Sure enough, my Zeropoint Energy Augment was feeding some of its energy into regulating my body temperature. A relatively tiny amount of it, actually. With a thought, I dismissed the status window. Sure is nice to have superpowers.
It was fully dark now, but my low-light vision mode was serving me well. It was possible the pack was still tracking us, but if I saw them again they wouldn't live to regret it. The point on the map came closer, agonizingly slowly. I pushed myself to run faster.
"You should Induct Marty as soon as possible, Jake. Hypothermia is a serious condition for unmodified Humans."
"No shit, Brick."
"What's happened to Marty? Have you let him get hurt, Jake?" Metra asked.
"I didn't let him get hurt. We had a fight with some wolves and he fell through some ice," I replied.
"You know he hasn't been Inducted yet. It was up to you to keep him safe!"
Metra sounded genuinely upset. I wondered what I had missed after falling asleep the previous night.
"I'm doing my best here—" I hissed in pain as a particularly sharp branch opened a long cut on my right cheek just under my eye. "Dammit! I'm doing my best, Metra. A little busy here."
"All we can see here is the output from the phone's camera, Jake. It's not much but it's clear from the phone's inertial sensor that you're moving quite quickly. We will let you concentrate."
"Thanks, Brick. I'll let you know when I get to the outpost."
The next thirty minutes was just me running faster than any Earthing ever had through dense woods with Marty on my shoulders. I almost missed the shack. The low roof was covered with a thick coat of snow and the structure blended in well. An iron chimney stuck up from the snow, not quite buried.
I stopped in front of the shack, and my phone announced, "You have arrived at your destination."
It was a one-room wooden shack in the middle of the forest. Any paint or siding that may have been on the exterior walls was long gone, leaving bare grey wood. The clearing it had been built in was hardly large enough to contain the rickety-looking structure. The front door was a simple wooden one, slightly ajar. An old-fashioned four-pane window was the only visible window, and one of the panes was broken.
I pushed open the door. It stuck slightly and then gave, brushing aside the small pile of snow that had blown in through the crack and built up inside the shack.
The inside of the shack was a disaster. Trash was piled in the corners and empty bottles and cans were littered around the wooden floor. Mostly beer, but two bottles of a particularly nasty rye whiskey as well. One corner had been turned into the ashtray, holding an impressively large pile of cigarette butts.
Three scarred wooden chairs were arranged near the potbellied iron stove in the corner, the only furniture remaining in the trashed shack. A heap of dirty blankets was wadded up against the wall nearby.
"Damn, you build your secret lair way out in the middle of nowhere and even then you get teenagers using it as a place to drink and fuck if you leave it alone too long."
"Jake, you've arrived. You must find the entrance into Mattias's outpost."
"It's just a one-room shack, Brick. There's not a lot of places to hide something," I replied.
I kicked the pile of blankets relatively flat and laid Marty down on them and covered him up as best as I could. I eyed the stove, contemplating lighting a fire in it. The only easily accessible wood left was the chairs, and I'd happily sacrifice them. I didn't have any way to light a fire, though. The survival tools had all been in Marty's pack. The teenagers hadn't left anything either.
I flicked through my vision modes, not seeing anything helpful. Everything in the shack was cold and dead, except Marty and me. I'd hoped with my Flow Component Visualization mode I'd be able to see the circuitry to reveal the hidden base, but nothing was visible.
"Fuck it, it's got to be under us," I said, and pulled Excalibur free.
It's amazing what inhuman strength, a super-science wrecking bar, and a ton of motivation can do. I ripped up the wooden flooring like a tornado through a 1930s dustbowl town. It came up nearly effortlessly. I flung the shattered pieces out the open door of the shack.
It was only minutes before Excalibur hit something that didn't immediately yield. It looked exactly like the wood flooring, but it sure wasn't. I pulled and although Excalibur had a good bite into it, the "wood" didn't come up.
I brought up the Salvage UI and targeted the wood.
╠═╦╬╧╪
Imitation Wood Flooring
Salvage: organics, tier 2, metals, tier 2
Cost: 50 Nanite Clusters
╠═╦╬╧╪
"Got you!" I yelled.
The Union material was concentrated in a small square around the potbellied stove, occupying that entire corner of the shack. A quick check with the Salvage UI revealed that the stove itself was made of tier 2 metal as well, despite looking like slightly rusty black iron.
"It has to be here," I said, running my hands over every inch of the stove. My Engineering vision mode was still showing nothing but boring, empty tier 2 metal.
I wrapped my arms around the stove and heaved. I was unable to move it. I lashed out in frustration, punching the stove door. The impact stung a bit. The door squeaked as it rebounded open slightly. The inside of the stove was full of grey ash.
"Inside, of course!"
The inside of the stove was as you would expect—black and ashy. I scooped double handfuls of it out. The teenagers or whoever had been here had made no effort to clear out the ash, it seemed. It made a large pile on the floor in front of the stove.
I stuck my head through the open door and looked around. Still nothing. No hint of Union components. Just creosote and some remaining
