Chapter Five - Funny Business


    Chapter Five - Funny Business


    Security, good security, is all about obscurity. If the enemy doesnt know, then whatever you want to keep secured is at its most secure. After lack of knowledge comes obfuscation, then misinformation, then, after all that, comes physical security.


    --A Guards Guide to CorpoSec, 2031


    ***


    We dropped out under the city and right into that dark, cavernous world beneath the megabuildings, where massive pillars held the city in place and where the only light came as small glows from the holes above or from flashing red warning lights.


    Coco leaned forward, and Jerusalem reached up, flicking off the cabin light, as if that little bit less light would make us that much less noticeable.


    Fortunately, we didnt go far. Coco turned the van around and we started to rise. Sub-two, she said as we crossed up past a large wall painted with the letters S3 and into another section with S2 stencilled on it. Going to find a place to park, or do you want us right at the door? she asked.


    Garter licked his lips. Right up to the door. The street kids will be waiting near already. Should be clear.


    Coco nodded, and the van came to a hovering stop before a grated metal door.


    Jerusalem leaned back in his seat, pulled out a wire from around his neck, then plugged it into a small device with a couple of blinking lights. The lights flickered, then the grate started to rise, opening up into a long corridor wide enough for a pair of trucks to slip past each other, if only barely.


    Cocos van touched down, and we continued to roll forwards, the hover engine humming to a stop. I hate these places, she said as we rode down a tunnel lit only every twenty metres or so by some recessed lights above.


    No one likes these, Rac said. Theyre dangerous.


    Whys that? I asked.


    Corpo routes, she said. They carry corpo cargo. They sweep through these tunnels every so often. If youre caught in them, youre either gunned down, or worse, cleaned up.


    Cleaned up? I asked.


    Trucks that spray acid on everything, to sanitise things, Rac explained. Itll melt your clothes to your skin. Then itll just melt your skin.


    Polyesters and plastics and hair, Garter said. Real materials, leathers and the like, are fine. Metals too. Theyll burn your eyes right out. And the waters hot. Very hot. But dont worry. Street kids wouldnt be here if they knew a clean truck was coming by. And besides, were in a van, were fine.


    Uh-huh, I said.


    Myalis helpfully added the tunnel to my map, then highlighted the entire network while zooming out. It travelled across the entirety of the city, a spiderweb of passages just under the citys skyscrapers. Or... no, it was in the spaces between them. Were the tunnels built into the seams between the plates of the city? Weird.


    The van turned a corner, and Garter jumped up and grabbed onto the seat behind Coco. Thats them, he said.


    I looked over his shoulder as well, a hand pressing to the ceiling to stay up. There were several small hoverbikes parked ahead, a few of them with trailers, and a single van not too dissimilar to Cocos, if a bit rustier.


    Accompanying those were about a dozen punks.


    Rac set her gun down and tugged a much bigger mask from her backpack, a proper full-face thing which looked very cold-warish.


    I sent a quick text to Myalis. Mask?


    One moment, Ill get you something cheap but functional. Its in your right-side pocket, and youre down fifteen points.


    I reached into my pocket and felt something rubbery and hard in there. Pulling it out revealed... a mask. Though the front of it was moulded to look like a cats nose, and it had teeny-tiny whiskers.


    I rolled my eyes as I pressed it in place and the mask sucked onto my face then held. It was clearly designed to fit perfectly onto my face, even as I wiggled my nose and jaw.


    Hey! Garter called back to the street kids. Got deterrent gas. Mask up or shut up.


    That sent Spike-face and his less-spikey friends scurrying for masks of their own. Is this normal? I asked.


    Garter glanced at me, then stared at my mask for a moment. So-so. Just typical corpo shit, he said.


    The door was fully opened by then, and I couldnt see any signs of any sort of gas, just a decently sized room, with a loading bay at the back and another garage door at about the right height for a truck to back into.


    Anything? Garter asked Jerusalem.


    The man shook his head, then stepped into the room. We followed.


    Myalis, I muttered real low. Whats the gas?


    Im detecting nothing. The air is slightly stale, and there are trace particulates, but fewer than what youd find on street-level.


    Then what the hell was all of that about? Then I glanced over to the street kids, cowering away while we walked in like big damned heroes and I caught on. Garter was putting on a show. The clever little bastard, he was making sure that the client felt like his crew earned their cost.


    Jerusalem was the first to the door, checking it up and down and obviously looking for something that he didnt find.


    Spider: Cant find anything


    Spider: Looks like a new door


    Spider: No exterior way to open it.


    Going to need to do things the old fashioned way, then, Coco said.


    Everyone ran to the side, and Coco rammed her fingers into and through the sheet metal of the door. Then she grunted, and the entire thing crumpled in the middle.


    Raccoon, get in there, Garter said.


    I tensed up, but then Raccoon tossed me her rifle and I caught it out of the air while she dropped to all fours and scurried under the door before I could protest.


    ***