Inside Out

by Maria V. Snyder

  Logan wasted no time. His fingers flew over the keyboard. “This is going to take a while. I have to distract the Controllers and take a circuitous route in. Don’t want anyone to know I’m in here.” He flashed us a wild grin.

  Riley and I stood next to each other, looking over Logan’s shoulder. The strange symbols popping up on the screen meant nothing to me. Riley, though, frowned. Time to distract him.

  “How about a tour?” I asked. “I’ve never actually been inside an upper’s suite.”

  He turned his displeasure on me. “Really? But you’ve spied on them from above?”

  For a moment, I wished for the goofy Riley. The one who mussed my hair and communicated telepathically with stuffed sheep. “I don’t spy on anyone. I avoid the living areas, they’re too dangerous. The places I’ve been on level four are the storeroom and Karla’s office.” And the holding cells, but I didn’t think it would be wise to tell him. I pointed to a half-open door on the opposite wall. “Is that a bedroom?”

  Still unhappy, Riley showed me his room. The tiny interior had two beds with a table between them and two desks. A few metal sculptures were propped against the light blue walls, and circuit boards littered the one desk, the other was neat. Same with the beds, one was made, the other was heaped with blankets.

  He followed my gaze. “I share the room with my father. He’s always harping on me to make the bed and clean up my stuff.”

  No other items decorated the space. “Where’s Dada Sheepy?” I asked.

  A half smile flicked on his lips before sadness dragged it down. “With my brother.” Turning away, he strode into the living room and opened the door next to Logan. “Standard bathroom.” He waved at the remaining door. “Suite entrance.”

  Except for the small peephole and extra locks, it mirrored the other two.

  “There. That’s the grand tour,” he said.

  “That’s it?” Surprise tainted my voice.

  “Yep.”

  “But I thought the uppers lived in apartments with lots of rooms.”

  “The admiral’s and vice admiral’s families do, but most have suites like mine. If my mom were still alive, we would have two bedrooms and a small kitchenette. But since it’s just us, we get this and a refrigerator.”

  The rumors about the uppers’ living quarters had been exaggerated. I wondered what else had been blown out of proportion. “What happens if you…want a family?”

  “If I find a mate, my father would be reassigned to share a suite with another single man, and if he finds a mate then I would move.”

  “Does he want another mate?”

  “No.”

  The whole mate thing was odd to me. Scrubs hooked up with others and stayed together for as long as they desired then moved on. Any children from the pair went to the care facility. A few couples never parted. The Pop Cops tracked the pairings, and would separate them if their bloodlines were too close.

  Logan whooped with joy. “I’m in!”

  Riley stood behind him and watched the screen.

  “Do the uppers mate for life?” I asked Riley, hoping to pull his attention away from the computer.

  “Most do, but if a union isn’t working then they’ll split.”

  “What do you do for fun?”

  Riley glared at me. His stiff posture radiating his ire. “Trella, I know what you’re doing. You haven’t asked questions about the uppers unless it was directly related to your mission. You have a very strong opinion about the uppers, and you haven’t shown any interest in us before. But I do know the systems your friend is accessing can only be seen by people with ten-degree security clearance. So unless he’s a rear admiral, he’s neck-deep in serious trouble—”

  “Only if I get caught,” Logan said. “Don’t worry, I’m ghosting.”

  “Ghosting? What the hell is that?” Riley demanded.

  “Not leaving a traceable trail,” I explained. Coming here was a bad idea. I hoped Logan would finish soon.

  Riley’s anger flared. “You didn’t tell me the whole story. Time to talk, Trella. What exactly is this man looking for?”

  “Well…” To tell him we were looking for Gateway might have ruined whatever credibility I had left with him. He knew Domotor had been trying to find ways around the Controllers to seize control of the computer for the rest of the upper families.

  He studied my face and when I opened my mouth he said, “Don’t lie.” His words growled and I knew I trod on dangerous ground.

  “Got it!” Logan whooped.

  “Got what?” Riley asked.

  Before I could say anything, Logan, who hadn’t listened to anything we’d said, proclaimed with pride, “The coordinates to Gateway.”

  “Yes!” I jumped and slapped Logan on the back. Cogon was going to be ecstatic and very smug. I could already hear his I told you so. But my jubilation died when a strangled sound escaped Riley’s throat. The anger drained from his face. His flushed cheeks and red-tipped ears turned white, and I suddenly wished I could ghost back to the lower levels.

  “Hold on,” Logan said. His attention returned to the screen. “No…no…you lousy unrecyclable…”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “It requires a password.”

  “But you just said you got it.”

  “I have the file. To open the file we need a password. Any ideas?”

  I wanted to shake the screen until it surrendered and let us read the file. To come all this way and to put so much at risk…I shoved my crushing disappointment aside and concentrated.

  “How about Gateway?”

  “Nope.”

  “Inside? Outside?” I looked at Riley for help. He just shook his head. A horrified fascination settled on his face.

  “No and no. Wait!” Logan sat up straighter. “There’s always a fail-safe.”

  “A what?” I asked.

  “People forget things. It’s part of being human. You don’t want to risk someone discovering your password by writing it down, so the computer has a way to help you remember your password.” He typed for a while.

