Book Two of the Travelers (11 page)

F
rom the top of the hill, Olana watched through the binoculars.

“What a shame,” Bart said. “I guess that's the end of the road for the cleaning lady, huh?”

Through her fieldglasses Olana saw the small gray-haired woman reach into the box. Then she stood up. There was something in her hands—an odd-looking stick that glinted silver in the bright sun.

The security dados were moving slowly toward her, forming a loose circle around her. They had not even drawn their stunners. Four dados against one small middle-aged woman—it was no contest.

“What's that in her hand?” Bart said.

“I'm trying to—” Olana broke off. The surprise of what happened next was so great that she was speechless.

As the first dado approached, Elli lunged suddenly. Olana's eyes widened. The odd silver stick simply passed into the dado's chest, as though it were made of butter.

The dado crumpled—a puppet with its strings cut.

For a moment no one moved. Olana was barely able to make out the expression on Elli's face. The little woman looked shocked. The dados too were clearly taken by surprise. Whatever the silver stick was, it was not like any weapon they had encountered before. They weren't programmed to respond to it.

Apparently, Elli's moment of shock passed quickly. She immediately started chopping through the air with the silver stick, waving it wildly around her. It passed straight through the neck of the next dado. The second dado too went down. It hit the ground and didn't move.

These dados were top-of-the-line combat models. They were built to adjust to changing circumstances. They clawed for their stunners.

One of the dados fired, missing narrowly. Elli dodged, brought her stick down on his arm. The hand flew off, still clutching its stunner. Before the dado's limp body could fall, though, the little woman had grabbed it. Using the body as a shield, she staggered forward, the downed dado absorbing shot after shot from the last dado's stunner.

Realizing that it wouldn't be able to shoot her as long as she was holding its fallen comrade, the surviving dado simply charged at Elli. She chopped at him with her silver stick. But this time he was ready, blocking it with his stunner. Evidently the silver stick could pass through the body of a dado—but not through the metal stunner.

Using his sheer bulk, he slammed Elli backward. The silver stick fell from her arm, bounced, slid into the pit.

“No!” Olana said. “No, no, no!”

“What happened?” Bart said.

Olana lost track of the cleaning lady for a moment as she staggered out of the binoculars' range of view. Then all she could see was a flash of cheap gray material falling into the pit. Elli's coat.

Olana scanned the area looking for a sign of the cleaning lady. She was gone.

“They shot her, I think,” Olana said. “She's in the hole now.”

The surviving dado cautiously approached the hole, its gold stunner extended. Olana sighed. Well, it was an amazing performance. Elli had offered up her life to give the rest of the team a chance to get away.

“We've got to go,” Olana said. “While we've still got a chance.”

“Wait,” Bart said. “Just wait. Another ten seconds. We owe her that.”

Olana lifted the binoculars again. Just in time to see a flash in the bright sunlight.

The silver stick came pushing up out of the hole. The dado tried to dodge—but it was too late. The silver stick sliced right through its chest.

The dado fell like a rag doll.

Olana stared.

“What?” Bart said, straining to see what had just happened.

“She did it!” Olana said wonderingly. “She—”

But it wasn't over. The small woman clambered out of the hole. The dados were all down, but the chopper was still functioning. It had landed a short distance from
the hole. When the fourth dado fell, its engine began spooling up as though it were getting ready to take off.

“Look out!” Olana shouted. “The chopper! Get the chopper!”

But Elli couldn't hear. The sound of the chopper drowned out her voice. Olana wondered if she saw the gold stunner protruding from the nose of the chopper. It wasn't aimed at her. But if the chopper got airborne, it could swing the stunner around at her.

“Elli! Run!”

Apparently, Elli noticed the threat at the same time as Olana. But instead of running away, she ran
toward
the chopper.

Elli reached the aircraft just as its wheels cleared the ground, and she jumped awkwardly, just barely landing on the craft.
What was she doing?

The chopper bounced, then lifted up. Slowly the aircraft gained speed and began to scud across the ground. Suddenly a dark shape flew from the door.

It took Olana a moment to identify the dark shape. It was Elli. The little woman fell for what seemed an eternity—though it was probably only a fraction of a second. Olana screamed as Elli hit the ground hard, then lay motionless.

The chopper slowed, then turned. In horror Olana realized the big gold stunner was now swinging around toward her and the others in the group. The chopper kept turning and turning. The gun grew closer and closer.

“Down! Everybody down!” Olana commanded.

Finally the stunner was aimed directly at them. Olana waited for the blast. But nothing happened. Nothing,
that is, except for an odd little wisp of smoke that began to trail from the side of the chopper. The chopper kept wheeling and wheeling, the stunner aiming farther and farther from Olana and her group.
Something is wrong with the chopper!
Olana realized. Elli had done something to the chopper!

Suddenly the chopper dipped, nosed over, and slammed into the mountain, obliterating itself.

