Rubberman's Cage

by Joseph Picard

  “Are you all right?” Lent yelled at Six—or rather, Six's feet, as the rest of him was already out of sight.

  “Thanks for your concern,” Six yelled back—and maybe even sincerely, “tell your Provider pals to...I don't know, die or something!”

  “Try to stop killing people!” Lenth hollered back.

  Six's reply was laced with laughter, but was muffled beyond comprehension. Lenth just watched the empty elevator shaft for a moment before pulling himself back up into the elevator and closing the hatch.

  Messenger stood nearby, arms crossed. “Try to stop killing people?”

  Lenth sat by the hatch, and shook his head slowly. “Yeah. Well,” Lenth stammered as he stood, “I didn't know what else to say. I should have gone after him.”

  “And get stabbed, then flop dead down the shaft?” Messenger knelt down to fasten the hatch. “That would just make things worse.”

  “But he doesn't have a knife anymore.” Lenth started pacing slowly. “So...so now what? Do we stop and—”

  Messenger held up a finger to Lenth and went over to the control panel. He opened a little door and pulled out a slim headset attached to the panel with a tightly coiled cord. It had padded parts to go over the ears and a smaller part that positioned near the mouth. Putting it on, he turned a knob on the panel and pressed a button. He waited a moment before speaking.

  “It's me. Things got a little crazy at the Citizenry. I'm fine, yes. I'll tell you the whole bit later, but right now you have to make sure the elevator access is locked. Lock off the service access too. Redundant? Yes, but...because the homicidal Subject is crawling around the shaft now. Yes. Six. I figured. Uh huh. That's kind of what I was thinking. Yeah. I'll ask Contact, he'll know better than me. Also this other Subject who's been...I don't know...exploring. He knows Six, and seems capable. Yeah. His name's 'Lenth'. I don't know, maybe it's about his dick.”

  “My what?” Lenth blurted.

  Messenger turned to Lenth and asked, “Hey, Actual was curious what your name means.”

  “Actual? You're talking to Actual?”

  “Yes, I'm talking to Actual. Where does your name come from?”

  Lenth blinked and held out his arms. “My arms are a little bit longer than my Brothers' arms.”

  Messenger's shoulders sank. “Well. That's a little disappointing.” He spoke into the headset's microphone again, “His arms. Yeah. That's what I said. Yeah. Okay, I'll call when I get there. Yeah. You too.”

  Messenger hit a button, twisted the knob, and hit the first button again.

  “You're calling back now?” Lenth asked.

  Messenger put his finger to his lips and shook his head. He waited, and waited some more. Finally he lifted his head, listening to the other end of the call. After a moment, he replied.

  “Yes, Contact,” Messenger said in a much more detached tone than he had used with Actual, “your Subject Six has been very busy. Yes, unfortunately. Citizens. It seems that Lenth put himself at considerable risk to be of assistance. Yes. I know he was, but he is not a Subject any more, is he? We can discuss this later. Right now I need to bring some people to the elevator. Whoever is available and capable. I will arrive very soon, we will discuss it then.” He looked at the faint bloodstains left on the floor by Six. “He's not going to leave a useful trail. We're going for extra help.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Almost

  The elevator came to a stop. Messenger peeked out the slot to see Contact and a dozen or so Providers. He stepped back and opened the door. Messenger stood back to face them.

  Contact bowed, face flush. “Messenger, my apologies. Six should have been caught long before he found a way onto y—”

  “Quite,” Messenger interrupted, “but right now we have to concern ourselves with where he is now. Obviously, he's not about to stay peacefully in the Citizenry.”

  Lenth stepped up alongside Messenger. “He wants to go to Actual!”

  Contact’s eyes widened. “...Insanity! Blaspheme!”

  “He may even intend to kill Actual,” Messenger said, “but of course, I've made that impossible.”

  Contact bowed again. “Of course, of course. And even if you hadn't, what could a Subject do to Actual?”

  Lenth didn't have Contact's faith, and looked to Messenger. Messenger's face told nothing. Lenth made a mental note to ask Messenger some time when Contact wasn't around.

