Exterminator : The Dark Beneath
Shift changes and shadows

“While drones and automation have become the mainstay of our production and fabrication centres, the need for human operatives in the maintenance and care of our facilities remains. The current generation of drones may be highly programmable, but even the most advanced drones lack the human capacity of adaptability, ingenuity, and lateral thinking. People still give far better return on capital.“

-Gentech internal memo on a proposal to automate maintenance teams

13;45,Geoplant

Karl grunted as he turned the heavy metal wheel of the bulkhead door lock, cursing for the thousandth time the cheapskate designers who decided the mines didn’t need powered doorways. With a final grunt he heard a ’thunk; as the bolt retracted, finally allowing him to push open the door. Clive stood behind him, his skinny frame making his orange jumpsuit and mask look ridiculously huge as he waved the gas sampler around, listening to its bleeps and squawks.

“Yep, the main leak is definitely in the old station, I’m picking up methane, argon and a whole load of other gasses. Must be seeping up from the mines”

“Well shit” Karl cursed, grabbing his toolbox and triggering its’ top mounted floodlight, “Michelle is expecting me topside in a hour!”

Clive threw him a look, his shoulders hunched slightly. “You can’t head off early again, man, you know how pissed Marcus is about last time.”

“Fuck Marcus!” Karl responded as he stepped out into the old station. “If he thinks he’s going to be supervisor much longer he’s an idiot!”

The room they moved into was once a transit station for miners, where mining wagons would drop off staff returning from the deep levels or collecting a fresh shift before moving further into the ever expanding mine works. It acted as a waiting area, somewhere to grab food on a shift, and even a temporary dorm if the lines where down. Now it was practically a tomb, vacant since the ARC overhead became the main focus of the Corp and the mines closed.

The two men’s lights played over the heavy rails and rough seats and benches the company had left, as if the miners would be back at any moment. The station had fallen into disrepair. Many of the lights were broken lights and water seepage from the surrounding rock turning the large room into a damp pit of decay, with the local fungus spread across the ceiling to follow the water, feeding off the heat and background radiation this far down.

The station itself was a long rectangle, with large circular metal barriers at each end covering the mouths of the tunnels that contained the rails, stretching from the mines below out to the abandoned mine heads on the surface above. Spaced along the station were openings in the wall where hatches once stood, removed for reuse long before, leading to the maintenance areas and the small canteens and facilities used by the miners in this section, now haphazardly sealed off. This deep into the mine, the walls and rooms were fashioned from the grey and red striped local rock, which contributed to the mess by releasing dust to drift down over every surface.

Clive waved the sampler around, trying to replace the source of the gas, and started walking towards the end of the station whilst he pleaded with his friend.

“Come on man, not so loud! If Marcus hears he’ll write you up for sure, no way you get a promotion then.”

“No way man, supervisor spot is mine as soon as review time comes up,” Karl bragged, a smug grin on his hansom features “Michelle’s going to make it happen”

Two years he’d been working as a welder at the ARC, two years of slugging for no reward before he met Michelle when she was slumming it in a low ARC Bar. The two hit it off immediately, both attracted to the other’s good looks and aggressive personalities. An up and coming Exec, Michelle had awoken his ambition, and suddenly working his way up from a worker was just the beginning, he’d push for supervisor, then deputy head, and get out of the trenches and into easy street of management.

Even thinking of his girlfriend waiting for him topside made him horny, her flawless skin, blond hair, and perfect brown eyes, along with her exercise toned ass, and perky D-cup breasts. She was the hottest thing in the whole ARC, and she was all his.

“Found it!” Clive shouted from the wall he was crouched by, jolting Karl from his pleasant thoughts and back into the fetid underground. He resentfully crouched by his friend and peered at the problem. They were crouched by a access door that led into the old train shafts, long since sealed off from the remaining workings to prevent gas and fumes from the mines from seeping in. A sturdy metal door sat in the rock face, its metal frame bolted to the wall around it and sealed with ceramic. Apparently these doors had rated a powered mechanism, and low on its right side was a panelled recess that led to the control box, a compressor for the hydraulics, and the electronics required to activate it. The panel was almost bent in half, and as Karl shone his light through it he could see a mess of torn wires and busted hydraulics. He could actually see through a missing cover at its far end into the tunnel beyond the seal.

