The Infinity Mainframe (Tombs Rising Book 3)

by Robert Scott-Norton

  “You were up there for weeks. They can’t have been interrogating you all that time.”

  “I’ve had good training. They didn’t know how to handle me. They didn’t get what they wanted.”

  Ruby mulled this over. “The remnant keeper, Jack Winston, was in the building just before the explosion. Do you think he had something to do with it?”

  “I don’t know. I hardly know him.”

  “So why did you send his wife’s eye to him?”

  “My mother asked me to. She’s his handler.”

  “Anna Lovett is your mother?”

  “Yes.”

  Ruby’s head reeled. Ideas and images came rolling out of the darkness, hitting her in the middle of her consciousness. “I met her. She used to look after the testing process.”

  “When it first started.”

  “And she tested Nikoli.”

  Candice shook her head. “He never said.”

  “No reason he should. Did Nikoli know she’s your mother?”

  Candice was crying. At first Ruby didn’t understand but then it came to her and shame made her cheeks burn. Glynn had told her that Anna was dead. “My god, I’m sorry Candice. I—with everything that’s been happening. They never found her body did they?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  What a fool. Ruby took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. All the same.”

  Candice nodded, biting her lip.

  The woman was full of secrets. Every time she thought she was getting to understand her a little more, something would emerge to unsettle her. Perhaps it was just in Ruby’s nature to not want to trust people at all. That might be better for everyone. Perhaps now was the time to offer something in return. She fished inside her bag and pulled out Nikoli’s diary stone. After her confrontation with Biggs, she’d retrieved it from her dad’s and kept it with her at all times. As she passed the diary over to Candice, their fingers touched momentarily and Ruby felt herself shudder, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention. Was Candice trying to scan her? Ruby didn’t know how much of what Candice had told her was true. These disparate parts of the Nikoli mystery all seemed to be centred around Anna and she was Candice’s mother. But with Anna out of the picture where did that leave Candice? Ruby liked to think she was a good judge of character, but the thing she’d learnt with telepaths over the years was that you could never truly trust them. An image of Moss came to mind, and she immediately felt guilty for thinking like that. She didn’t want to be that Ruby anymore.

  Candice turned the black stone over in her hands.

  “I’ve not been able to open it,” Ruby said. “It’s fitted with an echo lock.”

  Candice swiped her finger along the swirl grooved into the stone’s surface and a band of amber light flared into existence. Light golden pages appeared above the stone. Interactive holograms.

  “He imprinted it with your bio signature as well as his own.” Ruby said, eyeing her suspiciously. “Why did he give it to me?”

  Candice shrugged. “Maybe he wanted us to work together?”

  Ruby guessed it was possible but as Candice started flicking through the light pages, Nikoli’s motivations were shoved aside. He had one thing on his mind. Pages of notes. Dates. References to things she couldn’t see clearly. Ruby tried to absorb as much as possible and just as she was comforting herself with the thought that she was now on top of things and they’d be able to get out of here, Candice turned a page and her heart skipped a beat.

  11:01 AM

  Ruby couldn’t tear her gaze from Nikoli’s light drawings. “This can’t be.” But it was, undeniably so. The page showed a well-drawn picture of the OsMiTech headquarters with its crescent shape against a sky of stars. Nikoli had been quite the artist and embellished these drawings far more than he needed. His obsession had dug its claws deep under the surface. But it wasn’t the artistry that had taken Ruby’s breath away. Under the OsMiTech building, Nikoli had drawn in a series of lines that led to a single word, drawn to fill all the space under the building.

  TOMBS

  “He can’t be serious,” Ruby mouthed, silently knowing that Nikoli was being completely serious. The connection between the tombs and Nikoli and OsMiTech was seeming tighter than ever. Why else would Nikoli have gone to such pains to warn Devan about the dangers of the tombs if it weren’t because OsMiTech had been built directly on top of them?

