Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“We ask all Arcology residents to remain calm during this crisis and be aware that the Overseers Office has everything well in hand. We expect to restore normal ARC operating procedures in the next few days and ask that you conduct yourself as expected of Gentech citizens. The Office of the Overseers thanks you for your patience”

- Message played on Arc information network following Geoplant disaster

20:00 ,14th September, Upper Arc Executive Apartments

Candles stood throughout the apartment, its tastefully decorated glass and metal wall decor accentuated with real wood. The taste was reflected in the furniture, the paintings on the walls, and expensive alpaca wool rugs. The apartment rose two stories high, with an open plan lounge and kitchen on the bottom level and spiral staircase leading up the bedroom, letting it look over the apartment below and offering a amazing view out of the glass wall that angled up from the floor. Nestled in the high ARC, beneath the top of the pyramid, the lounge and bedroom both had spectacular views over the valley towards the spaceport.

Groans and sighs came from the bedroom, where two figures intertwined on the king sized bed, warmly lit by the candles set around them.

Michelle sat atop Samuels, her hips astride him as she rocked back and for, eliciting groans of pleasure from the older man. His hands grasped greedily at her breasts, kneading them as he gazed admiringly at her smooth toned skin and amazing body. She moaned and sighed, running her fingers through the greying hair on his chest as she writhed. For a moment they both shuddered in unison before she collapsed on his chest, both panting from exertion.

Slowly Michelle rolled to the side, gently gasping for breath. After a few minutes of recovery Samuels wearily stood and walked to a nearby chair, pulling a silk kimono around him.

“Would you like anything to drink Michelle?”

She rolled over to look at him, his eyes drawn to her perfect ass.

“Could you bring me some orange juice,” she said, voice still breathy from her exertions, “I don’t trust my legs right now.”

“Well get ready for more,” he grinned, kneeling down to kiss her, before standing and giving her a possessive look. “Round two will start shortly,” he announced, walking across the marble floor and down the staircase that led down to the lounge and kitchen area.

Michelle smiled wistfully at him until he dropped out of sight, then allowed the smile to fade before sitting up swiftly, all sign of breathlessness gone.

“You could at least have let me cum as well!” she muttered quietly, reaching over to pick up her smart pad. Samuels wasn’t a bad lover, but tended to think that his skill let her orgasm as he did. She could have disabused him of the fact, but stoking his ego was half the reason she slept with him in the first place. Well, most of the reason actually.

Hopefully when he returned she might actually get to enjoy the sex. She checked at her smart pad, once again searching for any message from Karl. Unlike her corporate fuck buddy, her boyfriend fucked like a god, the two of them spending whole days around her apartment just making love. They would be making love right now if the stupid lock down hadn’t occurred, and since he was being a prick and not messaging her, it was only fair that she use the opportunity to cement her hold over the overseer. Besides, Karl would accept that sometimes she needed to encourage her boss, understanding the advantage it gave them both to have him besotted with her.

Thinking of Karl made her chest tighten in worries. It had been twelve hours since the explosion in the Geoplant and they’d had no contact with the workers. She’d managed to bury her worries deep inside. Karl was smart and capable and the surrounding tunnels would prove a good refuge from the damage, but every moment with no news caused the ice in her chest to grow.

Michelle would be the first to admit that she was probably somewhere on the sociopathic spectrum. She only observed many of society’s norms because it was expected, not because she felt strongly compelled to, but somehow a welder from down-ARC had ingratiated himself into her heart, and it had opened her up to this pain. She once again checked the progress of the work crews, trying to excavate the elevator shaft to the Geoplant, hoping they had made progress. A flashing email drew here attention and she opened it before swearing.

“Sir!” she called out as she moved from the bed to pick up her robe, “You have a urgent email from the excavation crew. Apparently they are close to clearing the shaft and they want to know if you want to be present.

Samuels appeared at the bottom of the stairs, two glasses in hand. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then sighed, placing them down on a nearby table.

“I’m sorry my dear but I should go down and be there when it’s opened. There’s bound to be a hell of a mess and a Overseer should be present!” He marched up the stairs and into the en-suite. ”I’ll grab a quick shower and then head down to the excavations. Could you tell them I’m on my way?” She nodded and hurriedly typed out a reply, excitement building in her chest. She considered dressing and going down to join him just in case Karl was amongst the survivors, but decides against it. What if he wasn’t, or was injured? She wasn’t sure she could maintain a professional appearance if she saw him. And if he was hurt.. She shied away from the through. No, Karl would be fine. She’d wait in her apartment for him to call or for news.

Five minutes later Mr Samuels was striding out of his apartment towards the lift, and Michelle was heading to her own abode, planning to wash and ready herself for whatever news the next few hours may bring.

Lower ARC apartments

Artemis swore under her breath as the low battery sign on her e-book reader flashed again. Unfortunately, this time her mother heard her.

“Art, you know I don’t like bad language in the house!” she said sternly from the kitchen, her red hair looking deep crimson in the emergency lighting.

“Sorry mom, but my reader’s going to run out of power soon. When are they going to fix the lights?”

Ever since the Arc had shaken the other day, lights had started going out all around the lower ARC, to be replaced by the red tinged emergency lighting. Caleb said the ARC was in power saving mode until they fixed the Geoplant, which confused Artemis because her teachers had told the class that the ARC could be powered just by the fusion-reactors in its middle. She asked Caleb about this and he just smiled and said, “Never believe everything a teacher tells you Art. Especially if they’re being paid to say it by a company!” She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that but he’d had to go to work before she could ask again.

