The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) (25 page)

We can't. There is no way up except through the prison. And even if it were possible, it would take too long and we would be detected long before we even reached the upper floors.

I need to show you something,
she hears him think. He grabs one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling. When she looks up, Aries sees that the rope she is tied onto is actually hooked into a track. About eight feet in length, it spans from side to side, making it possible for whoever works up there to move vertically. Max pulls himself over to one side of the model. Aries does the same and moves a few feet to the right.

You see this here?

Yes. What is it? It doesn't look like an air shaft,
Aries replies
.

It's not.

How do you know?

I know because I have ridden in it many times when I was little.

It's an elevator!

Yes. It goes all the way to the 278th floor. It's one of the few elevators that span the whole length of the building. It takes forty-three seconds from the bottom to the top. It must have some sort of electromagnetic propulsion system. There is no cable in the center.

"How does that help us?" Aries says out loud.

About a year ago,
Max continues,
we discovered a space between two walls. It was just empty space behind one of the wall covers. Tuari found it. He was exploring some of the areas we don't use, all the way at the bottom. He followed it. We didn't see him for a whole day. He came back telling us that he had found an access point to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

"From here?" Aries says.

Yes. The gap he found leads under the building and all the way to the outermost tier. The only problem is that we'll be detected immediately if we set foot in the cabin.

"Not necessarily," Aries says after a while. She takes out the necklace with the small pill container from inside her coverall.

What's that?
Max asks.

"If it still works, I think we have a way of getting into the elevator undetected. That's an AI/RSC module."

A what?

"It basically makes you invisible to cameras. At least, it blurs your image enough to make you unrecognizable. If it works. I'm just not sure where to go once we're up there. Do you maybe have a drawing of some of the floors? A blueprint?"

Max grins.
I do.

Before she can reply, Max signs to Tevis, who tells Sam and the two kids to lower them to the ground.

At the bottom, Aries unhooks the rope from the harness while Max disappears out the door.

"There is an elevator," she says to Ty.

"Come again?"

"Tuari discovered an elevator that leads all the way to the 278th floor."

"Why would you want to go up there?" Ty asks. "We just came all the way down."

Aries can see the concern in his eyes.

"I need to get Kiire. And Seth. And somehow C.J."

"Why? And how are you going to do this?"

"I'm... not sure."

"And what then?" Ty says.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's say you can somehow get them down here. Let's say you can find C.J. in one of the, I don't know, two hundred thousand rooms in this building without being seen… what then? We don't have anything to oppose them. We don't even know if we have enough food for all of us. We have no weapons, we're not trained in battle of any kind—"

"You are," Aries interrupts him.

"More or less. But I'm the only one. Maybe Sam here can fire a gun. What are we doing here, Aries?"

There is complete silence in the room. Everyone looks at them. Aries can't remember ever having seen Ty this upset.

"Do you know how many S.S. Units exist in this building?" Ty continues. "Do you? And I'm not talking about the regular guards and personnel. I'm talking about highly trained professional soldiers. Their psychological profile doesn't suggest that they'll have any trouble killing any of us down here. Tier Six is the most protected place you can possibly imagine. For each person who lives there, there are two S.S.U.s. And that does not take into account any of the androids.

"Even if we would give each child here a rifle and show them how to use it—and I'll be damned if I would let that happen—we would not survive for more than a minute in a real firefight. So, as much as I understand why you want to go and get your friends, I think it's a bad idea. A really bad idea."

Ty seems to collapse within himself. The anger has bled out of him. What's behind it is the sense of protectiveness he feels toward her and the others. Aries has always wondered about the things he must have seen in his lifetime and can't help but feel a fierce love for her mentor.

"I know," she says after a while.

At that moment, Max comes in, a rolled-up canvas under his arm. When he is about to roll it out on the floor, Tevis gently puts her hand on his arm. He stops.

"I have asked myself many times in the last two years why we're all down here," Tevis begins. Her eyes rest on Ty. "During this time, I have seen things that were more than astounding. Some of them were simply inexplicable by any measure. How is it possible that a girl can communicate with a bird of prey, can have whole conversations with her without anybody knowing about it. Anybody but Max, who is somehow privy to it. Through something we can't quite understand, he is able to talk to another person, hear what she is thinking, understand her, have a real conversation.

"None of what you have seen down here is possible if you look at it through the eyes of the norm. That we are all still here is nothing short of a miracle. Yes, we have no chance against them if it comes to a firefight. Yes, they outnumber us by far. We are but a speck of dust to their machinery. An insect they can stamp out if and when they wish to do so. We're so small and insignificant that they don't even think about us. We get food delivered once a week through doors that can only be opened from the outside. We're prisoners. We've been forgotten. We are not a threat to them. They feel secure in their arrogance that we can't possibly do something, that we cannot even scratch the surface enough to dig a tiny hole into their massive apparatus. But they are wrong, Ty. They are wrong. I know it."

There is silence in the room. All eyes are on Tevis. Ty nods slightly, whether out of respect for her or because he doesn't have anything to oppose, Aries doesn't know. She realizes at that moment that both of them are right, that both arguments are valid.

