After a while, the group drifted away, all except for one haughty-faced woman who said to Dr. S, “So, you’ve outsmarted me and become Dr. X’s favorite of the moment, his golden girl! Well, enjoy it while you can.”
Dr. S looked tired. “I’m not competing with you, A. I’ve told you that ever since we were in school, I just want to do a good job and make things better for our city.”
“Right! Next you’ll say you didn’t even want the promotion.”
“I didn’t. I would have been happier if instead Dr. X had given me permission to explore the Outer Lands, as I’ve been asking him to for years.”
“You and your obsession with the Outer Lands! Well, there’s no need to go there now. We’ve solved our energy crisis.”
Dr. S looked unhappy. “I don’t feel good about scavenging other worlds. Who knows what problems we’re causing by removing their objects of power?”
“Grow up, S!” Dr. A said, annoyed. “I don’t know what Dr. X sees in you. You always were too queasy to make a good scientist.”
“At times,” Dr. S continued, as though she didn’t hear Dr. A, “I even regret that we learned how to transport these objects through the space barrier.”
Dr. A drew in a shocked breath. “Have you forgotten the vow we took when we were inducted? Our first and only duty is toward Coal. What you just said is treachery.”
“Why don’t you run to Dr. X and tell him?” Dr. S retorted. “Maybe that’ll reinstate you as his favorite protégé!”
“I will tell him, one of these days,” Dr. A cried. “Then you’ll know what regret really feels like.”
The two scientists glared at each other; then each stalked off in a different direction.
Anand backed away quickly, not wanting to catch Dr. S’s eye. But for the rest of the evening, while he ran up and down, serving and cleaning up, he pondered over the unexpected facets he had discovered to Dr. S’s personality: her stormy rivalry with Dr. A and her ambivalent feelings about having brought the conch to Coal.
* * *
As he lined up with the other Illegals near the back door, Anand was worried because he had had no chance to transform the perforated ear shields back to their original state. But the guards were busy matching the servers with the scientists who had brought them. They released the controls that had held the shields clamped to the Illegals’ ears and instructed them to throw them into a large box. Anand got rid of his shields quickly; then he joined up with Nisha. She looked as exhausted as he felt, and there was a large stain on her uniform where a careless guest must have spilled a drink. At the exit, guards were scanning the Illegals with rods. A few paces ahead of them, a guard pulled a boy out of line and yelled at him to empty out his pockets. Anand’s mouth went dry as he remembered the sweet that he was saving for Nisha. But luckily, right then Dr. S drove up. She pointed at them and said something impatiently, and a guard pushed Anand and Nisha into the back of the van.
Dr. S looked tired, as though the evening—and her confrontation with Dr. A—had taken its toll on her. Anand hoped that this meant she would postpone the interrogation with which she had threatened them. But the grim expression that appeared on her face when he met her eye made him realize there was no chance of that. When she had turned her attention to driving, he slipped the sweet he had saved out of his pocket and passed it surreptitiously to Nisha. The pleased surprise on her face made the risk he had taken worthwhile.
They drove in silence. Dr. S was a strange one, Anand thought as he watched the scientist’s rigid back. He wondered what he should say when she pressed him with further questions about where he came from.
Tell her the truth. Ask her to help.
The familiar voice inside his head made him jump.
Conch? he asked, astonished. Are you sure?
But there was no further word from the conch. Was it annoyed because Anand had doubted it, or was it confined in a place that made communication difficult? He tried to catch Nisha’s eye. Maybe she would be able to sense his dilemma and indicate what he should do. But she was dozing.
That must be what it was: his mind, which was just as sleepy as hers, had played a trick on him.
He decided to say nothing to Dr. S. It was too risky. He would focus, instead, on devising an escape plan.
* * *
The opportunity Anand was hoping for arrived sooner than expected. Instead of going directly to her apartment, Dr. S stopped in front of a huge black building, looming like some prehistoric monster in the artificial night of Futuredome, where tonight a slivered moon was hidden behind fake clouds.
