“Can’t you make a guess about me?”
“I can’t possibly guess what would have happened to you in Lottery,” said Lucas. “There are tens of thousands of professions in the Hive. The decision system is far too complicated for any human mind to mimic. Anyway, it’s better not to know. It might leave you discontented.”
“Well, not if I’d have been a Level 99 Sewage Technician.” I saw the amusement in Lucas’s thoughts, and screeched in shock. “What? There aren’t any Level 99 Sewage Technicians?”
Lucas was struggling not to laugh. “They’re an urban myth, deliberately encouraged by the Hive. Everyone can feel comfortably superior when they joke about the poor Level 99 Sewage Technicians and Waste Handlers living in hovels wedged among the pipes. The truth is that nobody lives below Level 96. Levels 97 to 100 are mostly used for maintenance and storage.”
“Gah!” I groaned.
“All Hives aim to be as self-sufficient as possible,” said Lucas, “but ours is one of the nearest to being a totally closed environment. We collect a few resources from Outside, trade a little, and have our own sea farm, but for the most part we’re independent of the other Hives and Outside. Air, water, food, power, all the main needs are recycled. Our real equivalent of Waste Handlers are Level 1 Ecology Specialists, vital to the wellbeing of the Hive.”
I shook my head. “First the whole nosy thing was a bluff, and now there are no Level 99 Sewage Technicians. You have no idea how worried I was that I’d become one.”
Lucas couldn’t hold back his laughter this time. “It’s impossible for me to duplicate the complexity of the Lottery decision process,” he gasped, “but I’m absolutely certain you’d have been rated a lot better than Level 99.”
He dissolved into laughter again. I cautiously tried separating my mind from his, letting my own emotions take over again. The Truesun’s glowing orb was moving above the horizon now, but I wasn’t being burnt to death. I wasn’t running or screaming either. I felt some nervous fear and tension, but my terror had gone.
I was living in an impossible, incredible new world. The reality of everything I’d known and depended on as a child had shattered into a thousand pieces. My Hive would never imprint me. The grey-masked nosies couldn’t read minds. Level 99 Sewage Technicians didn’t even exist.
I was Outside, the Truesun was rising, and it wasn’t terrifying but glorious. Elden’s last hold over me had been broken, and I was free to hunt him down.
Chapter Thirty-five
The next morning, I called my parents so early that they’d barely started eating their breakfasts. “I just wanted to warn you that I’ll be extra busy for the next week or two,” I said. “My unit is going to be running some especially delicate experiments, so we may have to exchange messages for a while rather than talk to each other.”
My parents nodded. My mother and I had a rapid discussion about how Gregas was settling in on Teen Level, while my father just kept giving wistful looks at his breakfast, and then I ended the call.
I double-checked my gun was locked on stun setting, clipped it on to my belt, picked up my crystal unit, slung my jacket over my shoulder, and headed for lift 2. Adika and the Strike team were waiting inside the lift. Lucas was standing outside it with Megan. She’d obviously come to see us off on our hunt for Elden, or more precisely to make a final attempt at stopping us going.
Megan frowned at me. “You’ve only watched one sunrise and coped with a few hours of daylight, Amber. Leaping straight into this trip on the basis of that, planning to spend day after day Outside, is …” She broke off, unable to make herself say that a telepath was stupid. “Over ambitious.”
“We discussed all this in yesterday’s meeting, Megan. I’m not scared of Outside or the Truesun any longer. We have to go after Elden now if we want to stand a real chance of catching him.”
Megan turned her attack against Lucas. “You must realize that Amber’s been going through far too much lately. That imprint. Your relationship. Going Outside. She shouldn’t be rushing off on this trip as well.”
“I totally agree,” said Lucas. “Leaving immediately is Amber’s idea not mine. I’d prefer less precipitous actions, however I can see that she’s utilizing her multiple strong emotions to mitigate each other, so leaving now has its advantages.”
Megan looked confused.
