Tunnel Rat

Chapter 297: Back to School

Milo spent several hours in the engineering section doing maintenance on two of the huge diesel engines and then started one of them, and left it running, doubling the amount of power available to Rusty. Number three engine had a problem with the exhaust system that Milo wanted to fix before he put it into service. It was a small problem, but he hated the idea of leaving it for later. With power available, the engineering section became a huge toybox waiting to be played with. Instead of scrounging for parts, he had access to an array of repair shops that would let him design and fabricate the defective air purifier. After hours of hard work, he returned to Downtown and smelled breakfast. Looking at the time, he raced to the house he was sharing with Butch and Brad to take off his suit and clean up. He was getting used to the luxury of a hot shower. Today was special and Mama had mentioned to everyone that proper cleanliness was mandatory, now that they had unlimited water.

As Milo was running across the park, waking up the sleeping rabbits, the sky was turning light. Whoever built Downtown wanted a firm Day/Night cycle that mimicked the world above. And while the habitats did something similar, there was only a slight dimming of the lights during the fourth shift, from midnight to six in the morning. The programming of the sky overhead in Downtown became black, stars came out, and the moon rose, following the pattern of the real moon. Milo was comforted by the knowledge that it was fake and that he had a thousand feet of rock above him. He was dealing with being outside in the game but didn't like it and avoided it if he could. He saw no reason to go outside here in the real world.

Mama had told them all that today would be special for two reasons. Firstly, it was the official beginning of school. This was loudly cheered because that also meant it would be the first day they could begin playing in Genesis. The gang had pestered Milo with questions, most of which he couldn't answer because he had skipped the normal character creation process when he selected Ratkin Scout. He also had only a vague idea about the surface world, and the only city he'd been in was Shadowport. Eventually, he had run off to start diesel engines, and the gang pinned their hopes of better information on Belinda.

By unanimous consent, everyone was holding off until Belinda and Milo could log in with them and help them optimize their characters and do the tutorial sessions. Now that they had a working Data Net connection, they had started watching the various gaming channels to get a feel for the game. Rusty had immediately volunteered to help. One of the gang would give him a list of all the things they wanted to watch, download them, and Rusty would put them on the huge display in the entertainment center. With only a rudimentary grasp of how the real world worked, Rusty had surprised them with both the in-depth knowledge he had of some things in fantasy lore and the huge gaps he had elsewhere. Eventually, Brad figured it out.

"You read a few books about this stuff, didn't you, Rusty?."

"Some, only seventeen on my own. Jeremy read most of them to me. I wasn't allowed. For me to read them, I needed the file, but they watched my "Knowledge Intake" really closely to make sure I wasn't given any bad influences. Jeremy said that was ok, he'd be my bad influence and he read stuff to me when I was still figuring out how to think. Jeremy said it was so I would grow up right. Later, when everyone else left, he scanned in all his books so I could reread them whenever I wanted. I have fifty-seven books that Jeremy gave me!"

"Which one had shadow magic in it?" Rusty asked a lot of questions about shadow magic, which Milo knew nothing about, and there was hardly even a mention of it in the game.

"Jack of Shadows! He had lots of cool magic, did cool stuff, and had a secret tower. You should take a character with shadow magic, Brad. Or maybe be a rogue who knows some magic, like the Grey Mouser. Sometimes his magic doesn't work, though, but I'd skip that part."

"I'll try, but I might have to start with something else first, like Apprentice Magician. Magic looks hard to learn, and we might have to start with basic classes and work our way up to something special."

Min agreed, "I'm skipping magic. Milo has a lot of it. If you bug him enough while he's playing games and bring him snacks, he'll tell you about his spells. They sound fun, but then he starts going into fundamental forces, and math, and physics and all the stuff you think magic isn't! Too much like school. I'm just going hit things and leave the math and magic to someone else." Min was currently solving Geometry proofs and working through the start of Trigonometry. Big Butch thought that anyone living in the habitat should understand how things worked. Min could see his point but wouldn't do schoolwork while she gamed.

Butch agreed, "You can't go wrong with a class that focuses on hitting things. I'm thinking about some kind of fighter or barbarian, but a thief might be cool. I want Dad to tell us more about what he did in the game. His unit fought a lot of orcs. They were always fighting and dying and fighting again. And he got paid for it! That's an awesome job."

Min shrugged, careful not to agree too much with her big brother, at least not out loud. "I get paid to game now! So do you. We all get paid each month for testing out the gloves and the stuff they want to add to the Ramona game. We can go fight, die, and fight more whenever we want to now and get paid for it." Butch and Brad discussed that point and grudgingly agreed. They were technically working for a corporation, but Claw Master gave them a lot of days off.

The second and equally happy reason today would be special was that Belinda was scheduled to wake up. Everyone was in the medical center early that morning, Milo with wet hair, waiting for her pod to finish its current treatment program and allow her to wake up. Mama held everyone but Milo back, "Give her some room. She doesn't need a gaggle of people staring at her as she wakes up in a strange place."

Milo was sure Belinda would appreciate that; she'd told him just how often that sort of thing had happened before. She would go to sleep in her pod for a short treatment and then wake up with doctors staring at her in a different city because John had decided to move again. Carefully checking over the pod and delving into its huge amount of medical data, he read the complicated readouts and saw nothing wrong. Her stress and fatigue levels were normal, and she had gone through the first stages of weaning her off the complicated cocktail of drugs that she'd been on, possibly for years. She needed further treatments, but for now, she was in good health and wouldn't feel the stress of withdrawal for roughly two days. If she slept in the pod each night, that should be sufficient to continue her treatment. As the pod rotated to a vertical position and the lid opened, Milo saw that she was tense and worried but relaxed when she saw him.