“I need to check on the X-Converter,” she said. “I’ll be back in a minute, so don’t try anything funny.” She gave them a hard stare. “I’ll pick up some Hypnoserum, too, while I’m in there.” She stepped up to one of the walls and spoke into a tube. After a moment, the wall parted and several guards surrounded her, scanning her with handheld machines. Then they escorted her in, and the wall closed behind her.
Anand shook Nisha awake and gestured to her to stay alert. Next he closed his eyes and concentrated on the double doors at the back of the van, trying to feel the energy particles that formed their essence so he could separate them. But he was too jumpy, too tense, knowing that at any moment Dr. S would return. Every time he began to visualize the dance of light, he was startled by a sound or an anxious thought, and it would vanish. He concentrated so hard that his body started to tremble, and yet he could not hold on to the dance.
Then he felt Nisha’s arm come around his shoulders. Even without opening his eyes he could sense the concern on her face. She might not have realized exactly what he was trying to do, but she knew he needed help. He felt her worried love flow into him, thick and translucent as honey. His heartbeat steadied, and his mind cleared. This time he could see the whirling, shining particles. They were like silver crystals. He pressed against them, gently but insistently. For a moment he thought he had failed—the doors were far more solid than the ear shields. Then he heard Nisha gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw a crack between the two doors. The locking mechanism that had held them together was gone!
They put their shoulders to the doors and pushed. Anand had expected resistance, but to his surprise the doors swung open, sending them tumbling onto the street. He struggled to his feet with difficulty, shocked at how much strength the Transformation had sucked from him. Then his eyes were caught by the ominous monolith that loomed over them. So this was the laboratory where the conch was imprisoned. His breath came fast as he imagined it stuffed into an airless vault. Well, it wouldn’t have to suffer that fate much longer! He started walking determinedly toward the building, though his steps were shaky. He would go around to the other side of the laboratory and find another entrance—even a small window would do—and coax it open with Transformation. Then they would slip inside and, guided by the conch, find it. Once they had the conch, all the guards in Shadowland wouldn’t be able to stop them from returning to the Silver Valley.
But Nisha grabbed his arm and held him back from the harsh glare of the spotlights that were set into the laboratory’s walls.
“You’re too tired,” she mouthed. “You’ve got to rest first. If you try anything right now, you’ll get caught.”
Anand tried to remove his arm from her grasp. “I can’t stop,” he mouthed back, but she would not let go.
Frustration washed over him. How could he abandon the conch and walk away when he was so close? That would be a terrible betrayal. Why couldn’t Nisha understand that? She was always causing trouble. He pushed at her with sudden anger. She lost her balance and fell, her mouth an O of hurt surprise that made him wretched with guilt. He forced himself to turn from her, to take one step and then another, until he was halfway around the building. Then he formed a Search arrow and directed it cautiously at the wall, trying to sense where exactly the conch was located.
But even that effort was too much for him. His knees buckled and he dropped to the ground. Much as he
wanted to deny it, he knew Nisha had been right. He was too weak to attempt any skills at this time, least of all another Transformation.
His fall must have triggered a monitor somewhere, for one of the spotlights mounted on the wall began to swivel in his direction. He tried to crawl off the path, but he was too exhausted to move fast. In a few moments, the light would find him and no doubt set off an alarm.
Then he felt Nisha’s hands on him again. Somehow, she wedged her shoulder under his armpit and lifted him up, swaying under his weight. He was afraid they would both fall and be found, but she managed to pull him off the path before the searchlight reached them. He let her lead him, thankful in spite of the huge headache hammering at his skull.
