The hummingbirds led him deeper into the city's forgotten veins. They were everywhere now, carved into old pipes, etched onto rusted control panels, their geometric patterns forming a complex, non-linear map. The further he went, the more the Axiom's signals became distorted, until his datalink could no longer connect to the main network. He was truly off the grid, a ghost in the machine's underbelly.
He navigated by the glow of his terminal and the faint, luminescent dust that coated the walls. The air grew damp and smelled of decay, a stark contrast to the sterile, synth-cleaner scent of New Dawn City. The journey was long and silent, punctuated only by the drip of water and the distant hum of forgotten machinery. After what felt like hours, the tunnel opened into a vast, cavernous space.
It was a subway station, but not like the sleek, silent transit hubs above ground. This was a ruin. The tracks were rusted, the platforms caked in dust and debris. The station was a forgotten monument to a time when travel was less about data and more about destination. But it wasn't empty.
Faint, warm light spilled from beneath a makeshift grate. Elias, his hand on a cold metal pipe, peered down. The sight took his breath away. It was a community. People, not data points. They moved with a casual ease he hadn't seen in years. Some were mending clothes by the light of a flickering fire, others were talking in low, hushed tones, their faces animated and alive. A few children, their laughter a foreign sound, chased each other around a rusted subway car.
His datalink, which had been silent for hours, suddenly buzzed. A message, not from the Axiom, but from an unknown source. "Welcome, little auditor. We've been expecting you."
Elias froze. He had found the nest, but he was exposed. Before he could react, a figure emerged from the shadows behind him, a woman with a hood pulled low over her face. She was the vendor. "You're late," she said, her voice a low murmur. "The hummingbirds don't wait for anyone."
She reached out and, with a swift, practiced motion, pulled him down through the grate, plunging him into the heart of the world he never knew existed.