Tales from the Wheel

“Mars you say? Bah! It’s still a fucking Dump! The whole bloody place is a sewer. They may mask the stench in districts like Industry Heights, but the ‘cleanest’ parts actually house the worst of the filth.”

- Duke Reginald Mantle, Earth Alliance Council Member in Good Standing.

The Dusters in Under Land.

Summer, Earth Year 2901- Old Sewer Surface Access Hatch’, The Stretch District, Mars.

“We could drop one these babies down there first.” Bambi suggested, leaning up against her parked swoop and casually tossing around one of the three old style frag grenades they had found on the meat wagon. They had been the only real things of value other than a few credit chits a small box of canned goods dubiously labeled “Pork & Beans”. Fortunately, instead of some local ‘mystery meat’, opening one had revealed that each can was stuffed with several small vials of refined Copper Hop that had actual street value.

“To loud.” Charles said, shaking his head. Once they found the sewer entrance area marked on Darby’s map, it had taken him about twenty minutes to clear the sand and unbury the hatch, which did turn out to be there as advertised. Gibson had run a quick scan and found the handle had been reversed on the hatch and rigged so that if anyone turned it in the usual opening fashion it would release a deadly electrical charge. Charles carefully pulled the handle in reverse, and they now stood staring down the open hole at a ladder that descended into deep darkness.                         

“Indeed, no shit it would be too loud. A real genius level of thinking on display there deep purple.” Gibson sneered at Bambi. She just flashed him one of her best fake sweet smiles and winked, “Save it for later then? All right, catch!” tossing it directly at him. Gibson frantically played a quick game of handball as the grenade slipped from his grasp three times before he got a firm grip, falling to his knees and sheltering it in both hands. “Chill out dumb ass! The pin is still in.” Bambi laughed.

“Play time over now kids? Can we get back to work?” Charles’s tone was raised just enough that both of his companions recognized they were potentially in danger of taxing even his legendary patience. They both nodded and Bambi handed Gibson the other two frags to hold onto. For his part Big ‘C’ wasn’t really that put out by their antics. There was just a growing sense of unease and urgency that he couldn’t quite place. However, decades of experience of running with the crew in many dangerous situations had taught him to never ignore his gut.

“Take a quick look Gibs. Spot anything?” Chuck asked. Gibson activated a small hidden panel on the right temple of his glasses. The lens colors changed to green for about 30 seconds and flash scanned down the shaft. He then shifted back to the telescopic view used at the Mounds of Rust for a moment as well. “Tech echo clocks the bottom at 62 meters down. The good news, no more technology other than that electro trap scanned in the vicinity of the ladder. The bad news...” He finished, flipping the glasses from telescopic back to regular, “…visually I can’t clock shit beyond about 18 meters.”

Bambi looked at Charles with a raised eyebrow and mischievous twinkle, “In that case, what’s that old sayin’? Age and bullet proof before beauty?” Charles laughed as he nodded affirmatively.  “And I’m the one who insisted we come all the way out here, but hell if I got a torch on me.”

“No prob big guy.” Bambi pulled a small flashlight style attachment out of one of her pockets and attached it just under Oliver’s barrel. “I got us fuckin’ covered.”

“Nice.” Gibson had to admit, “Just make sure you remember the difference between the switch and the trigger when you’re standing behind me.”

*****

They took another moment to camouflage the bikes as best they could using a blend-in tarp to make them look like a small mound of red sand, at least from a distance. Charles carefully started down the ladder, Gibson reluctantly following next once they saw it could handle Big C’s dense weight. Bambi attempted to provide some illumination with Oliver’s light before starting down herself, but its range of about 20 meters wasn’t much good for the decent, so she holstered him and followed the boys. She drew Oliver and flicked the switch back on the second her feet touched solid ground, keeping one finger on the trigger as she scanned the chamber.

A large junction point from way back when these sewer lines were still active, the old masonry and metal works appeared to be in remarkably good shape given they hadn’t really been maintained in a few centuries. A sudden scratching sound to the left had Gibson yelp and nearly jump out of his skin while Bambi whipped the light around, startled as hell herself although she would never admit it. About two dozen regular sized rodents scurried further back into the darkness. They also caught a quick glance of a few shadows slinking away that were large enough that whatever cast them would have to be roughly the size of a house cat at least. “Rats,” Charles, clutching his scatter blaster, breathed only slightly easier with the revelation. “Some very…large rats.”  At least they weren’t the two-legged kind.

“Play time over now kids? Can we get back to work?” Gibson hissed quietly, mimicking Charles but not in a mocking way, “Can we bloody get this over with quickly?” Both his companions nodded without saying a word. As the skittering and chittering still echoed in the distance, this place really began to feel like it belonged in some old horror flick. Three different tunnels exited from the junction. Darby’s map had indicated the right tunnel was the place to begin. Gibson pulled the map and downloaded schematics of the sewer up on his right lens and set the left one on a steady low level Tech echo scan. “Thought this attachment would be a little fuckin’ brighter.” Bambi muttered under her breath as the three of them edged cautiously forward, Oliver’s dim light casting almost as many shadows on the tunnel walls as it chased away.