  “He’s serious all right,” Candice said, flicking through more of the pages, before settling on another with more lines leading from a crescent shape. “These are maintenance passages. We can get to it from here.”

  “I’m calling for help. Glynn can get the police to us. We can’t do this alone.” Ruby swiped her HALO but there was no signal. Damn. The interference field was still in effect blocking calls from inside the building. A buzzing echoed from the lift shaft behind them. “Is the power back on?”

  A security drone dropped into view from the shaft above them. It spotted the women and stayed at the edge of the maintenance shaft, keeping them in focus.

  “Dampening fields from that thing. They’ve found us,” Candice spat, dragging Ruby deeper into the shaft, away from the prying eye. “They’ll be sending people next.”

  They were on their own.

  Ruby’s heart thumped. Her cover was blown, there was no way she would be able to explain this away to Moss or Devan. A pang of guilt as she imagined how Moss would react to the news that his new friend had helped one of Devan’s prisoners escape, but that pang quickly evaporated. Moss hadn’t known what Devan was doing on the fourteenth floor. He couldn’t have.

  “Where are we going?” Ruby hissed.

  “We’ve got to get lower, under the main building. That’s what the pages indicate.”

  The drone kept its distance, following them deeper into the maintenance tunnel. Candice opened a panel on the floor leading to a thin ladder that led down to the shaft below. “Quickly,” she hissed. Ruby complied, leading the way down. Candice followed, making the navigation through these narrow spaces seem effortless. Once under the panel, she pulled it closed behind, trapping the drone on the wrong side. “We’ve got a few minutes to get out of this area and make good our head start.”

  Candice pulled open the next hatch, and they repeated the procedure, Ruby headed down first, followed by Candice. In minutes, they found themselves in the foyer of the car park Ruby had started in what seemed like hours ago. She looked up at the ramp longingly and deeper into the car park where she knew her car was parked. It was tempting to think that they could make a break for it in her vehicle and get back to the DRT office and safety. They were far beyond safe now, and besides, the tombs were waiting for them; down there, in the dark.

  Voices from the ramp, and footsteps heading down. The unmistakable buzzing of more drones. Candice grabbed Ruby’s arm and dragged her to a slim service hatch that was almost flush to the back wall of the lobby. Danger signs warned of moving machinery and electrical discharges within—unauthorised entry absolutely forbidden. “Hurry,” Candice hissed and pulled Ruby inside. “We’ve got to go,” Candice urged.

  Her hand grabbed the sleeve of Ruby’s jacket, pulling her deeper into the dark. Hard edges dug into her ribs as she failed to navigate effectively through the darkness. Ruby shone a light from her HALO and followed Candice’s rapidly retreating figure. Ruby half ran, half stumbled along the passage, trying to ignore the dryness in her throat and the pressure in her forehead. Candice ducked into a new opening on the right and as Ruby reached it, Candice yanked her into the turn.

  A clang from the way they’d come made them both flinch. Ruby covered her HALO and extinguished the light.

  “They won’t be stupid enough to escape under here.” A man’s voice. Deep and throaty like he’d been a regular smoker before the tobacco ran out.

  “I’m telling you I saw them.” A different voice, younger, less confident.

  “It’s a restricted area,” the first voice replied.
Then sounds of movement as they backed away, towards the entrance hatch. The first voice, possibly in charge, sounded irritated. “Back out. Inform head of security what’s happening. Get them to OK access. There’s no way out that way. Those two aren’t going anywhere.”

  *

  Only when they were sure their pursuers had retreated, did either of the women dare talk. Candice’s voice, slightly less hushed, “You can turn your light back on now. But for God’s sake keep it pointing away from the hatch.”

  Gratefully, Ruby uncovered her HALO and lit up their surroundings. They were standing in a service corridor, grey concrete walls and red painted concrete floors. A network of cable conduits bracketed against the walls, running at shoulder height away from them into the darkness. Ruby’s light just wasn’t powerful enough to stretch more than a few metres beyond, just scratching the gloom.

