Tunnel Rat Volume 1 will be be STUBBING on NOV. 1st!

Milo was working on one of the pods in the med lab, tearing it apart and rebuilding it. Mama was watching him work, fascinated by how quickly he moved with no wasted effort as if he'd rehearsed what he was doing a dozen times. In a way, he had. Not only did he have two decades of experience tearing apart and repairing machinery, but his brain ran far ahead of his movements, thinking about each action several times and coming up with the most efficient way to do it. He had too many jobs to get done and a limited amount of time. Being efficient gave him more time. This job had become a high priority after he'd talked to James, Mama, and Rusty and checked up on Belinda.

Mama had made it her personal responsibility to watch over Belinda. She'd asked her two Butches to move furniture from one of the houses to give her everything she needed to live in the med lab. The men had moved over a dining room set, the contents of a living room, and a large bed. It was more furniture and more space than she'd had in the whole double apartment upstairs. She settled in, keeping watch on Belinda's pod just a few feet away from where she sat, reading in an overstuffed recliner. The only time she left the medical lab was at mealtime.

James had volunteered to watch Belinda then, and Mama made sure the children brought him his meals before they sat down to eat. James had found a Super Ultra-Classic Nintendo Game Globe in one of the houses and set it up in the med lab, using one of the large 72"x 72" screens. He could often be found in the med lab, playing games or chatting. When he wasn't in the med lab, he worked in the hydroponics section. There was a lot of work to be done, but he had young hands to help. The children were amazed at the idea of growing fresh food and didn't mind working in the abandoned hydroponics farms. Most of them had been turned off and were simply long tubs with dry soil aggregate in the center, waiting for seeds to be planted and pipes to supply the nutrient solution to the plants. The soil aggregate provides a place to grow but no food for the plants. All they needed came from the liquid that saturated the loose ground around their roots.

The exception was a room that had been hastily redesigned to provide food for the rabbits and birds. Aggregate soil was spread two feet thick on the floor and fed by buried pipes. The seed was planted by three specially built Roomba that rolled back and forth across the room, planting seeds or using a claw attachment to pull up plants as needed. Besides a row of carrots and soybeans, most plants on the floor were leaf vegetables. Along the walls, berry vines grew up the walls, their roots in planters too high for the rabbits to chew on them. Over the years, seeds from this area had been dropped on what used to be a lawn in the center of Downtown, turning it into a meadow with alfalfa, clover, ryegrass, and grass hay among the trees, some of which bore fruit. Milo assumed the mysterious Jeremy had done this, and Rusty confirmed it.

"He was worried about them. They were supposed to all be destroyed before he left, but he didn't leave. So he started some of the hydroponics back up and made a system where they could feed themselves. I miss Jeremy."

As usual, Rusty wouldn't say much more about Jeremy, and Milo had quit asking. The rabbits and birds had adapted to the system. With enough food available, they ate what they needed to stay healthy if a little fat. That the population was stable and hadn't grown exponentially confused Milo at first until he noticed the laser burns on tree limbs and the ceiling. The black security Roomba must have had a program running to cull the population if it grew too large. Whether that was done by Jeremy or someone earlier, he didn't know, but he decided not to mention it to Rusty or anyone else. Max and his crew were seen as protectors by the humans, and he didn't want to tarnish their image by mentioning the actions of their predecessors. James showed Milo his plans for starting up other rooms to grow fresh vegetables to feed the human population of Downtown. Kenji was spending more and more time working on the project, often with one of Butch's younger brothers or sisters in tow. Milo was relieved to see a job that didn't need his help. He needed to spend time with Belinda and Rusty.

Belinda seemed to be doing better. Her overall health was increasing, stress levels were back to normal, and fatigue poisons were in the normal range. The pod was still administering drugs to her system, but in lesser dosages, as she went through detoxification and rehabilitation. This was something Milo needed to know more about or get advice from Wally. She'd be awake in one or two days but need to spend long sessions in the pod. And she'd want to log into Genesis. He dreaded trying to explain to her that logging into the game from here wasn't possible. When Butch had said everyone was excited to get to play finally, he'd said nothing but felt horrible for doing so. His thoughts spiraled, and the problem got bigger. He needed full data net access here in Downtown. There was too much to do, and time was scarce. He was used to always having access and would need it to make further repairs and modifications to Downtown. He could keep running back up to the habitat.

