Skyfall

by Anthony Eaton

  ‘This is a bad idea.’

  ‘Come on, Lari, loosen up.’

  ‘There’s a reason kids aren’t allowed down there.’

  Kes just snorted as the lift slowed again, switched briefly through a horizontal shaft, then climbed a short way to a hub. A moment later the doors slid open and the thump of muffled bass music filled the air.

  ‘Come on.’ Kes grabbed his hand.

  ‘Kes—’

  ‘Don’t worry so much! We’ll have a quick look around and then get out of here, okay?’

  ‘Why’s it so dark?’

  ‘Dunno. Let’s find out.’ She pulled him out. The doors closed behind them and they stood beside the hub for a moment, taking it all in.

  ‘Cool!’ Kes actually sounded impressed.

  ‘You’re joking, right?’

  People thronged around them, jostling and bumping. Music pounded through the dome from at least a dozen different directions.

  ‘This way!’ Kes pushed past a couple of women who were scanning the lift allocation plate and headed for the edge of the common.

  Ignoring the strange looks thrown their way by the women, Lari hurried after her.

  Compared with what he was used to, the restricted rec dome felt small and cramped. The common was little bigger than Lari’s apartment. The dome’s facility towers loomed high around them, filling the interior almost all the way to the roof and festooned with an eerie array of glowing signs, advertising products and establishments whose functions Lari could only imagine. The noise and smell and pulse of the place shuddered through him as he shouldered after Kes.

  ‘Watch it!’ snapped a man in a shimmering black robe as Lari was jostled hard against him.

  ‘Sorry,’ Lari muttered, but the man was gone and Lari lunged after Kes again, only to almost knock her over as she stopped.

  ‘Look!’ Kes pointed and Lari stared up though the tiny section of dome visible immediately above them.

  ‘Wow.’

  Through a small gap between the utility towers, the city filled the sky, an almost unfathomable tangle of domes, lift and shafts, all lit from behind by daylight and thrown into dark silhouette against the sky.

  ‘Tell me that isn’t impressive?’

  ‘It’s impressive, all right? Now, can we get out of here?’

  ‘But we haven’t seen anything.’

  ‘People are staring.’

  It was true. Almost everyone they passed directed odd looks at them, expressions ranging from amusement to curiosity to outright hostility.

  ‘Let’s keep moving.’

  And she was away again, darting down a passage between two buildings.

  ‘Do you even know where you’re going?’

  ‘Lari, relax!’ A note of exasperation crept into her voice. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve never wondered about these places.’

  Lari felt colour rise in his cheeks.

  ‘I knew it!’ Kes grinned and punched his arm. ‘You try to pretend you’re different, Larinan Mann, but you’re like every other guy I know. Now let’s make the most of this.’

  She grabbed his hand and led him deeper into the shadowy gap between the buildings. The further they walked, the darker and more sulphurous the atmosphere became. The close press of the walls packed the crowd even more tightly than out in the common. Conversation in a dozen banned languages babbled around them, and in the darkness of a recessed doorway someone was vomiting copiously.

  ‘Check it out!’ Kes squeezed his hand. Ahead, a small, shuffling crowd waited in a puddle of red light cast by a glowing sign mounted above a heavy iron door. The flickering glow painted them bloody.

  ‘What are they doing?’

  ‘It must be a club.’

  ‘Orpheus,’ Lari said, reading the sign.

  ‘Hey!’ A heavyset man in black noticed them and detached himself from the crowd. ‘Hey, you kids!’

  ‘Come on!’ Kes spun round and dashed back towards the common.

  ‘Shi!’ Lari muttered under his breath as he sprinted behind her.

  ‘Stop there, you two!’ the man shouted, but his voice was quickly lost in the clamour of noise along the alley.

  ‘Kes!’ Lari shouted, but she’d gone, swallowed up in the crowd, which seemed to suddenly thicken around him. ‘KES!’

  ‘’Ere!’ A heavy hand clamped around his forearm, almost jerking him off his feet. ‘What’s the hurry, lad?’ The speaker loomed out of the press of people. A woman, her head shaved and painted with some kind of glowing substance, glowered down at him.

