Beneath

by Roland Smith

“What about the food and supply drops the Community makes?”

  “It’s a ruse,” Kate answered. “Lod set it up so they’d think we were barbarians. He didn’t want them trying to find us to see what we have here. We throw the stuff away, except the organic material for the sewer plant.”

  The Pod complex made the Community’s circular room look like a kid’s fort slammed together in a backyard.

  There were two other towers. One on the right. One on the left.

  Both of them were one floor short of the middle tower we were in.

  Glass elevator shafts ran from the plaza to the top of each.

  “Make yourself at home,” Kate said. “The kitchen’s over there.” She pointed to a door. “And you can step up to the window and look out. It’s mirrored two-way glass. No one can see in.”

  There was a spotting scope on a tripod next to the window.

  I walked over and looked down.

  Everything could be seen from Lod’s lair.

  There was a central plaza between the three towers with a huge swimming pool in the middle of it. Tables had been set up around the pool, where they had just served Christmas breakfast.

  The only person in the plaza now was a man standing by a small door between the right and left towers.

  “Guard,” Kate said, joining me. “They work four-hour shifts. They’re armed, but they’ve never pulled their pistols from their holsters as far as I know.”

  “Where’s Coop?”

  She pointed. “Left tower. Bottom floor. There are two sky bridges connecting the towers. One on the seventh floor and one on the third floor. Take the one on the third floor, then use the stairs. The infirmary is midway down the hall on the right side. He’s in examination room number two, handcuffed to the bed. The key to the cuffs is in the nurse’s desk, which you’ll see when you walk in. Top right-hand drawer.” She gave me her keycard. “You’ll need this to get into the infirmary and into the examination room where Coop is.”

  “You said there was someone guarding the infirmary.”

  “Mike,” Kate said. “I’ll swing by and invite him to the meeting. He’s a Shadow wannabe. He’ll come. He wasn’t happy about standing outside the infirmary guarding a handcuffed prisoner locked inside on Christmas Day.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “I’ll go down to the plaza in a few minutes. I told everyone about the meeting at the breakfast. As soon as they see me they’ll start wandering down. Not everyone is going to show, but they’ll be watching from their windows and balconies. This will give you and Coop a good chance of reaching the vent without being seen.” She pointed at the spotting scope. “Keep an eye on me. I’ll take my sunglasses off when I think it’s okay for you to get Coop.”

  She handed me two pairs of sunglasses.

  “What are these for?”

  “A disguise,” she answered. “Not a very good one, but the only people who wear sunglasses are Shadows. The Pod tends to avoid Shadows, since we keep an eye on them, as well as an eye out for intruders. If you happen to run into someone, just walk by purposefully, like you know where you’re going and what you’re doing. Chances are they won’t say anything to you. Shadows make people nervous. They tend not to make eye contact with us.”

  “How many people are down here?”

  “Well over a hundred in the compound and another dozen or so in the mush rooms. Then there are people up top who work for us, although I doubt they know much about us. Lod and the Originals are the only people who know exactly how many. Unless you’re a Shadow, a Guard, or an Original, people keep to themselves. They are afraid to ask questions because that draws attention to them.”

  I put the shades in my pocket.

  “Do I have time to get something to eat?” I asked.

  Kate led me into a kitchen with cherry cabinets, granite counters, and stainless-steel appliances.

  She opened the refrigerator.

  It was stuffed with food.

  “Wow!”

  “We don’t eat out of Dumpsters.”

  “I noticed you ate the cake.”

  “I have a thing for chocolate, and I watched their cook dump the ingredients out of a sealed cake-mix box. I figured it wasn’t tainted.”

  “Where does all this stuff come from?”

  “The commissary. Aside from food we can get almost anything we want except televisions, radios, computers, most newspapers, most books … Or ‘Conduits of Corruption,’ as Lod and the Originals call them. The store has all the food you’d find in a regular grocery above, and it’s restocked a couple of times a week. A catalog is printed out once a month with furniture, appliances, and other goods. You pick out what you want and it arrives in a week or two. And it’s all free.

  “I guess when they first came down here it was pretty utilitarian. Canned and powdered food. Simple furniture. Nuclear bomb shelter decor. By the time I came along the mushroom farm was producing and things had changed.”

  I made two bologna-and-cheese sandwiches and washed them down with a quart of organic orange juice.

  Then I mixed up some tuna and mayo and made Coop a couple of sandwiches to go.

  I didn’t believe he was sick of tuna.

  tables began to fill with men and women.

  I don’t know what I was expecting.

  Troglodytes — ancient cave dwellers.

  Morlocks, from H. G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine — another favorite of Coop’s — who feasted on the flesh of the Eloi who lived above.

  Some had long hair; some had short hair.

  Some had beards; some were clean-shaven.

  They were well dressed.

  Perhaps because it was Christmas.

  They were clean.

  Their skin was a little paler than most people’s.

  Other than this, the Pod looked absolutely normal.

