Cloud Cent Chronicles: Part 2 Chapter 4

 

Infiltration

 

“If I’m going to be used, I’m going.” The rebellion had a plan to save the plan. It was simple: Yun and Sun would go to The Village and decode the files there. They were on a time limit, but they were  so close. Yun designed the program to unredact the files. ‘The revelator’, she called it. While she was rescuing Shadow, Sun was monitoring the program. They had the means, and now they had a second chance.

“You can’t go. Yours is the only face everyone knows.” Sun was right. Shadow’s face had been broadcast all over the city, and to get to The Village, they would eventually need to come out of the subway and go through some streets. “We can’t risk being caught.” 

“Sun, he wants to help. I’ll watch out for him. Plus, someone needs to prepare for when we have the files. I don’t think Shadow would be very much help with that. He just got here.”

“Yun-”

“Trust me.”

“...Alright. Shadow, you can go in my place. Complete the mission. Follow Yun’s lead. Trust her. Don’t get caught.”

“Got it.” 

 

...

 

Why do I want to go so much? I don’t really care what happens on the mission, but...I just don’t want anything bad to happen. Yun saved me. I can’t deny that. She helped me, so I want to help them. I have to trust her. I get that. She seems plenty reliable, but how can I trust someone I barely know? And I still don’t get all of this ‘rebellion’ stuff. I’ve been comfortable in the city my whole life. I’ve never had any trouble. No one bothered me, and I didn’t bother anyone else. I minded my own business. Then again, look where that got me. 

“...Shadow. Shadow!” Shadow jolted up. “I’ve been trying to talk to you. You ready to go?” Yun was in the room the rebellion lent him. He’d taken some time to remove the mod the government put in him. ‘Shoddy work’ he noted, ‘I could remove it without even having my tools. I could even do it myself. Shoddy shoddy work.’

“Yeah. Let’s go.” The two headed back towards the subway tunnel. This tunnel was the only exit in the outer area, so they would have to head back into the middle area to get to the other side of the outer area. From there, they would make their way straight to the village. Theoretically, they could make their way around the outer area to get to the other side. It would be safer, but would take far too long. They were on a time limit. They only had one shot at this.

Yun once again led the way with Shadow holding onto her shoulder. They walked in silence for a few minutes until Shadow broke it. I still don’t know anything about her. How do I know that I’m on the right side. Yeah, the government tried to use me as a scapegoat, but how can they be bad when so many people are happy under them? I mean, everyone that comes into the shop seems fine! They pay for their mods, smile, then leave. They go home to live their lives. I mean, I’ve never even thought about the government this much before! Isn’t that a good thing? I need to know more.

“Can I ask you something?” Shadow said, forcing the words out.

“Shoot.”

“How...how did you join the rebellion?”

“I...it’s…”

Why won’t she tell me? “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I...thank you. I appreciate it. It’s...it’s been hard.”

“Yeah…” The silence resumed.

 

…

 

“So,” the silence was once again broken, this time by Yun, “I already know a decent bit about you, but I’d like to know more! If you don’t mind!”

Shadow did mind. Trust...trust...trust. “What do you want to know?

Yun smiled. “So, I only really looked into you, no one around you. Do you have any family?”

“No...not really anyway. My parents died a few years ago. Nothing sinister, they were just old. No siblings. I spent most of my time in the mod shop, so I don’t have a huge circle of people around me.” Saying it outloud, I guess I was a good choice to use as a scapegoat, huh?

“...Hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing! Focusing on your work is admirable! I speak from experience when I say that your work is quality.”

“How did you get that anyway? Was the shop not being guarded?”

“Uh...I was able to sneak in. I-I guess they weren’t expecting anyone to try and break in.”

Right…

    “Anything else?”

    “What do you do in your free time?”

    “I..I don’t really get much free time.” That was a lie, Shadow just couldn’t think of anything. Free time...huh. “What about you? You can’t be rebelling all the time, can you?”

    “...You...You’d be surprised how much time rebelling takes up.”

    “Right.”

    “Right.”

    “...”

    “...”

    …

 

    “Almost there. You ready?”

    “Not like I really have a choice.”

    “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this, but I am grateful to have your help. Your idea to use The Village to salvage the documents was great!”

    “..Thanks.”

    “We’re going to emerge pretty close to the outer area. Once we reach it, we’re in the clear, but we’ll still have to navigate a bit of the middle area. Stick by me, I’ll keep us safe.”

    Well, here we go.

    The tunnel exited next to a small burger place. The kind of shack that would only appear on the border of the middle and outer areas. “Get into the shop.” Yun whispered in his ear while ushering him through the door. He tried resisting, but Yun was surprisingly strong. 