"When Born-of-Night told me that we needed to reach the Forgotten Floors," Aries says quietly, "it made no sense at first. It was the last place I wanted to be. There's nowhere to go from there, I thought. Everything in me said no. Everything except one thing. I knew that I needed to trust her. I don't know why, but... actually, I do know why. I trusted her because there was no other option. Coming down here, meeting all of you as a result of this, I cannot but fully trust her now. She brought us together. I listened to her even though, at that moment, it seemed to be a great risk.

"I don't know why we're all here together. And I don't know what'll happen. We might all die." She looks around the room and into the faces of the children. They deserve the truth. "But we cannot stay here for long. Someone will eventually discover the hidden hatch inside the prison and if that happens, then all this was for nothing. But right now, the only clue we have is an elevator that, in forty seconds, can bring us to the floor we need to be to get to Seth and Kiire. I don't know if they want to join us, but I have a strong feeling they might. And maybe we find C.J. somewhere. We might not, but it's worth a try."

Aries’s gaze alights on all of them in turn. —Amber and Jeremiah, Max, Sam, Tevis, Mila and the rest of the children.

"Born-of-Night told me something else," she continues. "I don't know what to make of it and, at first glance, it sounds as preposterous as her telling me to come down here. But what she said was, 'the circle is not yet complete.' I have no clue what this means and it might not mean anything at all. But what if it does?"

With her last words, her glance rests on Ty. His inner struggle is clearly visible in his face. He looks briefly at Tevis, then gets up slowly and stretches his legs.

"I didn't understand half of what you were saying there, but I'd like to see those blueprints now." Before Tevis can sign to him, Max has already laid them on the floor and opened them.
 

Chapter 13 — Rescue

Pulled from Mainframe S-0t4nn_nf91. Recording 7_112181_4882 1 A.R.C

- We found an open hatch on top of a freshwater tank.

- Where?

- 61st floor. Just above the prison.

- Was anyone inside?

- No.

- What is the purpose of the tank?

- It provides fresh water to the prison.

- How does it get there?

- Excuse me?

- How does the water get into the prison?

- A pipe leads from the tank into a hatch inside.

- Why would they go into the prison?

- I don't know.

- Search it. From top to bottom. Bring them to me.

- Yes.

- I will set an example for the rest of them.

S-0t9nn_nf44. //End of Recording// Recording 7_112181_4882 1 A.R.C

* * *

Aries watches as Ty's fingers trace one of the lines on the blueprint.

"You see those?" he says.

"What are they?" Aries asks.

Ty and Aries kneel on the floor next to the blueprints. Max stands beside Aries, Born-of-Night on his shoulder. Tuari, Amber, Jeremiah, and Sam sit, together with Mila and Tevis, on the other side.

"If I'm not mistaken, these openings are there so that the air can escape the elevator shaft," Ty replies. "The elevator, in moving through it, pushes air in front of it. The air needs a way to escape the shaft."

"What are you getting at?" Aries asks.

"What I'm getting at is, I don't think you should use the inside of the elevator cabin to go up. Once you're at the 202nd floor, you'll end up in a hallway somewhere. It would be too easy for anyone to see you."

"How else would we ride the elevator, if not inside?"

Ty pauses before he continues. "You have to ride the elevator on top. The cabin is large enough for you to lie flat on your stomach while it moves up. You just have to stay away from the walls."

"Otherwise..."

"Otherwise you'll lose an arm or a leg, or both. There might not be anything to hold on to and I don't know what the surface is made of. You'll have to see when you're there."

"Is there a way to control the elevator from up there?"

"No," Ty says.

"That means we would need someone to actually push the button from inside the elevator?"

"Yes."

"I'll do it," Tevis says. At the same time, Aries hears Max's voice inside her head. "That was Max," Tevis says.

"I'd rather you come with me," she says. "If that's okay with you. You know the building and I was hoping you could help me find them."

Max nods.

"Okay. Max and I are going up. Who's pushing the button?"

"I am," Ty says. "Whoever pushes the button can't leave the cabin afterward so I'll ride up with you. Once you're in the air shaft of the 202nd floor, I'll ride back down. The whole thing should take less than two minutes."

Aries feels a sting of concern for Ty. "Does it have to be you?" she says.

"Yes. I know what to do. I can figure something out if anything unexpected comes up."

Aries nods. She'd rather have him stay down here but she can see the logic in his argument. "How do we get to the elevator?"

"Tuari knows the way." Tevis says. "But you should get some rest first. Eat something and get a few hours of sleep."

"I don't think we can. We should go now," Aries replies.

Ty silently acknowledges her statement.

"Now?" Tevis says.

I'll meet you up there.
Aries hears Born-of-Night in her thoughts.

How are you going to get through the prison section of the core?
she thinks.

I'll find a way,
Born-of-Night answers.

Be careful.

I will.
The hawk lifts off Max's shoulder and flies through the opening into the darkness of the next room.

Do you know where to go?
Aries thinks, suddenly concerned about Born-of-Night's well-being.

I will adapt.

Aries smiles at the hawk's thought.

"I'll take you to the elevator shaft," Tuari says, and walks toward the door. Max follows in line with Mila, Amber, Jeremiah, and Sam behind him.