  “Actual is safe, so worry about yourselves. Six has a dislike of Managers, and Providers by association. His activities cannot continue.”

  “He didn't seem to mind killing Citizens, either,” Lenth said.

  Contact huffed. “Citizens. I don't wish them any harm, but you'll excuse me if I don't lose any sleep over their safety.”

  “Then, you merely intended to get Lenth out of your way?” Messenger asked.

  “What?” Lenth looked back and forth between Contact and Messenger. “Is that the reason I was allowed to go? I was being...thrown out?”

  Contact was silent, but his face had gone rigid, not wanting to answer.

  “That might be why Contact permitted it,” Messenger replied, “but Actual and I had to give permission too. And 'throwing you out', was not our reasoning.”

  “Well, what did you expect?” Contact grumbled. “He couldn't go back to a Unit, knowing what he knows now, and he couldn't fit in as a Provider.”

  “Gabe seemed to think I could!” Lenth snapped. “Where is he?”

  “Gabe's around here somewhere. He's a little soft, no head for the practical. You could have ended up turning out like Six; sending you to the Citizenry was the safest solution.”

  “And how's that working out with Six, huh?”

  “Enough,” Messenger boomed. “We need to focus. Contact, have one of your people bring a ladder to my elevator. Five or so armed volunteers are going into the elevator shaft to hunt down Six. His safety is not important. Do not give him the chance to attack again. Do not attempt to capture him.”

  Contact turned white. “In the...you mean in the … where the elevator goes? Doesn't that go all the way up to Actual?”

  “Almost,” Messenger said, “and I know it is daunting. And yes, it is dangerous. Falling might become an issue, and of course, Six himself. However, when I last saw him, he had no weapon, and I don't see where he could get one now. For weapons, I recommend that your people have longer pole-type objects. Spears, I suppose. They would be harder for Six to take from you if Six attacks…”

  “And me?” Lenth asked,

  “You should be with them,” Messenger said. “Do you have other plans?”

  Lenth shook his head. “When people are safe, then I can make other plans.”

  Messenger nodded, then turned to Contact. “All right! Ladder! Five volunteers willing to go into the shaft with spears! Six is not standing around talking; we need to get on this!”

  The task force came, in a sad little formation. Among the ranks came Gabe.

  “So, how was the Citizenry?” Gabe asked, handing Lenth the ladder, and taking two spears from another Provider.

  “Bloodier than I expected, thanks to Six. Other than that...interesting. I'll fill you in when there's time.” Lenth took the ladder to Messenger, who pointed at the ceiling in the elevator. Directly in the middle, and aligned with the hatch Six had used to go down, was a nearly identical hatch for going on top of the elevator.

  “I'm going to run the elevator from the control panel,” Messenger said, “and everyone else will stand on top, keeping an eye out for Six as we go up.”

  “And when we find him?” Lenth asked.

  “Prep him for compost?” Gabe grimaced. “I'm guessing we kill him, right? Is that the only way?”

  Messenger sighed. “I've been trying to think of another course of action, but with his violent disposition, almost anything else would be a risk to everyone.”

  Lenth wordlessly set up the ladder, then accepted a spear from Gabe. It was really just a length of pipe, wi
th the end cut at an angle to make a point. “Looks like something a Citizen would use,” Lenth said.

  “Oh yeah? Well, the fancy ones aren't fixed yet. They hadn't been used in ages, and the batteries expired.” Gabe started climbing. “I guess you're a Citizen expert now, huh. What's it like there?”

  Lenth followed up while a couple of others were coming onto the elevator. “It's not quite as bad as it was when Diane went up, I think. Some of the worst people got killed. They do weird things in their spare time. It...it's best in the Provider layer though, for sure. Hey. Is it true? Contact was trying to get rid of me?”

  The roof of the elevator was lit by a couple of small lights on the edges. Lenth looked at how the light coming from below made Gabe look eerie, even if he smiled. The light reached up around twenty metres into the shaft, but left a gaping darkness beyond that. Other dimmer lights were attached to the sides of the shaft, but the next set was high enough up as to not make much impact here.

