Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  “Yes,” said Tad.

  “I can’t believe I’m trusting my life to the word of Thaddeus Wallam-Crane’s heir,” muttered Vijay.

  He stepped through the doorway, and the rest of us went after him. I instinctively used my free hand to shade my eyes as I looked around. We were standing at the side of a wide, arched tunnel. Dazzlingly bright lights shone down from above, and underfoot I could see half a dozen metal rails running along above a layer of gravel.

  “Which of these rails do we need to avoid touching?” asked Weston.

  “There are two sets of rails to allow subway trains to run in both directions,” said Tad. “When the power is on to the third rail, it’s best to avoid touching any of them, and it would be a good idea to stay out of any puddles as well. The subway system has been abandoned for a hundred and eighty years. Several things could have happened during that time to create hazards such as ...”

  “You don’t have to give us complicated explanations,” Vijay interrupted him. “I’m perfectly happy to do as you say and avoid touching rails and puddles.”

  “But there’s no need to worry about avoiding anything now,” said Tad. “I’m not going to turn on the third rail power to a section of tunnel when we’re walking along it. What’s the plan now, Blaze?”

  “I think we’re in the J1 subway tunnel that runs along this side of the Hudson River.”

  “Yes, we’re in section 29 of the J1 tunnel,” said Tad.

  “In which case, we want to explore the tunnel going towards the Unity Bridge,” I said.

  “We should turn right then,” said Tad.

  We started heading along the tunnel. “This tunnel is in an amazingly good condition.” Weston slapped his gloved hand against the grey wall. “I can’t see a single crack in the walls, and they look more like stone than concrete or concraz. How were they built?”

  “They weren’t exactly built,” said Tad. “A machine dug the tunnels and used fused rock to line them.”

  We went on in silence for a while. I trusted Tad, I really did, but I still found myself carefully walking along the gravel gaps between the rails. I’d have avoided puddles too, but there weren’t any. I couldn’t work out how this place could be so dry when there were flooded areas above ground. Was it because the tunnels were lined with fused rock, or was other ancient magical technology involved?

  I opened my mouth to ask Tad about it, but noticed a shadowy shape in the wall ahead of us. “What’s that on the left?”

  “That’s a junction with the C5 tunnel,” said Tad. “I can’t turn on the lights in that tunnel because both the lighting and the third rail power circuits have failed.”

  I continued to the junction, and peered down the dark side tunnel. “It’s worth us spending a few minutes exploring this, because I think it could lead to one of the other entrances Wall mentions in his notes.”

  We turned our lanterns on and walked down the C5 tunnel. Apart from the darkness, and a damper feeling to the air, this was virtually identical to the J1 tunnel. We had to stop after about five minutes, because the light of our lanterns showed a mass of concrete blocking the tunnel.

  “That explains why the power circuits in this tunnel are dead,” said Tad. “The foundations of a new building have cut right through it.”

  “I’m surprised that we haven’t come across anything like this in the J1 tunnel,” I said.

  “The J1 tunnel runs deep underground alongside the Hudson River,” said Tad. “When this area was redeveloped, the height of buildings close to the riverside was strictly limited to allow uninterrupted scenic views of the Parliament House and the Unity Bridge. Not many of those buildings would need deep foundations.”

  I nodded. “So that means the J1 tunnel is relatively undamaged.” I pointed my right forefinger, so the targeting light of my gun flashed on the right side of the foundations. “Look over there. I think that’s what Wall described as a roughly carved flight of steps leading up to an inspection hatch.”

  Weston moved closer to the steps, and held up his lantern to study them closely. “A very roughly carved flight of steps. Can I do the exploring this time, Blaze?”

  I joined him, and wrinkled my nose at the steps. “Yes, Wall’s notes say that it takes a tall person to reach the inspection hatch.”

  Weston put down his lantern, took out his flashlight, and headed upwards. I heard a clattering sound, a swear word, and then a grunt of satisfaction.

