Kazumi knocked three times on a green metal door. A small panel opened on it to show a set of eyes. It quickly slammed shut again and then the door unlocked.
Kazumi hauled the heavy door open and pulled Tom inside.
The man who had opened the door for them wore a large jacket with a scarf around his mouth. He was holding a rifle in his hands. As soon as Tom and Kazumi were inside, he closed it again, saying nothing.
"Thanks" Tom said. "Who are yo-"
Kazumi had quickly put her hand over his mouth, staring flatly at him and shaking her head slowly.
"You don't talk to a savant" She said. "Something else I'll explain later. In fact, it's probably for the best that you don't say anything at all right now and keep your stuff hidden."
Kazumi led Tom down a long flight of stairs and opened another door. They walked through onto a catwalk above a huge - massive open storage shed. While it once might have been used for a shed, it was now a shanty town, filled with people in poor quality clothing milling around doing what they could to survive. A few looked up at Tom and Kazumi but couldnt care less about the newcomer. Kazumi led Tom down the catwalk into the 'streets'. After a few minutes walking, they came to a railway track and headed into a tunnel.
"Used to be a service depot for a subway" Kazumi said. "Now we call it New Haven. One of the last few villages in this wasteland that the Overlords havent yet discovered. I'll take you to my place."
The subway tunnel was poorly lit by an array of lamps that were jammed into the ceiling. There were an innunermerable number of houses occupying two thirds of the tunnel, while the last third was for public access, but really was only large enough for one person to walk at a time.
Five minutes later, Kazumi welcomed Tom into her home, a ramshackle hut with a half broken wooden door on the front. This also appeared to be right on the edge of town, as only two houses further down, the tunnel was blocked by a massive pile of metal and rubbish.
Kazumi's house was suprisingly well furnished, and it looked like she had somehow dug out a part of the tunnel wall to massively increase the size of her residence.
"Welcome home" She said, smiling slightly and flopping down onto an old wooden chair. There was a potbelly stove in the corner, a torn rug on the ground and a fair sized table against one wall with some paper and a few pens on it.
Tom sat down on another chair which looked a little sturdier.
"So, could you please explain everything for me?" He asked, extremely confused about everything.
"I think I'll start at the beginning. You've just been pulled into this place we call the Metaworld. The physics are different here, as you found out. If you've got batteries in that torch, for some reason they'll never burn out - ever. There's a few other differences as well, but the need for food and water hasnt changed, making anything consumable highly valued."
"So thats why you told me to hide my stuff"
"Exactly. I can give you all the food and water you want, but I should inform you that the fizzy drink and biscuits you have are valued far more uneaten than they are consumed. If you want, I can find you a good buyer"
"Uhh... Thanks... I guess" Tom said.
"Anyway, about that Savant guy. You heard the men in the building, how they sounded werid?"
"Yea?" Tom asked.
"That's because they undergo surgery to modify their bodys, which includes a vocalizer that changes the way they speak. Before the memory implantation, there's a small window where we can rescue them. We call them savants... "lucky saved". They guard our borders with their lives, but without the memory implantation, they have no idea how to work the vocalizers aside from making a few grunts and squeals... A small price for freedom"
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