They crawled like parasites through the metal organs of the Vrul city, unwelcome intruders who had infiltrated the body through the skin while the creature above slumbered quietly in the night. They were the sickness that planned to infect the host. Krill knew that viruses and bacteria didn't have the complex thought processes to feel and think in he same way that sentient life did, so imagining himself as a bacteria or parasite wasn't exactly accurate to that experience.

But still.... The thought was there.

Etium crawled at the front of their group slithering with surprising agility through the dusty crevices, fur dotted with dew picked up from the miles and miles of pipes which ran under the city. Krill was both surprised and awed by the miles and miles of infrastructure here under the city. Compared to what they had now, much of the technology here was primitive, and old, rusting away in quiet corners replaced by something else better.

What they crawled through now was just a remnant of what had come before, the corpse of a city supporting its progeny.

They had tunneled their way under the wall using more of Etium's strange tools, drilling through solid metal at some distance down before managing to break through. Aware that V zombies could tunnel, they had replaced the missing bit of wall and used a heat source to fuse everything back into place. The last thing they wanted was to begin the zombie apocalypse anew.

What they found when they drilled inside was, surprising. A vast network of abandoned tunnels and pipes stretching on into darkness, hallways made of metal, rooms full of dusty abandoned control panels, and large cave like rooms with dirt floors and strings of unused lights along the ceiling. The more he understood. The world after the first apocalypse, when the council took control and the cities were built.

They had been erected hastily starting from the bottom up, made more like bunkers than cities. What remained of the population had been shepherded underground into miles and miles of metal tunnels sustained on UV emitting lights and piped in water. They passed an underground river at some point, listening to the rumbling roar echo up through the floor.

It was hard to tell how long anyone had lived here, but Krill was certain it had likely been a miserable existence, locked down in the dark, surrounded by fear, and plagued by worry. Etium traced a slow path upward, and with every level they moved, krill saw the progression that life had taken. The bottom levels were confused, bunkers, clearly designed to be temporary settlements. The first Vrul that came here had not expected to stay forever, but the further they went up the more Krill could see as those thoughts changed.

Generations had passed, and they had forgotten. Perhaps entire generations had gone by without access to real light.

They had lived and died underground without knowing any better.

Krill felt his insides begin to boil with rage as he realized

The council had not slowly asserted their control over the Vrul population. If his guess was correct and Vrul could live as long as he thought they could, than that meant that the Vrul council had been murdering its own subjects as early as the first or second settlement. They would have had to in order to assert such a level of control over the people, to lead them to making a civilization instead of just shelters.

It was only after generations of their ancestors had passed away before the council even let them see the sun again.

He could imagine what that had been like. They would have framed it as some sort of new and exciting discovery, they would have taken credit for finding a way out of the dark. The Vrul subjects would have been so happy to live in fresh air once again, even if they were still protected by the walls of the city. Even then the council would have kept a tight grip on its subjects, helped them to fear what lay outside those walls, convinced the Vrul that the cities were safe and that survival was impossible on the surface of their own planet.

It had long ben assumed that the Vrul were a fragile species, but here Krill was coming to learn that that was not the case, at least not in comparison to what they had once assumed. They could live in a higher range of temperatures than was once thought, sure they were fragile in comparison to humans, but who wasn't.

Up ahead Etium pulled to a halt.

Krill brought up the back of the group and had to crane his neck around to see what was going on, nearly smashing his head into a low hanging pipe. The level behind them was the cleanest and most logical of the levels they had experienced, and was arranged in a similar manner to the city in which both Krill and Riss had grown up.

"Why are we stopping." Riss asked.

Krill leaned forward taking the question before Etium could respond fully, "Because, this is it.... the door to the surface."

There was a pause, and the group looked around at teach other realizing in that moment that their plan didn't really extend past this moment. Krill took the time to turn the blame on his own children. Perhaps it was not particularly chivalrous, but they were going to have to learn that thinking about the consequences of one's actions were imperative when coming up with a plan, even thought that is the exact thing that Krill had neglected to do when he agreed to come on this hair brained mission.

"So, what exactly is your plan?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

He wasn't sure what he expected, mostly a lot of stammering and confusion as the grubs were faced with a problem that they had not planned for. Honestly he was already beginning to rehearse a lecture about having all the pieces in place before going out and doing soemthing stupid, a very ironic speech for him to give considering his own personal history.

He didn't make It that far.

"Revolution."

He frowned at Atropos who stood at the head of her two sisters hands resting on hips chin raised in the same manner of defiant human teenagers.

"Yes, you understand that Revolution isn't like a starting pistol, it doesn't star just because you say it."

