Outside In

by Maria V. Snyder

  “How bad?”

  “We’re screwed.” He tapped the screen with a fingernail. “No wonder we couldn’t locate the link. I never considered an Outside source.”

  His fingers flew over the keys as he murmured and cursed under his breath.

  “But now that you know what’s going on, you can stop them. Right?” I prodded.

  “No can do.”

  My knees refused to hold my weight. I sank into a nearby chair.

  He pushed back from the computer. “We’re blocked out of everything. Domotor isolated an area, but I would need an untainted computer to access it.”

  “Untainted?”

  “One that hasn’t been hooked into the network.”

  “What about the computers in the Trava Sector?” I asked. “Anne-Jade said they were cut off from the network.”

  Logan fiddled with the ends of his hair. He hadn’t bothered to cut it while in protective custody. “It would depend on when those computers were unhooked. If the Outsiders had already gained access, they won’t work.”

  “How do we get you there without anyone knowing?”

  His face lit up. “I rigged a device that feeds off the heat from the lamp. It’ll keep the tracer at a constant temperature.”

  “If we wait until right after your keepers leave, we’ll have about twenty hours before the game is up.”

  I considered the steps needed to get Logan to Sector D4. After I scouted out a computer, he could travel through the air shafts with me. However, what would we do with the Travas in the room?

  Time to pay Anne-Jade a visit.

  “You want to borrow what?” Anne-Jade sat behind her desk and blinked at me as if she could clear me from her vision.

  I had waited until the ISF office emptied of her lieutenants before dropping in on her. Keeping close to the heating vent in case one of the others returned, I repeated my request. “A stun gun, Anne-Jade. Not a kill-zapper. I need it to help Logan.” And when she didn’t answer, I added, “Trust me.”

  “Stun guns can kill if set high enough.”

  “I know.” Cogon had killed a Pop Cop by accident because the Pop Cop’s gun had been set to maximum. “Can’t you lock it at a certain level?”

  She crumpled. There was no other way to describe it. One second sitting straight and being stubborn, the next a defeated slouch. “You have the worst timing.” Anne-Jade spun her monitor around so I could see it. The white screen had a row of black letters that read, Collect all the weapons Inside and lock them in the safe, including your own.

  “Is that—”

  “Yes. Orders from the Controllers.”

  “Do you know they’re not—”

  “Yes. And they know exactly how many weapons we have because our inventory was in the computer.”

  “But if you’re locking them—”

  “The floor of the safe has a weight sensor in case anyone decides to try to steal anything.”

  My mind raced. “Then add in extra weight. You can’t lock up all the weapons! That’s suicide.”

  “I don’t have much time.” She pointed to the bottom of the screen. A small clock counted down. She had less than an hour. “If I don’t do as they say, they’ll gas Sector D2.”

  “Sleeping gas?”

  “I wish.”

  I sorted through the potential problems. “If I find you the weight, will you loan me a stun gun?” “Sure.”

  Anne-Jade gave me the approximate weight of each weapon. While she called in her officers, I returned to the air shafts.

  As I slid through them, memories of other panicked scrambles through the tight shafts replayed in my mind. I had hoped never to be in this situation again. In order to put a positive spin on my rushed descent to level one, I considered this trip practice. If the Outsiders did gain entry into our world, we would have one advantage of being in familiar territory.

  The best place to pick up items of various weights was in the recycling plant. I peered through the vents, searching for a pile away from the bustle of activity and near a vent. Part of me was glad to see people working to recycle the large amount of waste that had collected during the last six weeks, but the other half worried one of the workers would recognize me. Too bad I didn’t have time to don a pair of the drab gray overalls and boots.

  A few people picked through a couple piles as if searching for something so at least in that regard, I wouldn’t be calling attention to myself. I spotted a mound of broken glass items. They would be heavy enough to stand in for the weapons.

  Easing from the air shaft, I dropped to the floor with a light thump. My heart added its own thumping that I swore the entire recycling plant could hear. A couple people glanced over, but resumed working. Careful of where I stepped, I tried to keep the glass pile between me and the others.

  I filled my bag with a hefty amount—enough, I hoped, for three or four weapons. The beauty of taking glass was Anne-Jade could break off pieces if they didn’t match the weight. Tying the bag to my belt, I climbed the wall, using the rivets. In the recycling plant, the air vents were at the top of the walls and not in the ceiling.

  When I reached the vent, I pulled my body in. Except before I could draw in my legs, a hand clamped around my ankle and yanked.

  I used my elbows to stop my fall. With the lower half of my body dangling from the vent, I glanced down. Sloan held my ankle and gave me a smirk. Damn.

  “Come on out, little bug,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to be down in this level. You’re a bad little bug that’s about to get squashed, and not by Chomper.”

  The graphic image propelled me into action. I kicked back with my other foot. My heel connected with his eye. Not hard because of my awkward position, but it doesn’t take much force to temporarily damage a person’s vision. He yelled and let go of my ankle. I didn’t hesitate to haul the rest of my body into the shaft.