“Amber’s using her anger at Elden to override her residual fear of Outside,” Lucas explained helpfully. “She’s using her personal relationship with me as a distraction from both those things.”
Was I really using those tactics? I supposed that Lucas was right. He was the tactical expert after all.
Lucas spoke deliberately slowly for emphasis. “You won’t change Amber’s mind about this, Megan. I know. I’ve tried. Repeatedly. Just look what we’re up against!”
He pointed at the wall opposite the lifts, where Sofia had painted her mural of me standing on the picnic table and giving my speech to the unit. I felt that my passionate expression, and my striking pose with both arms raised, owed more to artistic licence than reality, but Megan threw a despairing look at it and groaned.
“Try not to worry too much, Megan,” added Lucas. “If Amber’s tactics fail, then an aircraft can reach us within minutes and take her back to the Hive.”
Megan sighed and retreated in the direction of her office. Lucas and I put our crystal units in our ears, turned them on, and went to join the Strike team in the lift. Adika greeted us with a smile, clearly relieved to have escaped being drawn into the argument with Megan.
“Strike team is moving,” he said.
Everyone was carrying backpacks that were even bigger than the ones they’d had yesterday. Lucas and I were the fortunate exceptions, burdened with nothing except our bulky jackets.
Emili’s voice spoke in my ear crystal. “Tactical ready.”
She sounded worried, and I didn’t need telepathy to tell me why. Lucas was always concerned when he sent me off on an emergency run, and Emili would be even more anxious about Rothan. Lucas knew the entire Strike team would fight to the death to defend me from any threats. Emili knew Rothan’s job put him in the forefront of that defence.
The ever anxious voice of Nicole came next. She’d been rushed into being team leader without the standard experience as a deputy. She was doing a great job, but still feeling insecure. “Liaison ready. Tracking status is green.”
I’d already checked my dataview. Everyone’s signals were there, including Lucas. “Green here,” I said.
Lucas started talking in the lecture style he used for briefings. “This is a completely unprecedented run by a Strike team. We’re prepared to be Outside for up to a week. Tactical and Liaison teams are organized into shifts to give us round-the-clock support. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for people to rest and sleep when they’re off duty. We don’t want to be several days into this, hit trouble, and find people are too exhausted to do their job.”
“Strike team, that warning is especially relevant for you,” said Adika. “I’m splitting you into red group led by Rothan, and blue group led by Forge. Whatever the situation, the group on rest break must try to sleep. Red group is …”
He recited a list of Strike team members, and I watched names changing colour on my dataview.
“Everyone else is blue group,” Adika concluded.
Lucas continued his briefing. “We don’t want to be seen leaving the Hive, so we’ll go all the way down to Level 100, ride an express belt through there, and then take a lift straight up to a maintenance exit near a country park. Liaison have been rescheduling maintenance work on Level 100, so we shouldn’t meet too many people there.”
Things went quiet until our lift reached Level 100, and we headed out to ride the belt. I stood next to Lucas as we went past seemingly endless mazes of pipes and tanks. Eventually, we jumped belt. Lift 2 at our unit was giant-sized, to allow us to send out the combined Alpha and Beta Strike teams to deal with an extreme emergency. Now
we were entering a standard express lift, so it was a tight squeeze for us and all the camping equipment as we made the long ride from Level 100 right up to Industry 1.
When the doors opened, we spilled out into an open area with a flight of steps leading up to a pair of heavy duty doors. Adika held up a hand to stop us, and turned to look at Lucas.
“As we’ve already discovered,” said Lucas, “the terrain Outside can be extremely difficult. Maintenance workers maintain a few paths for access purposes. The Ramblers Association keep some other paths clear for their hobby. We’ve maps of all available paths, and our expert rambler, Rothan, will be guiding us. If we get lost, blame him not me.”
Lucas smiled at Rothan before continuing. “We believe Elden originally came to our Hive from the nearest stretch of coastline. For obvious reasons, our sea farm is at the closest point of that coastline. Elden would want to keep his journey as short as possible, and follow an established path towards our Hive, but avoid the sea farm. That means he’d choose to come ashore at one of two quite small sections of coastline, and follow either the Western or Eastern Coastal Way to reach our Hive.”
