Alyce's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Alyce studied the gear symbol on her screen, tracing its edges with her pink mechanical finger. She needed to learn what this mark meant and where it came from. Her first step was clear—search The Rabbit Hole's markets for anyone who recognized the symbol or knew about custom cybernetics. But first, she had to solve a bigger problem. The equipment in her burrow was draining power fast. The screens flickered twice, then went dark. She couldn't search for answers without electricity. Outside, the sun still shone through gaps in the tunnel ceiling. She climbed up through a maintenance shaft that led to the surface. The fresh air hit her face as she emerged onto a rocky hillside. She scanned the area and found a flat space near her burrow's hidden entrance. Perfect spot for solar panels. She worked for two hours, assembling the sleek panels from parts she'd found in the storage crate. The black surfaces gleamed as she angled them toward the sun. She connected the wiring and ran it down through the shaft to her equipment below. The screens blinked back to life. Green lights showed steady power flowing. Now she could work without interruption. She climbed back down and pulled up the gear symbol again. Tomorrow she would take it to the markets. Someone there would know what it meant. Someone would point her toward the person who did this. She saved her files and sat back. One problem solved. One step closer to answers. But she couldn't leave her burrow exposed. Anyone could find it if they looked hard enough. She grabbed a handful of tools and climbed back to the surface. Near the base of the hill, she found an old shack half-buried in dirt and debris. Vines covered most of its walls. It looked abandoned, useless. She cleared the inside and dug a passage connecting it to her tunnel below. The shack would hide the real entrance. She piled more vines around the doorframe and scattered broken wood across the floor. From the outside, it looked like nothing. From the inside, it led straight to her workshop. She tested the route three times, making sure the path stayed hidden. Now she had power and protection. Tomorrow, she would take the gear symbol to the markets and start asking questions. Whoever made her into this was leaving traces. And she was ready to follow them. The gear symbol wasn't enough. She needed more. The markets might give her rumors, but she needed facts—records, files, anything official. Someone had performed surgery on her. Someone had put these parts inside her body. That meant paperwork existed somewhere. She pulled up a map of The Rabbit Hole on her screen and searched for record buildings. One result appeared—a sleek building on the far side of the tunnels. The Digital Records Repository stored medical files. If her transformation was documented anywhere, it would be there. She marked the location and shut down her equipment. The solar panels would keep everything charged while she was gone. Her hidden entrance would keep intruders out. Tomorrow she would go to the markets first, show the gear symbol around. Then she would visit the repository and dig through files until she found something real. Her mechanical fingers curled into a fist. Every step forward brought her closer. The person who did this had left a trail. Now she just had to follow it to the end.