When a stranger calls

If Suzy knew about Kevin's intentions, she would've tried her best to dissuade him from going to the surface all alone. So Kevin walked out without divulging his plans and headed back to the Residential District.

There were still a few hours to go before midnight and Kevin just couldn't bear to stay cooped up in his room for so long. His thoughts were already starting to drive him crazy.

To pass the time, Kevin decided to take a solo tour of the Residential District and familiarize himself with the different locations. It was the best way to relax his mind and keep his anxious thoughts at bay

As Kevin strolled across the passage running through the living quarters, he felt several pairs of eyes on him. People dressed in blue track pants and frosty white, high-collared jackets were staring at him from the corner of their eyes.

Their clothes were all made of neolineum, an artificial fiber with self-replicating properties. This meant that any wear and tear on their clothes would be automatically mended in a matter of hours. These were the perfect clothes to wear in a world where resources were scarce, and people didn't have the luxury of being fashionable.

Kevin noticed that none of them had any Zen watches and only wore the most basic communication bracelets which didn't even have the group call feature. These Zigma-10 bracelets had been launched 20 years ago and had fallen into disuse after the launch of Zigma-20, which boasted crystal clear audio quality and remote holographic conferencing (holo-con).

Most people in the Research District used the Zigma-20, and some like Dr. Stacey even had the Zigma-30 Pro, the latest one.

The people in this part of Subcity seemed to hate all modern gadgets and accessories. Part of it was due to the fact that they were difficult to repair, and the other part of it was because most fancy gadgets came with an assistant AI. They were far too paranoid about robots and AIs to have these things just lying around.

After glancing around for a few minutes, Kevin exited subsection C-1, where his room was located, and entered C-2.

Subsection C-2 was the recreational zone and consisted of a fully equipped gymnasium, a small music shop selling earpods and headphones, and a library of sorts. It was a quiet place with little compact fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling and a clean tiled floor.

Beyond C-2 lay subsection C-3, containing the military barracks and ammunition depot which were strictly off-limits to all civilians. It was here that the resistance fighters spent most of their time, either training or simply reminiscing with their fellow fighters.

Kevin wanted to explore this part as well, but the door was guarded. There was a burly, black-haired woman at the door, armed with an old Heckler and Koch UMP—an SMG that had last seen active service 50 years ago.

As soon as she spotted Kevin, she put on her meanest face and turned him away, almost shooing him like a dog. Kevin couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle. She was clearly in no shape to run, much less fight the robots on the surface.

As Kevin continued exploring the other areas of the subway system, the AI beeped in his head, and a new set of notifications flashed in front of his left eye.

// Environmental assessment active

Using exploration data....

Digital map of living quarters is now available! //

"That's useful," Kevin mumbled.

Since the Residential District was going to be his new home now, it definitely paid to have a map of the region. Though it wasn't exactly a huge district like the ones above the ground, it had its fair share of surprises. Having a digital map of the area would help him get familiar with this place and learn more about what it had to offer.

Walking away from subsection C-3, Kevin made his way to the agricultural sector, taking his own sweet time observing all the 3 greenhouses and storage facilities. Luckily, people here were too occupied with their work to stare at a cyborg who was just minding his own business.

Having completed his short tour of the agricultural zone, he headed towards the market. Immediately, another pop-up appeared before him.

// Environmental assessment active

Using exploration data....

Digital map of the agricultural zone is now available! //

Kevin entered the market through the narrow tunnel on his left and was quite surprised by what he saw. There were toy stores, cafes, bookstalls, clothing stores, utility shops, street food stalls, and even a retro-themed restaurant with old wooden chairs and tables.

The chief attraction of this place was an arcade featuring all the old-school classics. There was also a movie theatre right next to it, but it didn't seem like any show was playing at the moment.

Most of the people here were busy browsing new clothes, munching on potato chips, and haggling with the utility items vendor for better prices on their aluminum utensils.

Seeing all this made him feel like he had been sent into the past. He had only seen the hustle and bustle of the old markets in period dramas. While individual shops and stores still existed in some places, in most regions of Technoria, they had been replaced with self-checkout marts and fully automated shopping malls.

If he still had a human body, he'd have loved to try some good old ramen and potato chips. But alas! He no longer needed such kind of nourishment. Still, he enjoyed looking at the others enjoying their steaming bowls of soup and noisily slurping down noodles.

Though he couldn't eat, there were plenty of other things to try out here. He was especially interested in buying one of those shield sunglasses. They'd not only make him look a lot cooler, but also hide his bionic eyes.

Since they'd stopped using tangible currency long ago, money was not an issue. Kevin still remembered his social security code, and he knew he had more than a few thousand credits in his digital account.

He was about to walk up to the accessory store when he noticed that people weren't actually spending social credits but using some type of triangular yellow tokens for payment.

Kevin distinctly remembered that Suzy had used credit points to purchase the omelet back in the Research District. He thought that would probably be the standard currency underground, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

People in the Residential District had very little faith in digital modes of payment. Thus they had switched to the old system of using tangible currency.

Though the Research District and the Residential District were both a part of Subcity, they were poles apart. The researchers still trusted modern technology and made full use of AIs and robots, but the people living in the subway had all gone back to the old methods, relying more on men than machines.

