Gale's eyes fluttered open as his teammates moved around the makeshift camp on the high rise. The others were already up, rolling up their sleeping bags and checking their equipment. Crawling out of the tent, the darkness from outside stayed, meaning those moons or lights up in the sky were all artificial.

  "Equipment check," Ollie called out. "Weapons, ammo, medical supplies. Everything accounted for before we move."

  Kyle patted his holsters. "Glock's good. Dagger's sharp. Two gun syringes check."

  "Same count," Clyde shouldered his long gun. "Two syringes check."

  Lily holstered her Deagles after checking the chambers. "Both loaded. Two syringes."

  Rachel stretched her arms. "Two syringes check."

  Gale mentally checked his inventory, unsure of why he had to check it. "Ready to go."

  "Good." Ollie nodded toward the remaining tent. "Pack it up. We're moving in five."

  Gale folded the final tent and stuffed it into his space storage as the others lounged around waiting for him to finish disassembling and packing up the rest of the items into the space storage.

  "Before we head out," Rachel moved to the window. "During my watch, I spotted spider mechs on the main route to the elevator. Three of them taking parts from dead ones."

  Kyle groaned. "More robot bastards. Great."

  "Side streets might be better," Rachel said. "Narrower spaces, less room for them to move around."

  "Side streets also mean less room for us to move around," Clyde said.

  "True, but we're smaller and faster," Rachel said. "The trade-off works for us."

  "Side route it is. Time to go," Ollie said.

  Rachel turned to Gale, crouching slightly and patting his back, giggling. "Hop on, rookie."

  "I can handle the drop," Gale protested.

  "It's sixty stories," Rachel said. "That'll still hurt even for awakened. Don't be stubborn."

  "Just take the ride, rookie." Kyle pulled out his dagger. "Alright, Clyde and I are going first."

  He moved to the broken window, threw his arm back, and hurled the blade downward. Clyde put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

  "See you at the bottom," Kyle said.

  Both of them vanished in a blink of blue light.

  Lily stepped to the window next. She jumped, her body dropping out of sight. A few seconds later, blue energy flashed far below that slowed her fall.

  Ollie followed right after, his drop looking more like a glide as he used telekinesis.

  "Your turn," Rachel said, still crouched.

  Gale sighed and climbed onto her back, grabbing her shoulders. "This is getting to be a habit."

  "Just hold tight."

  Rachel jumped through the window. They dropped fast, the building's surface a blur. Halfway down, from under her boots, shot out a controlled silent jet of fire, slowing them down until they touched down softly on the metal street.

  Kyle and Clyde were already there, looking around. Lily had landed nearby and Ollie touched down a moment later.

  "Clear so far," Kyle reported.

  Rachel opened the map on her phone, then pointed down a narrow side street branching off the main road. "This way. It should curve around toward the elevator."

  Lily took point, moving carefully between the narrower buildings. The side street looked barely wide enough for two people to walk beside each other. Debris from the upper levels and broken buildings gathered here. Compared to the main streets, this place had seen little cleaning by the spider mechs, if at all.

  They moved single file, Lily first, then Gale, Kyle, Clyde, Ollie, and lastly Rachel at the back. The tight space made their breaths and every step they made louder than it was. Gale would wince each time one of their clothes rustled too loudly for his comfort.

  Halfway through the narrow passage, Lily held up a closed fist. Everyone froze.

  She pointed ahead. A spider mech stood 50 metres away with its back to them. The machine worked steadily, pulling parts from another dead spider mech. Sparks flew as it took out useful pieces.

  Lily signalled everyone to stay low and move slowly. They crept forward, using the junk piles for cover. The spider mech kept working on its salvage job, its metal legs taking apart its fallen buddy piece by piece.

  Gale held his breath as they passed within 10 metres of the machine. The spider mech's head swept around now and then, but the narrow street's angles kept them hidden.

  Kyle's foot hit a loose piece of metal debris. A small clang bounced off the walls. The spider mech's head turned toward the sound.

  Everyone flattened against the nearest cover.

  The spider mech searched back and forth where the sound came from for 30 seconds exactly before going back to work. Lily waited a full minute before waving them forward.

  They reached the end of the side street without more problems. The main plaza opened up before them, and in the middle stood their destination.

  The map had called this an elevator shaft, but it looked more like a high rise that stood up all the way to the sky. Doors stretched four stories high, made of the same dark metal as the tower walls. No visible controls, buttons, or panels. Just smooth surfaces that showed their reflections.

  "How the hell do we open this thing?" Kyle asked, running his hands along the door edges.

