âTwenty-three, itâs like, impossible to burn water. I still donât know how you did it,â said a person in a black and grey guard uniform to his friend. A helmet and scarf covered his face from sight. His scarf didnât cover him as much as his colleagueâs, did, however. His colleagueâs scarf took up the space of half of his visorâsomething any other captain than their own would have told them off for. Going against the uniform rules could put a team in jeopardy.
âSix, Iâve told you so many times. I donât know how it happened, it just did.â KOD-23, a person in a similar uniform, save for a different scarf and design on the shoulder guards, replied. He was walking with the other guard at the same pace. They were assigned to patrol the basement hallways. Nothing ever happened in themâthey were dark, musty, and nobody went down there, yet patrolling was for some reason still required despite the security cameras picking up on everything. It was the least maintained part of the entire Ecclesia Solis. Some staff had offices that were still in use, but if they didnât, the lights would have been shut off by now to conserve energy. âI donât think it was even my fault. Blame Mâ141 for it.â
The basement of the Ecclesia Solis was filled with maintenance tunnels for plumbing, and abandoned-looking empty rooms. For a place that had the most care of all of Sneg, it was odd how they didnât maintain any parts the public wouldnât see. Most guards despised being assigned to patrol the basement, but KOD-23 and KOD-06 didnât mind it too much. If they were assigned to it for the whole day they might have cared a little more, but they only had to walk around for three hours before they had their break and were rostered to stand around in the lobby. Compared to most jobs in Neuzhas, theirs was a relaxing one. KOD-23 shined his flashlight into a room they were walking past. He was to see the wooden panel door and for the flashlight to glare back at him. Nothing looked back except dust.
âHey, Six? This door isnât usually open, is it?â 23 asked, looking at the crumbling wallpaper and the settled dust on the desks. It looked like it was an office room that had been unused for a long time. The wallpaper was an old design, older than the building itself. It was a strong blue colour with thick, blood-red stripesâan eyesore. KOD-23 didnât go in, but he stood enthralled by the room theyâd stumbled upon for a short while.
âI donât think so. You want me to ask over the radio? I can check for you.â KOD-06 answered. His colleague's radio was broken and on the waitlist to be fixed, as it had been for a while. Knowing Twenty-three, he could have paid for it to be fixed faster. Six wasnât too sure himself of if the door was meant to be open. It didnât look like it was, especially because of the footprints on where the dust was disturbed.
Twenty-three thought about if he really wanted Six to ask for him. He shook his head to decline Sixâs offer. âNah, itâs fine. Cap would be mad if we didn't just go in if we sensed a disturbance, yeah?â
âI think Forty-five would be more concerned than angry. This place is usually the same. We were here yesterday and this wasnât open.â Sure, Six could just go ahead and call the captain, but there could be more reasons for 23âs reluctance that he was keeping private. âYou sure you donât want me to call him?â
Six looked into the decaying room. The pair were lucky that little to none of the dust would irritate them through their protective layers of metal and fabric.Â
Twenty-three didnât respond to his teammate, instead wandering into the room. His steps kicked up thick layers of dust that covered his visor. If Twenty-three wiped it with his gloves, it could obscure his vision even more. âTwenty-three, I really donât think you should go in just yet. Someone unauthorized could be in there. We donât know whatâs going on.â Six argued.
âFine.â KOD-23 relinquished. âBut I want toâno, we need to go in.â
KOD-06 spoke over the radio and asked for his captain. Though C-45 was on break and was reasonably annoyed, he agreed it was enough to make him come down. If something went wrong, nobody would be down with them for six minutes. Six minutes was enough time to be injured. Six minutes was enough time for anything that could go wrong to go wrong.Â
Six was a very unlucky number in Sneg, and had gained superstition around it since researchers first settled there.
Having an unlucky person like Six in what could turn into a very unlucky situation would turn out badly without the guidance of a superior.
Twenty-three looked at the carpet. The only things he could see between the carpet fibers were dust and fallen pieces of wallpaper. There was nothing suspicious about the room other than the open door and imprinted footsteps. It could have been a maintenance worker at last nightâs Dusk Service, but the two didnât know what the other door led to, and their captain wasnât yet sure of the room they were in. There was no physical map of the Ecclesia Solisâ basement or floorsâother than the ground floor and the second-floor library area to prevent citizens from getting lost. Six looked down the hallway at the sound of footsteps. They were quiet, but still were there. Six waved to their captain as he arrived.
