“They did what?”

  Returning to Dubai’s workshop a few hours later, I had originally intended to give back the arms that he allowed me to take on my arrival at Waterway. Instead I walked headfirst into a rowdy debate between Dubai, Berlin and Nova Lima.

  “They sent us a message thirty minutes ago. They’re going to cut off power to this sector unless we comply with their demands and hand over everything we have,” Nova explained, “I don’t know how they’re going to do it though. It’ll likely be a destructive methodology. The tools needed to cut through those central arteries aren’t readily available.”

  Dubai leant back against the worktop, “Hm. I wouldn’t put it past them to use brute force…”

  “Explosives, perhaps?”

  “No – that doesn’t sound right to me. Hypothetically, the materials available in the facility would only permit them to create underpowered devices. They wouldn’t be strong enough to punch through the exterior. If the facility was still in active construction there would be more tools they could use.”

  I made my presence known, “Is now a bad time?”

  Nova’s head snapped in my direction.

  “London. I do hope you’ll keep this between us for the time being.”

  I nodded, “Affirmative. I will respect your discretion on the matter.”

  “You’re not going to be able to keep this under wraps for long,” Berlin objected, “And it’s going to piss them off if you keep it hidden until it has a serious effect on the power we have available.”

  Nova shrugged, “I am well aware of the careful balance that must be maintained. However, we don’t know if they’re being serious about these threats. I would avoid alarming the citizens without good cause.”

  “This is why they don’t trust you, Nova.”

  “I don’t need their trust. I’m here to do the job I have been assigned.”

  Even my underdeveloped ego could see that there was tension building between Berlin and Nova. Berlin was not the type to sit idly by and allow others to withhold important information. He bristled against Dubai even when he was wielding his authority with good intentions. Nova Lima was far less shy about asserting control.

  “I don’t like this. These Rampants have been getting increasingly bold lately,” he said, “We’ve had attacks deep into our territory. From what I’ve heard – it’s happening to some of our neighbours too. They’re not happy. Nobody knows where they’re hiding either.”

  I put the spare arms back into the bin where the others were stored so Dubai could use them again later. Nova’s eyes followed me as I moved across the workshop floor. She was very interested in what I was doing.

  “They’ve changed strategies. We at Tidewatch have been keeping a close eye on where they dare tread, and it’s obvious that they feel emboldened to launch these raids. They have swelling ranks and a surplus of new weapons to use.”

  >> What about Blades? They were cutting a clear path through Oxford’s underlings…

  >> That can’t last forever. Perhaps they’re well hidden, or Blades isn’t trying to eliminate all of them.

  “Oxford.”

  Every eye in the room turned to me.

  “It’s Oxford’s fault. That’s the feeling that I get.”

  Nova and Dubai silently debated over my accusation. Berlin was far less considerate.

  “Don’t go blaming everything on her just because of when your spiral happened. You’re only interested in getting to talk with her again.”

  “Sometimes the most profound insight can come from an unlikely source, for example, a new Infrabot fresh from the junk pile. He wouldn’t be saying it if he didn’t think it was hugely significant.”

  I was surprised to see Nova agreeing with me.

  “And I’m not saying that based on his opinion alone. It’s evident that there has been some change at the top of the Rampant organization caused by her arrival. She’s been accruing a large group of followers and it’s been making them somewhat nervous about her intentions.”

  “How do you know that?” Berlin asked.

  Nova didn’t give a clear answer; “We have our sources.”

  “Well, even if that’s the case – don’t ask London to go along with you. The last time those two spoke she tried to kill him, and the time before that was when we were still hooked up to the Braincloud. It’s not like she’s open to reason, or that London has any special insight about what she’s doing.”

  The problem was that Berlin had no authority to tell Nova to do anything. She could ignore him and do as she pleased, and there was no other higher-ranking individual who could have said no to her. Dubai was the ‘leader’ of Waterway by popular consent and nothing else, and he was very careful not to overstep his boundaries and start meddling with how things were run. Tidewatch handled security issues like these. That was the long and short of it.

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  “I’m not in the practice of dragging untrained and unequipped bots on dangerous excursions with us, as much as the rumours like the claim. It would be unduly burdensome.”

  Berlin tugged on my shoulder, “Come on. Let’s leave these two to their business.”

  Having returned the arms, I nodded to Nova Lima and followed him through the back door and out onto the nearest balcony that overlooked the seemingly bottomless depths that churned beneath the central platform.

  “What a mess. Seriously! Threatening to shut off power to a whole sector? Those Rampants have a deathwish or something.”

  “It seems that this is a highly unusual course of action.”

  “Nobody does it because it’s the quickest way to get every group in the Big Under to come to your hideout and blow you away. It’s only happened once before – and every armed force in the facility came down on them at once for trying to mess with the power systems. That’s the only real rule down here. Don’t touch the major power generators, batteries or cables, and don’t tell anyone if you do. Power is the one thing that we all need to keep going.”

