The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) Page 10

  What saves her is an image she gets from Born-of-Night at the very second she sees the drone. The image is a bright, sharp picture of a black shape descending toward her. She reacts out of sheer instinct, diving into one of the narrower hallways as a blue ball of electric current strikes only a foot away. A small explosion swipes her of her feet. She lands painfully on her back, but has the sense to roll and move behind one of the transformers.

  Can you make it three flights down? She hears Born-of-Night in her thoughts. Part of her is surprised by their clarity. The other is simply glad to hear her. I'm not sure, she thinks. I'll try.

  She hears the humming behind her and runs alongside the transformer to an intersection. Right or left? She goes to the right because it seems logical. After about twenty feet she's in a dead end. She turns around and begins to run in the other direction. The drone hovers into the narrow passageway in front of her. It's now about fifteen feet away, approximately eight feet above the walkway. Aries has nowhere to go.

  This can't be it, she thinks, as she watches the drone move closer. For a second, she sees the bright image of a corridor in her mind—a space between two transformers. She raises her hands over her head, kneels down. Another image flashes in front of her. It shows herself kneeling about twenty feet below and the drone hovering above.

  When Aries looks up she sees something behind the drone, moving closer fast. The hawk's cry echoes through the space. The drone registers it and turns, pointing its sensors toward it. At that moment, the hawk lands on top of it, claws outstretched, beak ready to strike.

  Go! is all Aries hears. From her kneeling position she rolls forward, jumps up, and disappears into the passageway she came from. From there, she turns toward the stairwell and slides down. Three seconds. She races through the labyrinth of hallways. Where are you? she asks in her thoughts, while sliding down the next staircase.

  Right behind you.

  At that moment, the hawk passes her and flies before her, around several corners, and down one more flight of stairs.

  Follow me, Born-of-Night tells her in her thoughts.

  Where else would I go? she answers, as she slides on her forearms and heels down the third stairwell. From there, Born-of-Night flies straight into a passageway and disappears into the darkness before her.

  Where are you? Aries asks, as she turns and doesn't see her.

  Go left and look to the floor.

  Aries turns left, scanning the ground for an opening. There it is. A gap between a metal sheath and the floor. No more than a foot wide. She lies on her stomach and crawls through. Inside, there is a relatively large space, maybe six-by-six feet and four feet high, not unlike one of the server cubes. It's completely empty, except for the hawk sitting on one of the conduits mounted to the wall.

  Aries sits up, catches her breath. They regard each other.

  What happened to the drone? Aries asks in her thoughts.

  It can't fly without sensors.

  How do you know this? And how come you can talk to me like this?

  I adapt.

  You adapt?

  Yes. And I suggest you do the same. Born-of-Night's thoughts reach her as clearly as if they had been spoken to her.

  Okay. Sure. One part of Aries's mind is still unable to accept the fact that she’s communicating with the hawk telepathically. The thought is still too alien to her.

  Why? She hears Born-of-Night within her. Just because my thoughts reach you and yours are known to me? Why is that so hard to accept?

  Good point. I'm not used to it, I guess.

  Your form of communication is limited.

  What do you mean?

  You speak in words. But they only convey a small amount of information. To tell you that I'm flying is much different from conveying the actual and complete experience to you.

  But how is this possible?

  You are asking the question from the wrong end of it. It makes much more sense to ask how can it not be possible.

  For a moment there is silence between them.

  Why are you helping me? Aries asks.

  I could ask you the same.

  What do you mean?

  You didn't have to save me in the air ducts. You put yourself in considerable danger when you did. That was very brave. But to answer your question, I am helping you because what you need to do you cannot do alone. And what I need to do I cannot do without you.

  And what is that? Aries isn't so sure she wants to know the answer.

  To alter the course of time's wheel.

  The thought echoes in Aries mind. She can only grasp it on the periphery. Its full meaning eludes her.

  So, not only can you communicate with me, you can also speak in metaphor?

  Sometimes metaphors are helpful.

  How big is it...? The wheel.

  It's big. And the rut is deep. And the longer it turns the deeper it goes and the harder it is to change its course. Until it becomes almost impossible.

  How can you change it?

  I do not know.

  That doesn't sound promising. Aries can't help but smile.

  I do not know how to change it but I do know who can.

  When Aries looks at Born-of-Night, she sees in the hawk's eyes the whole scope of her answer. She can feel her heartbeat increase, her mouth dry up.

  You think I can do this? Whatever this is.

  Yes.

  You must know something that I don't, as I do not believe this to be the case.

  I do know something that you don't.

  And what is that?

  That you can do it. And that you will find a way. And that you must. For without you, there will be very little hope.

  Aries feels tired, overwhelmed by it all. Part of her wants to lie down and sleep. She slowly shakes her head.

  "I'm not... qualified," she says into the silence. "I'm... not who you might think I am."

  For a while, Aries looks at the hawk. She becomes aware of the stillness between them. The space inside the cube seems charged with it, as if the quiet inside allows everything on the outside to cease to exist. And for a moment there is only she and the hawk and nothing else. "Sorry," Aries says. "But I just can't do it."

