Beat (7 page)

Somehow I had to get the Papa off. The haze and confusion burned off my brain a little as a plan began to form. There was only one place I knew that might have the tools to take it off. The Admins could track me to the Enjineering Dome, but they couldn’t predict where I would go. So they would have to catch up to me. Which meant I had to go fast.

I put as much distance between me and the Enforser pod as I could, flying around corners and taking as fast a route as possible to the Enjineering Dome. I pushed hard up a hill, feeling the kinetic motor kick on near the top. It made no difference since I was already pedaling as hard as I could. My throat felt raw and red as breaths dragged in and out.

I glanced back. The pod was out of sight. I heard it, though. It sounded like it was maybe a couple hundred meters away.

Not far enough.

I pushed hard, rounding the last corner of the residential zone and tearing through one of the plazas downtown at full speed. My breath came fast, my heart rate higher than it had ever been. Questions smacked me behind the eyes. Why had Bren died and not me? And why had the Enforsers immediately acted like they were going to kill me? Why would they want me dead?

Another question flared bright as the sun. Was I somehow immune? That had to be a possibility. And if I was immune, there might be others out there. Others nobody had heard of.

If not, if I was the only immune person on the planet, my immunity could save everyone else. My blood or whatever it was in me could help everyone else become immune. But the odds of me being the only immune person were slim.

Maybe something else had happened.

I came to the Enjineering Dome and leapt off my cycle, letting it fall as I ran to the door. It was locked, of course; the two sliding halves were magnetically sealed together where they met. If I had some kind of Admin authority, I could just pass my Papa in front of the sensor and the doors would slide silently into the walls on either side, no problem.

I scanned the walls of the Enjineering Dome. I had to get in. I had maybe a minute, probably less. My running away so fast must have surprised them. And my not falling over from the knockout had to have surprised them more. I saw the gutter pipe that ran down the side of the building. It was bracketed tightly to the poly-metal walls. There were skylights and vents in the top of the dome. I had seen some in Dev 5 being cleaned, so I knew they opened outward. If I could get to the roof, I could get in that way.

I ran to the pipe and yanked hard. It didn’t budge. I glanced up. Twenty meters is high, but in the darkness, it seemed like the pipe stretched all the way up to the stars. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the pipe and put my foot on the lowest bracket, pulling hard.

My foot slipped, and my elbows slammed into the solid walls. Lances of pain shot up into my shoulders. My fingers popped free with a brief jolt of pain.

Steeling myself, I tried again, gripping tighter and imagining I was a spider. This time my foot stayed. Victory flared. I kept my left hand tight on the pipe and slid my right up a little. I put my left foot on the next bracket, clenching as tight as I could. I pulled.

Both feet slipped, and my fingers jerked painfully out from between the pipe and wall. My left forefinger stayed stuck longer than the others; it felt like it nearly stayed behind. I hit the ground hard, my elbows leading. 

No good. I shook my hands, willing the pain in my fingers to go away. I broke into a run around the outside wall. The building was essentially a huge rectangle with a tall dome for a ceiling. It looked exactly like the other large buildings in New Frisko except for the orange stripes on its walls, marking it as the Enjineering Dome. The Med Dome had red stripes. Unsurprisingly, the Ag Dome had green stripes. And so it went.

I tore around the building, seeking inspiration.

A rock might work. I looked around; it was worth a try, and I had no time left. I searched the ground all around. No rocks. Of course. Maintenance bots had been through this area earlier in the night; they picked up any debris they found, including stray rocks.

It was a dumb idea, anyway. The glass in the windows was reinforced. I needed a torch or something to cut through the walls or windows.

I heard the Enforser pod again. It was getting closer.

I had to get in this building. Now. I stood in front of the east entrance again. I ran to the sliding doors. If I were arriving for a shift, the doors would have opened no problem. I’d have to find some other way to open them.

Pushing at them didn’t work; the magnetic seal was too strong. The magnetic seal. Maybe I could break it or weaken it enough to push the doors apart. It came to me in a flash. I had the cycle in front of the door in seconds. I took off the back wheel, dropped it, and dragged the cycle right next to the door. Then, sticking the back fork in the ground just enough to keep the cycle steady, I unclipped the cover of the kinetic motor.

I used one hand to steady the cycle and the other to push the pedal. With the front wheel still on, the cycle was angled upward, as if it were on a hill. I knew the kinetic motor had a way to detect a slope, so I hoped this slope was enough. I pushed the pedal. Within three or four revolutions, the kinetic motor kicked in and the chain began to move on its own. Electricity.

