by James Bow
“Ethan,” I whispered. “I’ve got to look in that room.”
He frowned. “But we’re almost to the exit …”
“I’ve got to,” I said. “Please. Just take a detour. Make it look natural.”
A flash of fear crossed his face, but we turned the bin without breaking stride. Leaving it at the door, we strode into the meeting room as if we had every reason to go that way. Nobody even looked up.
I stopped and stared.
The room was where the security office planned its operations. They were planning something now. There were papers stacked everywhere. Easels holding maps of parts of Iapyx. Schedules plotted out on the whiteboard. Names. Lots of names.
I saw the words Grounders and Arrest Warrants scrawled in black, and a time, just hours from now. I saw Rachel’s name close to the top. I saw a floor plan of Iapyx’s residential wards.
“These are plans,” I said. My heart beat faster. There were a lot of names. “These are plans for mass arrests.”
“Listen to me,” said a new voice, as someone entered the room. “I’ve already told you to forget those names I gave you! These people, they’re harmless. There’s no reason to go after—”
I whirled around. Standing by the door, staring at me and looking shocked and guilty, was Michael.
CHAPTER TEN
BETRAYAL
Michael, Ethan and I stood frozen. It was a toss-up whether Ethan or Michael’s mouth was open wider.
“What are you doing here?” Michael whispered at last.
“The security office is about to arrest the Grounders,” I blurted.
Michael looked from me to the list of names. He went pale.
Behind him, a security officer frowned at us. “What are you all doing in here?”
Michael swung around at me. “Run!” he hissed.
We ran. Ethan and I burst through the door, grabbed the bin and shoved it into the startled officer, knocking him over a desk. We rushed to the exit, using the bin as a battering ram.
Behind us, still in the planning room, Michael shouted, “Here! They’re in here! Intruders! Saboteurs! In here!”
Which was a brilliant little plan. Officers looked up. Officers ran forward. Officers jammed themselves into the doorway leading to the planning room, leaving us free to escape through the front.
We abandoned the bin in front of the mayor’s offices, blocking our pursuers. I managed to grab the arrivals log and the requisition paper before we dashed into the corridor and lost ourselves among the early-morning crowds.
A town crier called out the news. “All citizens attend! It is now two hours before Solar Maximum. The infirmary is on high readiness standby. All non-essential workplaces will shut down in one hour, and citizens are reminded to keep activity to a minimum during the shelter period—”
Her voice was replaced by a babble as security officers poured into the corridor and crashed into the bin. We put on a burst of speed and took several tight corners before my legs and burning chest told me to stop. We made it to an elevator.
“Ethan,” I wheezed. “You’ve got to go. Leave me. Lie low.”
He waved at me to follow. “No! If they’re going to arrest you, I know the ornithopter schedules. The last flight to Daedalon left a half hour ago, but the last flight to Octavia leaves in fifteen minutes. Everything will shut down for Solar Maximum after that. Security can’t get at you if you’re on that flight.”
It was a way out. I could be on my way to Octavia and security wouldn’t be able to touch me for the next few days. They wouldn’t even be able to use the semaphore until the sun’s brilliance faded enough for people to look. It was a chance to escape, but …
I shook my head. “I’ve got friends, and they’re about to be arrested for things they didn’t do. I have to warn them.”
Ethan looked down the corridor. He looked as though he’d had as much excitement as he’d wanted, and then some, but he put on his bravest face. “I’ll come with you, then. I’ll help.”
“No.” I grabbed his arm. This was important. “No!”
I hadn’t seen Ethan’s name on the list. I hadn’t had time to look, but it made sense. He wasn’t a Grounder; he’d just been following me. If he followed me any further, he was sure to be arrested.
“Seriously,” I said. “Lie low. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but you won’t do anybody any good if you end up in a cell. If the worst happens, we’ll need people on the outside to help. Can you do that?”