    “What was that about?” Shadow was annoyed. He was sick of other people controlling him.

    “Look.” Yun pointed out the window of the restaurant at two Sergeants patrolling the area. 

    “What, are they just asking random people if they’ve seen us? They’re not gonna make much progress doing that.”

    “I wouldn’t be so sure. They’re not just randomly patrolling; they’re patrolling this area specifically. The government’s known about the rebellion for a while, we’ve been doing small hits on sergeant outposts, but they’ve never found our base. All they know is that we’re either in or around the outer area. And since the people of the outer area aren’t likely to help the government…”

    “They’re patrolling the middle area’s border.”

    “Yeah.”

    “So how do we get by them?”

“Follow my lead.”

They went outside, stopping a few yards away from the Sergeants. “Wait here.” 

Yun instructed him. Yun walked up to the Sergeants. Shadow couldn’t hear what she was saying. His leg started thumping. He didn’t know what was going on. What is she doing!? She’s going to give us away! I...I have to go. Shadow was about to run, but he heard a voice in the back of his head. Trust...trust...trust. Shadow bit his lip and stayed put. After a moment, the Sergeants turned around and went on with their patrol. Yun walked back over to Shadow.

“Alright, let’s go.” Yun started walking away. Shadow stayed put. “You coming?”

“What was that!?” asked Shadow in a quite annoyed tone. “How did you just walk up to a pair of Sergeants and have them leave us alone?”

“I have my ways. Let’s go.” She continued walking.

“Wait!” Aagghahgh! Shadow walked behind her.

As they walked through the streets, Shadow looked around at the environment he was in. Shadow lived in the middle area, but closer to the inner area. His area was what he considered to be ‘pretty average’. It was safe, had some nice restaurants, plenty of lights, and most importantly, was supported by the government. Here? Well...There were definitely lights, but they were all flickering. They shone green, similar to the ones closer to the inner area, but you could tell that they hadn’t been worked on in years. There were apartments. No one on the streets, yet the people he passed didn’t seem...What is off about them? They’re all just living their lives, but they don’t seem happy. I guess there isn’t anything to be happy about for them. Do other people see me like this? I never really thought about it. I’m from a nicer area, and I’m looking at them with pity, even though they’re getting by. Do they look at people in the outer area the same way? Then how do the people in the inner area see everyone else? And then there’s The Leader. The one at the top. Maybe he looks down at the people of the inner area with the same pity that I look at these people with. But pity can only go so far. As the areas get worse and worse, I doubt his pity increases. If it did, all the areas would be like the inner, wouldn’t they? So then what comes after pity? Contempt?

“Hey, Yun?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re from the outer area, right?”

“...Yeah?”

“What do you think of the people here?”

“What about them?”

“Like, how do you look at them?”

“Well...they’re people, like you or me. They live their lives. They install mods. They fall in love. They’re people, y’know?”

“I don’t really get what you mean.”

Yun stopped talking for a second to think. “Everyone has different situations they’re put in, and they need to deal with it. We all choose how to deal with our situations; I joined the rebellion, you worked in a mod shop, some owner opened a burger shop. We all choose how to live our lives, and I think that deserves respect. People, by default, deserve respect. It’s when they decide to deal with their situation by making others’ worse is when they lose my respect. As far as I’m concerned, these people haven’t done anything to lose my respect, as far as I know. Certainly not as a group.”

“I always heard that respect is something you earn.”
    “I heard that growing up too. But then, how does someone in a lower area earn the respect of people in a higher area? Trust me, it’s nearly impossible.”

“Huh.” Yun is from the outer area, but doesn’t just disregard people from the other areas.

“Why’d you ask about that?”

“I want to know more about you. Look, trust isn’t easy for me. I’m trying. I really am. I just...I can’t just trust blindly.”

She smiled. “Nor should you. Blind trust is what got the city into this mess. People just put their faith blindly in the government. I guess it’s pretty hypocritical of me to expect you to trust me right away. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry. Let’s just keep moving.”

Pretty soon, Shadow and Yun could see the way to the outer area. Once again, two Sergeants blocked the way. There was no way around. The only way to The Village was through this gate.

“Think you can get them to go away again?”

“I don’t think that’s going to work this time. These are some really high ranking Sergeants. I don’t think they’re going to listen to me.”

“What made the other two?”

“I’ll...I’ll tell you later. Promise.” I’ll tell you later again. She is making it really hard to trust her. Ugh. Well, her plan worked before, let’s just hope whatever she comes up with works again. A bot rolled by. Yun grinned. “Okay, I have an idea.”

