TO expected other drones to follow them, to show up out of nowhere, the saturated evening light glinting off shiny black metal as drones followed them to the point on the map that Vik pointed out. Thankfully, their fears didn’t materialize. 

 

“Of course not.” Vik said when TO mentioned their worry to the small hacker, “Those things are expensive, and you already broke one; they’re not going to send another for you to smash. Honestly, I’m amazed that they didn’t pull the drone back in the first place!” 

 

“Maybe they’re not watching us anymore?” DH offered. “Maybe we’re not worth it?”

 

“Oh no, they’re still watching. They’re just trying to be covert. Look.” An alert came in on TO’s chip, and when they opened it, a video played in the corner of their vision; a compilation of clips showing them from several angles tracking their movement. 

 

“This is the security feed.” Vik said, “It has footage from every camera in the city. Every security guard, police officer, and special agent has access to this, and thanks to your permissions on your chip, so do I! They’re tracking you, no doubt about that.” 

 

They continued on, tracked by the countless civilian and surveillance cameras all about until they approached the spot on the map. It was an innocuous ‌location; a tall skyscraper like all the others in the business district. 

 

“This place?” TO asked as they circled around the building. 

 

“Yes, and no. There’s a tube entrance leading to the underground right on the side of the building. Go there.” 

 

They dove, plummeting to the ground before spreading their wings to slow down just moments before striking the hard pavement. Several civilians on the street scattered as the two synths landed, taking cover as though a bomb were about to go off. The video feed in the corner of TO’s sight suddenly showed dozens more frames of them and DH, landing in the street.

 

“Oh yes, this got us away from being tracked.” TO said, their ears pinning back, “Wonderful plan.” 

 

“… I feel you dislike me.” Vik said, “Well, no matter. Go underground and follow the actual tunnel.”

 

“The tunnel? You mean the tube? And what happens if we get crushed by the tube?” 

 

“You won’t; trust me.” 

 

TO didn't want to trust him, but they figured that if something happened to them, then Vik would be in just as much danger; maybe more, since TO and DH had armor on, and Vik didn’t. At any rate, the crowd watching them was making TO uneasy, and they just wanted to be out of sight. 

They raced into the darkness of the tunnels. It was too narrow to fly, so they had to continue on foot. The light behind them from the illuminated waiting area faded off quickly, the images of them on their visor fading one by one, and soon they found themselves in near total darkness. Still, their echolocation let them navigate well enough. The darkness didn’t bother TO at all, but what bothered them was the distant sound of the tube cart rushing towards them and making the surrounding tube vibrate.

“Keep going.” Vik said, “There’s no camera down here; they’re only on the carts, so we have until one comes by to get out of sight.”

“And if we don’t get there in time?” TO demanded.

“Please. You think I didn’t already check the schedules? The next one isn’t supposed to hit that stop for another half-hour and we only need about ten minutes to get where we need to, so we have a solid twenty minutes before we’re in trouble. Just keep going.”

They ran down into the darkness, following the easy curve of the tube, feeling the vibration of their footsteps and the cart in the distance until Vik finally stopped them.

“Here.” They said. “To your left. One of the tube panels is loose, but some brilliant person has secured them with wire at the topmost connections. You should be able to lift it, and… Well, it might be a little small, but I think you can still get through”

They couldn’t quite make out what Vik was talking about here; their echolocation was good, but it wasn’t quite that precise, so they had to turn on the night vision on their helmet instead to see. Just as Vik said, there was a panel that at first glance seems no different from any of the others. However, the screws that kept it in place were gone, and replaced with strong wire to create a makeshift hinge. When they pulled the panel up, it revealed a small, square opening. Their night vision didn’t show them anything past the opening, which was odd at first, but using their echolocation explained everything; Just outside the tunnel, the ground had fallen away to form an enormous cavern. 

“I found this cavern when I was like, twelve?” Vik said, “Maybe eleven. Doesn’t matter. Let’s go!”

“Where does it lead?” TO asked, unsure they wanted to take Vik’s advice here and jump into an unknown cavern, especially when the last time they were in a cavern deep underground… Well, not so great things happened.

“The cavern connects to the sewage network for the inner residential area. I can get us out of there unseen, no problem.” 

 

They still had time to get out of the tunnels if they wanted to. Of course, what would they do then? Ideas filtered into their mind, ranging from flying to the outer ring and diving into the water, to going into the sewers and finding a different route, and even going back to the entrance in the security district.

All viable options, but even TO knew that this was likely the best one. It was unlikely that Vik would put them in danger, as that would harm the small hacker too. Furthermore, all those other options were mere possibilities, and would take a lot more time to explore. This was an option that sat right before them. 

TO knew they were smart enough to find another route. They also realized they were smart enough to recognize that, given everything, this was likely the best option. 

 

 They sighed, gave DH their bag, and squeezed through the small opening. It was tight, and they worried they might not get through without deactivating their armor, but they were lucky and got through, dropping from the opening and into the darkness below them. Thankfully, they could spread their wings and catch themself before they hit the ground. They flew back to the opening, took their bag and DHs, then brought them to the bottom of the cavern as DH followed them in. 

