3G: the Glowing Green Goo

Vester’s goals had always been very clear: making his Family proud, and outshine that stupid dog. In that order, although that bit could be harder to remember at times. Why their parents kept putting them together was an old mystery at that point, they didn’t bother fighting it or even thinking about it anymore. That was just life, like training and dealing with fawners.

But now, it all seemed so far away, so… unimportant. He had a sobbing, traumatised girl clinging to his fur, and he had never felt so… lost. Aimless. Useless. How did that even happen?

It had begun when that dog and he had gotten this strange assignment in that backward place, the dot. They were to answer a call for help from one of their sub-branches there, to investigate hints of potential security breaches. It had seemed like a punishment at first, and they had rightfully protested. They may have disciplinary strikes in their files, but they had done nothing to deserve a public humiliation. And that was the only reason anyone was ever pointed to that place of all places.

Then they had been told the mission had to be kept under wraps. Nobody in any Circle was to know they had ever left it, besides their commanding officer. And even he didn’t and wouldn’t know further details. It had not been stated that straightforwardly, of course. But that changed everything. They were ranked high enough to know what a secret mission entailed: they were being trusted by important people, and if they succeeded a promotion was all but certain. It even made putting up with that damn dog and sharing the promotion worth it. They would probably receive the details about the real mission later on, hidden from potential prying eyes.

They had left straight away. Everything went smoothly at first. The custom had already been handled, so their ride barely slowed at the border. Another hint that this mission was special; their company never helped with busywork, and customs to and from the dot were notoriously annoying and difficult. As if someone would want to bring anything important there, or they had something important to take. They had arrived at the planned meeting point and met their contact, a random flatterer, and their retinue, for show and to bask in the glory of the most advanced mutants they’ll ever see, not doubt. Not holding a candle to their usual colleagues, but better than nothing. At least they didn’t talk.

They went straight to the reported site of the breach. Fortunately, they didn’t have to hide their presence in the dot itself, they could just pretend to be in a normal official mission. Not like anyone important would care about a dotter’s claims anyways. Still no news of the actual mission, but with everything spying for their creepy giant computer, they knew it would be best to wait for the night, when they would be alone and unwatched.

When the powerplant had exploded, everything had gone from bad to worse. They were the most advanced mutants around, so of course they had to step in and help. The flatterer first tried to dissuade them, but they reminded him of who they were. How could they just leave, when the local enforcers were that pathetically weak?

Although it had to be noted, the enforcers were very organised, and their leader was not half-bad. That was a surprise; even the Circles had some poor areas, where the inhabitants were the only things worse than the lodging. How could the dot, basically a giant poor area, not be the worst of them?

Sadly, they couldn’t just waltz in and take charge. They still had to make a show of respecting the local law, or it would reflect badly on their family. Thinking back, maybe that was when things started to go wrong.

Their presence had been acknowledged, and they had been thanked for gifting their own retinue. After that, nothing. They were not called to the fire response, nor the building stabilisation team, nor the evacuation effort. Not even when they realised that people had been thrown in the Core. That was unexpected. The Chiefs Engineer and Enforcer did their thing next to them, but it felt more like happenstance than a way to include them or ask for their input. Even with subtle and less subtle reminders of their positions and background, they almost felt like their presence was a bother. Which was just ludicrous, they would definitely beat most of them in any fight. The constant yapping of the fawner didn’t help.

Next that expert had arrived, and things had gone from awkward to plain weird. Sweaty and panting, he didn’t look confident or reliable at all, like he was about to crumble at any time under the pressure. But the more they talked about the situation, the more assured he was. Never openly confident, but he knew what he was talking about. Their exact opposite, in a way, and he unblocked the situation like it was easy. Needless to say, they didn’t care for it, and they made it clear. Then the weirdest thing happened: he didn’t care. At all.

Dismissing their brown-noser in front of others was normal and they didn’t think much of it, but he didn’t change his tune even when they were on their own. They gave him a chance to soften their relationship, but he just made it worse! Even stranger, the way he countered them didn’t make it seem like he was above them, but below; as if he didn’t understand why they would bother with someone so insignificant. And it was so matter-of-fact… How do you make someone bend, when they are like that? How could someone with so little worth make them doubt themselves so easily? They didn’t appreciate the answer, but the rescue mission saved them from dwelling on it. For a time.

They had front row to see that expert have his hand swallowed by the wall, and how he kept going even knowing he wouldn’t get his hand back. And then he volunteered to go with them! He was clearly terrified, but he still proposed, by himself, to go in the belly of the beast. They couldn’t help but wonder, how would they fare in that situation? And all the answers could be summarised as: “not that well”. That was unsettling, but they couldn’t show weakness at such a moment.

Then they were alone in the Core, and that place felt so creepy, so… heavy? Whatever it was, something felt really wrong, and they wanted nothing more than to finish the job and leave as fast as possible. Even that dog had shut up for once.

