Stray - Entry 14: The Outside
Clementine drives straight to the subway vestibule. She skids to a stop and ushers us out. Before we can react, she seals the entrance behind us.
"There's no way we'll all make it with the Sentinels on our tail. I can distract them for a little while but you have to go. The Outsiders Manifesto says "We must go Outside at any cost." I wrote that. You're one of us now. It's not that everyone has to get to the Outside. But one of us has to. Go. Now! I'll keep you in my RAM, little Outsider."
She presses the subway keys into our possession, gives us one last look, and jumps back into the truck. The engine roars as she speeds off, drawing the danger away from us.
Honoring Clementine’s wish and the sacrifice she has just made for us, we race down into the subway tunnels and install the battery. A green light surges through dormant wires and flickering consoles as the entire system hums back to life.
We use the keys to start the subway and leave Midtown behind.
When the train finally comes to a stop, we step out into a station that feels almost unreal in its perfection. The platform is pristine and brightly lit, its white subway tiles gleaming without a single crack or stain. A companion methodically mops the floor, its movements precise and empty. When we meet it, it becomes clear that it is unlike the others we have encountered. It has not evolved beyond its standard companion protocol. There is no curiosity, no warmth, no personality at all. Along the walls, cheerful advertisements proclaim this place to be the world’s safest city.
We continue upward, climbing immaculate staircases to a landing platform where more basic, pre-programmed companions clean, tend to plants, and perform other routine maintenance tasks. In calm, rehearsed voices, they refer to this place as Walled City 99.
We reach a quiet lounge area dominated by a massive sealed orange door. A nearby companion informs us that the city is under lockdown due to a confinement procedure, and that only the control room can reverse this state.
B-12 exclaims, "Look, this is one of the doors that leads to the Outside. There must be a control room nearby that we can use to open it."
We find the sealed entrance to the control room, and B-12 engages the wall console beside it, attempting to gain access.
"The Control Room is closed by some sort of a security protocol. It says that only humans are authorized to enter. It also says that I'm not considered human. Hey that's offensive, security protocol! Maybe if we work together we can open this passageway."
B-12 uses the control screen to open a panel near the door, exposing a mess of vulnerable wires. I leap forward and scratch wildly, tearing into them and wrecking the system just enough for B-12 to slip past the safeguards. The locks disengage, and the door finally slides open.
Past the door is the control room.
The room opens into long rows of massive computers, their dark screens and humming servers lining every wall. Consoles stretch outward in orderly formations, all facing enormous windows that overlook the entirety of the city below. In one corner, oddly out of place, sits a small wet bar and a silent vending machine, relics of human comfort preserved in a space meant to control the world.
"This is the Control Room for the entire city. They controlled everything from here. And it's empty. I remember hating them so much. They had everything. Clean space, limitless power, freedom to move. Little good it did them. The plague. I remember now. Everyone was dying and they thought they were above it all. They did nothing to help us. I watched my family die. I felt helpless. I couldn’t do anything to save them. But I can still help you. We can still go outside. Together. I will carry the memories of humanity and the people I loved."
I walk toward the window and peer down at the city from this impossible height. I see the Slums far below, the elevator that climbs the tall, divisive wall, the distant radio tower, and the glowing lights of Midtown. Above it all looms the hermetically sealed roof, stretching endlessly across the skyline. Seeing everything at once, I’m struck by how far I have come, how many dark corridors, broken places, and narrow escapes led me here.
It is then that a blinking red light on a nearby console catches my attention. B-12 moves closer and interacts with it.
One of the control station consoles is blinking red, and B-12 engages with it again.
"This is it, the main computer. According to the mainframe, no one has been here for years. The whole city is stuck in a lockdown cycle from long ago. If we disable it, we should be able to leave. We'll need to bring the rest of these systems online. While you do that, I'll look for passwords and encrypted keys to get into the system."
I leap onto the long rows of control consoles, padding across keyboards and panels as I move down each of the three lines, activating dormant systems one by one. Screens flicker to life beneath my paws, the room slowly filling with light and sound.
With the systems fully powered, B-12 determines that the roof mechanism remains locked tight. The only way forward is to bypass the remaining security by hacking directly into the system.
"There are several layers of security preventing us from opening the city. Now we need to do what we do best. Me, I'll hack the machines and you destroy some stuff!"
B-12 identifies the three security consoles we need to disable. Just like when we first entered the Control Room, we pry open access panels and expose the tangled wires inside. I rake my claws through them, tearing and sparking until the systems falter, giving B-12 the opening he needs to hack and shut down the security protocol.
The moment he does, his power core sputters. Sparks jump from his casing and an alarm blares through the empty chamber.
For a brief, terrifying moment, I freeze. But no one comes. The Control Room remains silent, abandoned. With no sentinels or guards to answer the alarm, we press on, our plan continuing uninterrupted.
When B-12 hacks the second console, the damage is worse. His body jerks, smoke curling from his shell as his lights flicker.
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaxhdzxdhzxhx! Don't worry. I can recharge once we open up that workstation."
I want to believe him, but when the third and final security console is disabled, B-12 collapses to the floor, completely still. Panic tightens in my chest. I can’t lose him, not now.
“It's okay. I'll be all right. Just carry me to the workstation. We can disable that alarm."
Gently, I lift B-12 in my mouth and carry him across the room to the roof control console, now fully unlocked. I place him onto the pad where he said he could recharge, watching for any sign of movement, any spark of life.
That is when B-12 finally tells me the truth.
“Listen, I have something to tell you. I knew the power required to disable the city’s central control system would be immense. More than this drone body could handle. But with the security now disabled, I can take control of the system and open the city. Overriding it could destroy my software. But I made that choice when I hooked into that first computer. And the consequences it could bring. I'm sorry we won't see the Outside together. I thought I needed to carry on the memories of humanity. To hold onto the past. But, I see a future in the Companions. And you."
B-12 then removes my harness.
"You were my friend, the very best I could have asked for. Thank you."
With the last of his remaining power, B-12 engages the roof system. The city shudders, and high above us the sealed ceiling begins to part. A single, fragile beam of sunlight pierces the darkness. What starts as the thinnest ray slowly widens as the massive panels grind open, light spilling into a world that has not known it for generations.
At the same moment, B-12 goes still. His body slips from the console and falls to the floor, lifeless. I leap down beside him and curl up close, turning my back on the opening sky. The sunlight may have been his dream, but companionship was mine, and I had found it with B-12 and the Outsiders.
I must have drifted into sleep, because when I finally stand again, the ceiling is gone. Above the city stretches a vast blue sky, endless and real.
From the Control Room window, I look out over the city and think of the Outsiders. I hope they were able to see what they made possible, and that it brought them the joy and fulfillment they longed for. The sunlight would cleanse the city, destroying the Zurks, and I hope that all my friends below can now live safely in its warmth.
There is nothing left for me here. I pad back into the lounge and find the great orange door standing open. Beyond it, a staircase leads upward. With every step, the air grows sweeter, fresher. At the top, the corridors are alive with green, plants climbing the walls, birds fluttering overhead, butterflies drifting through the light.
I step fully into the sun and pause, looking back one last time to say goodbye to Walled City 99 and to my robot friends.
Now it is time to find my own family.
