Lucas smiled back at me, we kissed again, and lost ourselves in the wild feedback loop.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Strike team is moving,” said Adika.
I didn’t need to read minds to feel the reaction of the Strike team to those words. Their eagerness filled lift 2. While the imprint controlled me, Lucas and Megan had fought a battle for my mind, but my Strike team could do nothing to help. Now their ordeal of useless inactivity was over, and they were back leading the hunt.
Lucas’s familiar voice spoke in my ear crystal. “Tactical ready.”
Matias had been declared fully fit by Megan, so he was back with the Strike team. I wished Lucas was coming with us too. At the same time, I was glad he was staying safely in the unit. We were heading back to 600/2600. Our last two trips there had gone very badly indeed, and I daren’t make any assumptions about this one being different.
The tense voice of Nicole came over the sound link, interrupting my thoughts. “Liaison ready. Tracking status is green.”
It was me next. I checked my dataview. “Green here.”
Lucas started speaking in his relaxed, briefing voice. “First thing this morning, we held an emergency meeting of all the Telepath Unit Tactical Commanders, as well as representatives from Hive Trade, Hive Security, Hive Defence, and Hive Politics. Capturing Elden, and bringing Hive Genex to justice, is now the top strategic priority for our Hive.”
“I should hope so,” muttered Adika.
“The other good news is that Hive Security are confident that Elden could only have hacked his way into the low security areas of our central data core,” continued Lucas. “He shouldn’t have access to the high security areas containing Telepath Unit records, or be able to decipher our encrypted communications.”
“He should never have been able to access anything,” grumbled Adika.
“There are plans to tighten security on the whole of our central data core,” said Lucas, “but we don’t want Hive Security to block off Elden’s access yet. We need to keep him believing he’s still in control of both the situation and Amber while we hunt him down. The other Telepath Units have agreed to deal with all emergency and check runs for the moment. If Elden has a way of checking the status of Telepath Units, he’ll see that our unit is labelled as unavailable because Amber needs extended recovery time.”
He paused. “That should keep Elden happy, but it means we can’t have people seeing you moving round the Hive. We’ve got you wearing standard brown maintenance coveralls, and you’ll be travelling through Level Zero to reach your destination. Level Zero is always packed with maintenance crews, so you’ll blend in among all the others.”
“What’s Level Zero?” I asked.
“Level Zero divides the accommodation levels of the Hive from the industrial levels,” said Adika. “It’s like a giant interlevel, and holds a lot of special systems.”
I groaned. “A whole level of the Hive that I didn’t even know existed.”
I heard Lucas’s laughter through my ear crystal. “Most people won’t be aware that Level Zero exists, Amber. Imprints only include knowledge relevant to a person’s profession.”
The lift stopped. We were on Industry 50 now. I watched, fascinated, as Adika entered a code into the lift controls, and the destination level number changed to zero. The lift moved on a short distance and the doors opened.
Level Zero was huge, over twice the height of a normal Hive accommodation level. It seemed incredible that I’d not known about a place this large, but the moving stairways only went as high as Level 1, and lifts moved so rapidly that you wouldn’t notice the extra distance between Level 1 and Industry 50.
Adika led us across to what looked like a standard belt interchange. Once we were riding along an express belt, I looked around in bewilderment. There weren’t any corridor walls, just …
Actually, I had no idea what half these things were. A few large pipes reminded me of Level 100, but there were also weird, vast tanks that must be the size of a park. I could see what seemed to be murky liquid through the inspection windows.
“What are those tank things?” I asked.
“I think they’re part of the water recycling system,” said Adika.
Lucas started talking again. “My team has been going through all the old records for 600/2600. Nearly sixteen years ago, some oddities started happening there. That must be when Elden first arrived in our Hive, set up a nest in 600/2600, hacked into our central data core, and started stealing supplies and equipment.”
“Were any investigations made back then?” asked Adika.
“Sapphire’s unit made a check run but found nothing,” said Lucas. “Elden was carefully spreading his thefts across all the different levels to reduce the chance of being caught. Once Amber had been kidnapped and imprinted, the oddities abruptly stopped. We think Elden went back to his home Hive at that point. During the next fifteen years everything was quiet in 600/2600. Elden was probably busy making trips to other Hives. A few months ago, the …”
“Stop right there!” I said sharply. “You think Elden may have gone to other Hives and imprinted other true telepaths?”
“From your description of Elden, he couldn’t have been more than twenty years old when he imprinted you, Amber. He wouldn’t dare to imprint another true telepath in our Hive, because a second telepath requesting a transfer would look far too suspicious, but he might continue his work in other Hives that speak either our language or the language of Hive Genex.”
I clenched my fists as fury hit me. There could be others with a secret childhood imprint. Others who could find control of their mind and body stolen from them. Others who could be taken to serve Hive Genex.
“A few months ago, the oddities in area 600/2600 started up again,” Lucas resumed his briefing at the point where I’d interrupted him. “Elden was back in our Hive, and working to activate Amber’s imprint. Now he believes the imprint is controlling Amber, so he’ll have stopped work and gone into hiding in his nest. He’ll stay there to wait out the long process of Amber wearing us down into allowing her transfer to Hive Genex.”
