Bridge to Nowhere

Railroaded

Wednesday Evening–New Arcadia

Rick gets the hang of riding the Maggie by himself. The maglev is a transport nom, intelligent enough to self-navigate to a location, but also uses anti-collision sensors and inter-vehicular communication protocols to control speed, spacing and lane changes to arrive at the destination. The result is a speedy, yet fluid ride through the corridors of the underground city.   ------------------------------

A speeding utility truck hit Karl and dragged him twenty yards. The self-driving trucks have anti-collision systems, but they're designed to avoid collisions with other vehicles, not to avoid humans stepping into traffic. Karl's body lays twisted on blood-splattered orange tiles. Traffic stops. Alarms sound. 

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The Maggie cruises the main corridor and down a small tunnel before stopping in front of the Surface Integration Storage room. Rick hops off the Maggie and hears an alarm. Guards will search for him; he needs to move fast. He opens the door. The room is dark, but lights come on as he enters. He moves cautiously until he is sure no one is in the large room. He walks through a demonstration room designed to train people how to live on the surface after the disaster.

Rick walks past the demo room and into a large warehouse with rows of tall metal racks stocked with supplies and equipment for over 100,000 survivors. 

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The City Guard, in their sky-blue tunics, are the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. One look at the broken body lying on the cold tiles and it's obvious the person is dead. The eyes of a City Guard glow as he views his VUE contact lens. He touches the air to contact the morgue requesting a body wagon.

Another guard kneels over the body. He takes photos of the dead person, then straightens the fingers of one hand to get a scan of the palm and fingerprints. A photo of Dr. Karl Wetzel appears in his VUE. The doctor is a silver tunic. The City Guard alerts the Black Guard. 

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Rick runs down a row of the warehouse racks, reading the descriptions on the boxes looking for gear he might need. He grabs a backpack, a KA-Bar knife, and a medical kit. He spots a box of machetes. Rick doesn't expect to be whacking large vines in a jungle but grabs the large blade and slides it in the backpack.

Rick's pants are ripped. The colonel and the Black Guard will look for a silver tunic; he needs a change of clothes. He spots a box marked Kevlar X9GRS skin suit. Pulling one out of the box, he finds that the material is thick and composed of several layers yet feels like lycra.

The description on the box reads Kevlar/Graphene woven mesh ballistic resistive skin suit. Rick strips off his clothes and pulls on the bulletproof suit. In nearby boxes, he finds black slacks and a black tunic to wear over the skin suit. He stuffs his silver tunic and torn slacks deep in the box of black tunics. He then grabs a pair of boots and pushes his deck shoes into another box. 

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Black Guard Control receives information on the death of Dr. Karl Wetzel, a silver tunic. Images of the accident and the report appear in Kobalt's VUE. The colonel sent Dr. Wetzel to look for Dr. Munday. Now, Wetzel is dead. Kobalt does not hesitate. He taps the air. "Black Guard. APB on Dr. Richard Munday, a silver tunic. Capture and relax on sight."

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As Rick runs through the warehouse overhead lights above each row come to life as he stuffs items in the backpack. He finds a flashlight and a blanket. Jogging down another row, he grabs MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and energy bars.