Chapter 3: Clearance to Track

The air in the archive's basement was thick enough to choke on. The Antimatter Engine’s low-frequency hum wasn’t just a sound; it was a physical force, an invisible hand clamped hard around both their throats. The vibration bypassed their ears and drilled straight into their neural centers, inducing a subtle sense of dislocation, as if their thoughts were being forcibly dragged into some bottomless abyss. Alexei pressed the yellowed satellite map to his chest, his fingertips going white from the grip. It was the last trace of his father, and the rough texture of the paper seemed to travel through his fingertips and flood his entire body. He stared at the woman who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him for years. His voice was hoarse but unyielding. In that oppressive silence, his words felt jarringly out of place, yet they carried a weight that admitted no argument.

The fire escape was lined with special acoustic alloy designed to absorb sound, but their footsteps still echoed through the empty shaft. Each step felt like pressing a nerve ending. As Alexei sprinted down, he rapidly constructed a 3D map of the abandoned city in his mind. As an urban planner, he knew every vent and pipe intersection by heart. Now, those complex networks lit up with green safety indicators in his mind.

Alexei stepped closer, his leather boot screeching faintly against the dust-covered floor. He kept his voice so low only the two of them could hear. “Dmitri’s energy pulse scans the lower corridors every ninety seconds. We have four minutes. Dad left the coordinates here betting I’d come steal it, not wait to die.”

Alexei frowned, his steps hesitating for a split second. A thought flashed through his mind, which he immediately corrected. “No, you’re wrong. The tremor three years ago wasn’t natural. It was a targeted demolition. The break point is actually a man-made secret passage leading to the deep structure of the cold storage. It’s an old-era military design, meant to keep logistics flowing when standard routes get blocked.”

Vera gritted her teeth, her finger hovering over the enter key, trembling slightly. It was a physiological reaction to long-term high stress. “That coordinate points to the abandoned Ice Dome cold storage. It’s an interface point for the old dimensions, not just a regular storage room. If you take the original now, we lose the only basis for verifying the channel frequency.”

Dmitri turned around. His energy blade was fully extended, the blue light illuminating his cold, sharp face and the resolution burning in Alexei’s eyes. “There’s no time to debate, Liebiev. If they destroy the data, your old map is just scrap paper. Choose: save those people, or take the map and run.”

Alexei didn’t flinch. His eyes showed a calm, almost obsessive stillness, a decisiveness forged in desperation. “I don’t need to verify the frequency. I need to get the truth out alive. Those tampered death records are on your chip; the original is in my hands. We split up. Meet me at the cold storage.”

A blue-traced energy bullet shattered the thick blast-resistant glass window. The glass didn’t shatter into shards; instead, it vibrated in a strange, wave-like pattern. The alloy frame around the window instantly melted, dripping scalding residue onto the metal counter below, sizzling as it corroded the surface. The air filled with the sharp, pungent smell of ozone.

Alexei’s heart skipped a beat, nearly stopping. He realized instantly that the enemy hadn’t located them via standard surveillance. They had triangulated their position using the electromagnetic spike generated by Vera’s high-power data transfer. It was a calculated trap, or perhaps a precise hunt.

“We were only given coordinates, not intel,” Dmitri said quietly, a rare hesitation in his tone. “I thought this was a simple cleanup job. But I respect your father. He was a true engineer. If this map is genuine, I won’t have to hurt you.”

Alexei closed his eyes, forcing out visual distractions. The 3D model of the city spun rapidly in his mind. He saw the drone patrol frequencies, the periodic pauses caused by aging batteries. Those ignored fault codes were now their only way out.

“Left side, three levels up, has a drone nest,” Alexei whispered through the tiny earpiece at his collar. His voice was slightly distorted by the electrical transmission. “They should be in dormant mode now, but they’ll activate if they detect a heat source. We have to take the condensation pipes on the right.”

Alexei pointed to a dense cluster of wave peaks on the map, his finger trembling as he tapped the red markers. “See here? Sonar reflection is abnormal. This isn’t rock. It’s a man-made cavity. My father operated here. He might even still be alive.”

Dmitri finally looked up, his gaze sharp. “I agree to pause combat for ten minutes to verify the source code of this blueprint. But remember: if the code is fake, or if I find other illegal data on you, I won’t let old feelings hold me back.”

Vera stopped, looking back into the darkness where endless pipes and dim indicator lights flickered. “The right-side pipe has a break point on the second sub-level. It was left by the earthquake three years ago. It’s completely impassable.”

“Remember, don’t trust any signal source marked by the Combat Engineering Battalion,” Vera warned in a low voice, anxiety lingering in her tone. She then turned and sprinted toward the ventilation duct, her black figure vanishing quickly behind the gray iron grating.

Alexei grabbed the backup terminal on the desk, ready to sync and delete local logs. His finger slid across the touchpad. Just then, a dull explosion cut through the conversation, shaking dust down from the archive’s ceilings.

