Embattlement: The Undergrounders Series Book Two (A Young Adult Science Fiction Dystopian Novel)

by Hinkens, Norma

  Despite our relentless pace, it takes us a good half hour to reach the perimeter chain link fence that surrounds the superconductor. I hunker down and study the drab two-story gunmetal steel and glass structure that looms before us on the other side. “Doesn’t look like much,” I say. “A big old cage of sorts.”

  “Those are just the offices, and that’s the control room in the center,” Trout says. “The superconductor itself is underneath the building.”

  “How can you tell all that from here?” Jakob asks, frowning.

  “I found some plans in Jerome’s office,” Trout says, his eyes fixed on the building.

  I open my mouth to ask him how he managed to pull that off without my knowledge, but he gives a subtle shake of his head, as if he’s reading my mind, and doesn’t care to elaborate.

  “There’s no sign of anyone here,” I say, glancing around. “Are you sure Jerome and his men came straight here?”

  “Let’s find out,” Trout says. He goes over to a metal gate with a red hazard sign on it and hunkers down by the fence to the left of it. He lifts a loose section and holds it up high enough to crawl under, then waves us over. Jakob throws me an incredulous look, then takes off his pack and slips through to the bushes on the other side.

  I shoot my brows up at Trout. “Trespassing and vandalism?”

  He shrugs. “Never know when you might need to make a quick getaway.”

  “Good to know you’re this resourceful,” I say, as I follow Jakob’s lead and crawl through to the other side.

  Trout closes up the fence after himself, and joins us. He pulls up the collar of his jacket and peers out from our vantage spot. “Something’s not right.”

  “What is it?” I ask, my eyes darting left and right.

  “There’s no sign of the guards anywhere.” Trout points at the upper level metal grid decking that wraps around the building. “There are normally two on patrol up there. They should have made the loop by now.”

  “Maybe they’re hanging out on the other side.” I pull out my binoculars and scan the ground level steel entry doors at the front of the building. “Is there only one way in?”

  Trout squashes his nose into his fist like he does when he’s working something over in his mind. “Unless we scale the decking. There are several smaller glass doors on the upper level that access the building.”

  “If the superconductor malfunctioned, the guards might have gone inside to take a look,” Jakob says. “We don’t know that it was sabotage. I say we try the ground level entry first. Maybe just one of us should go.” He scrambles to his feet.

  “No!” I say. “If they’re holding Jerome hostage, they’ll drag you inside too.”

  “We’ll all go,” Trout says. He pulls his rifle from his pack and meets Jakob's questioning look with a resolute gaze. “Just in case,” he says.

  “We’re not shooting Undergrounders, no matter what,” Jakob says, an icy edge to his tone. “I need your word on that.”

  “We don’t know yet if it is Undergrounders,” Trout says, grimly. “I’m not taking any chances.”

  My heart races in my chest. I take a step toward Trout. “Jakob’s right. We don’t shoot if it’s Undergrounders. Are we clear?”

  Trout’s jaw tightens. “What if they’ve taken Jerome hostage?”

  “Then we’ll negotiate,” I say, fighting to keep my tone even. “They’re scared because of the radiation. We just need to reassure them we have a plan to resolve it.”

  Trout presses his lips together, a pinched expression on his face. I can tell he’s battling with the decision. It’s the closest I’ve come to a falling out with him since I met him, but I trust him to follow my lead. He’s been nothing but loyal every step of the way so far, even if he does keep his extra-curricular jaunts to himself.

  “You can’t blame the Undergrounders,” Jakob adds. “They have every right to feel angry and betrayed. Jerome hid the truth about the radiation from them.”

  “Just wish they’d picked a better time to stage a protest,” Trout grumbles, slinging his rifle strap over his shoulder.

  Jakob and I exchange relieved looks. “The timing’s not their fault,” I say. “Most of the city didn’t know we were leaving tonight.”

  “We’re never going to gain their trust if we keep springing stuff on them,” Jakob says. “They didn’t even know Jerome was a deviation until a few days ago.”