  “How?”

  “It will ask you a question and the answer is the password.”

  “What if we don’t know the answer?”

  “Then we don’t get the coordinates and we have to guess again. Except…” He leaned forward. “There’s a limit on the number of guesses. After ten, the computer notifies the Controllers someone is trying to access the file.”

  “Not good.” Horrible in fact.

  “No.” The clicking keys filled the silence. “Okay. I found the question.”

  “And?” I prompted.

  “I don’t know the answer,” Logan said.

  I reached out but managed to stop my hands from wrapping around his neck. “What is the question?”

  “Oh. It’s the end and the beginning. What is it?”

  14

  “A CIRCLE?” RILEY SUGGESTED. HE HAD RECOVERED from his shock about Gateway, and was now intrigued by the mystery question. “A circle doesn’t have an end or a beginning.”

  Logan moved his hands over the keyboard.

  “Wait,” I said. “How many other passwords have you tried?”

  “Three so we have seven guesses before the computer shuts down.”

  “A circle is good, but let’s think this through logically.” I swiped hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “The question has to refer to something about Inside. We know it is an object or place and not a person’s name.”

  “We do?” Logan asked.

  “Yes, the question contains the word it and what. It’s the end and the beginning. What is it? A person would be who, and a place would be where.”

  Riley sat in the remaining chair, and covered his eyes with a hand as if blocking out all distractions. “Everything in here is squares, rectangles and cubes. No circles.”

  I settled on the couch. The living room was too small to pace. Searching my memory for circles, I tried to find a connectio
n. “If you think about it, everything in here is a circle. The air circulates throughout Inside, going through the filters and purifiers. Same with the water and sewage. Reused and recycled, nothing wasted.”

  “Should I try circle?” Logan’s fingers hovered over the keyboard.

  “Yes.” I held my breath.

  “Nope. Try again.”

  Damn. I repeated the question in my mind. It sounded familiar as if I read it or heard it before. Maybe when I was living in the care facility. But there had been so many weeks of lessons in math, biology, science…. “Water?”

  “How does it fit?” Riley asked.

  “It has a cycle. Evaporation, condensation, freezing and melting as it changes from a gas to a liquid to a solid. Water is a vital resource for Inside, without it we couldn’t exist.”

  “So is air and food.” He considered. “Air has a cycle. We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. The plants in hydroponics absorb the carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Growing food is also a circle with eating and producing. Think of the sheep.”

  “Sheepy?” I wished he were there. “Would Sheepy know the answer?” I joked.

  He removed his hand and shot me a smile. “No. Sheep eat grass and vegetables and produce manure which fertilizes the grass and plants in hydroponics. Another cycle.”

  Logan tried, water, air and food. “No. Three guesses left.”

  Thinking along those lines, I realized a hundred different aspects of our life were cycles, including people. Perhaps the answer wasn’t a representation of a circle, but more a concrete object or mathematical symbol. “Zero is circular. Isn’t the symbol for infinity a sideways eight?”

  “That’s assuming the answer is a circle of some kind,” Riley said.

  “Can you think of another answer?”

  “No, but to try and connect it to a mathematical number or concept…” He threw his hands up. “There could be a million different possibilities. I wouldn’t—”

  “Stop!” One of his words triggered a memory. I replayed the incident in my mind, searching for reasons why it wouldn’t work. Certainty bloomed in my chest. I knew the answer.

  Logan and Riley stared at me, waiting.

  “The millionth week. That’s the answer.” I remembered the assembly and the old man’s words: the millionth week isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.

  Riley groaned and the hope dimmed in Logan’s eyes.

  “That’s just a myth to scare people. Week one million will be like all the others. Its importance doesn’t exist,” Riley said.

  “People said the same thing about Gateway.” I gestured to Logan. “Yet we’re one password away from the location.”

  Logan met my gaze. “How should I type it? Week one million or the millionth week?”

  “Try both.”

  Unable to remain seated, Riley and I joined Logan at the computer. I held on to the back of his chair as he typed the millionth week and hit Enter. The words disappeared and the password prompt returned. This time he entered week one million.

  “Are you sure?” Logan’s finger was poised over the key.

  I let go of the chair and clutched Riley’s arm. “Yes.” I wanted to turn away, but I watched the screen. It turned black then lines of text raced across, matching my heart’s rhythm. I couldn’t read the words; they kept jumping up as more white lines streaked on the screen.

  “Logan?” I didn’t care if I used his name.

  “Yes! Got it!”

  I wrapped my arms around Logan’s neck and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and hugged Riley. Caught up in the excitement, he leaned back and picked me off the floor, spinning me around.

  Logan rattled off a bunch of numbers.

  “How do I find it?” I asked, still dizzy and thrilled Riley’s arms supported me.

  “Oh, right.” Furious typing and a crude schematic of Inside appeared, showing a cube with a pulsing dot near the bottom of one side. “It’s along the west wall in Quad G1. That’s hydroponics.”

  “You’d think the workers would notice it,” Riley said.

  “Maybe it’s one of those near-invisible hatches Trella found,” Logan said.