“She did it,” Olana whispered. Then she shouted it. “She
did
it! She took 'em out!”

A ragged cheer rose from the excav team. They began to stream down the hill toward where Elli lay.

As they grew closer, Olana's heart began to sink. Elli wasn't moving. She wasn't moving at all.

E
lli lay on her back. Every part of her body hurt as she stared up at the circle of faces. She felt confused.

“What just happened?” she said.

One of the young diggers grinned at her. “You were incredible! That's what happened!”

Olana picked up a long cylinder. “What
is
this?”

Elli sat up, looked at the gleaming stick for a moment. It started coming back to her, her whole fight with the dados. It seemed almost like a dream, like something that had happened to someone else. Because Elli knew that she was not the fight-off-hordes-of-dados kind of person.

Elli blinked, took a deep breath, then took the cylinder from Olana, put it back in the box, and slammed the lid. “We need to get back to the warehouse right now,” she said. “The chopper will have sent out some kind of distress signal. More dados will come.”

She stood, tucked the box under her arm, and began trotting toward their vehicle.

 

The trip home was silent. Several times dado choppers buzzed over, heading rapidly in the direction of the downed aircraft. But no one stopped them.

They descended into the manhole and within fifteen minutes they were crawling through the air duct into Elli's little broom closet.

They emerged from the broom closet to find a ring of people standing outside the door. Their faces were hard and angry. Standing at the center of the group was Tylee.

“You did an excav against my
express
orders!” she shouted. “What are you people thinking? Dados could be on the way here right this minute!”

“Look,” Elli said, “it's all my fault. You see, I—”

Tylee cut her off. “If it was just some little cleaning lady, I'd be more understanding. But Olana? Bart? You two are supposed to be leaders. Responsible! Intelligent!”

Bart and Olana were ashen faced. “I'm sorry, but—,” Olana began.

“You've endangered
everything
. Everything we've worked for! Everything we've bled for! Everything we've—”

This time it was Elli's turn to cut Tylee off.

“Dear,” Elli said. Her voice was soft. But it felt surprisingly firm coming out. “Dear, this was our final excav. We understand that it was a risk. But this was a risk worth taking.”

“You are in
no
position to evaluate what is or is not a reasonable risk. There are matters at stake here that—”

Elli smiled shyly. “I'm sorry, dear, but I think you'll
see that what's in this box was worth the risk.” She set the long thin dirty box on a nearby table. “See for yourself.”

Tylee opened the box grudgingly, pulled out the long gleaming cylinder. She frowned at it skeptically. “What is this—a shower-curtain rod? A piece of an old vehicle?” She tossed it back on the table.

Bart stepped forward, picked up the cylinder. “It's a weapon. Tylee, this little cleaning woman—as you call her—used this thing to destroy four dados and a security chopper. In about thirty seconds.”

Tylee looked at the weapon, then at Elli, then at the weapon again.

“Is this true?” she finally said to Elli.

Elli nodded.

“That ‘curtain rod,'” Olana said, “is our hope for the future.”

There was a sudden hubbub as everyone started talking. Olana began excitedly giving a blow-by-blow description of Elli's fight with the dados. And all of the revivers began grabbing for the cylinder, anxious to figure out what its secret was.

Elli let them talk, feeling a pleased sensation moving through her entire body. During the excav, she had felt a nervous buzzing at the back of her skull.
What if I fail? What if I take a wrong turn? What if the dados catch us? What if Blok tracks us back to the warehouse? What if…
But now she knew that her faith had been repaid.

Finally she interrupted the clamoring voices. “Excuse me,” she said. “Excuse me.”

Everyone quieted, then turned to look at her.

“Yes?” Tylee said.

“When I said that what was in the box was worth the risk, I was actually talking about the
other
item in the box.”

Tylee frowned curiously, then and reached into the box a second time.

“What is it?” Bart said.

Tylee pulled out a book—a very old leather-bound volume. Her eyes widened. Then she held up the book so everyone could see. On the cover were four words, set in faded gold type:

The Analects of Kelln.

There was a long moment of silence.

Olana spoke first. “Wow.”

“Oh, my,” said another voice.

“You
found
it,” Tylee whispered. “I'd like you to give it to Dr. Pender in person.” Then she handed the book to Elli.

The group turned away and started talking about the weapon again. Elli hugged the precious book to her chest. It smelled of ancient libraries.

I did it!
she thought.
I found the
Analects of Kelln! It occurred to her—as it had every now and then—that maybe there was something to what Press had told her. Maybe she really was…

No. No, it was silly to even consider it. She was a cleaning lady. Maybe she had an odd gift for finding important old boxes. Maybe, with the help of the strange cylinder and about a ton of adrenaline, she had been able to fight off a couple of brainless robots. But that didn't mean she was a Traveler. That didn't mean she was special.

She left the group and began walking toward Dr. Pender's office. The excited voices faded.

