by R F Hurteau
“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?”
How would he even have found it?
“No, Syl, will you please calm down? I’m fine, I’m nowhere near Geo. At least, I don’t think I am.”
She was not comforted, her brain instantly switching tracks, looking for other possibilities for such a nonsensical statement.
“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 hear you.”
“But there is something down here,” he insisted. “I was looking for rats, just like I told you. And I decided to check the storage units because I figured that’d be a great hiding place since there isn’t a lot of activity in there—”
“Again with the rats! I cannot believe—” she paused as a young Elven woman moved past, heading for the lift, “I can’t believe you’re risking your job over rats! Get up here this instant or I’ll come drag you out of there myself. You’re sixteen, Ben, not six. Act your age for once!”
“There’s no rule against going in the storage units, Syl. I just never had a reason to before. Storage stuff is grunt work. And I’m one of their best and brightest. I don’t do grunt work.”
He said this with such obvious pride that she could practically see him puffing out his chest, which seemed absurd given the circumstances.
“Anyway, I was crawling around one of the back rooms, right? And I find this keypad. It was behind some stuff, kind of hidden. I mean, it wasn’t hidden hidden, but 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 sort of pressed it, just to see what would happen...”
“You sort of pressed it?” she repeated in utter disbelief, her voice rising in pitch as she struggled to keep from screaming at him.
If there was one thing Sylvia could not abide, it was shenanigans, and yet it seemed as though that was the very thing at which Ben excelled. How he had not given her a heart attack before now was a mystery for the ages. Even at this moment she could feel the blood pounding in her ears as she fought back panic.
If Ben was caught breaking the rules, he could lose his job. Their family depended on his income. But beyond that, depending on the infraction, he could be sent to the Geothermal Plant.
Sylvia pushed the thought away, but it kept rebounding. It was too terrible to think about. Those who were sentenced to time in Geo almost never came out...those that did were never the same.
“Well, yeah. I didn’t figure it would actually do anything. I figured it’d be locked if it was important. Wouldn’t you think? I mean, 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, all of a sudden, it was moving.”
“What are you talking about?”
She felt as though she were slowly losing her grip on reality. He couldn’t have said what she thought he’d just said. “The room? Rooms don’t move, Ben.”
“Yeah, well, this one did. It was 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 walking around? Come back up.”
She had to switch tactics. He obviously wasn’t about to listen to threats. Perhaps she could lure him out with kindness. “Come up here and you can tell me all about it. Why don’t we discuss it while we check on the Food Services preparations? I bet we could taste-test some of the treats for tomorrow.”
Her palms had begun to sweat. Entering a restricted area without authorization was a serious breach of protocol.
But restricted areas were clearly marked. Ben was a smart kid, but he was also young, and his youthful spirit tended to win out over common sense in her experience. 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? Come back, I want to hear all about this moving room of yours.”
“I hear you. I just, wow.”
More heavy static. Then, “pods.” Static, then “something written...” Static, then, “Cedar. What’s that? Hang on—”
Kindess clearly was having no effect. “Benjamin Conrad Parker, you get out of there this instant! Someone might see you!”
There was no answer for a long moment. She ignored her discomfort and cranked 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. She tried to comfort herself, thinking of all the tight spots Ben had talked himself out of at school.
But the Security force was not staffed with the same patient, understanding types as the Education wing. If Ben had been caught out of bounds, he wouldn’t be talking himself out of it this time.
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. He might not be able to convince Security that his ill-advised activities were innocent, but she was the head of Public Relations, for crying out loud! What was the point of being head of Public Relations if she couldn’t spin something to her advantage?
Her mind’s eye conjured up an image of her pointing an accusatory finger into Denton Murphy’s chest, and she cringed. Hopefully she was over-reacting. It wouldn’t come to that.
Her determination waned 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 departments were located here, 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 disoriented.
“Oh!”
She’d turned a corner and ran right into someone, startling them both. “Sorry, Edwin!”
“Sylvia? 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 replied, her attempt at a casual tone unconvincing. “Really. I just, um, I’m looking for Pod Manufacturing.”
“Pod Manufacturing?” Edwin cocked an eyebrow. “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.”
Sylvia hadn’t been trying to make a point at all.
But Edwin continued. “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 been down here before.”
“Well, it can be a bit tricky. Let me escort you.”
He offered her his arm and she took it, feeling her face flush.
Sylvia would have preferred if he’d just given her directions but felt rude saying so. Instead she walked beside him, quickly realizing that sh
e could have been down here looking for hours if she hadn’t run into him.
“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. Whatever you haven’t finished, or whatever last-minute issues haven’t been resolve…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 dull grey door. She looked at Edwin, who nodded. “Thanks.”
