Nemecene: The Epoch of Redress (16 page)

"Hey. Let go! You need council bypass for this. I know my rights." That's Shaplo.

"Quiet. The only permissions I need are right here. Turn around. Any struggle and I'll tag you with resistance as well."

Keet and I are looking at each other in horror now. Neither of us dares to even whisper it, but we both know what is happening out there. Everyone's getting tagged suspect. Whoever is on campus right now and non-Ministry will be clamped, and that means Father will find us. My lips are bleeding. I've felt this way before. Terrified, waiting for my turn, not wanting to let go. Keet's welling up inside. He closes his eyes and grabs my other hand. It can't hurt. Do the same. Complete silence.

Is it over? It's blacker than black. Oh. My eyes are still shut. Hick. Where's Keet? Where am I? Quick, the base of my skull.

"Eli." It's coming from the doorway. "Eli." There it is again, a little louder this time. "Wake up." He's scanning the hallway with his rump in my face. Maybe crawling wasn't such a good idea. I sure hope he's been eating fresh.

"Hey." Definitely not a good idea.

"Sorry, tough girl."

Giggle. My guess is they missed us, and that was sarcasm.

"What happened?"

"Well, they came to get us and you turned into a fireball monster and sucked their brains out. It was most impressive." Now that deserves a snare face. Come on. "Rip. You passed out, tough girl." And blanked out as well no doubt. "Welcome back. We're juicy. Don't know why or how, but no tag."

"We have to get you out of here, Keet, before they put the sentinels back. You'll need to take the roof and go down the outside of the links. You ready for the circus?"

He's not looking amused. "You're bent. Do you know how high that is?"

"It's one floor up. We can grow some steps and bust through the ceiling. Maybe the privyshelf is hungry. There'll be extra drooling monsters at the lift I'm sure."

He's thinking about it. "And once I get out, provided I'm still in one piece, what do I do next?"

Oh. He's not going to like this one. "We need to call Stitch. Yes. We don't have to tell him anything, just that you can't be trapped on the oval with the rest of us. You'll lose your job." Head moving back and forth, puckering his beak, squinting his eyes… Good.

"Ok. That's all we tell him."

He's really nervous. Give him a huge hug. "You'll make it look easy." He's not convinced. So on to Stitch. Grab the comm.

"Hey lo, Stitch. Perk. Keet needs to flip a pass. The shoe will stick to him something fierce if he rides."

"Ta, chum. Everything's just tripping down here, yeah?"

Oh, crap. That was rude of me. "So sorry, Stitch. Need to clip. You trip?"

Keet is completely lost. "What language are you speaking?"

"Shhh." I'm missing it. "Sorry, Stitch. Keet's dunked." I am so loving this. "The back?... Yeah. Who? Yeah. He will. Ta. We're trip."

"Lie low, Eli." How did he set that up so fast?

Keet's shaking his head. "You'll have to translate that for me later. Right now, just give me the facts." Hey isn't that my line? Juicy. He's a fast digger.

"Back entrance by the ivy wall. Our friendly chef will be waiting for you in fifteen minutes. You can make it if you clip, I mean hurry. Stitch said to comm when you're safe." Lock and nod, and he's off. "Oh and don't let him feed you." Unless he wants to knock his colleagues out tomorrow. Hehehe.

I'll need to cover this hole with something later. Oh no! Quick...or actually slower is better...to the window. Phew! They're leaving. I can just see them…there. Last one off the… What's that? Oh, give your head a shake, Eli…or maybe not. When will this throbbing stop? I must be seeing things, there's nothing moving down there. Shaggy time. Yep. You have a name now, oh tentacled one. How fun, the puppies are playing catch with…

Moan. Groan. Is this what a daze feels like? Just a little groggy, but the pounding is over at least. I'm awake right? Here it comes again. Brace for the flood. I feel so nauseous, so helpless. Why do they make me watch? I want to run to her, I want to make them stop. She didn't do anything wrong, we were just on vacation, all four of us. Why did they take us there...

It's so cold and dark, can't someone help us? Please. They're hurting her. No. Mother. Stop. Make the pain go away. Keet, wake up. Don't leave me alone with them.

Wake up. That's enough. I just won't sleep anymore and they'll leave me alone. The dreams can't touch me if I'm awake; they're just not real; they can't hurt me; they'll just disappear just like the girl. She wasn't real. None of this ever happened. It was all just another one of my bad dreams. Look. I'll prove it. The ceiling is fine. See? Oh no. Stitch! They must have tagged him. How's my scrape. Hardly noticeable… Well, if I hide it with a hat. There. We'll be twins. My comm, my controller, my secure band, and where did Keet leave the... Mashrin. Let's go get some answers.

