>>5843952<span class="mu-s">DEPTH 2</span>
<span class="mu-s">THE IRON CARCASS</span>
You decided you liked this form of travel.
The hive swept by past you, an endless trail of lumens in the ceiling stretching into the distance, the only markers of how far you had gone the occasional maintenance inlets that swept past the window. The road was intended for one-way use, you could tell by the division of the lanes when it met other roads- only merges or exits, no intersections. However, it seems the current inhabitants had gone to pains to establish their own traffic down here, as other vehicles would fly past you on occasion, hugging the left side of the tunnel to avoid you. The signs at intersections had been defaced and painted over with new information wherever the inhabitants had deemed relevant. Multiple tunnels were sprayed with yellow stripes on the floor and ‘COLLAPSE’ in badly run stencil on the floor, others warned of dead-ends further ahead, while yet more advised slowing down due to rough terrain or an upcoming ‘toll booth’.
Unauthorized, most assuredly.
You remained upright in your seat, reclined slightly back and watching the lights go by. They had a sort of hypnotic quality to them, and you found the low-energy activity to be somewhat soothing after the last few hurried days.
Of course, you knew what Errat had been talking about.
Odrev had been founded after a large-scale titan conflict, fought on Malignax over six thousand years ago. The climatic battle, where the Archenemy and their corrupted god-machines had been routed by the forces of the Legio Vindictus had been literally fought on the very ground the hive stood on. To this day, some of Odrev's industrial output was paid in tribute to the forges of Vindictus and the Knight houses who had aided them as thanks by Odrev, although it would still be many more centuries until the forges were built up enough for it to be anything but a token to their forces. The debt seemed to weigh heavily on some of Odrev's citizens, if the expression was in common use. At least, that's what the Voice had told you.
<span class="mu-i">"How we doing back there?"</span> Cad's voice came from a dangling vox unit strapped to the ceiling of the truck.
Errat reached up and pulled it down. "Fine. Girl's not causing any trouble." He spared a glance at you, and you shrugged lightly, unsure of what to say. The gesture felt awkward when you did it, but you knew well enough what it was supposed to mean.
<span class="mu-i">"I'll swap."</span> A feminine voice groaned. <span class="mu-i">"Erich's about to drive me insane."</span>
<span class="mu-i">"So you're fine, then."</span> Cad replied. <span class="mu-i">"Good. We're coming up on the plaza drop. We got a long road once when we hit the drop, so we'll stop to eat and check over the trucks beforehand."</span>
“I guess that's where I come in.” You say, absentmindedly.
“Eeeh... we'll see.” Errat obviously didn't sound enthused at the idea, but muttered something into the vox and hung it up.