  I shove my hands into my jacket pockets. Jakob’s right. We’ve given the Undergrounders every reason to mistrust us. If we’d come clean about everything earlier, the superconductor might still be up and running. And we’d be on our way now to meet with The Ghost.

  “Let’s go,” I say, motioning for Trout and Jakob to follow me. “We’re wasting time.”

  The solid steel entry doors are locked, and no amount of pounding on them brings anyone to the door, or out onto the upper deck. The lack of security is an ominous sign, but there’s still no indication of whether it’s Rogues or Undergrounders we’re up against.

  “Now what?” Jakob asks.

  “Now we climb,” I say, throwing down my pack. “Get your ropes out.”

  Jakob throws me a dubious look.

  “Unless you have a better idea?” I rummage around in my pack and toss what little rope I have on the ground between us. Jakob reluctantly follows suit, and Trout adds a couple of lengths to the pile.

  I reach for the ends and begin lashing them together.

  “Not like that,” Jakob says, laughing. “That won’t hold.” He takes the ropes from me and swiftly knots them in a couple of overhand maneuvers. “This should do it,” he says, tugging hard by way of demonstration.

  “Where’d a landlocked Septite like you learn to tie knots like that?” I ask.

  “You can thank my technology-free upbringing,” he says, with a wink. “I had to while away the evening hours somehow.”

  He secures the third rope and hands it to me. “Got something to weight the end with?”

  I reach into my pack again and pull out my hatchet. “This might work, if we can figure out how to tie it on.”

  Jakob holds out his hand for it. “There,” he says, after a couple of minutes of concentrated effort. “It’s not going anywhere now.”

  “You might want to stand back just in case,” I say with a wry grin. “I throw rope about as well as I ride horses.” I loop the rope in my left hand and swing the hatchet back and forth a few times trying to gauge the force I’ll need to get it up and over the metal handrail. My first swing’s only about a foot off, but the next two don’t even shave the underside of the decking.

  “Give it here,” Trout says impatiently. He takes a couple of steps back, then scrunches up his eyes and contemplates the decking. The hatchet swings slowly back and forth several times, and then he lobs it into the air. It sails cleanly over the handrail, hits the grid decking with a loud clang and dangles through it like a giant fish hook, before dragging the end of the rope back down to the ground with it.

  “That’s how it’s done,” he says, exchanging a smirk with Jakob. “Throw it like a man.”

  I raise my brows at them. “Well it’s reassuring to know our superpowers include tying knots and throwing stuff.”

  Trout grins unabashedly back at me.

  I retrieve my hatchet, and Jakob proceeds to tie the two ends of the rope securely together.

  “I’m the lightest,” I say. “I’ll climb up first and make sure we’re clear.”

  “How are you going to get in?” Trout asks. “The doors are reinforced and bulletproof, your hatchet won’t even make a dent in them.”

  I pull on the rope to test the knots. “The doors might be unlocked. If not, I can at least take a look through the glass and see if there’s any sign of Jerome and his men in there.”

  Trout and Jakob grab the knotted end of the rope and hold it steady for me as I climb. I shimmy up the twenty feet or so to the upper level, and jump over the handrail onto the decking. My boots thump
on the metal grid flooring. I stiffen as the sound reverberates around me. I hold my pose, hunched like a cat ready to spring, peering into the shadows. After a moment or two, I pad cautiously over to the first door and carefully twist the handle. It’s locked. I frame my eyes with my hands and try to look inside, but the glass is heavily tinted. For a moment I almost imagine something flickers past on the inside. I pull back hurriedly. Just because I can’t see anyone, it doesn’t mean there’s no one watching me.

  I move carefully across the decking to the next door and twist the handle. The door swings open, catching me off guard. I freeze, my hand glued to the handle, half-expecting to find myself looking down the barrel of a gun. I count to fifty, then let out a ragged breath. Blood pulses through my body as I inch the door open all the way. I crane my neck and peer around the frame into the building.

