Skyfall (37 page)

The hatch in the floor swung back to reveal … nothing.

‘No way,' Kes said, backing away from the gaping void.

‘It's this way or it's upstairs to the security boys, mixie. That's the choice. We're just lucky this old dome has a drop-hatch.'

Below, the stem of Dome 87b fell away into the underworld, dropping into vertiginous nothingness. Attached to the stem were ancient rungs leading down until they too vanished into the gloom.

‘They built escape hatches onto these early domes. I guess they were low enough to make it worthwhile.' Jem latched the hatchway open and stepped back, and a cold breeze slid through the opening with a faint moan. ‘Once you get going, it's not so bad.'

‘You've done this before?' asked Lari.

‘I've spoken to people who have.'

‘I can't.' Kes was shaking her head. ‘There's got to be another way.'

‘This is it, mixie. It's your choice, but I'm going in thirty seconds, whether you're with me or not.'

‘It'll be okay, Kes. Just take it slowly.'

‘How far is it?'

‘No idea,' said Jem. ‘A few hundred metres.'

‘What if we slip?'

‘Don't.'

‘Kes, we've got no choice.'

Finally, reluctantly, Kes nodded, and Jem pointed to Lari.

‘You go first. Climb slowly and stop if you need to rest.'

‘What about you?'

‘I'll come last. I've gotta close the hatch behind us.'

‘Are you sure about this?'

‘I'm sure I don't wanna get caught by Jenx.'

‘How do we know we can trust you?'

‘Sky, copygen! You can't. I thought that was obvious. Now, are you gonna get moving or do I have to push you?'

Slowly, Lari eased himself to the floor and shuffled forwards towards the hatch. The first couple of metres through the base of the dome were an enclosed vertical tunnel, but then the sky opened up, a whole world of nothing. Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the upward rush of wind, Lari set his feet onto one of the rungs, then reached forward and grabbed a handhold set into the stem.

‘Ready.'

‘Once you're out of the tunnel, stop and wait for the mixie. Just get used to being outside.'

‘Outside I can handle. Falling I can't.'

It was hard to be certain through the girl's mask, but Lari thought she might have grinned.

‘See you at the bottom. Try not to trip.'

His hands were shaking as he eased his foot off the first rung, but the next felt solid enough. Carefully he lowered his other foot past, then transferred his hands to the first rung and then he was climbing slowly down, out of the floor of 87b, clinging to the domestem like a tiny insect.

Emerging from the tunnel, his hands were slick with sweat and a surge of adrenaline shivered through him, setting his toes tingling in his shoes. He breathed deeply until it cleared.

The wind was strong. It surged around the stem and tore at his clothes. Looking up, he could see Kes easing herself onto the ladder.

‘Don't look down, Kes,' he called. ‘Just keep your eyes on the ladder. It's easy.'

She didn't reply and he climbed down a little further, making room on the ladder for her. His heart was slowing now, the initial shock of being so high and so exposed wearing off, and he looked around. It was vaguely like being out on the balcony, except that the air tasted different. It still had that same, ancient, dusty quality, but down this low there was something else – a certain … oiliness that he wasn't comfortable with.

Kes was just a few rungs above now, clinging to the ladder with white knuckles. Above her, Lari heard a faint clang as Jem pulled the hatchway back into place.

‘Let's go. Slow and steady,' she yelled, her voice almost completely whipped away by the breeze.

Gradually they descended through the lowest layers of the city into the twilight, into the underworld. Even a low dome like 87b was still several hundred metres above the highest of the old city towers, and it was a solid ten minutes before something emerged from the gloom.

‘I think we're almost there,' Lari shouted to Kes, who simply nodded without glancing towards him.

The square remains of an ancient tower loomed out of the murk, only a few metres from the stem. The top floors had long since crumbled inwards, and Lari could see the internal walls of the old building, cracked and leaning on one another at crazy angles. Out of curiosity, he started counting the number of floors. Ten, fifteen, twenty … At twenty-eight he looked down and there was the ground, just a few metres below.

‘We did it!'

They were all down, standing in the shadows at the base of Dome 87b. The crumbling entry to the old tower was just across from them and a few metres away in the other direction, half-hidden by fallen debris, the stem of another dome reached into the sky.

‘Kes, we're on the ground!'

‘I know.'

Kes was pale. Her hands trembled slightly and then, unexpectedly, she bent and retched onto the ground.

‘Are you okay?'

‘No.' She looked up at him, wiping her mouth. ‘Lari … there's nothing …'

Suddenly he remembered. She'd never been outside before. Ever.

‘Kes, it's okay. It's night. We won't be exposed and when daylight comes we'll find shelter.'

‘It's not that, Lari. It's just … too big.'

She was about to retch again and Lari reached towards her, but before he could touch her Jem grabbed his hand.

‘Leave it. She'll get used to it.'

‘I want to help her.'

‘You won't be able to. And besides, you don't owe her anything.'

‘What's that supposed to mean?'

‘You haven't worked it out?'

‘What?'

Jem looked down at Kes, still wretchedly crouched on the ground. ‘You haven't told him, have you?'

Kes glared back into the girl's hidden face, but Jem just laughed, turned back to Lari, grabbed the bottom of her mask and swept it off her head in one fluid motion.

She looked just like Saria, only bigger. Her skin was a slightly lighter shade, but her hair was the same tight curls, her eyes also dark and almond-shaped.

Then he saw the side of her neck. And Jem, watching closely, saw him make the connection.