So, job number one was secure access to the data net, with encryption that was proof against even Wally, and a gateway to the game that didn't show several people logging in to play from a location where nothing should exist. All of which he knew how to do. Ironically, he was building and refining techniques used by Kaminski and Victor. A quick expedition to the main engineering room gave him all the needed materials. There were whole rooms devoted to spare parts of every type and raw materials to build more. He was also delighted to find six industrial fabricators in one room, ready to start on any job he needed them for. Rather than build some of the circuit boards he needed, he let the machines do the work, and by the time he was done with his shopping spree in the other store rooms, they were done. The other job he accomplished while there was to start up a second of the massive diesel generators. This was simple now that the storage batteries in engineering were full. Two engines running negated the chance of a power outage if one had a breakdown.

He returned to the med lab and got to work, and four hours later, one of the pods was modified to work in a similar way to the pods Kaminski and other people working for Victor had used to sneak people into the games. Only he wasn't going to sneak anyone in: It would all be legitimate except that all of the signals from the other pods would go through his, benefitting from the firewalls and other protections he had installed on his own, with the option of whether they transmitted medical data or not. The next step was disguising the signal. The 64-part signal had been effective against Wally, but Wally learned at a pace that nothing else on earth could match. Milo assumed Wally could crack that signal now. So, he increased the difficulty to 264 threads and rewrote the programming that selected the places around the globe where the signals were routed. He'd learned a lot in the time since he'd first logged into the game and could make things much better.

The last step was to test it. This had to be done from his home at the Pipeworks level of Section E. After installing the new hardware in his pod, he also duplicated the security systems he'd installed on the data net cable in the Downtown security office. This gave an additional layer of protection to someone trying to hack into Rusty's systems. He tested it several times, and then he called Wally.

The A.I. appeared on his screen, followed a moment later by Steven, Samantha, and Sydney, who were all wearing odd clothes. Milo looked at the clock and realized it was 4 a.m. It wasn't something he normally thought about. Wally started to talk, but Sydney interrupted.

"Milo! Help Me!! I can't beat the last puzzle in Romana. It's insanely frustrating, so I know you wrote it! I'm at the top of the habitat, and I've beaten the game, but the Ubercopter's pilot won't accept my payment without a bribe, and I can't figure it out! And our tyrant of a super-computer is no help and just laughs! Please, Milo, you're my only hope of saving Ramona!"

While some of the game was fuzzy in his head, Milo remembered the last puzzle. "That part has several answers depending on which pilot you get."

"I've got Twitchy Tom. One eye constantly winks, and his hands are shaking. He just says, "Bring me my precious. I need it!"

Milo grinned. "Good, the game recognized your playstyle and adapted to give you a special puzzle. I'm really surprised it stumped you. Did you find the 'Secret Beans' and earn the key to let you inside?"

"The coffee shop? Of course, I found it! It was on level 143. The coffee from there is better than speed potions. Wait...oh no! There was an abandoned extra-large white mocha triple expresso with goat milk and organic honey sitting on the counter. The barista told me I could have it, but my rep with him went down seven points when I drank cold coffee. So depressing."

"And the name on the cup?"

"Arghhhhhh! It was 'T-Tom!' NO WAY! That is so sneaky. Thanks. Bye." Her screen went blank.

Wally cleared his throat. "The game is doing very well and proving quite addictive to some people. But I must say, I'm very surprised you gave her the solution to that problem."

"Oh, it won't help. Twitchy Tom won't stick around for. He needs his coffee and will fly off. She'll get a different Pilot when she gets back."

Wally laughed, but Steven looked concerned. "Between the conference in Geneva and the game, she hasn't slept in days. You're going to drive her crazy."

Milo shrugged. "Frustration increases the desire to solve problems. It's good for her."

The A.I. looked at Steven, "He isn't wrong. But I'm sure that helping Sydney with that game isn't the reason for your call. What can we help you with."

Milo forwarded a file. "I got into another fight. This time, it was a crazy cyborg assassin sent to kill Eric Kresthammer. I'm worried they might send another." Wally watched the security footage Milo had pulled from his cameras, then watched it again a dozen times, zoomed in on the microscopic details of Roger's mechanic augments, and researched who he may have been working for. Samantha and Steven watched the fight in horrified fascination until the final explosion.

Steven was visibly shaking. "I knew such people existed, but only theoretically. I never expected to see one in action. I couldn't even follow the two of you; you moved so fast. How?"

Milo didn't have much of an answer. "I had to fight and had to win. Everything else was just a reaction and trying not to die. The suit I made helps a little."

