The rest of the people here are documenting and collecting material that looks random enough to me that I ignore them.
It feels like busywork.
Following Riann through a doorway, I prop it open. When he looks back at me with a question in his pinched brows, I tell him, “I’d like to keep our exit path clear, if possible.”
He looks past me and then back. “Sure.”
It’s easier for Kilo to follow if he doesn’t have to wait for the right moment to open doors behind us.
We descend stairs that have been meticulously maintained. Not a squeak, screech, or dull thud of a warped metal plate among them.
The lights are all on too…
When we reach the first level—of three—I hesitate, grabbing Riann before he can go in. “Let’s work our way up instead.”
He almost suggests that we split up, but thinks better of it. “Whatever you say.”
“If they were going to bury something, they’d bury it deep.”
“That was almost poetic,” Riann says.
I ignore the sarcasm.
The bottom level is suspiciously clean.
Simulated sunlight comes through large panels mimicking windows.
I tap the wall with my knuckle. “Lots of Lasap… where do you think they got that?”
Riann throws a sidelong glance my way and doesn’t offer a guess… even in his thoughts.
After two branching rows of dormitory-style rooms, the level turns into a series of rooms only accessible through each other.
Medical facilities, powered down and surgically clean.
A nursery for infants… dozens of them.
A morgue. I pause and turn on all of the lights in the cold shelves to be sure they’re empty.
And an office behind blue-tinted windows that runs the length of all three rooms.
“Strange that the only entrance is all the way at the back.”
“Maybe there’s a different exit.”Or maybe they did that on purpose.
“Have they powered up the computers?” I ask, not wanting to open the doors.
“They were waiting for me. I don’t know why. There are five people up there who have higher clearance than I do.”
There’s a clatter in the office.
A shriek and a growl and… I lift my gun, and Kilo comes running.
“I thought you said this place had been cleared,” Kilo hisses at Riann as he pushes him back.
“That’s what I was told.” He doesn’t like that Kilo’s put himself in front of him. He doesn’twantto be protected.
Too bad.