I had to channel that electricity to the magnetic seal. I heard the Enforcement pod’s siren again. Closer now. 

I needed a wire, or something that would—

My wheel. I dashed to the back wheel I’d taken off and stomped on it as hard as I could, sharp pain slashing through my right arm at the movement. What had I done to my arm?

Pushing the thought aside, I stomped again and reached down, pulling two broken spokes free. Back at the door, I checked my distance. One spoke was enough to reach from the kinetic motor to the doors; I just had to find one of the electro-magnets. It took maybe two seconds to find the nearest magnet inside the body of the door on the left; the spoke nearly jumped right out of my hand. I bent the other spoke in half and stuffed it in my zip pocket, not wanting to get rid of it.

Having tinkered with every cycle I’d ever had and shadowed several people in the Enjineering Dome, I knew where the electric charge in the kinetic motor was stored. I pedaled with one hand and, with the other, positioned one end of the spoke on the motor’s power source, Then I put the other end on the magnetic seal where the electro-magnet hid behind the material of the door.

A tiny spark popped in the night.

Electricity! I needed a lot more to break the seal. I pedaled with my right arm, fighting to keep the spoke in my left hand from moving. A few more sparks lit and glimmered out, making me blink the bright light away. I fought the urge to check the door seal. I had to get this right the first time. I pedaled more, the moment of almost-stillness allowing me to think a little.

I had to figure out what had happened. I had to find out if I was immune. Maybe I wasn’t, but then why would Bren have died and not me? If I wasn’t immune, if there was something else . . . My brain couldn’t even get past that idea. I had to be immune. Which meant I needed to see a doctor and help everyone else become immune.

The Enforser pod—no, that was
two
pods now—whined louder, much closer. They were here! I dropped the pedal, gripped the spoke, and stood. I jabbed the spoke into the tiny crack between the doors, wiggling it to get it in.

It slid in, almost with no effort. I pushed down, and it slid between the doors, easily, running down the slightly wider crack. I ran the spoke to the top of the doors and then wiggled it left and right. I ran it back down, and, leaving the spoke at about waist height between the doors, pushed at the doors, trying to get them to separate. They jerked slightly, resisted, and then slid open an inch. Frantically, I jabbed my fingers into the gap and spread the doors farther apart, shocked that this had worked.

In less than a minute, I’d wrenched the doors wide enough apart that I could slide through. I wasted no time and forced my way into the Enjineering Dome.

I fought back the feeling of triumph, feeling guilty about it. I had to remember why I was doing this. I stopped briefly to get my bearings, glancing around the entrance area. The light had come on as I’d entered, but it was still warming up, so it was pale and blue. I broke into a run down the short hallway that led to offices off to the right and to a door that opened up to Development 1.

Lights high overhead flickered to life as I slid through the door. The brighter work lights above the benches stayed dark. Development 1 was basically an open lab with work and design tables, handhelds, computers, a few tool racks, and lots of rolling stools. There was an open aisle that ran straight across the room from the door I’d just come through to the door that led to Dev 2. I seriously doubted that I would find a cutting tool in Dev 1, so I just made a cursory search as I ran through the room. I saw nothing that would help me. I passed Pol’s work station. How would it be to be such a young kid and already have your own design station? From what I’d heard, the kid was a prodigy, even better than me.

Dev 2 was laid out in a similar way, but where Dev 1 was mostly dedicated to research and design, Dev 2 was the prototype room. My new work station. Tools were everywhere. Molding machines lined most of the walls, and orange-painted poles indicated where you had to be careful not to step into a pit where vehicles were maintained. Heading straight to a rack that held cutting tools, I tossed a glance at Fil’s work station. I had a feeling I’d never shadow him again. 

The nanocutter was right where I’d seen it earlier that day. I grabbed it, hoping I could get it to work on the Papa and not my wrist. It worked on the molecular level, using nanos to sever the bonds between molecules. You used it when you needed a really neat, precise cut. It would also cut through just about anything. The problem was that it took a while to warm up, and I wasn’t sure I could get it to work on just the strap of the Papa and not the flesh of my wrist. I switched it on and looked around while it slowly grew warm in my hand.