“He’ll have a longer wait than he expects,” said Adika.
“Or a much shorter wait if I’m right about where he’s hiding,” said Lucas. “My team’s analysis of the incidents around area 600/2600 suggests that Elden’s not just been using the same nest, but crucially the same equipment that he used fifteen years ago. There are very few places in the Hive where Elden’s nest and equipment could have remained undiscovered during his fifteen year absence. I believe his nest has to be inside the area 600/2600 structural column.”
“What’s a structural column?” I asked.
“Hive structural columns add stability and strength to the physical structure of the Hive,” said Lucas. “They’re vast hollow columns set into bedrock and reaching up to the top of the Hive. A structural column would be an ideal place for Elden to set up his nest, since their last maintenance inspection was in 2500, and they aren’t scheduled to have another until 2550.”
Lucas paused. “There are only three entry points to allow maintenance crews to inspect the web of girders inside a structural column. One at the bottom on Level 100, one on Level Zero, and one right at the top on Industry 1. I expect Elden’s nest to be inside the 600/2600 structural column just above the Level Zero entry point. That’s well positioned for accessing both Hive accommodation and working levels, and in emergency Elden has an escape route that leads him straight up to near a maintenance exit to Outside.”
Adika made a pained noise. “So if Elden’s there, he’ll start climbing, and then we’ll have to chase him up fifty levels of ladders or maintenance mesh. Lucas, he’ll know that route and we don’t.”
“I’m not sending you chasing Elden up a structural column,” said Lucas. “He’s almost certainly armed, and could have placed booby traps at intervals, or just have rocks ready for him to drop on your heads. You’ll stop near the structural column and sen
d some men up in a lift to guard Elden’s escape point on Industry 1. After that, you just have to frighten Elden into climbing up the structural column and walking into our ambush.”
“I like that tactic,” said Adika. “Rothan will be in charge of the ambush team. He can take Eli, Matias and Caleb with him. Forge is experienced in cliff climbing, so he and I can go into the structural column. Everyone else will be on Bodyguard team. We’ll start checking for booby traps as we approach our destination on Level Zero.”
The view around us was changing now. We’d left the huge tanks behind us, and there were lots of strange spiky objects coloured bright red. Several maintenance crews were working on them.
Adika spotted me staring at the spiky objects. “Amber, the main safety rule on Level Zero is that things coloured bright red are dangerous. You must never touch them.”
We travelled on, passing more mysterious shapes in assorted colours, including the warning red. When we finally neared our destination, we stopped by a lift. I watched unhappily as Rothan, Eli, Matias and Caleb headed off to Industry 1.
“I can’t run circuits on Rothan’s team with fifty levels of minds in the way,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Amber,” said Lucas. “If Elden starts climbing, then we can get you up to Industry 1 long before he arrives there. However good Elden is, he can’t out-climb an express lift.”
Adika moved the rest of us on a short distance before stopping again. “We’ll begin checking for booby traps now. We look for cameras that shouldn’t be there, or devices that have been tampered with. We check anything and everything. Elden played games with us twice in that park. If we let him beat us again, then we all resign and go stir protein vats!”
The Strike team had been keyed up already, but they went up another notch of tension at Adika’s savage tone. They brought out electronic devices, and started scanning the area. I let them get on with their job, while I did mine, closing my eyes and searching for a mind that thought in words I didn’t understand.
Somewhere to the north, a maintenance team were working, cleansing relay points. I didn’t linger in their minds long enough to find out what a relay point was. Up above my head, a hydroponics unit was working at full stretch in harvest phase. Below me was a community centre packed with children making Halloween costumes and masks.
I’d lost track of time, and forgotten we were getting close to Halloween. I thought back to Carnival. It was months ago, a lifetime ago, that I’d ridden the rail with Forge and the others, plunging into an unknown future.
I reached out to the south, drifting across the minds of ten thousand shoppers, registering a blur of trivial excitement and indecision. Arms went round me, picked me up, and carried me. I ignored them. I had my eyes closed, so my bodyguards knew I was working. They wouldn’t expect me to comment or respond as they moved the luggage of my body to a more convenient location.
“We’re at the entry point to the structural column now,” said Adika. “Amber, is there any sign of Elden?”
“No,” I said, trying to keep my frustration out of my voice. “All the minds in this area are perfectly readable and innocent.”
“I expected Elden’s nest to be just above the entry point,” said Lucas, “but he could be much higher than that. Rothan, are your team in position?”
“We’re just outside the Industry 1 entry point to the structural column,” said Rothan, “hiding behind some convenient notice boards. When Elden arrives, we’ll all fire stun shots on my command.”
“Make sure you let him get out of the column first,” said Lucas. “If he falls down a hundred and fifty levels of the Hive, then he won’t be answering any questions afterwards.”
He paused. “Adika, you can open the access hatch now and take a look inside. Be very careful. There shouldn’t be any power conduits or cabling inside the column, just bare girders. Stop the second you see anything suspicious.”
