H'ven Sent

by otherunicorn

Chapter 5. Will I Escape?

I really did not want to die. I didn't care if I had been turned into some sort of biological robot by a cloud of evil dust particles. I didn't care if my eyes glowed in the dark. Did they? I didn't know. 4J2 hadn't told me how advanced my transformation was when it stopped. I guess I would have to look for a mirror when time allowed. At the moment I was too busy pretending to be unconscious while strapped onto a bed in a sealed lab. Actually, I only needed to pretend to be unconscious. The 'strapped onto a bed in a sealed lab' part was real.

Up until now, the main joy of my life had been running and bouncing across the city of H'ven. I enjoyed doing that so much that I had not settled to raise a family. As was my birthright, I was allowed to have one foal to replace me when I died, and one foal for whatever male I took for a life-mate; in other words, two foals. When I could have these foals was determined by Central in an attempt to keep the population numbers steady. I had not applied for my time slot as getting pregnant would bring an end to my running. Now both of those possibilities were no more. No pony up there would want to mate with me, resplendent in my shiny black shell-like skin. No pony would let me run about in public either. I understood that all too well. In 4J2's brief message, he made no mention of me not returning to the surface, but I had no doubt whatsoever that if I did it would go very badly for all involved. That left me one route: down. While the sublevels were not ideal freerunning territory, plain old running was quite doable. There was a lot I hadn't explored down there either, so who knew what secrets there were. Eighty levels, each a little less than twenty miles in diameter, provided one heck of a lot of exploring space. I may even discover the Hellspawn, and where they were hiding. Maybe I could even get into the unknown area below sub-level eighty.

So I knew where to go. That left me with a few other issues to solve, such as how to survive when I got there. I mentally started making a list of items that would be convenient to have. Well, there were the obvious ones: food and water. Most likely I would not have to resort to licking condensation off the walls as 4J2 had sarcastically suggested. More than likely there would be ample access to water through some of the old residences there, or perhaps directly from the main feed pipes to the surface from the purification plants below. There had to be points where water could be siphoned off for testing.

Food would be harder. The underlevels I had seen had been stripped of near on everything, so finding a stash of food would be less likely. Perhaps I could find a dispenser, or steal one and rig it up down there. After all, the damn thing in my house had always seemed to be able to produce food on demand, and the sort of things it presented were not what you would expect to be able to flow through pipes. There had to be something special going on inside those near indestructible boxes.

Tools would also be good. And lights. My poor old survival saddle had been pretty much destroyed in my multi-level plunge, and the sudden stop at the bottom, so it had probably been tossed into the plasma arc furnace already. I briefly entertained the idea of putting all the ponies here into the same furnace, thus freeing up this place for me to live. There were just a few problems: little, annoying, insurmountable problems I would have to overcome in order to achieve that, each of those problems being a murder I was not prepared to commit.

---

The door opened, and I heard the slight squeak of wheels, and the hooffalls of the two of ponies that had come to remove my body. I could hear the rustling of their isolation suits. Once they were inside the lab, the door sealed behind them. I wasn't sure if I would be able to open the door myself so my best bet would be to wait until I was outside this room before making a break for it. I had to wait for them to unstrap me anyway. I guessed protocol required I be strapped down until the last moment, or 4J2 would have removed them when he disconnected me from the equipment. That or he was simply a dork.

"Shit, the mare is still alive," one of the ponies complained. Oh, the tragedy.

"How can you tell?" the other, also male, but younger, asked.

"She's breathing, ain't she?" the first pointed out the obvious. Well, excuse me for breathing.

"So what are we going to do? Should we inform anypony?"

"Nah. Dead now. Dead in five minutes. What's the difference?" The first commented after a few moments of thought. Charming bastard.

"But..."

"Shut it, 5D3. Two stallions against a dyin' mare. I'm sure we can handle it. She's got enough dope in her to kill a herd," the older stallion said, bringing the objections to an end. Thank goodness for that! The last thing I needed was another shot of sedative. Of course I couldn't let that happen. I would be forced to act, legs strapped down or not.

