The backpack was under considerable strain, with the cube stuffed into it. One popped seem, and that would be it. I could possibly book passage on a boat, but they didn't have passenger lines, as such. You paid for deck space on the cargo vessel, and you fed yourself by fishing when hungry. Someone would eventually notice that I wasn't going in the water, and questions would be asked. Plus, there would probably be a bolo out for a Quinlan with a large lumpy backpack.
I needed to stop reacting and form some kind of plan. I found a field of tall grass and waited in a few yards, then plunked myself down. A little back-and-forth with my butt and I had a nice nest, out of view of anyone happening by. Then I made a call.
“Hey Hugh.”
“Hi Bob, what's up?”
“Things are very interesting right now. Listen, can you arrange a scan of the area around Helep’s Ending?
“Sure. Where is Helep's Ending?”
“It's near my location.”
“Sure, where are you?”
“I'm near… never mind, I guess I didn't think that through.”
“Sorry, Bob. Still not enough equipment in the air to do random scans.”
“Got it. Thanks anyway.”
That was mildly embarrassing. I suspect that I was still suffering from a bit of panic mode. I needed to slow down, calm down, take stock. I gazed up at the fake blue sky filled with real clouds and the occasional flock of birds. Lying there in a field of grass, it would be easy to lose the moment. To imagine myself back in Minnesota on one of those bluebird summer days. Except for the large mountains. And the stays holding up the central cylinder. That kind of blew the illusion.
The stays.
Will’s professor friend had said they were used to access the central cylinder. Four stays, corresponding to the four rivers, ran up from the mountains. If I was to get onto one of the other rivers, the resistances search radius would become untenable. But could I? Would Natasha's card have access to the elevators up to the central cylinder? Bender and said that he'd spent the last 100 years giving the Resistance hacked access. And why stop with the trains or maintenance complexes? It was that, or skulk around the area until they gave up, or try to get somewhere overland, or take a possibly even bigger chance on a boat.
Screw it. I’d already gotten into the underground maintenance complex once and escaped. I doubted they'd expect me to go back there first thing.
I sent a quick email to Will, asking him for any details on the location and accessibility of the transport system up the cylinder stays, then set off yet again for the mountains. At least I knew the way.
I peered to the bushes and glared at the single guard standing in front of the maintenance complex access door, trying to burn out his brain with my heat vision.
Sadly, no heat vision.
The guard stood relaxed, unaware of his brush with death. I could attack him and knock him out, but would he stay out long enough for me to get in and get to the elevator? And what about surveillance cameras? I hadn’t found any around the entrance before, but they'd be on full alert now. And they'd only leave a single guard if that guard was being watched.
Come on, Bob. James Bond could handle this.
I could dig my way into the corridor, but that would take forever and would probably be noticed. I could kill the guard… no, not really. Knocking him out was contraindicated. Bribery was unlikely to work, even if I had something to offer. Distraction? Throw rock over there than wait until he investigated? Nah, too cliché for words. He’d probably turn in the opposite direction, expecting an attack.
At that moment a file arrived from Will. I put on my heads-up and examined the images. It was a SUDDAR scan from a segment boundary, showing the area at the base of the stay, with inked-in annotations in a non-Bob hand. Probably the professor, but the important thing was that there was just enough detail for me to be able to find the complex’s entrance to the transport system up the stays. If I could get in. And if all the segment boundary complexes were identical.
I was stymied for the moment, so I might as well do something. I settled for searching for any cameras. Out came the spiders. I also wanted to be ready to move at a moment’s notice if an opportunity presented itself, so out came the fleas to infest the door mechanism again. And I moved as close to the door as I could get while remaining hidden.
It took very little time to find the camera, hidden in some foliage. It had been set up to point at the guards back. So the guard was as much bait as anything - they expected him to be attacked. Nice. And speaking of the guard, he seemed to be getting restless. Over several minutes, he glanced around, paced a bit, and scratched himself a few times. I haven't done anything, so I wasn't sure what was… oh. Hydraulic pressure, leading to a call of nature. Heh.
The guard moseyed over to a nearby bush and was-
Holy moly, what was I doing color commentary for? The guard had moved away from the entrance, and had his back to it.
I ordered the fleas to unlock the door, and as quietly as I could I pulled it and slipped in. A couple of my spider scurried in behind me, but most of them were left outside along with