Long, nervous minutes went by as the hatch was removed. I opened my eyes for a second to see Adika and Forge peering through the hole, their lights probing the dark interior of the column, then went into Adika’s head and saw his view of things as he stuck his head inside.
“No ladder or maintenance mesh here,” he said. “How are maintenance crews supposed to climb up the structural column to make their checks without them?”
“The structural column plans show a standard series of ladders on the wall to your left,” said Nicole.
“The structural column plans are wrong,” said Adika.
“We’ve definitely found Elden’s nest then,” said Lucas. “He must have removed the first couple of ladders to deter any maintenance staff from getting nosy about what was inside a structural column. Presumably Elden manages to get up there without ladders, in which case …”
Adika gave a faint groan. “In which case, we should be able to get up there too. There are lots of criss-crossing girders, so it’s a relatively straightforward climb apart from the darkness and the one hundred level drop beneath us.”
Forge’s voice spoke for the first time. “We’ll rope up then, and make sure we anchor ourselves to the girders at regular intervals. I can go first.”
I was with Adika’s thoughts, and felt his reluctant acceptance as he replied. “That’s the best approach since you’re the climbing expert. Remember that when we find Elden, we mustn’t shoot him. We just take cover and let him climb up the column.”
“Understood,” said Forge.
“If you haven’t found Elden by the time you’ve climbed up ten levels then stop,” said Lucas. “Amber and the bodyguard team can go up in a lift so they’re on the same level as you, and then Amber can have another search for Elden’s mind.”
There was another minute or two of preparations involving lights, harnesses, and ropes. I moved across into Forge’s mind as he entered the great, hollow column, feeling his satisfaction as he balanced easily on one girder, while reaching up to clip a rope to another. This was a golden chance to demonstrate his skills and his worth to Adika.
A second later, he was climbing, swinging himself effortlessly upwards from one girder to the next. Pausing to let Adika catch up. Rejoicing in the response of muscles that had never been this strong before the hard regime of Strike team training. This was what he’d been born to do. This was his perfect life.
Forge swung up to the next girder, then abruptly stopped. “I can see a ladder above me, and a sort of platform across a couple of girders.”
“Elden’s nest,” said Lucas. “He would have built a platform so he could store things and sleep. Still no sign of him, Amber?”
I left Forge’s mind and reached higher up, searching. Someone was thinking about production run figures. Someone was running her hand over the soft down of young fledgling birds. Someone was cursing over the foul stench of a failed batch in a protein vat.
“Elden’s not there.” I tried not to let my voice show my bitter disappointment. “Do we wait for him to come back?”
“If Elden’s gone then I doubt he’s coming back,” said Adika grimly. “He’ll have seen Amber’s transfer request four days ago. He must have decided his work here was done and headed home to Hive Genex.”
Lucas’s voice sounded surprisingly untroubled. “Climb up and take some images of the platform, Forge, but don’t touch it.”
The platform turned out to be made of several sections of flooring, wedged into place on the girders and bolted together. There were three sealed boxes on it, as well as a weird object with glowing lights.
“Is that a bomb?” asked Forge.
“Bodyguard team, get Amber clear of this area!” snapped Adika.
Arms snatched me up. I was being carried at a flat-out run. I kept my eyes closed and my mind linked to Forge.
“Bodyguard team evacuate to Yellow Zone using the express belts but not the lifts,” said Lucas calmly. “Adika and Forge, get out of that column and follow them. Liaison, we need an electronics expert to take a look at those images.”
>
“Do we evacuate that area of the Hive?” asked Nicole, her voice rising in panic. “The evacuation protocol for a possible structural column failure is massive, Lucas. We’d have to evacuate all ten million people from Orange Zone, and close all its bulkhead containment doors to seal it off from the rest of the Hive!”
“There’s no need to start a general evacuation yet,” said Lucas. “Elden came here with an elaborate plan to steal a telepath. I could believe he’s planted a small booby trap device to destroy his nest if it was discovered, but it doesn’t make sense for him to set up a bomb on a scale that could damage a structural column and cause massive destruction. It doesn’t make sense for him to go back to Hive Genex before our Hive agrees to Amber’s transfer either. He might need to give Amber extra orders.”
Forge was dropping down from one girder to the next, pausing to help Adika. I tried to stay with their thoughts, but my group was on an express belt now. The distance, and more importantly the number of minds, between me and Forge kept increasing until I lost him. I finally heard the familiar recorded voice from overhead.
“Warning, bulkhead approaching!”
I felt the lurch as whoever was carrying me made the jump from the Orange Zone express belt to the Yellow Zone express belt. A couple of minutes later, we left the belt system, moved into a secluded area between two storage tanks, and my bodyguards gathered round me.
“Bodyguard team are now at a defensible location in Yellow Zone.”
That was Kaden speaking. At the sound of his voice, I automatically linked to his mind, and was caught in a fog of grief.
… my last run with the Strike team. I’d hoped this would be the run where Elden was captured, hoped to leave with something good to cling to, but there’s nothing but failure to take with me to …
… if Adika would just let me go Outside again, give me the chance to prove …
Waste it, how can I tell my parents that I was fired from the Strike team for cowardice? My father will …
Telepath Page 28
