Dimension Of Perfection (And Its Flaws)

Chapter 22 - Macaroni Talk

Everything is fine and dandy! I would say, if the rumbling had stopped yet. It's continued for twenty consecutive minutes now and it's starting to really rattle on my nerves.

I've plopped myself on a far side wall of this giant box, sat away from the rest of the crowd to the best of my ability.

I look back up from the floor while resting, gazing out and scanning the wall of people writhing around and chattering. Some of them seem to be much less afraid now, aside from the weakest children shivering next to their carers.

The interior of this bunker isn't as distinct as you'd expect from a lavish city like this; the walls, floors and ceilings are the same pattern just repeated everywhere. If everyone got cleared out, it'd probably look not much different to a warehouse. The wear and tear inside is also definitely more than I was expecting.

The walls are cracked and beaten in the corners, with some having extra metal supports that clasp the place together. Footprints coat every part of the floor and the only indication this bunker is hospitable are a few robots wheeling in supplies from a tunnel through the group in front of me.

I've been able to catch the tops of those eggs rolling around and then people swarming whatever they're carrying as if they've never had food before.

Unlike the robots, which all seem to be in the same area, the officers that rushed in have spread out among the bunker, in places where it would make the most sense to be stationed.

There's not one looming over me specifically, I mean. And thankfully so.

If they studied me long enough they'd realise I'm scanning the whole room thousands of times a second.

Additionally, if they could read my mind (which I'm hoping they can't), then they'd be throwing me back out into all that chaos in a moment's notice.

They'd hear me worrying all about where my Undesirable accomplice 4663 is, if she's alright, or how the hell a craftquake can happen on a floating city.

That would literally be the only reason you'd make a city that way; to not have natural disasters on your ass like everywhere else. And you're telling me that didn't work!?

This city has to be a joke.

Anyway, the only thing I really know about what happened up there is that the Negativitron caused all of it. And that's what every government officer has been barking back and forth for ages.

Any individuals I could recognise from within the last two hours have faded away from my immediate view as time has gone by, probably sped up by me sitting on the floor and not bothering to get up.

My aching legs now start to feel less terrible, along with my feet that don't scream in pain when they touch something now.

With effort I slide on the wall to stand with my feet, my wings scraping along the material in a rough sound. The bobbing top of the crowd seems to continue all the way into the opposite wall, around a door and the tunnel that goes across to another bunker.

To my right there's a turn off into an additional tunnel that I can barely see is going to bunker Theta from its sign.

I trot to the tunnel and look down past the wall I was sitting against. Next to the see-through electric door, stands an officer stretched tall with a belt and an attachment that looks like a ridiculous half-skirt. As I stare at him, he notices my gaze and steps out of formation, to then turn and stop in the way of the door.

"Uhh. I was gonna go through there." I groan, moving slightly closer.

"Citizen! It is restricted! Only with the authorization of the leading Deputy can you leave." He commands. He doesn't even look at me as he tells me off, instead staring straight into deep space.