He hesitated, then nodded. He straightened up and flashed me a salute. I stared at that. Communications workers didn’t salute. Neither did pilots. But I matched his gesture, and that seemed to satisfy him. He turned and ran away down the corridor, leaving me staring after him.
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped in.
Rachel was in her office when I reached the infirmary. She was sorting out pills for patients. Seeing me in the doorway, she gave me a withering glare. “What do you want?”
That look ebbed as I struggled to catch my breath. “I was at the mayor’s office,” I gasped. “I saw … Michael … He was meeting with security officers and they were issuing arrest warrants.”
“What?” She stared at me. “Are you sure?”
I couldn’t answer for a moment. I breathed deep, my hand to my chest. I nodded.
She grabbed a slip of paper and scribbled out a note. “We’ve got to warn Gabriel. He’ll warn the others.”
“We don’t have time! They chased me. They’re coming for you.”
“Then we need to move quickly!” She pulled a pre-addressed canister from her desk and slipped the paper inside. “I’m sending this to Gabriel. He’ll gather the others.”
Voices were getting closer. Then heavy footsteps. I grabbed her hand. “We’ve got to go now!”
She shoved the canister into the intake tube and hit the button. We rushed toward reception until I heard other voices and pulled Rachel to a stop.
“Nurse Caan is this way, officer,” said a voice. Rachel looked like a trapped animal.
“Is there another way out?” I asked.
She peered around frantically, and stabbed a finger at a door in the far wall, marked EMERGENCY EXIT: ALARM WILL SOUND.
“Well, this is an emergency,” she muttered.
We crashed through the doors and the alarm did sound, loudly. But by the time security caught up to it, we were long gone.
* * *
We went to the prop room. That seemed like madness to me. If Michael had been telling security about us, he knew all the rooms. But there wasn’t time to find a new hiding place and, we hoped, there were only so many places security could search.
When we arrived, there were almost a dozen men and women arguing in spite of Gabriel’s efforts to calm them down. When Rachel appeared, they turned to her, babbling. I couldn’t make out any words.
“Quiet, please!” Rachel shouted. She counted the people who were here. “There should be more. Who are we missing?”
“These were the only ones I could contact,” said Gabriel.
“Is it true?” said a boy who looked to be about twelve. “Has Michael betrayed us?”
“Simon found him meeting with the security officers who are planning mass arrests,” she said. “Then Nathaniel’s men showed up to arrest me.”
“They arrested my friend,” said the boy. “Joshua Ezer.”
Rachel turned on him. “He’s not one of us.”
“Yeah, but he knew me. That was enough.”
“That confirms it,” said Gabriel. “The security office is moving fast. This is a purge.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why here? Why now? What could these people be on the verge of finding that would require such a heavy-handed response?
There was a frantic knock on the door. Rachel opened it. A battery girl stood there, breathless. “Someone’s coming!” she gasped. “Michael, I think.”
Rachel whitened. “Is he bringing guards?”
The
girl shook her head. “He’s on his own.”
Rachel’s fists clenched. “Let him in.”
“Rachel, wait,” I said, but I was drowned out by other protests.
“I know what I’m doing!” she shouted. She nodded at the battery girl, who ran off. Rachel pressed herself against the wall by the door. We heard footsteps approach, then hesitate.
Rachel lunged out. “You!” She dragged Michael into the room, throwing him against the table. Michael struggled and pushed her off.
I grabbed her arm and held her back. “Rachel, before you claw Michael’s eyes out, get him to tell you why there aren’t security officers rushing in after him and arresting us.”
“They’re not coming, yet,” said, Michael, rubbing his head.
“Why not?” Rachel snarled.
“Because I sent them on a wild goose chase. It won’t keep them away for long, but it’s a start. You need to do something. They have something else planned.”
I got a good grip on Rachel’s arm. “Rachel, stop! Yes, he was working with the security officers, but he saved me back at the security office. We need to hear what he has to say.”