The not-maze had been annoying, but the walk had given them time to smooth their nerves. The factory was… the most impressive thing they ever gazed at. Something beyond imagination. They never knew the ancient people could build something that immense and durable; they didn’t have mutations or even numbers on their side. Even with the current biotechnology, a construct of that level would require all the Main Families working together, pooling resources, time and manpower. Simply unthinkable.

When the Core had talked with them, they hadn’t thought much of it, but the expert seemed very reluctant to the idea even after his own weird test. Fortunately, its secret mission had nothing to do with theirs. They would have probably told everything.

Then they had stumbled upon that… that scene of horror.

It had somehow led to the dog handling the scumbag while he helped the victim.

The small normally feathered girl was understandably agitated and kept blindly trashing around. Vester wasn’t even sure she realised what was happening, lost in her own pain. He could easily overpower her and shove her against the wall or the ground, or knock her out, but he didn’t want to risk she hurt herself even more. Bird types were often pretty weak boned; he would have to seriously hold back. The expert had assured it was not an issue here -how did he even know that?!- and somehow, he was right again; she could be handled like a normal child. Or an adult dotter, maybe?

After shoving whatever the expert had given to him in his pockets and the cover under his clothes, he had softly but firmly grabbed her upper arms, held them against her body, at arm’s length and above the ground to remove her leverage and keep her out of reach. That had the unexpected effect of scaring her stiff. All her muscles locked, her whole body shivering but unmoving, her eyes staring but unseeing, quiet sobs and whining barely escaping her throat. Creepy, but it let him move faster.

They had spotted an emergency cleaning station at the entrance of the floor, far from the destroyed area. A quick test had showed it was still functional, meaning the damage there was not that important even within the wall. The expert had supposed it had a local tank with out-of-date treated water, not useful for chemical burns anymore – why was that even a risk here? – but a good gathering point.

He rushed there as fast as he could. Fortunately, they had opened a wide path for the trolleys, so she girl didn’t hit anything. Keeping the walls and rubbles as far from her as possible was still a good excuse to not directly look at her body. He didn’t trust himself if he glimpsed at her state again. The change of atmosphere and sudden movements made her slightly move her eyes around and whine faster, but it didn’t break whatever mental fugue she was in.

He put her on the ground below the showerhead, keeping a hand on one of her shoulders to make sure she stayed up, and pulled the handle down. Cold water splashed down, replacing her constant sobs by a loud, but brief shriek:

“KYAAAAAaaaaaaa… aaaaa… a?” She shut her eyes and did wide circles with her arms to fend off the perceived attack. When nothing happened, she blinked and looked around, still shivering. Her head jumped left and right, but she didn’t move from the water jet. “Wha? Wha? Who? Whe?”

Vester’s shoulder slacked in relief; she was back. Her eyes eventually settled on him and she tensed again, falling silent and her arms rising against her chest in an instinctive attempt at protection.

Suddenly very self-conscious, the feline mutant turned around and sat on the ground, pointedly looking in front of him. He tried to think of something to say, to reassure and calm her down, but all that came was:

“Hrm. It’s alright, you’re safe now.”

Lame.

“Take your time. That was very bad. Nobody’d expect you to be alright after that.”

Lame! Do better!

“I have, uh, haemostatic, painkillers, bandages and disinfectants, and… ointment? For you if you want.” He described as he emptied his pockets. “And, a cover. To cover you. If you, uh, want to cover.”

Uh, just shut up now. You’re making it worse.

His only answer was the noise of running water. He didn’t dare to turn around. Even when the water stopped and only falling drops broke the silence, he glared in front of him, to the corridor he had just carried her through. After a while, something else filled it:

“Who… who are you? Where are we?” A small voice. More of a whisper, really.

“Name’s Vester. I’m in the rescue team. We’re in the Core. The lowest floor of some factory.”

“The Core!? … a factory?” The initial shock of the news was quickly dulled by natural incredulity. “There’s a factory in the Core?”

“I know right?” He smiled even if nobody could see it, glad that someone else voiced his own feelings. “I don’t know what they made, but it involved nanites in some way. That guy was way too happy about it. It’s abandoned now though. Just a long-forgotten relic of a long forgotten past.”

“How did we get here?”

“You don’t know? What do you remember?”

Silence. Heavy silence. Then the noise of falling water. Vester didn’t blame her for trying to drown the feelings away. But before the shower stopped again, she was talking, taking her time to choose her words:

“We were coming back from our break, my friends and I. Then, a red alert. We walked to the closest safety room as fast we could. We knew not to run, that just leads to panic and accidents. We were not the first to arrive, and not the last. I think, there two people before us, and one person arrived just before the force shields went up. With my two friends and I, we were six in total. Way below the room’s limit.

