Crystal Keepers (11 page)

“Right,” Jace said. “She knows the name of this place and the street.”

“She could take lots of routes,” Roulette said. “Your safest bet is to wait for her to show up here. If we go out looking, we'll probably miss her. Is she competent?”

“Yes,” Jace said.

“She'll show. Let's play.”

“Why do you care so much about playing?” Cole asked.

“We're at a gaming hub, genius,” Roulette said. “If you want to fit in, you play games. It's a bonus of having an ID card you can use.”

Against the back wall of the gaming hub, beneath a brilliant
P'TANG
sign, a wall of crystal let onlookers see into a series of identical rooms. Except for the transparent wall,
the floors, walls, and ceilings were covered in gray panels. A number of fist-size holes pocked the floor and ceiling, and larger holes of varied sizes gaped in the far wall, labeled with numbers from twenty to one hundred.

“Here's an empty court,” Roulette said, approaching a room.

From a nearby bin, Roulette claimed elbow pads, knee pads, goggles, and a pair of paddles to go with her padded vest and helmet. The long, rectangular paddles matched the color of the gray panels in the room and looked like the perfect instruments to provide a memorable spanking. The handles made Cole think of tennis rackets.

“Two paddles?” Jace asked.

“I'm a lefty, so the left one is for offense,” she said. “The right is mostly for defense. But I sometimes score right-handed. In this game, you keep going until a ball hits you.”

Roulette entered the room and used her ID card to close the door. She went to the center of the court, clapped her paddles together, and light flashed from a nearby hole in the floor. A ball emerged and hovered at about shoulder height. It looked to be made of black rubber and was about the size of a racquetball. Slapping the ball with her paddle, she sent it through a medium-size hole in the rear wall and fifty points appeared on her scoreboard.

After three more flashes, three more balls were in play. For every ball Roulette hit into a hole, two or three emerged. The room started to get busy. Whenever she missed a hole, the ball ricocheted around. She moved quickly and competently, scoring often. As the flurry of balls increased,
Roulette began to take fewer shots and defended herself more. She had to deal with each new ball coming at her, plus the random balls that had missed holes bouncing around. Occasionally a ball slipped through a hole by accident, increasing her score.

Before too long, a stray ball hit her leg, the lighting in the room dimmed, and all the balls in play fell to the floor, bouncing less than Cole would have expected. Her score read 1160. She left the room.

“Not my best score,” Roulette said. “Not enough for a prize. But it shows you how the game is played.”

“How do the balls float?” Cole asked.

“Sophisticated magnetics,” she said. “P'Tang has the best tech of any game here.”

“How do magnets work on rubber?” Cole asked.

“The balls have metal cores,” she said. “The real magic is inside the walls and floor and ceiling. Want to try?”

“It has to take lots of practice,” Cole hedged.

“Consider this your first practice,” Roulette said. “It's great for hand-eye coordination, reflex conditioning, spatial awareness, multitasking—so many benefits.”

“Why not?” Cole said.

She gave him her protective gear and paddles.

“Be careful not to smack the balls too hard,” Roulette warned. “The magnetics are set so they never slow down. You can get in trouble fast.”

“Is there a limit to how many balls can get going at once?” Cole asked.

“The court supports up to a hundred,” Roulette said. “It
won't spit out more until less than a hundred are in play. I just got up to about forty. I'll be impressed if you reach ten.”

“What's the most balls you've had going?” Jace asked.

“Eighty-seven,” she said.

“What about Tricker?” Jace asked.

“Trickster,” Roulette corrected. “He can last for a while with a hundred in play. He's tidy.”

“Tidy?” Cole asked.

“You know,” Roulette said. “Cool. Skilled. Tidy.”

“Is he a Crystal Keeper?” Jace asked.

“One of the best,” she said.

“You said he was the very best,” Jace reminded her.

“At the games,” Roulette said with a grin.

“I get it,” Jace said. “You're the best out in the real world.”

“Maybe,” she mused. “You said it, not me.”

With the protective gear in place, Cole held out his ID card.

“Keep yours,” Roulette said, handing him hers.

“Having fun?” a voice asked from behind Cole.

Whirling, he found Dalton and Mira standing there. “You made it!” Cole exclaimed, a heavy weight of anxiety lifting.

Dalton grinned. “I was worried you might be looking for us. I'm glad you got to play some sweet games.”

Cole looked down at his gear and his paddles. “I was just blending in.”

Dalton looked him up and down. “This is probably the only place in the world where that outfit would seem normal.”

Cole smiled. “You guys made good time!”

