Chapter 18 #2
“You mean you don’t have a few loyal lieutenants who would take a risk for you?”
“Well…”
I sensed a small victory. “And you didn’t keep a few weapons hidden away just in case?”
“I might have.”
“Might? When will you know?”
Anne-Jade huffed in annoyance. “All right. I’ll make you a deal. If you rescue Logan and get him to a safe location, I’ll help you.”
“I accept.” I shook her hand, sealing the deal.
I turned on my listening device and hailed Riley, informing him of Logan’s disappearance and my plans to rescue him. He had given me another device and receiver. They worked on a specific frequency so it was very difficult for Hank and the Outsiders to pick it up.
“Do you have the diamond wire?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you need back up?” His voice held a nervous edge.
“I'll take Zippy.”
“I'd be happier if you took a dozen armed people along.”
“And I'd be happier if the Outsiders decided to leave us alone.”
“Point. Be careful…please.”
“I will.”
The problem with using a diamond wire to aid in my escape became apparent right away. Wires ringed the bars covering the air vent to Logan's cell. Wires that I assumed would set off a loud alarm if I sawed through them.
I had made a silent approach just in case Logan had company. It was interesting how fast my ability to crawl through the shafts without making noise had returned. Either that or just the amount of time I'd been spending traveling through them had sharpened my skills.
Logan sprawled on his back on the thin mat. His cell was a mirror image of mine. I called his name when I was certain he was alone. He jerked and scrambled to his feet.
“Trella, don't touch the—”
“Bars, I know. I noticed the wires.”
He slouched against the wall and rubbed his face. “I think I'm stuck for good this time,” he said in a tired voice.
He didn't appear to be injured, but I knew what the Outsiders were capable of. “What happened?”
“My keepers made a surprise visit,” he said. “I didn't have time to hide all my toys. They were strewn all over. I guess I shouldn't have been so relaxed about them. Another mistake caused by over confidence.”
“Another?”
He waved a hand. His right one still covered his eyes. “The whole Outsider fiasco could have been avoided.”
“How?”
“If I had kept track of all communications, I would have spotted Hank's link to the Outsiders.”
“Why didn't you?” I asked.
“Privacy. I didn't want to spy on the Committee members or others.”
“Exactly Logan. You didn't want to be like the Travas and Pop Cops, monitoring all our activities. You're not to blame.”
“I'm not helping either,” he said. Clearly miserable, he massaged his temples.
“Did you meet the Outsiders?” I asked.
He straightened, dropping his hands. “They're here?”
“Only a couple. I've met them both.”
“You? When?”
“Long story. I'll tell you later. First, we need to bust you out of here.”
“How? The heating vent has the same trip wires. All you have to do is touch them and they'll set off the alarm.”
“How?” I asked.
“There's a weak electrical current going through the wires.
If you touch it with your finger, you'll block the current and that sets it off.” He began to pace.
“But if you touch it with both hands, the current will travel through you and back to the wire.
I could cut the bars… No. Won't work. You'd be stuck holding the wires.
No way for you to move once the bars and wires are cut.
Unless we made a connection with a separate wire and some metal clamps, which we don't have. Plus, we would need one bypass for each bar, unless the wire is continuous.”
I visually traced the wire. It wrapped around all five bars before continuing down the air shaft.
“We still don't have the clamps and wires,” Logan said when I described it to him.
“I have Zippy and my tool belt.”
It was as if I had told him his computer access had returned. He stood under the vent and explained in an excited tone what I needed to do to bypass the current. I performed surgery on Zippy, removing wires and various parts, following his instructions.
Well aware that the Outsiders or Hank could come in at any time, we hurried. But it still took time to rig the bypass, cut the bars and pull Logan into the shaft with me.
“Will it hold?” I asked, pointing to the loop of Zippy's wire.
“It should. Unless a cleaning troll comes by and rips it off.”
“Let's go.” I put a finger to my lips. “Keep quiet until we get there.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the roof.”
Logan's rescue had gone smoothly. That worried me as I guided Logan to the top of level ten. My safety rope remained in place—another good sign. I had the pulley hooked onto my belt and I found a few extra kilograms to attach as well.
Before climbing up the Wall of the Expanse, I said, “Even with the pulley, I'm not strong enough to hoist you all the way to the top.
So, I'm going to become a counterweight for you.
As I sink down, you should rise up. Once you're at the top, grab onto the ladder and climb up a few rungs. I'll join you as soon as I can.”
It had been five weeks since I had scaled the forty-five meters to the bottom rung of the ladder. Five hectic, muscle-bruising, energy-sapping weeks. And my arms and legs reminded me of every single one of them as I climbed from handhold to handhold.
Sweating, panting, and nauseous, I finally reached the last rung. I clung to it as cramps and spasms plagued my body. It took forever to recover, or so it seemed.
I secured the pulley to the rung, and threaded the rope through the wheels, dropping the end down to Logan. Vibrations traveled up the fibers as he tied it to his safety harness.
My plan worked—not exactly as I had hoped since I had taken on too much weight and fell faster than expected, but without any dire injuries. Returning to the top was a test of my endurance, I almost gave up around thirty meters but pushed on.
We didn't encounter any new problems during the rest of the trip to the ceiling. I opened the near-invisible hatch and collapsed on the floor of the top level.
The daylights snapped on, and Logan yelled in surprise over the sudden appearance of the bubble monster and its smaller brother.
“Transport vehicles like the Outsiders used,” I said to calm him.
“Oh.”
“Ignore them, look at the walls.” I didn't have the energy to play tour guide so he explored on his own.
From his cries of glee, moans of delight, and pure ecstatic woos, I knew he understood the symbols and diagrams on the walls.
