The Sly Girls dashed ahead into the mountain hideaway, everyone wanting to be the first to discover what wonders were hidden here. Calls and laughter filled the air, echoing from the bare stone walls.
Aya couldn’t see a single right angle, just arches and rounded corners. Every few meters, oval doorways led away to more winding halls, an undulating maze cut into stone.
“Well, whoever lives here is definitely moving out,” Miki said.
Aya nodded. The main hallway was crowded with equipment and storage containers, a disorganized jumble covered with a fine layer of dust.
“Maybe we should look for those big metal cylinders,” she said. “Those were the only things they were moving in last night.”
“As long as whatever we find isn’t alive.” Miki gestured toward a bunch of work chairs crammed together in the hallway. They were the wrong shape—too high and narrow, suited for some inhuman form.
Aya shone her flashlight down at her feet. A meter-wide path of metal studs glistened from the stone floor, leading straight down the middle of the main hallway. “That’s to give hover-lifters something to push against. Anything heavy would have to go this way. Come on.”
The two of them followed the metal path with careful, silent footsteps. The arched doorways revealed empty rooms, dust patterns on the floor showing where furniture had been removed.
As they went deeper into the mountain, the echoes of the other girls’ voices grew faint around them. Aya wondered how so many tons of rock had been carried away to make this place. Whoever had built it must have tricked the automatic mag-lev trains into taking a lot of cargo for them. Or maybe one of the city governments was involved—this all seemed too big to do on the sly.
Every city had expanded since the mind-rain, pulling the Rusty ruins apart for scrap, scrambling to get more metal.
“Who has the resources to build something like this?” Aya murmured.
“Maybe this was one of those Rusty places where they dug up metal. What were they called . . . mines?”
Aya realized that they were whispering. Noises reverberated sharply against the bare stone walls, making her conscious of every sound she made.
The long, sleep-missing day was finally catching up with her, a brain-fogging exhaustion erasing the excitement that had propelled her through the mag-lev ride. The dim orange lighting was playing tricks on her eyes. Long shadows leaped from the beams of their flashlights, and Aya doubted her button cam was getting any decent shots.
Suddenly Miki spun around. “Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“I don’t know.” Miki pointed her flashlight down the hall behind them. “The shadows were moving funny. Like something’s following us.”
“Something?” Aya said, turning to stare into the darkness. She felt totally awake now.
“Maybe I’m just imagining it.”
Aya sighed. “Great. Now I’m imagining it too.”
“Come on,” Miki said. “I feel like we’re getting close to something.”
“Is that the same something that’s following us? Or a different something?”
Miki shrugged, and moved ahead.
In the next room, the path of metal studs led to a large opening in the wall and a set of stairs leading down. There were no orange worklights below, only blackness.
Aya came to a halt. “Maybe we should call the others.”
“You want Kai to think you’re scared of the dark?” Miki snorted, and headed down the stairs.
Aya sighed, then followed.
As they descended, the echoes of their footsteps began to lengthen, a larger space opening up around them. Aya’s flashlight played across high arches, like the stone roof of the giant reservoir below the city. For a moment she wondered if the entire mountain had been hollowed out to capture runoff during the rainy season—but why would people building a storm drain look so weird?
Then her flashlight found the cylinders. The room was full of them, in neat ranks like hulking metal soldiers on parade, stretching into the darkness.
“Okay, we found them,” Miki whispered. “But what are they?”
Aya shook her head. She walked up to the closest cylinder and pressed her palm against it: cold metal, its surface seamless. When she stood on tiptoe to look at its top, she found no sign of any seal.
“Looks like solid steel to me.”
Miki walked past her, a host of shadows wheeling in unison to avoid the beam of her flashlight. Aya followed her deeper into the army of cylinders, looking for any clue as to what they might be. But the metal forms were unmarked and featureless, like giant pawns in an endless chess set, all exactly the same.
But wasn’t there a metal shortage going on? This was enough steel to double the size of the city.