“We came together,” Mira said. “We found each other as we left the station.”

“Mira is brilliant,” Dalton said. “After we figured out how the levcars work, she told an older guy out on the street that we were supposed to meet our parents at Hanover Station but used up our credits going to the wrong place. He let us ride with him to Hanover, then we came here.”

“You got to ride in one of those cars!” Cole exclaimed.

“It was freaky,” Dalton said. “It seems like you're always about to crash.”

“You guys are okay?” Cole checked.

“We got away fine,” Dalton said. “No real trouble.”

A boy and girl stood with them who Cole hadn't met yet. They both looked fourteen or fifteen. “This is Bluff and Dazzle,” Roulette explained.

Bluff had his hair shaved short and stood half a head taller than Jace. He looked serious and tough. Dazzle had a dark complexion, fair hair, and light eyes. She was built short and strong, like a gymnast.

“More Crystal Keepers?” Cole asked.

Bluff gave a small nod. “Call us CKs in public.”

“We're supposed to take her straight to zerobase,” Dazzle said.

“I heard,” Roulette replied. “They're not kidding about her. I wonder who she is?”

“I'm right here!” Mira complained.

“Don't tell us,” Bluff said hurriedly.

“I won't,” Mira said.

“We're not supposed to ask,” Bluff explained. “You guys are top secret.”

“Don't look,” Roulette said. “But we're being watched.”

“Who?” Dazzle asked with a casual smile.

“Undercover City Patrol,” Roulette said. “He's up on the platform behind me. I've seen him before. Definitely CP. He's pretending to watch a game of Smashball.”

Cole glanced up and briefly met eyes with a blond man on a platform a good distance across the room. The man turned and walked down a flight of stairs.

“Bubba,” Roulette whispered loudly. “I told you not to look. He knows we made him!”

Cole shriveled inside but tried not to let it show. The glance had been automatic as Roulette described the patrolman's position. But what a stupid mistake! He should have followed Roulette's instructions!

“Get out of here,” Bluff said. “Take separate levcars to zerobase. Dazzle will take the girl and Dalton. I'll run interference.”

Bluff split off, heading toward the blond man. Roulette led the others in the opposite direction, across the gaming floor.

“Did you see him?” Roulette asked Dazzle.

“His reflection,” Dazzle said, holding up a small cosmetic mirror.

“Have you noticed him before?” Roulette asked.

“First time,” Dazzle said.

“He was probably following you,” Roulette said. “I know his face and didn't see him until you guys showed up. Cole, lose your gear, we're about to go out a side door.”

Cole started fumbling with the straps of the pads he had just put on. He felt flustered and off-balance. Dalton and Jace helped him as they walked.

As they reached a door marked
EMPLOYEES ONLY
, Cole pulled off his helmet, the final piece of gear.

“Drop the stuff,” Roulette advised as she opened the door.

Cole, Jace, and Dalton dumped the pads and paddles on the ground beside the door and followed the others through. Roulette and Dazzle broke into a run. Cole ran his hardest, trying to keep up.

They passed through another door onto a sidewalk beside a street. A busy stream of levcars zoomed by.

Dazzle glanced over at Roulette. “You have an untraceable ID?”

“Always,” Roulette said.

Dazzle put on a cap and a pair of sunglasses. “Use it.”

C
HAPTER

10

GOOGOL

C
ole found riding in a levcar even more nerve-racking than Dalton had conveyed. The ride was reasonably smooth, but Cole wasn't used to cars crowding so tightly at high speeds, nor was he accustomed to vehicles working together with split-second precision to narrowly avoid accidents.

Sitting in the back beside Jace, Cole needed some time before he began to trust that the system actually worked. Over and over he braced himself for impacts that never came. When he closed his eyes, the ride seemed surprisingly uneventful, but that felt like cheating. As Cole got used to the experience with his eyes open, the overall synchronization made him think of a flock of birds or a swarm of bees.

Mira and Dalton had gone in one direction to get a levcar with Dazzle. Cole and Jace had gone the other way with Roulette, who summoned a levcar using an ID without a face on it. They had now been in the car for at least ten minutes, and Cole had seen no sign of Bluff or the blond patrolman.

“Did we get away clean?” Cole asked.

“I think so,” Roulette said. “We'll take extra precautions to make sure.”

“Do you think Bluff fought that patrolman?” Cole asked, his insides writhing with guilt.

“As a last resort, maybe,” Roulette said. “Hopefully he found a quieter solution. Bluff will be okay. He knows what he's doing.”