  "Maybe voice command?" Clyde said. "Open sesame?"

  Nothing happened.

  "Idiots." Lily checked the bottom of the doors, looking for hidden switches. "There has to be a way. The city's people used this thing."

  Rachel moved away from the doors, her orange-glowing gauntlets lighting up the metal. "There has to be some kind of control. Panel, sensor, something."

  Kyle went to the left side, feeling the wall next to the massive doors. "Maybe it's hidden? Like a secret switch or whatever?"

  "This isn't a movie, Kyle," Clyde said, checking the right side. "Probably some tech interface we can't see."

  Lily crouched low, studying where the doors met the floor. Her fingers traced along seams, looking for anything that might work. "Nothing down here. Just solid metal."

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  Ollie stepped back from the doors, looking at the whole structure. "The people who lived here had to have some way to work this thing. They wouldn't build a huge transport system without easy access."

  "Unless they controlled it remotely," Rachel suggested, looking higher up the wall. "From inside their buildings or through some central system."

  Gale walked around the edge, letting his eyes adjust to the shadows from their lights. Breath of the Void's tendrils spread out to look at the entirety of the tower that stood in front of him, though he really didn't know what he was trying to find.

  Kyle kicked some debris. "Maybe voice activation? Hey, elevator! Open up!"

  Nothing happened.

  "Dumbass," Clyde muttered. "Try saying please."

  "Please, elevator, open up!" Kyle yelled.

  Still nothing.

  Rachel turned towards the twins. "You two shut up! Stop being idiots."

  Lily stood up, patting the dust off her knees. "There's got to be something here. Don't tell me this advanced civilization wouldn't make an I/O at the actual front of the gate where it makes sense."

  Gale walked around the elevator area, feeling for anything on the wall sections next to the doors. He looked for creases or any pressure points, then stopped. There was a slight depression just three feet to the right of the main door, about eye level for his height.

  "Hold on," he said.

  The others turned toward him.

  Gale knelt down, running his fingers along what seemed like a solid wall. His touch found the slightest change in texture. A rectangular outline, barely visible, about the size of the control panel they'd found in the memory chamber.

  "Found something," he called.

  Rachel got to him first, her gauntlets lighting the area better. "What is it?"

  "Rectangle outline. Same size as our control panel." Gale traced the edges with his finger. "It's subtle. You'd never notice unless you knew what to look for."

  Kyle crowded in beside them. "Holy shit. That's definitely a slot for something."

  Clyde joined the group. "Perfect fit for what we've got."

  "Makes sense. Portable controls that can hook up to different access points throughout the city," Lily said.

  Ollie was already reaching into his jacket, pulling out the storage box. The interface appeared in front of him, and he quickly took out the cleaned control panel. The device appeared in his hands, reflecting their lights.

  "Only one way to find out," Ollie said. "Let's stick our thingy into the thingy that loooks weird-y"

  He pressed the control panel against the rectangular outline. The device clicked into place with a good mechanical sound. Right away, the panel's screen lit up with blue symbols.

  "Charging..." appeared on the display, with a progress bar that started filling slowly.

  Ollie smiled. "Huh… neat. That solves that problem."

  "Terrifying," Kyle said. "What if this thing controls more than just the elevator?"

  "Like what?" Rachel asked.

  "Security systems. Defences. Self-destruct sequences." Kyle counted on his fingers. "Pick your favourite nightmare scenario. What if those things got more of these panels? We'd be fucked."

  "We got one of them too. Ours can cancel theirs out, right?" Gale said.

  "Fair point, rookie," Clyde said.

  The charging bar disappeared while it was still in progress. New text appeared as the system came online.

  "Loading drivers for Residential to Agriculture Elevator dock..." scrolled across the screen.

  "Drivers," Lily said. "Like software. Oddly… familiar."

  "Hope those drivers work," Rachel said. "Last thing we need is a system crash because of an OS error."

  The loading continued, new lines of text appearing as different systems started up. "Environmental controls... activated. Safety triggers... activated. Emergency systems... activated."

  The loading bar reached 100%. The text changed to "System ready. Control panel may now be removed for remote operation."

  Ollie carefully pulled the device from its slot. The panel stayed on, its screen showing a simple interface with various options.

  "Now let's play around a bit," Ollie said, tapping through different menus.

  The interface was easy to use despite the weird symbols. Categories for different elevator functions, status displays, and finally, a large button labelled "Door Control."

  "Here we go," Ollie hovered his finger above the open button.

  "Wait." Kyle grabbed Ollie's wrist. "Look up there."