He whistled softly at the damage. “What do you reckon did that?” he asked, reaching in and experimentally moving the electronics around.

“I don’t know Karl, you think it was rats?” his friend whispered, looking around nervously, as if hordes of his pet fear were about to descend on them.

“Probably “Karl replied unconcernedly, “odd that they’re this far up though. Must have been a few of them to force this, that’s half a centimetre of steel there.”

“We need to tell Marcus, Karl, if there’s rats in the Plant we need to get exterminators down here” Clive said, standing to leave

Karl lifted his mask and spat, he hated the Rat catchers, scumbags and nut jobs the lot of them, given destructive toys and over the top armour to deal with glorified rodents and insects. His eyes suddenly widened as his next thought arrived.

“Wait man, don’t tell Marcus yet. If he calls in the Rat men everyone down here will be called in to help and they’ll lock the place down to stop them spreading further up. There is no fucking way I’m staying down here another hour, let alone how long it’ll take to clear out any rodents. Not when I have as horny girlfriend waiting up top for some hot Karl action”

Clive turned and looked at him, shifting from foot to foot. “Come on Karl, you know I can’t do that. This is a big deal. Besides he’s probably looking for us as is”

Karl swore, realizing his mate was right, and thought quickly.

“OK, OK. How about this? You go run interference with Marcus, tell him were still looking or something. I’ll weld a temporary fix over this to seal it and then leg it topside before he calls in the Exterminators. The problem gets fixed and I get out of here. Plus, I’ll owe you big time, man.”

Clive looked thoughtfully for a moment before slowly nodding. “OK Karl, for you man. Just hurry up and do a good job, I’ll head back and slow things up.”

“Thanks Clive” Karl called at his Friend as he headed back along the station “you’re the best!”

As his friend left Karl quickly grabbed his tools and set about removing the bent panel, setting it on the ground and straightening it up via the expedient method of heating the bent section with the welder before stamping on it repeatedly. The impact sent echoes booming around the dark station, reverberating strangely of the pillars and walls. Many people would have been apprehensive in the darkness, but Karl considered himself made of sterner stuff. The dark was just that, dark, no horrors, and no mysteries. Besides, apart from people, the only thing or things on the planets were the pests, and they didn’t bother him.

He was just moving the panel back into place when something clanged to his left. Cocking his head to look, he illuminated the far platform with his headlight. A few metres to his left was the other side of the station from where he entered, the rough cut rock floor stretching several meters back to the wall behind it. Set along it were several doors leading to the sub-rooms, and he saw that the one closest to him was only partially blocked off. Some lazy bastard had only used mesh to seal in, and it had come free in the bottom corner, leaving it partially open. His head torch only stretched a little way into the entrance, and after a moments appraisal he turned back to his task.

“I don’t have time to mess around”, he thought to himself, got to get out of here before Mr Regulations traps me down here. Another clang drew his attention, and as he turned he glimpsed a shadowy shape streak out of the doorway and down the tunnel.

“Fuck!” he cursed, standing hurriedly and grabbing his toolbox for the floodlight. Moving quickly towards the platform, he vaulted up and began playing the powerful light around between the columns and decaying benches. If he could kill the Rats now before they got further into the plant, Marcus wouldn’t have to call a lock down. Moving the floodlight back and forth, he couldn’t see any movement and was about to start along the platform when the mesh beside him rattled. He caught a glimpse of something dash through the doorway but gone before he could catch more than a shadowy impression. He turned his toolbox lamp, harsh white light flooding through the mesh and illuminating the corridor beyond. It was only a few metres long, splitting right and left into unseen rooms. Pipes and electrical boxes were set along the walls and lumps of fallen debris covered the floor, casting harsh shadows. On the back wall were metal sighs stamped with directions, one pointing left pronounced it a dorm, the other to a canteen hall.

The doorway leading to the canteen had rubble scattered in front of it, looking like it would reach his mid calf, and as Karl peered down the short corridor, he caught a glimpse of movement. Partially hidden by the fallen masonry he could just see something, a milky Grey patch of skin and part of a leg, moving occasionally. It had to be a rat hiding in the rubble, unaware that he could see it.