  ‘Let go!’ Lari struggled, but the woman laughed and dug her fingers deeper into his flesh. ‘You’re a pretty one.’ She leaned down into his face. Her pupils were dilated so widely that the black emptiness of them filled her entire eyes. ‘Don’t often get pretty little fillies like yourself down here.’

  ‘Kes!’ Lari yelled, but his friend had vanished.

  ‘Settle!’ The woman shook him so hard he bit down on his tongue, a warm spurt of blood gushing into the back of his throat. ‘I don’t wanna hurt you, it’s never a good idea to damage the merchandise, but I will if you make me.’

  She was dragging him to one of the utility buildings, straight towards a darkened doorway.

  ‘Help me! Someone!’ The crowd simply parted before them and closed up again right behind. ‘Please!’ Nobody would make eye contact, and the more he struggled the tighter the woman’s grip became, until she stopped and leered at him again.

  ‘You can either come freely, kid, or I got ways of quieting you down, eh? I got customers’ll pay a good sum for a pretty young’un like you.’

  ‘Now, what’ve you got there, Syla?’ A man materialised out of the crowd beside them as if from nowhere. He wore a long hooded cloak that cast a deep shadow around his face. At the sight of him, the woman froze, straightened and shuffled her feet.

  ‘Gregor! I …’

  ‘This youngling doesn’t look like one of your usual clientele.’ The man stepped closer. His voice was deep, calm and smooth.

  He sounds like my father. The thought flitted across Lari’s mind.

  ‘Fair’s fair, Gregor. I spotted him first.’ Syla’s voice took on a pleading, whining quality. ‘Anyway, who’s gonna miss a runty little shi like this? Come on, Gregor …’

  ‘Let him go, Syla.’

  ‘You got no right to—’

  In a blur, the man’s hand came out from under his cloak, pressed a round, smooth object against her arm, a flat ‘crack’ rent the air, and Syla folded to the ground. For a second everything went silent. Those standing nearby glanced across, taking in the scene, before quickly continuing about their business. The cloaked man prodded the prone woman with his foot.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  It took Lari a moment to realise the man was speaking to him and not Syla.

  ‘I … think so.’ He couldn’t tear his gaze from the woman on the ground. ‘Is she …’

  ‘She’ll be fine. She’ll wake up with quite a headache, but perhaps she’ll learn something from the experience.’ The man turned towards Lari, but his face remained hidden under the hood. ‘Now, what are you doing all the way down here on your own, young man?’

  ‘I wasn’t alone. I was with my friend Kesra and—’

  ‘A girl?’ The man’s voice was suddenly sharp.

  ‘Yes. We got separated and—’

  ‘Is she your age?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The man gave a sharp, loud whistle and two enormous men materialised from out of the crowd.

  ‘There’s another. A girl. Get her.’

  The men vanished without a word and the man turned back to Lari.

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Larinan.’

  ‘And how did you get yourself into this hellhole, Larinan? From the look of you I don’t imagine your clearance extends to res-rec domes.’

  ‘I…’ Lari caught himself. ‘I don’t know. Kes and I were in the lift, but it brought us here, instead of
my dome.’

  ‘And which dome is that?’

  ‘3327 North.’

  ‘I see. Upper level.’ The man went silent for a moment. ‘So as long as you were down here, you decided to take a look around?’

  Lari wasn’t certain the man believed him.

  ‘Yes. I mean, Kes wanted to have a quick look before—’

  ‘Let me go!’ The two men had returned, dragging a struggling Kes between them.

  ‘That was quick. Where was she?’

  ‘Near the hub.’

  ‘Any problems?’

  ‘Nah. But we only just got to her in time. Jenx’s blokes were about to jump her.’

  ‘Let her go.’

  The men looked doubtful. ‘Are you sure, Gregor?’ asked the one on the left. ‘She put up a sky of a fight.’

  ‘She’ll settle down now, won’t you, miss?’