  Inside, the air is still and cool. The circular walkway that wraps around the control room above the superconductor almost has a ghostlike feel. The hairs on the back of my neck tingle. The lighting is muted and greenish, lending the space the aura of an algae-filled fishbowl. There’s no one in sight in either direction. I retreat a step or two, and then make my way back over to the edge of the decking. “Come on up!” I yell down over the railing to Jakob and Trout. “It’s unlocked.”

  Jakob monkeys up the rope with ease, but with no one left below to hold the rope firm, Trout sways back and forth, struggling to reach the railing. When he’s finally within arm’s reach, Jakob and I grab the scruff of his jacket and haul him over the railing.

  “Next time we’re bringing a ladder, preferably an elevator if we ever get the power back to this planet,” he groans, as he flops down on the decking.

  “Maybe you should lay off all those second helpings of stew,” I say, as I reach down and help pull him to his feet.

  “Let’s go,” Jakob says, glancing nervously over his shoulder. “Someone might have heard us by now.”

  “This way,” I say, pushing open the glass entry door.

  We slip through, single file, into the cool, dim corridor. The space is unfurnished apart from a series of metal sconces protruding in shadowed relief along the wall.

  Jakob shivers. “Why’s it so dark?”

  “The superconductor has to be kept cool,” Trout says.

  I throw him a sideways glance. “Did you steal the handbook too?”

  He grins. “Just a guess. Machines don’t like to perspire.”

  I roll my eyes at him. “Come on, let’s check this place out.” I gesture to the dome-shaped room in the center of the circular corridor with a sign on the door that reads Control Room. No Unauthorized Access. “We’ll start here.”

  Trout’s expression hardens. He loads a round into his chamber.

  “Easy,” I say, locking eyes with him.

  He stares back unflinchingly. “We don’t know yet who’s behind that door.”

  “I’ll go first and find out,” I say to him. “You take up the rear. No one shoots unless I give the command.”

  He rubs his one-knuckled finger across the tip of his nose, then gives a reluctant nod.

  I cross the corridor and approach the sliding doors leading into the control room. I take a quick breath, then press the activation panel to open the doors. They slide soundlessly apart; mercifully no alarm blares out. I pan the room, my heart tripping. There’s no trace of anyone in here either. I frown as I take another look around. The computers are lit up and whirring softly, which seems odd if the superconductor’s down. Trout sidles up alongside me. “I haven’t the faintest idea what they do in here,” he says. “But it looks hard core.” He points to a spiral stairway in the middle of the room. “Those stairs lead down to the superconductor.”

  “We won’t be able to figure out if it’s running properly or not without Jerome’s help,” I say.

  “All the computers up here seem to be working fine,” Trout says, scratching his head. “I’ll head downstairs and take a look.”

  “None of the wiring’s been tampered with,” Jakob says, opening and closing various compartments beneath the computers.

  “What about circuit breakers?” I walk over to a solid, metal door in the corner with a hazard sign on it, yank it halfway open and stumble backward, my heart slugging against my ribs.

  30

  The heavy, steel door slams shut with a resounding clang. I scramble to my feet, my pulse hammering so hard I can barely see straight.

  Jakob races to my side. “Are you okay?”

  “No!” I rasp, as Trout comes running up. “There are bodies in there.”

  I reach out and tentatively pull open the door a second time. I suck in an icy breath and peer into the dark, cramped space. Three hooded figures are tied back to back against a steel pipe, their hands and legs bound in front of them with duct tape. Even the hoods are duct-taped tightly around their necks, but it looks like they might have chewed through them in a desperate attempt to get some air. My stomach knots. At first I think we’re staring at corpses, but then a figures twitches. “Quick,” I yell. “They’re alive.”

  We throw down our packs and pull out our hunting knives. I get to work cutting through the layers of tape, sweating profusely in the hot, cramped space, only too aware that whoever did this could come back at any minute. The only blessing in this scenario is that it’s not the work of Rogues. They wouldn’t have wasted the duct tape on their victims.

  I finally free the first man and yank the hood off his glistening, black face. “Jerome!” My voice catches in my throat at the look of gratitude in his eye.