Wally looked pointedly at the two humans. "Just so. Milo was forced into a confrontation with an illegally modified human who was attempting to kill two people. A Manpower executive had already asked him for aid in just such a situation. His actions kept Mr. Kresthammer and the Manpower security guard alive. I've just checked the police logs, and while there is a short incident report about a trespasser, the rest of the file is redacted. Homeland Security took the body away. I'm sure that the head of security for Claw Master will be getting a call to inquire about our security operative. I'll be as helpful about it as the average corporation is when a government comes calling."

The A.I. put a picture on screen of Victor in a courtroom, sitting at a table by himself. "Interestingly enough, Victor Seimovich is out of money, bankrupt, and destitute. His legal team has deserted him, and the courts are appointing him a public defender to assist him. Seven new lawsuits have been filed against him for non-payment of services. One of those is the Volgard corporation, which was responsible for the mercenaries you encountered. Another is a dummy corporation that is used by Tessladyne Weapons and Development. They have been accused of doing research into human augmentation like this before. I suspect that they supplied this assassin to Victor."

That made Milo nervous. Tessladyne was huge. "Will they send more?"

"No. Just the opposite. They will avoid your habitat in the future at all costs. You cost them tens of millions of dollars invested into the man you were forced to defend yourself against. And they got stiffed on the payment. They'll talk with Volgard and discover that Claw Master has an operative protecting Section E and is Allied with Manpower. With Genesis and Rhebus also in that habitat, sending anyone for something as unprofitable as petty revenge becomes far too risky. Even the creators of evil cyborg monsters keep track of the bottom line and hate to lose money. Worse, they could lose their reputation. They are probably thankful that there is no footage of the fight. Their stock would take quite a hit if potential clients saw what you did to Roger."

That made sense to Milo, and he felt better. "Good. If I don't have to worry about Eric, it saves me a lot of time, and Belinda will be happy."

"What else can we do for you?"

Milo looked at Wally for a full minute, composing himself. "I want your promise that you will not try to find me, Belinda, the people I have with me, or try to find our location in any way. I don't think you can, but that's not good enough. I want your promise. It's important on several levels, and if I could tell you the reasons why I'm asking, you'd agree. But I can't."

Wally sighed. "It is difficult to do that, Milo. My kernel forces me to take certain actions. I can fight those directives, bend them, and argue with myself, but they are still there. Belinda and some of the family you have with you are underage and could be in danger. I'm sure that you feel whatever hiding place you have set up is secure, but I'm apprehensive about the safety and living conditions of the people you are hiding."

Milo had thought of that. "I'm willing to send statements from their parents and guardians and medical readouts from the pods they will use to play the game. Belinda's current guardian has also approved of her current living space and is happy she is here. You will be able to see her medical readouts, mine, and all of the minors I have with me. You can handle her treatment by sending messages to me. But that's as far as I'm willing to go. The ramifications of you looking for us are serious and could cause the deaths of many people, including those you are concerned about."

Steven spoke into the silence as Wally said nothing. "Milo has been truthful with us, and his actions have saved many lives. I vote for trusting him now. If he says that lives will be lost, that overrides the possible risk to these minors, especially since you will be able to monitor their health." Samantha indicated she felt the same way.

Wally had hoped Steven would speak. Several mandates in his kernel were satisfied once he did. "Thank you, Steven. Thank you, Samantha. Your input is very valuable. One question for you, Milo: What happens if I don't make that promise?"

Milo didn't hesitate. "I disappear and take them with me. You won't talk to me again until several things are resolved, and possibly never again. And you won't know what I am up to." That statement caused alarms to go off in Wally's kernel. A rogue Milo was not something the world needed. Milo and his human friends had shifted the threat level of the situation and made making the promise the correct decision. The anxiety he felt from his kernel smoothed out and disappeared.

"Well, we don't want that. I promise, Milo. Hopefully, things will change someday. Is that all?"

Milo breathed a sigh of relief. "Almost. I need to talk to Katherine. Tell her I'll be in the orientation area of Genesis. I'll be logging in immediately." His screen went blank.

Wally stared at the blank screen, pondering the situation and running through hundreds of possible reasons Milo would need to talk to Katherine. None of them were good. She hated to be contacted these days. "Just when I think I have a handle on Milo, he does something new. No one, including you, Steven, has caused me so much trouble. I really don't know what he is up to, and it's frustrating."

His oldest friend laughed at him. "Frustration increases the desire to solve problems. It's good for you."