asked. “Surely, that was a risk?”

“Not as much as you might think.” I answered. “But as to why? Quite simple. Once, this place was home to a great deal many people. It meant something to all of them. One day, I hope to see it full of life again. Until then, the memory does not deserve to rot. Welcome back, Walter.”

“... Hmph. It has been a long time.” He said.

“I can recommend a few spots to glower dramatically as you contemplate your midlife crisis.” I said. “The bridges and trams are very scenic.”

He scoffed, and I chuckled.

I sent a path for them to follow as they came closer to the city. They did so, which spared me the effort of redirecting the hordes of transport drones moving through their normal paths.

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination, and came to land on a pad on top of one of the larger buildings in the area.

Before the Fires, it had been one of the many air terminals that handled cargo transports to the Vascular Plant. Now... well, it was pretty much the same, except it could handle guests.

The platform shifted underneath them as they landed, starting to move into the building. A gantry opened up, intended for machines larger than an AC, but still fully capable of handling one.

“Take a place in the gantry.” I told Raven. “A personal transport is already present. Once you’re out of your AC, we’ll take you straight to the clinic. I didn’t skimp out on equipping them because of costs, so they’ll be able to handle everything you’ve got.”

“Don’t worry, Raven. I’m with you.” Ayre offered what comfort she could.

Raven went to the gantry. LOADER 4 was shortly shut down.

Getting Raven out of the AC proved to be a bit more of an effort. Raven was independently mobile, but... not by much. There were mechanical arms that Raven could hold on to, however, and Ayre took control of them without a moment of hesitation.

The arms pulled Raven out, and I finally saw Raven in person.

A single glance was all I needed to see that, somehow, the extensive amount of the brain damage was not the end of Raven’s poor state. Taught and pallid skin, completely hairless from chemical exposure, a body that had been maintained only for the purposes of surviving the rigors of AC combat at nothing else... And that was just the start.

Long-term cryostorage wasn’t kind on anybody.

The arms lowered Raven into the waiting transport. It was almost a wheelchair, but self-powered and self-directed.

Walter emerged from his own transport shortly, standing tall, even though I could easily see the tiredness that permeated him. He looked a lot like his father, but his hair was longer and the cane was also out of place.

“It seems Raven was not the only one in need of treatment.” I tutted.

“I’m fine.” He spoke, glancing up at a speaker as he approached Raven.

“We’ll circle back to that.” I said. “Now, it’s just a short trip.”