Just as I was thinking that the nanocutter might be ready, I heard the siren of an Enforser pod scream by right outside the wall. I had to keep moving. They were coming. My throat tightened up and I glanced back through Dev 2. If they hurried, the Enforsers could come through the door in the next minute. Or less, even. I looked from my wrist to the nanocutter, momentarily frozen by indecision. Should I cut it now or run—

“Hey!”

I glanced up at the loud voice, dread filling me. The black mask and helmet of an Enforser stared at me. The second thing I saw was the ugly, matte-black Keeper in the Enforser’s hand.

I stood for a half-second, momentarily paralyzed by terror.

“Drop it!” The Enforser’s voice sounded like a dog bark, pushing at me with almost physical force. But I could also tell it was a woman. Drop what?

I looked at my hand. I still held the nanocutter. I wasn’t finished. I shoved the cutter into my zip’s right pocket, grabbed the nearest tool, and flung it at the Enforser. She brought her Keeper up and I ran, desperately flinging more tools at her, trying to keep her distracted. I ran through the door to Dev 3 so fast that my left shoulder clipped the sliding door.

I tightened my neck and back, sure I was about to be hit with a jolt of electricity or a rubber bullet. I threw myself left, skidding behind a table and crawling on all fours toward the door to Dev 4. Where should I go? How was I supposed to get—

An explosion pounded in my ears, and something whizzed past my face. A metallic thud, followed by several others, then the sound of tools being smashed. Those weren’t rubber bullets. I ducked and kept crawling as fast as I could. The cutter fell out of my pocket. I grabbed it and stuck the somewhat soft handle in my mouth. I gagged briefly but fought the unpleasant sensation away and kept going.

“Stop!” I glanced back at the shout. The Enforser, if it was the same one, stood in the doorway back to Dev 2. “Don’t move!”

I moved. Maybe I could make it to the west entrance. Dipping low, I scampered across the room, trying to keep a table or two between me and the Enforser, and probably other Enforsers who had to be behind her. “Nik Granjer, out of station, late to shift.” The sensor’s voice shocked me, but I instantly understood. My Papa had come too close to a sensor at a work station.

Didn’t those things sleep?

There had to be Enforsers at every entrance. Bren had died, and if it wasn’t obvious why he’d gotten the Bug, it was pretty clear that he’d been infected. Their monitoring systems had to know that I’d been with him. They should just want to grab me, talk to me, even if it was just to make sure I wasn’t infected, too.

But they were trying to kill me now. That Enforser had shot real bullets at me. Twice.

The floor of the Enjineering Dome felt cool under my hands as I half ran, half crawled closer to Dev 4. Hunched low, I was pretty sure the Enforser didn’t have a good shot at me. But that also meant I couldn’t see her.

“Come out, and we’ll go easy,” the Enforser called.

I kept as silent as I could, knowing she would see when I made it to Dev 4.

“The Dome’s surrounded, Nik. You’re not going anywhere.”

I gritted my teeth, biting hard on the cutter’s handle, and threw myself forward. Just two more tables and I’d be at the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The Enforser sounded angry and surprised.

I rounded the last table, and the door must have sensed me because it slid open with a soft hiss. I grabbed the nanocutter out of my mouth and dove through, hearing a small explosion followed by a crackling sizzle above my right shoulder. Electrodes skipped off the floor in front of my hand, sparking. Yelping, I yanked my hand back toward me.

I rolled and felt my EarCom jog loose, nearly falling out of my left ear. I stuffed it deeper in. I had to keep moving and move in unexpected ways or she’d get me next time. I grabbed a table leg, using it to help me change directions fast. Then I stood a little, banging my shoulder hard on the corner of the table. Pain sliced through me. I ignored it and got away from the door, hoping it would close, at least briefly, before the Enforser showed up again.

Maybe I could hide before she got here, stay out of sight.

No. They’d find me. They had all the time in the world; the building was surrounded. No way out.

I glanced around Dev 4 and put the cutter in my pocket, this time remembering to zip my pocket closed. Only two more Development labs until the west entrance. And if they could track Papas really well, they would know exactly where I was. No hiding while I still wore the thing. And they probably had people closing in from the other side.

I scanned Dev 4. Rojer’s lab. The enhanced cycle we’d been working on.

A shimmering dust cloth covered Rojer’s and my invention. That Enforser would be here any second.

The doors whispered open as I flung the dust cloth off and reached for the starter, straddling the powered cycle. Feet extending from each side kept the machine balanced.

