Tunnel Rat

Chapter 292: Focusing on what's important in Life

Milo was apprehensive as he made his way to Downtown. Things were moving too fast and too crazy. Part of him missed the days when all he had to worry about was a leaky pipe or broken air handler. As soon as the thought occurred to him, the other parts of his brain attacked the stray thought. If things had stayed the same, he wouldn't have discovered the game, tasted cheese, and made friends in and out of the game. He quickly recognized the thought was the result of fatigue and stress. The truth was that Milo lived to solve problems, and the complexity and number of problems he was encountering were making him stretch his mind further and further. He just needed to be better at organizing how he solved them.

He thought about this as he snuck into the admin rooms that hid the elevator. This was a problem just waiting to happen. It may have been convenient for the people using the elevator to be near the top of the habitat, but it was difficult for him to get to, and the approach to the main door was too exposed. He had a large air duct he could move through, but it wasn't a good route and took a lot of time to use. And he was limited by what he could bring through it. There was also the small access hatch on the roof, but that was also exposed and difficult to get to. Of course, Claw Master now controlled Section E, and he could change things if he wanted, but having construction work done and not revealing a hidden elevator shaft might also prove difficult. He decided that he'd mull things over for a few days and look at the problem again.

His next priorities were keeping his family safe and fed, finding out what was wrong with Belinda, and finding a solution to Rusty's unique problem. He moved Rusty to the top of the list. All other problems would become moot if the fusion reactor melted Downtown and destroyed the habitat. The door to the elevator opened, and two of his Roomba beeped at him happily while a third started playing a song he didn't know that was mostly just the words 'Don't worry, be happy.' They followed him down the stairs, using the wide molding on the sides as a ramp. No one was in the large hall, but one table showed signs of use, with a mix of dishes, pots, and pans. Milo recognized them all from his time in the hollow. One platter had a stack of six pancakes on it, which he happily grabbed, realizing how hungry he was. Pulling off his cowl, he started munching on them as he walked out the front doors.

Butch met him at the stairs down. "Well, you made it home in one piece from your latest adventure, but you aren't walking so well."

"I got into another fight. It was a killer cyborg, like in 'Run for Your Life 7' but without the metal tentacles."

"That's a shame, the tentacles were cool. You could have added a couple to your fancy suit. But a word of advice: you might want to keep quiet about your last fight. Momma is stressed out enough as it is."

Milo stopped walking, suddenly worried. "Why? What's wrong."

Butch smiled. "Nothing's wrong. She's just tired from talking with Rusty. He has a lot of questions, and they always lead to long talks. But he's catching on, and she has experience talking to people like him." He tousled Milo's hair. "The little ones are playing with the bunnies, and I'm babysitting. You should take it easy for a bit. You look like you need a break. Sit down, and I'll give you the scouting report.

Milo thought he needed to get to work figuring out a runaway fusion generator, but if Butch thought he need to know about something, he was probably right. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. In fact, everything is pretty damned good, as far as most of us are concerned. We've been exploring the houses, and they are chock full of food. Stuff a lot of us have never seen before. Every kitchen has hundreds of cans, big cheese wheels in red wax, and freezers full of stuff. I found this can of Coca-Cola in one house. A whole refrigerator full of it! Good stuff. A lot better than the red-fizzy drinks in the hab. None of us have ever eaten like this before. Mama had to make all of us promise not to take anything else from the houses. She's worried we'll have to pay for it someday. Luckily, I'd already hidden a few boxes of crackers in a bag hanging up in the branches of this tree."

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Milo could see the bag now that Butch had pointed it out. He approved of emergency snack food.

"Everyone is scattered around, but Mama says we have to show up for meals together in the big hall, except for one person who stays with Belinda all the time. She's still asleep in her pod. Dad and I took over some furniture from one of the houses so it would be more comfortable. Kenji is getting mud all over him, learning how to grow vegetables, and James is teaching him all about hydroponics. Dad says it's something all of us have to learn and will count for science credit. He's really gearing up for teaching classes now that we have all of those pods. He's got them all hooked up but wants you to look them over. He and Mom spend a lot of time in that room with Belinda. Rusty has been watching video non-stop with whoever will watch it with him. He doesn't like watching by himself. Overall, I have to say that this Claw Master deal gets better and better."

"Claw Master deal?"

"Sure. And I get it; we all signed NDAs to not talk to other people about stuff, and they made you sign one, too. But some of the puzzle pieces are fitting together too easily, and we've played several rounds of 'Where the hell are we?' at this point. Pretty obvious this place is some super-secret Claw Master headquarters."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

Butch shook his head a little bit. "See? Still keeping secrets. But it's obvious. Mysterious Milo shows up now and then in the hab, only to disappear again. No one knows where you live, but it's a secret, and you use the ducts to travel where no one can see you. You're too experienced at video games for a beginner, but where do you play? You can fix a food processor, something no one else has ever figured out, but you aren't one of the repair crew. Somehow, you work for a new company called Claw Master and have new, high-tech gaming equipment no one has ever seen before. But where's the company and where do you work? When we finally find out where you live, it's a super-secret futuristic laboratory with all the trimmings. Built secretly by someone with loads of money."

Butch paused for effect and then summed up his thesis. "Claw Master Secret Headquarters and research lab. It all fits."

Milo wanted to tell Butch he was wrong but couldn't: Claw Master had bought Section E and this hidden facility below it. So in a way, Butch had made a solid guess. Did it matter that his logic to get to the conclusion was incorrect? Well, some of the logic. He pondered it for a moment while Butch sipped the fizzy drink in a red can and ate some crackers.

Milo decided that at least for now, it was a better story that what he was pretty sure the place was. "Yes, Claw Master owns this place but didn't build it all, just repairs to get it running again. And Rusty is part owner. We sort of share."

Butch winked at him. "Finally, making you reveal your secrets. About time. And now that we have that out of the way, we need to discuss the important things."

As Butch turned serious, Milo got worried. "What important things?"

"What do you think? Dad is starting school, and we can earn our game time if we do our lessons. So when do we start playing Genesis together? You've got to focus on what's important in life, little bro."

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