  Kate seemed relaxed around them.

  Smiling.

  Chatting.

  Some wore shades.

  Shadows.

  They had no idea what she was about to do.

  She looked around to see if anyone else was coming.

  I slipped mine on.

  I left Lod’s lair.

  The thirteenth floor was no problem.

  The stairs down to the third floor were no problem.

  The sky bridge wasn’t what I expected.

  It was open, long, and narrow.

  I was totally exposed.

  No more than a hundred feet from the gathering.

  I wanted to sprint across but knew that would attract attention, so I walked purposefully, like I knew where I was going and what I was doing.

  About halfway through my purposeful walk I glanced down at the plaza to see if anyone was watching me.

  They weren’t.

  They were all staring at the glass elevator shaft in the center tower.

  The car was descending.

  It disappeared beneath the bottom floor.

  It stopped.

  No one spoke.

  No one took their eyes off the shaft.

  The car came back up into view.

  The door slid open.

  Three men stepped out.

  And two dogs.

  Rottweilers.

  “I thought Christmas breakfast would be over by now,” the man in the middle said loudly.

  I recognized his voice.

  The Lord of the Deep.

  He had a gray beard and long gray hair tied in a braided ponytail.

  He was big.

  The two men flanking him were bigger.

  They were not wearing shades.

  Their dogs were not chained.

  The men were not clean.

  They wore shoulder holsters with pistols.

  Mush room Guards.

  Morlocks.

  They looked hungry.

  So did their dogs.

  “Where are the others?” Kate asked.

  “Looking for that kid.”

  That kid was standi
ng on a sky bridge, out in the open, and with his mouth hanging open in complete shock.

  Lod had taken a shortcut of his own and picked up a couple of friends who looked like they had eaten their children for Christmas breakfast and then thrown the bones to their dogs.

  “Like I told you,” Kate said, matching Lod’s bluster. “That kid is long gone. Headed south or headed home.”

  “Not according to the Seekers. He never made it to the top. He’s still Beneath.”

  “They’ve been wrong before,” Kate said. “But we should certainly make sure.”

  She stood and put her shades back on.

  “That’s why I brought reinforcements,” Lod said.

  “Good.”

  “When we catch him we’ll take both brothers down to the mush rooms.”

  “Even better,” Kate said.

  Lod pointed at the people sitting at the tables. “What’s all this about?”

  “Just an informal gathering to talk about security and Pod business.”

  “Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? You’re not an Original.”

  “Yet,” Kate said, smiling.

  Lod smiled back.

  “We’ll talk about that after we make sure the other kid isn’t down here.”

  “Fine. What about the radios?”

  “They’re still out. I sent a couple of people back down to check the antennas.”

  “It’s going to be difficult to coordinate a search with communications down.”

  “We’ll manage.”

  “Then I guess we better get started.”

  The kid on the bridge got started too.

  Or restarted.

  I shouldn’t have stopped to eavesdrop.

  But if I hadn’t, Coop and I might have died.

  Down the hall.

  Down the stairs.

  To the infirmary.

  Swipe card.

  Top right-hand drawer.

  Key.

  Examination room number two.

  Idiotic grin.

  “Hey, Meatloaf.”

  Coop.

  “Hey.”

  His hair was longer.

  He hadn’t shaved.

  He wore a skimpy hospital gown.

  “I can’t believe you came down here.”

  I handed him the tuna sandwiches and the key. “Merry Christmas.”

  “It couldn’t have been easy for you.”

  He unwrapped a sandwich one-handed.

  “It was worth it.”

  Tears rolled down my brother’s cheeks.

  Mine too.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “My clothes are in the closet.”

  I started to get them.

  “Someone’s coming. Under the bed!”

  I slid under.

  The door opened.

  Boots.

  Rottweiler paws.

  “I told you he was secure,” Kate said. “Putting Mike on the door is redundant. We’ll need him for the search.”

  Lod walked over and shook the cuffs.

  “What are you going to do with me?” Coop asked.

  “We didn’t invite you down here. You came of your own accord. You’ll be staying. And so will your brother.”

  Coop laughed. “My brother would never come down here. He’s a claustrophobe. He could no sooner come down here than you could fly.”

  “He made it to the Community.”

  “I don’t know how that happened, but trust me … Once he got there he was on his knees begging them to take him back up top.”

  “We’ll find out about that,” Lod said. “I see your hand’s better. When we get back, these two gentlemen will be escorting you to your new home … Do I smell tuna fish?”

  “Christmas breakfast,” Coop said.

  “You didn’t eat much of it.”

  “Since you only feed me once a day I’ve learned to ration my food.”

  “Good practice,” Lod said. “Do you like mushrooms?”

  “Not really.”

  “Too bad.”

  The boots and paws left the room.

  The door closed.

  “Wait,” Coop whispered.

  I waited.

  When I finally slid out, Coop was sitting on the bed eating his tuna sandwich.

  “You were always good at making tuna salad.”