Elli found Dr. Pender standing in his office. He looked up, raised one eyebrow, and said, “You caused a bit of a fuss today. I must say, I really don't understand why you would have done such a thing.”

Wordlessly, she handed him the book. He smiled tightly as he took the volume. She could tell that, like Tylee, he was angry that anyone would engage in an unauthorized excav. He was understandably protective of the warehouse and its irreplaceable contents.

But then Dr. Pender's face changed. His mouth opened slightly as he stared at the cover of the volume. He opened it reverently and began to leaf through the pages. After a moment, tears began streaming down his face. Finally the librarian looked up at her with an odd smile on his face.

“You did it….,” he whispered. “How did you know? How did you—” His voice faltered.

She shrugged.
I just knew
, she thought.
I just did.

Solemnly he closed the book. Then he held it out to her. “You must be the first one to read it,” he said.

“Oh, I couldn't, dear,” she said. “Someone who understands these things better should—”

He pressed his finger against her lip. “Shhh.”

“But—”

“I've heard you whispering while you work,” he said. “Quoting the books you've read.”

Elli blushed. She felt embarrassed to think that anybody had noticed her. She had thought it was her little secret.

“You're memorizing them all.” Dr. Pender stared at her intently. “Aren't you?”

She looked at the floor. “I suppose I am.”

He pushed the book into her hands. “One day the dados may come,” he said. “Perhaps even today. Who knows. So it's important that you put this in here.” He tapped the side of her head. “The sooner the better.”

She nodded and began walking back toward her broom closet. She wanted to store the book on her special shelf.

When she reached the broom closet, Tylee was there waiting for her. “Ah!” she said. “There you are.”

“I know you're mad,” Elli said. “I'm sorry. I should have—”

“Don't even think about it,” Tylee said. “What's done is done.”

The leader of the revivers stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Do you mind if I speak with you privately?”

Elli nodded. “Come in,” she said, opening the door to the tiny broom closet. “I'm afraid you'll have to sit on the bed,” she added.

Tylee looked around the tiny room. “You
live
in here?” She shook her head. “I never knew. I thought you had a real room. I'm sorry. We should have—”

Elli smiled gently. “I like it here.”

Tylee spotted the photographs cut from newspapers that covered the walls. Nevva winning prizes. Nevva holding up trophies. Nevva smiling at the camera. “Your daughter,” she said.

Elli nodded.

“You've never told anyone here your real name.”

Elli nodded.

“We had to find out of course. It was in the papers, a woman missing the day of the cave-in. We pulled up the
records and identified you from the photographs. We had to be careful in case you were a Blok spy.”

Elli sat on the bed with her hands between her knees. “Of course.”

Tylee sighed, her face etched with worry. “We're going to have to move Mr. Pop,” she said. “We've been thinking about it for a while. A site farther out in the country. After what happened on your excav…well, we suspect that Blok has a general idea of where we're located. After what you did out there today, they'll leave no stone unturned trying to find this place.”

“I'm sorry,” Elli said. “I know that we attracted too much attention with this last excav.”

“Don't apologize. It was worth it.” Tylee hesitated, as though she were trying to find the right words. “In fact, today may well be the turning point in our movement. That cylinder, whatever it is—our scientists will try to figure out how it works. If we can reproduce it, make more, we can finally rise up and destroy Blok.”

Elli nodded.

“But something else happened today. Something I can tell only you. But first you must promise never to speak of this again.”

“Okay.”

“We recruited a new agent today. This person will be the most important, most highly placed agent our movement has ever recruited.”

“Oh?”

“With the new agent? And that weapon you found? We
will
triumph.”

Elli didn't speak.
Why is Tylee speaking to me
about this?
she thought. A highly placed agent of the movement—that's something that a person like Tylee wouldn't talk about. The more people you told a thing like that, the more chance of the information leaking to Blok security.

“The agent's name…” Tylee paused. “Elli, it's Nevva Winter. Our new agent is your daughter.”

Elli took a deep breath.

“I just thought you should know.”

Tylee rose and left the broom closet.

 

Elli sat on the bed for a long time. After the day she'd just had, she was exhausted. And the fight with the dados—the effect of it was just catching up with her. She began trembling.

I should get to work,
she thought.
I should go clean something.
But her legs were trembling so hard, she couldn't even stand up.

And then, as quickly as it had hit her, the feeling passed.

You know what?
she thought.
I've cleaned every single day for the past five years. Who's to say I can't take a day off?

She felt a strong glow spreading through her limbs. She was exhausted. But she was triumphant, too. In a funny sort of way, she felt better than she'd felt…well, before her husband had begun the long slide that led her to this tiny room.

With that, she picked up the book and began to read
The Analects of Kelln
. As she read the first sentence, a strange smile spread across her face. And like Dr.
Pender, tears of joy began to run down her face.

Even at the end of the road,
read the first sentence,
there is a road. Even at the end of the road, a new road stretches out, limitless and open, a road that may lead anywhere. To him who will find it, there is always a road.