‘Recognise this?' She tilted her head and turned so the tattoo was clearly visible, the two sideways tridents, curled back against one another. ‘Remind you of something?'

‘What is that?'

‘This, Larinan Mann, is the symbol of the Underground. This is how we identify ourselves to one another. This is the mark you wear when you commit yourself to the fight for equality, at any cost.'

Lari stared at Kes, who'd lifted her chin defiantly.

‘You're …'

‘What difference does it make?'

‘For how long?'

‘As long as I've known you.'

‘Go on,' Jem interrupted. ‘Tell him the truth.'

‘What truth?' Lari stared at his friend. ‘Kes, what's she talking about?'

‘Didn't you ever wonder why your friend became the first and only mixie ever to attend the advanced school, Lari? Didn't it occur to you that perhaps she might have been put there for a reason?'

‘What reason?'

Suddenly, the fight seemed to go out of Kes. She lowered her eyes and stared at the ground.

‘You.' Her voice was so soft Lari could barely hear her.

‘Me?'

‘My father picked her especially. A mixie, therefore she'd be an outsider in the school, just like you, copygen. Intelligent enough to stand out in the aptitude testing, and from a suitable enough background that she could be taught to feel… sympathy … for what the Underground stands for.'

‘Is this true?'

Kes didn't reply.

‘Kes?'

It seemed like ages that the three of them stood there, the only sounds those of the dead city, shrouded in all directions by the night. Finally, Jem spoke.

‘Come on. We'd better move.'

‘Where to?'

‘To find my father. If we're gonna get this girl out of DGAP and the city, we'll need the Underground.'

Without another word, she turned and set off west along the crumbling thoroughfare into which they'd descended.

‘Coming?'

Lari and Kes didn't move. Then Kes looked up again.

‘Lari …'

‘Not now, Kes. Just leave it.'

He turned and followed the shiftie girl, and after a few seconds, having no other choice, Kes followed.

Their footsteps rang off the deserted buildings. Occasionally small creatures scavenging in the rubble and startled by their passage would scurry away into the shadows, but for the most part the city was deserted. Dead buildings loomed over them, grey and hollow and echoing. They reminded Lari of the ancient tower in the Darklands, but here there were so many of them disappearing into the sky that he soon lost all perspective.

‘Where are we going?' he asked, as much to make conversation as anything.

‘There are a couple of places we'd organised in case the dome got compromised,' Jem replied. ‘Any Underground ops who didn't get caught up in the sweep of 87b will be heading for those. Us too.'

‘Is that where we'll find Gregor?'

‘Dunno. If he's not there, someone will know where he is. We're good that way.'

‘And then what?'

‘Then we'll think about this girl.'

‘Your sister. Her name's Saria.'

‘You told me that already.'

‘So why don't you use her name?'

‘Listen, Larinan.' She stopped and faced him. ‘Don't think you can just blow in here, telling me I've got a Darklander sister, and expect that to make everything all right. Sky! I'm not even convinced I believe you, yet.'

‘You'll believe me when you see her.'

‘If
I see her. Dad might decide just to let DGAP finish her off. That'd probably be safer than attracting more attention.'

Lari shook his head ‘He won't.'

‘I wouldn't bet on it.'

They travelled deeper into the old city, twisting and turning to avoid unstable areas of ground and to detour around buildings that time had reduced to piles of shattered rubble. Once, off in the distance, they heard voices, some kind of strange singing echoing along the cavern-like streets, and Jem stopped, cocking her head to listen before changing course.

‘What's that?'

‘One of the clans. Riverfolk, I think.'

‘How can you tell?'

‘I know their songs. Even if it isn't, we'd better stay out of the way.'

‘How come?'

‘Not all the clans like the Underground. And they'll know we've been hit hard tonight.'

‘Already?'

Jem laughed.

‘You don't need a com system for news like that to get around, Lari. Shi, I'd bet you anything that down here we know most of the skycity news before you topsiders do. Anyway, I want to avoid the clans. At least until I've spoken to Dad.'

She led them through the lower level of an empty building. The lobby was blackened and cavernous and nobody spoke until they came out the other side into a street that looked exactly the same as the one they'd just left.

‘How do they live down here?'

‘The clans?'

‘Yeah. Don't they get exposed?'

‘Of course. But they're not like you. They seem to be able to take it. At least, more than topsiders. They still shelter during the day, of course, and nobody knows for certain how much it takes to max them out, but it does happen occasionally.'

‘Could they live in full light?'

‘Don't be an idiot. Nobody can. Even us shifties.'

Lari looked for a moment at Jem's dark skin and tightly curled hair.

‘Even you?'

‘Why should I be any different?'

‘Your mother was a subject. From the field.'

‘And my father was a topsider who got maxed out and left down here for dead.'

‘You must have wondered, though, whether you could.' She didn't answer. ‘Imagine what it'd be like.'

Now she looked straight at him and there was anger flashing behind her dark eyes.

‘Listen, copygen, for as long as I can remember I've had to wear this …' She fished out her mask and waved it in his face. ‘Do you have any idea why?'

‘To hide your … features.'

‘Exactly. And why should I have to do that, do you think?'

Lari searched for an answer, but Kes spoke for the first time since they'd started walking.

‘So people don't know how different you really are.'

The two girls made eye contact, then Jem nodded.

‘Exactly. People are scared of difference, even down here, where everyone's supposedly outcast and exiled. It doesn't change the fact that people fear anything they don't understand, and if they can't handle someone who looks strange, do you really think they'll be able to cope with a person who can walk around in the middle of the day with no problems?'