Unexpectedly, I felt my tail get lifted. Mental gasp! I had to fight instinct to flinch, pull my tail away, or anything else like that, and pretend really hard to be unconscious.

"What do ya' think ya' are doin', 5D3?" the bastard asked. I guess that made them both bastards, or a bastard and a pervert at any rate. To distract myself, I concentrated on the bastard's accent. Where in H'ven did he pick up such an awful drawl?

"Just feasting my eyes. Wow. What a waste!" 5D3 stated, letting go of my tail. That comment left me with mixed feelings. It also let me know I was still genuine pony back there. I wondered what sort of offspring I would have. Pony or Hellspawn? How thoroughly had the modifiers been sterilized? I knew I should be fine during my break for freedom, but I couldn't be sure my body wouldn't manufacture more at a later date.

"C'mon, let's get on with it," the drawler instructed. Reaching for the straps, he unfastened them and pushed them aside. Finally! As far as I knew, I'd been strapped to the table, left side down, for well over a month. Certainly both times I had been awake, that was the position in which I found myself lying. The drawler roughly grabbed my forelegs, while 5D3 grabbed my rear.

Pretending to be unconscious while getting handled roughly by a couple of ponies who did not care about my wellbeing was not the easiest thing I had ever done! They dragged me from the bed and onto a trolley that was covered in plastic. Moments later I discovered the plastic was part of a bag as it was sealed up around me. Should I act now, and hope one of these fellows had a key card or something? I gently eased my eyes open a sliver, trying to catch a glimpse of anything like that. Of course all I saw was distorted and fuzzy due to the plastic. At least it was transparent. I closed my eyes again.

"What the? The mare was lying on an old mapper," 5D3 stated. Perhaps I would lose the mapper after all. It wasn't as if I could grab it without alerting them. Oh well. Maybe I could come back and retrieve it. Maybe it would be useless to me even if I did retrieve it. 4J2 had not mentioned the mapping function at all, only that he was using it to talk to me.

"She was wearin' that mapper when she was brought in. The lab boys probably took it off, and didn't notice when they dumped her on top of it. She's been out cold for weeks, so it isn't as if she could complain about being uncomfortable," the older pony theorized.

"Should we inform anypony?" 5D3 asked.

"Waste of time. It's probably contaminated," the other stated, "an' if we ask somepony every single time somethin's a little different from what we're expectin', we'd never get anythin' done." Moments later I heard the plastic containment bag in which I was lying unzip, and felt the mapper whack into my side. The pony zipped the bag up again.

"Problem solved," he stated. Yup, problem solved. I had my mapper!

I hoped they wouldn't stuff around for too long, as this bag didn't have a lot of air in it, and I was still not through the door. As I was worrying about it, the trolley jerked and started moving. Good, good. Prepare yourself, Aneki. You'll probably have to put this pair to sleep to avoid the alarm being raised. You also have to fight your way out of a tough plastic bag. The trolley paused again.

I heard five button clicks, each accompanied by a beep, then the door unsealed. The trolley lurched, twisted sideways a little, rocking me as we moved off again. Unnerving! It felt as if I could fall off. Nah, that wouldn't happen... or could it? The change of ambient sound alerted me to our passage through the door, and into what must have been some sort of airlock. We paused there, as air blasted past us for about a minute. When the noise of the airflow ceased, the outer door unsealed without any pony intervention. This might be a good place to lock a couple of ponies... but they knew the door codes. Bah, I should just whack them hard. They were about to kill me after all.

The trolley rocked again, started moving, then lurched as they turned sharply. I took advantage of the momentum to roll. I heard cussing from the two as I teetered on the edge of the trolley for a moment before going over, more or less hoof down. Before I could hit the floor, I kicked out, simultaneously getting my hooves under me, and tearing the containment bag apart. Conveniently both ponies had leaned forward to try and catch me, placing them in striking distance. The first got a forehoof to the forehead. He dropped like his lights had been turned out. The second got a hind hoof to the throat, and collapsed, coughing and choking. I finished shedding the plastic of the bag, turned, and silenced the cougher with a well placed kick to the forehead. He was the younger of the pair, a blue-grey color with back mane and tail. Another swift kick from me meant his other tail would be black and blue when he woke.