As Kevin stood there soaking in the sights and the scenes, his system displayed another pop-up notification.

// Environmental assessment active

Using exploration data…

Digital map of the market square is now available! //

All Kevin needed to do to complete the digital map of the Residential District was explore the security tunnels. This, however, wasn't the best idea right now, since the guards were already busy strengthening security measures for the Research District and fortifying the tunnels which had been breached by the drones.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the steady beeping of his interface.

// Incoming communication request...

Auto-declining after 10 seconds. //

Thinking it was probably someone from the lab, Kevin accepted the call without hesitation. The voice on the other end, however, sounded completely unfamiliar.

"They're rounding us all up. Men, women, children, even our fucking pets! I think they're gonna kill us...I hope they kill us. I don't want to end up like those damn puppets! If any of you resistance fighters can hear me...don't fucking come to the surface!"

"Who are you?" Kevin asked. "Hello? Who's rounding you up? What's happening on the surface?"

"Mhmpey mhmpre.....mpmpurn...mhmpombies!"

"What? You're breaking up! Hello!" Kevin kept shouting at the top of his voice, but couldn't get through to the other person. The signal was breaking up and all he could hear was an annoying buzzing noise. And then suddenly, the call disconnected, ushering in a disturbing silence.

"Reconnect to the last communication channel," Kevin instructed his AI.

// Last communication channel has shut down.

Unable to reconnect. //

"Fuck! Perform a damn trace. I need to know where the call came from."

// User doesn't have Communication Tracker equipped

Unable to trace the call. //

"Damn it!"

The disturbing call left Kevin agitated. His system didn't have the necessary tracking equipment to trace the call, and there was no way to identify who the caller was. All he knew was that the communication request came from the surface and those people out there were in some grave peril.

The stranger's desperate plea for help reminded Kevin of his own situation a few months ago. He had also been begging to be saved, to be rescued from that nightmare. No hero had swooped down to protect him and his friends, but now he had the chance to make a difference in someone else's story.

Getting to the surface became Kevin's top priority now. He wondered if anyone else in the Residential District had picked up that communication request or whether it was just him. The guy on the other end of the line had mentioned resistance fighters in his cry for help. Perhaps, he also used to be a part of the resistance or had close ties with them.

Kevin decided to inform Dr. Stacey about the communication he had just received from the surface. He walked back to the elevator to reach the armament lab, but the elevator door didn't open. Access to the Research District had been restricted due to the recent security breach. He no longer had authorization to enter the elevator.

"What the hell is happening? I am not a security threat!" Kevin punched the elevator in frustration and tried to force its doors open.

He was immediately greeted by the Research District's assistant AI.

// Warning! Warning! Warning!

Security threat detected!

You have 15 seconds to move away from the elevator. //

All out of options, he tried to use his Local Hacking Tool to override the elevator controls but failed miserably. His simple hacking tool didn't have the ability to get past a level 4 security protocol.

// Using lethal force in…

5…

4…

3…. //

Just as the countdown timer was about to hit 1, Kevin backed away, retracting his hacking tool. Instead of trying to break into the elevator, he decided to contact Suzy.

"Hey, cyborg AI, I need help. I want you to connect to Suzy's communication channel."

// Communication request acknowledged.

Connecting to Suzy Wang…

Failed to establish stable connection.

Please try again later. //

None of this made any sense to him. First, his access to the service elevator had been revoked, and now he couldn't even get through to Suzy. He was about to blow up the elevator door with his laser rifle when he received another communication request. It was Dr. Stacey on the other end.

"What's going on out there? Someone just triggered the elevator's defense protocol."

"That was me," Kevin replied. "I need to talk to you. This is about the surface. A few minutes ago, someone from the surface contacted me. Something terrible is going on out there. We have to save them!"

"Kevin, you need to relax. People can't contact you from the surface. We are several miles below the ground and the communication bracelet's signals can't penetrate these reinforced walls. It's the reason why the machines haven't been able to locate us yet."

"I'm not lying!"

"I'm not saying you're lying." Dr. Stacey paused to catch her breath and then continued in a much softer tone. "I think it's some kind of a trap. Someone's trying to bait you. Whatever happens, don't even think about going out there."

Kevin didn't know who to trust at this point. Dr. Stacey knew a lot more about the surface than him, but he couldn't ignore the stranger's desperate plea for help. It didn't sound like he was lying.

"Kevin, are you there?" Dr. Stacey asked for the second time.

"Yes, I'm here," he replied at last. "I want to know why my elevator access has been restricted."

"We are debugging the Research District's security systems. You can access the elevator a few hours later after the system diagnosis is complete. Right now, only the supervisors have access to it." There was a long pause, after which she added, "I'm trying to make arrangements so that you can join us in our living quarters from tomorrow. You're not alone here. Just give me a little time."

Kevin breathed out a heavy sigh and apologized for his rash behavior. "I'm sorry. I got a little carried away."

"It's okay. I understand how you must be feeling. Just don't do anything rash. You have my communication code now. If you are worried about anything, just ping me."

"I'll stay out of trouble," Kevin promised. "And thank you for everything. See you tomorrow."

After disconnecting the call, Kevin set an alarm for midnight. Dr. Stacey hadn't been of much help, but he wasn't ready to give up so soon. He had other options. Cassandra had promised to meet him outside the arcade at midnight.