Shadows (9 page)

“
Dunno,
”
Lisa replied, taking a final swig of
water before getting back to her feet.
“
Only a hundred
floors till we find out.
”

“
You make it
sound so easy,
”
Susan said, getting to her feet and
stretching her calf muscles. She leaned against the railing,
pushing her legs back behind her, working the calf muscle so it
loosened.

“
Sue!
”
a male voice cried in surprise from
somewhere behind her.

“
Barney,
”
she replied in surprise, turning
toward him.
“
What are you doing
here?
”

Barney stepped forward and
gave her hug along with a kiss on the cheek, startling her for a
moment. He had greeted her like a long, lost friend, but they'd
seen each other just the day before at the cleaning. Susan was
sweaty, she felt out of place in his arms and a little embarrassed
in front of Lisa.

“
I should be
asking you that,
”
he replied.
“
Are you porting
to IT?
”

“
No, we're
going deep,
”
she replied.
“
Barney, this is
Lisa, my caster.
”

“
Nice to meet
you,
”
Barney replied, shaking Lisa's hand.

He looked at
Susan saying,
“
Be sure to stop by
and say hi on your way back up.
”

Susan nodded, trying to
hide a blush.

Barney scooted down the
steps to the main IT level.

“
So,
”
Lisa said.
“
Come on. Kiss
and tell.
”

“
It's
nothing,
”
Susan insisted.

“
There's some
chemistry there,
”
Lisa replied.
“
Is he your
date?
”

“
No.
”

“
Oh, that's
even more scandalous,
”
Lisa added grinning, goading
Susan.
“
So you've got a couple of irons in the
fire?
”

“
It's not
like that, honest,
”
Susan replied.
“
We're just
friends.
”

“
Just,
”
Lisa added, winking.

“
We had a
thing once,
”
Susan said.
“
But that's
passed now.
”

“
Not from
that boy's perspective,
”
Lisa said,
crouching down and working her way into her pack. Susan followed
suit, getting ready for the long haul. She'd known Lisa long enough
to know the next stretch would be for fifty levels, at least. Lisa
would want to get well beyond the psychologically important halfway
point, as from there the end was always in sight and the run to the
bottom seemed to ease. In reality, no one spiral on the staircase
was any different from any other, but approaching your destination
always felt easier.

They set off again, pacing
themselves for distance. The levels flew by and Susan found herself
lost in thought. By two in the afternoon, they'd arrived in the
Down Deep. Susan felt like she could float on air when she finally
took off her backpack at the porter's office on 138. She danced
around the office, pirouetting and springing off her feet. That was
the thing she loved about porting, there was something satisfying
about completing a heavy run. She couldn't put her finger on it,
and she wasn't sure why the older porters referred to it as a
runner's high as she barely ever actually ran anywhere, but her
body felt jazzed.

“
Someone's
found their second wind,
”
Lisa said.
“
We don't have to do the return climb today, you know. Even
with a light load, it's a good five to six hours back. We've made
good chits. We can rest up and head back
tomorrow.
”

“
I'm good to
go,
”
Susan replied, having a drink and grabbing a sandwich
from the porter's lunchroom.

“
You're going
to be sore.
”

“
It'll help
work out the lactic acid, avoid too much of a burn
tomorrow,
”
Susan replied.

“
Now, who's
the caster and who's the shadow?
”
Lisa asked with a
smile on her face.
“
OK, finish your
sandwich and we'll start the climb. Just remember, these legs
aren't as young and nimble as yours.
”

They climbed the first
fifty levels in good time, but Lisa began to slow as the day wore
on. Susan took the heavier pack with the port for the dirt farms.
Sure enough, the parcel was addressed to Charlie. She felt the odd
shape, curious as to what it was, knowing it was probably another
part for one of his so called inventions as he reintroduced past
technology into the silo. She had to talk to him about this.
Charlie was skirting the stairs, as the porters would say, carrying
an unbalanced load: he was heading for trouble. As much as she
loved him, she knew this had to stop. Sooner or later, someone like
Hammond would figure out where these inventions were really coming
from and there would be hell to pay.

“
You go
on,
”
Lisa said around six in the evening as they approached
the sixties.
“
I'm gonna stop for
the night.
”

“
Are you sure
you?
”
Susan asked.

“
Go,
”
Lisa repeated.
“
If love
can drive you so hard and for so long, far be it from me to stand
between the two of you. I'll see you tomorrow, and I'll make sure
we stay in the Uppers this time.
”

Susan smiled,
saying,
“
Thank you.
”
She found she had a
spring in her step with the prospect of seeing Charlie becoming a
reality. It had been a long, hard day, and it was going to be
longer, but she didn't mind.

