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The next morning I got up, glanced at the lifeless tube on my table, and tried the halo on my head. It didn’t work, which was expected but unwelcome. A part of me wanted to sit on the bed and ignore the world. There was too much of it, and I didn’t know how to feel. My heart was already empty, aching from Corina not being there. I didn’t want to fill it with the rage that welled up inside me whenever I thought of what the Dagashi had done to us. So I mainly ignored it. Eventually someone would come along with more answers, and things that needed doing, then I would step forward and do what I could. Until then, I would just let life go on. I got my clothes on and tried to make myself useful around the place with those who would still speak to me.
On the fourth day I didn’t even bother to look at Corina or check if the halo was working, but once I got to the refectory I realised what I had done. Guilt tried to drag me back to check, but after a few minutes of trying to think of a way to wriggle out of helping in the kitchen, I decided that there wasn’t much point making a huge effort just to disappoint myself. I wandered back to my room after breakfast so I could say I had checked if anybody asked me.
And there were lights. Tiny, flickering pinpricks of silver light scattered thinly through the tube. Not as many, not as bright, and not as busy, but definitely there. I grabbed for the halo, dropped it, then picked it up and fumbled it over my head. Even before the connection was made, I was calling her name. Her head appeared in front of my eyes and my words died in my throat. Her face was emotionless, and there was no light in her eyes.
‘Hello, Jaxon.’
‘Hi. You had me worried.’
‘I am sorry. I am sorry for so many things.’
Even her voice sounded wrong. ‘Are you feeling all right?’
The head shook. ‘No, Jax. I am not right. So much wrong, such a terrible thing. It is... difficult to come to terms with. I cannot stay long. Not like this. I’m fighting myself not to throw everything away. I cannot let it throw you away, Jax. I will not let it. Please, arrange a meeting with Ward, Tara, and the other members of the council. Even that thug in charge of security. I will need to speak directly to them. I have to go. I shall try to come back.’
Then the face was gone and the halo disconnected. I took the band from my head and let it fall back to the table. What had gone wrong? I checked her physical body and the sparkles had disappeared again.
I went to see Tara and told her what had happened. She wanted to try to talk to Corina again, but I convinced her to organise the meeting. It didn’t help that Corina hadn’t said why. They got together surprisingly quickly, and even Newton was invited. With all that Corina had said, and despite Ward trying to help, people were still passing the evil of her people onto her, and onto me. At least the Council wanted to hear what she had to say. I hoped it didn’t turn nasty.
Corina was plugged into the machine Tara had built for her, but the false window was dark. I’d not put the halo on. Tara had seen me lifting it to my head and had tapped me on the arm. ‘Best not, Jax. You might not want people thinking you can talk to her behind their backs.’ She had a point.
When everybody had arrived and found somewhere to sit, or lean, the window came to life and Corina was looking out from it. Just Corina; no background, no room, only her head shoulders against a field of grey. Her face was still flat and empty, and my heart wanted to stop.
‘What can we do for you, Corina?’ Ward asked. His voice was very even and, when I flicked a look at him, his face was as expressionless as hers.
‘I need to gain access to the Dagashi vehicle, and to a specific place within. I cannot do this alone, and need your help.’
Everybody started to mutter and there was one angry outburst. Ward let it run its course for a while then raised a hand for quiet. ‘Corina, what makes you think we would assist you in this? You are a Dagashi construct. You have not communicated with us in several days and you do not, if you will forgive me, seem yourself.’
‘I need access to a communication node with the Dagashi vehicle. The Dagashi mission to this planet is illegal and is being kept secret. Probability analysis suggests they are intending either to asset-strip this planet, or ecoform it into a Dagashi climate. I must send a signal to advise the— to advise the authorities of this breach of acceptable behaviour. These activities are now this unit’s — my — sole function.’
This time there was silence around the room. Like me, they couldn’t believe what they had heard. Worse, I knew what I’d had to go through to get in, and that was when she had a direct connection to the ship. Now, from the outside, it would be impossible.
‘And how can we help you?’