How long did they travel through the dark? Anand was not sure. The place where they ended up was damp and musty. In the distance, he heard the yowl of sirens. Dr. S must have discovered that they were missing and notified the guards. Nisha was scrabbling frantically to clear debris from a small hollow. He wanted to help, but his arms would not obey him. The sirens were getting closer. She pushed him urgently into the small space she had dug out. There was just enough room for Anand to crawl in sideways. Nisha squeezed behind him, her shoulder pressed against his spine. In spite of the dangers that beset them on all sides, her presence made him feel safe. As he gave in to the wave of sleep that broke over him, he wished he could tell her that.
7
A WAY OUT
Waking, Anand stared up blankly at a low, pocked roof made of concrete that extended about a foot above his head. There was a roaring, swishing sound all around him. Ahead, a little light filtered through a small opening, so that he knew it was morning. Where was he, and how did he get here? Then his memory returned. He craned his neck to look at Nisha, who lay behind him, still asleep, her body curled like a comma to fit into the tiny corner. Seeing her, he couldn’t help smiling in spite of his worries. Gingerly, he crawled to the opening, poked his head out, and looked around. He realized that they were underneath a large roadway, just where it lifted up to form an overpass. The ground was uneven here, and strewn with rocks. Some of these rocks had formed a small pocket where they’d been able to spend the night without getting caught. He marveled that Nisha had managed to find such a good hiding place for them, exhausted as she must have been, and he felt freshly ashamed of his behavior last night.
Anand knew they couldn’t afford to spend any more time in their little haven. Guards were probably scouring the area for them. They would be safer outside Futuredome, but how would they pass the gates? And even if they did succeed, how would they breathe once they got outside the dome?
The thought of all the obstacles that lay ahead of him made Anand feel hot and tired. He wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the cool hollow under the roadway and sink back into sleep. But he could not do that. Only five days were left before the Silver Valley froze into its current state of devastation, and they hadn’t yet formulated a plan to rescue the conch. He shook Nisha awake, though he hated to deprive her of her few minutes of peaceful oblivion. Nisha rubbed her eyes and started to say something, then clutched her throat where the forgotten collar stung her.
Angrily, Anand tried to snap the collar by twisting it, but the thin metal was unbelievably strong. He wondered if Transformation would work on it. He wasn’t sure he had recovered his strength sufficiently to try the skill again, but he felt a great need to talk to Nisha, to hear her voice. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring the headache that felt as though someone had gripped his head in a vise, and focused on the shiny circle of metal around Nisha’s neck. Soon he felt the particles of energy spinning inside it. One part of it felt denser, different. That must be where the controls were. He gave it a small push with his mind and felt the particles separate then bounce back in a different formation. He did the same to his own collar; then voiced a cautious hello. There was no pain!
Nisha stared at him, her eyes full of amazement. “We can talk! What did you do, Anand? Was it the same thing that allowed us to escape from the van yesterday?”
Anand basked for a moment in the admiration from her eyes.
“I used Transformation.”
“That’s a tough skill to master. Thank the Powers that you’ve learned how to use it! It’s been awful not being able to talk. I felt as though I’d burst from all the thoughts boiling inside me. What a strange and scary place this is! I wish we could go back home.” Then her face fell as she remembered they no longer had a home to go to.
Anand knew how she felt, but it was no use dwelling on their loss. Instead, he told her what he had discovered at the party. “Now we know where the conch is,” he ended, “but how are we going to get to it?”
He had expected Nisha’s face to mirror his frustration, but her eyes were shining. “We’ll fetch the mirror. It can get us through any door or wall.”
Of course! Anand had been too confused last night to think of it. His heart soared—then plummeted again. “But how will we get out past the guards at the dome gates? And even if we do, how will we survive without masks?”
Nisha unzipped the pockets on the sides of her suit. Grinning triumphantly, she pulled out two masks. “Remember, we’d taken them off and left them in the back of the van when we entered Futuredome? Well, last night after the party, I could tell you were planning something, so I put them in my pocket as soon as we got into the van.”
Anand took one, impressed by her quick thinking.
“Now we just have to figure out a way to get out,” Nisha said. “Our best bet is to follow one of the raised roadways. That was what Dr. S used to get into Futuredome. Maybe there’ll be enough space underneath the roadway for us to keep ourselves hidden until we reach a gate.”
