Valera walked down the tunnel, with Stepa only a few meters behind him. He closely watched the black ‘Changeling’ that he was following, not out of malice, but simply out of habit.
So far as he knew, they were certainly not in the Zone, and definitely not on the same planet. Whatever anomaly that had swallowed them both, had also transported them here, and most likely any others who had gone through. Speaking of which…
“Hey, Stepa.” Valera said. “What the hell do you think happened to the Freedom squad?”
“No fucking idea.” The Merc replied. “I just know that they have either found something, or will be dead within a few days. They won’t last long out in the desert: Freedom does not have good armor for that kind of situation.”
“Oh well.” Valera said, sighing. “I always preferred Duty anyway. Even if they were a bit close to the military for my liking, they seemed to have a good head on their shoulders. Freedom simply seemed like a faction for Zone-hippies. What do you think about the other factions?”
Walking up beside him, Stepa started as they followed the Changeling. “Freedom was populated by idiots, Duty by a bunch of no-nonsense veterans. The military was led by morons, the bandits died the moment they tried to attack someone, and the unaligned STALKERS were simply caught in the middle.”
Valera nodded, still following the Changeling. “That’s about right.”
“So, what do you want to be paid?” Stepa asked, changing the subject. “After that, I expect some form, although it does not matter much.”
“I don’t know. An all-expenses-paid trip back to the Zone?” Valera asked in jest. Turning serious, he continued. “I don’t know what to expect. Maybe a place where I can settle down, or take up some sort of job.”
“What type of job?” Stepa asked, curious.
“I don’t know. Giant bird hunting?” Valera snorted. “If nothing else, I’ll continue this, if only to do something I am good at.”
“Shush, we’ve arrived.” Stepa said as they emerged into the chamber they had first been led to. At the end of it stood the large Changeling that had announce itself – herself? Valera did not know – as Queen Chrysalis. They reached the other end, and stopped in front of it.
“You have completed the task I sent you to do.” Chrysalis noted, staring at them. “That I did not expect, but you did. Well, I did tell you that you could have anything you wanted. What do you desire?”
Stepa was the first to speak up. “Do you have any form of currency here?”
“Yes.” Chrysalis replied. “Equestria used a currency known as Bits, which have become a standard around most of Equis.”
“A fair amount, then, and any further jobs, if you have them.”
Chrysalis grew a smile, the strange expression almost horrifying on her face – if you hadn’t seen much worse in your life. “That we can arrange. What about you?” She asked, turning to Valera.
The STALKER shrugged. “Same as him, I guess.”
“Are you both willing to do more work for us, if necessary?” Chrysalis asked.
“We are.” Both Valera and Stepa answered.
“Good.” Chrysalis said. “You may follow the drones accompanying you to a more permanent area for housing. I must speak to another group of creatures like yourselves in a short while.”
“Are there six of them?” Stepa asked.
“Yes, why?” Chrysalis replied, confused.
“Yep, that’s the Freedom patrol that fell into the Anomaly.” Stepa said, turning away and following the ‘drone’ as it left the room, with Valera a second behind him, leaving a slightly confused Chrysalis behind them.
After a short time walking through the tunnel, the Changeling at the front took a sharp right, and so did they. Yet again, they found themselves in a corridor, with occasional small tunnels branching out. After two more minutes of walking, they turned left on a corridor, and then left again, into a small room.
Unlike much of the tunnels, it had a smooth floor, along with stone and wooden furniture. Two beds stood across the room from one another, with plenty of empty areas in the walls to store things. Four white crystals were embedded in the ceiling, and gave off a fairly bright light, with only soft shadows in the room.
“This is the room that Chrysalis ordered me to take you to.” The Changeling said, after turning around to look at them. “Turn off the light shards by pulling the lever on the wall to your left down.” With that, the Changeling exited, not casting a glance back.
Valera looked to his left and, sure enough, there was a small lever on the wall. Just to test it, he pushed it down, and the lights went out immediately, with only a dim green glow from the hallway to provide any light.
“What the hell, Valera?” Stepa asked as Valera switched on the night vision in his SEVA suit, bathing the area in a clear, blue glow. “Thank god I have night vision in this suit.”
“What kind?” Valera asked as he switched his off and put his hand on the lever. “I have a second-generation.”
“Same here.” Stepa said, right as Valera calmly pushed the lever up. The sudden light must have been near-blinding for Stepa, for he stumbled back and fell down.
“What the hell was that for, asshole?” Stepa demanded as Valera laughed.
“For being in a sky-colored armor, that’s what.” The STALKER said, nearly on the ground now.
“If you want, I can always paint your armor a bright red.” Stepa deadpanned as he picked himself up.
Valera waved him off as his laughter finally died down. “Christ no. I’m not a lunatic like you are.”
“There are always surprises in life.” The Merc said as he claimed the bed on the right side of the room by sitting down on it.
Valera walked over to the bed on the right, sitting down on it as well. Getting back up, he took his backpack off and lay his weapons down at the foot of the bed, aside for the Black Kite pistol, which he kept within reach in one of the holes in the wall above his bed. He undid the heavy latches on his SEVA suit’s helmet, lifting it off and taking a deep breath of pure, unfiltered air.
“Thank god.” He gasped after a moment. “I hate breathing the air inside that after a while. It’s perfectly fine, if you prefer life with absolutely no sense of smell.”
“Believe me.” Stepa said as he undid his armor. “I want to go my life without my sense of smell whenever I am around the bar. How often to STALKER’s take baths, anyway?”
“The barkeep charges five thousand rubles for a warm bath in the back rooms.” Valera replied as he pulled the chest piece off. “It was not cheap, but worth it if you had the money. Then again, if you are in the bar, you either struck it rich, or failed.”