“Watch the timing,” he opened his eyes, gaze sharp, staring directly at the dangerous red lights. “There’s a blind spot in the omni-scan every seven seconds. It lasts zero-point-five seconds. That’s their visual reset window. Use the momentum.”

Several camouflaged engineering vehicles sat at the entrance. Searchlights cut through the darkness, beams sweeping across the barren land, lighting up the snow like it was daylight. Between the shifting shadows and lights, countless small snowflakes danced in the beams, creating a scene that was both absurd and silent.

A beam swept over where they had just been standing. The scorching airflow even blew Alexei’s hair out of place, burning his skin with a stinging heat. But they had already ducked behind heavy mechanical parts, holding their breath.

Vera stopped abruptly, looking up. Her eyes were like knives, instantly cutting through the ambiguity and hesitation in the air. “You want me to take the original before the data backup is complete? That’s suicide.”

Vera followed close behind. Her breathing was rapid, creating noticeable air currents in the tight space, but her movements remained precise. Every step landed on the edge of shadows, avoiding potential sensor zones.

“You’re faster than expected, Liebiev.” Dmitri’s voice came through his faceplate, carrying a metallic echo, cold and distant. “I thought it was a trap. I didn’t expect an invitation.”

“Now!” Alexei surged forward. The two of them burst out of the pipe like leopards, rolling into a nearby abandoned repair bay. Their movements were fluid, without a single wasted motion.

Dmitri stepped forward. He didn’t snatch the map. Instead, he leaned in for a close look, complex emotions flashing in his eyes. It was a battle between the warmth of old days and the coldness of his current stance.

“Someone breached the data core!” Dmitri’s adjutant shouted from a distance, accompanied by the rapid clatter of boots and bursts of gunfire. Bullets sparked off the metal walls in the shadows.

Alexei didn’t speak immediately. He walked quietly onto the ice, his boot heels screeching lightly, and slowly unfurled the old map. The paper shook violently in the cold wind.

“They’re here.” Alexei grabbed the old map and kicked open the fire escape door without hesitation. The hinges snapped, crashing against the wall with a deafening roar.

“It’s the Archivist!” Vera said in horror, worry filling her eyes. “They’ve caught the group responsible for guarding the original records. They’re going to force-extract the data!”

Beams crisscrossed, forming a net of death over the entire pipe exit. Red light spots moved slowly across the ground, accompanied by the faint hum of machinery.

They crawled forward, dodging an engineering vehicle under maintenance, and slipped into the shadows inside the cold storage. The smell of machine oil mixed with the frozen air, stinging their noses.

A figure stood in the center of the cold storage, back to them. They were toying with a blue-glowing energy blade, the edge cutting through the air with a soft sizzle.

The two shimmied into the narrow condensation water pipe. The metal walls were bitterly cold; the chill seeped through their pores, slowing their bloodflow.

It was Dmitri Belousov. His enemy officer’s uniform was covered in dust, but his posture was still upright, like a lonely tree rooted in the ruins.

Vera froze in place, her fingers digging into Alexei’s arm, nails nearly piercing his skin. “The blind spots are sealed. There’s no way back.”

Alexei clenched his fists around the old map and chip in his pocket. His knuckles turned white. A bad feeling rose in his heart, a weight like fate itself.

Alexei pushed open the rusted iron door. The sight stopped him in his tracks. The gear was stuck in the hinge, emitting a shrill scraping sound.

Suddenly, faint red beams of light emerged from ahead. It was the scanning grid of enemy tracking drones, like the eyes of death opening in the darkness.

The bullet casings embedded in the wall had tiny serial numbers etched on them. That was the exclusive marking of Dmitri’s Combat Engineering Battalion.

The originally sealed cold storage entrance had been blown open and filled with sandbags and temporary armor plates, forming a simple but sturdy defensive fortification.

Vera tugged on Alexei’s sleeve, her voice so low it was almost a whisper. “Careful. There’s heavy firepower inside.”

Outside the repair bay was the final slope leading to the Ice Dome cold storage. Cold wind whistled through the cracks, carrying the metallic scent of frozen earth.

Alexei was about to nod in reply when a piercing alarm wailed from the depths of the cold storage, the shriek tearing through the silence.

Alexei’s face changed. He looked toward the sealed blast door deep in the storage, where life still seemed to be struggling.

This wasn’t an abandoned place. It had been converted into a frontline command post, thick with the vibrant energy of slaughter.

Red emergency lights strobed frantically, breaking the oppressive darkness and dyeing the scene in shades of bloody crimson.

Vera stared intently at the fluctuations in the light beams. Her heart was hammering against her ribs; every beat was a countdown.

The two stood in silent opposition. The tension in the air was so thick it felt solid; even their breathing seemed unnecessary.

Alexei clenched his fists. The sweat on his palms soaked into the precious old map, making the paper heavy with moisture. At the crossroads of two completely opposite fates, he heard the final echo from the end of the sea fog—a question that was his father’s promise, and the choice he had to make right now.