“All right, time to move on up, huh?” Persh’al cast brief glances at the few dozen magicals milling down the side street before he stepped into another alley. At the end of that was a broad staircase, the steps made of metal grates. The entire thing lit up in her vision with quickly scrolling symbols rearranging themselves from O’gúleesh to English in a blur of color. “Shit. Should’ve bought two of those things.”
He waved her forward to climb the first few steps, then tapped the metal rail with the back of his hand. “You’re gonna have to get us up this one, kid.”
“I’m pretty sure you just have to keep walking up.”
“Ha. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Not that simple. Since you’re all synced up with that fancy piece of machinery on your hand, be a useful incognito drow and find the switch.”
Cheyenne stared at him, ignoring the blue and green updates flashing at the edges of her vision. “You lost me.”
Persh’al scanned the metal railing. “You’re looking for Uppertech. District 5, I’m pretty sure, or whatever district we’re not in right now. Things don’t look the same since the last time I was here.”
“Yeah, I imagine a couple hundred years will do that.” Cheyenne looked down at the metal rail of the staircase leading up toward what looked like another walking level cut into the metal buildings between the alleys. A dozen words scrolled across the railing’s surface—Halter’s Deck, Ritfarrin, Qi’woc. Then she found the words Uppertech District 5: Open and pointed at it. “One more step above you.”
Grinning, Persh’al stepped up the stairs and gripped the rail where she pointed. “This one?”
The words flickered before disappearing beneath his hand. “I guess. Your hand’s right on the words.”
“Perfect.” He gripped the metal rung beneath the rail and gave it a sharp twist. The staircase clicked and squeaked, shuddering beneath them as more grated stairs unfolded from the top at a ninety-degree angle and built a brand-new walkway above them. The new stairs hit the roof of a tall building on their left with a clang, and that was it. “Gotta know where you’re going in this place. One wrong twist and you end up in Desire’s Pit covered in tiny…you know what? We don’t have to go there.”
Cheyenne cocked her head and followed him up the stairs. I’m down with the activator. Not so sure I’m into a city with a place called Desire’s Pit.
The newly unfolded staircase on their right was as sturdy as the first when they reached the landing and turned left to head toward the opposite rooftop. She peered over the rail at the fifty-foot drop and took a deep breath. “These stairs don’t move on their own, do they?”
“Come on, kid. This is Ambar’ogúl, not Hogwarts.”
Cheyenne gave a surprised laugh. “Sounds like those books are a huge hit with Earthside O’gúleesh.”
“Oh, yeah? I only read the first one. Couldn’t get over the massively inaccurate description of trolls, but whatever.”
They reached the end of the staircase and stepped onto the roof. On the other side, another metal wall rose at least another thirty feet in front of them, and the shape of a doorway in the blank steel wall swam in Cheyenne’s vision, with scrolling code and more commands than she could follow before they reached it.
“You see the door with that thing?” Persh’al gestured toward the wall.
“I see something.” When he pointed at the lit rectangle of metal, she nodded.
“You know what? Maybe you should be my guide.” He placed his hand on the glowing section of metal. It pulsed with green light and the wall disappeared, opening another doorway through the thick sheet of steel.
“Whoa.” Cheyenne peered into the newest tunnel, blazing with more scrolling code on every wall.
“Yeah, whoa is right. Glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
Fast-paced warbling music wafted toward them through the tunnel, and after a short walk, dazzling white light spilled into the darkness between the metal walls. Then they were out, and Cheyenne squinted against the brightness and the ramped-up code and identifying labels scrolling across every surface. “Jeeze.”
Persh’al chuckled. “Yeah, it takes some getting used to. Feel free to take that thing off if it’s too much.”
“Not too much.” Cheyenne focused on the flashing words in the upper right-hand corner: Darken Analysis. There’s a prompt for everything. She waved her hand toward the flashing command, which responded instantly. The layers of code filtered away from her vision and left only two things behind: an option to turn super-scan back on and a smaller, more focused strand of data hovering over the shiny steel building on her right where she’d been staring. “Can this thing read my mind?”
“Kinda. More like it reads your magic, but these days, one could argue they’re the same thing. Lose control of one, and the other’s not far behind, am I right?” Persh’al laughed so hard he snorted, nudging her with the back of his hand again before gesturing around. “This is Uppertech, kid. Formerly known as Uppershim, with serious upgrades.”
“No kidding.” Cheyenne gazed around the courtyard, taking in the bright, polished steel flashing a blinding silver where Ambar’ogúl’s sun glinted off the shiny surfaces. “This is different.”
“The upper echelon.” The troll spread his arms to encompass the entire area. “Five districts. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this one’s for entertainment of the culinary variety. Mostly. Don’t ask me about the others because that’s not where we need to be right now.”
She grinned at him. “District 5, ‘cause you’re still hungry.”
“Caught me red-handed, kid. Keep up.” He marched away from the tunnel, pumping his arms at his sides and looking even more ridiculous with the bulging pack swinging behind him every time he turned to take in a new sight. “Smell that? Ah,
