Skye Object 3270a (16 page)

“C
ome on, Skye,” Buyu complained as he stood on the rim of the box looking down at her. “Stop fooling around.”

Fooling around?

Skye's gloves were so stiff she could not bend her fingers. She was covered in wriggling tentacles, her skin suit felt like it was on fire, she couldn't reach anything solid with either hands or feet, and Buyu was accusing her of fooling around?

“Help me get out of here!” she screamed at him. “Buyu! Or you are a dead man.”

Someone caught the half-curled fingers of her rigid hand. She twisted around and saw that it was Devi. He had a wicked gleam in his eyes as he hauled her across the writhing lydras. “That was a beautiful dive, Skye! Wish I'd caught it on record. Have you ever thought about working with lydras professionally . . . ?”

She glared at him, silently vowing to get even. It didn't take long. As she reached the rim of the cargo container, she kicked the last of the clinging tentacles away. Then she hooked her stiff fingers around the rim and launched herself headfirst out of the box, driving her shoulder into Devi's gut as she did it.

Devi was so surprised that he was still holding her hand as they flopped together over the side.

Too late, Skye remembered it was a full three meter plunge to the floor. She got her forearms in front of her to take the brunt of the fall. At least the gravity was half normal! So she didn't hit as hard as she would have in Silk, but it was hard enough. The air was knocked out of her lungs, so it took her a few seconds to realize she had landed on a writhing cushion of lydras. After that she was on her feet in an instant, scurrying back up the stack of containers to get away from the beasts while Devi lay on the floor laughing uproariously.

Skye ignored him. She had a new worry. Among all the tentacles, she did not see any slender gold ones. What had happened to Ord?

“Unseal my hood!” she shouted at her suit's DI. The hood unfurled. She looked wildly around. “Ord? Ord where are you?”

“You dumb ados!” Zia shouted, glaring at them from atop the stack of containers. “Stop fooling around and get out of sight! That crash must have been heard through the whole elevator car. The crew is going to be checking out everything through the security cameras. Buyu, help me get this container closed. Hurry!”

Hurry? Skye had a sudden hollow feeling in her chest. It was over, wasn't it? “Zia, when they see this mess, they'll know we're here.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Zia snapped. Working together, she and Buyu slammed shut the container's lid. Buyu punched the locks. “Maybe they'll think the containers were stacked wrong,” Zia said. “Now
hide
.”

“I have to find Ord. Ord!”

At last she heard its whispery voice from across the aisle: “
Skye, this is not fun
.”

“Ord.” As she watched, it emerged from a narrow gap between two shipping containers. At first she could only see its head. Then a delicate tentacle slipped into sight. Skye held out a hand. “Swing over here. I'll catch you.”

The tentacle stretched across the aisle to wrap around Skye's wrist. As Ord oozed out of the crack its body was as flat as a sheet of heavy gold cloth. It started to regain its shape as it swung over the gap, but it still looked partly crushed as Skye boosted it to her shoulder.

“Now hide!” Zia commanded.

Devi had climbed back up. So together they scurried over the closely packed cargo containers, dropping one by one into holes or gaps between the boxes. Skye was the last to find a hiding place. She jumped down into another aisle, then squirmed feet first into the gap beneath an angled container.

“Go home now, Skye?” Ord whispered.

“Shh! Don't talk.”

It was quite likely they had already been seen through a security camera.

Maybe not, though.

She lay in silence, listening to the squirm and thump of the lydras loose in the next aisle. It sounded as if they were climbing the crates, only to fall back with wet
thumps
.

Time crawled past. She counted her breaths, but got bored before she reached fifty. She decided to take a look at her glove. Her palm was encrusted with a layer of smooth, white pseudoceramic, like the stuff most of the containers were made of. The lydras must have excreted it, obeying some programmed construction instinct. She picked at the layer, and it flaked off, bit by bit. Her skin suit was discolored beneath it, but the suit was self-repairing. Given a few minutes, it should be able to fix itself, just as her own body could quickly heal an injury.

The sound of footsteps shattered these idle thoughts. She held her breath, listening. The footsteps came from the other side of the warehouse. A woman said something Skye could not understand. Another woman spoke more clearly, “Zeme dust. What a mess!”

In a deep voice, a man demanded to know, “How could this happen? The containers were strapped together.”

The first woman answered, “If the load's unbalanced, it will fall. Damn! We'll have to run some checks on the cargo handler that stacked this shipment. The program may be decaying.”

Skye listened to them talk, relieved to hear them blame the loading equipment for the accident. Not once did anyone suggest a trespasser might be aboard the elevator car. And after all, why should they suspect such a thing? People in Silk did not sneak aboard restricted elevator cars, or take off to investigate the forbidden communion mounds. Of course Skye wasn't really from Silk. What had Yulyssa said? Strangers bring new ways, and new challenges.

