Chapter 10
A box, about the size of Jossey's hand, glowed a faint turquoise in the tunnel wall, barely illuminating the rock around it. Caspar grinned. He and Liam gently lowered the stretcher to the ground.
Caspar went up to the glowing box. "Let's see if I can remember how to do this," he muttered.
He reached out and put his hand on the box. It began to glow more brightly. A strip of red appeared around the edge.
"Is it working?" Perkins asked.
"Hold on." Caspar frowned. He punched a couple of buttons. "This one's an older model." Something lit up, flickered, then faded. He groaned. "I can't remember the code."
"Great," Perkins grumbled.
Jossey watched from the ground, curious. She'd been in the tunnels a few times, mostly when Tark had taken her exploring, but had never seen one of these. Maybe Patrol didn't have them so close to the City.
Caspar looked lost in thought for a moment, then his silver eyes lit up and he pressed another sequence of buttons.
A green strip appeared around the edge, and the box crackled loudly.
"Identify yourself." The tinny voice resounded around the tunnel.
Caspar quickly pressed another button. The volume dropped.
He leaned in toward the box. "Level P-45, quadrant four." His voice was calm, assured. "I'm an Engineer with solar crew 35."
P-45? Jossey squinted, her head pounding.
The other crew members silently gathered around, watching.
"What is your situation?" The voice was young. Jossey guessed a new recruit.
Caspar glanced at the rest of them.
"We are a transport party, two solar crews, total about thirty people. We've been attacked, one Onlar down, one driver down, several injured. We need immediate help," he said.
"Stand by."
There was a click. A few seconds of silence.
There was a second click, a faint rattling sound.
Then the tinny voice spoke again. It was calm, measured.
As if the person on the other end were reading from a script.
"We regret to hear of your situation, Engineer, but the Gates have been closed."
"I understand that, but– "
"You are advised to remain where you are," the tinny voice continued. "Take shelter. At first light Patrol units can be sent to the surface and evacuate you along the way."
Caspar stared at the box.
It crackled, and went silent.
Someone choked. Jossey turned but couldn't see who. Their safety lights had been on for over two hours, and were beginning to dim.
She reached up and switched hers off; they might need them later. She watched others silently do the same.
Liam's jaw tightened, and he stepped forward as if he wanted to physically reach the person on the other side of the box. Perkins put a warning hand on his shoulder.
"Don't," Perkins rumbled.
The Patrol dispatcher on the other side of the box had sounded like he was rattling off the day's menu or announcing an evacuation drill – "Citizens, remain calm," that type of thing – rather than giving them what was essentially a death sentence.
Jossey looked at her safety gauge. 10:02 PM. Sunrise should be around 5:00 AM.
Seven more hours in the dark, most likely. Enough water for about four hours.
No one moved for a long moment.
Jossey made to get up, but found she could not.
She sank back to the ground, hand over her face. Perkins gruffly handed her his water canteen, and she drank from it gratefully. It wasn't quite as hot down here, but she'd calculated the water rations. They'd used some to treat the injured, and she'd used up all of her own after fighting the Onlar. Her burned hand was currently dipped in her ration.
Seven hours, she thought again. She looked up at Caspar, feeling dizzy.
Perkins exploded before anyone else could.
"You can't do that to an entire transport!" Perkins yelled. "Do you hear me? We're Citizens! We pay your wages!"
The tinny voice did not react. The box still glowed a faint green, which meant it was connected.
Caspar held up a hand.
Toward the box, he said calmly, "We do not have enough water, even without considering the Onlar. Do you understand me?"
The voice repeated, firmly, "The gates are closed."
Jossey tried again to get to her feet, tried not to drop the water container. Her hand was nearly screaming in pain.
"Our team leader is injured," Caspar said, seeing her trying to stand. He shook his head at her, frowning. "We cannot wait for rescue. Do you– "
"Again, I am sorry, but– "
The voice did not sound particularly sorry.
Caspar's face stilled. "Give me your superior," he said slowly.
His tone – Jossey looked up sharply at him. There was something about it, something she had not heard before.
As if he expected unquestioning obedience. His long silver eyes were narrowed.
She felt a sudden chill.
He started to type in a code.
"You have no override authority– " the box squawked.
"There is a Council family member in this crew," Caspar said coldly. "Maybe you are familiar with Ladislaus Sokol."
There was a pause. A slight crackle.
Then a different voice, crisper. "Solar crew 35? Your first name for our records?"
"Caspar."
Silence.
"I'm very sorry for the confusion. We can immediately send a transport retrieval team." The voice was crisp, polite. And afraid, Jossey thought.
She'd never considered her family connections to be important. Her father hadn't wanted anything to do with the Council, had just wanted to be an ordinary Engineer. She had always found it distasteful that being the niece of Ladislaus Sokol would get her special privileges, though Tark had had no such reservations.
She'd always mumbled her last name when called upon in Engineering school, had always ignored the glances and whispers, had made sure she'd earned her crew leader position.
But if this would save them, she was all for it.
"Engineer, please stay with the com box. And stay alert. There may be more Onlar. The retrieval team should arrive within thirty minutes."
"Thank you."
