Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Fourteen - Resonating

“Enclosed vertical farming will be the only way to farm soon. Not only are land prices constantly on the rise. Things like environmental issues (flooding, droughts, acid rain, corporate warfare, fires), make traditional farming unviable in this half of the 20th century.

Vertical farms allow full control of the enclosed environment to be achieved, ensuring optimal growth potential, and protecting the profits of the company who operates the farm.”

--Excerpt from the patent for a fully-enclosed agricultural control tower, 1981

***

I snuck up to the side of the garden pillar and waited.

Most of the aliens, it seemed, were held up on the floors above. I did notice some movement within though. The tops of some of the plants were wiggling around, and I heard metallic crashing as a trolly rattled across the grated floor, the tools on it clattering about.

“Not exactly subtle,” I muttered as I started to make my way around the pillar. “How many have they breached?”

In this area? This tower, and the one currently to your right.

I glanced that way, noting that the next tower over was right next to the very edge of the facility. There was a fence there, just the sort of cheap chain link fencing that was topped by a roll of barbed wire. A hole was torn into the side of it. “They didn’t exactly go all-out with security here,” I muttered.

In defence of the facility, this is a greenhouse. I think the fencing is mostly to keep wild animals away and perhaps deter industrial spies. It is far below the rating required to prevent any level of antithesis entry.

“Yeah, fair enough,” I muttered.

I glanced between the two towers before I made up my mind. “Myalis, I need two of those sonic melting grenades. You know the ones. With proximity detonators.”

Myalis replied by having two boxes appear next to me.

New Purchase: Class I Resonator Mark I-D X2
Points Reduced to... 1,414

I pulled the boxes open and tucked one of the grenades in the pocket of my coat while palming the other. I ran over to the hole in the gate, eyeing the world past the facility. There was a small bit of clearing, just scraggly grass that had obviously been trimmed once a season, then a thin forest. The sun was still bright above, but the woods were filled with shifting shadows.

Kneeling down next to the hole, I placed the grenade down, then fiddled with it for a moment. I set the distance to one metre, then put the timer for activation on thirty seconds. Plenty of time to move out of the way.

That done, I darted to the nearer of the two towers and found the way the aliens had used to move in.

They weren’t exactly subtle. There was a pile of safety glass next to a broken window. I shifted closer, placed down the second resonator, then flicked it on as well.

That would fuck up any of the antithesis trying to move around. Hopefully that would also lock them in place while I cleared out the other tower.

If I had to clear out more than two, then the entire thing would take far, far too long.

I glanced over in the direction Gomorrah had gone in, and couldn’t help but notice the thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. I switched to the channel we still had open. “Hey Gom, you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” she said with a pleased sort of purr that I decided not to question.

“Right, okay, just don’t burn the whole place down.”

“Noted.”

Shaking my head, I moved back to the first tower I’d spotted the antithesis in. I knew there were some model threes in there, and at least one worm. Not much of a threat, really, but I wasn’t stupid enough not to take it seriously.

How was I going to clear this one?

I could go up floor by floor until I reached the top. It would work. I didn’t have to worry too much about the low-levelled aliens here.

I could set up a killbox. Get two or three turrets around the base, maybe a cat-mech, then attract the antithesis inside the tower so that they’d run out.

But then they might hide.

So, a bit of both?

“Myalis, I’m going to need a lot more of those resonators. I need a bigger model. More range. And... do we have nanites that can eat plant-matter without spreading too far? I don’t want to destroy all the towers here.”

Both can be arranged, yes. The nanites are by necessity not fast-acting however.

I nodded as I counted the floors. The tower was a hundred metres tall, but only had ten floors. It looked like each floor was filled with racks for the plants within.

The aliens hadn’t smashed in a window on this one. It looked like they’d slipped in through the front door. There were scratch marks on the edge of the door, cutting into the thick rubber seals and the glass front. I pulled the door open, then let it shut behind me.

The carbon dioxide levels in this room are bordering on lethal.

I blinked. The air felt pretty humid, but I couldn’t exactly smell anything, not with my helmet filtering everything. “Am I in trouble?” I asked.

No. Not unless you remain in this one room for over three days. Your helmet will filter out the worst of the contaminants.

“Good, good,” I said. It was very warm, but some of that had to be the big lights spread out across the ceiling. The room was full of hanging racks filled with rows and rows of plants. “How many resonators will I need per floor?” I asked.

If you purchase a larger variety, only one, though it will need to be centralised.

I nodded. “Got it,” I said. I darted to the middle of the room.

Then my heart leapt halfway out of my chest as I came to a sudden stop.

A Model three stepped out ahead of me, its beady eyes scanning across the room while its three-hinged jaw drolled open. Its head turned, and for a moment I suspected it was looking right at me.

I swallowed, staying perfectly still for a moment.

Then I remembered that I wasn’t some punkass little bitch and I reached into my thigh pocket, pulled out my Trenchmaker, and aimed down the barrel to the alien’s head.

It saw the gun floating there, its eyes locking onto it.

Then I fired.

The model three flinched back, its ears twitching as I blew a hole through one of them.

I swore, lowered my aim a bit, then fired a second time.

This time the alien’s head gained a fist-sized hole that splattered what passed for its brains on the wall of plants behind it.

Target Eliminated!
Reward... 10 points

“Myalis, resonator,” I said.

New Purchase: Class I Resonator Mark II-G
Points Reduced to... 1,414

I picked up the new resonator. It was a chunkier thing, definitely heavier than the usual grenades I had.

Jogging over to the centre of the room, I placed the bomb on a little counter space with tools and such behind it, then quickly activated it.

The sound it made was great, a grating, high-pitched whine that had my teeth feeling like they were about to wiggle out of my gums, and I wasn’t even the target here.

A nearby plant, with some long trailing leaves, splattered to the floor as part of it broke apart. So at least it was working.

“I need another,” I said.

Coming.

I picked up the next then ran up to the floor above. The middle part of the tower had a staircase that turned around a central shaft that had a sort of opened elevator platform. I imagined it was there to bring the plantstock they gathered up and down, as well as whatever fertiliser or tools they needed to work the greenhouse.

I made it to the second floor, where a couple of model threes were already sniffing their way over to the stairs.

They couldn’t see me, of course, but I ducked behind a counter anyway as I set up the second resonator.

The next floor up had more aliens, with one of those big model eight worms chowing down on heaps of plant matter with the help of a few model threes.

I placed another resonator down, then moved on.

I was getting a good workout by the time I reached the topmost floor. Even with my suit helping, it was good cardio climbing ninety metres worth of stairs. The last five floors didn’t have any aliens as far as I could tell, but I put some resonators on them, just in case. The tower was going to be a write-off regardless.

On the top floor, I called up the elevator, then stood in the middle of it before tapping the button to send it down.

“Alright, I need some of those nanite grenades,” I said. “Ten of them.”

Myalis provided, and I got to one knee over the box before tossing one out onto the tenth floor.

Then I headed down, flicking a grenade out onto every floor.

By the time I reached the ground floor, I figured the aliens above were just starting to feel the sting of those nanites.

So, of course, that’s when I activated the other nine resonators I’d left.

I was grinning to myself as I walked out of the tower, the entire thing screaming with the high-pitched whine of melting aliens.

***