By eight in the evening she
was approaching the last few levels. The lighting automatically
switched to the low-mode, giving the silo an artificial night.
Susan dropped off the letters in the porter's station and continued
on past the dirt farms. She didn't bother looking for Charlie
there. She knew where he would be.

Her blood sugar was low.
Her legs were sore, but it was a good kind of pain, one born from
raw accomplishment. Her stomach was knotted, crying out for
sustenance, but she didn't care. When she finally took that last
step she felt as though she had conquered the entire world,
standing triumphantly at the top of the silo. The Great Fall had
been subdued, vanquished in a day. In that moment, there was no
part of creation that wouldn't bow before her vibrant
enthusiasm.

Charlie jogged over to her,
seeing her standing there by the stairs.

Susan wrapped
her sweaty arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. For
his part, Charlie seemed a little confused. After they kissed, he
said,
“
Ah, well that was unexpected, but very
welcome.
”

“
I have a
present for you,
”
she said, slinging her pack from her
pack.

“
No
way,
”
he replied.
“
Is
this?
”

“
Porter's
code,
”
she replied, pulling her
‘
kerchief from
around her neck and stuffing it in her pocket.
“
I have no
idea what it is, but I know it's yours. I'm guessing you were
expecting this.
”

“
Yes, but not
for a couple of days. How did you?
”

“
I drew the
short straw this morning, had to port a hydroponics pump to
engineering Down Deep.
”

“
You went to
the Deep and back in a single day?
”
Charlie asked, his
eyebrows raised in surprise.

“
Yep,
”
Susan replied, feeling proud of
herself.

“
Damn,
”
he said, sitting his hands on either
side of her waist and taking a good look at her. She wasn't sure
what he saw in that moment. She felt exhausted but exuberant. Sweat
caused her shirt to stick to her body. She had her coveralls down,
tied around her waist. Her sweaty hair felt wet and sticky as it
cooled in the night air. She must have looked a wreck, but he
didn't seem to mind.

“
You are
something else,
”
he said, giving her another
kiss.

“
So what is
it?
”
she asked.

“
It's a
pulley.
”

“
OK, you're
going to have to explain that one to me, but I'm guessing you saw
this in one of the books.
”

Charlie grinned.

“
You're going
to love this,
”
he said, leading her over to one of
the tables in the cafeteria. Beyond them, on the wall-screen, dark
clouds drifted over a bleak land of flickering shadows.
Occasionally, the wall-screen revealed the odd star breaking
through the dark of night.

“
Have you
eaten?
”
he asked.

“
No.
”

“
Wait
here,
”
he replied as he disappeared into the
kitchen.

There was a light on in the
sheriff's office, but the rest of the floor was empty. During the
day, there was a hive of activity in the open area beside the
cafeteria, but once night fell, everyone returned to the lower
levels, which was fine with her and Charlie. They'd made something
of going against the flow, coming up to the top level when rarely
anyone else was present.

Sheriff Cann tended to work
late, and it had become something of a tradition to say a pleasant
hello to him as he left for the night, normally around nine or ten.
Susan suspected he enjoyed seeing them up there in the quiet of the
evening. From his perspective, they were one teenaged couple he
didn't need to worry about. And he turned a blind eye to Charlie's
kitchen raids, so long as Charlie cleaned up after himself.
Charlie, of course, loved seeing someone in a position of authority
apply a little common sense and flexibility.

Susan sat there in front of
the view screen, watching the clouds blow by. The deathly grey of
the hillside at night had once terrified her, but Charlie had
taught her to see beyond that, to see the stars as a sign of
hope.

Charlie brought out a plate
of cold meats, a bread roll and some salad in one hand and a large
drink in the other.

“
Thank
you,
”
she said, picking up a chicken drumstick and biting
into it.

He sat down next to
her.

The clouds parted and
several stars were visible in the sky.

“
Beautiful,
aren't they?
”
she said.

“
I've been
reading about them,
”
Charlie said.
“
They look
tiny, but they're actually huge, beyond anything we could
imagine.
”

“
You're
loving this, aren't you?
”
she
asked.

“
Loving
what?
”

“
Loving the
fact you've let me in on your little secret.
”

“
Yes,
”
he replied.
“
I guess I am.
It's nice to be able to share my excitement with someone
else.
”

Susan leaned into him as
she kept eating. Charlie put his hands around her waist.

“
Space is
fascinating,
”
he said, his eyes locked on the
wall-screen.

“
I saw
pictures of stars last night,
”
Susan said.
“
And there was a golden planet with a series of beautiful
rings stretching around it.
”

“
That
’
s
Saturn,
”
Charlie replied.
“
Apparently,
it
’
s a big ball of gas.
”

Between
bites, Susan said,
“
It is astonishing to
realize those pinpricks of light out there are bigger than the
silo.
”