| |
––––––––
Level 93 had seemed reassuringly like Teen Level earlier, but now I was conscious of being over forty levels and a zone away from my home corridor. I scrambled to my feet, groped my way round a dark mass of bushes, and headed back towards where the lights of moons were reflected in the smooth lake water. I’d never had any problems finding my way round our area park on Teen Level at night, but I wasn’t familiar with the paths here, and I’d no idea where the exits were.
My best plan was to find the refreshment kiosk again. It would be closed for the night, but it would still be a useful guide to finding an exit, because a park kiosk was always on the major path through a park.
Finding the kiosk was harder than I expected. Its red and white stripes had been instantly noticeable in the daytime, but now it was just another shadowy shape among those of trees and structural pillars. Once I reached it, I had a choice of going left or right along the path. Both directions should lead to a park exit. I turned left and soon reached double doors that had a glowing green exit sign.
I hurried through the doors, feeling buoyant with relief, and saw I was at the edge of a brightly lit shopping area. Despite the late hour, there were a surprising number of people moving from shop to shop. I supposed there were a lot of shift workers living here on Level 93.
I headed across to a row of lifts, summoned one, and the doors opened to show a man and woman wearing matching white overalls. I glanced at the destination level number, saw they were heading up to one of the fifty industrial levels right at the top of the Hive, and set the lift controls for Teen Level 50. There didn’t seem to be many people travelling between levels so late in the evening, because the lift zoomed upwards without stopping for anyone else.
When the doors opened on Teen Level, I saw I was in another shopping area. Teens had little reason to shop late at night, so the lights were turned down, and only a handful of shadowy figures were in sight. I was still at the wrong side of Turquoise Zone, but I felt far more comfortable now I was back on my home level.
I walked towards a brighter area of lights, and saw it marked a major belt interchange. I checked the signs. I was at 505/5010 in Turquoise Zone, and I had to get home to 510/6120 in Blue Zone. I stepped onto the southbound slow belt, and gave myself a second to adjust to the speed before moving across to the medium, and then the express belts.
I was being carried along an extra wide corridor with bright lights overhead. There was a large chattering group of teens ahead of me, and a boy and girl standing behind me. The group ahead must have been to a late night party on Teen Level beach, because they were all carrying beach bags and towels. I realized I’d left my own bag and towel behind when I was taken away on the stretcher. Hopefully one of my friends would have had enough sense to take them back for me.
The signs on the wall showed that we were approaching the bulkhead between Turquoise Zone and Blue Zone. I was working out exactly how many minutes it would take me to get back to my room from there, when the smooth running express belt under me seemed to falter for a moment, and then started gradually slowing. I looked round in confusion, and saw the medium belt was slowing too.
Alarmed now, I turned to the boy and girl behind me. “What’s happening? Is the belt system breaking down?”
The girl pulled a pitying face at my stupidity. “The three-monthly test closure of the Hive bulkhead doors starts at midnight. Did you really think the express belts would be left running at high speed during that, so they keep throwing people at closed bulkhead doors?”
“Oh, yes. A lot has been happening today, so I’d completely forgotten the bulkhead door test was tonight. Silly of me.” I hastily turned to face forward again.
“Now there’s someone who’ll be coming out of Lottery as a Level 99 Sewage Technician,” said the girl’s contemptuous voice from behind me.
I cringed in embarrassment, but I had a bigger problem than looking a fool in front of a couple of strange teens. If I didn’t make it through the bulkhead doors before they closed, then I’d be stuck in Turquoise Zone for an extra hour.
All three belts were running at slow belt speed now. Red signs started flashing, and a deafening voice came from overhead. “Warning, zone bulkhead approaching! Bulkhead doors are about to close. All passengers leave the belts now.”
I shuffled my way across the medium and slow belts, and stepped on to the corridor floor. The group of teens ahead of me was walking forward, so I followed them on to where the corridor ended in an open area.
I could see the two massive blue and turquoise striped bulkhead doors now. They were wide open as usual, so I thought I still had a chance to get through before the test closure, but then I saw that blue-uniformed hasties were stretching red tape across them.
A man in a maintenance uniform stood in front of the bulkhead doors. He took out his dataview and spoke into it. “Bulkhead 6, Door 17, Level 50. We are clear to close on Turquoise side.”
The watching teens were taking out their dataviews too and checking the time. There was an expectant pause and then they started chanting. “Five, four, three, two ...”
The voices were drowned out by a siren screaming, and then the two great bulkhead doors started sliding together. The Hive was one zone wide and ten zones long. I pictured this scene being repeated at every door on each of the nine bulkheads, on all the hundred accommodation levels and fifty industrial levels of the Hive.