  Kes nodded and the men released her. She threw them a look of utter contempt, then stood beside Lari.

  ‘You okay?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Sorry. I was coming back to look for you when these two …’ She nodded behind but the men had already disappeared.

  ‘You wouldn’t have found him anyway, young lady. If my men hadn’t grabbed you, Jenx’s would have, and they’re not nearly as nice as me. You should consider yourself lucky.’

  For a second Kes looked startled, but then her chin tilted upwards and she glared.

  ‘Who are you, then? How do we know you won’t do the same?’ The man slowly lifted his hood back. Even Kes blanched at the face that emerged from under the dark cowl. The man’s head was hairless, not shaved but burned, the skin of his scalp rippled and blotchy with scar tissue. His face was similarly disfigured, pocked and cratered with the signs of some major trauma in his past. Lari found himself being regarded by a pair of piercing green eyes – the only splash of colour on the pale, scarred face.

  ‘You may call me Gregor,’ he replied. ‘And you know I won’t harm you because you have my word on the matter, and that means something.’ He glanced around. ‘Even down here. Now, I don’t imagine you’ve given any thought to how you’re going to return to your own level?’

  ‘We’ll just mag back up.’

  ‘Really?’ Gregor raised one misshapen eyebrow. ‘You both have clearance for pickup from a restricted rec dome, do you?’

  ‘We …’ Kes began, but stopped.

  ‘I didn’t think so.’ He offered her a mirthless grin. ‘If either of you call a lift, it’ll bring a couple of security personnel with it, wanting to know exactly how you ended up here in the first place. And I presume that you also know that a lift won’t take unallocated passengers, so hitching a ride is also going to be … problematic.’

  ‘So what can we do?’ Lari asked.

  Gregor grinned again.

  ‘As I see it, there’s only one solution.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We’ll simply call your parents and have them come and collect you. In the meantime you’ll stay with me and my men, for your own protection.’

  ‘But—’ Kes started.

  ‘But what?’ Gregor interrupted. ‘If what Larinan tells me is true, then the lift brought you here by mistake and you’ve nothing to be concerned about. In fact, I imagine that both the security and technical divisions will be very interested to know that for the first time in the history of the city the maglifts are suddenly malfunctioning.’

  Gregor smiled, a mirthless expression. ‘Unless, that is, you haven’t been quite honest with me, Larinan …’

  He waited, expectantly.

  ‘All right.’ Kes answered him before Lari could even think of a reply. ‘We were playing around with the user interface program and we accidentally reassigned the lift. That’s how we ended up down here.’

  The scarred man considered them for a long moment. ‘The user interface program?’

  ‘It’s a … system tool.’

  ‘And you know how to use it?’

  ‘Not really.’ Lari could see Kes thinking furiously, trying to stay ahead of her story. ‘That’s why we got accidentally dropped here.

  ‘Accidentally?’

  ‘That’s what I said.’

  ‘How did you know about this “user interface” in the first place?’

  ‘I found it.’

  ‘Really? Impressive. You’re what, thirteen years old?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Kes met his stare.

  ‘And I take it your parents won’t be happy to discover you intruding into data systems beyond your clearance?’

  Neither of them needed to answer that. Gregor met their stares with amusement, then leaned down and lowered his voice.

  ‘I think I understand the situation now. And because you’ve decided to be honest with me, I can help you. I can get both of you back up to your clearance level without any attention from security. You’re obviously clever, so should I choose to do so, I presume you’ll be able to hide your tracks.’

  ‘Thanks …’ Lari started, but Gregor held up a hand.

  ‘Don’t thank me, Larinan. Nothing’s free in this world, especially down here.’

  ‘I can organise whatever payment you think is fair.’

  The man laughed. ‘I’m sure you can. But I don’t want anything you can offer me at the moment.’

  ‘What then?’

  Gregor’s smile became flinty. ‘Just remember that you owe me. Both of you.’

  ‘Owe you what?’

