Chapter Two: Through the Maze
The message from Naomi appeared on her wrist-comm early the next morning. It was short, almost cold in its precision, giving nothing more than a set of grid coordinates and a time. There was no further explanation, no real instructions, not even a "Love N!", just a location somewhere deep inside The Zoo.
Ser tapped the screen, bringing up the route. As she suspected, she would have to descend through the lower levels before she could climb back up to wherever SRI's location was tucked away. Ser pulled her jacket tight and stepped out of her apartment, locking the door behind her with a flick of her wrist-comm.
The hallways of ZULU-13 stretched endlessly in either direction, dark and dripping, the walls spotted with patches of rust, mold, and decay. A cracked drone hovered overhead projecting flickering advertisements for some new body mod that promised "the edge you need to survive." Ser snorted softly at the irony as she made her way to the nearest stairwell. The lifts were unreliable on this side of the building, and she wasn't willing to bet on one working when she needed it.
Descending deeper into The Zoo felt like walking into a different world. Every floor brought her closer to the underbelly of ZULU-13, where the air was thick with the scent of sweat, chemicals, and machinery on the verge of collapse. Each level was a microcosm of its own, filled with people who had long since accepted the reality of their existence. Here, there were no polished streets or shining skyscrapers. There was only survival.
As she passed the third level down, she began to see the telltale signs of the life that thrived in the shadows. A group of men huddled in a corner, passing a glowing vial of something between them. Ser could smell the sharp, acrid scent from where she stood--chromepunk, the drug of choice for the hopeless. It was cheap, easy to get, and it killed you slow, one hit at a time. They didn't even look up as she passed.
Further down, the hallway widened into a maze of makeshift stalls and markets. Traders hawked their goods, everything from used cybernetic limbs to hacked software patches for outdated neural mods. Ser kept her eyes ahead as she weaved through the crowd. The buzzing sound of malfunctioning droids filled the air, their mechanical arms jerking unpredictably as they tried to perform basic tasks. One had a broken speaker that sputtered out a jumbled mess of automated responses:
"Thank you for your purchase...error...restart system..."
Beyond the markets, the atmosphere grew darker, more sinister. Neon lights flickered, casting eerie shadows across the walls as small groups of people disappeared into doorways marked with strange symbols and holographic sigils. These were the dens where the real debauchery of The Zoo took place. Synth-drinks laced with hallucinogens, VR clubs where people plugged into lives they could never live. They'd pay whatever chits they had for a few hours of escape, even if it meant losing themselves in the process.
Ser caught glimpses through open doors--people slumped in worn-out chairs, wires snaking from their heads into the blinking terminals that sucked them into another reality. A woman in a metallic bodysuit leaned against a doorframe, her eyes glowing faintly as she watched Ser pass, her lips curling into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Ser pushed deeper, heading toward the grid coordinates Naomi had sent. The lower she went, the more chaotic it became. She had to dodge a group of rowdy youths, all modded with neon tattoos that pulsed in rhythm with the music blaring from their wrist-comms. They were laughing, a little too loud, their eyes glassy from whatever they'd taken.
Eventually, she found the lift Naomi's coordinates had led her to. It was old, its doors covered in graffiti and grime. The buttons on the panel were worn down to almost nothing, and the whole thing looked like it hadn't been maintained in years. But it was her only way up. Ser pressed the call button, half-expecting it not to work. To her surprise, the doors slid open, revealing the lift's dark, cramped interior.
She stepped inside and selected the floor Naomi had indicated. Naomi had never been that far upstairs in Zulu-13. The doors slid shut with a groan, and the green lines of a laser scanner passed up and down her body. There was a quiet double beep and the lift began its slow ascent.
As the lift climbed, floor after floor, Ser felt her nerves start to tighten. What awaited her at SRI? Naomi had painted it as a sleek, scientific, off-the-grid institute. But from the state of the lift Ser wasn't sure. She ascended for what felt like an eternity, leaving the lower chaos behind. And then, with a soft ding, the doors slid open.
Ser blinked, momentarily stunned.