Then, chaos. I don’t know what happened. I hit a wall. Everything was flying around. Even us. I couldn’t even tell up and down. Everything moved too fast. Glob quickly grabbed us and protected us with his body. That’s our big friend. I think he took someone else too. Everyone within arm’s reach. He is just nice like that. I was in the middle, so I was less exposed. I don’t know how long it lasted. It felt like an eternity. Then it stopped, as suddenly as it came. I was fine, mostly, and Zi- my other friend was wounded but still awake. Then I got up from the pile, and that’s when I realised how bad things were. There was blood and dents everywhere, even on the walls and roof. Everyone else was hurt or unconscious. Glob had protected us, but he had paid the price. He was so hurt he couldn’t move. All his bones were broken. The rest… I don’t know. The three of us were the only ones still conscious. The others didn’t react, even when I lined them up and turned them on their back. I hope I didn’t make things worse. I couldn’t just leave them be.”

Her voice kept getting lower and lower, as she was. Vester didn’t turn back, but he could tell she was crouching down. They didn’t notice the water had already stopped running.

“Then… Zila moulted. He has a reptilian mutation, but I didn’t know he could do that. He seemed upset that it happened, but not surprised. He was itching everywhere, but he couldn’t scratch himself. He had a broken leg, so I… I helped him remove his clothes. His skin swelled and peeled all over. I, helped removing it too. He was very hot. I could almost see steam going off him. When we were done, his whole body had a new skin, and most of his wounds were gone. He didn’t seem hurt at least. He could stand, and he shoved his moult in a corner. Angrily. As if seeing it hurt him even more. Then-”

Her voice started breaking, so Vester tried to stop her. No point in going through that again:

“It’s fine, you already answered my question, no need to go-”

“Then he started rambling.” She didn’t hear him. She wasn’t whispering anymore. The words just spilled from her mouth, like an unstoppable flood of raw emotions. “I don’t know what’s gotten him. He didn’t even bother to put his clothes back. It wasn’t cold anymore anyways. He was pacing up and down. He kept shouting about betrayal. Wasted effort. Expandable. Lost time. Sacrifices. I didn’t understand. We tried to calm him down. Remind him that help was already on the way. Since no one had mutated, the shield would keep holding as long as necessary. It could be a lot worse. Whatever had happened was already done, so- so it should be fine now. It- it didn’t work.”

Sobs mixed with the deluge of words, not slowing her down one bit. Her shivers were back, and were getting stronger.

“It- it made it worse. He- he shouted that we knew nothing. That- that we couldn’t understand. That we were do- done for already. I don’t know. Something snapped in him. I don’t know what. I don’t know why. He turned against us. I don’t understand. He shouted at us. He had so much venom! I don’t understand. He started beating up Glob in the face. Only in the face! Glob couldn’t move. I don’t understand! He asked him to stop. I asked him to stop. Begging him! He didn’t stop. I don’t understand. We were friends. Why did he- why did he- And when I tried to stop him- he just shoved me away! I couldn’t do anything! I don’t understand! And when he was too tired from beating him, he turned to me and he… and he… AAAAH!”

Vester almost jumped out of his hide when she grabbed handfuls of his back fur and bawled against his spine.

“WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WE WERE FRIENDS! WHY? WHY? JUST WHYYY?”

Only wordless cries followed, but words were not necessary to convey her feelings. They were all too clear for the world to hear.

Vesper had thought he knew what pain and anguish were, that he was familiar with human suffering. He realised now, how naïve he was. His life had been easy. Not even remotely at risk, even on the job. Even at that point, questioning what just hours before were the most important parts of his life, he still couldn’t fathom what it would feel like to be in her place. Every time he tried, the pure emotions and grief in her voice showed him how wrong he was, stopped him from pretending. Even to himself.

For the first time in his life, he was forced to face the truth: he was nothing but a brat, spoiled by an easy life, where all the important choices had been made before he was even born, and never had he questioned it.

Even now, with a sobbing girl in need of comfort, he couldn’t think of anything to say. All he could thing about, was himself. And he hated it. But he still couldn’t say anything.

After an unknown amount of time, her cries abated, leaving only shaking sobs. Then came wet sniffing. And lastly, silence. A heavy silence and two changed hearts, one numb and the other heavy.

The feline mutant threw the cover over his shoulders like a cape, covering and hiding her from the rest of the world. She mumbled a thanks, but didn’t move. Drained and exhausted, and feeling safe for the first time in what felt like an eternity, she fell asleep. Vesper only noticed thanks to her breath, long and regular, for she didn’t still hadn’t let go of him. He didn’t know how long he took to realise, but it didn’t matter anyways. He wouldn’t move. He didn’t want to wake her up. He just waited, in an empty hallway, alone with his doubts.

Right until the silence was broken by voices, footsteps and wheels. The others had arrived, and he wasn’t sure he liked the way the conscious ones were looking at him.