He grinned and carefully crouched down, trying to quietly slip past the metallic mesh and into the corridor. He winced as its edge scraped along his coveralls but the rat didn’t bolt as he moved inside. Carefully placing his feet around the debris littering the floor he slowly moved until he was standing just around the corner of the room, partially hidden by a pipe. Taking a breath, he crouched and pulled a heavy pipe wrench out of the box before setting the box down as gently as he could.

Readying himself, he suddenly swung round the corner, one hand grasping the rat’s leg as the other raised the wrench above his head, but froze as he held his prize up. Instead of a Rat, all he had dangling from his hand was a leg and partial hindquarters, its upper body severed in a ragged tear.

Karl dropped it with a cry of revulsion, letting the partial remains fall to spat wetly on the rock floor, and stepped back. He knew rats would eat their own dead, but the leg in front of him was fresh, blood and viscera still oozing from the wound. His mouth felt dry and his skin crawled as he peered into the darkness of the doorway, the fierce light of the toolbox cutting a sharp line of light and darkness, as if the room beyond was another place, cut off from the world around it, with the rat’s leg partially lying across the divide.

Shaking from adrenalin, he swiftly reached down to grab the toolbox, but as he knelt to lift it he saw a flicker of movement as something pulled the leg into the darkness.

He screamed and stumbled backwards, floodlight waving wildly into the canteen in front of him, catching glimpses of abandoned tables and chairs, and a brief reflection of metal at the end, but as he stepped backwards his foot shifted on a rock and with a cry he fell backwards, crashing into the partially closed door behind him, pushing it open as he fell inside. His head and shoulders slammed into the metal of the door, before he fell on his back with a thump, gasping as the breath left his body, leaving him winded even as his head spun.

Suddenly grey shapes were flowing over him in a squeaking wave of paws and skin, rough claws scratching his face and clothes, and sharp teeth nipping at him. He screamed hoarsely through wheezing lungs and flailed as rats covered him, his hand grasping his toolbox and flailing with the heavy metal, crunching something against the floor.

As suddenly as they fell upon him they were gone, racing out of the door and leaving him gasping and sobbing on the floor, the only light coming from the toolbox had cradled to his chest. Regaining his senses, he slowly and painfully clambered to his feet, his lungs struggling to inflate and a blinding pain radiating from his scalp, stinging cuts and bites covering his body. He hastily shone the beam down on the crushed rat, the terrier sized rodent partially flattened by his strike.

“You FUCKIGN FUCK”, he screamed at it, swinging a wild foot at the dying creature, connecting with a wet crunch and sending its body spinning through the air out of the room and into the canteen beyond. “FUCCCKKKK!”

He sat down heavily on the cold floor, sobbing as the adrenalin and fear coursed through him, heart pounding in his chest and head spinning as wandering lights floated through his eyes from as his head throbbed. He needed a medic right now, whatever he did to his head must have caused a concussion or something. His mouth was dry and he could feel vomit struggling rise in his throat. Shakily he pointed the light through the doorway, partially illuminating the room beyond as he tried to orientate himself, but caught a glimpse of the rat he killed lying in the room ahead.

Something was crouched over it, the angle of the beam obstructed by rubble partially hiding its form, but the light skittering over hulking shoulders and black scaly skin. The things’ body was similar to the rat beneath it, but massively overbuilt, its head a wedge of wicked teeth, and covered with black scales. It lowered its head and took a crunching bite out of the dying creature below it, but even from there its eyes were focused on Karl, red orbs that somehow conveyed both cold calculation and malice.

Karl froze in horror, paralyzed by the creature across from him, when it suddenly pulled its head up, tearing the rat in half and swallowing before lowering it head to feed, jolting Karl from his paralysis. He had to get out of here now, before it finished its meal. He sent his hand reaching for the toolbox, unable to tear his eyes off the creature. Grasping it he pulled it onto his lap and gathered his energy to stand when a through crawled from the back of his mind like icy fingers on his back. The rats that ran over him hadn’t been attacking him; they’d been fleeing the creature. But if it was in the room ahead why did they leave this...