When I recovered, I found him tracing an array of…glyphs. His mouth hung open, and his finger moved along the raised metal with reverence.
“Did you find out how to work the air plant manually?” I asked.
“Huh?”
I snapped my fingers in his face. “Air plant. Outsiders. Remember?”
“Yes, but…” His gaze returned to the wall.
“These markings… They're incredible. They're our history!
They're blueprints for our whole world! I'm sure there are schematics for the whole network.
Our ancestors or the builders put this here in case we lost the computers or forgot why we're here. It's… It's…” He stroked the wall again.
“Focus Logan. Will it help us?”
“Oh yes.” He shuffled along the wall, exclaiming over various symbols.
“So you found the data for the air plant?”
“No.”
I yanked on his ear until I had his full attention. “Logan, we need to reclaim the air plant. We don't have much time. You can drool over all this later. How can I help?”
He described what the schematics of the air plant would look like. I searched the south and then west walls, while he continued with the east. He moved faster than me and had looped around the room, reaching the north wall before me.
The series of beeps alerted me. I would never forget that sound. Running as fast as possible, I still couldn't reach him before he finished entering the code.
“It's just like—oof!”
I tackled him to the ground.
“What's wrong?” he asked. The squeal of metal filled the room. “Oh.”
Logan had opened the large door on the north wall. It was big enough to fit the huge transport vehicle. That same vehicle that could probably fly through Outer Space. Which meant that Outer Space must be waiting on the other side of the door.
The noise rattled my teeth and vibrated in my bones. Not wasting a second, I dragged Logan over to one of the legs of the transport.
“Hang on,” I said, bracing for the absence of air, the skin freezing cold and the floating sensation.
The door finished moving with a bang. Daylights clicked on beyond the entrance, reveling an empty room with walls covered with more symbols.
Logan cocked his head. “Why are we clinging for dear life?”
“I thought Outer Space was on the other side. That door reminded me of when Cogan and I had opened Gateway.”
“Sorry. I guess I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
“This door leads to a space port.” He walked into the room.
I followed him. The area was much larger than I had first thought. It appeared to be as long as two Sectors, but only one Sector wide. Three doors at equidistant intervals were on each of the two long sides, including the open one. And one door at the end.
He gestured to the doors. “There are seven bays that contain two transport vehicles. The scout and the bigger cargo vehicle. They can come out here, then the doors all close and…” He pointed at the ceiling. A huge hatch occupied the center. “Fly out to Outer Space.”
“How do you know all that?”
“I read it on the wall.”
“Why didn't you tell me before?”
“I thought you saw something.”
I drew in a deep calming breath. “Let's keep looking for the air plant information.”
Keeping Logan focused, I hustled him along the port. We searched the next two bays but didn’t find anything until we opened the third bay. Then he cried out with more excitement than the last ten times. He had found the information on how to manually run the plant.
I gave him a spare receiver and listening device, letting him explain it to Riley. Then we decided he should remain up here to explore and learn everything he could. I would tie a bucket to the rope so I could use the pulley and send up supplies, food, and water.
“How are you going to get into the air plant?” Logan asked. “Hank’s people are there.”
“Anne-Jade has to make good on a promise.”
“But she doesn’t have any weapons or people, and you don’t have Zippy.”
“We’ll work it out.”
“Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
Anne-Jade had hidden a few stunners, and she also had a number of anti-stunners for our force.
To tell the truth, it wasn’t much of a force.
Word had already spread throughout Inside that the Outsiders were coming to reclaim control over us.
While many worried, more seemed grateful, claiming the Outsiders would solve all of Inside’s problems. Hank and Bubba Boom hadn’t needed me to be their prophet after all.
At hour sixty, week 147,026 Anne-Jade led a group that contained three of her lieutenants, ten of Jacy’s goons, Sloan, and Riley. I scouted ahead, crawling through the ducts over the air plant, counting how many maintenance workers—seven—and reporting their locations back to Anne-Jade.
It was a beautiful raid. Anne-Jade and her lieutenants charged into the plant and stunned most of the maintenance workers before they knew what hit them.
A couple of Hank’s people fought back, swinging large wrenches.
The supervisor pulled his stunner and disabled a few of Jacy’s goons before Anne-Jade shot him.
By the time I jumped down from the air shaft, the fight was over. We had taken the plant.
“We have the air plant. What’s next?” Anne-Jade asked.
“We disconnect the computer and work the controls the old-fashioned way.”
“Old-fashioned?” she asked.
“Manually.”
“You can do that?”
“Not me. Riley.” I pointed. He and Sloan had unscrewed the main console’s covering. They bent over the jumble of wires and circuits with rubber-handled pliers. “Logan’s talking him through it right now.”
Anne-Jade acted a bit strange. She kept glancing at the entrance where two of her lieutenants guarded the door. And she kept tugging the collar of her uniform as if it chaffed her skin.
“Logan sounded in his glory when I talked to him earlier, “ Anne-Jade said.
I agreed. “He’s been exploring and learning all about the history of Inside and how it works. It’s only a matter of time until we get back control of our life systems and send the Outsiders away.”
“I wish I’d known your plans before you rescued Logan,” Anne-Jade said.
“We’ve been sort of making them up on the fly. Why?”
Anne-Jade touched her neck. “When they had him in the brig on level five, the Outsiders threatened to put a command collar on him. You know he would have been a mess. He’s doesn’t do well with pain.”
“What are you trying to tell me?” I asked even though I had my suspicions, and they weren’t pleasant.
“I’m wearing the collar meant for him. I agreed to—”
“Work for us,” a familiar voice said.
I turned. Hank, Bubba Boom, and Ponife stood in the doorway.