“Hand me that circuit board,” Fixie said. “I’m almost done with this thing.”
Doc did as he was asked, handing over the circuit board in question to Fixie, who was half-buried in an access hatch at the base of the transmitter.
“Thanks.” The circuit board quickly disappeared inside the access hatch, just as numerous tools and parts had done over the past half hour. Fixie had done most of his work inside that hatch, which he said contained the heart of the transmitter’s control system.
Though, for all Doc knew, it could just as easily have been the core of some doomsday device that Fixie was nursing back to health. He seemed trustworthy, but anything was possible, and Doc was on guard.
“There, that did it.” Fixie popped out of the hatch and handed several tools to Doc. “The transmitter has been restored to the operational state that Dr. Hammersmith intended. Once we connect the mat-trans system to the nuclear batteries and throw the switch, everything will finally be running perfectly.”
“The nuclear batteries?” Doc repeated. “I take it that is our next order of business.”
“Yes, and we need to get to there fast.” Fixie boosted himself out of the hatch and planted his feet on the floor. “People will start noticing things soon, if they haven’t already. Like the fact that we’re not where we’re supposed to be, for example.”
“Are there regular check-ins with the people manning this facility?” Doc looked across the room to where the three workers were bound and tied to iron cleats mounted on the wall.
“I’m sure there are.” Fixie gathered up his gear in a hurry. “All the more reason for us to get moving.”
Doc gathered up the rest of the gear and headed for the ventilation duct, but Fixie stopped him with a loud whistle. Turning, Doc saw him gesturing toward a closed door on the far end of the vault.
“This way,” Fixie said.
“Are there no guards?” Doc asked.
Fixie shook his head. “I don’t think most people even know that the batteries exist.”
Doc looked back at the duct opening. “Maybe it would not hurt to be on the safe side anyway.”
“Go that way if you want, but I’m taking the hallway, Theo.” Fixie laughed and headed for the door.
Doc still worried they might come across trouble that way, but he followed Fixie. Splitting up didn’t seem smart at that stage, and besides, he had no idea how to find the nuclear batteries via the duct work on his own.
Luckily, Fixie was right. No guards or workers awaited them at their destination.
After a short trip down the corridor, Fixie opened the door on a much smaller room, at most, a fourth of the size of the transmitter vault.
The room was brightly lit and lined along three walls with various monitors, displays and control panels. The fourth wall looked like heavy armaglass, but it was completely transparent and without color. On the other side of the armaglass, Doc saw a water-filled space. Opaque gray cubes the size of refrigerators occupied the area, suspended from long metal racks and wired together with cables and conduits that hung in sagging loops like vines in a jungle.
“The batteries are underwater?” Doc asked.
“For cooling purposes.” Fixie immediately marched over to a panel on the wall and went to work, fiddling with knobs and dials. “The batteries produce far less heat than the reactor, but the heat they do generate has to be controlled and dispersed. Otherwise, big problems.”
“I see.” Doc walked the perimeter of the control room, stopping at the window wall to place his palm against the glass. The surface was warm to the touch.
“This shouldn’t take long.” Fixie finished tweaking the panel he was working on and moved to another. “I’ve already done most of the work to make the changeover possible. The transmitter takes an enormous amount of energy, but the batteries are more than up to the task. We just have to adjust a few things, disconnect the reactor feed and switch to the battery feed. Then it’s smooth sailing after that.”
“Smooth sailing.” Doc pulled his hand away from the glass. “The fulfillment of the true Dr. Hammersmith’s dream. But why?”
“Why?” Fixie looked at him and frowned.
“He fired you, didn’t he? Because you tried to help perfect his system. So why do you have any interest in his dream?”
“Why not?” Fixie shrugged and went back to work. “It’s a good dream. Making the Shift a better place is a very good dream, if you ask me.”
Doc thought for a moment. He had questioned Fixie’s sincerity, but maybe there was no reason to doubt him. “It does seem like a most worthwhile goal,” he said. “I only hope we both live to see it come to fruition.”
“Have faith, like I do,” Fixie said. “We’ll figure out an escape route, or one will present itself. We’re doing good work, and we’ll be rewarded for it.”
“Faith? I had a great deal of it once. Not so much any more.” Doc gazed at the rising bubbles behind the armaglass wall and remembered going to church in the days before his travels through time. It had filled a void inside him, one that had been empty since his arrival in the Deathlands. “I do not object to it on principle, though. I must admit, I would like to think it has a bearing on our destinies.”
“Then, I’m feeling better already about our chances.” Fixie grinned and extended a hand. “Now, how about giving me the needle-nose pliers so we can wrap this up?”