Antiquity's Gate: Sanctuary

by RF Hurteau

  “Great!”

  She followed him toward the table where Felix was talking to another man she didn’t know. The other man stood abruptly, shoving his tray toward Felix, and rushed out of the commissary.

  “What was that all about?” asked Ben as they sat down, Sylvia feeling a bit uncomfortable.

  “Huh?” said Felix, absently. “Oh, I’m not entirely sure…” his voice trailed off. Then he gave himself a little shake, and offered Sylvia a friendly smile, reaching out to shake her hand. “A pleasure,” he said. Then, in a light-hearted tone, he added, “Ben says you’ve been talking about me?”

  “What?” she squeaked, suddenly mortified. “Ben, I didn’t think you were going to go around blabbing! I mean, I showed you that list in confidence—”

  “Relax, Syl, I didn’t tell him anything about it.”

  She looked at him, unconvinced. They spent a few tense moments before Felix broke the silence.

  “Well, this is awkward,” he said, still smiling jovially. Sylvia felt her muscles relax as she gave a nervous chuckle.

  “It’s really nothing,” she insisted, although he hadn’t pressed. “Just a list of potential speakers for tomorrow, um, but it wouldn’t work out, since, um…” She stopped herself, frustrated with her brother for putting her in an awkward position with this man she barely knew.

  “Oh yeah? Speakers, like for the celebrations or something?” Felix asked, in a tone that suggested he was trying very hard to sound interested.

  “Yes, it’s nothing personal. We just decided to go in a different direction,” she said quickly. “It’s not because…uh, hmm.”

  Felix laughed. “It’s fine,” he said, glancing back the way his friend had gone. “I get it. Cutting it a little close, though, aren’t you?”

  “It’s not my fault,” Sylvia said, defensively. “The Council sprung it on us just yesterday!”

  “Hey, I’m not judging. Procrastination is one of my most finely-tuned skills.”

  “But I wasn’t—oh, never mind.” She sighed, tapping her fingers absently on the table. “So…” Sylvia said, wracking her brain for a new topic of conversation, “Ben tells me you guys worked together in Pod Manufacturing?”

  Felix nodded but didn’t offer anything further.

  “And now you’re in the Observatory, right?”

  He nodded again. He seemed a little preoccupied. Sylvia looked at her brother and shrugged. She’d never been good at small talk. That was for people who didn’t have mountains of work waiting for their attention.

  “They’ve got rats down there!” Ben offered, enthusiastically.

  Sylvia found herself horrified for the second time in a span of only a few minutes. “Rats, really?”

  “Excuse me,” said Felix, glancing at the clock. He stood, picking up the extra tray his friend had left behind. “It was nice to meet you, Sylvia, but I need to get back to work.”

  “Oh, of course,” she said, standing to shake his hand once more. “Nice to meet you, as well.” He disappeared into the hall, still carrying the tray. “I wonder if he knows those aren’t supposed to leave the commissary?” she asked Ben as she sat back down, but he just shrugged.

  “I don’t think he cares,” Ben said. “So, listen! They’re doing a systems check in my department this afternoon, so I get off early!” he declared happily.

  “Oh yeah? What are you going to do with the rest of your day?”

  “Well, I was going to meet Nelson here after my shift got out, so it seems a bother to go home first. You know, I think I’m going to go look for rats!”

  Sylvia’s eyes widened. “You’re not serious?”

  He was serious. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah, if Felix has them in the Observatory, I bet there are loads down in Pod Manufacturing since it’s underground. Rats like the underground, right? They’re probably all over the place! I’ve never seen one before, have you?”

  “No, but—”

  “I haven’t seen any kind of animal at all since back at school, when we used to go tour the Agra-dome once in a while. It was amazing. If I find one, maybe I’ll keep it as a pet!”

  “I’m sure mother would have something to say about that.”

  “She doesn’t need to know. He can live in our room!”

  Sylvia could not believe she was having this conversation. “I really need to get back to work,” she said at last. “You enjoy yourself, I guess.”