  “I’m just taking a look outside,” he yelled down to us.

  There was a pause, more clattering, and then Weston reappeared. “The unbroken snow around the inspection hatch shows Cage hasn’t used this entrance for at least a day, but I found a big pile of these at the top of the steps.”

  He triumphantly held out some goose feathers towards me, and I gasped. “That’s wonderful!”

  “What’s so exciting about feathers?” asked Tad.

  I grinned at him. “Those aren’t just feathers, Tad. They’re solid evidence that Cage has been using the subway tunnels. Nobody else would be hiding inside a subway tunnel to pluck a goose.”

  Tad gave me a wounded look. “But we already had solid evidence that Cage was using the subway tunnels. I told you about the lights being turned on and off. Didn’t you and Donnell believe me?”

  I laughed. “Yes, we believed you, but we couldn’t tell the division leaders about the lights without explaining all about your identity and your web. There’s no problem with us handing them these goose feathers, and saying where we found them.”

  “I see.” Tad seemed placated by my explanation.

  “Now let’s get back to the J1 tunnel, and carry on in the direction of the Unity Bridge,” I said briskly. “The next side tunnel we meet should be the C6 tunnel that runs past the recreation area. Wall’s notes don’t mention any ways in and out of that subway tunnel, but there must be at least one that Cage has been using.”

  We retraced our steps to the J1 tunnel. I was startled to find it was as pitch dark as the C5 tunnel. “Have the lights here failed?” I asked.

  “No, I’ve been turning lights on and off as we move around,” said Tad. “I’ll turn the ones here on again.”

  The overhead lights abruptly came on, seeming even more dazzling than before. I turned to lead the way in the Unity Bridge direction.

  “We should reach a subway station soon,” said Tad. “That’s where the trains used to stop for people to get on and off.”

  A minute later, we reached a point where there had once been gaps in the sides of the tunnel, but walls had been built across them.

  Vijay studied them thoughtfully. “A cockroach might find a way through those walls, but I don’t think we can.”

  I nodded. “Let’s carry on.”

  Walking on the loose gravel was surprisingly tiring. We trudged on past a second walled-off station, and eventually came to a point where the tunnel ran through the middle of what looked like a vast room with its ceiling supported by pillars.

  “This looks interesting,” said Weston. “How far along the tunnel are we now?”

  “We’re at a station near the Unity Bridge,” said Tad. “Another five minutes’ walk should get us to the junction with the C6 tunnel.”

  “We’ll explore this station before carrying on,” I said. “I wonder why it was left like this when the other two were walled up?”

  Curiously, the floor of the room was higher up than the rails we were following. I climbed onto it, and the others came after me.

  “I can’t find a reason why ...” Tad broke off his words to start a new sentence. “Ah, as more portals were placed around New York, the number of passengers using the subway system declined, and less popular stations were closed before the subway system was abandoned entirely. I think this station wasn’t walled up because it was in use right until the end.”

  He sighed. “The information on the Earth data net is gradually being transferred to the data nets on other worlds, but it’s a huge job that will prob
ably take another century to complete. When I was using the data net on Adonis, my problem was always the amount of information that was missing. With the Earth data net, I’m not missing information, but buried in layer after layer of it. I’m having to search through details of dozens of different versions of New York City, as it changed and evolved from being a trading post in 1624 to housing millions of people at its height, and then declined until it was officially abandoned in 2389.”

  “Who won the women’s Tennis World Cup in 2360?” asked Vijay.

  Tad gave him a bewildered look. “Mantel beat Foles in the final, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4. Why?”

  “I was just checking you weren’t making up the whole story about being webbed,” said Vijay.

  I laughed. There was a notice on the side of one of the pillars. I went across to brush the dust from it with my hand and read what it said, then frowned. “Why can’t I read this notice?”

