Paladin One-Three held up on another landing, as per a com-linked order from Daniel. "I think we should get out of the stairwell." Daniel advised the group. "If they don't know we are in here already, they will soon. One more flight down there is a service door to the interstitial space between the floors and about 200 meters in are the effluent conduits, a pair. Only one is in use at any given time, we can get in there and work our way down to the sub-levels, it should be safer than this stairwell.

"Not another sewer." Miller lamented.

"Huh?" Daniel responded.

"Never mind."

Sean had never experience this level of panic before, he wondered if the others felt the same, judging by their faces, they did. The stairwell was claustrophobic and felt like a trap, getting out of them seemed like a good plan. "Let's do it, Daniel. Anything is better than here."

"When we get in the conduit, I'll give Trey a break, and Nine will take over for Miller, you guys can get a brief rest." Daniel said, everyone was in agreement. "Let's move."

They made it without incident to the giant effluent conduits and found an access hatch, once inside they found themselves in a huge tunnel. It was nothing like the dirty, stinking sewers Miller imagined, the interior was shiny and spotless, chrome-like. Their footfalls echoed loudly as did their voices. Service lights at regular intervals provided enough light to see well enough and the tunnel appeared to go on for some distance.

As promised, Daniel and Nine switched off with Trey and Miller, Daniel taking a moment to check his sister's vitals. She was still in some kind of coma from what he could tell. Daniel's worried look made Sean's heart sink, but both did their best to conceal their worry from the others.

"This tunnel runs horizontal for quite a ways," Daniel began explaining "but then it becomes a vertical shaft, there's no stairs, just a ladder, so we will have to be extremely careful."

"How far down?" Trey asked. He was not fond of heights.

"Far enough. Put it this way, if you fall, we won't hear you hit bottom." Daniel replied.

"Lovely."

* * * * *

Nic finally made a connection to the backdoor, he had almost given up, figuring the people who had disconnected the Netpod had also caught on to the compromised systems. There was no time to celebrate, time was still very much against him. Despite knowing where to go, it still took a bit of time to get back to the network with the quantum bridge interfaces. Once he regained access, he looked again at the list of bridge names.

"Which one?" He asked aloud, Katherine gave a click. "I'm leaning toward Q4 or Q5. I'm guessing that unauthorized use of these things could set off some kind of security alert, so I don't think I will be able to try both. These two appear to be the most locked down though." Nic rambled on. He looked at the stained glass window, the man with the sheep, wishing for an answer, but not expecting one.

"Katherine, Q4 or Q5? Can you give me a probability report?" Soon a chart came up on the display, according to Katherine's calculations, Q5 had a 50.0127% probability of being the correct choice. "Nice, Q4 it is. Katherine, run all the keys against Q4," he paused "Wait, no, that's a bad idea, we need more information. I'm going to see if I can dig up any documentation on using these quantum bridges. See if you can find any data on who might be the managers of these bridges, and lets start dumping the network traffic, see what is coming and going across these links."

Nic immediately got down to the business of learning how the bridges functioned in the hopes he could get across one and find Erik. He quickly checked the worms status, the count was still rising, Centreon systems continued to be infected en masse, a good indicator they had not been discovered yet. He still had some time.

* * * * *

A team of engineers stood near the Cortex door arguing over what to try next in their efforts to gain entry. They had exhausted their stock of equipment, cutting torches, plasma cutters, high speed drills, hydraulic spreaders and even a laser, none of which had produced any results worth noting.

"Isn't there another way we can get into this thing," one engineer pondered, "I mean, we're pounding away at this door- there has to be another way."

"Nope, the Cortex is self-contained, one way in and this is it." Another answered.

"What about the cooling system?" The first asked.

"It's closed-loop, and there is no real access to it."

"Can we cut off the cooling? Maybe if it overheats in there the system will shutdown and the door will unlock."

"Are you kidding? There is some kind of reactor in there, we are suppose to be trying to do a controlled shutdown, not blow the place up. They want the Cortex intact, whatever is inside, they want access to it and they don't want it damaged."

"Damn, well, I'm out of ideas." The first said, leaning against the door. "Maybe the NetSec guys will crack it."

Inside Wagner continued his preparations, his data wipes and his booby traps. Well aware of the efforts to compromise the main door, he knew if was only a matter of time before Niles' people managed to gain entry. One way or another they would get in, he was certain. He disabled the failsafes and ran the positive pressure system up as high as it would go which was just shy of 16 atmospheres. He then turned his attention to the reactor, there was no way around it, the reactor was the only card he was left holding. If a breach was imminent, he could collapse the containment field which would result in a catastrophic failure, the resulting explosion, he reasoned, should be large enough to destroy the Cortex systems beyond recovery. He had an after thought and decided to tie the detonate sequence in with his system monitor, should Niles people find a way to disable his construct, the reactor failure routine will execute automatically.