  His curses followed me, echoing in the thin metal duct. The good news, I escaped. The bad, Jacy would soon know I had bypassed my tracer. Although with the Outsiders poised to enter Inside, I doubted anyone would care about me.

  By hour fifty-nine, I returned to Anne-Jade’s office. Through the vent, I spotted a wall gaping open. It was the door to the safe. I had never noticed it before, which made sense.

  A line of very unhappy ISF officers relinquished their weapons. One of Anne-Jade’s lieutenants kept track of the number. I was about to squirm into a comfortable position to wait when I noticed the stun gun. Light from the office illuminated the dial. It had been set to level five intensity—enough force to stun an average-sized man. I tucked it into my belt and left the glass for Anne-Jade.

  I needed to swing by the infirmary to gather a few supplies before going back to Logan’s. Lamont found me stuffing a syringe, tweezers and sutures into a cloth bag.

  “Are you here to help me?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “What’s going on, Trella?”

  I hesitated.

  “I think I’ve been more than understanding and patient with all your trips these last two weeks, but something zapped the computer and Domotor’s face…” She shivered and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I figured you already found Logan. Did he get into the network?”

  I considered what to tell her. “Logan’s working on it and I’m helping him.” I added about the Controllers disbanding the Committee.

  A crease of concern lined her forehead as she watched me as I finished packing the bag.

  “I can see you’re spooked. What else is going on?” she asked.

  “I’d rather not say.” It was an honest reply.

  “You’re being smart. I shouldn’t have asked and I don’t want to know. Because if someone threatens to harm you, I’ll do or say anything to protect you. Go on. I’ll cover for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You will warn me if I need to prep for casualties?”

  If the Outsiders come in, there could be panic and injuries. “Yes.”

  “Goo
d. Now shoo.”

  I arrived at Logan’s room a few minutes after his keepers had left. So far, they kept to their twenty-hour schedule, which meant Logan and I had that much time to find him an untainted computer.

  Over the next hour, I learned a few things about Logan. He hated needles, he vomited at the sight of his own blood and he acted like a baby when it came to pain. Removing the tracer turned into an unexpected ordeal. I wished for Lamont’s cool confidence that surfaced whenever she dealt with a difficult patient.

  Finally, Logan and I crept through the air shafts. Unused to any physical activity since the fire, he moved slowly and we took frequent breaks. Plus he babied the arm with the sutures. At this rate, it would take us hours to reach Sector D4.

  Despite my impatience, we arrived at the edge of the Sector. Locked wire mesh air filters blocked the duct that led into the Travas apartments. I had encountered them before when sweeping for the active link so it didn’t take me long to unlock them.

  I left Logan behind so I could scout for a computer. Looking for an apartment with only a couple Travas living there, I also wanted one close to where Logan waited. I found a small one-bedroom apartment with three male Travas. They played cards on the table right below the air vent. It was almost perfect.

  I grabbed the stun gun from my belt and flipped the safety off. Easing open the vent, I aimed at the farthest man and pulled the trigger. As the loud sizzle slap filled the room, the pulse of energy hit him in the torso and he jerked. The chair toppled backward. Before he hit the floor, I had stunned the second man.

  The third spotted me. He jumped to his feet and dashed toward the washroom. I dropped to the table, aimed and caught him before he reached the door. Stunners overloaded a body’s nervous system. When directly hit with a pulse, a person lost all feeling in his body and couldn’t move for a couple hours or more, depending on the intensity. If hit on the arms or legs, then it just deadened that extremity. I had been hit below the waist and it had numbed both my legs and hip area.

  I hurried back to Logan and led him to the apartment. Logan ignored the three men and aimed straight for the computer, loading Domotor’s disk into it. With nothing to do, I straightened the cards and moved the guys into more comfortable positions.

  The couch looked inviting, so I sat on the end, tucking my legs up under me. It had been only fifteen hours since I last slept, but the pace had been nonstop. I rested my head on the couch’s arm.

  A weight settled next to me and I startled awake. Logan slouched beside me.

  “Well?”

  “No luck. Everything’s blocked.”

  “What about Domotor’s isolated system?”

  “I can retrieve data from it, but I can’t get into the executable files. The ones that run the systems.”

  “What type of data?” I asked.

  “Useless stuff like the population control stats, fuel data, hydroponic fertilizer mixtures and sheep feeding times.”

  “Useless to you, but not to those workers.”

  “True,” Logan said.

  Checking the time, I calculated how long we had until the Travas recovered. Hour sixty-five. They would get feeling back soon. And we had fifteen hours until Logan’s escape was discovered.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Do you want to see the Outsiders?” he asked.

  I almost fell off the couch. “How?”

  “One of the isolated systems is the Video Cameras pointed to Outside. I took a quick look to confirm my suspicions.”

  My brain stumbled over his words. I felt as if I was always the last person to know. “Just tell me, Logan.”

  “I studied the damage to the Transmission. Bad, but not five explosions worth. One did the job. So what were the other four trembles? I guessed the saboteurs used the blast at the Transmission to cover the Outsiders attaching to Inside.”

  “Attaching?”

  “Yep. They have to line up and attach to Gateway in some way or risk being exposed to Outer Space.” Logan returned to the computer.