  “This subway system was abandoned before the Wallam-Crane family imposed common Language on the human race,” said Weston, in a carefully neutral voice.

  “Oh, of course.” I felt foolish. “This notice will be written in one of the old tongues. The lettering is the same as Language though, and actually I can understand some of the words, just not all of them.”

  “That’s because my ancestors set out to create an entirely new common Language for humanity,” said Tad, “but they were naturally biased in favour of the one they spoke themselves. My family spent a lot of time in the Americas, but Thaddeus Alexander Wallam-Crane, his son, and his grandson were all born in London like you, Blaze. That meant common Language ended up heavily based on the old language spoken in London, with token words included from other areas of Earth.”

  He shrugged. “For historical reasons, this part of the Americas used a variation of the same language spoken in London, which is why you’re able to read some of that old notice.”

  Vijay had been staring at the walls and ceiling. “The main entrance has been blocked off, but there’s a staircase in the far corner.”

  “We can explore that in a minute,” I said. “Donnell wanted us to test what Tad can do to the third rail power supply. This is the ideal time to do it, since we can stand safely up here away from the rails.”

  I hesitated. “We will be safe up here if you turn on the power to this section of third rail, Tad, won’t we?”

  “Definitely,” said Tad. “Shall I do it now?”

  Weston, Vijay, and I took matching steps further away from the rails. “Yes,” I said.

  “It’s on now,” said Tad.

  We all relaxed. “The rails don’t look any different,” I said.

  “They won’t look different,” said Tad, “unless ...”

  “What’s that noise?” Weston interrupted him. “It’s coming from further up the tunnel.”

  We all turned to peer along the tunnel. I could hear the noise too. A soft, rumbling, scraping noise, and I felt a sudden breeze.

  “Do you think the tunnel ceiling is collapsing up there?” asked Vijay.

  “It’s seemed perfectly solid so far,” I said, “but ...”

  I broke off my sentence because something was coming along the tunnel. A huge red monster with bright glowing eyes, and its tongue trailing on the ground in front of it. As it went past us, I saw the glowing eyes continued along its sides. Then the monster must have seen us, because it slowed down and stopped.

  “Chaos weeping, what’s that?” yelled Weston, drawing his sword.

  “It’s a subway train,” said Tad.

  A subway train, I thought numbly. Not a monster with glowing eyes and a tongue, but a subway train with brightly lit windows, and a loose piece of metal at the front that made a scraping sound as it dragged along the ground.

  On the day Tad came to New York, I’d seen his aircraft in the sky. I hadn’t realized what it was at first, because I’d imagined aircraft having flapping wings. I’d never imagined what a subway train might look like, but I wouldn’t have expected it to be a lurid red and have so many windows.

  A dreadful thought hit me, which drove trivia like the number of windows on a subway train out of my mind. I tried to ask a question, but my voice didn’t seem to be working. Vijay was asking it anyway, in an oddly high-pitched voice.

  “Who’s driving that train?”

  “Technically, I suppose I am,” said Tad.

  Weston took a menacing step towards him. “Why did you drive a ghost train here, Thaddeus Wallam-Crane the Eighth? Was this your idea of playing a joke?”

  “I didn’t know this train existed until it arrived,” said Tad hastily. “It must have been standing on the tracks further up the tunnel. The trains would have been abandoned down here when the subway system shut down, because no one had any use for them any longer. This one began moving when I turned on the power to the third rail.”

  Vijay tugged at his hair. “You mean this train has been standing further up the tunnel for nearly two centuries, and it just started moving again?”

  Tad nodded. “The subway trains were only designed to have an operating life of sixty years, but I expect they don’t wear out much standing in a tunnel.”

  There was a soft, sighing sound from the train, and doors opened along its side. I was proud of the fact it was Weston who made the squeaking sound rather than me.

  “The trains run automatically,” said Tad. “If the line is clear, and the power is on, they keep moving from one station to the next, opening the carriage doors for a while at each to let people on and off.”