She approached the guard, feeling uncertain of herself. “Excuse me, but I just need to get in there for a moment.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” he replied 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’s eyes moved up and down her body, taking in her Human physique, making her feel small. “Is your brother an engineer?” he inquired dryly.
“Well, no, obviously not, but he works in Pod Manufacturing—”
“Then he isn’t in there,” came his curt reply. “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 vacated the department for the day. Move along, please.”
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 she suspected he was 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?”
His tone was more commanding than she was used to. Sylvia was familiar with a friendly, carefree Edwin. Not the version who threw his weight around.
“Yes sir, Mr. Smalls.”
“And does your ‘no admittance’ order extend to me, as well?” he pressed, drawing himself up. The two were matched in height, though the security guard made a much more foreboding picture. His stance remained unyielding, but his eyes were hesitant.
“No, sir.”
“Well, then. I demand you allow myself and Ms. Parker inside. We will be in and out before you know it.”
“But sir—”
“Now, please,” said Edwin, lifting a finger and wiggling it back and forth in a gesture that indicated 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. And after his help, she didn’t see how she could politely ask him to wait here.
“Come on,” Edwin encouraged her, seeming undaunted by his exchange with the guard. “Let’s have a look around, see if we can’t find your brother, eh?”
Sylvia nodded, and they moved deeper into Pod Manufacturing. Here and there they came across 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 and conveyor belts.
Everything was stopped, the belts silent, the array of parts and materials they carried waiting patiently for work to resume.
Reaching the back wall, Sylvia and Edwin were faced with three options. The doors were each as nondescript as the one that had led to Pod Manufacturing. She wasn’t sure what she’d been hoping for; perhaps a clearer sign. Something simple like, “This way to the room that moves.”
Sylvia cast a hesitant glance at Edwin, who shrugged, and stepped forward to open the first door on the right.
This room was small, possibly some sort of control center. Inside were several workstations more complicated-looking than those in the main area. An engineer looked up as she entered, and she shot him an awkward, apologetic smile as she closed the door again and moved to the next one, heart racing.
This had to be one of the storage areas her brother had talked about. Sylvia stepped inside, eyes scanning the rows of pods and crates that filled the room. The presence of a door lifted her hopes, but they were dashed as she read the sign over the lintel: “To Reclamation.” Ben hadn’t mentioned anything about Reclamation. And besides, that door didn’t even have a keypad. In fact, there was no indication of a keypad anywhere in the room. Remembering what Ben had told her about crawling around, she considered dropping to her hands and knees to look, but thought better of it.
“Ben?”
Her voice echoed back to her, but there was no reply.
Feeling confident that the choices had been narrowed down to the one door that would certainly lead her to Ben, she approached the last one.
“Third time’s the charm,” Edwin said with a smile.
This last room was another storage unit. When she called out she was dismayed but unsurprised to find it, too, yielded no response—from her brother or otherwise.
Sylvia followed Edwin back into the main room without speaking, and out past the guard. She chanced a glance at him, and saw his eyebrow raised in a smug expression, as if to say “You see? I told you.”
She said nothing until they had returned up the corridor again and turned the corner. Her stomach felt tight with dread.
“I’m sure Ben’s just gone home,” Edwin suggested. “He’s probably taking full advantage of a free afternoon.”
He hooked his thumbs behind his bright yellow belt 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 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 always been there before. Her mind swam with possibilities.
Maybe Edwin was right, though it seemed doubtful. Why hadn’t her brother 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.”
They’d reached the lift. Sylvia stepped off on the first level and glanced back, expecting Edwin 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 could Ben be? If he’d missed her at the desk, he’d probably have gone on 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 redhead she had spotted upon entry was not Ben, just the sour-faced man who served the meals. He was sitting at one of the tables hunched over a tablet, muttering. He scowled up at her. “What do you want?”
“Nothing,” Sylvia replied. “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 t
o 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 gestured 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 run off at lunchtime. He was staring off into the middle distance, deep in thought, an 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, their slow passage agonizing. 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!”
She burst into the apartment, wild-eyed, causing her mother to drop the pan she’d been wiping onto the floor with a loud clatter.
“Is Ben here?”
Martha, still clasping her heart, just shook her head. Sylvia, not wanting to explain herself right now, went to her room and shut the door.
She sat considering the possibilities. Was she overreacting? Maybe everyone had been right. Maybe the stress of the Anniversary and all of her extra work had pushed her over the edge.
She’d half-convinced herself that there was a perfectly logical explanation for Ben’s absence when she heard a knock at the front door.
