As the Kodiak approached the heart of the undercity, I pulled my armor out of the locker. I didn’t think I’d be getting into a fight, but I’d absolutely need the environmental protection. The massive settling pool, where all the canals deposited their wastewater, was a toxic wasteland.

  The settling pool was large, a full sector in size, and it sat right in the middle of the undercity. The area was originally designed for water treatment purposes. Tthere were a number of facilities built in the middle of the pool, but the entire complex had long since been abandoned. Slowly, over the years, the slow buildup of chemical contamination hadn’t just made the pool itself toxic, but the surrounding sectors as well. The gases rising off the ooze regularly wafted into the surrounding areas, making everyone extremely ill. At first this meant only the most desperate stayed in the area, but over time it became so toxic that the only people that dared approach were scavengers with nothing else to lose.

  As we flew over the abandoned sectors I scanned the streets. The gasses were so thick that I could see pockets of sickly green and yellow gas everywhere, settling into various low points. We were actually lucky that the undercity didn’t have any air currents, because I had no doubt that even a slight breeze would have carried that shit further into the surrounding area. The canals surrounding the area contained it a little bit, but it wouldn’t be healthy living anywhere near this area.

  When we finally crossed the dead zone and emerged over the lake, all I could see was a sea of bubbling green sludge. The rusted, broken facilities floating in the middle were almost completely obscured by a chemical haze.

  It took me a minute to locate CBeRN’s operation, which was surprisingly large, on the edge of that ocean of chemical refuse. He had several pristine, white mobile labs, which were all connected together by a series of airtight plastic tunnels. Several dozen bulky hover drones were busy flying out to various parts of the lake, taking samples, then returning them to one of the trailers through secure docking ports. It was quite the operation.

  “Nyx, can you let CBeRN know we’re here and ask permission for us to approach?” I asked, my eyes glued to the nearest monitor.

  I’ve been in constant contact with his AI, Yttrium, since they arrived in the undercity. CBeRN is already expecting you. You’ve been asked to enter through the decontamination area, in trailer three, and make sure you seal the Kodiak behind you.

  “Yeah, no shit, which trailer is number three?”

  That would be the one with the giant three stenciled on the side.

  “I can barely make out the outlines of the trailers through that fucking cloud, never mind markings,” I grumbled. “You’ll have to direct the pilot and get us as close as you can.”

  “I don’t like the look of that gas,” Bob announced as he pressed his face closer to one of the monitors. “Are we going to be okay in that?”

  “I have my armor, and you’ve full NBC shielding, but I don’t plan to stand in it any longer than necessary,” I told him. “Once we get back, we’ll have to do a full cleanse. Both the inside and outside of the Kodiak, my armor, and all the bears. I don’t want to risk tracking that shit anywhere near the kids.”

  “I’ll tell the bears back home to get out the soap and water!”

  I gave the bear a sharp look. “Just get ready to run. And keep your paws completely to yourself while we’re inside. CBeRN is doing important work, and the last thing I want to do is cause an accident."

  When I finally felt the gentle bump, indicating we landed, I slammed my hand into the door control. As soon as the seal cracked, the gas flooded into the cabin. Although the mix of green and mustard yellow chemicals didn’t seem to affect the bears, I really didn’t want to risk any long-term exposure.

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  After stepping outside and slamming the door close button, I sprinted towards the brightly lit glass doors on the side of the nearest trailer. They automatically opened, allowing Bob and I to slip inside, before sealing behind us with a hiss.

  Once the oversized extractor fans in the ceiling pulled the gas out, the doors to the next section slid open. This second section had dozens of automated arms that sprayed Bob and me down before the final set of doors opened up, letting us inside.

  Apparently this entire trailer was just for decontamination because the system dumped us out in front of one of those flexible hallways. Seeing no other option, I carefully made my way forward.

  The next trailer was huge it had to be three times as wide as the previous one, and it was stuffed full of various lab equipment. As I marveled at all the equipment, an older, slightly balding man in a lab coat came around the corner. He looked like a combination of the stereotypical nerd dad, with his cardigan sweater, slacks, and big coke-bottle glasses.