Clotho frowned, "We know that. The two of them turned to look at Lachesis, who took a step forward to center stage ushering krill, Etium and riss into a small cluster so she could more properly lecture. To say that the three of them were surprised when she withdrew a map and a sheaf of finely detailed notes was a bit of an understatement.

"Our plan." She announced happily

Krill stared t the map, slowly coming to the realization that he was probably the only one here that DIDN"T have a plan.

Krill would most certainly never have described himself as impulsive, but..... he was slowly coming to the realization that maybe he didn't know himself as well as he thought he did.

"We understand that the entire city has been brainwashed for generations to do as the council says." Lachesis began, "They have used tactics of fear, strict government control, and obligation to keep the city in line, they have even bred stupidity into the population to keep them docile. We know that Gammas and Deltas aren't going to be smart enough to understand what is going on, so that is a large portion of the population that we can just ignore entirely. Whatever happens will happen, and they will follow the orders of their direct superior without asking questions. Betas aren't really worth talking to either, I mean sure they can be reasoned with and they have average intelligence, but abstract thinking isn't going to be great for them. They are going to believe the council because who else is there to believe. They aren't going to question what is going on, and even if we do manage to convince them, it is going to take a while, plus none of that is going to matter if their direct superiors are involved."

Krill and Riss sat side by side staring at the Grubs as the plan continued to unfold.

"I blame you." Riss hissed from the side of his mouth.

"My fault?" They're your offspring too Krill shot back.

"Attention please." The two of them quickly turned their heads to the front as Lachesis cleared her throat tapping the map with..... wait, where did she get that pointer? Had she had it on her the whole time.

"We have to go after their point of weakness." She was saying, "The one risk that the council took when they began all of this." She tapped the page with her collapsible baton, "Leaving some alphas alive. They needed abstract thinking and intelligence to problem solve and retain the city, they needed alphas, but the problem in that is inherent. Alphas are smart enough to understand complex problems, and come up with complex solutions. They have abstract thinking and would be the first members of the population to realize that something isn't right. Given enough time they might even be able to piece together what is going on, like you did." She looked at Krill and Riss for emphasis before continuing, "Keeping the alphas was a gamble but a necessary evil. They are the most dangerous population in the city and for good reason. These pages we have here contain detailed proof of what we know, and that includes information on our own birth and life cycle, to prove to them that the council is intentionally operating under a flawed system in order to breed and control a dumber population. We don't imagine that this part is going to be easy, the alphas have still been brainwashed, and even with all the proof, it took the two of you years to come to the conclusion that we want them to reach in a matter of days."

They nodded slowly.

"It is going to be important for us to pick the exact right Vrul to propose all of this to, someone with influence, and power and access to a lot of other Vrul. Preferably we are going to need someone who commands a lot of respect and attention from others, and has the authority to order people around. Basically we want to target the alpha with the most leeway. Someone that the council has to allow to free think, though the downside is this vrul is likely going to be closely watched.

Krill knew who they were talking bout before the name was even posed.

He wasn't sure who the Vrul was specifically, but he knew which position they would fill

"The University administrator." Krill said.

Clotho stared at him, "How did you know that."

"Again, it comes to me to remind you that we are not stupid." Krill said, "But it makes sense, "The University administrator is the head of all the departments and must be able to think on their feet and solve complex problems. Due to the way society works, they are going to be one of the most renowned scientists in the city and have several of their own projects to go along with the their duties as administrator. It is likely that they are kept busy to make sure they do not come up with a better way of breeding the young. In fact the University administrator...."

"Is kept intentionally far away from the hatcheries." Riss finished

Alphas in general were kept away from the hatcheries. The council dealt with those directly, and all of their underlings were Betas. The Vrul life cycle and hatching process was the one big gaping hole in their plan. The more the population knew, the more likely that an Alpha would notice and try to offer up suggestions on how to make the process more sustainable, just like Krill and Riss had done when they created the grubs.

Clotho began to fold the map.

"Exactly, the university administrator is going to be our target. They are going to have the most access to the most Vrul all at once, they are going to allowed the greatest range of free thinking, and so when we present our evidence they are going to be the most likely to accept it without argument."

"Of Course." Atropos added, "our greatest advantage during this entire thing is going to be ourselves."

'What do you mean." Riss asked

Clotho took over for her sister, as naturally as if the three of them had planned it, "We are the greatest proof against the Vrul council, so it is imperative that we are able to show ourselves. We think that giving them the opportunity to speak and examine us will be the best evidence against the council that Vrul hatching doesn't have to be as complicated as they are making it."

"You are basing your plan around the success of a lot of assumptions." Krill pointed out. He wasn't sure he liked this plan.

Too many variables.

"We have to? There aren't many other options. "