“OK Artemis, the food’s ready.” She jumped off the sofa and scampered into the kitchen, her stomach growling in anticipation. The power to the cooking station was off but the security men had passed around self-cooking meals. Her mother had been less than impressed by their taste, so this time she had insisted on adding some extra ingredients after calling the meals a few swear words of her own.

Artemis accepted her bowl and moved to sit in the living room as her mother sat beside her. She took a sip of soup and sighed in contentment, her mother smiled down at her

“Better?”

Artemis nodded energetically, “Better!” The two of them settled down in the half-light, confident that soon everything would be back to normal.

23:52, Geoplant Connection Corridor

David Samuels watched the excavation crew moving the heavy blocks of concrete and rock with an appearance of patience totally contrary to the turmoil he was feeling inside, aware of the importance of putting on a calm face for the workers. The Foreman insisted that the route to the Geoplant would be clear soon, and then the ARC would have to go about the painful task of identifying the dead. David had read the sensor reports about the explosion and knew the extreme unlikelihood of anyone who was in the plant having survived the blast. The best they could hope for was that the Geothermal plug itself wasn’t beyond repair.

They were working in the ARC connecting corridor, where the lift from the ARC stopped before a short walk to the Geoplant access lift. Once almost a hundred meters long, the work crew had only cleared fifty meters or so from the lift. The walls around him were covered in riveted metal and scaffolding, reinforced by temporary joists and supports, holding the cracked and shattered walls together as the excavation drones shifted rubble out of their path. David stood far back from the front, his suit protected by a clear overalls and a full breather mask over his face and head to protect his eyes and lungs from the huge quantities of dust in the corridor. The whine of drills and shouts of the workers echoed up and down the space, as David prayed they’d be through soon just to stop the noise.

“Any time now, sir!” the Foreman called back to him. A former miner, the man had proved invaluable to the rescue effort, and David mad a mental note to reward him in some way, perhaps a public ceremony to acknowledge his team’s work? Yes, that would be excellent, a bit of good press to draw attention from the tragic loss of life, and the even more tragic loss of the Geoplant’s power production capabilities. He and the other overseers needed a win to help soften the blow, particularly before they re-established world communications with home office. A win might save a few heads from rolling after all.

A worker moved into the corridor from one of the side entrances and spoke briefly to the foreman before heading out again and David shook his head. He’d asked the Foreman why he was diverting men to secure the side tunnels, when they didn’t lead to the Geoplant. The man had insisted that shoring up the area around the tunnel would help prevent further collapses and, besides, the workforce he had couldn’t all be at the main excavation at once, so giving his men something to do was good to keep moral up.

A cry of excitement from ahead drew his attention to the excavators, who had hastily crowded around the collapsed rock ahead. The Foreman turned to David and excitedly beckoned him forwards.

“Were through sir, can’t see much at the moment, but we have airflow. Shouldn’t be long now. We’ve picked up a few indications that there might be movement on the other side, We might even have survivors!”

The group of workers were crowded around the pile of rock and concrete blocking the passage, watching with baited breath as the excavating drone painstakingly moved the rubble away. David actually found himself craning forwards with them in excitement, their hope was almost infectious.

Suddenly a rock dislodged from the pile and rolled backwards, workers hastily moving out of the way as the metre-wide lump ponderously rolled to the foot of the pile, revealing a dark hole.

“A torch, quickly!” the Foreman shouted, clambering up the slope. He cautiously leaned his head and shoulders into the gap and played the torch around.

“The corridor ahead is in pretty bad shape, but it looks like there is a route. We’ll need to shore it up first before it’s safe!”

“What about survivors?“ David shouted impatiently, ” Is there any sign of them?”

“No, I can’t see any...hold on, I can see some movement, hello! Can anyone hear me? We’re here to...what the...” The Foreman suddenly screamed and threw himself back from the hole as a black shape scrambled threw and hurled itself onto his chest. David saw a clash of white claws before the man started to scream, blood flying as the thing tore into him. A nearby worker lunged forwards to help but more of the creatures where pouring through the gap. They threw themselves on the waiting men, pulling them down to the floor in a black tide.

One leapt at him, sinking its teeth into David’s arm, but he managed to turn and prevent its jaws latching on. Instead it ripped a chunk of flesh free before sailing by. He screamed in pain and ran, cradling his arm as he sprinted towards the lift, jumping through the doors and slamming the control pad. It started to ascend and he watched as a worker ran toward him, arms outstretched in a plea for him to wait, but he was lost from sight as the floor rose. David collapsed against the metal wall, panting and sobbing as he held his torn arm to his chest to stifle the flow, his mind spinning.

He should be doing something or warning someone, but his mind was blank from shock. He sat there on the metal floor of the lift, rocking gently until something pierced the fog in his mind to catch his attention. There was a noise coming from the shaft below him, audible even above the whine of the lift. It sounded like shifting sand or pebbles. He fought off his shock and stood, stumbling to the end of the lift to peer over the side. He was travelling fast up the shaft, probably only a few seconds from the top but far below he could see a faint light from the open entrance.

“But that should be closed!” he said weakly, blood loss hindering his thoughts, “the blast doors.” His eyes widened in horror. The blast doors that should have closed off the shaft were gone! Torn out by the excavation crew to make the lift usable, without them the things were climbing the shaft wall, heading straight into the ARC itself. And he’d let them in.