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17
I wantto say the deeper we went, the more inviting the place became. Maybe some pink paint here, a disco ball there. Heck, some mood music wouldn't have gone astray, either.
Instead, it was more of the same. Dark, dank and increasingly cold.
"It occurred to me," I said, halfway down a third flight of stairs. "An IF attack might not destroy this baddie bunker. We must be pretty far down."
Zarex, who managed to work his way through to walk beside me, said, "I was thinking the same thing. We would survive for a while before we ran out of air if they collapsed the entrance."
"Yeah, no thanks." I wrinkled my nose. "The Iri would die the same way."
"The nanobots might not though." He slipped his hand into mine and drew me closer to him.
"They might lie dormant for a thousand years until some well meaning Freytauri archaeologist excavates them and it starts all over again." That wasn't a cheery thought. I felt bad for the fictional, far future folk.
"We'll do what we can to make sure that doesn't happen," he assured me. "Whatever we need to do, we'll make sure they're destroyed forever."
"I know," I said. "I just…this place is getting to me, I suppose. It's so miserable here. Give me some sunshine and a nice beach any day. Or a park. Or a view of the stars. I'm not picky."
I wasn't. Weren't dungeons located underground to add to people's despair? Okay, maybe not, they were probably placed there for convenience, but additional misery was likely the result.
"You could go back out." He gave me a quick, sideways glance.
"You're starting to sound like J'avet," I told him.
"My wisdom must be rubbing off," J'avet said from ahead of us. "It's about time."
Zarex chuckled softly. "I wouldn't say that. I just want to keep Edie safe."
J'avet glanced over his shoulder. "Me too," he said softly.
"Same with me," Slek said. He sounded tired. The strain of thinking with a head full of angry bots must be draining.
"M-me t-t-to." Danec's stammer was getting worse.
"Sounds like we're all in agreement," Zarex said.
"I'm still not going back," I said. "Especially not alone."
Slek stopped a few steps from the bottom of the stairs. "The bots are more excited. We're close."
My heart skipped. I admit it, part of me wanted to turn tail and run. Get off this rock and let the IF blast it all the smithereens. What was a smithereen anyway? I would have to look it up later.
We descended more slowly now and in silence. Or as near to silence as that many people could go.
We reached the bottom of the stairs and into a better lit section of the building.
Also a more heavily populated one.
We were immediately passed by a handful of Iri, none of which spared us more than a glance. Those that did kept moving at the sight of the blasters. Clearly they thought their fellow hosts had the situation well in hand.
I would have liked to free them all on the spot, but we couldn't risk doing that here. Not yet anyway.
Regretfully, I followed Slek toward a room so bright I had to half close my eyes to let them adjust.
When they did, I gaped.
At least twenty Iri moved around the room, all with the same robotic expression. Computer banks lined the walls, flashing with lights in every colour I could think of. It was as close to a disco ball as I had seen here. Turn off the overhead lights, crank up some tunes and you had the perfect underground club. Apart from the whole baddie den vibe.