Something hissed from the darkness beside him, and he swing the light around just in time to catch a flash of movement before something smashed into his chest barrelling him over. He screamed as powerful jaw crunched into his upraised arm, shearing through flesh and bone to almost sever his forearm. His legs kicked convulsively and he bucked his body, managing to dislodge the creature as he desperately rolled over and scrambled for the doorway. His toolbox had tumbled away and lay facing a wall, but he ignored it as he desperately scrambled towards the doorway, his partially severed arm wagging uselessly, smearing blood across the dusty floor as numbness flooded along it. He tried to get to his feet but something latched onto his ankle, sending a stab of agony up his leg as the bones crunched.

Falling forwards, body half out of the door, the thing began pulling him back to the room. He screamed and pleaded, out of his mind with fear as he grabbed the door jamb with his remaining hand, but his strength was failing, numbness spreading from his arm into his chest, robbing his muscles of energy. He whimpered weakly, tears trailing down his face as his fingers relaxed, body betraying him as he was slowly pulled back into the room.....

................................................................

“Matthews, you down there?”

Marcus’s voice echoed down the shaft from above, startling him enough to almost drop the welder. He cursed slightly, and killed the power, causing the intense white flame to recede.

“Ya, I’m here. What’s up?”

“We’ve got a pressure leak in one of the access doors. Need it welded.”

Simon Matthews, maintenance worker 2311 snapped up the dark shielded visor of his mask and looked up the shaft, barely able to see Marcus’s head and shoulders framed in the light above through the mass of pipes and cables running down the maintenance shaft.

“Can’t someone else do it?” he shouted up impatiently, ”I’m only halfway done fixing the vent cover.”

“Karl was supposed to fix it but I can’t replace him. This needs to get done now Matthews!”

Matthews swore. He’d been stuck sitting in a climbing harness for the last 2 hours repairing vents and metalwork up and down the maintenance shaft, but somehow the other guys managed to get away with leaving a job half done to avoid having to stay later.

“Fine!” he shouted, slamming the welder back into its case and attaching it to his utility belt. ”I’ll come up and fix it, but someone better get a ass kicking over this Marcus! I’ve been down here for fucking hours with no help or breaks, and yet Karl swans out in time to miss the job? That’s Bullshit”

“OK man,” Marcus consoled him from above. “I’ll look into it, just come and fix things before we start getting mine gas in here.”

Swearing viciously Simon began ascending the shaft, letting the powered winch pull him up as he struggled and shifted his body around to get through the constricted space to the hatch above, clambering past scalding hot pipes where the insulation had worn off, damp rock, and corroded metal panels. Finally pulling himself out of the hatch and into the Geo-plant he sat on the floor panting, his breath fetid in his mask.

After a minute rest he stood with a groan and walked over the gridded metal floor to the nearby railing and looked over the edge, trying to replace Marcus. Searching the plant, he ran his eyes along each level. The ARC’s oldest and largest geothermal plant was huge, constructed in a huge shaft far below the Archaeology itself, like an inverted skyscraper, 150 meters deep and twenty square, set deep into the planet’s mantle, rock and honeycombed by hundreds of meters of access shafts and maintenance areas.

Drawing heat from a geothermal vent below, it generated electricity via the turbines and heat exchangers running vertically up the shaft, before transferring it to the ARC above, whilst also providing the huge amount of power needed to electrolytically generate hydrogen fuel from the area’s water. The hydrogen and oxygen where cooled and liquefied and stored temporarily in huge tanks, before being moved up ARC to used in fuel cells.

It was once the heart of the old mining and processing plant that spread out in miles of tunnels around it, but when the ARC was built above and the mines shutdown everything was abandoned apart from a few small areas, where processes still vital to the people above continued. To his left was one of the large metal bulkhead doors, sealed for years, that led out into the tunnels beyond. No one ventured out there other than the occasional maintenance team sent to repair the few remaining links between the utility’s still underground, and Exterminators trying to keep the Rats and psuedoscorpions from eating the new wiring.

After a few moments Matthews finally spotted Marcus far below, near the huge metal plug of the geothermal generator, just to the side of the transformers that divided the power it produced between the conduits heading to the ARC above and the hydrogen production equipment.

Picking up his gear he began the long walk down the metal staircase set into the bedrock, running from the entrance five floors above him to the port ten below. Finally reaching the bottom, he took a moment to raise his mask and wipe the sweat from his face. The heat this close to the plug was uncomfortably close, even with his work-suit trying to cool him via its small heat exchanger. He moved around the insulated metal pipes and machinery of the plug, and headed for the small group of workers with Marcus.

