She tapped the red cuff on her thigh. I kept my expression neutral.
“Next time, leave it behind and check to see if I’m waiting. I’ve got Pop Cops breathing down my neck. They want to know if anyone misses a shift.”
“Yes, sir.” Calling her sir always mollified her.
As expected, her forehead smoothed. “I wanted to let you know there will be a lot of RATSS in the pipes. The Pop Cops believe there’s evidence hidden in one of the air ducts.” She huffed in disbelief. “We’resupposedto work around them. Just try not to break any of the RATSS, during your next shift.”
“Yes, sir.”
She checked my name off her list and left to find the next scrub. I waited for my pulse to calm before sliding into the heating ducts and heading toward Domotor’s room. The air shafts wouldn’t be safe for me to travel in for a while. And I hoped the RATSS hadn’t discovered the cache of food above Domotor’s hideout.
I entered his quarters through the vent. Domotor slumped over his keyboard. I assumed he was asleep. Leaving him undisturbed, I transported the food containers from the air shaft to the refrigerator and freezer as fast as possible.
By the time I finished, Domotor straightened a bit in his chair, but he rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. His hair covered his expression.
Not able to wait anymore, I asked, “Any progress?”
His reply was muffled so I stepped closer and touched his shoulder. He dropped his arm and met my gaze. Hollowness lurked in his eyes.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We’re done.”
CHAPTER 11
I understoodthe look of defeat in his face, but not the reason for it.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I hit a wall. The security system has been enhanced and I couldn’t bypass it.”
I ignored the tightness gripping my throat. “Is there another way?” The question squeaked out.
“No.”
“There has to be.” A whisper, all I could manage with the tight band around my chest.
“There isn’t.” He rubbed a hand over his cheek as he stared into the distance. A combination of emotions crossed his face, but they moved too fast for me to decipher. “Unless…I follow Cog’s example and tip off the Travas. They’ll know I have my port and where I am, but I could find the information we need before they get to me.”
I searched his expression. He was committed to sacrificing himself. Good to know. “You said ‘could find’ does that mean the information is there to retrieve or you think it might be?”
“The information is there, but I can’t guarantee I’ll access it before the Controllers sever my link.”
Too big a risk right now. I thought about the problem. Even though I knew nothing about the computer and its security, I remembered a comment Logan had made about the uppers’ computer.
“Wait until I return before you attempt to retrieve the information. I need to check a few things and report for the hundred hour assembly.”
He agreed to wait and I hurried off. I had much to do in the hours remaining until assembly.
“Sure can,” Logan said. A delighted smile spread across his face.
“No,” Anne-Jade said at almost the same time.
Once again I had donned the shapeless overalls of the recycling plant workers and joined the Tech Nos in sorting through a pile of clothing. We pulled buttons and cut zippers from the ruined garments before being fed into Shredder. The device had a more technical name for how it recycled the threads, but the scrubs nicknamed everything.
“No, as in he can’t do it?” I asked Anne-Jade.
“No, as in I won’t let him. It’s too dangerous. He’ll be caught.”