  “You bet!” said Ben, still smiling.

  * * *

  The afternoon passed in a blur. By three o’clock, Sylvia was feeling quite accomplished, having conquered a large number of authorization forms, as well as having made several important calls. Her regular workload was in dire need of attention, but at least the Anniversary would not be a complete disaster as she’d originally feared. Things were looking up, at last.

  There was a buzzing in her ear, and she pressed her earpiece. “Director of Public Relations,” she said, almost cheerfully.

  “Syl?” The connection was poor, a thick static making her flinch as she adjusted the volume slightly.

  “Ben?” she asked, confused. “Is that you? What are you doing with a comm?”

  “One of the supervisors left it behind when they left for the systems check. Hardly anyone’s down here right now. Syl, listen—”

  “Are you crazy?” she hissed, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. She looked around quickly to make sure she was alone and bent her head low to hide from the people walking by. “Put it back where you found it, you idiot!” she scolded. “If you get caught, you’ll be in big trouble. You can’t just take supervisor property. And why is the connection so bad?”

  “Will you just listen? I think I’m about three levels down. I don’t think they work that well down here. Too much interference or something.”

  “What are you talking about, three levels down?” She felt her eyes grow wide. “Sweet Evenmire, you aren’t in the Geothermal Plant, are you?”

  “No, Syl, will you please calm down? I’m fine, I’m nowhere near Geothermal. At least, I don’t think I am.”

  She was only mildly comforted. “I don’t understand, that’s the only thing down there. Just, just go put the comm back where you found it, and come talk to me. It’s hard to understand you.”

  “But there is something down here,” he insisted. “I was looking for rats, like I told you. And I decided to check the storage units because I figured that’d be a great hiding place since hardly anyone goes in there—”

  “Again, with the rats! I can’t believe—” she paused as a pretty Elven woman walked quickly by, heading for the lift, “I can’t believe you’re risking your job over rats!”

  “There’s no rule against going in the storage units, I just never had a reason to before. Anyway, I was crawling around one of the storage rooms, right? And I find this keypad. It was next to a door, and it was kind of hidden. I wouldn’t have found it if I wasn’t down low. There were all these crates and pods in front of it. So, I just, you know, I just sort of pressed it, just to see what would happen…”

  “You just sort of pressed it?” she repeated in disbelief, her voice rising in pitch as she struggled to keep from screaming at him.

  “Well, yeah. I mean, I didn’t figure it would do anything. I figured it’d be locked, if it was important. If they didn’t want anyone touching it, they should have locked it. And it’s crazy, Syl, you’ll never believe what happened! The whole room started to rumble a little. Then, it started moving.”

  “What are you talking about? The room started moving?”

  “Yeah, like a giant lift or something. It went down. And then it stopped, and the door opened, and here I am.”

  He kept talking, but the static was getting worse. “I can’t hear you, Ben, are you still moving around? Come back up. Come up here and you can tell me all about it.” Her palms had begun to sweat as panic set in. Entering a restricted area without authorization was a serious breach of protocol. But normally re
stricted areas were clearly marked. Ben was a smart kid, but he was also young, and impulsive. Would he have ignored a Restricted Access sign? She wouldn’t put it past him. She hoped against hope that no one had spotted him. “Ben, can you still hear me?” she pleaded.

  “I hear you. I just, wow.” More heavy static. Then, “pods.” Static, then “something written…” Static, then, “Cedar. What’s that? Hang on—”

  “Ben,” she pleaded again, “Get out of there! Someone might see you!”

  There was no answer for a long moment. She ignored her discomfort to crank the volume up to max, straining to hear something other than static. When Ben got back, she would kill him for stressing her out like this.

  She was able to make out just one more word. “Door.” And then, the line went dead.

  Sylvia spent the next five minutes trying to reach Ben, but he didn’t answer. At last, nerves frayed beyond any hope of doing her work, she decided she would march right down to Pod Manufacturing and drag him back up out of whatever hole he had crawled into.