Michael stood up, still rubbing his head. “Thank you.”
“You’d better start by giving them a very good reason to trust you,” I said.
He took a deep breath. “They’ve arrested Aaron.”
Aaron! Voices rumbled behind me. Michael paled.
“Keep talking,” I said.
“But not in the right way,” he gabbled. “I saw them, before I sent them on their wild goose chase. They never read him his rights and duties or put him in a holding cell. Last I saw them, they were taking him to Sunside Point.”
“Why?” Rachel snapped.
“I don’t know!” He looked scared. “I think maybe they’re going to use him to implicate you guys in a big act of sabotage, something about the anchor. Look, I’m not out to get you. When that woman from the infirmary hurt her back when the stairwell went dark, I went to security and asked if I could help. Nathaniel said I should join your group and feed him information about where you met and what you talked about. I thought I’d catch you guys in the act!”
He lowered his head in shame. “But you guys didn’t do anything illegal. And the sabotage continued. And now I hear the Security office might be doing the sabotaging? I picked the wrong side.”
“Took you long enough to figure that out,” Gabriel snapped.
“I’m sorry.” Michael looked at the floor. “But in the next few minutes, you’re going to have to decide what’s more important: taking revenge on me, or doing whatever you can to stop Nathaniel’s purge.”
We looked at each other.
“We could go to the anchor,” said Rachel. “We could rescue Aaron, and stop whatever it is they’re trying to do.”
“It could be a trap,” said Gabriel.
“They’re arresting us already,” she snapped. “They don’t need a trap.”
“We should go to the anchor, though,” I said. Then I realized everybody was staring at me. “If they’re waiting for us, we’ll get captured, yes, but if they’re doing something there to blame on us, they’ll create whatever evidence they need to jail us whether or not we go. At least we’ll have a chance to stop whatever it is they’re doing, and get the truth out.”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “You said ‘us.’ I take it, Simon, you’ve had a chance to reconsider what you said last time?”
I felt a flush of shame, but I looked Gabriel in the eye. “Yes. Whatever Nathaniel is doing, it’s wrong. It must be stopped, and I’ll help you stop it.”
Gabriel turned to the rest of the group. “Simon’s right. If I am to be arrested, let it be on my own terms, and not cowering in some hideaway.”
A frantic knock rattled the door. Rachel opened it. The battery girl hissed. “Guards! They’re coming!”
“Quick!” Gabriel pushed forward. “The trap door to the stage!”
Others followed, but with whispered protests.
“We’re sitting ducks! We’ll never get out in time!”
“They’ll see the stage. They’ll see us.”
“No they won’t,” said Rachel. “It will take them long enough to find this place.”
Footsteps right above us made us stop talking. Gabriel reached a ladder at the end of the narrow corridor and clambered up.
Behind us, the footsteps continued. They didn’t sound like they were giving up this time.
Gabriel pushed open the trap door just as the door to the projection room was flung open. A voice shouted, “Nobody move!”
We clawed our way onto the stage and ran, up the side of the amphitheatre farthest from the projection room. We kept running until we were out of the Great Hall and stumbling to a halt in the corridor outside.
The light from the exterior windows made me stop and squint. The corridor was empty. Solar Maximum was almost here.
I looked toward Sunside Point — where the cables holding Iapyx converged on the anchor embedded in the cliff that received the most sunlight. I shuddered at the thought of getting that close to sunlight again. I also wondered if we could make it there before the security officers found us.
Then I looked back and realized I was part of a group of just four: Rachel and Gabriel were beside me, as was the battery girl. Everyone else, including Michael, had slunk away.
“I don’t blame them,” said Gabriel. “Fighting is never an easy option.” He looked down at the battery girl. “And it’s not one for you, young lady.”
The girl spread her hands. “Where else am I going to go?”
Rachel took her hand, and then mine. “Come on.”
We had barely taken two steps when voices echoed through the corridors around us. The town criers were out in force.
