CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sprocket led Callen through the dark hallways towards the throne room. She kicked open the door and she scanned the room, ready to fire. Bodies of cogs were scattered throughout the room and Bracket's decapitated body was stretched out on the table. With the sounds of battle winding down, Callen and Sprocket gazed at the king's lifeless body.
"We're too late." Sprocket cursed.
"Maybe for Bracket, but not Niknak." Callen looked at his computer. "We better hurry. Virette just arrived at the church...and it looks like she has Bracket's crown on..."
"We can't use the streets." Sprocket said. "The mobs out there will tear us apart. Let’s use the sewers again...we will come up underneath..."
Through the few sewer grates, Callen saw the crowds of gremlins moving towards the church. But, as they continued crawling through the grimy piping, through some grates, he saw the gremlins stop and drop to their knees. They began bowing and chanting while facing Virette's church.
Although, Callen was hungry, the adrenaline surged as they moved closer and he felt more energized. The rush was intoxicating, but his mind was clear. There was no time for strategy, only improvisation, and he needed options. He made sure that every possible mode of attack, including his disrupter and the EMP device were prepared.
Through the last grate, Callen saw the front of the horrible church. Mounted above the door hung Bracket's head, and his oily blood dripped down the rusted metal. Heavily armed cogs guarded the church door.
"Even if we made it through the horde of worshipers...we don't have enough firepower to get through those...good thing you know the sewers..." Callen whispered.
Sprocket's gaze was fixed on her father's head. She swallowed hard. "Dad, I'll take you down when this is over."
Callen shook Sprocket. "Let’s go, the quicker this over, the quicker you can pay your respects."
She nodded and continued forward. She took a few more turns and a grate barred their path. Beyond it, there was a ladder and an empty guard station. She looked at the grate. "Give me a minute. I'm willing to bet my mother has this trapped."
"No, let me," Callen said as he slid ahead of Sprocket. He activated a Mavis scan as he looked over the remaining piping and the grate. A few electronic sensors appeared on his scan and with a few strokes on his computer he overloaded them. He slowly moved forward and deactivated the few pressure plates and stopped at the grate.
"Open it." Sprocket whispered.
"Wait," Callen said. "I need a few with the grate. The line of sight here is bad and thus, the best place for a trap." Mavis came up with a few motion sensors, which were easily disabled. However, Callen didn't pop open the grate. "There it is." He used his multi-tool and the spine of Carnwennan to keep some pressure on a simple mechanism attached to one of the screws. He removed the grate, paying attention to prevent a primitive mechanism from activating. He and Mavis, couldn't deduce the purpose. However, as he slid out and traced the simple pulley system, the final trap was designed to wake up a tranquil cybernetic sewer troll next to the guard station.
"Good catch." Sprocket whispered. A hiss came from her silenced weapon as she killed the two praying guards near the toll.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Callen said. "I'd rather not fight another one of those things again."
"Yeah, and I rather not get stomped by one again either." Sprocket admitted. She shook her head and looked at the two guards she had killed. "But, don't let victories go to your head until your home. These guys could have ended us really quick."
She grabbed the key from the guard and opened the door behind them. Beyond it was a workshop loaded with electrical systems, mechanical parts, and twisted operating benches. There were two more alcoves built for harnessing sewer trolls and a pair of vats, each with a living sewer troll floating in the bubbling liquid. Both trolls in the tanks were at different stages of growth, one appeared to be in its infancy and the other in it's late childhood.
"Guess we know where Virette got them..."
"Yeah." Sprocket said. "She grew them right under my father's nose. Let's move. We're below the worship room. There should be a ladder..." She looked around the room. "There. It leads into one of the back rooms."
Callen nodded and as he looked towards the latter, his eyes widened when he spotted biohazard barrels stacked near some of the mechanical modification supplies. He checked them and shook his head. "The goblins had barrels like these...I think they were making this stuff there..."
"I have no idea what it is." Sprocket sighed. "But, let's go..."
Callen pushed open the hatch at the top of the ladder and pulled himself into a small room. The room was packed with an assortment of religiously decorated torture devices and collections of herbs in cloudy jars on shelves. A variety of chemistry lab equipment and glass tubing was intricately set up on a bench along with stacks of old books, spiral notebooks, and disorganized papers.
"A chemistry lab?" Callen asked as he stared at the equipment. He looked at the dirty pipets and a twisted custom-made network of glassware. "I wouldn't guess your mother enjoys this kind of stuff..."
"She would if it involves poisons and experimenting on the living or dead..."
Callen took a closer look at the chemistry equipment and among the twists of glass, he found a spinal column wired into a complex electronic apparatus. A few of the vertebrae had been removed and signs of wear from scraping metal could be seen on the bone. Inside the spinal column, where the nerves would be if it were a living creature, lay tubing that was connected to the chemistry lab system. Droplets and dried smears of a variety of chemicals, including blood, darkened the tubing.
"What the hell was she doing?" Callen asked.
"No idea." Sprocket said. "She was a salvage doctor before she became a priestess. So, she knows biology, chemistry, and anatomy along with how to jury rig electronics to make up for flaws in genetics. I remember growing up she always had an obsession with the nervous system, diseases...and understanding hidden knowledge in some leather bound book."
"Creepy." Callen began flipping through some of the notes. Many were scribed with illegible notes and hieroglyphics. But, some he could understand and they made his skin crawl. "It wasn't the sorcerer." He gulped.
"What?"
"She did it." He gave Sprocket a horrified look. "She actually manufactured the plague...look." He pointed to a collection of formulas and a mechanical system designed for spreading it. From the designs, they were pieces of electronic parts that were implanted in Virette's followers. "Guess she spread it with her faith..." He turned the page and he shook his head with disgust. "And her religious tattoos are made of a substance that inoculates the virus..."
"That explains why everyone was converting so quickly..." Sprocket gasped. "But, she also cured the sick during her religious ceremonies...is there anything about modifications she did?"
He continued flipping. "It doesn't look like it...but, also...it doesn't say how she did it so quickly...or..." He shook his head. When he saw notes on the first infections outside her lab. "With such purity or potency. I'm not a biology guy...but I know this kind of work takes decades with the type of equipment she has here..."
"The sorcerer must have helped her with his magic." Sprocket shrugged. "Especially since you said you saw those barrels there...that must be part of it...but at least we know their is a cure..."
"Yeah, among a treasure trove of other information that we can't read..."
"When we survive this, I'll make sure you get it all. Then, you can figure it out."
"Good idea." He nodded. "You know, you must admit, she definitely played her hand well. But, as for your mother..."
"The thing that did this isn't my mother anymore..."
"Good, then I won't sound inconsiderate if I say...it’s time to shoot her and go home.”
&nbs
p; Sprocket shook her head. "I couldn't have said it better myself."