by Tanya Lisle
“I’ll figure out Mac,” Ed said.
“Here,” Kelan said, handing her a black bar wrapped in plastic. “Looks like you’re good to go, but you need to eat something. Try to do that before you get into whatever this mess is.”
“If I’ve got time,” Ed said. “Thanks.”
Kitty led the way out. Ed followed, unwrapping the protein bar and shoving it all in her mouth at once. Kitty grinned and nudged her lightly in the arm. “I know a couple guys who would love that trick.”
Ed nearly choked on the bar, covering her mouth with one hand as she was caught between coughing and laughing. “Kitty!” Ed said, smacking Kitty on the arm and letting out another cough to clear her throat before swallowing.
“Not so much that part,” Kitty said. “You gotta relax, Ed. You make stupid decisions when you’re that — Oh dammit.”
Kitty picked up her phone, shook her head, and then pocketed it. “Mac’s outside,” she said. “Apparently someone’s been holding out on him.”
When Kitty started running, Ed kept up with her and stayed just a few paces behind her until they reached the exit of the Medical Wing. Mac stood outside the door with Miranda, both of them looking like they were ready to attack the other, their voices booming down the corridor as they yelled at one another.
“It’s not my job to find her!” Miranda yelled at him. “That’s up to you! Where were you when she was getting my kid drunk?”
“You are supposed to report any sign of her to Security! We have been trying to find her for almost twenty four hours and you let her get away!”
“I got Mac,” Ed told Kitty. “You let me know if you find out anything from Miranda.”
Kitty nodded and fell back, slowing to a walk behind Ed. Ed kept her own pace quick as she went forward, no longer running. She kept her eyes on Mac, shaking her head and taking a deep breath. She was already starting to feel the lack of food making her head spin, but she’d have to keep it together long enough to deal with this.
“Mac, I need an update,” Ed said loudly enough to be heard over both of them. It was enough to draw their attention, at least. “The hell happened?”
“Finally got a lead on our missing person.”
“Grace will deal with it,” Ed told him, continuing to walk past him. “You, I need to know what actually happened and what’s happening now.”
Mac hesitated, glaring at Miranda before he went to Ed’s side and fell in step beside her. “She tried to kill you,” Mac said. “I told you that you were being too soft on her. She’s hiding somewhere, but we’ll find her. Once we do, I’m going to find out what she’s here for.”
Ed nodded. A wave of nausea washed over her, but she kept herself together enough and made sure her face showed none of it until it passed.
“I wasn’t expecting you back on your feet so soon,” Mac said.
“I wasn’t expecting to be off them,” Ed said. “Grace tells me that there’s a video of what happened where Snow vanished into thin air. Do you have it?”
A tone sounded on her phone for a message, but she ignored it for now, watching as Mac fished his own phone out and scrolled through his files as they walked. “She’s dangerous, Ed,” he said. “You have to understand that now. And now she’s loose and we have no way to find her.”
He tapped a few things on his phone and offered it to her. Ed took the phone from him and watched the video, feeling a little strange watching herself as it happened. She could see her shoulders go slack and the displeasure on Snow’s face. She moved her wrist and Ed collapsed.
She was gone before Ed hit the ground and before a single weapon was drawn.
Ed handed the phone back to Mac. “Iris.” She waited for the tone before continuing. “Run See You Space Cowboy.”
“What the hell is space cowboy?”
“Hang on,” Ed said, pulling out her phone to check her messages. Most of them were from Kitty and Ed made sure her face remained neutral as she scrolled through them. Miranda had seen Snow yesterday after the commotion and she had been drinking with Brady before disappearing.
Ed’s fingers worked over the screen to message her back. Get Clyde to talk to Brady. Find out if he knows where she is.
“Space cowboy,” Ed said, switching to another screen on her phone that showed only a loading icon, “is a protocol to find anyone in the facility that isn’t registered. If Iris finds anyone without a watch or a phone on them, we’ll know exactly where they are.”
“Have you been able to do that the whole time?”
“I don’t think you know how much documentation there is to get through for Iris. It’s taking me years to get through it all.” It was technically true. She’d read two pages of it in the last year out of boredom, but she’d learned all of the commands for the system she needed when she first gained control of it.
Her phone alerted her to another text. He says she’s probably Downstairs.
Ed changed their route through the complex and Mac kept up with her. “Did it find her?”
“Something like that,” Ed said, frowning. “Looks like Grace managed to figure it out before Iris did.”
“That robot of yours can’t do everything, eh?”
Ed flicked through the screens to check on Iris’ progress. The search was complete, Iris reporting that there were no foreign persons located within the Janus Complex. She scrolled through the log to see if there was anything unusual, but she found nothing. Iris scanned every section Upstairs and performed a full scan of Downstairs as well, finding nothing. “Looks like.”
“So where is she?”
“Downstairs.”
The silence that fell between them was palpable. They made it the rest of the way into the center of the complex to a pair of double doors. Ed tapped her phone against the console next to it and they waited for the elevator to meet them at the top.
“Ever been Downstairs, Mac?” Ed asked.
“No. There’s no reason to go down there. Just a bunch of crooks and geniuses.”
