The call came in through Petty, which meant it was official, which meant it was small.
"District maintenance flagged a shadow anomaly in the west utility tunnels," the liaison said, folder out, apologetic already. "Minor. Probably nothing. The registry would like the response asset to, ah, respond."
"They want us to look at a basement."
"They want to be able to say the primordial response asset assessed it." Petty had learned to be honest with them, which was why they kept him. "It's a formality. Bring one person."
Soren brought four and a mole.
Formalities were where people got sloppy, and sloppy was where the count found things.
◆◆◆◆
The tunnels ran under the old district in a grid nobody had updated in a long time.
Mona went first.
She was built for this. Low, blind-friendly, tinted lenses useless down here where there was no light to tint. She moved through the dark reading the ground with her whole body while the rest of them followed her nose.
