The quarters had a washroom, but I had to make sure the water was turned on. Our shifts started in one hour. “Can you take care of yourself for the next shift?” I asked the prophet.
“I’ll be fine for now,” he replied though his eyes looked a little wild. He held his hand out. “I’ll keep the disks.”
“No. If they find you, they find the disks. I’ll hide them,” I said. I stuffed the disks back into my belt. Broken Man pulled his hand back. His expression guarded.
Cog left through the door, and I locked it behind him. “I’ll be back after my shift with a few supplies.”
The prophet blinked at me, but said nothing as he pushed the green foam plugs into his ears.
I climbed into the vents and found the valves to turn on the water. Then I hurried to level two to report for work.
Ten hours seemed like an eternity as my thoughts dwelled on the need to hide the disks.
After my shift, I climbed to level four. Ultrasonic scanners and RATSS they might have, but I knew plenty of hiding places all over Inside where the electromagnetic currents scrambled ultrasonic waves. Spots which reflected a solid wall on their scanner displays. I stayed in those hidden areas as I traveled through level three.
In the Gap on top of level four, I had hidden a small box where I kept my valuables. It was difficult to find and dangerous to reach. Perfect for hiding Broken Man’s disks.
My box appeared untouched. Until now, I had stored only two items. I placed the disks next to the thread-picture of my Care Mother. Colored threads had been sewn onto a white handkerchief, and, from a distance, her face and kind eyes could be seen.
She understood about my need to disappear in the pipes. Her support when Cog grew out of our group had made living bearable. I wondered what my CM would think about the trouble we were in now.
Imagining her frown, I smiled because, no matter how hard she had scowled, she couldn’t stifle the gleam in her eyes. The gleam that said she was proud of our inventiveness. The gleamthat encouraged us during lessons to think for ourselves even while she taught us the standard Pop Cop propaganda.
It must have been difficult for her, getting a new child when one of the older kids reached the age of maturity and left. Our ages had ranged from newborn to fourteen centiweeks old.
I folded the handkerchief and smoothed a few wrinkles before returning it to the box. The other item was a comb decorated with pink pearls along its spine. The smooth spears pushed into my fingers as I pulled the comb through my long brown hair. With all the excitement, I had forgotten to braid it and it had knotted.
Thoughts of the comb wove through my mind as the comb’s teeth worked at the knots in my hair. According to my CM, it had been a gift from my birth mother. My CM had kept it safe for me until I reached fourteen hundred weeks, the age of maturity. The age when you were no longer considered a child. The age when you became a scrub, and the reality of what the rest of your life would be like became suddenly and brutally apparent. The old-timers called it sweet sixteen, but there wasn’t anything sweet about it.
I finished combing my hair and examined the gift, wondering which adult scrub cared enough to part with such a precious item, yet not care enough to contact me. Even though it was forbidden, a few mothers kept in touch with their offspring.
Every moment counted. I shoved my comb back into the box. These stolen glances were a nasty habit that I needed to break. I closed it and bolted.
Never taking the same route to and from the box, I snaked my way west before I headed down to the lower levels. To save time, I entered an air conduit on level four which would lead to a laundry chute I could use. The air conduit passed above an abandoned storeroom on level four. I always shone my light down through the vent to marvel at the wasted space. A perfectlygood chamber big enough to house four scrubs comfortably was being used for broken furniture.
Ghost furniture. Each time I checked, the pieces lost more of their color and texture under a coating of dust—one of the evils of Inside.
This time, when I paused a bluelight glowed, and the room appeared to be different. The couch cushions had been cleaned, revealing a brown and green geometric pattern. The mess of broken chairs had been piled in a corner. The junk on the desk in the opposite corner had been removed and an upper sat before it, working under a small lamp.
Startled, I pulled away and hit my head on the top of the shaft. The noise vibrated and the upper turned to look. With careful and slow movements, I started to cross the vent.
“Who’s there,” he called.
I paused, resting my knees and most of my weight on the vent. Big mistake. The vent cover groaned and popped free. Scrabbling with my hands for purchase, my legs dropped through the opening, pulling me down.
CHAPTER 4
As I crashedto the floor, I rolled into a protective ball. I stay in the fetal position as waves of pain pulsed up and down my legs, bracing for the cry of outrage from the occupant of the room, and the call for the Pop Cops.
Instead, a concerned face peered at me. “Are you all right?” he asked. His blue-eyed gaze held a touch of awe as he stared at me with parted lips. No immediate threat.
I grunted and stretched, feeling for injuries. It wasn’t the first time I had fallen, and it wouldn’t be the last. My leg muscles would be sore for twenty hours or more, but otherwise no broken bones. Rising with care, I leaned on the couch as a dizzy spell washed through me.
The young man stepped back as if afraid. I suppressed a laugh; I had probably given him a real scare. Smoothing my hair down, I glanced around the room. Food bowls, glasses, markers and a wipe board littered the area, suggesting the room was in use.
I studied him. His black hair was short and he had an angular face. He wore a black and silver jumpsuit, indicating a level four resident who was in training for whatever job the Controllers had assigned him. Having never met an upper besides the PopCops, I had been taught about their lives from the computer’s learning software in the care facility.
“Are you a…scrub?” he asked.