“You’re going to want to not say that once you get down there,” Ed said. The elevator doors opened and she led the way in.
“Why not? I’m the reason half of them are even down there.”
Mac lurched as the elevator started to move down. He looked uncomfortable in the small metal box, the lines above them creaking as they made their slow descent. “You lived down there for a while, right?” Mac asked. “It’s a prison camp. I hear that Liah woman runs the place with an iron fist.”
“Do me a favour, Mac?” Ed asked, hoping the elevator wouldn’t trap her inside with him part way down. “Don’t try to talk to Liah. It’s not going to go well for you.”
Chapter 9
Ed got a series of alerts on her phone on the way down, though she ignored all of them. It had been a while since she’d seen Liah, or even been Downstairs. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had sent a message to Liah to let her know what was going on Upstairs.
Come to think of it, Ed hadn’t heard from her in a while either. That was strange. Liah was usually good about that.
Mac decided to stop talking, thankfully, as soon as the elevator started to rumble. The last stretch was always a little rough, with the elevator rocking and feeling very much like a flimsy metal box being pulled by a string. Ed planned to come back and try to figure out why it did that when she had time, but seeing how nervous Mac was made her think that maybe she could leave it for just a little longer. It was good to have a way to shut him up.
When the door opened, a woman already stood there with her hands on her hips. Her dark hair was cropped short and her wide eyes narrowed on Ed as she frowned. “You are still terrible at checking your messages,” she said, a smile cracking through her stern exterior. “Who the hell is that?”
Mac offered his hand. “Taylor Mackenzie. I’m-”
“Oh, Mac, right?” She took the hand and smiled at his expression as she shook it. “Name’s Liah. I have a feeling I know why both of y
ou are down here, but I’m kind of hoping I’m wrong.” She looked back at Ed. “Please tell me he’s just giving you a hand and you’re here to fix the servers. I’m pretty sure the link between Downstairs and Upstairs is starting to give out. We’ve already done as much as we can on this end but-”
“We’ll see what’s going on Upstairs,” Ed said, already on her phone. She took a quick scroll through her messages, finding they were all from Liah and dated as far back as two weeks ago. More recently, she noted that there was a new woman down here and she wasn’t sure what to make of her. Ed switched over to add the server repairs to the queue before putting her phone away again.
“We have a more pressing issue,” Mac told her. “We had a woman from the outside who may have run down here trying to get away from us.”
“Ah, you mean Snow White,” Liah said. “We’re not really that concerned about her anymore.”
“You’ve seen her?”
“Yep. She showed up yesterday. Scared the hell out of some of the hands, but now… well, you already sound like you don’t want her, so if that’s the case we’ll be happy to take her off your hands.”
“You’re taking this too lightly,” Mac told her. “She’s dangerous.”
“I’m sure you’re a real peach yourself,” Liah said. “The most dangerous thing she’s done so far is sit in a tree. Not even making out with anyone while she’s up there, you… you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“What? I know what a tree is!”
Liah turned to Ed and raised an eyebrow and Ed nodded. There were a lot of little jokes common down here that would be lost completely on anyone who had never been around plants all their lives and got their references from the old movies like Mac did. Ed kept her expression neutral as Liah shook her head, grinning and turning down the hall.
“Come on,” Liah said. “I’m guessing you want to see Snow. And this one should at least see a real tree once in his life.”
Mac managed to hold his tongue and glared at Liah as he followed. He looked back to Ed as if demanding an explanation, but Ed was relaxed and smiled back in response. Liah hadn’t changed at all since the last time Ed had seen her and Ed was glad that she wasn’t jumping to conclusions about Snow just yet. It was strange that she was so ready to accept a new drain on their resources, though, and that she’d do so with that smile.
“So what did Snow do while she was up there to bring Mac down?” Liah asked.
“Attempted murder.”
“I don’t remember getting a message about that, Ed,” Liah said, her tone growing much colder.
“Not her fault. She’s been recovering from it since yesterday.”
Liah stopped and turned slowly back on Ed. “Is that so?” she asked. “And let me guess. Now you want to just go up to her and have a nice little chat and ask her why she wanted to kill you? I swear, Ed, you never fucking change. What did she do?”
“Poked me in the eye.”
“With what?”
“Her finger.”
Liah looked at Ed, then to Mac. “Tell me she’s fucking kidding.”
“There’s video,” Ed said, walking around Liah and continuing down the hall. “Mac can find it for you. She was unarmed and surrounded by Security. Orchard still in the same place?”
“What the hell is with Upstairs?” Liah asked, shaking her head and falling in step beside Ed. “I know Snow’s weird, but this is… I don’t even know what this is. Iris, download all videos accessed by Taylor Mackenzie in the last twenty four hours. Filter Security.”
“What?” Mac asked from behind them. “You can’t do that.”
“Just did.” Liah pulled out her phone and scrolled through the videos. Ed pointed out the right one and she watched.
“No, you can’t access Iris. Only Ed can.”
“No, she can too,” Ed said. “Iris accepts one admin for Upstairs and one for Downstairs. Liah’s Downstairs.”
