Isolation-#Wattys2015

Excerpt 20- Kojak Aquifer

It took a couple of days for my ankle to heal up, but that wasn't to say that I was just sitting around. I spent most of my time helping Sarah and Tyler around the lounge and discussing how we would attack the tower with Martin in control of security. Allen had shown me a map of the Kojak Aquifer System and I had seen something. The tunnels ran in a sort of curved, jumbled grid, but a grid none the less. There were four, clearly defined tunnels that went around the entire perimeter of the lab and branched off into about 400 smaller tunnels that connected to each other, or stopped in dead ends. There was one tunnel that came up in the basement of the tower so that's where I was headed.

"Looks like you'll get to visit the Kojak in all it's glory after all", James said as I marked out the route on my PDA.

"Looks that way", I said.

"You sure your okay for combat?", Allen asked, "Martin is nuts, but he's also crafty and a stone cold killer, he's got Ranger training and he's not scared about getting his hands dirty."

"I'll be fine", I said, "count on it. Now what we have going on down there?"

"The Kojak was used as a Marine Biology lab as well as a way of harvesting minerals from the rock and water for chemical research and to use water from to cool the individual labs back up generators. It's mostly just rock, glowstone and blue algae down there, but there's a species of bi-pedal crabs down there that are highly aggressive. As for the presence of Chemical 240 or Number 12? Who fucking knows anymore."

"What about security forces?", I asked.

"Minimal", Allen said, "all the synthetics send any information they collect to the Cluster 300, which stores and reviews it to improve bot placements, behavior and strategy. Right now, the 300's telling me that all the bots are in the exobiology and Gene Splicing section of the lab. I'll see if I can hack into the camera's and I'll radio you if I find anything, but until then, Martin is kill/capture."

"I vote kill", Matt said, "man tried to blow the chip out of my head."

"I'll pop one in the man's dome for ya then", I said, "and one extra for blowing my ship up."

I grabbed my vest from the couch and slipped it on. I grabbed the FAL and checked to make sure it was loaded before setting down on the table and slinging it over my shoulders.

"You ready for the biggest paycheck of your life?", James asked.

"After all the shit we been through?", I asked, "I'm doing this for free."

"Stay safe Skyline", Sarah said.

"Yeah", Jacob said, "Listen to the lady and come back in one piece."

"You kidding?", I asked, "Martin is toast."

I grabbed the FAL and left the lounge. I walked down to the end of the hall to the door where I'd entered the basement the first time. I walked down the stair case to the steel floor that had been flooded a few days ago, but was now dry. Allen remotely unlocked the huge steel door that lead into the aquifer and I stepped inside.

The Kojak was the single most amazing piece of a planet that I'd ever seen. The cavern was 20 feet or so up and extended back as far as I could see. The walls consisted of water weathered white and gray granite with huge diamonds jutting out from them. The water was glowing a dim blue and the glowstones in the ceiling were glowing an aquamarine color that blended in soothingly with the white granite and crystal clear water. I could see the Blue Algae plants growing right out of the solid rock in the bottom of the pond river that was being fed by a water fall originating at an unseen point swaying with the movement of the water. The falls were giving off a mist that had put a sponge light structure in the granite around it. The Kojak was truly an amazing, almost mystical sight."