I supposed the biggest factor in how people reacted to things was always going to be whether they were used to them or not. People at the sea farm would be accustomed to surveillance drones but not nosies.
Once the lifts arrived, Adika sent the Admiral and the Alpha Strike team down to Level 10 of the Haven. It took several more trips of the three lifts to get the rest of us down there. I found my lift ride very unpleasant. The lift was far smaller than the ones at the Hive, so it felt uncomfortably crowded, and I was nervously aware of another surveillance camera watching us from the ceiling.
Level 10 of the Haven was as filthy as Hannah had predicted. The walls were grubby. The grime underfoot seemed more like grit than dust, crunching faintly as I trod on it. The lighting was odd too, coming from some peculiarly shaped glass objects in the ceiling.
There were a lot of footprints outside the lifts, and a couple of incongruously bright green crates, presumably left by maintenance workers making checks on the power and water supplies down here. Once we set off through the corridors though, it seemed as if we were the first people to visit here in not just the last hundred years, but a thousand.
“I’m afraid it’s a bit of a mess,” said the Admiral cheerfully. “There are always far more urgent things to do than clean up down here. None of Levels 4 through 10 are in use, so we only carry out minimal maintenance on them.”
I blinked. The Admiral had told us there was plenty of unused space in the Haven, but only using three out of the ten levels seemed ridiculous.
My blink was followed by a shiver. The cold air here reminded me of my visits to Hive Futura, but the long-abandoned corridors of our old seed Hive were in a far better condition than this place.
“And no matter how often you sweep up the sand, more soon finds its way in,” added the Admiral gloomily.
I peered down at the floor. If the grime was a mixture of dirt and sand, that would explain the crunching sound when I walked on it.
“You’ll probably find the air smells musty,” said the Admiral. “We don’t have as many air vents in the Haven as you have back in the Hive. Our lights will be dimmer than you’re used to as well. The sun-effect lights in Hive beaches and parks have the full spectrum of natural bright sunlight, and the Hive corridor lighting is a weaker version, but our glassworks can only manufacture basic lights.”
We reached a red fire door, and the Admiral pointed at a large switch on the wall next to it. “When you move from one area of corridors to another, you’ll need to turn on the lights for the area you’re entering, and turn off the lights for the area you’re leaving. Unless other people are staying in that area, of course.”
He laughed. “People get upset if you turn off their lights and leave them groping their way around in the pitch dark.”
There were a few whimpers from behind me, as people imagined being lost in this strange place in the dark.
The Admiral opened the fire door, revealing only blackness ahead of us, and reached for another switch on the wall. A moment later, lights came on. We passed through several more red fire doors, carefully turning lights on and off, until the Admiral stopped in a corridor that looked exactly like a dozen others we’d seen.
“Well, these are your chosen corridors,” he said. “The lighting is clearly working, but there could be problems with the rest of the electrical, heating, and plumbing systems. Tactical Commander Lucas asked my wife and me to keep your intended base location secret, so we couldn’t send anyone to check things were working properly in advance.”
“We have some highly skilled maintenance people with us to deal with problems,” said Lucas.
“I’ll leave you to get settled in then,” said the Admiral. “We’re currently in corridor 1 of this block. The fire doors at the end lead to corridor 5 and the beach exit. I think I’ll go out that way and take the hillside path back up to the higher levels of the Haven.”
The Admiral took the crystal unit out of his ear, gave it a disgusted look, and handed it to Lucas. “You can have this back now.”
“Thank you for your help,” said Lucas. “I’ll meet you at the seawall later on.”
The Admiral walked off down the corridor, and Adika started snapping out commands. “Beta team guard groups, secure the fire doors and beach exit. Alpha team blue group, start the security sweep. Everyone else should stay here until we’ve checked the area for threats.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Most of the Strike team were busy, but the rest of us were just standing around in a cold, grimy corridor. Predictably, Hannah lost patience first. I hated cleaning almost as much as I hated heights, but for Hannah the prospect of bringing order to these filthy corridors was like a birthday present, and Adika was cruelly delaying her from opening it.
“Some of us want to start cleaning. How long do we have to stand here?”
“My job is to keep you alive to do your cleaning, Hannah,” said Adika sternly. “You’ll stand here until I’m certain this area is free of threats and surveillance cameras.”
A minute later, assorted voices began speaking on the crystal comms. “Fire door 1 is secure and alarm fitted.”
“Warning signs are attached to the door to corridor 5.”
“Beach exit secure and alarm fitted.”
“Corridor 1 is free of intruders and surveillance devices.”
Finally, the babble of reports ended, and Adika gave an approving nod. “Base corridors are secure, so everyone can now carry on with their work. If that work requires you to leave our base area, then you’ll need to talk to either me, Rothan, or Forge.”
Our maintenance people instantly hurried off to explore the corridors.
“Matias, what types of hidden security cameras did your scanning equipment detect on our way here?” asked Adika. “All the cameras I’ve seen are so large and prominently positioned that they must be decoys to distract people from the real ones.”
“There weren’t any hidden surveillance cameras anywhere on our route,” said Matias’s voice.