  ‘A favour. I’ll let you know when the time comes to repay it.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Trust me, son. I have ways. Now …’

  He whistled up his men and they appeared again within seconds. Gregor took the larger of the two aside and they engaged in murmured conversation.

  Kes took the opportunity to whisper, ‘Sorry, Lari.’

  ‘You’d better be. This is the last “adventure” you’ll be dragging me into.’

  ‘I didn’t realise we’d—’

  ‘Right.’ Gregor returned his attention back to them. ‘Go with my man here and he’ll get you to a dome where at least you’re cleared to call for a lift. Then it’s up to you to get home. I’d suggest that you summon a lift to a central dome, and once it’s under way Kesra can relog it back to wherever you started out from. It’s not completely foolproof, but it should cover your tracks from a casual sweep of the lift logs. Can you manage that?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Well, then. It’s been a pleasure meeting you both.’ Gregor turned as if to leave, but then he stopped, knelt down, and gestured them to listen.

  ‘Two things. Firstly, if for some reason you get found out up there, it would be a very bad idea to mention my name to anyone. And secondly, as of now, both of you owe me a favour. Please don’t think I’ll forget that in a hurry.’ He stood up. ‘Goodbye, then. I’ll look forward to meeting you again.’

  Gregor pulled his cowl back over his head and vanished into the throng of people.

  ‘This way.’ The large man nodded, indicating that they should follow. ‘And stick right by me, okay?’

  Lari didn’t need to be told twice. He stuck to the man like glue.

  She is in a white land.

  A cold, white plain stretches around her, infinite, boundless, endless, white.

  Here there is no red, no brown, no dusty greens or washed-out yellows.

  Only white. Only cold.

  She walks, her bare feet making no impression on the hard surface. She reaches down into it, seeking below the cold for the earthwarmth that must be there somewhere, but there is nothing.

  Only cold. Endless, impenetrable cold, which no matter how deep she goes simply plunges away from her, with her, into her, on and on into the white.

  And she is alone here.

  Slowly, she looks around, searching the hard, distant horizon for … anything. Any sign of something different, something new or strange, or warm.

  Nothing.

  She walks on. She walks for… days
? Seasons? Time slips into the horizons and she walks, even though she can’t feel herself – there’s no sense of her legs below her, or her arms at her side.

  The only sensation is the cold.

  From the ramp at the entrance of one of the rec towers, Gregor watched Lari and Kesra follow Zot across the jostling common.

  ‘What do you think?’ A short, thin, sinewy-looking girl emerged from the shadowy foyer and stood beside him. Her face was encased in a tight, dark mask of semi-opaque material that blurred her features together. In the shadowy, noisy darkness of the res-rec dome she blended in perfectly. Her voice had an edge to it.

  ‘It went well,’ Gregor replied. ‘He’s ours, whether he knows it or not.’

  ‘Will we get anything useful from him, though? From what I’ve heard he doesn’t want anything to do with his father or their family field.’

  The girl spat the last two words as though it hurt her tongue to even say them.

  ‘I know the rumours. It doesn’t matter. Even if that’s true – and having met the boy, I suspect it probably is – we still have the younger child of Dernan and Eyna Mann in our pockets. Think about it, Jem – that kid’s been privy to everything. Just think of the secrets that must be locked away in that head. He probably doesn’t even know they’re there.’

  ‘Then why wouldn’t you let me get them out of him? That would have been fun.’

  ‘Not yet. For the moment we have other, more important objectives.’

  Gregor turned to face his companion, reaching out and running a single finger slowly down her smooth-masked cheek.

  ‘Don’t worry. When the time is right, I’ll let you persuade that little copygen to tell us everything we want to know, but for the moment it’s best if we think of young Larinan as a sleeper. We’ll keep tabs on him until his value to us increases. Then we’ll use him when and where it suits us best.’

  ‘And the girl?’

  The burned man threw a grim smile at his companion.

  ‘Was fine. She’s a long-term project.’

  ‘She seemed scatty to me.’

  ‘I’m not worried. We chose her carefully. She’ll do what’s required.’

  ‘And if she doesn’t?’