* * * * *

In the conduit, Sean's group had made it to the precipice, where the tunnel took an abrupt turn from the horizontal to the vertical, an automated retractable ladder raised up from the smooth surface of the tunnel as they approached. The evenly spaced knurled rungs disappeared over the edge into the abyss below.

"How the hell we gonna do this?" Trey asked, clearly scared. "We can't carry Abi down a ladder and Sean can bare walk!"

"One step at a time." Daniel responded coolly, "I'll carry Abi, we'll put Nine's harness on her, One-Three will carry Sean, you and Miller are fit enough to do your own climbing."

"Crap," Trey paced back and forth, "I'm not liking this plan anymore." His anxiety was getting the best of him.

"Trey, just take it one at a time." Miller assured him, "I'm going to be right there with you all the way." Miller paused and cocked his head listening. "What is that noise?" There was a low, droning sound coming from behind them.

"It's not a good thing." Daniel said, "this tunnel is empty for a reason - it's being cleaned, and we do not want to be here when the cleaner arrives."

"Oh great." Trey replied.

"No time to waste now." Daniel continued "Nine take the lead, then Miller, Trey, myself and then One-Three. We need to be off that ladder before the cleaner catches up. Let's move!" Nine was quickly over the edge, leading and setting the pace, Miller followed. Trey hesitated momentarily then began his terrifying climb down. The rest followed close behind.

"Don't look down," Miller advised Trey "Just keep your eyes on the rungs and keep climbing. One after the other, concentrate on your hands and your feet."

The vertical portion of the tunnel had far fewer lights, so it grew very dim as they progressed down the shaft. Even the far side of the shaft was concealed by the darkness. Luckily the ladder rungs were illuminated, Trey found concentrating on the little LEDs that lit the rungs helped to take his mind off the growing panic he felt. He could hear the droning of the cleaner growing louder, it was definitely gaining on them. He looked up and was amazed at how far down they had already gone, the more brightly lit tunnel above appeared as a small circle of light.

Daniel called from above, "Everyone alright?"

"Doing good." Miller answered, Trey kept quiet.

"Can we pick up the pace a bit?"

"I think so. How about you Trey, you comfortable with that?" Miller asked.

"Yeah, anything that gets us out of here sooner, I'm all for." Trey replied quietly. His mouth was now dry and his palms clammy. There was no bravado left, he did not want to die here.

With that whole group started moving along at a more spritely clip, one rung after the other, down, down, down. Far above the robotic cleaner was approaching the vertical shaft, it's giant spinning brush, cleaning and polishing the tunnel's interior surface and it plodded along. Six tracks surrounded the vehicle, propelling it at a steady pace. Daniel and One-Three, both carrying additional loads began to fall behind, and despite their augmented physique both were beginning to tire.

"We are going to need to get off this ladder, we aren't going to be able to make it down before the cleaner catches us." Daniel called down to the others. "See if you spot an access hatch anywhere. Keep moving down the ladder, we're going to take a little break. We'll catch up." With that Daniel clipped his harness to a ladder rung to help take some of the weight off his arms and legs, Abi hung limp in her harness from his back. Meanwhile, Sean climbed off One-Three and held on to the ladder himself.

"I think I can make it down a ways myself." Sean said, looking up at Daniel then down at the others who were rapidly disappearing down into the darkness below.

"You sure?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, I'm ok with heights and it will give you guys a break." Sean began his own descent using only his good leg, putting most of the work on his arms. Daniel and One-Three rested a bit longer and started down again themselves.

A noise from above made the entire group stop and look up, the robotic cleaner came into view as it rounded the elbow where the conduit bent downward. As it did so, it blocked out the light from above and became much louder, menacingly louder. It had to engage it's brakes when in the vertical to maintain the correct pace for cleaning. They squealled in protest as they kept the machine from plummetting down the shaft. Even so it was clear to the group that the machine was steadily gaining ground.

Unconsciously everyone picked up the pace even more, the threat from above even took Trey's mind off falling to his death. They group was now strung out over quite a distance, Nine was descending as fast as he could looking for a service hatch, Trey and Miller followed as fast as they could. Sean, despite the handicap made good progress and was part way between Trey and One-Three. At the back Daniel struggled to move quickly without making any fatal missteps while having Abi harnessed to him. He did not have to look up to know the cleaner was approaching minute by minute, as the sound of the brushes on the metal surface of the conduit provided an auditory clue as to the machine's proximity.

"HATCH!" came a shout from far below. Nine had come across a small access panel and was already prying it open with his knife. Trey and Miller caught up shortly after and clung to the ladder nervously waiting. Sean approached close enough to make the three out in the darkness below, he looked up and his heart skipped a beat. The huge cleaner inched ever closer it was not far above Daniel, it's droning and scraping now a deafening growl. A ring of sparks marked the leading edge of the brushes and they rained down a short distance before burning out. He figured that the ladder rungs must retract automatically as the cleaner approached meaning you would lose your handhold before the cleaner actually got to you. One-Three was now just above him.

