Chapter 32: Above Pay-Grade

During the several hours of hunting down the wanted criminals, Arron came to understand some of the differences in security that the 1st level had.

In zone 3's civilian district, the security was the worst. Most buildings only used the cheapest mechanical locks that fit the building code set by Mother and Father. But there were still some places that were even worse, they were actually using ancient metal key locks.

“This should be our last person,” said Kix as he looked at zone three's holo-map.

The two were leading a large burly man out of one of the few small rusty factories that had been allowed to be built in zone three.

The man's arms were completely cybernetic but it was made out of the cheapest A1 parasteel.

Just to be safe, they had used both of their magnetic cuffs to bind his arms.

“The security for the factories and warehouses are just as poor if not worse than the apartments. How can they keep their equipment and material safe?”

“This is just zone three, of course, their security is not great. The industrial businesses are separated into three types each with different employment, security, and items produced as well. This goes for any type of business, not just the factories,” said Kix, as he shoved the burly man into the now beyond capacity holding cell in the back of the APC.

The arrested targets were crammed in like sardines with several of them stacked three high sitting on others’ laps. Anyone that could not fit on the stack of people had to stand in the center between the benches. Kix slammed the door shut and got back behind the wheel of the APC, where he continued to explain the types of factories to Arron.

“The first type is the type in zone three. The bottom tier is owned by one person, family, or small group. They can eke out a living by completing random orders for medium companies and third parties. But due to the low payment, heavy regulations, and large taxes, they have little money to invest in the company. And are unable to buy mass amounts of worker bots or high-grade security systems. The security is mainly ancient locks, fences, thick gates, as well as human security personnel and dogs, the cheap robo-dog toys for kids modified with an ai to be watchdogs. These industries and businesses can be mainly found in zone three of each of the four industry sectors, and are where the majority of D rank SCS people work. As you can guess, the work is not easy and is very tiring.”

Arron nodded, he had seen many such places as they drove around Zone three picking up the troubled targets.

“The second type is the most common on the first level. The medium industry/businesses are mainly owned and controlled by the large Independent companies. It is very rare to see one not controlled by them due to the majority of smaller owners getting swallowed up by the companies. They have their own products that they make such as hover cars, tractors, and other gizmos making a modest profit. The majority of them can be found in zone two of each industry sector and employ the majority of C rank as well as having a large number of worker bots to help mass produce things. They get kickbacks from Mother and Father for employing people instead of bots, plus it's cheaper. Their security is just shy of sector 12's standards.”

“And the last group are the Megacorps that can be found in every zone of one of the industry sectors. They who have monopolies on whatever it is they produce and employ very few humans. Their factories are mainly run by worker bots. Their security, depending on which megacorp it is, is usually even better than the stuff we use in sector 12!”

“Megacorps... sounds like they must be making a lot of money,” said Arron.

“I don't know much about them since they keep almost all of their info a secret. But when a company reaches that stage Mother and father take an interest in them. I heard a rumor that they even get partially funded by Mother and Father. Allowing them to reap even more profits and expand even faster,” said Kix.

He opened up a menu on his wrist data-pad and after selecting a few options he started tapping on his holo-keypad, filling out a few forms before he pressed send.

Immediately the 3d holographic head of Toothbrush popped up over the car's dashboard.

“Paperwork received, I'll finish the rest on my end. The Office of Reason has sent updated coordinates that you are to head to and wait for them.” With that said, the call ended.

Kix looked at the new destination that was just sent to them. “Checkpoint between Zone 1 and Zone 3, let's drop off our cargo. Then we can do a few more laps around zone three and call it a day.”

The checkpoint between zone 1 and zone 3 had two large gatehouses on either side of the road.

The road between the two gatehouses was currently raised to create a barricade to stop hover vehicles and random people from passing.

Next to the guardhouse on the right side of the road was a large flat parking lot, with a Hover-heli landing pad. This was where Arron and Kix were currently waiting.

Kix and Arron were standing outside the APC and had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes before they heard the sound of a fast-approaching hover-heli, which reached them only seconds later.

The black military-grade heli hovered over the landing pad of the parking lot. Attached underneath the belly of the hover-heli was a large square container.

The side door of the heli opened and two shiny black exoskeletons with large white O.R. letters stamped on their chest jumped out and slammed into the pavement. This was Arron's first time seeing an actual full-functioning Exoskeleton.

They looked like Ancient knight armor and stood nearly 7ft tall.

The two exoskeletons already had their jumbo-sized guns drawn and began to scan the area for threats. They even pointed them at Arron and Kix as they scanned the two before moving on to different targets.

“Area secure begin landing procedure,” shouted a metallic voice from one of the exoskeleton's external loudspeakers.

The hovering Heli softly landed down on the landing pad, with the square container resting on the ground underneath it.

The loud engines powered down to a lower setting, lowering the whirring noise it made to a soft murmur.

Three gray-suited Office of Reason agents, exited from the opened side door descending a short rope ladder.

“What are the gray suits doing here? Isn't this a task for the black suit field agents?” muttered Kix.

Both Arron and Kix stood ramrod straight as they watched the three agents approach them.

The two black exoskeletons continued to scan the area on high alert for any danger.

As this was Arron's first interaction with the Office of Reason he did not know if what Kix had said was true, or what the difference was.

The three gray suits, two males and one female, stopped a few steps away from them.

“Where are the Troubled non-believers?” asked the man in the center of the group. There was not even the slightest hint of friendliness in his voice.

Kix pointed to the opened back of the APC where the electric barrier was still active.

With a quick motion of the agent's hand, the two Black exoskeletons stomped forward with their weapons trained on the back.

“You, shut it off,” ordered the gray suit agent pointing to Arron.

Arron walked over to the back and deactivated the electric barrier.

The crammed people inside of the APC did not try to escape. They could clearly see the two large-caliber guns pointed directly at them.

“Everyone out! Line up in a single file!” the metallic voice boomed out a command from one of the exoskeleton's external loudspeakers.

The over 20 people spilled out of the holding cell and formed up into a ragged single line. Most of them were staring at the ground. Only a few dared to peek at the three gray suit agents of the Office of Reason.

Arron could see that all of their SCS had lost 50 points from when they had been picked up earlier.

One of the exoskeletons continued to stand guard over the Troubled non-believers, while the second exoskeleton began to scan each person.

“Team leader, all the listed Troubled non-believers are present!”

“Load them up!” shouted the male gray suit agent.

A loud thud was heard as the rear of the square container opened and fell to the ground creating a small ramp.

“All of you, into the transport container!” shouted one of the black Exoskeletons as he led the way forward.

“Quit lollygagging!” shouted the second black exoskeleton as he kicked the leg of the pudgy woman who was at the rear of the group.

A loud 'Crack!' was heard as her leg snapped in two, causing her to fall flat on her face with a pained cry.

“Useless!” cursed the second black exoskeleton as he grabbed her arm and dragged her the rest of the way to the container and threw her inside like a rag doll.

The gray suit agents watched in silence. Once the container's ramp slammed shut, they climbed back into the hover-heli not even saying another word to Arron or Kix.

The two exoskeletons jumped into the air and landed inside the opened door, causing the hover-heli to rock a bit.

As soon as the side door was slammed shut, the hover-heli's engines throttled back up to max and it shot up into the air flying off into the distance.

“What the hell was that?” asked Arron, only after they could no longer see the hover-heli.

“Don't ask. It's way above our pay grade,” said Kix.