  Her determination waned slightly as she made the long walk through the East wing and then boarded the lift that went down to the basement level. She was familiar with which of the departments were located on the basement level, but she didn’t actually know how to get to any of them. She looked around for a sign or someone to ask, but the main corridor was deserted. She set off, peering down side corridors as she went. Endless halls stretched out in every direction. It did not take long before she was completely disoriented.

  “Oh!” she said, turning a corner. She’d been walking quickly, and ran right into Edwin, who looked startled. “Sorry, Edwin!”

  “Sylvia?” He asked, “What are you doing down here?”

  Sylvia hesitated. She worked with Edwin on a regular basis, but she wasn’t comfortable telling him what her little brother had done. He looked at her with concern. “Are you okay? You look pale.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, unconvincingly. “Really. I just, um, I’m looking for Pod Manufacturing.”

  “Pod Manufacturing?” he asked skeptically. “Why?”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but found herself asking a question instead. “Why are you down here?”

  He held up his hands. “Point taken,” he said, though she hadn’t been trying to make a point at all. “Your business is none of mine.” He pointed down the corridor she had just come from. “You’re going the wrong way, you know. You’re lost, aren’t you?”

  She gave a weak smile, and nodded. “I’ve never actually been down here before,” she admitted truthfully.

  “Well, it can be a bit tricky. Let me escort you.” He offered her his arm, and she took it, feeling her face flush slightly.

  Sylvia would have preferred if he’d just given her directions, but felt rude saying so. Instead, she walked beside him, quickly realizing that she could have been down here looking for hours if she hadn’t run into Edwin.

  “So,” said Edwin, “everything all set for tomorrow?”

  “Not by a long shot. But you know what? It’s going to have to do.”

  Edwin smiled. “You’ve been working like a madwoman for weeks, Sylvia. It’s going to be great. And you know what? Whatever you haven’t finished, or whatever last-minute issues haven’t been resolved? No one is going to notice!”

  If Sylvia hadn’t been so concerned about Ben, she might have argued. Instead, she said nothing.

  At last they reached a hallway where a tall, somber Security guard stood watch over a nondescript door. She looked at Edwin, who nodded. “Thanks,” she said before approaching the guard, hesitantly.

  “Excuse me,” she said, “but I just need to get in there for a moment.”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” the guard said, without looking at her. “No admittance. Engineering is running a systems check.”

  “Oh, I know that, but my brother is in there. I just needed to speak with him. It won’t take long.”

  The guard eyed her suspiciously. “Is your brother an Engineer?” he inquired.

  “Well, no, obviously not, but he works in Pod Manufacturing—”

  “Then he isn’t in there. The last employees left a half hour ago.”

  “I’m quite certain he’s in there,” she argued, but the guard cut her off again.

  “I’m sorry ma’am. My orders are No Admittance. Your brother has left the department for the day. Please vacate the area.”

  Sylvia was flustered, unsure how to proceed. She couldn’t very well demand to be let in, and she wasn’t about to explain that he was likely in some mysterious underground room he had no right to be in. Edwin came up beside her and addressed the guard. “Do you know who I am?” he demanded, his tone commanding.

  “Yes sir, Mr. Smalls.”

  “And does your No Admittance order extend to me, as well?” he pressed.

  The guard hesitated. “No, sir,” he admitted, grudgingly.

  “Well, then. I demand you allow myself and the lady inside. We will be in and out before you know it.”

  “But sir—”

  “Now, please,” said Edwin, indicating that the matter was closed. The guard still seemed uncertain, but after a few moments he stepped aside, allowing them to enter.

  Sylvia had been holding her breath during the exchange, and she exhaled with relief as she followed Edwin through the doorway. She looked around, unsure what to do now. She wanted to find the hidden door Ben had mentioned, but she couldn’t go snooping around with Edwin there.

  “Come on,” Edwin encouraged her. “Let’s have a look around, see if we can’t find your brother, eh?”