The chatter went on for most of an hour as the elevator crew sprayed the escaped lydras with more of the chemical solution that sent them into dormancy. Then they gathered them up and repacked them. Jammed into her little hidey-hole, Skye was stiff and cramped by the time the voices retreated to the far end of the warehouse, and faded away.

She waited ten more minutes. Then she crawled out and stretched, working some blood back into her limbs. Ord crept out behind her. “Not a good house for you,” it observed.

Skye nodded somberly. “I agree.”

She climbed the stacks, to find Devi and Zia emerging from separate holes. Buyu appeared a moment later. “Hi,” Skye said. Then she added brightly, “What now?”

Buyu slipped his pack off. “That's obvious. We eat.”

It was a suggestion that appealed to everyone. They dropped into an aisle to make it harder for security cameras to pick them up. Then they ate a quick meal of ready bars, while crouched against the cargo containers.

As usual, Devi was full of ideas. “I've been thinking. We planned to stay in the elevator all the way to the end of the cable, but what if we're seen by a camera? We'll be safer if we go outside.”

Skye glanced at Zia, then at Buyu. They both looked as confused as she felt.

“Outside?” Buyu asked. “We're not halfway to the top yet.”

“Sooth. But we can ride up on the outside of the elevator car as easily as we can on the inside. There might be cameras outside, but nobody's going to check them.” He looked around expectantly, but no one said a word. Devi frowned. “What's wrong? We've all got skin suits.” He tapped his backpack. “We've all got nutrient packs to keep our suits supplied.”

“Devi,” Zia said, “it's two days to the top.”

“So? We brought enough nutrients to last twice that long. It's a good move. Really. No one will ever check the cameras out there.”

“I don't get it,” Buyu said. “How are we supposed to get outside? I mean, if we open an airlock, an alarm could sound.”

“I brought a bubble recipe.”

“A what?” Skye asked.

“A bubble recipe. I fabricated it, using information from city library.” Devi burrowed in his pack. Then he pulled out a small canister no bigger than his hand. “This is it. Inside this canister is a team of Makers. They're dormant now, but when they're sprayed on an inert mass, they'll work together to reengineer its molecular structure.”

“Inert” meant that Devi's recipe wouldn't work on living things, but only on non-living objects—like the wall of the elevator car. It would rearrange the way atoms bonded to one another, but to produce what? “What's it supposed to do?” Skye asked.

Devi grinned. “It's a bubble recipe, Skye. We'll use it to manufacture a human-sized bubble in the elevator wall.”

“A hole?” Zia asked. “That'll cause a decompression emergency—”

She stopped in mid-sentence, when Devi gave her a look that clearly said she was talking like an idiot.

“It's a movable bubble,” Skye guessed. “It'll carry us from the inside of the elevator car to the outside, without ever creating an opening for air to escape.”

“Exactly,” Devi said, with a stern glance at Zia. “And of course it'll repair the wall behind us, so no one will ever know we were here.”

“You planned this, didn't you?” Skye added. “You expected to go out early.”

Devi shrugged. “This trip would be pretty pointless if we got caught sneaking around inside the elevator.”

“I guess so.” She looked at Zia and laughed at the tense expression on her face. “Don't look so worried! This could be a lot like jumping. Only backwards, because the elevator is falling
away
from the planet. And besides, anything is better than cuddling with lydras.”

There were no windows on the warehouse floor, so it was impossible to know how thick the outside walls might be. Devi looked a little worried as he stood on a stack of containers at the end of an aisle, examining a featureless wall. Then he shrugged. “Oh well. The bubble won't form if the wall is too thin.”

Oh well?
Skye did not feel that casual.

“How do we even know this is an outside wall?” Zia demanded. “What if there's a room on the other side?”

Devi glanced down the length of the warehouse. “This has got to be a full-size floor. Look at it. It's the width of the elevator car. Right Buyu?”

Buyu looked a little doubtful, but he shrugged. “Looks like it.”

“This is an outside wall,” Devi said firmly.

Skye kept quiet. He was probably right.

She hoped he was right.

“Don't blow it, Devi,” Zia growled. “That bottle looks like it holds only enough for a single use.”

“Sooth.” Devi was sweating now; his taut cheeks gleamed. “Okay. Stand back. And, well, close your hoods just in case.”

In case the recipe malfunctioned and punched a hole all the way through the wall. That would cause a decompression catastrophe, as the air on this floor rushed out into airless space.

Skye whispered to her suit to close the hood. Ord was sitting on her shoulder. She reached up to take a firm grip on one of its tentacles. Devi sealed his own hood. Then, without another word, he sprayed the recipe in a neat oval equal to his own height.

At first the wall only looked wet, but after several seconds it took on a bumpy texture. Then it started to stretch, sinking toward the middle, while erupting in a ridge all around the edge of the oval. “It's working,” Devi said, his voice reaching Skye through the radio system. He waved at them. “Come over here. Come quickly.”