Cole tried to let her confidence reassure him. They rode along in silence for a few minutes. Cole studied the neighboring levcars for anything suspicious, but the windows were too tinted to see much. At least that same tinting would help them hide.

“What do you think?” Cole asked Jace, who had his nose against the window.

“This city is enormous,” he said. “I was ready for big, but I still can't believe it. I didn't expect it to be so clean, with so many open spaces. I pictured it more cramped.”

“What about the ride?” Cole asked.

“You can't beat it,” Jace said. “They're so fast. They blow away autocoaches.”

Cole gritted his teeth as levcars swerved at them from opposite directions. Their levcar sped up and drifted right just in time to avoid disaster. “Don't the near misses bug you?”

“They told us levcars don't crash,” Jace said.

“Not in over eight years,” Roulette said. “And before then problems weren't frequent. They've been perfected.”

“I can trust that,” Jace said. “Can't you?”

Cole resisted a wince as they knifed through a narrow
gap. “There's what I know, and what I feel. We have cars where I'm from, but there would be accidents all over the place if people drove like this.”

“You keep advertising that you're from Outside,” Roulette said.

“Whoops,” Cole replied.

“I won't spread it around,” Roulette said. “You're not the only person from Outside in Zeropolis. Only Creon interacts more with Earth. But Outsiders do draw attention. If you want to keep a low profile, you should be more careful. We're almost to the galleria.”

Up ahead, a complex of sizable buildings that looked like greenhouses came into view. The levcar slowed and drifted over to the curb, coming to a gentle stop. Cole, Jace, and Roulette got out.

“Greenhouses?” Cole asked.

“Stores,” Roulette said. “It's a shopping mall.”

“All the buildings must be crystal,” Cole said.

Roulette gave him a puzzled look. “What else would they be made from?”

“Glass,” Cole said.

She chuckled. “Seriously? Why would we build with something so fragile? Bonded crystal is the way to go. If you want glass, you'll have to look in some other kingdom.”

“These are all stores?” Jace checked as they started walking. “Have you heard of Headgear?”

“Sure,” Roulette said. “It's not here. I'm not interested in the stores today. We came for the crowd. I want to make sure we shook the CP. The Zeroes have gotten too good at
tracking us lately. We're taking a roundabout route. We can't risk compromising the base.”

“Zeroes?” Cole asked.

“It's a nickname for the patrolmen,” she said. “The Zeroes have been on a roll lately. We can't be too careful. Let's wait to go into it until we're behind closed doors.”

As they proceeded through the crystal mall, Cole saw a lot of people wearing leather and denim. Many of the stores featured gadgets. Others sold clothes. A few had art. One shop showcased a variety of robots. They looked more polished than the robots back at Outpost 121, with brighter colors and more graceful contours.

They passed beyond the crystal stores and came to an open green area with a fairly tall hill on one side. A game of lacrosse was in progress on a large playing field. Trees shaded much of the hill, and paths gave access to the top.

“Summit Park,” Roulette said. “Crossing open space can be a great way to make sure we're not being tailed.”

“Are we close to where we're going?” Jace asked.

“Not yet,” she said.

It took some time to navigate the park. Eventually they passed under a street and came up to a wide pedestrian walkway. The apartments on both sides of the walkway possessed stately brick facades. Trees and sculpted hedges added a touch of nature.

Roulette led them along the walkway a good distance, passing under two more streets before turning onto a smaller walkway. She paused at the entrance to a building. “Nobody is following us. This way.”

They entered the building and went down a hall to an apartment on the first floor. The big guy who answered the door nodded to Roulette and let them enter. They went to a bedroom without windows and found a stairway in the middle of the floor.

“I opened it up for the others,” the man said, coming in behind them. “Go on down. I'll close it behind you.”

The stairs descended a long way, flight after flight. Roulette was in no hurry.

“Nice secret entrance,” Cole said.

“Let's hope it stays secret,” Roulette replied. “Otherwise we're all cooked.”

At the bottom of the stairs awaited a thick crystal door secured by shiny steel hinges. Roulette waved at the guards on the far side, and after a moment, the door opened. Cole entered with the others, and the door closed behind them.

The floor, walls, and ceiling had panels like in the P'Tang room at Axis. Cole sped up to walk beside Roulette. “Is this room magnetic?” he asked.

“We have some skilled tinkers on our side,” she said. “Our magnetic defenses are tidy. Think of the balls in P'Tang, but imagine them sharper, faster, and targeted at you.”

Cole gulped.

They proceeded through a sequence of doors and hallways until they were greeted by a middle-aged woman whose red hair was pulled back into a tight little bun. “You must be Jace and Cole,” she said, holding out a hand.