  He pointed toward the ceiling above the elevator doors. A series of red alarm lights sat dark and inactive.

  "You see those?" Kyle continued. "Red lights. Alarms. The second you open those doors, this whole place is gonna light up like a Christmas tree and every spider mech and their mom's going to sprint here to eat all of us."

  Clyde nodded, obviously agreeing with Kyle. "Ollie seriously needs to take some time off and play some games. GTFO 3 had this same mechanic."

  "GTFO 3?" Rachel asked.

  "It's a video game, get with the times, fire princess," Kyle explained. "Security systems that turn on when you access restricted areas. Standard survival horror stuff."

  "This isn't a game," Lily said.

  "No, but the principles apply," Kyle insisted. "Big obvious door, red alarm lights, hostile machines patrolling the area. Classic setup for an ambush scenario."

  Gale winced. Those games sound fun… unlike this rift death game scenario. "You think I can play some of those games when we get back?"

  Rachel shot him a look that made him shrink.

  "Please?" Gale asked with a smile.

  "Relax fire princess. A bit of games won't hurt the rookie," Kyle said. "That's if we get back."

  Smiling happily, Gale nodded. Now there was even more reason to get out of this rift.

  Ollie looked at the control panel, then at the alarm lights, then back at the panel. "We don't have a choice. This is the only way up."

  "At least we know what's coming," Rachel said. "Better than walking into a surprise."

  "Famous last words," Kyle muttered.

  "Shut up, Kyle," Clyde said.

  Ollie put his thumb over the door control button. "Everyone ready? Weapons hot, watch your fire zones, be ready to move fast."

  Lily drew both deagles. "Ready."

  Rachel's gauntlets flared to full heat. "Ready."

  Kyle pulled out his Glock and dagger. "This is a terrible idea, but ready."

  Clyde shouldered his rifle, aiming down the barrel. "Ready."

  Gale materialized Weber in his right hand. "Ready too."

  Ollie took a deep breath. "Here we go."

  He pressed the button.

  The massive doors shuddered. The sound of metal grinding against metal as old gears reverberated throughout the whole area. The sound echoed through the plaza with a deep rumble that seemed to shake the whole floor.

  But that wasn't the worst of it all.

  Red alarm lights came on, spinning and flashing. A horn that sounded like an air raid siren blared throughout the whole floor.

  The ground shook as the huge elevator doors separated. Dust fell from the doors as the crack widened. Four stories of metal, each side weighing tons, grinding apart.

  "Fuck! I knew it!" Kyle shouted over the noise.

  The siren kept wailing. If any spider mech in the residential level didn't know where they were before, they sure did now.

  "Movement!" Lily shouted over the noise, pointing northeast. "Two o'clock!"

  Dark shapes came from the narrow streets they'd just walked through. Four-legged spider mechs, their heads held tiny red eyes that stood out from the shadow. They scuttled through the metal floor too fast.

  "Gale, Rachel, up front!" Ollie shouted. "Everyone else, get your asses inside that door gap now!"

  Kyle grabbed Clyde's shoulder. "Come on, bro. Time to play elevator music."

  The twins squeezed through the partly opened doors, disappearing into the darkness. Lily followed right after, slipping into the crack easier.

  "Door's going to keep opening until it's all the way," Ollie called to Gale and Rachel. "Then I trigger the close sequence. You two need to hold them off until these things shut again."

  "How long?" Rachel asked, her gauntlets now glowing white-hot.

  "Four minutes in total, maybe five depending on how fast the close cycle starts."

  The spider mechs closed in fast. Gale counted six machines in the first wave, their red eyes scanning the plaza as they found targets. Laser weaponry whined up gradually in a high pitch as electricity crackled along their barrels.

  Gale didn't wait for them to get closer. He opened to Breath of the Void completely, letting in the familiar 33%. Lines and intricate patterns bloomed across his exposed skin.

  Tendrils fed him the critical information. Movement beyond what physical visual cues could see. Spider mechs. Lots of them that weren't just these initial six smaller spider mechs.

  "Rachel," he said quietly.

  "Yeah?"

  "There are more coming. A lot more."

  She flexed her fingers. Her gauntlets sparked once and grew into a frighteningly hot yellow. "How many?"

  "I can't get a clear count. But it's not just these six."

  The lead spider mech fired, a laser streaking across the plaza. Rachel threw herself left while Gale dove right, both using junk piles for cover. The shots burned smoking holes in the metal floor where they'd been standing.

  "Typical," Rachel muttered, rolling behind a chunk of fallen wall. "Nothing's ever simple."