 

…

 

Yun controlled the bot from her wrist. She had had Shadow install his former mod into the bot. Mods, when you break them down to their most basic components, are basically just bot parts that you put in a person. They work by sending electric waves to the brain, which then, in turn, activates the mod (instead of sending signals to the brain, Shadow’s external modifier sends signals to the power source). So, it wasn’t complicated for Shadow to install the mod on the bot. He just had to replace the standard part that was already there. Then, Yun could easily control it. 

Yun had the bot approach the Sergeants. They both looked down at it and tried to shoo it away. Yun didn’t budge. Instead, she had the bot prod the Sergeants with it’s built in taser. Then, Yun had the bot run away. It was a simple trick, but hopefully enough to occupy their attention. Have them chase after the bot, briefly leaving their station.

It didn’t work. The bot ran right, the Sergeants went straight, closing in on their position. They were looking for the owner instead of the bot. Crap. We’re screwed. Okay, how do we get out of this? 

“The plan’s going to work,” reassured Yun, “This area’s swarming with old bots like that one. They’re gonna be looking for someone who owns an I-xl8 bot. All bots are registered with the Sergeants. They’ll still leave their station, and we’ll still be able to go through.”

She says that, but they also know what we look like! We need to get through those gates without the guards seeing us, but I don’t think this plan is going to work! I can’t risk getting caught. With that thought, Shadow ran back the way they came. Back towards the burger shop.

“Hey!” Yun yells. “Where are you going?” The Sergeants saw movement, and they followed, running right past Yun and after Shadow. “Oh no! Damnit Shadow.”

Shadow kept running. His legs felt like they were on fire. When a mod forces you to run, it overwrites the nerves in your muscles. You don’t feel anything. Here? He felt it. Suddenly, the mod doesn’t sound so bad. Shadow ducked his way into the burger shop and sat down at a table. Yun said that the guards will be looking for someone who owns that type of bot. They know that I went in here, but they didn’t see my face. They’ll check everyone in here, see that I don’t own that type of bot and leave. Just gotta hope they don’t recognize me… The more I think about this, the worse this idea gets.

Yun left the gate and followed the Sergeants. She knew that if they saw Shadow, they were done. “Okay...how do I stop them from spotting him?” The Sergeants went into the burger shop. “Crap. There’s no way they won’t see him in there. C’mon, think.” The neon lights flicked above Yun. “Okay...that could work.” Yun scaled to the top of the restaurant where it connected to the grid. All buildings were connected to it directly. If one got disconnected, normally it’s not a big deal. Power goes out for a bit, it’s back on a bit later. The closer you got to the inner area, the less of a problem it was. You’d be back on in no time. If you’re on the outskirts of the middle area though, far away from the inner area, things could get bad. For example, this building had a backup generator. Old one though. Which means an outdated power source. Which means it can’t stabilize the equipment in the building. So, without the grid’s stabilization...things start going boom.

Yun fiddled with some wires and all the lights in the restaurant went out for a moment. Then, the backup generator kicked in. Yun waited a moment. Then, the sound of an explosion. Not a big one. No one was hurt, but when you hear an explosion, you run. And so, everyone did; including Shadow. All except for the Sergeants, who went to check it out. Yun caught up with Shadow and grabbed his shoulder.

“What were you doing!” She demanded. “You almost got caught!”

“Was that explosion you?”

“Yes! Now come on, we need to go through before the Sergeants get back.”

“Okay.”

The two made their way out of the middle area and into the outer. They just had to walk a bit and they’d be at The Village.

“Hey, Shadow?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you run?”

“I-” What do I say? I didn’t trust you? I thought your plan was going to get us both killed? “I freaked out. When I saw the Sergeants coming toward us, I thought for sure they would see me.”

“Oh,”

“Listen. I’m not used to all of this. It feels like we’re running straight towards danger when we should be running away.”

“You could have stayed back at base if you wanted.”

“I know, but...I’m just tired of not being in control. I’ve been being dragged from place to place. Being told what to do. I just. I just needed to be in control of something.”

“I'm sorry. I didn’t realize you felt like that.”

“Why do you keep doing that?”

    “Doing what?”

    “Apologizing. You did it before too. When...when I yelled at you in the tunnel.”

    “I don’t get it.”

    “You keep apologizing even when you do nothing wrong. I freak out at you, and you’re the one who apologizes. I complain and you apologize. I question you, you apologize. You didn’t do anything. You haven’t done anything this whole time. I...I’m just confused. It feels like everything I've known my whole life has been wrong and... I don’t know.”

    “I...thank you. We’re almost to The Village. Pretty soon, this will all be over.”

    “Yeah. I hope.”