"Let me climb past." The Paladin requested, Sean was a bit stunned hearing the Paladin speak for the first time. "I'll see if I can help down there." Sean squeezed over on the ladder and the Paladin gracefully climbed down descending at a rapid pace, completely unhindered.

"You okay?" Sean called up to Daniel.

"Keep moving-- I'm right-- behind you." Daniel answered between breaths. He gulped air, but his lungs wanted more. His arms and legs burned from the exertion, sweat ran freely down his face. He was close to his physical limit.

"Hurry Daniel, the rungs are retracting."

Nine managed to finally get the door open, it's hinges having seized from years of little use. The opening was just big enough for a man to fit through and was far enough from the ladder to make direct entry impossible. Nine would have to jump from the ladder and climb into the hatch, from there he could assist the others. He com-linked his plan to Daniel who agreed and without any hesitation he leapt from the ladder and deftly caught the bottom edge of the opening with both hands and effortlessly pulled himself through. A moment later he poked his head out and asked, "Who's next?"

Miller reached out his hand and leaned as far off the ladder as he could, Nine grabbed hold of Miller's wrist with a vice-like grip and hauled him up into the hatch.

Miller found beyond the hatch was a small room full of pipes and valves. A small red light was the sole source of illumination. There was a closed door on the far wall. He moved over near the door to stay out of the way.

Trey had some difficulty working up the courage to let go of his grip on the ladder, in the end he took a deep breath and put his trust in the Paladin who haul him to safety. Once inside Trey took up position next to Miller leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, spent. Miller held out his fist, Trey looked up at him for a second, smiled and tapped Miller's fist with his own.

One-Three had reached the hatch but continue down another few rungs and waited. Sean caught up and before leaning to take Nine's hand he looked up to see where Daniel was. Daniel and Abi were still ten meters further up, Daniel was obviously struggling now and the cleaner was right on top of them. The noise was ear-splitting, Sean yelled as loud as he could, "Come on Daniel!" He wished he could rush up and take Abi in his arms and wisk her away to safety, but in his condition he could not do anything to help, he was having enough trouble saving himself.

The machine was so close now the walls of the conduit vibrated. Sean grabbed Nine's hand and in and instant disappeared into the little room. Daniel finally reached the hatch, the enormous cleaner close behind, they had only seconds to get three of them safely into the hatch and one of them was unconscious. One-Three helped Daniel, cutting Abi's harness from Daniel's because it would take too long to unfasten her. Nine leaned out from the hatch as far as he safely could with both Sean and Miller holding his legs. One-Three and Daniel worked together to pass Abi over to Nine, Nine got a firm hold of her harness and pulled her into the room.

With no time to loose and the cleaner right above him, Daniel did not wait for Nine to lean back out the hatch, and leapt for it himself as the rung he held began to retract. He caught the edge of the opening with only one hand and dangled precariously for a moment before he was able to get another handhold and lift himself in. The cleaner was now at the opening of the hatch and it ripped the door from it's hinges and flung it into the dark with a loud clang.

One-Three followed Daniel's move and jumped for it, but from further down the ladder. The cleaner proceeded to inch across the door opening, showering the interior of the room with sparks. He managed to catch the bottom of the door and scrambled to get inside, both Daniel and Nine grabbed his wrists, but it was too late, the cleaner closed the distance to the bottom of the hatch and pulled One-Three from their grasp. Daniel let out an involuntary scream, and fell to the ground holding his head.

The com-link connections that allowed the Epsilon troops to have intertwined perception had a side effect, com-linked commanders experienced the death of their operators in a very personal way. All the fear, all the pain, all in one moment, as if experiencing the death themselves. Despite rigorous training that gave them great mental fortitude, it was not uncommon for a commander suffer great psychological duress when they lose an operator. Some never recover.

The group sat in silence in the little room for sometime as the cleaner passed and continued on it's way, droning down the shaft. After a while Sean got to his feet and held out his hand to Daniel, who was ashen-faced and shaken. Daniel took his hand and Sean helped him up.

"Thank-you, Daniel, for everything." They shook hands. "What now?"

Daniel nodded, took a deep breath and composed himself. After a pause he answered, "We're between floors again, we need to get back inside and get to the Mag Station."

Nine helped the others to their feet and moved toward the door, he grabbed the handle and looked back at Daniel and Sean. They both nodded, Nine turned the handle and cracked the door. Sean, once again used Miller as a crutch while Trey was back to carrying Abi. Sean had a sense of hope for the first time since the escape. They were still alive. He had no idea of the treachery that conspired against them.

___________________________________

If you have enjoyed this and other stories of mine on Wattpad, please consider supporting my future creative efforts: https://www.patreon.com/rickfic