“At least I can get out of this damn armor now.” Stepa grumbled. “What’s the longest you’ve had to stay cooped up in it?”
“When a Poltergeist decided to make his personal home in the area around a house I was staying in. The STALKER who kept his base there was good, but after four days of waiting, I got tired of it and simply blew the thing away.”
“What do Poltergeists even look like?” Stepa asked, curious.
“Like if you cut off everything below the top of the waist of a Controller, and made it fade out. That is, it only appears after you kill it. Before then, it manifests itself as a ball of Psi-energy.” Valera explained.
Stepa perked up, looking over his shoulder as he slipped out of the last of the armor. “Like a small, floating Electro Anomaly?”
“That’s about right.” Valera replied. “Have you seen one?”
Stepa nodded at Valera, who turned away to take off the leg pieces. “Once, in Rostok, by the train yard. It took out three bandits by take their guns and throwing boxes at them. Never saw it again.”
Valera finished taking the pieces of his SEVA suit off. He folded the suit up, placing it, along with the helmet, at the bottom of the bed with his weapons. Glancing down at the PDA on his arm, he noted the time.
“It’s around noon now.” He announced, laying down on the bed and sighing.
A Changeling walked into the room, carrying two bags in a green glow. It sat them down on the ground and walked out quickly, probably afraid of them.
“And another thing.” Stepa said as he walked over and picked up one bag. “Have you noticed that these things can do the same things a Poltergeist can?”
“Several times.” Valera admitted as he got up and walked over to the other bag, picking it up and looking inside. In the interior sat twenty golden coins, along with a note.
‘These are Equestria 100 bit pieces.’ The note read. ‘There are twenty of them here, for a total of 2,000 bits. This is your payment for the first job that you did for us. Signed, Obsidian Cloud, chief advisor to Queen Chrysalis.’
“Well, that solves our money problem. Teper my mozhemo kupuvaty rechi , yaki ne isnuyutʹ. [Now we can buy things that are not there].” Valera said, half in English, half in Ukrainian.
“What?” Stepa asked.
Valera sighed, putting his face in his hands, hiding it from view. “I keep forgetting that you do not speak Ukrainian.”
“You do not speak Czech.” Stepa pointed out.
“Shut up.” Came the reply as Valera sat the bag of ‘Bits’ in the same hole in the wall as his Black Kite.
“What are we going to do for the rest of the day?” Stepa asked as Valera lay back on his bed.
“My guess is: Nothing.” Valera replied.
“Do you think anybody else got swallowed by that Vortex since we did?” The Merc asked.
“Most likely.” The STALKER replied.
“Do you think that the Freedom team that will most likely be here will accept Chrysalis’s offer?”
“Probably.” Valera admitted. “Most of them are former STALKERs, and in the absence of any leadership, Duty and Freedom might as well just be groups of STALKERs.”
They waited inside of the room, resting on the beds. Both of them were perfectly content to rest there, until Stepa spoke up.
“Valera, do you have any food?” The Merc asked. “Because I’m fucking starving.”
“About time you asked.” Valera said as he got off the bed and walked towards his backpack. Opening it up, he sifted through the ammo and artifacts inside until he found the food, taking out two tins of Tourist’s Delight, a tinned meat brand common in the Zone.
“I don’t know what the fuck is in these, but since when have I cared?” Valera said as he sat them both on the table. He went back to his backpack, taking a fork out of a side pocket. He ripped the top of the tin off with the tab as Stepa eagerly did the same, practically digging into the tin of meat.
Yet again, the taste was bland, but filling. Valera brought out his small canteen and took a swig of water as Stepa did the same. Valera grabbed both of the tins and put them inside of a hole in the wall, designating it as the unofficial trash can.
Valera’s PDA emitted a beep, and Stepa’s did the same a moment later. The STALKER glanced down at his to see a changed number: Instead of one PDA in the area, there were now seven, six marked as red on his map and coming in his direction. Valera calmly turned to Stepa, who was staring at the door.
Moments later, the sound of feet thudding against the ground became audible. Five of the dots went away from them, probably in a room across the hall, while on went towards them. Moments later, a Freedom soldier inside of a ‘Guardian of Freedom’ suit looked inside of their room, spotting them.
“A STALKER and a Merc, eh?” The man said in Russian. “Figures. And who are you, STALKER? Our PDA registers you as ‘in the red’.”
“Valera.” Said STALKER replied. “Please stick to English, as Stepa does not understand Russian. I assume you accepted the offer that ‘Chrysalis’ had for you, if I am reading this correctly?”
“Yes, she said you would be here. Well, I won’t shoot you, but you’d better not shoot at us, either.” The Freedomer replied in English, gesturing towards the SVDmk2 on his back.
“I don’t plan on it. We’re in low numbers as it is.” Stepa said.
The Freedomer paused for a moment before nodding. “That, I believe, is certainly true. Do you have any idea where we are?”
“From what I have seen and heard, we are no longer on Earth.” Valera said. “We are at the boarders of the ‘Magical Land of Equestria’,” He made air quotes around his statement. “Where, apparently, there are unicorns, pegasi, and dozens of other mythical species.”
“Fucking fairyland.” The Freedomer summarized, and Valera nodded.
“We have already completed one mission. Let’s just say that these won’t be like the ones you would have gotten from your leader, or some trader.” Stepa said.
“I understand.” The Freedomer replied, before walked back through the mini tunnel and out into the corridor.
“Well, that was an interesting conversation.” Stepa remarked a few moments later.
Valera nodded. “Let’s just hope our next opportunity to do something will come soon, or I fear that I will die of boredom.”
“Better than being in the Zone.” Stepa remarked.
Valera paused in thought, looking up at the ceiling, before shaking his head. “Maybe not.”