“Very strange,” muttered Adika.
“Can we take off these masks now?” asked an unnervingly distorted voice.
“Yes,” said Adika. “Once he’s escaped from his nosy outfit, Forge can bring all Beta team members who aren’t on guard duty to the beach exit, and organize unloading equipment from the aircraft. The Alpha team will now report to Hannah to begin their cleaning duties.”
I heard a massed groan on the crystal comms.
“Cleaning work will build your muscles,” said Rothan’s voice cheerfully. “Hannah, if any of my Alpha Strike team give you trouble, just call me and I’ll come straight back to deal with them.”
“Come straight back to deal with us?” repeated Eli. “Aren’t you going to be helping us with the cleaning?”
“I wish I could help you with the cleaning, Eli,” said Rothan. “I’m quite broken-hearted about missing such a unique experience. Unfortunately, as the unit’s expert on conditions Outside, I have to reconnoitre the hillside near our exit, and the route to the seawall, assessing them both for potential hiding places, ambush points, and other threats.”
Lucas laughed. “Rothan is being influenced by your leadership style, Adika.”
“It will be at least another decade before Rothan can match my skill at sarcasm,” said Adika.
“Hannah, we need to make one minor change to the planned priority sequence for cleaning rooms,” said Megan. “The trip here has been a strain on Zak. We have to get the medical room clean and equipped with a bed as soon as possible so he can lie down and rest.”
I’d noticed Zak was slumped down in his powered chair. Megan’s comment made him hastily straighten up.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Not quite well enough to help with the cleaning, but …”
“Zak needs to lie down and rest,” Megan repeated. “Have the promised beds, tables, and chairs been delivered yet?”
“I’m just going out through the beach exit, so …” Rothan l
et that sentence trail off and started another. “I can see some people carrying bed frames and mattresses down the hillside right now.”
“Good,” said Megan. “Once the medical room is ready, it’s back to the planned cleaning sequence, starting with the operations room so our maintenance people can begin setting up the mobile operations centre.”
“Understood,” said Hannah. “We’ll use the unskilled labour to do the first rough clean, and follow after them bringing things up to an acceptable standard.”
There was a strangled sound on the comms. “Are the Alpha Strike team allowed to object to being called unskilled labour?” asked Eli.
“No,” said Adika. “I’ve been thinking of you as unskilled labour ever since you came out of Lottery.”
Eli’s sigh was drowned out by the voice of our unit Electrical Maintenance Specialist, Sakshi.
“We’ve found the main electrical controls for this block of corridors and turned the heating on. It seems to be working, but it will be a while before it makes a difference to the temperature or we have any hot water.”
Lucas laughed. “Cold water should be perfectly adequate for the unskilled labour. Tactical team, let’s find a room where we’ll be out of the way of their cleaning efforts and hold a meeting. Would you like to join us for that, Amber?”
It was highly unlikely anyone would try to recruit the telepath to do cleaning, but I’d still feel safer in a room with the Tactical team. “Yes, please.”
Emili and the other members of the Tactical team came out of the crowd, and we all followed Lucas off down the corridor. Lucas opened a couple of random doors before discovering a large, bare room. He led us inside and turned to face us.
“Well, that was a shock.”
I frowned. “What was a shock?”
Lucas gave a despairing gesture with both arms. “Everything we’ve seen and heard since we left the Hive. If the walls in here were cleaner, I’d bang my head against one. Would anyone like to pick the one thing that worries them the most?”
“It’s hard to pick just one,” said Emili.
“Ralston’s revelation about only leaving aircraft in the Haven aircraft hangar in special circumstances,” said Gideon. “He made a polite excuse about the hangar being too small, but I was born seventy years ago rather than yesterday. That’s a security precaution to stop people tampering with unattended aircraft or stealing them. It doesn’t sound as if it’s a response to the recent attacks either. It’s a permanent arrangement.”
“What I don’t understand is the physical layout and functionality of the sea farm itself,” said Lucas. “It makes no sense to me at all.”
“It’s certainly strange that the Haven is so large,” I said. “If seven out of the ten levels are completely empty, people are using a bit less than a third of the available space. I suppose the extra levels are to allow for the population of the sea farm increasing, but it seems over-generous.”
Lucas stabbed a forefinger at me. “That’s an excellent point, Amber, though people are actually using far less than a third of the available space.”
I was confused. “They are?”
“Let’s work through the numbers,” said Lucas. “Level 1 of the Haven is taken up by the Admiral’s command centre, the aircraft hangar, and a lot of offices, so everyone at the sea farm has apartments on Level 2 or Level 3. The full population of the sea farm, including children, is about twenty thousand people. If all the levels of the Haven were the same size, then they could fit another seventy thousand people into the unused accommodation levels, but the levels of the Haven aren’t all the same size.”
Gideon nodded eagerly. “The people at the sea farm use the top three levels of the Haven, probably because they have the most windows. Since the Haven is built inside a cone-shaped hill, those top levels have to be smaller than the levels below them.”