They gathered close around him.

“Okay. Let's do it. Just push yourselves into the soft wall . . .” He touched the wall with his hand. Then he leaned against it. His shoulder sank into the lumpy matter.

Skye could not believe it. “Devi! This can't be right. What if the wall hardens around us?” Then they would be trapped inside its structure. “You said it was going to be a bubble.”

Devi nodded, as he squeezed even deeper into the muck. “Sooth. It is a bubble. A bubble of softened matter. Come on. Push your way in. It's a molecular reaction, and it won't last forever.”

“
Zeme dust
,” Zia muttered, but she pressed in next to him. Skye could do nothing but follow. Ord was still on her shoulder. It wrapped a tentacle around the strap of her backpack and held on tight. Skye slipped an arm around Devi's waist. As she did, her hand slid into the disturbed matter of the wall. It felt like heavy, wet sand.

Buyu pressed in next to her. She held him with her other arm. She was facing Zia. They stared at each other as the melting wall oozed over them, sliding across their shoulders, around their legs, over their visors . . .

After a few seconds, Skye could no longer see Zia's terrified eyes.

She knew they were completely covered when she felt a pressure against the arm that encircled Buyu's waist. Something on that side pressed against them. She imagined the wall hardening, returning to its former structure. Meanwhile, more goop flowed slowly past. It was like standing in a river of mud. She felt half crushed, squashed up against Devi while Buyu leaned against her. “I can hardly breathe,” she whispered.

“It won't be long,” Devi said. His voice sounded strained. A moment later, he vanished.

He dropped out of Skye's encircling arm as if a giant had yanked him away. “Devi!” She thought she heard him swear.

Then Zia was screaming. “
I
'
m falling!
I
'
m falling!
” It was a cry of utter terror, like nothing Skye had ever heard before.

“Zia!”

“I've got her,” Devi shouted. Skye could hear his harsh breathing. “Skye, reach down. Give me a hand.”

“Where?”

She felt Buyu's grip tighten on her waist. “Get ready to slap the outside wall with your hot zones,” he warned.

The softened wall abruptly gave way. Skye popped out into a sideways world, defined by the vast, lightless wall of the elevator car. She felt herself slip. The pull of Deception Well was far less than what it had been in Silk, but it was still real. Buyu caught her arm, slowing her fall. She twisted hard, and slapped her other hand against the wall of the elevator car. The hot zone of her glove bonded. A second later her boots connected. “Secure!” she shouted.

Buyu dropped her hand and swung sideways out of the closing bubble. His skin suit bonded at his shins and gloves, leaving him safely crouched against the vertical wall.

Only then did Skye look down.

They had emerged from the elevator car less than two meters above its base. Devi hung upside down, bonded to the wall by the hot zones on his shins. Zia dangled from his outstretched arms, with sixteen thousand kilometers of empty space beneath her. She didn't move. She didn't say a word. Skye wondered if she had fainted. Far beyond her, Deception Well had shrunk to a dark sphere only a little bigger than a soccer ball held at arm's length.

“
Help me
,” Devi whispered, his voice trembling. “I can't pull her up from this position.”

“Oh Zia.” Skye spoke to her suit DI, “I'm climbing.” The hot zones released their grip on the wall, one hand or one foot at a time so that she was able to scramble down the two meters to the bottom of the elevator car. Buyu climbed down on Devi's other side. There was an awkward moment as they tried to decide how to hold on to the wall and reach for Zia. After a second, Skye decided it was a matter of hanging on sideways. Buyu agreed. When they were both locked in place, they leaned together over the edge.

They each took one of Zia's arms.

It was too dark to see Zia's eyes through the arc of her visor, but her voice whispered over the radio. “
Don
'
t drop me
.”

“Never ado,” Skye swore. “Not in a million years.”

“On two,” Devi said. “One, two—”

They yanked Zia up. They pulled too hard, forgetting about the reduced gravity. Zia shot up. Skye almost lost her grip, but Zia managed to slap her gloves against the elevator wall before she could bounce away forever. She landed on top of Devi. For several seconds no one moved. Skye's hood filled with the sound of her own panicked breathing. Then Zia uttered a little cry. She crawled clear of Devi, her breath coming in wracking sobs. Then the transmission from her suit switched off.

Skye scrambled to her side. She put her arm around her. “Hey, we're okay now.”

Zia's shoulders heaved. Her whole body trembled. Skye huddled close to her, whispering nonsense, “It's okay, Zia. Everything's okay.”

After a few minutes, Zia calmed down. She switched her suit radio back on. When she spoke, her voice trembled. “Skye, I've never been so scared before.”

Skye squeezed her shoulder. “Me neither.”

Zia leaned away from the wall, to look down past her feet. Skye followed her gaze. Dawn light glowed on the rim of the planet, sixteen thousand kilometers below them.