Immortalys

Chapter Twenty-Nine: In the Basement of Creu-Nhau

The slow clumping of the seven pairs of boots descending the metal steps echoed up and down the narrow staircase. Altair could sense that the temperature was slowly increasing as they went deeper into Building Four, which made him uncomfortable under his thick grey uniform. Outside it had been hot, but the stuffiness in the basement was nearly unbearable in comparison. Reaching the basement floor, he grimaced and looked back at his officers to see how well they were tolerating the heat.

Seneca Dusky was running his hand repeatedly through his dark brown hair, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Time for some air conditioning installation?" he muttered.

Behind him, Andromeda Lisle merely gulped in agreement, and their guards just looked miserable.

Altair surveyed the basement, his eyebrows lowered. There were no people in sight, no sign of a living creature. He wondered if there was anything here he would recognize from two hundred and ten years ago, but so far this side of the basement was unfamiliar. The ceiling was low, too low for his liking— about two and a half meters above the floor— and was crisscrossed with a bunch of ugly white pipes and stained ceiling hatches. This was a level meant for utility.

The hallway straight ahead of them was hazy, almost as if the air was thick with water vapor— which, Altair thought as he heard afar off the hiss of a busted pipe, it probably was. He began to walk cautiously down this corridor, trying to distinguish what was at the end. A white door with a small window materialized out of the haze, its front stamped with the slightly sideways letters RECORDS OFFICE.

Altair's fingers twitched involuntarily against the side of his leg. Despite all of his efforts to suppress his obsession of this place, despite him telling his officers this would be a brief stop... This, surely, was the room that would finally give him what he was looking for.

His footsteps echoed down the corridor as he approached at a quicker pace; his officers walked faster to keep up with him. A doorway on Altair's right caught his attention and his gaze flicked inside as he passed. The room was dark but lit at the far end by a blue gleam from the ceiling. The stony beds, spotless countertops, and smooth walls laid with various gleaming tools gave it the look of an abandoned surgical chamber. For some reason the sight caused a shiver to travel down Altair's spine.

As he reached the door to the records office, Altair peered in through the little window, which was grimy and stained with water deposits. This room too was deceptively different from the ancient-looking hallway. There was a man inside, sitting on an old metal chair with his back to them. He appeared to be perusing a manual on a dated blue hologram being projected from the desk.

Altair took the latch and clicked open the door, throwing it wide so his officers could enter with him. Immediately the man in the chair flipped around, his hands flying into the air and upsetting the choppy hologram image above the desk.

"Whaddiya want?" asked the record-keeper loudly, his arms trembling. One of his pale eyes twitched beneath his messy mat of stony grey hair. He gazed up and down at each one of them, appearing utterly bewildered. "...You guys look official."

Altair clasped his hands behind his back. "You are affiliated with the illegal Creu-Nhau organization, and we have come to shut it down for good." He was slightly comforted by how confident his voice sounded when inside he was trembling.

"Pssh..." The man slapped his hands down on his knees and relaxed, his mouth curving into a slightly relieved and rather taunting grin. "I see, you're part of the other side's government, thinkin' you can stop us when this side couldn't." He let out a wheezy laugh. "Well, ya can't! Neither side's got any power 'cause you were all stupid enough to get yourselves into a civil war! And we're still down here thrivin', makin' money." The man shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "You got better things to worry about than what's happenin' down here."