  Gabe helped Lenth up the last couple of steps, and waved to the others to hurry up. “I think maybe Contact was trying to get rid of you. Kind of. Well, you seemed so eager to go, you made it easy for Contact, I guess. I wouldn't paint his actions as malicious towards you, really. A Subject coming up from a Unit is unprecedented. To Contact, you threatened change. A lot of people are scared of change. Not you, I guess.”

  Standing with his spear at his side, Lenth looked up the shaft, vanishing into a dark point above. Massive metal fittings on either side of the hatch in the elevator's roof held onto a total of eight metal cables. Each cable was larger than a hand could wrap around. “Change? Change is interesting. Knowing more is interesting. I miss my Brothers, though.” Lenth turned to Gabe. “Hey, any word on how Joints is doing? His health okay?”

  Gabe smiled a bit. “Last I heard, yeah. He is old, though.”

  “He has to die?”

  “Well, sooner or later. That's no Provider rule or anything, that's just how it goes.”

  Lenth huffed. “I'd like to talk to him some time soon, then.”

  “That would be hard to—”

  Gabe was cut off by Messenger's voice below. “All right. The cables don't move relative to the elevator, so they're safe to hold on to when we get moving. In fact, I recommend it, at least until you all get used to riding up there. Is everyone ready?”

  Lenth, Gabe, and the other four Providers all got a grip on their nearest cable. Lenth made a quick look at the team. “All set!”

  “Right then.” The elevator lurched, groaning as it slowly accelerated to cruising speed...which wasn't all that fast, but the vision of the surrounding walls sinking around them was imposing and unsettling.

  “Woah,” mumbled one of the Providers, “this is a first for me.”

  “I think riding the central elevator is a first for most of us,” Gabe said.

  “Well, yes, but I mean...ugh,” another Provider said, gazing upwards.

  “Everyone doing all right?” Messenger called up. “Is there going to be a problem?”

  “No, Messenger.”

  “Good. See the access ladder running the length of the shaft?”

  Lenth pointed at it with his spear to illustrate Messenger's words as the rungs continually passed down out of sight, one after another. “Six got on that,” Messenger continued, “a few minutes up from here, and was headed up. He was probably heading for Actual, but that way is impossible for him.”

  Gabe, and some of the other Providers smirked. One does not simply climb to Actual. He is Actual.

  “Obviously keep an eye out for Six himself, but watch the ladder also. Periodically, there is a panel that can be opened. When Six finds he can't go any further up, he's likely to try one of these panels. Holler when we're coming up on one so I can stop us to inspect the hatch. If he does manage to open one, it won't help him get to Actual, but it would be a place to hide from us, or just get lost in the walls again. Oh, also keep an eye out for traces of blood on the ladder. I'm not very hopeful of seeing any, but it would be helpful.”

  Gabe groaned. “What a pain. Let me take this moment to remind you all that this guy is a killer. Don't let him.”

  “Oh by the way, how's Diane?” Lenth asked quietly.

  “A little better. Not super, but a little better.”

  Lenth nodded. “She might like to hear that the people who she had the problems with in the Citizenry are probably dead. Killed by a new leader, Mike.”

  “Ah. Thanks to Mike, then,” Gabe said with a shrug.

  “Well, Mike's dead.”

  “Oh?”

  “Six killed him before calling for Messenger.”

  “Crap.”

  “It's not like Mike was a hugely nice guy. Just a lot better than the old guy.”

  “So who's leading them now?” Gabe asked.

  “An old guy. I mean...a newer guy, but he's old. And a woman.”

  Gabe blinked. “The old guy is a new woman? How's that work?”

  “No, no...two separate people. An old guy, maybe a little younger than Joints, and a woman. They're both well-liked in the Citizenry, but not quite buddies. I really hope they can get along.”

  “Why do you care, Lenth? Citizens are...”