  “You said you were sick of tuna.”

  “That’s because I was eating it three times a day for weeks without mayo. The mayo would have gone bad in my pack.”

  He unlocked his cuffs.

  I got his clothes.

  He finished his sandwich while he dressed.

  “Do you have any idea how crazy these people are?”

  “They’re not all crazy,” Coop said. “But Lod and most of the Originals are way out there.”

  “Most?”

  “The woman in charge of the infirmary is one of the Originals, and she’s relatively normal.”

  “And she spilled her guts to you.”

  Coop grinned. “Most of the contents. Enough for me to figure out that there are big changes coming to the Deep.”

  “Did she tell you about the two Morlocks with the Rottweilers?”

  “Yep,” Coop answered. “Mush room Guards, bad dudes … and there are more than two of them. In fact, I think that’s one of the reasons she was so forthcoming with information. She knew I was being sent down there and that whatever she told me would never resurface.”

  “And you understand that we’re in like … mortal … danger here?”

  “Kate filled me in this morning.”

  “She told you about Lod killing her parents?”

  “Horrible.”

  “And the Librarian?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you think about that?”

  “The books he got had to come from somewhere. I hope we can find him … or that he finds us.”

  “If we don’t find him, we’re sunk.”

  He looked in the closet and pulled out his tap shoes. “Remember when you got me these?”

  “Christmas.”

  “Someday I’m going to get you something you want for Christmas.”

  “You already did.”

  “Huh?”

  “I wanted my brother back for Christmas.”

  “Some present,” Coop said, stuffing a tap shoe into each of his back pockets.

  I said.

  We were standing under the vent.

  Coop had led us there.

  From memory.

  Without one wrong turn.

  He had eaten Kate’s map so they wouldn’t find it on him. He said it wasn’t nearly as good as the tuna sandwich.

  “Left. Right. Left,” Coop repeated. “Couldn’t be simpler than that. We’ll have to do it backward.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll have to go in feet first so you can pull me up. I’m not as small as Kate, nor as agile. I want to latch the grate behind us. I don’t know how long it’s going to take Kate to get to the fan, or how long it will take for them to discover I’m gone. When they do, they’re going to search every nook and cranny of the compound.”

  We put our headlamps on.

  Coop cupped his hands and boosted me up.

  I grabbed a pipe attached to the ceiling and walked up the wall to the grate.

  I crabbed my way inside, flipped over, then reached down and pulled Coop up.

  Left.

  Right.

  We stopped.

  The conduit before the final turn was five times as big as the one we’d just squirmed through. We were able to sit facing each other.

  Knees up.

  “So, what do you think of her?” Coop asked.

  “Kate?”

  “Duh.”

  “Smart. Beautiful. Articulate. Tough. Great actress. Contortionist. Everything you’d want in a girl. I listened to your recordings.”

  “Kate told me.”

  “Do you really thi
nk she’s the reason you’ve been driven Beneath all these years?”

  “It could be. I know it sounds crazy.”

  “No,” I said. “It sounds like Coop. What do you think the chances are of us getting out of here?”

  “Excellent.”

  “That sounds like Coop too,” I said. “Do you know something I don’t know?”

  “I might.”

  “Care to share?”

  “I find it hard to believe that I could have been looking for this all my life, only to find it, then die.”

  “Or become a mushroom picker for the rest of your life,” I added.

  “Right. But you know what I mean. And I have to admit that last night, Christmas Eve, I wasn’t feeling my optimistic self. I hadn’t seen Kate since I got caught. I was handcuffed to the bed. No one knew where I was. The woman treating my hand said they were taking me to the mush room the day after Christmas.

  “Then this morning Kate walks into my room, tells me that you’re down here and that we’re leaving sometime after breakfast.

  “And now my hopelessly claustrophobic brother is sitting with me in a cramped vent, thousands of feet beneath the surface, grinning, as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.”

  I had a lot of cares.

  My grin could have just as easily been a grimace.

  But that was impossible with Coop sitting inches away from me.

  “How’d you get over your claustrophobia?”

  “Immersion. I think.”

  “Kate couldn’t have done this alone.”

  “She seems pretty resourceful.”

  “I guess I better tell you something before we start running for our lives,” Coop said. “The hardest thing I ever had to do was to walk away from you after the tunnel collapse. I didn’t want to. But I felt it was the only way I could protect you. I thought this was my journey alone. I had no right to endanger you by inviting you along. I may have been wrong about that, because here you are. I’m sorry, Pat. I should have at least kept you in the loop.”

  I said.

  Coop laughed.

  That’s when the fan started to wind down.

  Kate was clearly relieved to see us, but all she said before she switched the fan back on was “Hold your breath.”

  We stumbled out of the sewer tunnel.

  Eyes watering.

  Gagging.

  Kate led us to another tunnel to catch our breath and regain our sight.

  “I thought I was dead when Lod insisted on checking on you in the infirmary.” She looked at me. “You were under the bed.”