Doctor Lamont woke me. I had been dozing in the chair. “Sorry,” I said.
“No, I’m sorry. You had a hellish twenty hours and I left you to watch my patients.”
“You need to sleep, too.” Memories of the emergency replayed in my mind. “I don’t know how you could be so rational with all the blood gushing, and being able to cut through her stomach…” My own stomach rolled and I had to put my head in my hands to stop the swirl of dots in front of my eyes.
“But you were fine during the crisis. I’ve had to step over interns who had passed out during surgery.”
“Like I said, I didn’t think about it.”
Lamont pressed her fingers to the woman’s wrist, checking her pulse. “Poor Doreen, she’s in for a rough time. Losing a child…”
She stared at the wall, but her gaze peered into another world. “The loss lingers inside you, clinging like beads ofmoisture until rust forms and spread. Eventually, the structure can’t hold the weight and it collapses.”
Her description had to come from experience. Not knowing what to say, I again let instinct guide my words. “I hope she finds another way to support the weight and keep the rust at bay. It would be a pity for her to live her life as an empty shell, when she has a mate and another child to care for.”
The doctor snapped out of her reverie. “It would be, but words are easy. It’s convincing the heart that’s hard. Get some sleep, Ella.”
I did as the doctor ordered and slept for the next eight hours. Feeling almost normal, I ate a large portion of a three bean casserole Lamont had cooked. She had access to the same ingredients as the lower levels, but her concoctions tasted better.
After enduring a lecture to be careful, I climbed into the air shafts above level three. The tight duct was at once comforting and oppressive. A moment of panic washed over me, triggering a flood of doubts and fears. Calming my breathing, I concentrated on the tasks as if I was in surgery, if I stopped to think too much about what we planned to do, I would be unconscious.
The trip to Logan’s barrack lasted twice as long as normal. My movements were slow and my muscles protested being used after such a long time. I paused every few minutes to listen and search for RATSS. The mechanical clicking of their metal rollers echoed through the vents and I managed to dodge two devices.
Logan waited for me by the heating vent near his bunk.
“What about your Pop Cop?” I asked.
“He thinks I’m sleeping.” Logan grunted as he squeezed into the vent.
I led him to Domotor’s room. It had been over a hundred hours since I’d been here and I hoped he was well.
Slumped on the couch, Domotor’s drawn face relaxed a bit when he saw me sliding from the vent after Logan.
“Where have you been? What’s going on? I’m a wreck, jumping at every noise.”
Dark smudges under his eyes stood out in contrast to his pale face. His uncombed hair hung in greasy clumps. An overripe smell emanated from his body.
He noticed my expression. “I didn’t want to be caught in the shower. I do have my dignity.”
“Not to worry,” Logan said. “I covered your computer trail just in time.” He aimed for the computer and pulled a chair close to the keyboard. “Trella, what are the passwords?”
For a moment, I thought he was talking to another person and I didn’t respond.
“Passwords?”
As if waking from a dream, I cleared my head and repeated the ones we had figured out. “We still have three unanswered, but at least we’ll get some information.”
“What about the teeth one?” Logan asked.
“Forty-one.”
“I’ll plug in the others first and see what happens.”
Domotor struggled into his chair and wheeled it over to watch Logan. The images and numbers on the screen meant nothing to me. Trusting Logan would extract the needed data, I checked Domotor’s food supplies. Low. He would need more and soon. With so many RATSS I doubted the kitchen scrubs would risk discovery by filling the air shaft again.
Perhaps I could raid the pantry when everyone attended the hundred-hour assembly. But I remembered I would either be in LC Karla’s custody by then or perhaps I would be Outside. The strange thought of being somewhere else kept slipping away.With nothing to compare to, I couldn’t even imagine it. To me, Outside resembled Inside with no Pop Cops and with more space.
I planned to touch base with Riley, and coordinate the opening of Gateway during hour ninety-seven. But first, I needed to uncover it.
