Fragmented Light

Chapter 5: Depths

The eternal dusty haze pressed closer in Galri's lowest tunnels, thick enough to taste the mineral content on her tongue. Iron, copper, death – all the flavors of home. Lyra's boots left prints in residue that hadn't seen human traffic in days, each step releasing clouds that caught the failing light like dying stars. Like most of Yellow Sector's paths, this one existed on no corporate map.

"Perfect place for an ambush," she muttered to herself, counting backup routes automatically. "Really showcasing that famous Velrose survival instinct here."

The package clutched to her chest held medicine "acquired" from a corporate supply shipment – their term for stealing back what should have been freely given. The stabilizer Senna had given her earlier burned in her pocket like crystallized guilt. But these supplies weren't for her. Down here, where Galri's forgotten ones scraped out their existence, basic medicine meant the difference between life and death.

A child's cough echoed somewhere in the darkness, that distinctive crystal-lung rattle that started younger every year. Through gaps in makeshift walls, she caught glimpses of lives compressed into spaces barely big enough to lie down. The corps claimed these levels were uninhabitable. Like most corporate claims, that was technically true – by any reasonable standard of human dignity.

Movement flickered at the edge of her vision. Her head snapped around, but there was only shadow. Deeper shadow. Wrong shadow.

No. Focus. The fever was making her paranoid.

"Hey," she called softly when she spotted a quicker darkness dart between support beams. Her voice carried just far enough, pitched to sound harmless. "Not here to cause trouble. Unless you count giving corps inventory management headaches as trouble, in which case I'm definitely here to cause trouble."

Seconds stretched. Then, cautiously, a boy emerged from a crevice she would have sworn couldn't hide a rat. He couldn't have been more than ten standard years, but his eyes held the wary calculation of someone who'd learned survival before walking. His clothes told their own story – corporate work suit fragments stitched together with salvaged fiber-wire, the seams glowing faintly from residual power. The unofficial uniform of Yellow Sector's next generation.

"You're Lyra," he said, voice barely above a whisper. Crystal dust coated his throat, making each word rasp like stone on stone. "The one who helps."

The title sat uncomfortably in her chest, mixing with the constant fever that burned there. Helper. Like she was some kind of hero instead of just another tunnel rat with a talent for corporate theft and questionable survival instincts.

"More like the one who causes problems," she corrected, crouching to his level despite the way it made her head swim. Golden sparks danced at the edges of her vision. "Very strategic, well-planned problems. And you are?"

"Jem." His eyes darted to her package, hope warring with distrust. Smart kid. Trust got you killed down here faster than crystal lung. "Is that... is it medicine?"

Another wave of dizziness hit as she nodded. The stabilizer pulsed in her pocket, tempting as a corporate promotion. But she hadn't come this far to waste it on herself. "For your mom?" She remembered fragments of conversation overheard in the Yellow Vein – whispers about a woman in the lower levels, crystal lung advancing faster than usual. Information was currency down here, passed in whispers and paid for in favors.

Something moved in her peripheral vision. Just maintenance drones, she told herself. Just shadows. Just—

No. Stay focused.

Jem's eyes widened, that careful mask cracking just enough to show the child beneath. "You... you'd give it to us? Just like that?"

"Just like that." She held out the package, trying to keep her hand steady as golden sparks danced at the edges of her vision. "But let's get it to your mom quick, okay? This stuff doesn't last long in this air. Corps design their meds to degrade fast down here – good for repeat business, bad for actually helping people."