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"I am so glad to see you and not Uncle Victor. I had nightmares about being locked in my pod again and never getting out." Milo had a walker and her wheelchair ready. She looked at both and shook her head. "Let me try on my own first. Just hold my hands to steady me." He did so, very glad that he didn't have to hide his tail any longer from his family. There had been a few jokes about it, but when they had seen how handy it was and how it helped him compensate for his missing leg, they understood why he wore it. Having a third limb to brace himself was useful when someone bigger than you needed help. Belinda managed to take a step out of the pod and then another but shook her head.

"I'm better, but this is tiring me out already. Back to the wheelchair and physical therapy for now. I want to go through a series of exercises to give myself a baseline and then try with my suit on and see the difference." Once she was settled into her wheelchair, everyone converged on her, welcoming her back. Mama took charge of her. "Let's get you a bath, some fresh clothes, and then a good breakfast." Min's exploration of the houses had turned up closets full of clothes, many of them still folded and wrapped in plastic, never used. As expected, Belinda had a million questions about what had happened while she slept, how Milo had got them down here, and what they had figured out about the place.

Mama answered the basics but left it to Milo to tell her the stories about her uncle and the trouble he had caused everyone.

An hour later, they sat down to a breakfast of instant scrambled eggs, precooked bacon, and pancakes. They'd found an entire storeroom full of sealed containers of pancake mix, gallons of maple syrup, and a freezer full of bacon. The frozen scrambled egg mix filled three freezers. Someone had made breakfast a priority. Mama suggested that Milo have more to eat. He'd taken a full plate of food, but he wasn't going to say no to another helping, with pancakes and maple syrup in abundant supply. And while she phrased it as a question, he understood clearly that it was not a suggestion at all. Belinda tore into the food, having nothing at all in her stomach. As soon as Mama excused everyone, Big Butch gathered up everyone except Belinda and Milo, then nodded to Mama and smiled widely. "Have fun."

Mama sighed, "I always try."

Then, looking at Belinda and Milo, she said, "I think we need to talk about a few things, the three of us. First, we need to catch up Belinda with what's going on. And then, Milo needs to explain a lot more about a lot of things. And Belinda, you need to make some choices and contact your father."

Milo considered his options, "I'd like to stay and talk, but there are pressing matters. Larry needs me for a big quest. Rusty needs me to learn enough to help him so...so everything keeps running as it should, and Big Butch said it was important that I go to school with everyone else."

"That's nice, dear. Sit down and tell us all about what Rusty needs since you brought that up."

Milo took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't want to worry you about something I'm working to fix, and it's a little scary."

Mama sipped her tea, "So are armed thugs and killer cyborgs and moving your family to someplace deep underground that shouldn't exist. Pretty sure I can handle it."

"OK. Well, I'm sure you've heard about fusion generators since they supply a quarter of the power in the world. They fuse hydrogen into helium using magnetic fields and, at the same time, form a very, very, very small black hole that is used to regulate the power output. There's one underneath us, and Rusty is having trouble with it. Someone gave him the order to make it build energy until it melts down this whole place and probably half of the habitat. He's been fighting against himself and was slowly losing when I found him. I'm working through lesson programs designed to teach me how to interface with the controls of the fusion generator and fix things."

Belinda's eyes were huge. Mama let out a long sigh. "You were right; I wasn't ready for that. Then again, it seems less scary than a man putting a gun to my face, and I had that happen recently. I'm not worried for me, but I'm worried for everyone else. You say you can fix it?"

Milo nodded. "Rusty thinks I can. I'm good at fixing things."

"Then run off to school and work on your programs until you drop from exhaustion. Don't worry about anything else, and please, ask for help if you need it."

Milo ran off, and Mama slumped in her chair. Belinda stared at her. "Did you understand what he said? I think I do, but it sounds insane, even for Milo. A freaking fusion reactor is on the blink? And what was that about killer cyborgs?"

"He's been busywith your problems, my problems, his problems, and Rusty's problems. He doesn't sleep enough, barely eats, and runs into trouble more than Brer Rabbit. But the part about the killer cyborg is true. Milo said he was mostly a machine and was sent by your uncle to kill your friend Eric."

"Oh my god. Did he hurt Eric? Is he dead?"

"He would have been if you hadn't been worried about him. Milo sent him a bulletproof suit like he made for you, but without all the fancy doodads. It stopped some bullets, and then Milo beat the guy up until he died from one of his own bombs. I've only gotten half the story out of him, so I suspect it was pretty grizzly. Talk to your friend Eric for the whole story. And that brings us to you. What are you going to do now? Stay here with our broken reactor, or go home to your father and Eric? You can contact them, but they can't call us. Milo has us hidden in more ways than one. And you know how good he is at hiding. He said he gave you a grand tour of some of his tunnels."

Belinda shook her head. " It was more like he dragged me through them. I was barely moving. But I'm not leaving. I feel safe here, knowing no one can find me, even with the crazy fusion generator story. I'll call him Dad after I call Eric. Things are going to change when I turn 18. Eric can send me everything I need to start learning what John has been doing with my money. Do we know what my Uncle is up to?"

Mama laughed, "Milo says he's out of money and running out of lawyers. He also hinted there were a lot of people upset with him. We may not have to deal with him again, or his thugs, but I'm not running upstairs anytime soon to find out. But, there's still your father.

"So, I guess while Milo is dealing with a broken fusion reactor, I get to deal with Daddy."

"And I have to clean up after everyone and do the dishes. We all have our burdens."

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