He paused. “Elden’s probably at a nest near one of those two footpaths right now, waiting for Amber’s transfer request to be approved. The plan is that we’ll head out from the Hive along the Western Coastal Way. If Amber finds no sign of Elden on that route, we’ll cut across to pick up the Eastern Coastal Way, and follow that back towards the Hive.”
Lucas came to stand next to me, while Rothan and Adika went up the steps and entered the code to open the doors.
“Amber,” said Lucas, “if you find your fear of the Truesun returning at any point, say so at once. Rothan can get the tent up within a couple of minutes.”
“One minute, forty-five seconds,” said Rothan. “We timed it.”
The door opened to show an area of unkempt grass and scattered trees. The light Outside was duller than I expected. Some of the more distant trees seemed strangely blurry.
Rothan stepped out of the door and looked around critically. “We’ve still got some early morning mist. That should clear within an hour, but it looks like we’ll have a cloudy day.”
“Clouds are good,” said Lucas.
I took a deep breath, moved Outside with the rest of the team, and looked upwards. The sky was a uniform greyish white, like a badly painted park sky. I couldn’t even see the Truesun. There was a cold edge to the air, so I put on my jacket.
Rothan was staring alternately at his dataview and our surroundings. “We’ll have to take a maintenance path down slope and head for Spike 71. Once we’re there, we can join the main Hive perimeter path and follow it to the junction with the Western Coastal Way. It may seem like we’re going the long way round, but it’s much easier and faster than trying to force our way cross-country without a path.”
“You’re the expert, Rothan,” said Adika. “General marching order is that red group go ahead with Rothan, followed by Lucas and Amber in the middle, then Forge and blue group. Cover the flanks when you can. Guns set to stun and hidden under jackets. Ear crystals kept on audio only for now. We’re innocent little ramblers going for a stroll.”
Rothan led the way along a wide path with an oddly soft surface. I scuffed my feet, and found it was a thick layer of ancient leaves. There were giant trees on either side of us now, towering upwards to a dizzying height.
We mostly walked in silence, though there was the odd joking comment from one or other member of the Strike team. Adika was leaving Rothan to lead, and Forge to act as rearguard, while he lurked near the middle of our party and watched every move I made. I checked his thoughts, and saw that Megan had been lecturing him about the dangers of exposing me to daylight for too long.
I sighed. I understood Megan being especially anxious about this trip, but sometimes I felt like a toddler with an over-protective mother. I allowed myself a brief fantasy about firing her, but knew it was pointless. Any other candidate for Megan’s position would be exactly the same, smothering me with care.
I’d learnt a lot about imprints lately. Everyone in my unit was imprinted with identical facts about how telepaths were rare, vital to the Hive, and must be protected at all costs. Everyone except those imprinted for Tactical Commander or Senior Administrator.
Lucas was my Tactical Commander in charge of operations. His imprint had to inform him telepaths were precious, but not overwhelm him with that fact, or he’d never be able to make the decision to send one on an emergency run. That was one of the things that had attracted me to Lucas. Everyone else in my unit looked at me and saw an irreplaceable telepath first and a person second, but Lucas always saw me as Amber.
But if the Hive left my Tactical Commander free to make decisions that put me at risk, it also made sure my Senior Administrator was a balancing influence to defend me. Candidates for Megan’s position were chosen to be over-protective by nature, and imprinted with a crippling mass of reasons why a telepath must be kept safe and cosseted.
I pulled a face. I’d once thought that Megan’s primary role was protecting my physical and mental wellbeing, in the same way that Adika’s primary role was protecting me from attack. That was almost right, but Megan’s role also included protecting me from my Tactical Commander. No wonder she was so uncomfortable about me being in a relationship with Lucas.