  “So, this train is going to move on in a minute?” I asked, in what I hoped was a perfectly calm voice.

  “No, it’s going to stay here,” said Tad. “I’ve only turned on this one section of third rail, and the train’s safety system won’t let it move on unless the next section of third rail has power.”

  “But how can we ...?”

  “Wait!” Tad interrupted me sharply. “Someone just turned on the lights in another section of subway tunnel.”

  “Cage!” I gasped. “Where is he?”

  “He’s in the same tunnel as us,” said Tad. “We entered the J1 tunnel in section 29, and Cage is just downriver of that in section 28.”

  I shook my head. “What’s he doing there? If he’s downriver of where we entered this tunnel, then he can’t be anywhere near either the graveyard or the recreation area.”

  “Section 28 of the J1 tunnel runs right past Parliament House,” said Tad.

  Cage was in a section of tunnel right next to Parliament House! I had a bad feeling about this. I had a really bad feeling about this. We’d set fire to the apartment block where Cage had his original base. Was he going to retaliate by setting fire to Parliament House when everyone was asleep? I had to find a way to stop him from doing that, but how?

  I buried my face in my hands, and babbled rapidly to myself. “Cage is in the same tunnel as us, in a section down near Parliament House. There’s no way we can warn Donnell that Cage is there. By the time we’ve walked back down the tunnel to where Cage is now, he’ll have done whatever he wanted to do and left again. If we turn on the power to the third rail where he is, he might get electrocuted, but he might just ...”

  I broke off my sentence. The way to stop Cage was obvious. It was standing right in front of me.

  I lifted my head and shouted. “Get on the train, everyone!”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Tad and I ran towards the train, and stepped through one of the doorways. I was instantly struck by the flat and lifeless taste of the air.

  I turned to look behind me, and saw Vijay and Weston were standing still, staring at me with stunned expressions on their faces. “Get on the train!” I yelled again. “We’re going to ride it down the tunnel to reach Cage.”

  “We can’t ride a ghost train.” Weston looked terrified.

  I was terrified too, but also desperately worried about what Cage was doing so near Parliament House. “This isn’t a ghost tra
in,” I snapped at Weston. “It’s an ancient transport vehicle, just like the Spirit of New York. We go for boat trips on the Spirit of New York all the time. Riding on this train is no different.”

  “This train is older than the Spirit of New York,” said Vijay.

  “And you’re older than me, but I don’t see that’s a problem.” I waved my arms in frantic beckoning gestures. “Now get on this train or we’re leaving you both behind!”

  Weston and Vijay exchanged glances, Weston sheathed his sword, and the pair of them sprinted towards me. I stepped back to let them through the doorway, and turned to Tad.

  “Get this train moving. Turn on the power to the third rail all the way down the tunnel to section 27.”

  “Including section 28 where Cage is?” asked Tad.

  “Yes. Don’t turn on the lights, just the power to the third rail.”

  A series of bleeps came from overhead, the carriage doors slowly slid shut, and I felt the train begin to move. I swayed, sat down on a nearby seat, and the cushioned fabric beneath me disintegrated, leaving me sitting on a metal frame covered by a heap of coloured dust.

  I peered out of the window next to me, and saw the walls of the tunnel were going by at a faster and faster speed. The others grabbed on to poles and handholds to steady themselves, and then we must have reached a new section of tunnel where the lights weren’t on, because the view outside the windows went black.

  I heard a desperate groan from Weston. “Chaos, chaos, chaos. Blaze is even worse than her father.”

  I vaguely wondered why the lights were still on in the train, decided that must be because everything on the train was being powered by the third rail, and asked a more important question.

  “Tad, will the train stop at the two walled-off stations?”

  “It should only stop at stations that were still open when the subway system was abandoned.”

  “Where will the train stop next then?”

  “At a station that’s downriver of Parliament House in section 27. Close to the fishing spots.”