Liah smirked next to her with a small laugh. “I haven’t seen you drop like that since-”
“That’s enough, Liah,” Ed told her.
“Fine,” Liah said, opening the doors to the orchard. “Wait here. I’ll see if she wants to come out of that tree.”
Ed watched her go, taking in the smell of the orchard for the first time in far too long. It still smelled the same, with the faint smell of dirt and the earthy scents of the unprocessed leaves filled the air. Trees grew in wide rows, the ones to the left under a green light and the ones to the right under a blue one, the trees all bearing several large, different coloured fruits that looked ready to harvest. Down the middle where people walked and moved between the rows, the white light only illuminated how pale everyone was down here.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a second person who could use Iris?” Mac demanded once Liah was gone. “I should know about that.”
“We all learn it in school when we’re kids,” Ed said with a shrug. “Most people just forget about it, though. Think about it. Have you ever even been down here before? Did you ever think to ask Kimball about it?”
“Kimball?”
“David grew up down here. He came up with me a while ago because he wanted to see what was outside. And because he was a shit farmer.”
“He doesn’t act like it. Just how long did you spend down here as a kid?”
“It was just few years down here when I was younger. Don’t you know how my eye got messed up? I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about all this.”
Those words were enough to shut Mac up for the moment. He glared, but said nothing else, looking around at the trees for the first time and Ed noticed his eyes widen a little at the sight of them. He kept his face unimpressed, but there was just a glimmer of wonder as he looked at the leaves and variety of fruits growing that could be grown on one plant.
Ed wandered between the rows in the white light and Mac didn’t follow, looking at the whole place with distrust. He probably assumed there were ex-convicts hiding in the trees that might recognize him and come for him, which meant that Ed might actually be able to talk to someone here without interruption. She smiled at the people passing by, many with baskets full of fruit from the harvest, and felt a rush of nostalgia for her younger years when she helped them do just that.
Liah appeared from behind the blue lit trees with Snow in tow. Snow looked much better suited to life down here, her complexion as pale as the rest of them, though her figure much too waifish to be able to manage much more than sitting there and looking pretty. Liah would put her to work if she stayed here much longer, which might actually be good for Snow.
“I’m going to stick around if you don’t mind,” Liah said to Snow. “I’ve heard some stories about what happened Upstairs and I’m rather fond of Ed.”
“Yes,” Snow said. “Hello Ed.”
“Snow,” Ed said. “Do you know why I’m down here?”
“First you will ask why I attempted to kill you,” Snow said. “I won’t be able to adequately explain myself before we are interrupted and the subject changes.”
“So tell me before that happens,” Ed said. “What did you do?”
“I panicked,” Snow said. “I changed your mark so that Tavorian couldn’t accomplish her goal. I didn’t realize that would happen.”
“That I’d be knocked out?”
“That they would kill me for leaving,” Snow said. “I never should have stopped the mountain. But the past is set and I can only hope that if I stay down here, they won’t be able to find me.”
“So you didn’t try to kill her?” Liah asked.
“No. Ed has not been in danger of dying yet.”
“But you are? And hiding down here is going to fix that?”
“I am,” Snow said, her brow furrowing at the questions. Her eyes focused on nothing and concern spread across her face. “Hiding will not fix that currently. Providence sends a hitman who can find his way down here. He will find me if nothing else does. I cannot go back Upstairs because ther
e will be too many. I cannot go outside because there are still so many others who they will use. I’ll live longest down here, even if only by a few more days.”
Liah nodded, pursing her lips and turning to Ed. “I’m going to expect a full explanation of this from you. Maybe over dinner?”
Ed nodded with a small smile at Liah before refocusing on Snow. “No one’s going to kill you. Certainly not me.”
“Not anymore, no. There are many others who will try, though. While those who are currently Upstairs won’t intentionally try to kill me, those coming in from outside will.”
“What do you mean by -”
“I knew it,” Mac said from behind her. He brushed past, shouldering Ed out of the way before he tried to grab Snow. Ed stumbled, but kept her footing.
Liah was there before Mac could lay a hand on Snow. Despite being shorter than him by a head and shoulders, she grabbed him by the arm and twisted it up behind him easily, holding him by the wrist while her other hand grabbed him by the shoulder. She leaned in close with a smile. “I don’t know what Ed lets you get away with Upstairs, but down here, you don’t lay a finger on anyone unless they say so or unless I say so, you got it?”
Mac flexed his arm and wrenched his wrist away from Liah’s hold. “I am not taking orders from-”
His arm fell limply to his side and Liah stepped away. “And now you’re down an arm. I don’t care who she tried to murder, you have no jurisdiction down here. You wait until she agrees to go back Upstairs before you try to pull that shit.”
“She just confessed to working with people outside who were on their way!” Mac snapped at her. “She’s led them right to us!”
“She also said they were trying to kill her, so I don’t think-”
“How would your little Snow White even know about them coming if she wasn’t working for them?”
Liah’s face was calm as she wiped a drop of spit from Mac’s yelling off of her face. “Maybe she’s running from them,” she said. “I’ve heard that story more than once from the folks you’ve sent down here on my little… what did you tell them? Prison camp?”
