Myriocells

Slate followed behind Milo and Amiyah as they made their way down a flight of stairs in the dark, dreary building. The walls were cracked and swollen with moss and ivy, cracks in the roof far above them letting in rays of light that shimmered and danced off of the rusted metal bars and grates of the staircase.

The sound of Indra's metal feet clanging against the iron grates echoed down the stairway, reverberating of the walls with a metallic ring.

"Man, can you walk any louder?" Milo asked slightly annoyed.

To prove a point, Slate stomped his foot down on the next step, resulting in a tremendously loud, ear shattering ring that shot out through the entire building, shaking the rickety stairs.

Amiyah held onto the rails for dear life, dear of the stairs falling apart. She glared over at Slate.

"That was so unnecessary." She said.

"Hey, Milo asked, and I answered." Slate said as the Indra gave a shrug.

Shaking their heads, Amiyah and Milo continued down the stairs. Slate looked over the edge of the guard rail down below. All he could see was darkness stretching on in an empty pit.

"How far down does this go?" Slate asked.

"Quite a ways. It will take us maybe ten minutes to reach the bottom." Amiyah said.

Slate gave a sigh, then leaned forward, grabbing Milo and Amiyah by the back of their coats and lifting them off their feet.

"Hey! Woah! What are you doing?!" Milo shouted.

"Put us down!" Amiyah yelped, but Slate ignored them as Indra leapt over the edge of the rail and soared down the middle of the stairway all the way down to the bottom. Amiyah and Milo let out terrified screams as they dropped.

Milo suddenly began to choke on something, coughing and gurgling as he grabbed his throat.

*FWOOSH*

The thrusters came on just before they struck the ground, halting their descent. Indra placed Milo and Amiyah down on their feet, both of them immediately collapsing to their knees as Indra alighted on the ground.

Milo was still choking on something while Amiyah was panting wildly for air.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad." Slate said.

"A fly…" Milo choked, "flew in my mouth!"

"There.. has been… A MURDER ATTEMPT!" Amiyah shrieked.

"It really was not that bad." Slate said with annoyance. Then he turned to look around the room. There was a metal box attached to the wall with pipes and wires going up to the roof and through the metal plating. Knobs and dials covered the metal box. "What is this thing?" Slate asked.

"It's a Myrion adaptor." Amiyah said, "It is used to adjust the level of Myrion generated from the Myriocells."

"What.. is any of that..?"

"Myriocells," she said, getting to her feet once she had fully recovered, "are a man-made construct used to absorb Myrion energy from the planet. You have a few of them inside your Utopian. They are the basis for all Myrion tech, and they are also what we are here for."

"So, what? Just turn up the dials?" Slate asked, walking over to the machine. "What is this even for?"

"This plant was used to charge machinery and nearby cities. That machine is used to adjust the power output. There are about two thousand Myriocells in this facility-at least there were. They were all since either destroyed, decayed, scavenged or lost."

"Decayed?"

"Yeah, if the containers for the batteries are broken are fractured the energy will seep out and be absorbed by the earth. We call it decaying."

"Couldn't you just say they are broken?"

"No, because if it were broken it would have exploded. That is something you should watch out for as well, some of the Myriocells are unstable due to decay or damage and may explode at the slightest touch."

Milo began coughing, kneeling over as he spat on the floor. "Oh god.." he said, "I swallowed it… that's so gross.. I can still feel it moving around in my throat!"

"That's nice, but I'm sure you'll be fine. I assume you are used to having things move around in your throat." Slate said.

"What?"

"Never-mind. Anyway, where are these Myriocells?" Slate asked, returning his attention to Amiyah.

She pointed at the pipes. "If we follow these we should be able to find them. And if we manage to bring back some Myriocells, we will be rewarded quite handsomely." She clasped her hands together smiled dreamily, closing her eyes, "Oh the sweet, sweet, bountiful rewards, I can taste them!"

"I'm sure you can." Slate said, observing the pipes. "Indra, where do these pipes lead? Can you trace them?"

Static silence.

"Seriously? Can you get over yourself?"

~The pipes coordinate up through the wall and to the floor directly above us.~ Indra said, then went silent.

"Thank you." Slate walked over to the stairs, his gears whirring and shifting as he walked.

"Where are you going?" Milo asked.

"The Myriocells are above us. Come on."

"Oh the trauma." Amiyah said as she stepped on the staircase after Slate, Milo following behind her.

After going up the flight of stairs, they found a closed doorway. The door was heavyset metal with a chain lock binding it. Slate grabbed the chain and pulled, ripping it off and dropping it to the ground with a loud clang. He then pushed the door open, the metal grinding against the grates as it swung inward.

On the other side of the door was a large chamber with tall structures like shelves with indents behind what used to be a glass barrier that was now shattered.

"These little slots were where the batteries would be held." Amiyah said.

The ground was littered with rubble and severed wires, piles of glass crunching beneath Indra's feet as it walked. There were rows upon rows of the shelves and a disheveled heap of wires hung down from the ceiling.

"The Myrion levels are spiking insanely here." Slate said, looking around. "I assume that would mean there have to be at least one or two batteries here."

For a couple minutes or so, the group went around scavenging the area for Myriocells, sifting through rubble and glass piles trying to find one. They managed to find a few empty containers of them, but other than that, nothing.

"Wait.." Slate said as the energy levels hit a massive spike. "I think I found one." He knelt down, pushing aside a metal plate and digging through rubble and glass. There, underneath all of it, was a small battery shaped container with a blue-glowing liquid inside of it. He picked it up and held it above his head, observing it.

~I advise that you do not do that, it is unstable.~ Indra stated.

Slate saw a small crack in the Myriocell. And then it began to glow brighter.

"Oh?"