Jason Luthor - Floor 21

At any rate, I hope you all are at least happy with my report on conditions down here. I know Councilman Waters says I waste a lot of audio time recording things that aren’t important, but that’s just one of the ways I keep my calm. And I doubt Councilman Waters wants my team dying because their commander wasn’t allowed to do the things that keep him relaxed.

Do you, councilman? I know you’re listening to this.

It’s hard to explain to people just how we manage to find ways to sleep when we’re in the Deep Creep, but it’s pretty second nature by this point.

So, just a little over a week into the Scavenging, and we’ve managed to secure a room on Level 30 that’s actually not too uncomfortable. We’ve rarely been this far down the north wing. See, that’s the problem when people think about what scavenging is like. Most think it’s this mad plunge into the bowels of the building. In reality, the Tower is so huge that at times we can just wander into wings we’ve never set foot inside of before.

We’re actually following up on a hunch that Mike had. Not the most accurate guy with a gun, but I’ll give him some credit. That guy is a living map. He has a sense of navigation like I’ve never seen, and it’s one more reason that I enjoy having him on the team. A good sense of navigation is important to surviving in the Deep Creep, especially if you get separated from your team.

We’d just finished descending down the elevator shaft. As you know, there are many places below Floor 21 where the staircase is either sealed off, destroyed, or just too densely infested. So, we’d only just gotten down onto Floor 30 when he turns to me and starts asking about investigating hallway 30-15. It takes me a second to look it up on my tablet, since I don’t have the gift of guidance that he does. First thing I notice when I find it is that it’s an area we’ve been through at least a half-dozen times over the last two years. Basically, the hall’s been picked dry of any goods.

He won’t let it go, though. He looks pretty determined, and he tells me, “I’ve got a hunch.”

I stare at him for a second, trying to figure him out. Still, it’s Mike. Cool head, never panics, so I know he has a reason for saying this. “Fine,” I tell him. “We’ll head over there. Any particular reason why, though?”

“I’ve been thinking about ways to get through to Polar North.”

Polar North. I almost laugh at him. “That area’s impossible to get into,” I say. “I’ve been with more than a few teams that have tried to find their way in there, and we’ve never had luck. Not to mention 30-15 has no access to it.”

Polar North, for the pleasure of the council, is a large region in the northern tower, so-called because it is frozen behind a wall of Creep so dense that you’d never be able to safely burn your way through. Our current estimation is that Polar North extends from Floor 28 down to at least Floor 45 and likely farther. It is the single, largest, and most dense infestation of Creep in the Tower that we are aware of.

Saying you want to break into Polar North is like setting off on a legendary quest. It’s an almost mythical accomplishment by Scavenger standards.

Still, I trust Mike, and even if things don’t pay off, I know there’s an elevator access shaft that we can use to head farther down into the tower. If his plan doesn’t work, of course. So, finally, I give him the nod. “Sure, Mike,” I tell him. “Let’s go check it out.”

So we march. By Floor 30 you’re talking about having to be careful about where you step. It’s not too bad, but there are definitely areas of the ground to avoid. The first problem is that Creep infestation can eventually lead to decay and rot, so we’ve had more than one man over the years fall through to the next level. The evidence of that is in the occasional hole you’ll see that dots the floor. The bigger problem is that stepping directly onto the Creep is a quick way to get yourself killed. It’s hard to gauge when the stuff will react, but there have been times a man has stepped onto a part of the floor that’s grown a thick layer of Creep, only to have it come alive and whip at his legs. You’ve got about thirty seconds to move in and apply a dose of flame to get all that skin and tissue to retreat. If you don’t, it’ll wrap right up his leg and suck him into the wall. Again, it doesn’t happen too often, but we’re all aware that not everyone who goes on the Scavenging comes back. There’s a reason for that.

That’s pretty much what we’re encountering as we move toward 30-15. Mike’s got point because he’s got that uncanny ability to navigate the halls. Sure enough, soon we’re in the thick of it, and Creep’s pouring out of the roof. The most disgusting part is it slithers down, and I can feel that slimy liquid it produces dripping onto my clothes and helmet. At this depth, getting any of it on your skin is a real quick way to trigger a massive hallucination and mental break, so I order everyone to slide their visors down. That keeps the stuff out of our eyes. The more direct access Creep has to your circulatory system, the faster and more potent it acts. If that’s not a good reason to keep it out of your eyes, I don’t know what is.

Anyway, we finally reach the target area, but Mike doesn’t stop. He keeps moving on, passing by halls 30-16, 30-17, and so on. We’re heading into some rarely explored space, and I’m about to ask him what his plan is when he suddenly veers off. I’ve lost track of what hallway we’re in by this point, but I trust the guy. Besides, scavenging teams are used to this sort of stuff. Our basic job description is urban explorer, and we’ve all got an explorer’s itch.

Thing is, we keep taking turns and twists. Soon we’re in so deep that I’m not sure where we are. In my mind I know there’s no real reason to worry, since our tablets keep automatic maps of every direction we take, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy wasting time. We’re not even stopping to explore any of the rooms, so we’re burning valuable scavenge time to follow up on a hunch of his. Anyway, he takes us into one of the Maintenance closets. They’re not Cleanup closets. Cleanup teams don’t come here. In the old days, before the Before, they used these areas to store chemicals and other stuff for scrubbing down the Tower. I know, because we’ve found detergents and other cleaners sitting here that are decades past their shelf dates. It’s not the sort of thing we scavenge, but it adds a few pieces to the history of the place.

At this point Mike turns to us and says, “So, I’ve got this theory. I’ve been looking at the layouts of the Tower we’ve made from previous trips, and I’m pretty sure there has to be a Maintenance access to here.”

“Maintenance access?” I ask him, unsure. “We know there aren’t any around here, Mike. Those are only for use around critical systems, so the old staff that took care of the place could get to the power plants quickly if the Tower ever had an emergency.”

“Yeah, but if you try looking at all the maps we have of those access points, they all seem to lead this way. Have we ever actually found any power plants?”

“Well, no.” He’s right about that. We assume the old Maintenance access tunnels lead to the power plants because the cluster of power cables from the old electric grid start to get denser and denser. Thing is, we’ve never been able to track them to their source. Our general assumption was that they at some point led downward, but to be honest, it’s always been a guessing game.

Anyway, Mike goes on. “I’m thinking the reason the Creep is so dense this way is because the old power plants are in Polar North.”