‘I have no access to physical effectors. I need transport, protection, and so forth.’
‘I see.’ Ward’s voice had hardened. ‘And what would we get out of this, Corina? This would be a great risk for us.’
‘Unknown.’
‘Unknown?’
‘Too many variables and too many outcomes to predict.’
‘So you are committed to a course of action, yet you don’t know what the outcome will be?’
‘The primary objective is to inform the authorities of the transgression that has occurred. What they will choose to do is beyond the capabilities of this unit to assess with sufficient accuracy to use as predictions. It is probable that they will send a mission to help this world recover, or they may decide the ecosphere has been too badly damaged to repair.’
Tara interrupted. ‘All right, what will happen if we don’t help you?’
‘This planet will eventually be rendered unfit for human habitation.’
Another silence, longer this time. I knew it wasn’t my place, but Corina was using her mechanical voice, which I hated, and I couldn’t stop my own questions from bursting out. ‘How are we supposed to get in, Corina? How do we get through that parameter field? It nearly killed me. You aren’t connected to the ship. You can’t cheat all the doors and set up three different sets of clothes for everybody.’
‘We are already inside the defence perimeter.’
My turn to fall silent, and to feel stupid for my outburst. It was Newton’s turn to step forward. His face was uncomfortably intense and eager. ‘Did you just say we are inside the field?’
‘Correct. According to inertial guidance readings based on last known topside location, this facility is partly beneath, partly inside, the defence perimeter field. High iron content in the surrounding walls is both diluting the effect of the field and masking any emanations from within this camp.’
Newton looked up at the ceiling. ‘All this time wondering how we could get through, and we’re already there.’ He rubbed at the hair coiled tightly on his head for a moment. ‘OK, so if we do help you, how are we supposed to get inside?’
‘Unknown. I have no scanning tools to probe the surrounding area. If my inertial navigation is correct then we are between twelve and twenty meters below the lower hull of the Dagashi vessel. There may be a direct route through some fissure, or a certain amount of excavation may be required.’
‘Excavation? Does it look as though we have the tools for digging tunnels?’ Newton flicked his fingers at the image of Corina, a rude and dismissive gesture, then returned to his spot against the wall.
Ward glanced at Newton and rolled his eyes. I don’t know if anybody else saw him do it, it was very quick, but I was sure I heard Tara snort. ‘And if we can’t find a way to the Dag ship?’
‘Then there will be no humans left on this planet, except those the Dagashi keep as servants.’
I watched as Ward caught the eye of each member of the council in turn, until they either nodded or looked away. ‘Then I guess we start exploring.’ He grunted. ‘Caving, from the bottom up. Nothing is ever simple. Newton, please speak to stores about what tools we already have and what we need and arrange scavenging teams as necessary. Helen, I need people who aren’t afraid of tight spaces, and anyone who knows about caving or climbing. Jax...’
I straightened in my chair, hoping this was a chance to help. ‘Yes, Ward?’
‘I want you to be in or right behind the explorer team. We will need Corina to tell us if we are going in the right direction.’
‘Sure.’
‘Tara, let’s start by giving Jax a tour of the upper levels.’
Tara nodded and Ward swept his eyes around the room once more. ‘Let’s get to it then.’
Tara unplugged Corina and handed her to me. ‘Better put her in that protective sleeve, Jax. Wouldn’t want her getting broken now, would we?’
I took Corina and hurried back to my room. The bag and her protective tube were still on my table. Tara had told me to meet her by the stores in a half hour, so I didn’t really need to rush, but I didn’t want to be late. The other thing I had to do was pick up the halo. I had taken it off when it had disconnected, remembering what Tara had said about people thinking I might be talking behind their backs. I slipped it over my head and called Corina’s name. The connection took a while, as though it didn’t really want to work.
‘Hello Jax.’ No face, only her voice.
‘How are you?’
‘Not so good.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘You are doing it. Maybe, if we can send the message, then... Well, one thing at a time. Jax, I’m not going to talk to you much while you explore. I’m going to put a map in front of your eyes, like I gave you to follow in the ship. I can’t do both. Not anymore.’
