Chapter 165: Lower Levels

<Way to make the doc think you're both absolutely bonkers, Jacob,> BB snarked as the doctor shook his head at the revelation I had made. 

Revealing that I was from another universe wasn't something that I did often. Even in a universe of alien species, spaceships and magic such a thing would be pretty hard to believe. 

Besides, one of the things that I'd always been worried about was the idea of people wanting to experiment on me when they'd found out I was from another universe. What if they could somehow use me to break through to my old world? My Earth wasn't ready for the kind of destruction that manna could bring when applied through anger. 

"Uh yeah, hasn't Dan ever brought that up in the past?" I said sheepishly, "Look it's no big deal, still genetically human just like you. Just from… the other side of the coin, I guess you could say." 

The doctor continued to look at me warily but didn't seem as if he was going to pursue the topic any further. I was grateful for that because there were far more important things to discuss. 

Dan was a wet blanket and the reapers had chosen poorly when it came to reincarnating him in a world like this, he'd just ended up working another dead-end job in another dead-end life. 

Well, to be honest, from his perspective he probably would have ended up working that way in any universe he had been reincarnated into. 

"Anyway, as important as that conversation will no doubt be between the two of you, I need to know more about this planet before I can get started," I said, "Dan mentioned a curfew before, is there some kind of artificial night and day cycle in the city that allows people to know when that happens?"

The doctor nodded, "Yeah, that's pretty much how it goes. The lights shut off, the officers come out and order people back to their residences, and then everything shuts down for the night." 

It was weird. 

If I were running an empire under a mountain I wouldn't care if people were up and about at night. If anything, I'd want to maximize the output of wealth generation by having people work all day, every day, as much as I could. 

Instead, this was what was going on. It had to be about control, forcing people down into the dirt under their bootheel to get them to obey no matter what. 

Ruling through fear. 

"And that happens everywhere, does it? No one breaks curfew, not anywhere and not ever?" I pressed for more information, noting how shifty the doctor got as soon as I asked the question. 

Somewhere in the endless city under the surface of the planet there was a group of people that broke curfew, and the doctor didn't want to talk about it. 

"Down… down in the lower levels," The Doctor said, not willing to even meet my eyes anymore. "The lower down you go the less strict security becomes until eventually, there's no security at all. Not when you get to the Furnace."

The Furnace… that sounded ominous. 

Could they really have built this place all the way down to the core of the planet? I'd seen so much during my time in this universe that I wasn't going to put it past this group of humans to be capable of such a feat, even without magic. 

All I needed to do was get down to the Furnace, then, and I'd be able to learn a lot more than from these two wet blankets. 

"And if I leave now, what will that do?" I asked, "Will it bring the officers and their dranes down on me right away or will I have some time to get out of here?" 

I wanted to get started fixing the problems of this planet as soon as I could. We still had to make our way to Yr'Arl's temple world, and we still had to get back to Actaeon so that we could stop the impending Mordekash invasion. The quicker I was done here the better. 

"You'll have a few moments, just as you were able to get across the bridges to make it here from the entranceway to begin with," the doctor said, "But I don't understand, what are you going to do?" 

I flashed the doctor a smile, then flashed the same smile at Dan. 

"Well boys, if you can promise to keep my friend and my pet safe while I'm gone, I'm pretty sure I'm about to rip the government of this planet to shreds and give it back to the people," I started walking from the room to the stairs, "I take it I can trust the both of you to keep them safe?" 

The two didn't reply, but I already knew that they wouldn't have much of a choice but to keep Yr'Arl safe while I was away. I was going to leave the predator here to watch over him, and there was no way that they'd be able to get past him. 

I felt a pulse of annoyance from the predator at being left behind, but the creature knew that I was doing the right thing, and that by staying here he would be doing the right thing too even if he was out of the action. 

Besides, there would be plenty of action for him when we got ourselves back to Actaeon to fight the Mordekash. 

Without saying another word to Dan and the doctor I left the building, walking briskly but hopefully not fast enough that it would alert anyone to my presence straight away. 

I made it to the bridge that Dan and I had walked across when we had first made our way to the doctors building and leaned out over the edge. 

It went down a long way. 

So long that I couldn't actually see the bottom. 

I'd survive a fall like that, right? 

Well, there was only one way to find out.