  Sylvia nodded, and they moved deeper into the room, here and there coming upon one of the Engineers, who didn’t so much as glance up as they passed. The room was long and rectangular, both walls covered with long rows of pods, the center full of workstations. When they reached the end of the room, they faced three doors. She looked at Edwin, who shrugged, and stepped forward to open the first door on the right. The room was small, housing several more complicated workstations than those in the main area. She closed the door again and moved to the next one. This was clearly one of the storage areas her brother had mentioned. Sylvia stepped inside, eyes scanning the rows of pods and crates that filled the room. There was no sign of a keypad. Remembering what Ben had told her, she briefly considered dropping to her hands and knees, but thought better of it. “Ben?” she called, softly. Her voice echoed back to her, but there was no reply. The last room was another storage unit, which again yielded no response. Sylvia followed Edwin silently back into the main room, out past the guard, and up the corridor again, her stomach tight with dread.

  “I’m sure your brother is at home,” Edwin suggested. “Ben, isn’t it? He’s probably taking full advantage of a free afternoon.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tilted his head toward the ceiling as he walked, as if looking at the sky. “Goodness knows we could all do with a free afternoon.”

  She nodded meekly, wishing she could tell him everything that was going on. She really needed someone to talk to right now. Ben had always been her sounding board, her safe space to get all her feelings out in the open. He’d never not been there before. Her mind swam with possibilities. Maybe Edwin was right, though it seemed doubtful. Why hadn’t Ben come straight to her? It was possible she’d missed him in the maze of hallways. He could be at her desk right now, waiting to tell her all about his adventure.

  “Thanks for your help back there,” she said with sincerity. “I appreciate you throwing your rank around on my behalf.”

  “Think nothing of it,” said Edwin. They’d reached the lift. Sylvia stepped off on the first level and glanced back to see if Edwin was going to follow, but he just gave a little wave.

  “My work is never done!” he said, by way of explanation, as the doors began to slide shut again. “I hope you find your brother soon!”

  Sylvia half walked, half jogged back to her station, which was empty. Her heart sank. Where cou
ld Ben be? If he’d missed her at the desk, he’d probably have gone to meet Nelson. Thinking back, Sylvia tried to remember if he’d told her where they’d be meeting. She decided she’d check the commissary, and then Core Operations.

  For a brief moment, when she entered the dining hall, her body flooded with relief. But the red head she had spotted upon entry was not Ben, just the sour-faced man who had served her lunch. He was sitting at one of the tables, hunched over a tablet, muttering. He looked up at her, scowling. “What do you want?” he said.

  “Nothing,” Sylvia replied hastily. “Just looking for someone.”

  “Lunches are all finished,” the man said, sounding agitated. “There’s no one here but me and the dishwasher. Go away.”

  Sylvia turned on her heel and left, so lost in her own worries that she barely gave a thought to the man’s rude behavior. Core Operations proved just as fruitless as the commissary.

  “What now?” snapped the Supervisor when Sylvia knocked on the door to her office.

  “Excuse me, I’m looking for Nelson Boggs. Is he here?”

  “He works over there,” she said, gesturing vaguely, “in Vital Systems. But he isn’t there now. He’s nightshift. That nutcase, Prior, is working his station right now.” With that, she went back to her work, leaving Sylvia to see herself out. She walked past the stairs leading down to the Vital Systems station, glancing at the workers as she passed. She recognized one of them as the man who’d left so abruptly at lunchtime. He was staring off into the middle distance, deep in thought, a mostly empty log sheet partially obscuring several of the gauges she imagined he was supposed to be monitoring.

  Out of options, Sylvia returned to her own station, and tried her best to get some work done, but it was no use. She counted down the minutes until the end of her shift, which seemed agonizingly slow. Sylvia stared at the people coming in and out of the building until, mercifully, she could leave. The ride back to D5 seemed to stretch on forever. When at last she reached the station, she lost no time hurrying out into the marketplace. She didn’t stop to talk to her father. He waved, shouting at her back, “Tell your mother I’ll be late. I’m waiting for a friend!”