by John Purcell
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Bim turned on his Glorb and led the way down the stairs. When we reached bottom, we were prevented from going further by the massive counterweight, which had descended as the lane rose, blocking the passageway. A jack handle was embedded in the wall. It took half a minute to jack the bowling lane back into place and reset the catch. This lifted the counterweight and cleared our way.
The tunnel to Farragut North had been constructed quickly and in secrecy. The result was a featureless concrete hallway just 3 feet wide and 6 feet high. We walked along in silence, single file. The hallway stretched on and on.
It finally ended at the foot of a narrow stairway. When we reached the top, we found ourselves in a scaled-down Metro stop that was as confining as the passageway. It consisted of a single platform and a single set of tracks.
Dogan was the first to notice the hole in the wall. He said, “Hey Bim, turn off your Glorb.”
With the Glorb off, we could see light filtering in through the opening the bullet had made.
Dogan said, “What’s over there?”
Luma understood immediately. “Wow, he was right next to it the whole time.”
“Next to what?”
She gestured at the hole. “Dogan, that’s Farragut North.”
The realization made him laugh. “And he thought he was so smart!”
Bim turned his Glorb back on and Luma walked up the platform, following the tracks. She said, “Look how small this tunnel is! The trains must be tiny!”
I said, “The smaller the better. They had a long way to go and a lot of obstacles to work around.”
She turned to me in wonder. “Where does it go?”
“I can only guess. I have no memory of ever taking this train.”
“Okay, so guess.”
“I think it goes all the way to Philadelphia.”
“Really? This train can take us home?”
“It’s not that simple. I thought we’d find it waiting here. I should have known it would be parked at the other end.”
“You mean we can’t go?”
Dogan flew off the handle. “Hold it, hold it, hold it! How can you talk about going back to Dome Nine? We were supposed to find my dad out here and what have we found? Not a damn thing! We don’t know any more than we did when we left!”
Luma looked at me. “He has a point.”
Before I could reply, Dogan charged on. “These tracks take us to the real Cassius, right? And he can read the DataStream, right? So that’s where we’re going, and if I don’t get some answers this time, I’m going to beat it out of him!”
I said, “I don’t think there’s any way to get there.”
Dogan waved his arms. “What do you mean? We’re going to walk!”
“There are two problems with that. If the train came, we wouldn’t be able to get out of its path. And Philadelphia is 140 miles away. It would take us three days to walk there.”
“I don’t care! I can walk for three days, easy!”
“And then there’s the air quality inside the tunnel.”
Dogan glared at me. “Now you’re just making stuff up!”
Bim appeared at my side. “You can stop arguing now. There’s a train coming.”
A train was indeed approaching. Its headlamp began as a pinprick in the darkness and expanded rapidly as the train hurtled toward us. To my surprise, there wasn’t a sound to be heard from the tunnel, other than the whoosh of air.
The train was still traveling at full speed as it neared the station, and we all had the impulse to run for cover. Then it slowed down and glided to a gentle halt along the platform, all without the squeal of brakes or any other sound.
The train was remarkably small and consisted of only two cars, although “car” wasn’t the right word. They were two bullet-shaped capsules joined back to back, giving the train a nose at both ends. Instead of doors, the capsules had hatches, hinged at the top.
One of these opened and young woman stepped out, looking surprised and relieved. I recognized her immediately, as did the Three. To them, she was Miss Green. I knew her as Emerald.
She hurried toward us. “Thank God you’re all right! When we lost contact with Thomas, we feared the worst. I got here as fast as I could.”
I said, “Cassius sent you?”
She stopped, nodding absently, and looked about the station. “Where’s Thomas?”
No one knew what to say.
She studied our expressions and murmured “Oh no…”
I said, “He died saving our lives. His body is still at North Farragut. We didn’t know what to do with it.”
“Was his head badly damaged?”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing left of it.”
She pressed her hand to her brow. “This is going to break Josie’s heart.”
This whole exchange left me confused. “I don’t understand how you know Thomas to begin with.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Teo, of course you don’t. But it’s a long story and not mine to tell.” She turned to Luma, Bim and Dogan. “Will you come with me back to Philadelphia, to meet Cassius? Please?”
The Three all nodded at the same time.