Rearing, I grabbed him by his neck and tail, and heaved him up onto the trolley, surprised at just how easy it was to do with these new black legs. I saw he had some sort of ID card hanging from a lanyard around his neck, so I retrieved it and hung it around my own. It may fool any security scanners that weren't also using facial recognition. I turned to the older fellow who was pale mustard, with brown mane and tail. I took his ID card too, then peeled him out of his isolation suit and face mask. He stirred a little, so I gave him another firm whack to the head. I heaved him up onto the trolley as well, and shoved it back into the airlock.

With them as hidden as they were going to get, I retrieved my mapper, and strapped it onto my new black, left foreleg. It was just so weird. Despite its fluid 'organic' lines, it had more in common with some sort of machine than it did anything made of flesh and blood, yet it retained it's pre-conversion sense of feeling. Thank Luna for that! I didn't fancy having to walk around on what amounted to a set of stilts. Quickly accessing the mapper, I flicked through the saved data but found no maps of this facility stored there. When I tried to activate the automatic mapping mode it flashed "Restricted area. Mapping not permitted" on its local display. So much for that idea. I guessed I would have to resort to trial, error and thumping ponies until they told me which way to go (as distinct from where to go). Quickly I dressed myself in the stolen isolation suit and face mask. Ooh! I still had a natural feeling coat on my face! I squinted and looked at my nose. Yup, cream colored. Yay! Everything else I could see was black. Not so yay. I hung the second ID card around my neck, this time outside the suit. So 2EQ was the identity of the drawler. Have fun explaining yourself to your boss!

With nothing to indicate which way I should go from here, I trotted off in the opposite direction to which 2EQ and 5D3 had been wheeling me.

Ooh! A restroom! Immediately I ducked into the aforementioned facility, and checked it for occupants. When I was sure I was alone, I peeled myself out of the isolation suit, and delaying the inevitable appointment with the mirror, settled myself in a cubical to deal with certain pressing matters. Things proceeded as normal, much to my relief. Finally, unable to put it off any longer, I exited the cubical and tentatively approached the large mirror that adorned the wall behind the row of wash basins. I can't say I knew what would be looking back at me. I knew what I hoped for, and I knew how much I had already seen: black legs, black flank, back, chest. Basically, everything I could see without a mirror was the new me, shiny, black and decidedly organo-robotic in appearance, apart from my tail and mane, which remained variegated ruby red, and, well, hair-like.

Okay, Aneki, look, I told myself, so I did, and much to my relief, I found my dear old cream colored face, complete with annoying bony lump in the middle of the forehead looking back at me. Yay! I still looked like me! If I stretched my imagination, I could see the old me standing there, wearing a new high-tech running suit. It even terminated below my head in a neat looking roll neck collar.

Hmm. Eyes: normal. Weren't they meant to glow red or something? Ears: normal. Nose: normal. Teeth: Normal. Tongue: bleaah. Yup, looks normal. Oh, yeah, what of my fingers? I lifted a forehoof, retracted the hoof wall and extended my digits. They had taken on a new patina to match my new look, but apart from that, they were my same old fingers. I took advantage of the situation to wash them. Why not? I could probably do with a shower too, but here and now were not the place and time to do so. The lack of facilities also didn't help.

Pleased that I could still like myself, even with the changes to my body, I redressed in the isolation suit and mask, and stepped back out into the corridor.

---

"You have two options," I told the whimpering mare that I had cornered. "One. You can tell me what I want to know. Two, I take off this mask and breathe Hellspawn germs all over you."

"That's horrible! You're horrible! Everything's Horrible!" she responded, distaste temporarily replacing the fear on her deep pink face.

"And you ponies are any nicer?" I asked, leaning so close the tip of my mask touched her nose. "You and your buddies were going to murder me!"

"S-s-sorry, but I c-c-cannot help you, e-even at the c-cost of my own l-life," she stammered, somehow turning a paler pink, despite the dark color of her coat. Apparently my proximity was bothering her.