Miki came to a sudden halt. “There it is again.”
“What?”
Miki turned and pointed her flashlight past Aya. “I saw a reflection in the metal. Someone’s back there!”
Aya spun around, sweeping her flashlight across the ranks of cylinders. Shadows leaped and darted from its beam, but she saw nothing except the reflection of her own half-lit face, warped across the cylinders’ smooth sides.
“Are you trying to scare me?” Aya hissed.
“No, I mean it,” Miki whispered, her eyes wide in the red glow of their flashlights. “I’m going to get some help.”
“Are you sure? Maybe we should . . . ,” Aya started, but Miki was already dashing toward the stairs, calling for the others.
Aya squinted into the darkness. Something flickered in the corner of her eye, but when she spun to face it, she saw nothing but shadows scattering from her wavering flashlight.
She took a few quick steps to the side, peering down the next row of metal cylinders. Still nothing.
Cries echoed down the stairs—the other girls answering Miki’s shouts. They were coming, but not fast enough for Aya.
She began to walk back toward the stairs, checking nervously over her shoulder. Her flashlight swept from side to side, but that only made the long shadows dance and swivel around her, filling the room with furtive movements.
Then she saw it reflected in a row of smooth metal sides: a black silhouette smeared across them, darting through the shadows.
Aya froze, trying to work out which way the shape was moving, but it was like playing tag in a hall of mirrors.
“Miki!” she called. “I think it’s . . .”
Her voice faded. The hovering shape had floated into view directly before her, the red flashlight reflecting a familiar pattern of tiny lenses.
It was Moggle.
ESCAPE
“Miki!” she shouted. “It’s okay! I don’t think there’s anything—”
“Don’t worry, Aya-chan,” Miki’s voice called from halfway up the stairs. “They’re almost here!”
“Crap,” Aya muttered. She knelt, beckoning to the little hovercam. “Come here!”
It wavered for a moment—this new command contradicted its old orders to stay hidden. But when Aya called again, it scooted down the row of cylinders and shot into her arms.
“Hey, Moggle!” she whispered, stroking its sprayed-black plastic shell. “Good job finding me. But you need to be more careful.”
“Are you okay?” Miki’s shout came from above.
“I’m totally fine! But I don’t think anything’s down here!” Aya called back, then hissed, “We have to find a place to hide you.”
She switched off her flashlight and shoved it into a pocket, looking around for another exit. But the rows of featureless cylinders stretched endlessly into the darkness.
More shouts came from the top of the stairs. Miki was headed back down, a gaggle of flashlights bobbing behind her.
Aya ducked lower and headed away. The only light came from the Sly Girls descending the stairs, their red and yellow flashlights reflected in the smooth metal curves of the cylinders. Aya covered Moggle with the loose folds of her open jacket.
&n
bsp; “When I let you go, find a place to hide. Understand?”
In answer, Moggle flashed its night-lights right into her face.
“Stop doing that!” Aya hissed, stumbling blindly to a halt.
“What was that?” Miki called. “Aya, where are you?”
Aya blinked away spots, standing up to peer across the cylinder tops. The Sly Girls were fanning out randomly across the room.
But Eden Maru was rising into the air, her hoverball rig using the metal cylinders for lift. She flew swiftly across the ranks of cylinders, arms outstretched like the wings of a bird of prey. She would have serious infrared, of course—most intercity hoverball games were at night.
Aya swore, ducking lower and running as quickly as she dared. She had to get into another room.
But was there any way out of here?
Suddenly Moggle was tugging at her grip.
“Not yet!” she whispered, but the hovercam yanked itself free, pulling Aya off balance. It shot away through the ranks of cylinders like a cannonball.
Aya stumbled to a halt, squinting into the darkness, trying to see where the hovercam had disappeared.
“Lose your flashlight, Nosey?”
She looked up to find Eden Maru hovering just above her.