  “People. They've been through some bad stuff, and are in a weird situation, but they're people. Most of them seem mostly okay. I'd rather have a random one of them in the walls than Six.”

  Gabe sighed. “Well, I'd have a hard time arguing with that, I guess.”

  Lenth didn't bother complicating it further. Many Citizens have probably killed, Leena and Edgar included. But they weren't like Six. That much was clear.

  Resigned to wandering thoughts on his Brothers, Citizens and Providers, his mind soon ended up on Leena, Karen, and...and women in general. Two of the Providers with him on top of the elevator were women. One was younger than Karen and Leena, the other, older.

  Focus. Stop looking at curves and watch the ladder.

  The quiet was accompanied by little mechanical grunts of the elevator. The motor was far above, but the elevator itself was not without its sounds. Unseen rollers kept the elevator from scraping metal along the walls, and the little sounds of people shifting their weight or a sigh here and there made the eeriness of the lighting all the more pronounced.

  “There's a hatch!” a Provider called out. Sure enough, covered by a few rungs of the shaft's ladder, a hatch marked with faded yellow striping could be seen.

  “Stopping!” Messenger warned. A second later, the elevator came to a standard stop. It still managed to stagger most of the passengers, especially those who had not kept their grip on a cable after setting out. Messenger poked his head up from the interior, and looked at the hatch. It was still well above everyone's heads.

  “Ideally, we want it around knee-height, okay? I'm going back to the control panel, and holler down when it's at hip-height. Oh, and don't mess with it until I get a chance.”

  He went back down, and the elevator crept up slowly, bringing the hatch closer.

  “Hip-height!” Gabe called down.

  “Got it.” Messenger slowed the elevator more, coming to rest with the hatch very much where Messenger had desired. He climbed up, and walked over to the hatch. He knelt down and peered between the ladder rungs at the hatch's release handle, and the edges of the hatch itself. “Nope. He hasn't been here. Well, at least he hasn't gone through this one. It's been untouched for a long time.”

  “How do you know?” Lenth asked.

  Messenger stood and headed for the hatch to the interior of the elevator. “When you close them from the other side, the handle doesn't rest quite like when you close them from this side,” Messenger said.

  Lenth, Gabe, and several others leaned in to study the handle. “How so?” Gabe asked.

  “It wouldn't lay as flat. The bottom edge sticks out a few millimetres. I always lay them flat when I close them from this side.”

  “So you can tell if someone went through? You planned for this
kind of situation?” Lenth asked with mild awe.

  Messenger snorted as he climbed back down into the elevator's interior. “No, it's just tidier looking.”

  They headed back up for a couple of minutes before encountering another hatch. When they stopped, Gabe called down that it looked the same, but Messenger felt the need to come up to see.

  “You're right,” Messenger said, “but I like to see for myself.”

  This pattern resumed for several more hatches, each one undisturbed. “That's different,” Lenth said, pointing up to a huge hatch. “Hey Messenger, there's a big one on the other side of—”

  “Yes,” Messenger hollered up, “that would be the door to the Citizenry.”

  All of the Providers faced the approaching door. A couple walked to the opposite side of the elevator's roof. Lenth knew that the Citizenry had a bad reputation, but he had trouble not smirking at the Providers, nearly cowering from the large, approaching, yet closed door.

  Then he spotted the look on the face of one of the Providers.

  “It a messy place, but it's not that bad,” Lenth said.

  “No?” Gabe piped up, “and how many people did you see get killed while you were there, Lenth?”

  “By people other than Six? None. I still can't get my head around the crap-sniffing, though.”

  “Crap sn—”

  Interrupting from below, Messenger called up, “Okay, we're going to be making a stop at Citizenry, but I'm just going to talk to them through the closed door.”

  Lenth scurried down the ladder into the elevator while the others watched the Citizenry door creep down past their feet. The elevator came to a stop.

  “Messenger,” Lenth called out, joining him by the little peeking-hatch, “I want to check in on them, too.”

  Messenger nodded and took a look through. A couple of Citizens were standing nearby, awaiting to be addressed.