Chapter Thirty-One - Saying Hello to the Good Doctor


    Chapter Thirty-One - Saying Hello to the Good Doctor


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    --A pop-up ad on the University of New Montreal homepage, 2027


    ***


    We dont have far to go, I said as we walked down yet another maintenance corridor. It was becoming a habit to spend time in cramped spaces with a bunch of pipes and terrible ventilation. At least it was better than the actual sewers, though not by much.


    How do you want to do this? Gomorrah asked. The way I see it, we have a few potential approaches. Doc Hacks... I cant believe thats their name.


    Im called Stray Cat and youre named after a city, I said. Glass stones.


    Glass... the expression is casting stones from a glass house. Theres nothing about glass stones, Gomorrah said.


    I shrugged. Sure. I just figured stones made of glass would suck to deal with. All that shrapnel, you know?


    I suppose, Gomorrah said. Were getting off-topic.


    Right, you want to know how to deal with Doc Hack? I asked.


    More like I want to know how well reach him. Hes not terribly far from here. A couple of levels down. But the route to get to his... lab, I suppose, isnt exactly straightforward.


    She wasnt wrong. The fastest path Myalis had outlined involved going into the sewers again, travelling uphill a ways, cutting into a maintenance elevator, then up to the level where Doc Hack was from below.


    Are you thinking what Im thinking? I asked.


    Are you imagining unreasonably powerful explosives being used in confined spaces in defiance of all common sense?


    I nodded. I wasnt going to say it with such a negative tone, but essentially that, yeah.


    Gomorrah nodded, and my map flickered as it updated. Our path now went through two floors as if there werent several feet of concrete in the way. We should be able to bypass any traps if we demolish our way to the heart of the enemys installation. I think its our big advantage in fighting a foe that wants to use the terrain against us.


    I like it, I said.


    New Purchase: Shaped Burn-Through Charge


    Points Reduced from... 10,870 to... 10,865!


    The box that appeared next to me had a well-folded cord within it, as well as a small brick that the cord was connected to at both ends.


    I pulled it out and stared for a second before catching on. I started to lay the cord down in a circle on the ground.


    The detonator goes in the centre.


    I nodded and placed the brick in the middle, the black-ropy cord coming out of it and forming a loop on the ground that was about the size of a proper manhole. Should we move over to the next room? I asked.


    That is not necessary. This will burn rather than explode, and the amount of light produced, while dangerous to the naked eye, wont harm you as long as you dont remove your helmet. Gomorrahs equipment is likewise sufficient to keep her safe. Though I would strongly advise not standing on the hole youve marked, or touching the wire with any limbs you intend to keep.


    I nodded and backed up a good few metres, just in case. Gomorrah, the more cautious one between us, stood even further back. I found the controls for the detonator in my aug menus and tapped the Detonate button with great relish.


    The room lit up, the lights hanging from the ceiling entirely eclipsed by the burst of light on the ground. A rough circle of light burned, tracing the path Id laid to cord on. I blinked just as the brick in the centre blew up with a low whump.


    The floor caved in, the circle cracking in half and falling down and out of sight even as the cord winked out and left us in the comparative darkness of the corridor.


    Well then, I said. Ladies first?


    Gomorrah stared at me. Youre a woman, last I checked.


    I grinned. So youre saying youve been checking me out? Besides, youre a lot fleshier than I am, so technically youre a little bit more lady, arent you?


    You have a very strange mind. And no, thats not a compliment, Gomorrah said as she stepped past. She levelled her flamethrower at the hole and peered within, then she tapped the edge with her foot. Cool already.


    How can you tell? I asked. There was no way her boots were thin enough to let her feel the ground.


    Heat-vision, she muttered before dropping into the hole with a little hop.


    I moved over to the edge, then stared down. That was deeper than I was comfortable leaping, so I sat myself on the edge of the hole and scooted forward until I dropped. The servos in my armours knees bent with a hiss I felt rather than heard.


    Dark in here, I muttered.


    Come on, we need to do the same trick all over again, Gomorrah said. And then we can say hello to the good doctor.