When I was eight years old, our teachers had taken us on a special midnight trip to watch the bulkhead doors close. They’d given us lectures on the importance of being able to shut off areas of the Hive in cases of severe emergency like a great fire. I’d barely listened to any of it. My mind had been focused on the Hive Duty songs we’d been taught in school, remembering all the lines about the Hive being one great community working together for the good of all, and shuddering at the idea of Blue Zone being sealed off from the rest of the Hive.
Now I was seventeen years old, but I still felt an echo of that old terror as I looked at the sealed bulkhead doors. I’d lived in Blue Zone all my life, first on Level 27 and then on Level 50, but now it was impossible to reach it.
The man in maintenance uniform was talking into his dataview again. “Bulkhead 6, Door 17, Level 50. Confirming bulkhead doors sealed.”
I wasn’t sure what to do now. The bulkhead doors would be closed for at least an hour. I was feeling tired, and my head hurt, so I couldn’t stand here for that long, but I couldn’t think where else to go.
I spotted several teens moving purposefully through the crowd, turned my head to see where they were going, and saw they were heading towards a set of chairs. I hurried after them, and sat down with a feeling of relief.
More teens joined us, and then a man came to stand in front of us. I saw his activity leader uniform and had a ghastly moment of realization. I’d gatecrashed a Turquoise Zone activity session!
“I’m glad that so many of my class made the effort to get here.” The activity leader turned his head to look directly at me. “We seem to have a new recruit as well. Shouldn’t you be at a Blue Zone lecture on bulkhead doors?”
I heard a giggle from the girl sitting next to me. “I had an accident,” I said awkwardly. “I had to go to a medical facility for treatment, and I didn’t make it through the bulkhead doors before they closed, so ...”
“Ah, I see,” the activity leader interrupted me. “You were delayed by your accident, couldn’t get to your own class, so you decided to join our lecture instead.”
“Yes,” I said.
“What’s your name?”
“Amber.”
“I like your dedication, Amber.” The man faced the class again. “Now if you were paying attention in yesterday’s activity session, you’ll know half the maintenance staff in our Hive will be taking part in this exercise.”
He took out his dataview, tapped it, and displayed a complex diagram on the wall. “As you see, the bulkhead doors extend above ceiling height and below floor level. There are people in vents and conduits right now, checking that every way through for fire, smoke and toxic fumes is blocked.”
I sat back in my chair, letting his voice drone on past me. He’d been talking for what seemed like hours, and I was on the edge of falling asleep, when I heard a different voice speak. I hastily forced my eyes open again, looked round, and tensed as I saw the activity leader had finished his lecture and was now asking people questions.
“The main vertical air vent,” said the boy who was sitting two chairs away from me.
“Wrong.” The activity leader looked at the girl next to me. “Magda?”
“The waste chute.”
“Wrong.” The activity leader looked at me. “Amber?”
I’d no idea what question I was supposed to be answering. I threw a desperate look at the diagram. There were lots of labels on it, so I picked one at random.
“The bypass electrical link.”
The activity leader’s head went back as if he was startled, and he jabbed a finger at me. “You are right!”
I was? I wondered what I was right about. At that moment, the siren sounded again, and everyone turned their heads to watch the bulkhead doors sliding open.
“My class, you’ve had a late night so I’ll let you off tomorrow morning’s activity session,” said the activity leader briskly. “Amber, this is for you. Congratulations.”
He held out his hand. I was stunned to see the gold card he was holding.
“Amber,” he repeated.
I made myself stand up and go to accept the card. “Thank you,” I muttered.
The other teens dutifully applauded the gold card presentation, but I could see the resentment in their faces as they did it, and they stood up and hurried off without speaking to me. The hasties had removed their red tape, so I joined the rush of people hurrying through to Blue Zone.
The belt system was already speeding up again. Within a couple of minutes, I was travelling south at full express speed. I looked down at the gold card in my hand and felt like crying. I’d spent four years working hard, going to all the activity sessions, and I’d only been given a gold card once for my swimming. Now I’d dozed through a lecture, made a lucky guess at answering a question, and been handed a gold card that entitled me to attend advanced sessions in engineering.
I thrust the gold card into my pocket, and tried to forget about it for the rest of my journey. Once I reached 505/6120, I just had a short ride on an eastbound belt, and I was at the end of my home corridor. I gave a sigh of relief, walked down to my room, opened the door, and froze in shock.
There was a gaping hole in my room wall, and a black-clad creature with weird glowing eyes was climbing, spider-like, out of it.