I wonder what the fanged door keepers are authorized for now, as if trying to eat us wasn't enough. Good. No one is awake yet. According to Keet, getting your biochip slammed with the rod hurts like a mangled scan, not that we know what that feels like either. Anyway, my floormates will be sleeping well past fog lift for sure. Not the most enjoyable way to flip a pass. Whoa, time to plane. Close one. I haven't been on the slick for a while. They had time to shine the floors last night? Crap. Watch out! So the sentinels are trolling the halls now? Ewww. Disgusting. That's not floor shine. How am I going to get down and over, they're blocking the lift too. Think think think. Well, if Keet can... I'm an athlete, you know. Back to the room then.

I'll need a light. Got it. Ok now. Which way. Yes, memories of crawling in the dark under the sliderpad. We used to hide from Father sometimes, when it got scary. Jenny would come too. That's where she'd squeak all those ghost stories. That got us jumping. Silly girl. She still believes all that stuff. I guess some people never grow up. This here. This is where the real monsters are, and slobbering amongst the human population as well.

I'm out. The sky is so beautiful. Look at all those stars. Whoops. Getting dizzy. Look where you're headed, girl. Southwest central branch. Hop. Sneak sneak sneak. And up. Next. Hop. Run run run. And up. Again. Hop. Sneak sneak sneak. And now what? Gulp. Down the links. Here it goes. They're circling the floors so I should be able to slide down the sides and jump down to the next level. And again. And again. And again. And reach down, grab the comm, flash mode, and click. Hmmm. Click. Click. Click. Good. Here he comes. He's opening the window.

"Pica trip! You're crazed, chum! Way. Love the hat." Am I ever glad to see that smile of his.

"Ta, chum." He's not wearing very much. "Ummm." Very well put there, Eli. Maybe my brows will complete the sentence. He's grabbing some pants. Well, something like pants. And is that a hint of his....? Ugh!

"I didn't expect someone up this high, or down this low from your perspective. Told you I had nothing to hide, yeah?"

What a dweeb! Couldn't hate him if I tried though. Don't just stand there, pass him the slip and start talking.

"There's something missing here." Oh yeah. The tag. "Does it hurt?"

"The tag? Neah. It's not the first time."

"Why am I not surprised?" He pulls out the big grin this time.

"How's yours?" Crap. Can't let him feel back there, not yet. Take a side step and change the subject.

"Juicy. So what about the history here? I think it's crap!"

"Flyer mud, ya fig? Let's sleuth, yeah?" You read my mind, chum. Flash him a smile.

He pulls up a crabseat for me, oh joy, and starts sketching through the maze. I just realized it's the first time I've been to his room. Better keep this between us, not proper for the highlands.

"Stop jumping around!" My brain's still slamming away. What's the story with these things?

"Slap me, chum. It's got the hiccups." You asked for it. "Ta." Hehehe.

"I think I'll just stand. My head."

Look at all these gadgets! He sure wasn't kidding about the "taking stuff apart" fetish of his. There's the frequency thrower he duped the guard with, which reminds me...

"How does the guard know you? You only just got here the day before I did."

"Apparently, I make quite the first impression." No argument there. "I tested out this new invention on him and he wasn't too impressed, neither were the girls in the lobby, yeah?" I even know what that smile means.

Let's test it on him and see, not that I want to see that of course.

"Hands off, lass, yeah? This one you have to see in action. Still a little drift in it. It'll be a few hours for the trace. What's so crit?"

"We need to break into Osler Hall. They took her there. I can't explain yet. It's pica crit!" To put it in words he can relate to. His hair is wiggling. He's apprehensive. "Ziga pica crit!" That should do it.

"Crazed!" He's shaking his head then lights up. "Trip. We'll need Keet. Two won't go. The only way is through the sunshaft and ride the tunnel down. We need to sling from your tower, and then once inside, hold the sentinels, and if the second line defenders sniff us... We need a watch on that too. What pod is she in?" Up go the eyebrows. "No panic."

There is a lot more to this guy than he is letting on. Look how fast he's pulling up the grids, the shaft lines, the sentinel stations. Wow. He even has the hardware; ropes, harnesses, pulleys, spring board? Is he bent? No, he is
completely
insane!

"You've done this before." There's that smile again.

"Let's get Keet, yeah?"

"How are we going to get passed the lockdown scanners? Your tag will set them off." Crap! Oh, I hope he missed that.

"No more than yours, yeah? Here. Wear this."

He's toying with me, he picked up on it. Ok. I'll play along.

"A bracelet? Is this some sort of chumbud blood bond?"

He's jumping in. "Yeah. Trip, ya fig? Now we must run naked in the maze together till our dying years." He leans over and whispers in my ear. "Juicy." Ewww. Him and Keet. I'm flanked by post-pubescent toddlers. "Ease, chum. Poked a rib. It's a narrow field rubber. The scanners are stupid, they won't know what hit them."

"Meaning…"

"It cancels out a very specific range with very little power so the drop detectors can't spot it. I can't explain yet." Zapped. That's fair.