I realized everyone had stopped moving, and looked round to see why. We’d reached a junction in the path, and Rothan seemed to be conferring with Liaison about which way to go. I sat down on a fallen tree branch to wait, grateful for the rest. I was used to riding an express belt for long distance travel, and what walking I did was along nice level corridors. This path had a habit of sloping upwards and then going down again. Parks weren’t totally flat, but they were nothing like this.
I closed my eyes to focus on my telepathic view of the world. Lucas’s thoughts flared like a beacon among the rest of our party. Below my feet was the thunderous hum of a hundred million minds. Around us were a multitude of animals and birds. I opened my eyes again.
“Our tracking shows you’re definitely at the right junction,” said the voice of Nicole.
Rothan peered at his dataview. “This is a four way junction instead of three. The path ahead looks like a temporary one cut by maintenance workers. You get a lot of temporary paths appearing and disappearing out here. We’ll turn right.”
We walked on and reached a small stream. Adika automatically picked me up and carried me across it.
“If any ramblers see us carrying Amber,” said Rothan, “they’ll be worried she’s been hurt and ask if we need help. We should tell them she’s just tripped over a tree root and twisted her ankle.”
“Easy enough to injure yourself on paths like this,” grumbled Eli.
“That’s why we have the special heavy footwear that you’ve been moaning about, Eli,” said Rothan. “The boots protect your feet and ankles, so you’re less likely to injure yourself.”
When we were across the stream, I did my own walking again. After what seemed a very long time, Megan’s voice came over the sound link. “You’ll need to give Amber a proper rest break before too long.”
“I’m all right so far,” I said. “The sky is very cloudy today.”
“I was thinking of getting us to the edge of table top, and breaking for a few hours there,” said Rothan. “That way everyone will be fully rested for the descent.”
“What’s table top?” asked Adika.
“It’s a rambler term,” said Rothan. “When the Hive was first built, a vast, square hole was dug out. Most of the Hive levels were built underground, but the rest stuck up above the surrounding countryside. As we’re taught in school, there was just the one zone back then, but over the next century the Hive was gradually extended sideways to add the extra nine zones we have today. The thing they don’t mention in school, is that all the spare soil and rocks from extending the hole was used to bury the Hive.”
He paused for a moment.
“The result is the ground above the Hive is quite flat, like a vast, oblong table top, but when you get to the edge of the Hive there’s a very steep slope. Getting down the slope can be tricky, and is best done on an established path.”
I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t think our current path was all that flat, so how steep would the slope be?
“A break of a few hours sounds good to me,” said Lucas. “I’d like us to do our travelling early and late, and give Amber a long rest break inside a tent during the middle of the day.”
We walked on through the forest. “If they just piled loose soil on top of the Hive, why are there all these trees?” I asked.
“They planted fast growing conifers to help stabilize the soil,” said Rothan. “Other trees grew from random seeds. You mainly get conifers on top of the Hive. Once we’re down from table top, you’ll find the trees are much more varied.”
“How do you know all these things?” asked Eli.
“My parents told me about them,” said Rothan. “They do maintenance work Outside, so their imprints have lots of details on the conditions.”
The path had been going up, now it went down again. “I thought you said table top was flat?” said Eli. “This feels like a slope to me.”
Rothan just laughed.
The trees abruptly thinned out. When we walked past the last of them, we stopped and stood in awed silence. The ground ahead plummeted downwards a terrifying distance. Bushes and the occasional small tree clung on desperately.
“Now that’s a slope,” said Rothan.
“Yes, that’s definitely a slope,” said Adika, in a thoughtful voice.
Forge casually wandered forward to take a closer look. “I’d be happier if it was even steeper and solid rock. That soil looks dangerously loose to me.”
Rothan nodded. “If loose soil and stones start sliding under your feet, then you’ll slide with them. If anyone slips at any point, then I advise sitting down, but we shouldn’t have any trouble if we stay on the path. It’s a maintenance one heading to Spike 71, and should be nice and solid. Rambler paths are a lot more variable.”