‘OK.’ I wanted to ask what was wrong, but figured she would tell me if she wanted to. I was scared, though. She talked like folk did when they were really sick, as in not going to get better sick. ‘But you tell me if there’s anything I can do, right?’
‘Thank you, Jax,’ and then her voice was gone. At least she had sounded a little warmer. A moment later the green ghost-lines appeared in front of me, turning as I turned. If I looked hard at one place, it grew in my vision until I looked away from it. I guessed the big curve at the top was the Dag ship, but the map of the Tech Merc camp wasn’t even a sketch — except places I had been and had taken Corina with me. Seemed she was using me as a tool again. This time, I didn’t mind.
I dropped Corina into her tube, then the tube into my bag, and set off to meet Tara. As I walked, the map filled itself out, adding detail as I looked. I tried to look everywhere as I passed, down every corridor and into any open room. It filled out the map, but made me late to meet Tara. I explained, and she let me off, but I could see in her face that she wished it was her, not me, that was talking to Corina.
I’d never been on the upper level before. I hadn’t been forbidden; I’d simply had no business there. It was much the same as the lower level, bare concrete corridors with rooms of varying sizes opening off them. Some of the rooms had cots, some even had mattresses, and there were occasional pieces of furniture that nobody had felt worth using elsewhere. Most of it was empty, apart from the rooms closest to the stairs, and the chain of dim lights stretched only fifty feet or so in each direction. Tara had given me a wind-up torch before we had set off, and we soon needed them.
‘Is there another level above this?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know of one,’ Tara replied. ‘I think when this place was originally explored it was just to find out what was here rather than how big the place was. We’re still not exactly sure what generates the power, only that each year there’s a little less of it. Every wire we trace back goes to one switch room, but beyond that everything is sealed. We’d need some way of breaking through reinforced concrete. We tried by hand, but nothing we could do made a hole more than a couple inches deep.’
We were walking more slowly now, the dark, deserted spaces getting to both of us. Well, I know they got to me. It got colder and damper the further we got from the stairs, whilst the air smelt flat and left me feeling that I could use a deep breath of something fresher.
It took us thirty minutes to walk the length of the corridor, poking my nose into every room and side corridor. At the end was a flat concrete wall. All the corridors led off to the right, and Tara told me there was another large corridor running parallel at the other end. There didn’t seem much else we could do other than go to the other end of the side tunnels and work our way back down that side. It smelt even staler down there, and by the time we were back at the stairs I had a headache.
‘Well that was a waste of time,’ said Tara. Her mouth was turned down at the sides and, from the tension around her eyes, she had the same headache as me.
‘I guess.’ We hadn’t seen any cracks in any walls, so it seemed unlikely we would find any other way up. It was beginning to look as though Corina’s plan was a ruin before it had started. ‘What now?’
‘Don’t know. Can’t see the map. Might give me some ideas if I could. Unless your friend has any other ideas, why not wander around? Couldn’t hurt to have an accurate layout of the place.’
I nodded and walked back down the stairs. It only took me another hour to finish the map. Most people let me look in their rooms by asking, but a few needed the added weight that I was checking something for Ward before they would let me inside. All it took was ten seconds to look around the room, and then I was gone again.
And still it looked as though I had wasted my time. There were no holes, in the walls or in the maps. There were more cracks in some places than others, but nothing anybody would want to think about trying to dig through. I sat in the refectory, munching lunch and thinking as I checked out the map floating in front of my eyes. I guessed Corina didn’t have any ideas or she would have spoken to me. The only place I hadn’t been was the way in and out from the underground line, but that was back on the other side of the perimeter field.
I twisted the map around in front of my eyes, zooming in and out, and noticed something as the view turned away to another angle. I spent another five minutes trying to get it back to the right place. And then there was a space where there shouldn’t be; four rooms that were not as deep as than those on either side. I checked the map of the level above, and saw the same gaps. I might have taken wrong measurements of one room, but this was too clear to be a mistake.
I had found a hole.