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Chapter 4

Deep Below

It had been three days since I was unexpectedly made the town Sheriff. The morning after the fight in the bar, Sami and Vinny had made the announcement in the town's central square in front of twenty or so uncertain residents. I got a small round of polite applause, a half-hearted cheer from Earl and a printed bronze star that was glued to my chest plate.

Eleanor had watched the proceedings from the shelter of Sami's broad legs, her wide brown eyes peeking from behind her guardian's apron. The child seemed terrified and entranced by me in equal measure, although she fled from my halting approach whenever I ventured too close.

"Give her time, David" Vinny reassured me. "From what Sami told me the kid lost her family in a raid by the Guard. Apparently she was being held in an underground cult of some kind and the members fought back real hard. Eleanor got loose and ran for her life, spending at least a week surviving on her own in the Under City. Sami found her starving and scared while she was bringing in some supplies to Deep Below"

"I understand" I replied to Vinny. "She was lost beneath the city, until someone befriended her"

My eyes had watched as Vinny's face coloured, realising I understood how alike the girl and I were.

"Yeah, something like that" he had agreed.

In the intervening days I had explored my new home, sometimes in the company of Earl or Vinny, once with Asimov as he pointed out the various features of the underground settlement. The town of Deep Below was centred in the main hall, yet there were adjoining chambers and facilities scattered across the same level.

There was another chamber to the east, roughly half the size of the main hall, filled with fermentation tanks and glass walled aquaculture pods. The locals farmed small fish and salt-water snails for protein, along with algae that they processed into food bars as well as nutrients for the seafood. In the other direction was a series of high ceilinged tunnels, lined top to bottom with hydroponic racks and growth lights. These produced tomatoes, lettuces and other vegetables that were sold in the fresh food market next to the town square.

A smaller chamber housed Sami's brewery, run by a one-armed woman named Magdalene who swore constantly in language that would make a dock-side worker blush. She only stopped her foul mouthed tirade whenever Eleanor was around, instantly turning into a gushing auntie and proffering candies from the depths of her beer-stained apron.

All in all, it was a busy and thriving settlement. People came and went all the time, some returning to their normal lives above in the Upper City, others heading out on scavenging or wall-running jobs. I was surprised to discover that Earl lived in the Upper City, studying in his first year of college. He spent as much time as he could in Deep Below, but he explained that his parents would send the Police Auxiliary after him if they learned about where he went every weekend. When the young man was in Deep Below, he shared a vehicle maintenance garage with Vinny. At least, it used to be a garage, back when this whole area was built. Now it was Vinny's home, office, storage facility and occasionally extra accommodation.

My friend and benefactor graciously offered me a side room off the central garage space as my own quarters. It appeared to be a tool store some time ago, graduating to Vinny's junk closet before finally, after three hours of solid cleaning out, becoming my first and only bedroom. Not that I really needed to sleep, but it did have a convenient power outlet intended for recharging vehicle batteries.

Once I was leaning against the inner wall, jacked into the power line, there was barely enough room to "swing a cat" as Earl pointed out. However, since I did not possess a domestic feline and had no possessions of my own I deemed it more than adequate.