“Attention, citizens of Iapyx! This is a priority message from the mayor! Investigations have proven that sabotage was behind the mechanical failures that have afflicted our cities. The group seeking to bring our colony to ground, to be at the mercy of the monsters of the fog forest, has been found responsible. Saboteurs have been captured, confessions signed. Security officials are now in the process of arresting known Grounders. All citizens are to give these officials any assistance they require. Attention, citizens of Iapyx—”
We ran toward Sunside Point. The few remaining people ducked out of our way. I heard shouts behind us, and pounding footsteps. Nathaniel’s security officers were getting closer. I was running out of breath. But when we reached a junction, it was Gabriel who begged us to stop. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. “We’re not going to make it,” he gasped.
Rachel looked around, desperate. “We’ll split up.”
“No,” said Gabriel. He took the battery girl’s hand. “I’ll delay them.”
I felt the blood leave my cheeks. “How?”
Gabriel squared his shoulders. “I’ll consent to be arrested. I’ll make sure to take up a fair bit of their time. And I’ll make sure that this young lady is treated well. Now, hurry. They have to think that we’re on our own.”
Rachel stared at him, then nodded. “Okay.” Her voice trembled.
“Wait.” I handed over the arrivals log and the requisition form. “This is evidence. If Rachel and I are going into a fight, this needs to be protected. It’s not much, but it may help.”
“I can hide it.” The battery girl took the book. “I’m a battery girl. I’ve been in places the security people haven’t even mapped. I’ll make sure it gets to the right people who can get the truth out.”
Rachel reached out for Gabriel’s hand. He looked suddenly a little shy, but he clasped her hand, and mine. “Good luck, you two,” he said. “Now go!”
We ran. Glancing back, I saw the battery girl leading Gabriel around a corner, hanging back as the old man struggled to keep up.
When we reached Sunside Point, the observation area was empty and dark. The windows had been opaqued against the sunlight. While I caught my breath
, Rachel went to the utility door leading outside and tried the knob. To our surprise it opened, blasting us with the cello drone of the cables. We shielded our eyes against the sudden burst of light.
The furnace wind blew past us. Soon the sun would reach its highest point in the sky, sending light deep into the chasms. The air around us would be at its hottest. If Nathaniel’s security forces were at the anchor, exposed, they were risking their lives.
We stepped out onto the narrow platform and shut the door behind us. I leaned against the thin plastic railing, blinking as my eyes adjusted, then wished that they hadn’t. I was staring down at a kilometre of open air and cloud. A metre to our right, the platform met one of the cable struts descending from the anchor. Here, a plastic cage ladder was attached, stretching into the latticework above us, all the way up to the anchor, a gleaming block driven into the cliff face, about the size of four apartments, to which the main cables attached.
Rachel pointed. “Look!”
I looked. The scaffolds were off the anchor, now, but it looked weird. It still reflected the sky, but with a bronze tinge. That’s when I realized it was covered in reflective mylar — part of the emergency kits found in lockers at the top of the anchor. Above it, a yellow flag flapped in the wind, a signal that the anchor was under threat. It put the whole city on alert. What was happening up there?
I could see silhouettes moving about.There was only one way to find out. I stepped toward the ladder.
“Simon?” Rachel took my arm.
I stared at her hand, then at her.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” she added. “Just in case …”
Tension dug at my stomach. “Rachel, you don’t—”
“Simon, please! I need you to know this!” She took a deep breath. “Isaac and I … we were thinking of getting married this coming Nocturne.”
Why was she telling me this now? Why? “I’m sorry …?”
“I wanted you to know. It’s been hard. And confusing. You and him, and how he died. I loved him.” She took another deep breath. “But …” She pulled me close, and kissed me.
For a minute, I might as well have been hovering in midair. I was only aware of myself and Rachel, and the taste of her on my tongue. Then I remembered what we had to do.