  “Near-invisible?” Riley looked down at me.

  He held me close. Tall and with his strong arms wrapped around me, I knew I should extricate myself from his embrace, but a part of me wanted to stay. “Some doors are hard to see. Perhaps the vines have grown over it,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah. Lots of vines,” Logan said.

  Annoyed, Riley’s muscles tightened. “Your friend’s a lousy liar. What are you hiding?” When I hesitated, he moved his hands to my shoulders and pushed me back so he could see me better. “Enough. The location…the existence of Gateway is huge. No. It’s way bigger than that…it’s a whole other phenomenon. The repercussions are going to be unimaginable if it is really there and it works. I need to know everything right now, or I’m going to…”

  “To what? Report me? You risk being implicated.”

  “No. I’m going to follow you. Yes, even through those vents until I know the whole story.”

  Logan eyed him. “You’ll get stuck.”

  “It’s ridiculous. He’s not going to do it,” I said.

  “Then I won’t let you leave until you tell me.” Riley straightened, trying to look bigger.

  “Two against one,” I said. “And I’m armed.” I rested my hand on my tool belt.

  He deflated and dropped his hands, but, by the gleam in his eyes, I knew he hadn’t given up.

  “How about in exchange for Sheepy?”

  “Really? You’d give me Sheepy?” I called his bluff.

  “Yes.”

  He meant it, and my reaction surprised me. I would have loved to have the little sheep. “No. Sheepy stays with his mama.” I put my hand up to stop Riley. “Just let me think.”

  As Riley had said, discovering Gateway’s existence was a whole other realm of problems and possibilities. If caught right now, Riley would be recycled just for knowing about it. Too late to save him. Remembering his lecture about choices and sacrifices didn’t make me feel any better.

  “You’d better sit down,” I said. “It’s a long story.”

  “So Gateway wouldn’t be on the wall in hydroponics, but on the real outer Wall?” Riley asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “And no one knows about this except the three of us?”

  “As far as I know. I’ve never seen anyone in the Gap, but it’s possible high-ranking uppers could know or find it in the computer.”

  “Complete and detailed diagrams and blueprints of Inside have been deleted,” Logan said. He had been searching through the computer, trying to gather as much information as he could about the Controllers.

  “Are you sure? Wouldn’t the engineers need them?” Riley asked.

  “Each system—water, air, electrical and heating—has its own blueprints. Let’s see…if I put them…together.” Logan typed. “Still not showing Trella’s Gap or Gateway. Lot’s of other stuff’s missing, too. Historical records and logs have been wiped clean up until…week 132,076.”

  Almost one hundred and fifty centiweeks ago.

  “The first log is written by Admiral Peter Trava. He mentions saboteurs wielding magnets and trying to destroy Inside. He says they were stopped with no loss of life, but with major damage to the computer, causing data loss.” Logan scrolled through a few more pages. “Something’s wrong. The deletion was too clean for a magnet.”

  “Do you know when the files were deleted?” I asked.

  “The same week Admiral Pete’s entry was written, which was only fifteen centiweeks ago. Whoa! It’s bogus.”

  “What happened that week?” I asked.

  “Could have been when a few of the uppers tried to get into protected files on the system,” Riley said. “My dad told me about it. Maybe they got too close to the truth, and the Travas decided to delete all the data prior to their takeover and write the bogus entry to explain it.�
��

  “Not all the data,” Logan said. “There are about ten hidden and protected files in the system. I bet the Controllers don’t know about them. The location of Gateway was one of them. Maybe the dissenters buried these files. They’re all password protected.” He clucked and hummed like a child with a brand-new toy.

  “Could those be the files Domotor wanted?” Riley asked me.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Trella, what’s your birth week?” An odd tone shook Logan’s voice.

  “It’s 145,487. Why?”

  “And the hour?”

  “Why do you need to know?” I asked.

  “Humor me.”

  “Hour four point fifteen.”

  He whistled.

  “Logan, tell me.”

  “There’s a file here named with your birth week and hour.”

  “What?” I moved closer to the monitor. He pointed.

  “Why did you think it referred to me?”

  “It says, ‘For my daughter born on…’ It’s one of the ten files Domotor or whoever thought was important, so I just guessed it might have something to do with you.”

  “Can you open it?”

  “Nope. Just like the others. The password question is ‘Smile and show me your pearly teeth. How many do you have?’” He glanced at me. “Count your teeth.”

  “That’s too easy, and what if I lost one?”

  “Have you?”

  “No, but I think it’s referring to something else.” The words pearly teeth had jumped out at me. My sole possession. The comb with the pearls. The answer was the number of teeth on my comb.

  “And it would be…”

  “Something I don’t have with me, so we can’t answer the question anyway.”

  “It’s getting late. The next shift starts in an hour,” Riley said.

  I looked at the clock in surprise. So engrossed in our puzzle, I hadn’t kept track.

  “I just need a couple minutes.” Logan’s fingers danced on the keyboard. “I want to put these files where I can get to them from the lower level computers.”

  Anxious to get moving, I fidgeted behind Logan.

  Riley also had a worried look. “Are you sure all this time you spent on the computer hasn’t been recorded or traced?”