  Candice gave a wan smile. “We need to get going, they won’t wait outside for long.”

  “They don’t think we’re going anywhere. Don’t they know about this route?” Ruby said in hushed tones.

  “It’s restricted.”

  “But they’re security.”

  “I guess some places are off limits even to security,” she said and started walking.

  The tightness in her chest hadn’t relented. Ruby put a hand out to the wall as if with her sheer will she could push the walls away. Calm. She needed to focus on her breathing, count the breaths. But the lithe figure of her comrade had already encroached into the darkness ahead and she didn’t have the time. Ruby swallowed and hurried after her.

  The ceiling was barely high enough to avoid banging her head and after a time she became aware of a new series of pipes rising from the ground and meshing above her. There was a sound. At first, she thought it was only the noise of the blood rushing through her ears, but no, it was something else, distinct. A heartbeat? No, it wasn’t a heartbeat. A pump. That would make sense with all these pipes surrounding her.

  “Candice, what the hell is that?” She hissed her question at Candice’s back. Candice was still hurrying along the passageway, not once did she turn around to see how close Ruby was.

  “I’m trying not to think about it,” came her indifferent reply.

  “Does that mean you know and you’re not telling me, or you don’t know?”

  “We need to hurry. They’ll send people in after us soon.”

  Ruby focused on the bobbing light from her ring.

  Something wet dropped from the ceiling and hit Ruby’s face. She yelped and put her hand to her skin, wiping away whatever had landed on her cheek. Candice appeared beside her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing—just got wet. Wasn’t expecting it that’s all.”

  Candice looked above them. “There’s a lot of pipework above us. It’s probably part of the ventilation system.”

  “All the way down here?” Ruby knew little about how ventilation systems worked but doubted that there would be such a concentration of pipework down here. “Anyway, it’s leaking.”

  “Condensation?”

  Another drop of water splashed on Ruby’s face and now that Candice was still, it was clear she was getting dripped on as well. Ruby wiped the wetness away but her face tingled like flies were dancing over her skin. She rubbed at her face and gestured that they carry on through the passage, eager that she got no more of the liquid on her face.

  “Is it bothering you too?” Candice asked. Ruby shone her light on Candice’s face and saw red marks across her skin. Candice appeared flustered.

  “Stand against the wall,” Ruby suggested, “the drips are coming more from the centre.” She shone her light up into the ceiling and saw the pipes weren’t in as good condition as they had been earlier along the corridor. Jewels of light fell all along the passage, raining down from the deteriorating pipework. “Whatever it is, it’s been corroding those pipes. I think we should hurry.”

  Both women picked up the pace and ran along the edge of the passage, Ruby leading the way with her light, not knowing where the tunnel would end, only that it had to end soon before the cramping feeling in her chest returned and threatened to immobilise her. Candice was quiet. Only the extra set of footsteps chasing behind her, and the noise of her quickened breathing told her she wasn’t alone. The drumming of the pump had gotten louder, and it was reverberating through the tunnel making Ruby feel she was entering the vascular system of some sleeping giant.

  “Where does this tunnel lead? Are we going the right way?” Ruby asked as they continued running. The heartbeat had softened a little, and the dripping from the pipes overhead had stopped. She shone her HALO above her and saw the pipework had thinned out somewhat. They hit a junction. The passage ended abruptly giving them the choice to go left or head right. Neither direction offered any clues as to what lay at the end. Candice held Nikoli’s diary stone in front of her, light pages hovered above it. She gestured to the right tunnel and pressed ahead. Ruby followed at her heels.

  Another noise from somewhere behind them. This time Ruby thought she’d heard voices.

  “Something’s wrong,” Candice said, stopping suddenly. “That liquid, it’s stinging.”

  Ruby shone her HALO light at Candice’s face. There were faint signs of redness on the skin. Candice sniffed a drip of the liquid that had landed on her cheek. “It’s Nanosalve. I thought I recognised the smell.”

