Order of Magnitude

XI. Subterra

     Chandra brushed a lock of red hair out of her face. She studied her best architect's plans for expansion for the hundredth time. With over 3000 members of SubTerra, and at least a quarter of them expecting a child over the next year, she needed to find a practical way to develop more room for her community. But it wasn't as simple as just clearing out more tunnels. There were plenty of things she needed to worry about: who will be the diggers? Should she increase the hunting crews? What about the supply crews? Not to mention the simple fact that if they didn't expand properly, the whole place would collapse around them. It was a lot to mull over.

     Chandra shoved the plans away and rubbed the bridge of her nose. This is frustrating, she thought. When I was elected to lead this place, I never thought my duties would be so... technical. She sighed and looked the plans over again. She had to. Before SubTerra, she was just a nobody with big dreams. Now she was the leader of an entire community. If young Chandra could see her now, she would never understand why she was getting so hung up over mere 'technicalities'.

     There was a sudden ruckus from the southern entrance. Chandra furled the plans, happy to take a break, and looked to see what the commotion was. A group of her hunters were returning with a small collection of parvs that she had never seen before. Slowly Chandra stood up from her table and moved through the crowd until she stood face to face with her captain.

      "Hagen," she said, halfway between amused and curious. "What do we have here?"

      "We found them wandering the tunnels, ma'am," Hagen replied. "They were in the southern junction."

      "Tunnel A?" she asked the invading parvs. "Impressive. How did you find yourself in there?"

      Everybody looked to Jacques to explain the situation, which he did with gusto. "We're from a nearby community. Myself and a few others were captured by a human scientist, and these others came out to rescue me."

      There was a ruckus among the SubTerrans. They had never heard of anybody taking on a giant before. These newcomers sure were exciting. Even Chandra had to work to keep the shock off of her face. "Where did you say you came from?"

      "Some lab. We found the tunnel in a parv hole."

      Words passed from a small group of the large community. "You come from a lab?" a woman named Meghan asked. "Dr. Moon's lab?"

      "That's right," Jacques answered.

      Meghan stepped forward. "I was one of the people who helped build that tunnel. Dr. Moon was doing experiments on our group after he found that hole. It was some sort of pest control. He gassed most of us, my brother included. A lot of us died, but a good portion were able to escape before he did anything else."

      "Looks like he's still up to his old tricks," Jacques said. "Though now, he's trying a more 'humane' pest control."

      "As if there is such a thing," Meghan muttered.

      Jacque pushed past Hagen and the rest of the surprised crowd. He put his hand on Meghan's chin, and lifted her gaze to meet his. "Hey, we made it out. And I promise you, I won't let those guys get away with everything they've done."

      Chandra smiled. "I can see that you guys are no threat to us here. Hagen, you can stand down." The captain and his army of hunters relaxed and sheathed their pins. "I guess all I can do is welcome you all to SubTerra. My name is Chandra, what's yours?"

      "I'm Jacques."

      "Nice to meet you, Jacques. I'm sure you're wondering just what this place is."

      "I will admit, I'm curious."

      "SubTerra is the biggest collection of parvs in the entire area, maybe even the world. Most of us met up by accident, but when we did we pooled our resources to create a large community deep underground, far away from the humans. Only on rare occasions do we go topside. We have everything we need right here where it's safe: food, shelter, supplies. Anything you could ever want."

      Jacques looked around at the bustling community, and let out a chuckle. "SubTerra, huh? I think I'm gonna like it here."