I darted a glance at the open door. Feeling my pulse in my head, I grabbed the handlebars and pressed the start button. The Enforser appeared through the doorway just as the machine rumbling and shaking with a high-pitched whine. Then it lifted off the ground. I noted that my body naturally conformed to the seat and—

No, it was conforming to
me.
I felt slight movements under me and between my legs as the nano-plastic that made up the body of the cycle molded itself to me. I ducked hard as electrodes sizzled over me. They splattered just behind me.

“Stop!” the Enforser yelled.

I threw my body forward. “Come on! Go!” The special cycle jerked forward an inch. I glanced down. BRAKE flashed urgently red on a small readout in the middle console of the handlebars. I’d forgotten!

Shouts and explosions filled the lab as I ducked and flipped the brake toggle off.

The door leading to Dev 5 slid open. Two Enforsers emerged. They fired immediately, explosions bouncing off the lab’s walls, rubber bullets slamming into the cycle. Two clipped my left shoulder.

“Lethal force!” the first Enforser shouted.

I shouted in pain and ducked, throwing myself forward again. The cycle blasted out of its space, the feet that had been holding it up on either side sliding into the body of the machine with a satisfying whir and click. Nearly thrown off the hovering machine, I pulled back.

The Enforsers had obviously been just as surprised as I had been when the machine exploded into motion. They backed off momentarily, back through the door to Dev 5.

When I leaned back, the cycle jerked roughly to a stop, lifting a little. I knew in my head how to control the machine, but I had never actually tried. It was really sensitive.

I leaned forward again. The cycle blasted forward. I squeezed the handles, clenching the body of the machine with my knees. I leaned to turn the machine and tore through the door, knocking one of the Enforsers to the ground in the process. Dev 5 was devoted to agricultural enjineering, so there were only a few worktables covered in prototypes of farming equipment. I saw no Enforsers ahead of me, so I leaned forward again. The machine went faster. I was shooting along, maybe a half-meter off the ground, faster than I’d ever gone before on my cycle.

As I aimed toward the door to Dev 6, and hopefully through that room to the outside, I inspected the special cycle. Brake switch, check. Lean forward to go, check. Back to slow or stop. Check. I tested the pads under my feet, using them to make my turns more precise. The machine was sensitive to everything, and it worked perfectly. I wished Rojer could see it.

I glanced over my shoulder. The Enforsers had no way of keeping up, but they were trying hard. I hoped that the two I’d blasted past had been the only ones coming from the west entrance. I needed to get through the door to Dev 6. It was maybe fifteen or twenty meters ahead of me, and it would only open when it sensed someone approaching. But these doors always opened slowly, and I was moving fast. I tossed another glance backward.

It would be close. I pulled backward a little; the handlebars moved toward me. I was suddenly nearly two meters off the ground, still hurtling toward the closed doors. My heart hammering and wind prying my mouth open, I leaned back and slowed. I eased the handlebars forward until I was back to a half-meter above the Dome’s floor.

Turns out the powered cycle could actually fly a little. Did Rojer know that?

I slowed more just as I closed to within four meters of the door. Another two meters and the door opened. I leaned forward and zipped between the doors before they’d made it all the way into the walls.

The west entrance to the dome was invisible behind a group of at least five Enforsers. The ones behind me must have called ahead because these new ones immediately started shooting at me. I ducked and made a hard left, just in time to miss the net that flew over my head. Something slammed into the cycle, making it wobble a bit. I weaved between tables covered with computer parts and huge magnifiers.

Dev 6 was filled with shouts and explosions, all muffled against the backdrop of the powered cycle. I continued dodging tables, ducking and weaving wildly, trying to lower the chance of getting hit. The cracks of the bullets suddenly dropped off. I looked up and saw some of the Enforsers reloading their Keepers. I decided to rush forward while they were distracted and try to draw them away from the door.

I directed the cycle toward the Enforsers, accelerating. Bug it. I wasn’t fast enough to surprise them. They stood their ground and took aim; they weren’t going to move. And when the other Enforsers showed up, they’d win eventually.

I swerved abruptly to the left and zigzagged nearer to the other door, thinking I could go back the way I came. The three Enforsers filled the doorway in front of me. They fired immediately. I swerved crazily. Dull pain from the earlier rubber bullets had set in on my right side and back.  

This was bad. Both exits were blocked. I wasn’t going to get past the Enforsers. And I didn’t think I could fit through one of the windows even if I could break it. Windows. I looked up. I couldn’t get
in
the Dome through a skylight, but could I get
out
?

Also, how high could this thing go?