  “Ah! I see you’ve arrived, wonderful!” he exclaimed.

  “CBeRN?”

  “In the flesh! And you must be Teddy. It’s nice to actually get a chance to meet you, It seemed like we were destined to just miss each other for a while there,” CBeRN replied jovially. “Oh, where are my manners? I’m Bernard Hamilton, the Family’s resident science nerd. Come in! And feel free to take off that helmet, it’s perfectly safe in here.”

  Disengaging the seals, I pulled off my helmet before tucking it under one arm and offering my hand. “I appreciate the warm welcome. My name’s Evelyn Claire, nice to meet you.”

  Bernard’s face lit up as he took my hand and shook it vigorously. “Wonderful! It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. As much as I’d like to sit down and chat, I’m afraid the situation here is far worse than I thought. It’s probably best if we go over the details now, before I get distracted.”

  The man shuffled to the side, gesturing for me to follow, before swiftly disappearing around the side of the lab. “Come, come!”

  I had to jog to keep up as Bernard grabbed various tablets, paper readouts, and schematics before dumping them all on a small table at the back of his lab. “The problem here is far more serious than I expected. I wish I’d managed to look at it six months ago! The amount of chemical runoff is atrocious, and every time it rains, the slurry is getting thicker and more dangerous.”

  I slipped into a chair across from Bernard and his bundle of papers. “I already knew the runoff could dissolve flesh. How much worse could it be?”

  “The problem is that even though the water is getting evaporated, the chemicals aren’t. They’re still building up! Give it another couple of years, and that entire soup could start spilling into the streets. The surrounding areas have already been abandoned, but the affected area will spread!” Bernard pressed a map to the wall behind him, and it stuck there as if it was tacked. “Hydrogen, sulfur, bromine, fluoride along with dozens of other chemicals, constantly mixing and releasing gases so deadly that a mere whiff would kill most people. I don’t know how the city managed to let things get this bad!”

  “It would have cost them money to fix, and the problem was in the undercity, so they could ignore it and almost no one would fucking know,” I muttered. “As far as the council was concerned, the undercity wasn’t their problem.”

  “It should have been! It would have only been a matter of time until some of the lighter gases found their way topside and caused mass sickness or death. It’s unforgivable that they’d hide something like this!” Bernard fumed.

  “Well, thankfully, they’re not in charge anymore,” I replied lightly. “All we can do is hope the new council does better.”

  Bernard looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “Even if they do consider this an issue, it would be a monumental undertaking to clean it up. Hazmat teams, chemical separators, finding new disposal sites, the works. The worst part is, once it is cleaned up, new chemicals are being flushed every few months, meaning they’ll build up again.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help? I have plenty of bears that I can throw at the problem.”

  “Manpower is the least of our problems. What we need is a way to separate the chemicals so they can be disposed of properly,” Bernard declared as he studied a paper full of complex science things. I didn’t have a clue what any of it meant.

  “I don’t know about separating the chemicals, but I have atomic deconstructors that break things down into their elements. Would that work? Although they're designed for breaking down buildings, I don’t think the trucks would handle liquids very well.”

  Bernard’s head shot up. “You do? Why would you have something like that?”

  “It takes a lot of materials to make bears,” I replied with a shrug, “and it’s cheaper for me to collect them than buy them. They’ve been tearing down the ruins outside the city for the last few months.”

  “I see… that might work. Separating the chemicals into their atomic elements would work. If you give me the specifics, I might even be able to modify the containment section. Could I see one of these systems?”

  “Sure, I’ll call one of the trucks over. Hopefully it fits our needs, because it would be nice if one of the problems around here was easy to solve.”

  Bernard scoffed. “That pool is nearly a square kilometer in size and dozens of meters deep. Even if these devices work, it might take months for them to chew through all that sludge. I wouldn’t exactly call that easy.”

  “Wonderful,” I muttered, slumping down in my chair. “Well, at least it’ll be a start. We can look for more solutions as we go, I guess.”

  “That’s the spirit! Little by little we’ll solve this problem,” Bern beamed. “Soon, this’ll all be a distant memory.”

  “I somehow doubt that,” I grumbled quietly.

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