"Okay, breathe deep," I said, as I reached up and bonked her on the head. Needless to say, I did not deliberately breathe Hellspawn germs all over her. Hey, I couldn't have even if I'd wanted to!

Her squeal died as she lost consciousness, and slid to the floor. What was it with this place. No pony used their real name. It was all codes. None would help either, not even under the threat of death. What had 4J2 called it again? I thought about it for a few moments, as I rummaged through the pockets of the mare's lab coat. Deniable? That's right; he had called it one of Central's deniable facilities. I guess telling me that was a slip in itself, but then again, at the time 4J2 was certain I was going to die. I guess 4J2 really had gone out on a limb for me, knowing if I was caught and forced to talk, it could be all over for him.

This mare hadn't been a lot of help directly, but her meal, which I had interrupted, looked appealing, so I quickly gulped it down. She would have a fit if she knew I really had removed my mask near her. I grabbed her personal saddlebags from the shelf behind her, and emptied them out on her desk. Leaving the particularly personal items, I gathered what I could use, and put them back in the saddlebags. Her desk also gave me a few mostly useless trinkets, but until I found some real tools, anything was better than nothing. Finally, I added her ID card to my growing collection.

What did surprise me was that no alarm seemed to have been raised yet. That was five ponies I had knocked out. Surely some of them must have woken since. It wasn't like I was tying them up or anything either. Perhaps removing their ID cards really was disabling them, or at least their ability to use the facility.

My next discovery was the kitchen, or canteen or whatever we called the place these days. Once these words had individual meanings, but now they were simply the place that had the food dispensers in larger establishments. Places like my home didn't even have a separate room, instead mounting the apparatus on the most convenient wall. I stepped up to one of the dispensers and was dispensed three successive meals, each corresponding to one of the ID cards I was carrying, along with two admonishments for trying to get seconds. I also received three reports on unexpected weight variations. That was a little surprising. Most public machines didn't bother to identify you, merely scanning you to see what your body required. They really had gone overboard with security here! Nonetheless, it was a bonus for me, because it gave me some reserve food, which I could take with me. There were also several bottles of water, for ponies that wished to take drinks back to their workstations. They went into the saddlebags as well.

So my check list wasn't doing too badly. I had some food, water, a hairbrush, saddlebags, a small screwdriver set and my mapper. All I needed now were some lights, some tools and some way to get out of this damn place!

---

Author's Note:

Let me know via PM if you find any errors.

Comments

[Nyerguds]

along with two admonishments for trying to get seconds.

Hah!

Oh boy, this is really sucking me in. If this was all posted at once, it'd be one of those tales I'd do an all-nighter for, 6 o'clock alarm clock for going to work be damned.

[otherunicorn]

3827524

I had a look at a bit of Ergo Proxy yesterday. I'd never heard of it before, but I can see what you mean!

[ConsciousHaze196]

All I needed now were some lights, some tools and some way to get out of this damn place!

She might need more things... I guess... something against nothing, something against something that likes something in the underground, something for not having to explain to her boss, and something against that something?..

[Fourpony]

Unexpectedly, I felt my tail get lifted.

I guess mental image of her on her back was wrong.

I couldn't be sure my body wouldn't manufacture more at a later date.

Or be re-infected.

That was five ponies I had knocked out. Surely some of them must have woken since.

This is how I feel when playing Dues Ex: Human Revolution. Hmmm... Aneki is now an Aug.

Good world building, I always liked stuff people came up with that didn't fit in the show. Especially if it was well written.

[Sacredic]

Since I haven't heard of any farmland yet, I will just believe by default that the dispensers are handing out Soylent Green

Just started reading but looks like a nice story to get into

edit: Okey it wasn't Soylent Green, but i dunno if the alternative was much better (or worse!)

[otherunicorn]

6391858 Pretty much.

[XerainTheBountyHunter]

These 'hellspawn' biotechs act like they were to be used to augment exploration and construction workers outside of a magic field.

How interesting....