  I finish cutting his feet loose and watch as he gingerly reaches up and removes the duct tape from his mouth. He stretches his lips back and forth and then groans. “Any longer and you’d have been fishing me out of a coma.”

  “Who did this to you?” I ask, working to help free the other two men who I’ve seen around the courthouse before.

  Jerome gets to his feet heavily, rubbing at his wrists. “There were six or seven of them, all in black masks. The guards must have been in on it. They didn’t make any attempt to stop them.”

  I throw him a confused look. “In on what? Did they say what they wanted?”

  Jerome picks at some gummy residue stuck to his cheek. “They didn’t speak, which tells me they knew I’d recognize their voices. But I can tell you this—shutting down the superconductor was only a ruse to lure me over here and get me out of their way. This had nothing to do with the radiation. They fired the superconductor back up before they left.”

  “What are you saying?” A tiny current of fear needles its way through my brain as I recall the armed Undergrounders at the courthouse.

  A shadow crosses Jerome’s face. “I think someone just took control of the city.”

  I blink and look around at the others. Jakob's face is blanched, his lips pressed so tightly together he looks like he’s swallowed them. Trout stares at the ground, a deep furrow in his brow.

  “Who?” I demand.

  Jerome rubs a hand across his glistening forehead. “I don’t know. There’ve been rumblings of discontent ever since we floated the idea of attacking the Craniopolis. It’s possible some of the men who signed up to go on the mission were really only passing on information to incite a riot.”

  I frown. “The tall man at the back of the room in the meeting this morning, the one who kept stirring things up, who is he?”

  “That’s Whistler,” Jerome replies. “Bit of a dark horse, I don’t know him all that well.”

  “He might have had something to do with this,” I say. “He looked like a magnet for disgruntled Undergrounders during the meeting.”

  “If Jerome’s right, we can’t go back to the courthouse,” Jakob says. “Whoever’s running this coup will have us arrested.”

  “If it’s Whistler, he won’t have the city’s support,” Jerome says. “Not unless he’s convinced them I’m dead.”

  “Why would he endanger the entire city by switching off the superc
onductor and staging a coup?” I say, running my hand over my hair. “He knows we have to meet The Ghost by midnight or the city burns.”

  Jerome nods thoughtfully. “Which is exactly why he struck now. If he wants power, the only way to get it is to be the hero who negotiates a deal with the Rogues.”

  “And he has the hostages to trade with.” My stomach twists. “If anything happens to Sook, we’ll have no leverage over Lyong. We have to find a way to let the city know you’re alive.”

  Jerome turns to his men. “Grab some weapons and ammo from the safe room.” He fixes his eye on me, a hint of satisfaction on his face. “I know a way we can get back undetected. There’s a tunnel that runs between the courthouse and the superconductor. Blackbeard and a few of my men constructed it, in case the superconductor ever came under attack. It’s crude, and tight in places, but it’s our best option.”

  “It may be our only option if we have any hope of meeting The Ghost’s deadline,” I say. I’m not thrilled about the prospect of going back underground and clawing my way along dirt walls for a mile or so to the courthouse in near darkness, but I’ll take it over the alternative of watching the city burn.

  “This way,” Jerome says, sprinting over to the spiral stairway in the center of the room.

  Trout, Jakob and I gather up our packs and clatter down the metal stairs after him and his two men. At the bottom of the stairwell, I pause and look around in awe. The entire lower level of the building, nestled below the surface of the earth, houses the main body of the superconductor, a spherical mesh that flickers from within in myriad places. A heavy harmonic hum, broken up by alternating snapping and clicking sounds, fills my ears. Even my clothes feel as if they’re vibrating on my skin like electric crickets. No wonder the radiation from this thing is killing people.

  Jerome kneels down in one corner of the room and tugs at a loose board in the floor. A trapdoor hinges upward, and he motions us over. “Remember, stay calm and breathe normally. There’s enough air for all of us to make it through the tunnel, but it’s not well-ventilated like the bunker systems, so if you panic, you’ll make it harder for everyone to get enough oxygen.”