  Ruby retraced the steps they’d taken until she found the closest leaking pipe. Tentatively, she reached up a hand to the leak and let some liquid fall on her skin. Despite some of it landing on her earlier, she still caught her breath as the drops splashed, worried that against logic, this time, the stuff would sting like it did on Candice. But, nothing. No, wait, there was something. A gentle tingling. Familiar.

  She brought her hand up to her nose and inhaled. “You’re right. It’s not quite the same, though. This is thinner. Could it be something similar?”

  “Ketra 12. It’s the main ingredient.” Candice replied.

  Ruby thought she heard a noise from further along the corridor.

  “We need to find another way out of here,” Candice said. “Security will have the exits monitored. Perhaps that’s why they haven’t caught up with us yet. They’re just waiting for us to come to them.”

  “What does Nikoli’s diary say? How far to the tombs?”

  Candice flicked back and forth between several light pages. “It’s close. It must be really close. It’s got to be around here too.”

  “Unless Devan’s blocked it off.”

  As Ruby stared at the brickwork, a tug at the back of her head reminded her they were running out of time. “You felt that too?” she asked Candice.

  “Telepath security. Using a telepathic burst to locate us.”

  “Great, just what we need.” Cautiously, Ruby stretched out her arm and gently tapped the brickwork with her fingertips. Rough, like she’d expected.

  And then Ruby fell backwards, stumbling on the slippery floor. She held her hands to her head and tried to rub away the sudden pain she’d felt there. Like the sudden onset of a migraine, but the sensation left her head as quickly as it had appeared. Candice looked startled, grimacing.

  “They’re sending stronger bursts. Hoping to disable us.”

  Candice put her hand on Ruby’s and pulled her back to the wall.

  “If you’re any good at blocking, you need to protect yourself.”

  Ruby reached into her bag. “I’ve got something better. Maybe it will help you as well.” She pulled out a silver ampule.

  “What’s that?”

  “I took it from a rogue teep. It’s blocking stim.”

  She passed it to Candice. “You use it first.”

  “Later,” she replied and pulled Ruby into a side passage. Voices were coming. The search party was getting closer.

  “We’re almost there. The door should be right around here.” Candice hurried along the passage, the diary pages lighting the space ahead of he
r. Ruby kept close behind and almost bumped into the back of her when Candice suddenly stopped.

  Ruby was about to ask what the hell she’d stopped for when Candice held the diary stone up and against the wall. The light pages revealed a door. A plain looking wooden door.

  “The diary says this is the entrance to the tombs,” Candice stated. “We’ve found it.”

  11:58 AM

  Candice reached out a hand to the wooden door, ran her fingers over the peeling paintwork. The more Ruby stared at the edifice in the middle of the red brick, the more Ruby felt like she’d been sucked into a dream world.

  Suddenly, Candice drew her hand back and sucked the fingertips. “Ouch! I got a shock,” she explained.

  “From a wooden door?”

  The itching at the back of her neck was getting worse, and she rubbed at the irritation.

  “Do we go through?”

  When did this happen? When did Candice start looking to Ruby for the answers?

  The decision was taken from them.

  A crack of light appeared, and the door swung toward them. A bright light, spilt into the corridor, then as her eyes adjusted, she realised it wasn’t as bright as she’d thought. And there was a shape stepping into the white rectangle, casting a razor-sharp silhouette of a man on the floor between them.

  His features were blurred at first, the light making her squint, but as she put her hand up to her eyes, the light faded and she could see clearly.

  Ruby felt the world under her feet crumble as she stared at the man in the doorway. How had he known how to find us? Instinctively, Ruby stood in front of Candice.

  “You couldn't leave things alone could you, Ruby? I had hoped I'd made some kind of connection with you, that we shared a mutual understanding.” He kept his voice low, an almost bored drawl. But Ruby had a curious sense he was disappointed in her. “And you, Ms Hart. I thought you would know better than to cross me.”

  “This door wasn’t here five minutes ago. What is it?”