Cole shook it. “I'm Cole.”

Jace did the same. “Jace.”

“Call me Highwire,” the woman said. “Nice work, Roulette. Report to the tank for debriefing.”

“I was kind of hoping to see this through,” Roulette said.

“You may have future involvement,” Highwire said. “First these two must meet with Googol.”

Roulette gasped. “Googol's here! I want to see him!”

“I expect he'll want to talk with all the CKs who were involved today,” Highwire said. “First head to debriefing. You'll learn more there.”

“Whatever,” Roulette said huffily. She left the room.

“I trust you two are all right?” Highwire asked.

“We're fine,” Cole said. “We're worried about Joe, though.”

“Aren't we all,” Highwire said. “This way.”

She used an ID card to open a door. They followed her down a hallway to another door, which she opened with her card as well.

“Here they are,” Highwire announced. “Barely behind the others.”

Cole and Jace entered a room that looked half laboratory, half office. One side of the room had work counters and shelves covered with diverse tools and materials. The other side had several chairs and a big desk. Dalton and Mira sat in two of the chairs.

The man behind the desk stood up. Dressed in dark blue, his bristly gray hair was clipped short and thinning on top. The bulky glasses he wore resembled a set of high-tech binoculars. Tall, skinny, and slightly stooped, he looked to be in his fifties or sixties. “Cole, Jace, please join us. Nice to meet you. I'm Googol.”

“Will that be all?” Highwire asked.

“Yes, Larraine, thank you,” Googol said. She backed out and closed the door. Googol touched his bulky glasses. “Please forgive how my vision gear hides my face. With it, I can see near and far. Without it, the world becomes overlapping blurs. Have a seat.”

“Are you guys good?” Cole asked Dalton.

“We just got here too,” Dalton said. “We're good.”

“Googol was introducing himself,” Mira said.

Googol nodded. “I gave Mira a code word reserved for those few who work with her mother, Harmony.”

“Dalton got to hear it?” Cole protested.

“He whispered it to her,” Dalton said.

“Googol is one of the good guys,” Mira confirmed.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Googol said deferentially. “I can still hardly believe you're here.”

“He's one of the leaders of the Unseen in Zeropolis,” Mira said. “He's their chief tinker.”

“We all have roles to play,” Googol said. “Mine involves developing and implementing advanced technologies.”

“Your name is Google like the search engine?” Cole asked.

Googol smiled. “It's spelled differently. My code name derives from a number. Ten to the hundredth power. In other words, a one followed by a hundred zeroes.”

“That's a lot of zeroes,” Jace said.

Googol's smile faltered a little. “My apologies. I'm not always adept at small talk. I know you four have been through a lot, but we have some vital matters to discuss.”

“Fine with us,” Mira said.

“The first issue is Joe MacFarland,” Googol said. “We sent him to warn you, Mira, when we learned that your father was sending legionnaires to apprehend you. I take it the intervention was a success.”

“Barely,” Mira said. She went on to explain how she, Cole, Jace, and Twitch had escaped from Skyport.

“Remarkable,” Googol said. “But Joe clearly rejoined you.”

Mira told about defeating Carnag and then going to Elloweer with Joe to find Honor.

“Any success?” Googol asked.

“We found her, and stopped another monster shapecrafters had made in Elloweer. Her name was Morgassa, and she was even worse than Carnag. We also found Cole's friend Dalton.”

“You're both from Outside,” Googol said, his vision gear aiming at Dalton and Cole. “Where did you live?”

“Arizona,” Cole said. “Mesa, if you know the area.”

“I do,” Googol said. “I study your world a lot. It didn't used to interest us so much. For centuries our technologies have been more advanced than yours. But over the last few decades, as you have entered your computerized age, I have found many good ideas among your innovations. I find that inspiration often results from observation.”

“In our world we call that copying,” Dalton said with a smile.

“I attempt to adapt and improve those technologies that inspire me,” Googol said. His vision gear swiveled back to Mira. “These shapecrafted monsters you describe perturb
me. We have heard similar tales of late from Creon and Necronum, though none in our own kingdom. You say the shapecrafters could not command their creations?”

“Not Carnag or Morgassa,” Mira said. “I don't know if they're getting better at it.”

Googol raised two fingers to his lips and stared thoughtfully. The lenses of his vision gear turned softly, as if focusing. “How close has your father come to capturing you?”

“Close,” Mira said. She told about the Hunter chasing them and detailed their encounters with Enforcers in Sambria and on the Red Road.