Aya tried to think of some excuse for putting her flashlight away, but failed. “Yeah, I sort of dropped it.”
“Nice going.” Eden’s eyes scanned the darkness. “So what are we chasing, anyway?”
“Beats me.” Aya shrugged, careful not to look in the direction Moggle had fled. “I think maybe Miki’s seeing things.”
“That doesn’t sound like Miki,” Eden murmured, her surged eyes scanning the cylinders. Her gaze came to rest in the direction Moggle had flown. “What’s over there?”
Aya squinted into the darkness. The other Sly Girls’ flashlights were growing closer now, and her unsurged eyes could just make out where the ranks of metal cylinders ended. She took a few steps closer, and saw a meter-wide circle of blackness—the mouth of a passageway.
Aya let out a silent sigh. Moggle must have decided to hide in there. Eden Maru was already on her way, gliding through the air.
“Maybe we should wait for the others,” Aya called, jogging after her. “Whatever it is could be dangerous.”
“I thought you said Miki was seeing things,” Eden said. She landed in front of the circular hole and crawled inside.
As she ran to catch up, Aya realized that the opening was exactly the right size for one of the cylinders to pass through endwise. At its mouth, she felt the familiar pattern of inlaid studs beneath her palms, metal to carry the cylinders on hover-lifters.
Aya crawled after Eden as fast as she could. “Find anything?”
“Yeah. But it doesn’t make sense.”
A few of the Sly Girls had reached the tunnel entrance behind Aya. Flashlight beams flickered down the tunnel, revealing what Eden had discovered.
A thick metal door stood open, one small window glinting in its center.
Aya frowned. “That’s the only door I’ve seen down here.”
“You mean airlock,” Eden said, pointing ahead. “There’s another one up there.”
“An airlock?” Aya shook her head. “Why would anyone have an airlock inside a mountain?”
But as they crawled farther, she saw more metal glinting ahead—another heavy door, standing open just like the first. She swallowed. If this really was an airlock, this tunnel had to be a dead end.
Which meant that Moggle was trapped.
“I better go first!” she said, pushing past Eden.
“But you can’t even see!”
Aya ignored her, scrambling down the tunnel. At least she could warn Moggle that someone—judging from the echoing voices behind her, everyone—was coming.
“Moggle!” she said with the barest hiss of sound.
She slowed a little, trying to listen. Somehow the air felt different in here.
A step later Aya’s foot twisted beneath her, coming down wrong on an uneven stretch of floor. She grunted, reaching her hands out ahead to steady herself. . . .
They touched nothingness.
And then Aya was rolling forward, falling into a void.
SHAFT
Aya dropped in absolute darkness, spinning head over heels into the mountain’s depths.
She reached for her crash bracelets, hoping they would find enough metal to keep her from splattering. At the first twist, the bracelets found purchase, jerking her upright with a shoulder-wrenching snap. Her feet swung out with unspent momentum, and one cracked against solid stone.
Aya hung there stunned for a moment, pain sparkling against the solid blackness. As her head cleared, the echo of her own breathing pressed close around her. She swung her feet out—they connected with stone, pushing Aya backward into a wall of rock. The impact prized a cry of pain from her lungs.
“Quit kicking!” came Eden’s voice from the darkness just above. Seconds later strong arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her up. The agony in her shoulders lessened a little.
“You okay, Nosey?” Eden said.
“I’ll live. But maybe no more falling tonight.”
“I hope you don’t keep trying to get killed just to impress me.”
Aya only grunted. As Eden carried her back up through the formless darkness, she felt the tingle of blood rushing back into her hands.
Eden set her down firmly on a ledge—the one she’d just plummeted off. “Maybe you should leave the exploring to people who can see in the dark. And can fly.”
“Sure,” Aya said, gingerly rubbing her shoulders. “And thanks.”
“Thanks again, you mean.”
Voices echoed around them—the other Sly Girls were headed down the tunnel.