Only seeing Six outside of the room, the captain questioned him. The winding, dark hallways were far easier to navigate when youâd been stationed at and patrolled the Ecclesia for years like he did. âWhere'd Rookie go?â
âHe went in.â Six shrugged, looking into the dark room. Twenty-threeâs flashlight was the only thing giving off any light in the room.
Twenty-three stepped through the door to greet their captain. âDonât rat me out like that!â he joked, handing their captain his flashlight.
âHow would not saying where you are prevent you from being found? Forty-five isnât stupid.â sighed Six, crossing his arms.
âNo signs of anything except these footsteps, right?â he asked, walking into the room. The wallpaper was odd in comparison to the rest of the Ecclesiaâs buildings, which were either plain greyish-blue, wooden or some variant of tile. Nowhere in the Ecclesia had red-striped wallpaperâhe didnât know who would have used an office room like this. It couldnât have been any of the actual Ecclesia staff. Perhaps a third-party like the guards or the meteorology company that owned an Ecclesia-attached building used it. âDo you know if the door with the window down there is unlocked?â
âDidnât try the door.â Twenty-three responded, walking in behind him. Six walked in last. It felt like the door would close behind them, but the wind was still in the darkness. If it was windy, it would be even more concerningâsomeone could have blown a hole in the basement from outside it.
Any basements in Neuzhas went into the underground. When the Ecclesia was built, there wasnât as much of a worry that it could pose a safety risk. It wasnât impossible that despite the Ecclesiaâs walls being fortified, windowless and guarded to prevent anyone underground from getting in, someone had gone right under their noses and entered the building using destructive means. The underground was known for housing some of the more destructive peopleâand most of the non-believers that would want to desecrate the Ecclesia Solis like that. People downstairs were seen as violent. People that couldnât be trusted.
They were underground to keep the above-ground clean. They lived and died in the dark so the snow-dwellers upstairs could live in the light.
Forty-five went up ahead and looked through the window. It was dark, and the flashlight didnât do anything against it. The door had to be openedâthat way the light would stop reflecting back into their visors. They were luckily polarised, but it was still a nuisance to their vision, especially Twenty-threeâs limited field of which was obstructed by his scarf. Forty-five tried the handle.
âItâs locked.â he said, looking through the window more as if that would change something about their situation. The first door being open was strange, but the second being locked was stranger.
âNobody would have the key, right?â Twenty-three asked. Having worked there for the least amount of time, it made sense for him to ask questions about the operations of the staff in the Ecclesia Solis. This was Twenty-threeâs local branch of the Ecclesia Solis both in-uniform and out of it, yet for the public, the operations were kept more private.
âOnly the Custodians would.â Six informed him. âThey need to access all the rooms.â
âWould anyone else?â questioned Twenty-three.
Six answered his second inquiry, looking at a dusty bookshelf. It looked like a box on there had recently moved. He decided to keep quiet about it, though. There was no sign of danger indicating to him that he needed to tell Fourty-five or Twenty-three. It was only the open door that was nerve-wrackingânot the room itself. âNo, I donât think so. Maybe a higher-up wouldâŠ? Thatâs the only possibility I can think of.â
âI really doubt theyâd come down here.â Forty-five informed his juniors, exiting back into the hallway. Though he did want to check, there was nothing he could do. He knew he didnât have the key to the locked basement doors. His clearance rank was far too low for that. He was only a Rank III. The only privilege Forty-five had was to look through the database pages and edit what he might need to, the sort of managerial stuff youâd need to be someone's boss. It was difficult for him to pinpoint exactly what was going on, but he came to a conclusion. âProbably just someone doing maintenance. Stupid thing to get worked up about, honestly. Get back to patrolling.â
âYou told us to worry about it!â Twenty-three responded. âI wouldnât have even called you down, that was Siââ
âShush, rookie.â Six covered Twenty-threeâs visor as if covering his mouth. It somehow worked, though, and he didnât continue. Maybe that sort of direct signal worked well. Six noted down to try it next time he wanted Twenty-three to be quiet. âWeâre sorry for wasting your break time, cap.â
âNext time, assess the situation properly,â huffed Forty-five, stepping towards the exit door to take his leave.
â...Is it okay if I investigate more?â the slightly shorter one asked in a quiet voice.
âGo ahead. Just donât break the door, Rookie.â
Forty-five, Six, and 23 are now available for asks.