 

“This area isn’t mapped.” Vik said, “Head south-south east, and you’ll see a perfectly rectangular stone stocking out from all the other rough ones. Follow that into a stone tunnel and keep going until we hit fresh air.”

With nothing else to do, and nowhere else to go, TO followed the small hacker’s instructions.

 

======

 

The stone tunnel had clearly been an old maintenance hallway; that was clear. The entrance was rough and cluttered with fallen rocks, but the rest of it was relatively smooth. There were, of course, cracks in the wall, bugs scurrying about, and in some places mold or moss was growing thanks to ‌minor leaks. The bugs didn’t bother TO as much at that moment, since they had their armor on, but they still didn’t enjoy wandering about in underground tunnels. 

 

“How far does this tunnel go?” They asked after having walked for only about five minutes.

“It’s about a half-hour walk, I suppose?” Vik said. “Which really isn’t bad given that it would take us at least an hour to get there by tube.”

“And we’ll end up in the sewage area of the residential district.”

“Yes; I hope your helmets filter out smells, because it’s ripe down there. Somehow, it’s worse than sewage in the outer ring.”

 

“I find it concerning that you have a preference.” TO said.

“Do you? Give it a bit. Soon, you’ll be able to tell what part of the city you’re in just by smell.” 

 

They walked on in relative silence. Vik was busy checking the various communication lines, checking to see if they had any hints about where the two synths had gone. Occasionally, they’d give updates. “They know you went into the tubes, but they can’t just shut the tubes down; you’re not wanted criminals, and they weren’t technically in pursuit.” but they were so involved in their work that other chatter faded to the wayside. 

 

They couldn’t talk privately over their helmets so instead, TO signed to DH.

<<Do you really think we can trust Vik here? >> they asked.

<<Of course. >> DH signed back. <<He has no reason to hurt us. He’s been helping us! >>

<< I know that. Still… is it smart to just follow his directions like this? >>

DH took a moment to answer TO, and when he did his hand movements were slow, and tentative. << Do you really not like him? >>

<< liking or disliking him doesn’t matter right now. >>

<<But you don’t like him? >>

It wasn’t that TO didn’t like him. TO didn’t know him, and somehow, the way he just slipped in and worked so well with DH bothered him.

<<Something about him bothers me. >> he signed back, <<I don’t know why. >>

<<Well, I think we’re safe. I don’t think he’s going to do anything to hurt us, and I’m guessing you really don’t either, since you’re following him. >>

 

Eventually, they could see a faint sliver of light ahead of them. They rushed forward only to end up in a small, stone room where once some machinery had sat, as evidenced by the too-clean marks on the floor, the grooves scratched into the stone. Well, whatever had been there before was gone now, and the room was presently empty.  

 

“Alright. There’s a handful of cameras in our way, But I can deal with them.” Vik said, “Just give me a minute-”

“You can deal with cameras?” TO asked, “Why couldn’t we deal with the cameras that were watching us before?”

“Because I have these cameras on a system; I’ve used them many times before.”

“So, this is a regular route for you?” DH asked.

“Something like that.” Vik said, “Ok, cameras are good. When you get out, we’ll be at the edge of an artificial river. Follow that upstream a little, and you’ll find a side door to the house on your left. Go in there.”

TO expected to see people waiting for them on the other side of the door, but when they opened it, they saw only the other side of a stone bridge. The water that flowed through it was almost perfectly clear, the stone river bed painted to give the appearance of beautiful blue water. They went in the direction Vik told them to, and eventually they approached a large house; it wasn’t like the rectangular buildings they were used to; it looked like an old-fashioned stand-alone home, complete with fake grass, sculptured synthetic trees, and fiber-optic flowers that change color every ten seconds. Amid the fake foliage and artificial trees, right along the edge of the house, there was a door.

“Is this the door?” TO asked as they approached.

“Yeah. just go in. I’ve already unlocked it; it should just slide open when you approach.” 

 

As Vik said, the door slid open and let them go inside with no trouble, leading them to a simple entrance way. The digital windows had images of a vast meadow outside, and a rug at the door read, ‘Welcome to our home.’ With the O in home forming a heart. 

 

“Down a little more, and to the left, there’s an actual window. You should be able to see a car from there. Just watch the car and confirm that it leaves.”

 

Things were just as Vik said. Among the digital windows was a single actual window that showed a vehicle set down on a landing pad. It wasn’t sleek like their government assigned vehicle had been; it had an artificially old-fashioned look; boxy and large in places that modern vehicles were supposed to be sleek. Cream colored, and accented in red, it was easy for TO to see the barcode that possessed all the ownership information attached to the car. Their helmet scanned it automatically, and when the results came TO checked them more out of curiosity than anything else. 

 

It listed the owners as Mrs. Viktoria Lumix and Mr. Ray Lumix. The two small, rodent-like creatures, with their round ears and large eyes, looked at TO from the image on their visor. They might have doubted their first assumption, but the flag marking their file only assured TO that they were right. 

 

The flag on their file showed some criminal concerns, linking the very respectable-looking couple to their missing offspring; Viktor Lumix.