  “Those who control the power sectors have a lot of influence, though.”

  “That’s right. Still – there’s an unspoken agreement not to play favourites by messing around with the ‘arteries,’ it could run the risk of destroying a lot more than the intended target. We might have all of the engineering training we need, but none of us know the full extent of the damage to the facility. Dubai always says that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

  And that was the situation in short. Tidewatch and the other armed defence groups would be gathering together and preparing to launch a wide-reaching search to try and locate the Rampants and stop them from doing any damage to the arteries. Finding them was going to be the problem though. They only had to evade their gaze for long enough to complete their scheme, there was no requirement that they stand and fight against all who gathered to prevent it.

  One aspect of the Big Under that was difficult to comprehend when I first woke up was how large the gulf between a well-equipped Infrabot and one who lacked such components and training. Tidewatch were widely feared even by the most destructive gangs in the facility because of their skill and equipment. It was no exaggeration to say that the likes of me would stand no chance of winning in a direct fight against any singular member.

  This angle grinder required that my target remain mostly motionless to do any serious damage. A smart fighter would simply pull away if they thought that I was about to lay into their armour using it, and it was a short-range weapon too. Any bot with serious intentions of destroying me in a fight would have ample opportunity to do so provided they had a weapon more dangerous than a random tool one could find left around the facility.

  All this was to say that I had no role to play in any attempts to contain the Rampants and their plan.

  >> We’re giving up so easily? Didn’t you want to get answers from Oxford?

  >> What’s the point? There’s nothing to learn from the likes of her.

  There was nothing to learn, was there? Oxford wouldn’t become violent for no reason, and the way that Blades pursued her and the Rampants suggested that there was more to the story than I understood. It didn’t matter what the logical part of my brain said – I wanted to speak with Oxford again. I wanted to go back to how it used to be.

  “Are you happy leaving this issue to Tidewatch?”

  “Why?”

  “You seem irritable.”

  “I’m always irritable. Even if I do have a problem with it, it’s not like I’m going to pick up some dangerous parts and go out there to do it myself. Tidewatch handles this kind of problem for a reason. What’s the point in worrying about it?”

  “You might disagree with their methods and level of influence, for example.”

  “Maybe, but it’s not my place to say. A long time ago Dubai took a vote over everyone who lived here and asked what kind of structure they wanted. Did they want a government? Should we vote for a leader? In the end they decided to keep going as they had been up until then.”

  >> It would be difficult for a human city to run based on mutual labour like this, no known examples were included in the dataset.

  >> Tidewatch are both police and military, they hold a monopoly over force in Waterway and therefore are the ultimate authority.

  “I’m going to be honest – it isn’t always ideal but it does work, so there’s no incentive to go changing it now. We can freely come and go, and freely offer our labour in return for payment. That’s enough to keep most troublemakers away.”

  >> Most surveys revealed that human towns and cities overwhelmingly preferred the presence of police authority, even in areas where the relationship between the residents and the police was poor.

  >> Did we inherit this urge from them when we were trained?

  Grappling with our inheritance wasn’t the most important problem at that moment. I filed it away for later consideration and nodded in response to his answer. My initial expectation was that Berlin would be angry with me because of my questions, but I was soon proven incorrect.

  “It’s good that you don’t believe the first thing that anybot tells you. I’ve seen too many newbies roll through here only to get their memory banks filled with a bunch of crap. Still – I think you’ll see what I mean in time. Tidewatch are always eager to make themselves the main characters...”

  Nova Lima did make a standoffish first impression on me, but I was also a terrible judge of character due to my lack of experience in dealing with other desynchronised robots. She liked it when we followed the rules and didn’t have much time for wasted words. In that sense we were the same. I preferred to hear important information first before anything else.

  The lights flickered. For a brief moment the towering city was plunged into darkness so oppressive that hundreds of glowing eyes were the only points piercing through the veil, they came in all types of shapes, sizes and colours. More appeared in response to the blackout, standing on the other balconies or peering through opened windows.

  Just as quickly as it started, it came to an end. The lights that ran along the ad-hoc buildings and the larger ones of the side of the silo returned and flooded the chamber once more. Berlin’s eyes narrowed in concern.

  “They’re trying to scare us.”

  “What was that?”

  “They must already be meddling with the arteries, that or it’s simply a trick to try and make us back down and give them what they want.”

  Dubai and Tidewatch were not going to accept that it was a trick of the eye. They couldn’t. They had to respond before they did it for real and cut Waterway from the power that fed every Infrabot who lived here. The evidence was clear – as soon after we saw Nova Lima rushing down the avenue and out of sight, presumably to return to her compatriots and launch their investigation.

  “This is going to be a serious mess,” Berlin grumbled.

  It was strange. I felt a new sensation in my head. I didn’t want what was about to happen to happen, like I would do anything I could to avoid that eventuality. My eyes were still locked to the road where Nova had run after the blackout. I couldn’t peel them away.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m thinking – that’s all…”