  That, I'm afraid, is no longer an option. Born-of-Night's thought echoes within her. Aries closes her eyes. For the longest time, as far back as she can remember and certainly since she became a Ward of the State, she has struggled to come up with a way to change her fate and that of the children in the orphanage. Somebody needed to do something. Somebody needed to go beyond the first step in the right direction. Many have taken that one first step, but they’ve all ended up like her—watching clips of their parents’ deaths until they could no longer feel anything, until they ceased to be a danger to the Corporation.

  She always felt that she could do something. But most of the time she dismissed the thought as the imagination of a child or a teenager with grandiose ideas. Sitting in a small cubicle hidden away from an imminent pursuit by a set of drones, that idea doesn't sound as romantic as it did when she first thought it. Up until now she’s only envisioned the end product, the freedom from the tyranny she and everyone here experience. She hadn't realized up until now what it could mean for her, the price she might have to pay.

  "They will hunt us," she says.

  Yes.

  "They will try to kill us and pretend it never happened."

  They most certainly will do that too.

  Aries can feel the fear rise within her. She lets it wash over her and engulf her completely. Her thoughts go to the kids in the orphanage. She doesn't really like most of them; they have not been kind to her. But should that prevent her from doing everything in her power to help them?

  She opens her eyes. "What do we do from here?"

  I'm sorry. I have very limited information. But I do know that we need to reach the Forgotten Floors.

  "The Forgotten Floors?" Aries has heard of them; far down, almost at the bottom of the high-rise, there are
eight floors that have been abandoned, all entrances sealed. The story is they were somehow contaminated. Evidently there has been some sort of contamination. "Why do we have to go there?"

  I don't know. All I know is that the Forgotten Floors have significance.

  "If that's true, I think we have a problem."

  Why?

  "To get to the Forgotten Floors, we need to pass floors sixty through thirty."

  Why is that a problem?

  "Because floors sixty through thirty are not just maintenance floors. They are among the highest guarded areas in the whole building, besides maybe the outermost tier."

  Why is that?

  "Because everything between floor sixty and floor thirty is part of the prison. And some of the floors have maximum-security status. There are cameras everywhere, not to mention armed guards and—I'm sure—a bunch of drones swirling around in it. And since it’s built so that nobody can get out, how can we possibly get through it to the other side?"

  I don't know.

  "When you collected your information about this, couldn't you have gotten a little more? Like, for example, how to do it?"

  Sorry. Aries can sense a smile in Born-of-Night's thoughts.

  "What I'm saying is that whoever gave you this... information could have given you a little bit more of it, don't you think?"

  There is nobody. Other than me.

  "What do you mean?"

  So far, you and I are the only ones. Maybe there are others, but as of right now all I know is the next possible step. And don't ask me how I know this because I can't tell you. I don't have a master plan.

  Aries tries to bring some kind of order into her thoughts, process what Born-of-Night communicated to her. Additionally, she is concerned for Kiire and Seth. And the note from C.J. keeps coming back to her. She needs to think this through somehow, and decide what the right move will be. But underneath that and standing clear from her conscious mind, there is a part of her that already knows what to do. And while trying to figure this out, it seems as if she is stepping aside, letting that other part come to the surface.

  She finds the small notepad in her coveralls and writes on it, fully aware of its implications. It can't be helped. When she's done, she tears it off and rolls it up neatly. She cuts off a small piece of electrical tape and wraps it around it. Then she moves across the cubicle toward Born-of-Night.

  "You have to find Ty and deliver this to him. He'll know what to do. Try not to be obvious about it and try not to get caught. I'll come with you. At least I'll try to stay with you and hopefully not lose contact." She gently wraps part of the tape around one of Born-of-Night's talons.

  "Go," Aries says quietly.

  She watches as the hawk launches off the conduit and disappears through the small opening to the outside. Aries closes her eyes and concentrates on Born-of-Night. She receives an image almost immediately; it shows a narrow hallway below. The hawk seems to sit on one of the exchange units directly above their hiding place.

  Stay with me. Born-of-Night's thought reaches Aries effortlessly.

  "I'll try.”

  Then it is as if the floor under her drops away as Born-of-Night lifts off. She reaches the railing and passes it. Back in the small cubicle, Aries lets out a gasp. The sheer height and nothingness below her makes her stomach twist into a knot.

  Don't be afraid, Born-of-Night reassures her. This is where I'm at home. To me this is like walking.

  "Easy for you to say," Aries says. "Please don't look down."

  There is a smile in the hawk's mind, as an answer to Aries's concern.

  I'll try, Born-of-Night replies.

  With powerful strokes of her wings, Born-of-Night flies higher and higher, passing floor after floor. Here and there, Aries gets a glimpse of someone moving up or down the stairways or crossing one of the platforms, but nobody seems to notice her.

  This isn't so bad, Aries thinks, until the hawk abruptly stops in mid flight and drops down, swooping under one of the platforms and gliding far back into the shadows, where she lands on a small ledge.

  What is it? Aries asks in her thoughts.

  Two drones. About fifteen stories above us. On their way down.

  I didn't see them.

  I did.

  What do we do?