“Ok Boss,” he said bluntly, “Let’s see this leak so I can get it sorted.“

His supervisor nodded and turned the wheel of the solid blast door nearby, opening a set of sub-rooms that housed the aging computers used to run the plant before the work was routed up-hive. The aging consoles were solid beasts, almost reminding Matthews of the pictures he’s seen in class of the old reactor control rooms on Earth. Newer plants ran using fancy clear screens and supercomputers, but down here the Corp just used hardwearing, simple tech, which was both cheaper and more resistant to the heat and moisture of the plant.

It was pretty much the way of the Arc itself, all new tech and shine on the surface, but underneath it relied on dirty but reliable older tech.

Marcus turned to face the crew, a resigned look on his face.

“Alright guys, here’s the deal. We need to get this leak fixed before the Exterminators get here.”

“What? Why are they coming down here?” Matthews shouted, the other workers echoing his demands.

“Shut up!” Marcus bawled, silencing them. ”Karl and Clive found traces of Rats, so you know the drill. The area is locked down until the Exterminators either confirm we’re Rat free or kill them off.”

Matthews stewed for a moment before letting his shoulders slump in defeat. It looked like his children would have to eat without him again.

He waved a hand at Marcus. ”Come on then, let’s get this done. When we finally get topside I’m gonna beat Karl’s ass for bunking off early.”

“I keep telling you guys, Karl didn’t bunk off, he said he was going to fix it.” Clive pleaded, obviously trying to cover for his friend.

“Come on man!, ”Matthews snapped, “You know Karl! He always does this shit, just ups and leaves. Only gets away from it cause he’s fucking an exec!”

“Stow that!” Marcus snapped, his voice suddenly infused with some of the authority he must have learned in his former military career. “Doesn’t matter now, let’s just get this done and get these doors sealed again. While Simon and Malcolm do that, we’re going to check the old comps, make sure they’re not decaying with the humidity.”

Moving through the rock lined room, Marcus led Simon and the other few workers along an access corridor, and up to the bulkhead beyond.

“Right!“, he announced as he turned the handle and began opening up the door, “Let’s get this..SHIT!!!”

Marcus fell back as a sudden stream of grey bodies flowed through the partially open door and down the corridor, workers shouting and stomping as the pests flowed around them and over their boots.

“FUCK, Matthews, you and Malcolm seal the door through there, everyone else with me! We need to try and stop these fuckers getting everywhere!”

The other workers sprinted back towards the plant, leaving Matthews and Malcolm behind, looking at each other worriedly.

“Come on, let’s seal this breach before anymore get in!”

They hurried through the entrance and along the station platform to the faulty door, illuminated by a lamp pack left on the ground by it. Matthews switched on both his suit lights and the heavy work lamp on his tool block to fight back the heavy darkness. Moving swiftly to the blocked tunnel he immediately noticed the metal panel lying beside the gap, its surface discoloured by residual marks of a welder.

“Fucking Karl man. So whipped he left a job half done and equipment behind. His bitch of a girlfriend isn’t going to be able to smooth this one over.”

Malcolm grunted beside him and held the plate in place as Matthews skilfully welded it back in place, sealing off the hole. The harsh sparks of the welder, and the snaps and crackles it made lost in the void of the station.

Satisfied with the job, Matthews packed his gear and turned to walk back towards the plant.

“Come on man, let’s get back and help the others. Also grab Karl’s light will ya?”

Malcolm nodded and knelt to pick it up, when something drew his attention to the platform opposite. He stood and played the torch over it, his attention drawn to a nearby doorway. He could swear something was there at the edge of the light.

“Come on man, let’s go”, Matthews called, jolting Malcolm back to the immediate task. The big man shrugged and slowly jogged over to the other man, and they both left the station, sealing the bulkhead door behind them.

In the darkness of the station everything was still for a moment before things started to move from the shadows, oddly shaped creatures moving in the darkness towards the doorway.

In the ruined dorm room, Karl’s body was almost gone, flesh and bone devoured by ravenous teeth leaving only scraps of cloth and bone where a man once lay.