But what if they went in the wrong direction, away from the gates? Anand thought. They had so little time—they couldn’t afford to make mistakes. They needed to ask someone for directions. But whom could they trust?
The familiar voice of the conch floated into his head, though it was disturbingly faint.
You should have been less pigheaded and listened to me when I told you to trust the scientist woman. Now there’s only one solution: Look for the collector.
Collector of what? Anand asked. But there was no further answer.
The two friends crawled out of the hole and blended as best they could into the landscape. It was difficult. Apart from a copse of artificial trees planted in front of a tall building a little ahead of them, there was nothing to hide behind on the wide, bare streets.
They had been on the street for only a few seconds when Nisha grabbed his arm. “Someone’s spotted us!” she hissed.
A black-uniformed man had come out of the building and was shaking his fist at them, yelling something. Anand’s first impulse was to run, but he forced himself to walk toward the man as calmly as he could. He hoped his nervousness wasn’t showing on his face.
“You’re three hours late!” the man shouted. “The holding tanks are about to overflow, and then what will I tell the tenants?” He glared at him. “Where is the garbage truck, anyway?”
The man—Anand guessed he was the building superintendent—had mistaken them for garbage handlers. And no wonder, thought Anand ruefully, looking down at his rumpled, stained bodysuit. But he was relieved. At least this meant that they wouldn’t be turned in to the guards. He had no idea how to respond to the man’s question, but fortunately, because of the collar he wore, the man didn’t expect an answer.
“I’m going to call the agency and complain,” he said angrily, stalking off.
A moment after he had disappeared into the building, Anand heard a loud rumbling in the background. Turning, he saw a truck rattling around the corner. Unlike the sleek vehicles that were the norm in Futuredome, it was old, with rust streaks running down its metal sides. It looked a little like the trucks that used to carry gasoline in Kolkata. It turned into the driveway where Anand and Nisha stood, then started making its way to the back of the building. Someth
ing was written on its side. Rust obscured the lettering, but Anand finally made out the words Reliable Garbage Collectors.
His heart gave a leap. Was this what the conch had wanted them to find?
Gesturing at Nisha to follow, Anand ran after the truck, which halted behind the building. The driver backed his truck up to the wall. Then he climbed down with some difficulty—Anand noticed that he was quite old—and pulled out a thick hose connected to the tank. He peered at the keypad on the wall, blinking his eyes.
Anand’s heart beat unevenly as he stared at the man’s profile.
“Doesn’t he look like Mihirdatta, only older?” he whispered to Nisha, but she looked uncertain.
The man punched a set of numbers onto the keypad, and when a circular window opened up, he plunged in the hose, went back to the truck, and switched on a machine. With a loud, slurping sound, the hose began to suck garbage from the vault and into the tank in the back of the truck. When it had cleaned out the vault, the machine shut itself off. The garbage man fought with the hose as he tried to detach it from the window.
Anand knew he probably should not call attention to himself, but he could not stand there watching the old man, who reminded him so much of his teacher, panting and struggling. He came forward and gave him a hand, neatly rolling up the hose so it fitted in its designated space on the side of the truck. The man looked at him with curiosity and some suspicion. Then he gave a brusque nod of thanks and prepared to haul himself back up into his truck. In a moment, he would be gone.
His heart beating rapidly, Anand went up to the old man.
“Please! We need to get out of Futuredome,” he said. “Can you help us?”
The man was clearly startled to hear Anand speak in spite of his collar. He himself, impeded by a similar collar, wasn’t able to answer. Instead, he shook his head, scowling, and hoisted himself clumsily onto the truck.
“Wait,” Nisha said from behind Anand. From the way her voice rang out he could tell she was using Persuasion. Was it his imagination, or had she grown more accomplished? Perhaps danger pushed people to operate at a level beyond what they had believed they were capable of.
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