Season 02 - Episode 06

‘the lowest point’

“The latest shift end reports are coming in now,” says Syl, pushing a lank strand of hair from her face. She is staring at a vidscreen with weary, reddened eyes. “Looks like we've mapped out the top of the void and the edges of the first hundred or so floors.”

“That's good,” says Ste absently. He is sitting at his desk, reading the latest of a continual stream of reports being ferried into the office by various functionaries. “Any sign of how deep it's gone?”

“No-one's reached the bottom so far,” says Syl, pinching the bridge of her nose. “We know it's gone through all the residential and industrial sectors. I think until we hear otherwise we should assume it goes to the lowest point of GovCo territory.”

The phone on Ste's desk rings. The call is brief and he speaks only at the start and the end. As he listens intently, Syl leans back in her chair and stares at nothing. She doesn't know how long she's been awake but the original rush of adrenaline has long since gone, leaving her dead on her feet.

“I'm sorry, Ste,” she says flatly as he puts down the phone.

“What for?” says Ste distractedly, skimming through yet another document.

“I should have listened to you,” she says, tears stinging her eyes. “I just... I never thought for a moment the cults were capable of something like this. If only I'd taken it more seriously, perhaps I could have found some intelligence, some advance warning, we could have stopped it...”

“Something like this was always going to happen eventually, Syl,” says Ste without looking up. “It was inevitable. There was nothing you or I could have done.”

“But so many people!” says Syl, her voice cracking. “The fatalities are already in the tens of thousands and we've barely started counting.”

“I know, Syl,” says Ste, finally pausing his work and looking at her. “I know. But right now we have a job to do. For the good of The Levels we have to focus on that. We'll grieve later.”

“You're right,” says Syl, standing and wiping a tear from her face. She squares her shoulders and takes a deep breath. “Ok. What are we doing?”

“So Phase One of the Disaster Response Plan is to recoup some of these losses,” says Ste seriously. “As you know, any room damaged by The Collapse is subject to mandatory evacuation. Once people are evacuated, that constitutes them abandoning their tenancy so all contents of the room becomes GovCo property. We need Enforcement Officers to get those rooms cleared of people and secured asap, to prevent looting before the asset retrieval teams can get to them.”

“Yep,” says Syl, nodding. “We're on it. The EnFo's are working their way down from the top and making good progress.”

“Excellent,” says Ste.

“And what about the people?” asks Syl. “We're seeing crowd surges in the thousands. Many are fleeing onto The Scapes while others are being taken in by their neighbours.”

“If they're going onto The Scapes that's fine,” says Ste. “The moment they walk through a grey barred door they forfeit any right to GovCo support so that cuts down the problem for us. In terms of room occupancy limit violations, the Chief Executive Minister wants standard subletting regulations to be enforced vigorously. That should mean a significant number of evictions and more asset retrieval but we don't have the manpower for that yet so it'll have to wait until Phase Two.”

“And the cults?” says Syl hotly. “The bastards who did this? We're getting reports that some of them have taken the opportunity to seize control of entire sectors while the EnFo's are deployed elsewhere.”

“That was the Chief Executive Minister's office on the phone,” says Ste gravely. “In the last few minutes, membership of any cult has been made a capital offence.”

“So it's official?” gasps Syl. She knew this was coming but is still surprised.

“Yes,” says Ste. “GovCo just declared war on the cults.”

©  a d a m   b y f i e l d , not to be reproduced in any form without written permission