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

Milo retreated two levels from the entrance to the fusion levels, just in case, before sitting down to rest and talk to Rusty. He checked his injuries over and made some adjustments to the drugs and nanites being released into his body. This larger suit could take care of him almost as well as his pod. It recommended several days of rest. Milo decided that an hour would be all he would take.

"Where do you think he got those guns, Rusty?"

"Oh, those were put there by Jeremy. He was worried people would try to stop him. He hid four of the construction robots in the fusion area. All the rest were shipped elsewhere. They were brand new back then and really, really expensive. Pretty stupid though, not like Max and the other Roomba. They need constant control and stop after doing each job."

"You knew about the guns?"

"No. My other has been talking a lot and bragging. Your idea to not talk to him is brilliant! He's getting so mad! It's fun just to listen to him and not say anything. Jeremy used the Franklins to fill in the other entrances and install the guns. But he didn't let me play with the Franklins. I couldn't fire the guns."

"What's a Franklin? A robot?"

"Friendly Franklin, a type of versatile robot for doing construction and other things. They look like a big box with mechanical arms."

Milo remembered seeing Friendly Franklin offered for sale but hadn't ordered any. They weren't designed for ducts or tubes. They needed hallways to move along and looked clunky. He might have to reconsider and take another look at them.

"Rusty, how much do you know about the fusion levels?"

"Um, almost nothing. And I don't think other me knows much about upstairs. When we talk, sometimes I find out I know about new things, and I can tell you about them. It's confusing. Sometimes we're two people, and other times there's just one, but I'm talking to myself. It's been a long time since we were one person."

"Interesting." Milo knew that 'memory' for an AI wasn't the same as for a human. Or for him, for that matter. Memory for normal humans could be partial and flawed, with only some of the experiences available to be recalled. For him, it was nearly perfect but was filtered through his own perspective. All of his siblings had noticed a difference between what they remembered in the real world and cyberspace. When connected to computing systems huge amounts of information were available with just a thought, but not once they logged out. It was just part of their world back then, the way things worked, but it gave Milo clues about how Rusty and Icarus interacted. As much as they were at odds with each other, he suspected data flowed back and forth between them. Part of what Rusty called 'cheating'. Icarus might be ahead of Rusty in that way. How much better was a scary thought.

"What about security? Did Jeremy have any security Roomba like Max or the black ones in Downtown?"

"I...don't know...sorry, sorry, sorry. I think I used to know."

Max and his posse immediately started beeping at Milo, informing him that there were currently eight functioning security Roomba in the fusion levels. Four others were non-functional, and the eight were barely working but armed. "Thanks, guys. Big help. How about maps and other information? Can your guys over there give any of that up?"

More beeps and Max projected a holographic image of the area, which differed from the plans Milo had seen in quite a few ways. "Good job, Max. Please give them a message from the System Administrator that they are to head to the repair and refit center to fix anything wrong with them and power down for forty-eight hours. They deserve a break."

Max agreed and relayed the message, reporting to Milo that all eight were now shut off.

Rusty started shouting, "OH BOY! Is he mad! He says you don't get to take his toys!... Oh, wait. Now he's being nice. He says he didn't know they were hurt that bad. He's going to make sure they get the upgrades they need." The AI paused, then began again with a sad note to his voice. "He's a lot more fun when he's mad and shouting at me."

Milo opened the door to one of the weapon areas. "Don't worry. I'll be giving him some things to be mad about soon."

The computer terminals in the weapons storage were all linked, making Milo's search easier. The automatic system had made a record of Dr. Jeremy Cooper taking an automated .50 caliber SENTRY machine gun, along with an M139 THUNDERBOLT minigun in addition to ammunition belts, auto-turrets, and armored gun shields. The specs were available on all the weapons, making his plans much easier to formulate. He took some time to isolate the computers that monitored the arsenal of weapons from other systems, just in case Icarus was watching. Then he went shopping.

Reviewing the footage taken by his suit confirmed that the two guns firing at him were behind shielding and matched what he had found in the records. The other pertinent fact was that the stairs and corridors that linked the two areas of the complex were made of collapsium with a thin layer of concrete disguising the indestructible metal. The .50 caliber gun had chipped the flooring. The minigun had gouged trenches, destroying the outer layer. Milo didn't want to give Icarus another chance to shoot at him, but he needed those guns out of action. He went shopping in the vault that had contained the LAW rockets and Bazookas. In the back, he found twenty-four large plastic gun cases over eight feet long, each containing one S99HAPSAM. (Stinger Heavy Armor Piercing Surface to Air Missiles). Affectionately known as 'Happy-Sams', by paramilitary groups around the world, they were the answer to enemy gunships and tanks, able to be fired by a team of two men. Milo picked up two in each arm and walked back down to the makeshift barrier, calculating angles as he went.

He needed some time to modify the explosive warheads. For his plan to work, the warhead couldn't explode on the first impact. Luckily, there was a warhead available to him in storage that would do what he wanted. The missile was designed to penetrate the hard outer shell of a bunker or tank and then explode, whereas a normal missile would explode on impact with ablative armor. The impact of the missile itself might destroy the guns, but Milo would rather be safe than sorry. Setting the timer on the explosives for a two-second delay after firing, he aimed down into the corridor where he could see down the stairs to a patch of floor and the wall beyond.