A click, then silence in the tunnel.
Perkins almost clapped, but restrained himself, looking around at the black entrance to the tunnel above them.
Caspar sighed and came back over to the stretcher, crouching beside Jossey. She smiled at him. "Thanks," she whispered. "I don't know what P-45 means, but I'm glad you remembered it."
"It's a standard check-in number. It's on the box." He pointed to the glowing tiny symbols at the base. "It gives them your location." He smiled ruefully. "It's pretty much the only thing I remember. And, of course, how to sound authoritative." He grinned.
She laughed, flinching as her headache worsened. "You're good at that."
"Sorry to interrupt." Perkins was standing there. "Hadn't we better set up a perimeter?"
Caspar snapped to full attention. "Yes. Right." He glanced down at Jossey. "Excuse me."
They walked off. Jossey rolled onto her side, making herself as uncomfortable as possible, so she wouldn't sleep.
She looked down at her uniform, at the Onlar's blood everywhere. She felt itchy all of a sudden, felt the need to dunk herself in a tank of water. If only that were allowed down in the City.
Instead, she covered herself with a thin blanket Sally had brought her from someone's bag, trying not to think about her ruined uniform.
Her vision was a little better now, but she still saw stars if she moved too quickly. Her hand was aching. She wasn't sure which was worse.
Perkins and Caspar's voices approached again. She turned carefully to see that the group was now two circles, the inner one women and older men, the outer one younger men. Liam, who was the biggest of the group, was positioned closest to the upper tunnel exit.
"Good," murmured Jossey.
She felt clammy all of a sudden as Caspar and Perkins sat down next to her. Something felt wrong.
"I don't feel– "
Caspar took one look at her face, grabbed the nearest canteen, and shoved it into her hand. "Drink," he ordered.
"I need a doctor," Jossey mumbled, pushing it away. "That's someone else's water."
"It's my water. Drink it." He looked frantic. "Perkins– "
Perkins looked back and forth between them. "Sally!" he barked.
His niece hurried over.
"Keep her awake. Tell her stories. Poke her in the shoulder. Anything. We have to keep watch," Perkins said.
"Make her drink the water," Caspar added.
Jossey sighed and tried to drink. She choked, took another sip, tried not to spill any.
Sally looked apprehensive, but sat down next to Jossey. "Tell me about – your childhood," she said cheerily.
Caspar looked concerned, but satisfied. He and Perkins walked farther off and began to converse in low tones.
Jossey groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was to talk about her childhood. But Perkins had a point. She took another swig of the water and coughed.
"What do you want to know?"
Sally smiled, a little shyly. "Did you ever go tunnel exploring?"
Jossey laughed. "Will you tell on me?"
Sally was trying not to laugh aloud as Jossey told her the story of the time Tark had snuck an entire live tunnel bat family into their living quarters and hid them in his room for two days before Mother discovered them.
Jossey smiled too. She'd forgotten some of these silly stories, had purposely buried them.
She was grateful to Caspar for the extra water, though she felt guilty as he sat on the ground, looking exhausted.
He looked over, and she looked away from him awkwardly before taking another swig of the water.
Maybe she'd try to save some for him.
She realized it was hard to see him, even with her eyes adjusted to the dimness. With a shock, she realized that it was hard to see, period.
Was it her concussion? she wondered, frantic.
Then she realized that it was the safety lights.
They were fading.
No one seemed to have noticed. But with those off, they'd probably be sitting ducks...again. The Onlar could move silently, on padded feet, even when injured. Even in numbers, she'd heard.
"Caspar," she croaked. "Perkins."
They didn't seem to hear. Sally looked at her, frowning.
She gestured for the junior Engineer to go get them.
They got to their feet in an instant as Sally came running, looking over at Jossey with alarm. Jossey beckoned to them with her good hand, barely able to raise her head off the makeshift pillow.
Caspar got there first, dropping to a crouch. He shoved dark strands of hair out of his face, concerned silver-grey eyes peering into hers. "Are you all right?"
"The lights," she croaked. "They're going out."
She gestured to Perkins. "We need to turn them off. All but the outer circle. Patrol gave us half an hour. It's been ten minutes. At this rate, we might have ten minutes of solid darkness if we don't turn some off."
The Onlar had attacked in maybe three minutes.
"I can tell them." Sally stood up.
She disappeared into the circle.
One by one, the lights in the center faded to blackness.
Caspar got to his feet. "Everyone needs a swig of water. And we should enforce absolute silence. Without enough light– "
He didn't have to complete the sentence.
"I've got the outer circle," he said to Perkins. Then he looked down at Jossey. "And you– "
She smiled wanly. "I'm closest to the bottom of the circle. They'll probably come from above."
He looked soberly at her. "Just don't make any noise."
She handed him the water. "Drink."
"No."
"I'm in charge."
Something like a smile passed over his face.
"You're out of commission," was all he said.
Before she could say anything else, he disappeared into the dimness, leaving her with the water.
She lay there, waiting, as her hand continued to burn and the lights faded even further. Some of them began to flicker.
The group was completely silent as one, then the next, vanished into blackness.
It had been forty minutes since they'd called for rescue when the final one went out.
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