“Slow down!” Eden shouted. “It’s a trap . . . or something.”
“Yeah, something,” Aya muttered, pulling out her flashlight and leaning carefully over the shaft. It was circular, big enough across for the cylinders to travel down. The walls were striped with copper coils as thick as Aya’s arm, laid into the stone under clear plastic.
The shaft also continued upward, past where her flashlight faded in the distance.
Moggle had certainly found an odd place to hide.
Eden grunted. “I see you found your flashlight, Nosey.”
“Oh, yeah.” Aya shrugged. “I guess it was in my pocket all the time.”
Eden nodded slowly.
“You found something?” Kai’s voice called. She pushed her way past the other Sly Girls crowding the tunnel, crawled to the edge of the shaft, and peered into its depths. “Wow. What is this?”
“I guess we’re not sure,” Eden said. “Are we, Nosey?”
“No clue,” Aya said, rubbing her wrists. “But take it from me—don’t jump down it.”
Kai crouched there, her hands tracing the metal studs in the tunnel floor. She glanced back toward where the cylinders stood waiting in their rows.
“This must be where those big metal things wind up.”
“I guess so,” Aya said. “Maybe it’s some kind of elevator.”
“An elevator with an airlock?” Kai shook her head. “Not likely. Can you see the bottom?”
“No, but I can go there.” Eden stepped off into the void, her hoverball rig’s lifters catching before she fell even a centimeter. “Sorry to steal all the glory, Kai.” Eden smiled as she dropped out of sight.
Aya watched her fall into the depths, hoping that Moggle had gone up rather than down. . . .
Kai turned to her. “What were you and Miki chasing, anyway?”
Aya shrugged, which sent a twinge of pain through her shoulders.
“You okay?”
“I’ve been using my crash bracelets a lot tonight.”
“I noticed that.” Kai chuckled. “I knew you were one of us, Aya-chan.”
“Thanks.” Aya smiled weakly—another dizzy-making wave of exhaustion was hitting. “But maybe I’ll rest a minute.
My adrenaline needs a recharge.”
“No problem.” Kai leaned out to peer down the shaft and sighed. “This could take a while.”
• • •
Aya crawled past the other Sly Girls in the tunnel, waving off their questions, saying she needed a rest. She climbed out and made her way through the cylinders and to the stairs. Halfway up, she crouched down, booting her eyescreen.
“Moggle?” she whispered.
The hovercam’s point of view appeared against the darkness. It took Aya’s tired brain a moment to adjust to infrared, but Moggle was looking down.
The cluster of body-heat blobs below were the Sly Girls crowded at the shaft’s edge. Eden Maru was a pinprick of light farther down, the lifters of her hoverball rig shimmering against cold stone.
Moggle had lucked out so far. Of course, Eden would explore the upper part of the shaft eventually.
“Keep climbing,” she whispered. “And look for a way out.”
The sides of the shaft passed by unchanging—thick copper coils every meter or so, no way in or out. But a subtle infrared glow came from directly over Moggle, a sliver of heat at the top of the shaft.
“Find out what’s up there. But don’t use your night-lights!”
Aya dimmed her eyescreen for a moment, checking to make sure no one had followed her. The room full of cylinders was still empty.
As Moggle climbed, its signal began to fritz, shimmers of static dancing across her eyes. The connection was punching through a lot of stone, and Aya wondered how long the shaft was. Her skintenna could only reach a kilometer without the city network helping.
By the time Moggle reached the top, Aya could barely see through the clouds of interference. The hovercam seemed to be in a transparent bubble; soft lights shone down through the rounded plastic walls.
They looked like . . . stars.
Aya moved a few steps up, and the static cleared for a moment. It was true: Moggle was looking out from the top of the mountain.
Suddenly the whole mountain range was laid out around her. Sharp peaks cut into the starry sky, and down in the valley the mag-lev’s solar collectors glimmered with reflected starlight. Aya could even see the lights of the city glowing faintly in the distance.