  I stood behind him as the screen turned black. Then the view changed and spots of dim daylights illuminated a bumpy rectangle made out of black metal…a bubble monster! I had forgotten all about them in the craziness of the past few weeks. Eight long arms hooked onto an otherwise smooth metal wall…Inside. At least, I had been correct in assuming the monsters were a conveyance. Small comfort.

  Logan pointed to the arms. “When these clamped on, they caused those tremblers. I’m guessing they attached two at a time. See this?” He tapped on a spot on the belly of the monster. “That’s their Gateway. Even though they’re moving slow, they’ll link theirs up with ours soon.”

  “How soon?”

  “Depends on them. They have control of our computer. We’re completely unprepared and nothing can stop them.”

  “Thanks for staying optimistic,” I said.

  Maybe we weren’t as unprepared as Logan thought. I wondered if those bubble…ships in the top level could stop them. Would they have weapons or could we use those arms to pull the Outsiders off? No idea.

  I helped Logan back into the shaft and followed, closing the vent behind us. With no closer options, I led him to Riley’s storeroom.

  The room had an abandoned feel to it. Or was that just my heart?

  Logan plopped on the couch. Dust puffed and I sneezed.

  “This is just temporary. Once we figure out our next move, I’ll find you a better place to hide,” I said.

  “There is no next step. The Outsiders will come in. The end.”

  “Unacceptable. Try again.”

  He groaned and massaged his forehead. “I’d think better without these headaches.”

  “I can bring you painkillers.”

  “I know. I only get them when I’ve been straining to see too long.” He sagged back against the cushions. “I could go back to my room. All my stuff is there, and I have a shower.”

  “And that solves our problem how?”

  “At least it doesn’t add to it.”

  We sat in silence. I felt useless with my limited computer knowledge. Besides knowing how to turn it on and off…

  “Logan, what would happen if we turned the network off?”

  “Nothing. You can’t just switch it off. It’s impossible.” He straightened. “I see what you’re getting at. Hmm…” Drumming his fingers on his chin, he got that distant mind-crunching look on his face. “We could disconnect each life system and operate them manually. Except…”

  “What?”

  “We don’t know how to operate those systems manually.”

  “Aren’t there instructions?”

  “Even if we could access the computer, there aren’t any instructions on the network. After the damage to the Trans mission, I searched for them and found nothing. Which makes sense. If something happens to the network, you don’t want your operating instructions lost as well.”

  “Would they be written down somewhere? Or on disks?”

  “Ink on a wipe board would fade over time and I couldn’t find any disks with the information. Unless they’re packed away in one of those storage boxes in the Expanse.”

  His words triggered another memory. “What would these instructions look like?”

  “Diagrams and schematics. Mostly visual step-by-step guides. Why?”

  “Like some of the symbols that show up on your computer screen?”

  “They would be similar.”

  The walls of the top level of Inside had been filled with diagrams. “Uh…Logan… How do you feel about heights?”

  Logan didn’t have a chance to answer because Lamont’s voice squawked in my ear. “Trella, where are you?” A nervous tremble tainted her voice.

  “Level four. What’s wrong?”

  “I have a medical emergency and need your help,” she said with a slight quaver.

  Warning signals rang in my head. “Who’s sick?”

  “Emek’s appendix is about to burst.”


  Which would be a medical marvel since we removed his appendix weeks ago. “Is he stable?”

  “No. He won’t last two hours. I’m stunned by how fast his vitals turned critical. You have to hurry or we’ll lose him.”

  Damn! “I’ll be right there.”

  Logan raised his eyebrows, inviting me to explain. How do I tell him two people had forced my mother to call me so they could ambush me when I returned to the infirmary? He would insist on coming along and I couldn’t risk him.

  “I need to go help Lamont,” I said instead. “Will you be okay here or do you want to return to your room?”

  He considered and I almost screamed at him to think faster.

  “I might as well go back. No sense tipping them off about me. It’s just a straight shot over to my room, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yes. Head east, you’re the very last vent.” I scrambled up the ladder, but paused as a horrible thought struck me. What if my “rescue” ended badly? No one would know about the Expanse’s ceiling.

  “Logan, just listen.” I explained about level eighteen at the top of the Expanse, describing the symbols on the walls and the Bubble Monsters. “If I disappear, get Anne-Jade and climb up to the near-invisible hatch. I left the safety line tied to the ladder and I doubt anyone’s noticed.”

  “Wow, Trella. How long have you known about this?”

  “A few weeks. I’ve been busy fetching your junk.”

  He smiled. “And you didn’t inform the Committee?”

  “Probably a bad decision at the time, but now I’m thrilled I kept it quiet.”

  “Me, too. How long should I wait?”

  “Ten hours. That’ll give me enough time to help Lamont and sleep. But if the Outsiders enter, don’t wait. I’m assuming you can contact your sister?”

  “Of course. I have this sweet little device—”

  “Tell me later.” I entered the air shaft. As I hurried over and down to the infirmary, I replayed Lamont’s exact words in my mind. She managed to give me quite a bit of information. Two ambushers, armed with stun guns and they waited in the exam room.