He fired the first Happy-Sam, dropped the weapon, took two steps, and picked up the second as the first missile hit the floor, then the wall, made it halfway down the corridor before it bounced off the ceiling, and ended its flight in the middle of the T intersection. As it hit, Milo was firing the second, this one taking an entirely different flight path. He picked up the 3rd and fired again after moving. If he could calculate ballistic trajectories, so could Icarus, and he could fire a lot more bullets per second. Milo didn't want to dodge minigun rounds bounced his way. The downside of the minigun was needing a few seconds to warm up. He was about to fire the fourth when the sound of thousands of rounds of ammo cooking off made a bang bigger than 76 Fourth of July celebrations all at once. Smoke and dust vomited from the stairway.

Before Milo knew what they were up to, his Roomba launched themselves down the stairs, curiously silent, as they wisely didn't announce their presence with a hard rock ballad. Lemmy had been outvoted and would have preferred to be charging to the sounds of 'Ace of Spades.' Milo cursed but didn't follow. If the minigun was still active, there was no reason to give Icarus another target.

He heard nothing for a full minute, and then the sounds of 'We are the Champions' came echoing up the hallway, occasionally accompanied by an exploding round of ammo.

Rusty's voice spoke in Milo's ear. "Something changed! He's working hard to get around my blocks. I have to concentrate. Hurry!"

Milo walked down the stairs, taking the last Happy Sam with him. There was a new opening at the end of the tunnel into a large room that had once been a security station. The two corridors went around the room and merged behind it. Milo decided to move through the new opening and skip the hallways. The Roomba moved in front and behind him. When they exited the next door, one went right, one left, and Max scouted ahead. The sounds of lasers firing came from the side corridors. The Roomba had found the four Friendly Franklin robots, two in each corridor, and shot their power packs from behind, deactivating them.

After that, the trip was anticlimactic. For the next hour, they scouted the warren of empty control stations filled with automatic systems that monitored and controlled the fusion reactor and the infinitesimally small black hole at its center. Every room and corridor had heavy shielding against the magnetic fields that controlled the plasma from the Fusion Reactor. Vast amounts of energy were generated from a thin stream of heavy hydrogen atoms, or H3. Excess heat could be vented into the singularity. Milo had two goals: Keeping the reactor from reaching catastrophic temperatures and yet keeping it running. Without the reactor and singularity, Rusty and Icarus would both die as the facility shut down. Stored power would only last so long.

Further and further, they went, encountering no resistance and hearing nothing from Icarus. Finally, there was only one place left to look for Jeremy, and Milo had suspected he'd find him there all along. It was out of the way and extremely dangerous. Underneath everything was a small area dubbed the Secondary Emergency Control System. It could be used to control the reactor in emergencies if other methods were inoperable or destroyed. Its connections went directly to the Fusion Reactor. But to get to it meant a trip down a collapsium corridor filled with hard radiation and temperatures that soared over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The staff there had been locked into months-long shifts and were rotated out twice yearly. Milo found heavy hazmat suits in the room before the corridor and wasn't impressed. His own suit had more protection, but then Max pointed out something by using a laser pointer to spotlight where Milo's suit had taken damage.

"You think those are weak points? Maybe you're right. Can't be too careful." His armor made him the size of a normal adult male, and after some work, he managed to fit inside the largest of the hazmat suits. As a last precaution, tied to the back of his suit was a long steel cable hooked to Max. If he collapsed in the corridor, Max could drag him out. He opened the first part of the airlock, noting the temperature inside had been over 400 degrees. Max rolled in next to him, with the other Roomba hooked into the door controls. The second door opened, and Milo took a step into the corridor. The temperature was over 800 degrees and rising. He moved as fast as he could to cover the two hundred feet to the next airlock. The far door opened to his touch.

"OK, Max. I'm releasing the hook." The wire dropped to the floor, but instead of Max closing the far door, his not-so-little Roomba buddy raced down the corridor, putting his upgraded speed to the test. The rubber outer layer of Max's wheels melted off, leaving him rolling on steel cylinders, but other than that, the shielding Rusty had designed did its job. Milo slowly shook his head at the antics of his faithful buddy but was smiling as he shut the door. Beyond was a large control room, living quarters for six people, and a medical center. In the middle of the floor of the medical center sat a heavily modified pod with a body inside.

If this was Jeremy Cooper, he wasn't doing well. His weight was down to only ninety pounds, and the body inside looked almost mummified. Milo looked at the readouts and the latest diagnostics. He was only alive because of the pod, with nearly all major organs failing. But most distressing was his nervous system, with only .063% of normal electrical activity in the shrunken brain and nerve cells.

Several thick cables ran from the pod. A console was moved to the side, and panels and machinery were missing. Beyond was a complex control panel and computer station that Milo recognized as part of a Quantum Core. Jeremy had wired himself directly to Icarus to stop him.

The dusty screen glowed brightly. "Welcome, Milo. Would you like to play a game?"

Icarus was waiting for him.