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Chapter 14

Tunnel Network, beneath Pan City

"Why is there a rat in that box?" Vinny asked suspiciously.

We had stopped to recharge the crawler bikes somewhere in Level Five while my Organic companions took some much needed relief. The hour was just after midnight and it was our first moment of rest following a chaotic flight from South Wall.

Vinny and Eleanor were leaning against a wall, eating some of the dried rations we had brought from Deep Below while Earl stood watch. Technically I was on watch too, even with a recharging cable hooked into my hip. One of the advantages of being a mechanical, being able to remain conscious without interruption.

"It's a present for David" Eleanor lied glibly, stroking the white rodent while feeding it some of her salted fish. "He told me he always wanted a pet rat"

"Is that so?" Vinny mused, sending me a flat-eyed stare. "Well David, what are you going to name this new pet of yours?"

I met Vinny's challenge head on and told him.

"Rat" I replied instantly.

"Don't be silly, David" Eleanor countered. "His name is Goliath"

Vinny laughed and shook his head, flicking his eyes between me and the rodent.

"You mean as in 'David and Goliath'?"

"Is that an unusual name for a small white rodent?" I asked.

"Well, it's a lot better than 'Rat' " Vinny conceded. "Quite appropriate in a way"

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An hour later we were moving again, following a different route than the one we had come by. Vinny was taking us through the higher levels, risking discovery by a random patrol or being scanned by a sensor array in order to avoid pursuit from April and the Redbacks.

Vinny and Earl were in the lead, each of them carrying one of the weapon cases strapped on the back of their crawlers. I had Eleanor with me on my crawler, with Goliath perched in his box between the handlebars, a pair of cargo ties holding the container in place.

He watched me with his brilliant green eyes constantly, as if marvelling at how he had come to be owned by a two metre tall metal giant. I examined him too, wondering if I could train him to sit on one shoulder while I did my rounds as town Sheriff.

An alert pinged urgently into my awareness and I quickly absorbed the data it presented.

"Vinny! I just got pinged by a laser scanner!" I called out to him. I rotated my head and checked the way we had come and saw distant movement.

We were on a transport road that ran beneath the city, one of thousands used by automated cargo trains to move goods and personnel from one District to another. It had limited sensor arrays but the roads were used frequently by mechanicals that had their own detectors.

Although using the road for private purposes was not exactly illegal, if there was any security presence we were bound to be scanned and possibly questioned. Not a good idea when some of us had no Idents and were transporting containers filled with weapons.

"There is a service tunnel about thirty metres ahead on our left" Vinny yelled back. "Head for that and let's hope they don't check on us"

We quickly pushed ahead and crowded into the side shaft. It was too low for me to remain on the crawler so I dismounted and took up position facing the opening, the Pulse gun Vinny had looted held at my back ready for use if needed.

All too soon there was a rumble of hard rubber wheels as an electric cargo train cruised past the service tunnel. On the leading tractor was a basic working robot, configured in a humanoid design like myself but much smaller and weaker. It swivelled its sensor head to examine me as it trundled past, laser scanner playing briefly over my crouched body.