Friday, January 22, 2010

Rip's Adventures: Rip and the Tunnel, Part XI

“Glad to see you’re with us, le Blanc,” Colonel Copper said as Rip entered the briefing room. It was a Spartan military room of M.D.C. concrete and few decorations. The only true ornamentation was the symbol of N.E.M.A. carved masterfully on the masonry behind the head of the table where Colonel Copper sat. The table was dark, made of stained teak wood. It was about eight meters long and two and a half meters wide. Around the table were a number of cushioned, high-backed, swivel chairs. A few of them were empty, but most of them were filled with Republican personnel. They were all in fatigues, so Rip could see no readily apparent insignias, but he could tell who the officers were by the way they carried themselves and the manner of deference given to them by the others. The officers, including Lavoisier, were gathered around Copper. Thebes sat near the end next to an empty seat.

“I thought I told you to call me Rip, Colonel,” Rip replied.

“So you did. Well then, Rip. Please join us. We were just about to go over our tactical situation.”

“Saved you a spot, Rip,” Thebes said with a smile.

Rip took a deep breath and sat down. There was a giant poster map of the complex sitting on the table. The complex was larger than he thought. It wrapped itself intricately around the Blacksburg drainage sewer system for what had to be at least a kilometer in almost every direction. What was even more interesting was that the complex he was inside was not the only one on the map. At least five other smaller, adjoining complexes were indicated on the map, plus one large one on the west side of the sewers. However the large one on the west side of the sewers wasn’t interconnected with the others or the sewers in any way. In fact, the map gave no indication whatsoever of a means of accessing this location. The map also didn’t show anything but the exterior boundaries of the larger complex. However, when Rip looked at it even closer, he made a startling realization.

“Wait a second, this is the section that tunnel we found led to,” he said aloud to no one in particular.

“I know,” Thebes replied, her face aglow with excitement. “I thought it was pretty interesting to find out that the earthen tunnel we found was actually made by the Republicans. This last section here is the only part of these ruins that they are in the process of excavating.”

“That’s right, Rip,” said Copper, stepping in. “And it took us a long time to find too. We’ve been here for months working on the other parts that were easily accessible by the sewer. But even we were rather astounded when our sonar detected this new section, which appears to have no entrances within the sewer whatsoever. I’m still having my people scour the surface for a hidden passage, but so far, the tunnel we’ve dug has been our only means of access.”

“Whoa, hold on there, missy,” Rip said holding up a finger. “What do you mean you found this place? I thought this was your base of operations and it was just our dumb luck to stumble upon you.”

“And my name’s not ‘missy.’ You will call me Colonel Copper,” the fiery red-headed woman said. “And this place is not, in fact, the headquarters of the Republicans. This is just our latest outpost. You’ll learn more about our other bases when we take you in for detox.”

“So you’re saying you don’t do the detox here?” Rip asked.

“I only wish we could. Unfortunately the process is very delicate and we only have one facility capable of performing the procedure. So in the meantime, you’re going to work with us here.”

“But you said I was gonna die,” Rip looked mad.

“Everyone dies, Rip. And you will too, one day. But don’t worry, you’ve got some time. Our bio-scanners indicated you have at least two weeks, which is more than enough time for us to finish our mission and get you to the detox facility. And we’ll have our doctors here keep a close eye on you in the meantime.”

“Trust her, Chenille,” Lavoisier soothed. “She wouldn’t lie to you. You are no use to us dead. I promise we will get you to the facility with time to spare.”

“Alright, Chef. I’ll play ball. But I’m just giving you people one chance. Now what’s this mission you’re going on about?”

“It’s actually pretty simple,” Copper said. “As I was saying, right before you and Miss Antilles arrived we were in the process of excavating this old N.E.M.A. ruin. It appears there was a hidden research base buried under tons of dirt and rock along with the rest of Blacksburg back during the Great Cataclysm. We estimate it was some kind of avalanche or other seismic activity that caused the city to be covered up, which is why this ruin has been left relatively undisturbed over the years. Another reason is that a local tribe of ratlings seem to consider this holy ground for some reason and regularly make pilgrimages here. Because of this the nearby Kingdom of New Roanoke has always given the area a wide berth. We captured one of the ratlings and interrogation revealed that they have an unspoken agreement with the people of New Roanoke to leave this area alone. Of course that made things a little bit difficult for us. We had no qualm with the ratlings but couldn’t see a way to get a large team inside the sewers without desecrating their holy ground.”

“So you fought your way in,” Rip said.

“Not exactly,” replied the colonel. “Like I said, we didn’t wish to start an unnecessary conflict with the ratlings so we found another way. We’ve developed an airborne pathogen capable of putting just about any humanoid life-form that we’ve come into contact with into a fairly deep coma-like state for a few days. Afterward the anti-bodies naturally produced by the subject’s immune system overcome the virus and the subject returns to consciousness quite hungry and thirsty but with no permanent injury. It’s effective in 99.9% of all cases. We’ve studied the virus extensively and developed a vaccine for our own people, so it was simply a matter of sending one of our own people into the ratling community as a carrier with the pretense of trading and waiting for it to take effect. Once the majority of the ratling tribe was affected, we took a couple of days to move in.”

“I have to give you credit, Copper. I didn’t figure you people were the type to use biological warfare,” Rip said wryly.

“We don’t like to think of it as warfare, Rip,” Copper said. “It’s much more humane than engaging them in a holy war for their sacred ground. We’ve been very careful ever since we arrived to keep up the pretense of the sewers being uninhabited. Although you and your companion have made that a little difficult.”

“What can I say? I like the smell of ratling blood in the morning. Besides, it was self-defense. The sons of bitches attacked us,” said Rip, remembering the grisly incident with a bit of self-satisfaction.

“You don’t have to justify yourselves to us,” Copper responded. “We managed to clean it up relatively quickly. With any luck, the ratling tribe will figure they got eaten by one of the other wilderness monsters out here on their way back to the camp.”

“So that’s why there wasn’t a sign of the whole mess on our way out!” Thebes exclaimed.

“It doesn’t explain where you put my ATV,” Rip said, crossing his arms.

“Shortly after arriving we discovered a hidden vehicle bay here,” said Copper, pointing to a spot on the map. “We’ve used it to store our vehicles, supplies, and power armor, as well as a few other things.”

“Okay, so you’ve managed to keep the rats busy with your little bug, you’ve hidden my ATV in some secret vehicle bay, and you cleaned up the rat puree. That’s all well and good until you started drilling holes in the ground to get to this hidden section. The monsters are sure as hell gonna notice that,” Rip said.

“Yes, well, that might be a problem. But we don’t intend to leave it that way for long. We’re going to seal it up after we’ve found the hidden access passage. Of course that’s proven a bit difficult for us. So we’ve decided to approach the problem from another direction. And that’s where you come in,” said the colonel.

“Oh don’t tell me,” Rip said rolling his eyes.

“That’s right, Rip. I’m sending you along with my team to find that hidden passage, from the inside.”

1 comment:

  1. This story was awesome, sad it took me so long to find it, hope you continue it somewhere someday

    ReplyDelete