  We'll wait and let them pass.

  Aries becomes aware of her body in the small cubicle, imagining the drones hovering above her, finding her. And for that moment, she loses the image, loses contact with Born-of-Night. The loss is complete; no trace of her remains. She tries to concentrate on the hawk's presence within her but can't seem to reestablish a connection.

  ... with me. Stay with me. The hawk's thought brings Aries back.

  Sorry, I just got scared for a second, she replies, glad she didn't lose her. And then she hears them. Through Born-of-Night's heightened senses she becomes aware of the low humming sound as the drones descend in the center of the opening. She sees the bright green lasers first. They extend from both drones in a 360-degree circle outward, scanning each floor. One of them hovers slightly above the other.

  The first drone moves into Born-of-Night's field of vision. The two powerful lights in front are shaped like birds’ eyes. She can see why people are afraid of them, especially in darkness. The drones pass Born-of-Night without slowing down. Aries realizes that she can't be aware of her own body and see through Born-of-Night at the same time, so she decides to stay with the hawk. She just has to trust that she's safe where she is for now. Born-of-Night pushes off, flies back into the opening, and from there up another ten floors. Aries sees the 200th floor sign. Almost there.

  Try not to be obvious, she thinks.

  I'm not quite sure how to do that.

  Ty will most likely be at the command center in the middle of a large room. I can probably point him out to you—

  I know what he looks like.

  You do?

  Yes. As much as you know how he looks. You cannot share only part of yourself with me.

  While Aries thinks about this, the hawk swoops under one of the floors and through an opening that leads directly into the room with the command center in it. She stays below the ceiling until she reaches the center where all the computer screens are mounted together above the large table. She lands directly on top of one of the screens.

  I thought we didn't want to be obvious, Aries remarks.

  We aren't, Born-of-Night replies. I'm sitting right above the cameras. Nobody can see me.

  And just when I thought you wouldn't have any more surprises for me... Her thought trails off when she sees Ty coming toward the command center. He looks fragile, his shoulders bent forward. She can't help but feel a sudden fierce love for her mentor. Does he look worried? Before she can answer her own question, Born-of-Night lifts off and flies toward one of the corners of the room. She lands on a ledge and looks back toward the middle. Ty looks directly at her. He must have become aware of the bird.

  "What do we have here?" she hears him say, as he walks toward the hawk.

  No, Ty, no, Aries thinks. That's too obvious. Don't come closer.

  Born-of-Night flies up one floor to the edge of one of the stairwells. When Ty almost reaches her, she flies away again, this time into the space between two transformers. She lands far in a corner.

  Aries watches as Ty slowly approaches. "What are you doing here, little fellow? Shhh, I won't hurt you."

  He crouches in front of the hawk and slowly extends his arm. Aries can see the surprise in his expression when Born-of-Night jumps onto it.

  "Woah, you've got strong claws, there," he says.

  Aries can see Ty's face clearly now. In fact, it is as if he’s looking straight at her. His proportions are slightly distorted but she can see his grease-smeared face and his blue eyes.

  "How did you get in here, huh?" he asks. "And what do you have there?" He looks down toward the hawk's talons. "Something's stuck there... What the hell...?"

  Ty gently takes the pie
ce of paper, opens it, and reads. Then he looks around as if to make sure nobody's watching. "Who put this on you, huh?"

  Aries sees in Ty's face a whole array of emotions as he reads the note again. He wipes his hand over his eyes. She has never seen tears from him until now. Then he seems to collapse into himself, holding on to one of the transformers with one hand. After a while he gets up, straightens his coveralls, wipes his face with his handkerchief, and turns around. Aries sees him walk away and disappear around a corner.

  What now? she asks.

  I don't know.

  Maybe you should follow him.

  The hawk lifts off and flies to a ledge right below the ceiling of the command center. From here she watches Ty cross and walk toward the storage room. About a minute later he comes back out, a bag over his shoulder. He takes one of the stairwells down to a floor below. Born-of-Night follows at a distance. Aries isn't sure what Ty's intentions are until he goes down another set of stairs and toward the lift.

  No, Ty, no! You can't do that. That's not what I meant. You can't come to me. I should've known that you'd do that.

  Aries opens her eyes, and the connection to Born-of-Night breaks immediately. Why is he doing that? She can't help but think that she should never have put Ty into this position. When she wrote the note she thought he might somehow get her what she needed. She didn't think any further about how he would do that. Nor did she think that he would come down to her, in person.

  I have to send him back, she thinks, hoping that nobody would notice his temporary absence. He can't be involved in this. Whatever it is she needs to do can't involve her friends. None of them. This is something she needs to do alone.

  That's impossible. Born-of-Night's thought interrupts her.

  Where are you?

  About three floors above you. We're close.

  Part of her doesn't want to face Ty, maybe because she's afraid of what he's going to tell her. Her decision to send him back redoubles. Their meeting should be brief; no need to expose him to more danger than he’s already put himself in. She feels a slight vibration in the metal grate floor, before she hears his footsteps. Then, Born-of-Night appears in the opening and soon after, Ty's head comes through as he crawls into their hideout. Born-of-Night flies back out.