Subterra Heart

Chapter 41: Tess Ritty

Without warning, the transport lights were suddenly cut. Tess and Bastet were plunged into the sort of complete darkness that even a Dweller couldn't see through before the dim red glow of the emergency backup lights flickered on. Tess pitched forward into the control board as the transport started deaccelerating.

"What in Founders' names...?" It took a moment for the realization to dawn on her. Heart Central must have had a way to override her override. Someone had cut the power to the tracks.

"Oh..." she muttered, "Oh no..." If Heart Central had put a stop to her transport, someone would probably be coming out here to take a look. It wouldn't be good if she and Bastet stuck around for that.

Quickly, she scooted over to the exit and pressed the button for the door. It didn't work. The backup lights must be the only things working now that the power was cut. Everything else would have to be manual. Tess yanked at the door. It still stuck. She yanked at it again and again until it finally began sliding open, inch by inch. She was about to motion Bastet to follow her, but then she paused. With her black eyes, Tess still looked like she was sick with bloodrot. And Bug was hosting a Dweller. Dwellers caused bloodrot. Bloodrot was bad. It would be especially bad if Bug/Bastet was brought into Heart Central by someone who really didn't know much about the Dwellers. Sort of like what Tess was attempting now.

Tess yanked the door closed again and turned around, looking at Bastet, thinking. Bastet looked back at her and cocked her head curiously, flicking her ears. She still hadn't moved from her box under the control board. Tess wanted to keep a close eye on Bastet. She seemed like the most rational of all the Dweller's she'd met so far. That made Tess wary of her. And if Tess was able to get a hold of Matteo Rocha's research on bloodrot, she'd still need fresh Dweller blood to replicate the cure – Bastet was as good a candidate as any for that.

There was no way that Tess could just leave Bastet in the tunnels and expect her to stay put until needed. Bastet had a mind of her own, and she would do as she pleased. Nor could Tess simply bring Bastet directly into Heart without taking any kind of precaution. There weren't any open wounds on the cat, and Tess hadn't seen any black, dusty spores coming off of her, but that didn't mean that Bastet couldn't still infect all of Heart Central if she felt like it.

Tess pursed her lips and bounced on the balls of her feet, anxiously. What should she do? What should she do?

She needed an airtight container.

Yep, that'd do it. That was exactly what she needed. Dwellers and the creatures infected by them didn't need much oxygen, so Bastet should be perfectly fine for quite some time if Tess could find a container that was big enough to fit the cat into. Nothing in the cab would work, unfortunately, but there was still a whole transport worth of cabins to investigate. Tess would just have to move quickly.

Tess dashed over to the back of the cab, where the door to the transport compartment was, and yanked that one open instead.

"What arrrre you doing, human-named-Tess?" asked Bastet.

"I just need to grab a few things – are you coming or staying?" said Tess.

Bastet arched her back to stretch and then stepped out of her box. It looked like she'd be coming with Tess. That'd at least make keeping an eye on her easier.

Together, the pair trotted down the line of transport compartments, peering through dark windows for any sign of spare luggage that Tess could pilfer. There were plenty of disintegrated corpses left over from the Dweller, "Ben." Tess wrinkled her nose the first few times she stepped into a compartment occupied by the dead, but they were on a time crunch, so she had to get over it quickly.

She nabbed a backpack from one compartment. It was mostly filled with datacards that Tess would never use, but its previous owner had also packed away some snacks that made her stomach growl. She'd save those for later. In another compartment, there was a sturdy green jacket and a pair of welding goggles. Not quite what Tess was looking for, but useful all the same. Tess picked the jacket up off the compartment seat, and bones and dust from its previous owner spilled out of it. She shook it clean with a slight grimace and then slid it over her shoulders. It was too big for her, and the fabric hung down to her knees, but it'd do for now. Tess grabbed the goggles too and hung them around her neck. They were bulky, but they had dark lenses and they'd draw far less attention than her eyes.

Unlike some of the nicer transports in Heart, this one just had metal seats – no cushy upholstery for the miners, sadly. Bastet still hopped up onto the seating and made herself comfortable while Tess gave the compartment a last once-over. There was no telling when someone from Heart would make it out here, and they really did need to get going, but Tess still hadn't found an air-tight container for Bastet.

"So," she said, still poking around and wanting to break the silence. "Cats. You want to infect cats. Why?"

Bastet yawned and began washing herself. "Cats arrrre morrrrre durable," she explained, as if it was obvious. "The anatomy of cats is morrrre similarrr to that of the Anai. They arrrrre betterrrr suited to infection by ourrrrr sporrrrres."

"Mmmhmm," said Tess, checking under the seats. "So why haven't you guys gone for cats before?"

"They do not leave Heart, not even forrrr the mines," said Bastet. "And Fenrir has not allowed us access to yourrrr city for a thousand of yourrrrr human yearrrrs. He had always prrrrreferrred humans forrrr theirrr minds."

Tess nodded vaguely. Fair enough. Fenrir had definitely gotten a thrill from the way that each human he infected had reacted when they realized they had bloodrot. She craned her neck back to look up at the overhead shelving. A few lumpy bags still sat up there, and something metal glinted in the vague red backup lighting from the hall. Intrigued, Tess also hopped up onto the seating to get a closer look. She grinned. This was exactly what she was looking for.

It was one of those speela tanks – the kind designed to keep unrefined Park's crystal stable until businesses like Green's Air Co. could process it into useable oxygen. Since Park's crystal had a habit of disintegrating when exposed to too much nitrogen – which was a necessary part of regular air – these tanks had to be seriously air-tight for crystal mining to be successful.

Tess grabbed the speela tank and hoisted it off the shelf. It was heavier than she'd expected, and it looked like it should just barely fit in her new backpack. She hooked her foot onto the handle to the compartment door and slid it closed. Then, she turned to Bastet with a grin.

"You arrrre not putting me into that...thing," growled Bastet. Her ears were pressed flat against her skull, and she sneered at this new development.

"Oh, yes I am," said Tess. She undid the latch to the tank, destroying any crystal that had been held inside, dropped it on the floor, and then lunged for the cat.

~~~

Tess adjusted her backpack's straps and winced as her mail shirt chafed against deep new cuts along her collarbone and shoulders. She'd hoped that the Anai shirt would protect her, but Bastet's claws had managed to get under it.

"Are you ok, Bastet?" she asked.

"No," replied the Dweller. She sounded annoyed, and there was a metallic echo to her voice. Tess shook her head. Bastet would be fine. She hadn't fully managed to calculate just how much air was available in the speela tank, but she figured that Bastet should be good for a few days at least. That should give Tess plenty of time to find Matteo Rocha's research before she needed any Dweller blood. And if it took too long to find the notes, Heart would be toast from a Dweller invasion, and the speela tank wouldn't matter then anyways. 

Tess took a deep breath and finally tugged at the transport's exit door until it opened. She poked her head out into the tunnel. Ahead of the transport stretched near-total darkness, save for the transport's backup lights and the occasional bioluminescent fungi that still grew here. There was no sign of anyone from Heart Central just yet. Tess let out a puff of air in relief. She could keep walking along the tracks, at least for now. Hopefully, nobody back at Central would have the bright idea of powering them back on. That would hurt.