“We saw the windows and the angle of the hillside from the aircraft,” said Lucas. “My imprint is heavily loaded with information on psychology and Lottery testing, but I expect our mathematical expert can estimate the areas involved.”
“I’m working on it.” Hallie tapped madly at her dataview, shook her head, and did some more tapping. “My lowest estimate is that the Haven could hold two hundred thousand people.”
Lucas buried his face in his hands for a moment before looking up again. “That explains why they don’t bother cleaning the unused levels. It would be a never-ending task.”
“I know this seems a minor oddity compared to that,” said Kareem, in his habitually lazy voice, “but what really worries me is the sea farm makes its own primitive light bulbs. The sea farm supplies small amounts of fish, fruit, and other food to supplement that grown in the Hive vats and hydroponic bays. Why go to the trouble of making their own light bulbs when the Hive could send them some proper lighting equipment?”
“The sea farm isn’t just making light bulbs,” said Lucas. “The surveillance cameras are all so large that Adika thought they had to be decoys. I think the real reason for their bulky size is they’re a basic design made at the sea farm. The Admiral’s mention of spinning and weaving seemed to mean these people are making their own clothes, and this place has a vast infrastructure as well.”
Lucas paused. “I can see the sea farm needs a reservoir for a reliable water supply, but the Hive sends fuel rods to the sea farm to supply its power. Why do these people use wind power and water mills?”
“Their dataviews are strange too,” I said.
Lucas raised his eyebrows at me. “I saw one of the people in the aircraft hangar was using a dataview, but it looked totally standard to me.”
“They’re all using totally standard dataviews, but the cheapest possible models. I recognized them because I had that model of dataview myself when I was on Teen Level. They have a distinctive wavy pattern on the case.”
Hallie tried to tug at her purple hair, but failed because it was trimmed so short. “Perhaps the people in the hangar were very low level workers.”
“The people in the hangar could have been low level,” I said, “but I noticed the Admiral uses that model of dataview too.”
Lucas frowned. “That’s curious.”
“We need Gold Commander Melisande to explain more about what’s going on here,” said Kareem. “We particularly need to know why Joint Hive Treaty insists on Hives having sea farms.”
There were murmurs of agreement from the other Tactical team members in the room.
Lucas sighed. “As I told you before, I asked Gold Commander Melisande that question, and she used the dreaded words ‘restricted information’. There must be a good reason, one that probably explains all the oddities we’ve noticed about the sea farm, but we aren’t going to be told what that reason is.”
Emili pulled a face. “That’s not going to help our investigation. If we don’t understand basic aspects of the sea farm life, then we can’t make reliable predictions about our target to narrow down the number of suspects.”
I felt guilty. I’d had the chance to read Melisande’s mind, and get the knowledge my Tactical team needed, but I’d chosen not to do it because of my concerns about personal privacy. On the other hand, Melisande had said this knowledge would be an irrelevant distraction. Lottery wouldn’t have made her Gold Commander of our Hive if her judgement couldn’t be trusted.
I couldn’t just ignore issues of personal privacy anyway. Lucas had worked as Keith’s deputy Tactical team leader before becoming my Tactical Commander, so I knew Keith’s lack of respect for privacy had caused major problems in his unit.
“I’m afraid we have to accept that none of our standard methods will work here,” said Lucas. “We’ll have to resort to the painful elimination approach instead, and regard everyone at the sea farm as a suspect until proven innocent. Morton established the innocence of the first four groups of people sent to the Hive. Amber has established that Juniper is innocent.”
Lucas turned to me. “Amber, you read the mind of the Admir
al during our flight here. Did his thoughts show he was innocent, or were they too confusing for you to be sure?”
“The Admiral is definitely innocent,” I said. “I was reading his mind for a long time, and he’s very protective of his people at the sea farm. The only thing that confused me was a single sentence on a low level of his mind. The words didn’t make any sense to me.”
“People at the sea farm use some distinctive technical terms,” said Lucas. “What were these words?”
“C’est mon coeur qui te parle. I may not be pronouncing that quite correctly, but it’s …” I looked anxiously around the faces of the Tactical team. “Why are you all staring at me?”
Chapter Twenty-two
“We’re staring at you because that doesn’t sound like a technical term, Amber,” said Lucas. “It sounds like a phrase in a different language from ours. A language spoken by another Hive.”
“What?” I shook my head. “That can’t be right. Why would the Admiral of our sea farm know the language spoken by another Hive?”
“People in Hive Trade and Hive Politics are sometimes imprinted with the languages of other Hives,” said Emili. “The Admiral of the sea farm could be imprinted with another language too.”
“Give me a moment to check that.” Lucas took out his dataview, tapped at it, and nodded. “The electricians have managed to set up our secure communications link to the Hive.”
He did some more rapid tapping, and then wrinkled his nose. “The Admiral’s imprint doesn’t include any languages. I’ve researched the sentence Amber mentioned. I had to guess at the spelling, but I’ve got a high probability match. The phrase means something like I speak to you from the heart. Would that make sense in the context where you saw it, Amber?”
“It would make a lot of sense.”
Hurricane (Hive Mind Book 3) Page 20
