Somewhere on the outskirts of the continent. A city burns to the ground.
Gerda appeared out of nowhere.
— This... where am I?
The first questions immediately after appearing. She stood in the epicenter of a raging fire.
— It's a bit hot here.
Due to the high temperature, Gerda began to fidget, moan, and meow. She scratched at the hot ground, which began to crumble under her pressure, and Gerda fell into a partially decayed sewer pipe. The current picked her up and carried her away.
The pipes were rusty, and Gerda floated in a thick mixture of earth and other waste. The current carried her further and further. This continued for about five minutes, and the end of the pipe was already close. There was a cliff ahead. Approaching it, Gerda tried to grab onto something, her fingers scraping the pipe, but the current was too strong. And so, reaching the cliff, she flew out of the sewer. To avoid falling into the water, Gerda jumped and froze in mid-air. Her power helped her to stop.
The first thing that caught her eye after exiting the sewer pipe was something that looked like a dungeon. Below her was a bottomless cesspool where sewage from the entire city flowed. Partitions, metal and wooden, made of whatever could be found, stood around the pit. One could even see signs there, such as "Do Not Approach" or "Danger Zone." But there were not only signs but also various drawings: a hammer and sickle, a swastika, a Star of David, and others.
Gerda hovered about fifteen meters above the pit, carefully looking around. There was a passage in the dungeon. After a few dozen minutes, she saw people in tight-fitting spacesuits and masks coming out of the passage. They held something resembling radiation sensors and mops in their hands, probably conducting an inspection or cleanup. Behind them walked a crowd of people who were clearly different from those in spacesuits. They wore torn, blackened clothes, possibly from hard labor. Their feet were bare and swollen. Many were silent, kept their formation, and did not shout, except for some who were clearly dissatisfied. Among the crowd were also children, naked, aged four to eight, all thin and grimy. They held blackened crusts of bread and charred mugs in their hands. The children did not show much activity, but they did not make noise either.
Those who arrived at the scene lined up and began to shout out their names or identification numbers. There were about fifty people in the group of slave laborers and about four in the leadership group.
One of the people in the mask took out a bag with the image of a medical cross from his breast pocket. Inside the bag were small pills, the size of a grain of rice. Taking out one of them, he held it in his hands. The other three approached him and began to whisper.