Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4) (35 page)

No, he couldn’t say that.  He just had to hope for a miracle.

And if that miracle didn’t come, they were all going to die.

42

In her dream, Talia heard Knile’s voice.  It was coming to her as if from a great distance, like an echo filtering through a long tunnel.  The words seemed nonsensical, disjointed, almost like he was speaking another language.  There was no emotion.  He seemed detached, uncaring, like he was speaking random words from an instruction manual.

There was no colour in the dream, no imagery.  She couldn’t see his face.  There was simply his voice, that disembodied whisper.

She suddenly felt a wave of anxiety wash over her.  His voice brought her no comfort, and in fact seemed only to heighten her sense of trepidation.

He’s already dead.

That was it.  That was what caused the dread in her bones.  He was speaking to her as nothing more than a spectre, a ghoul trapped in purgatory who had come back to haunt her–

She awoke suddenly, not knowing where she was.  Muddled and confused, she half-stumbled to her feet, before dropping back to her knees again.

She looked around.

Sunspire.  We’re in Sunspire.

Roman stirred beside her, torn from sleep by the commotion.

“Talia?” he murmured.  “What’s going on?  Is someone here?”

She forced herself to stop and take a deep breath.  She needed to calm herself.

“No.  I’m sorry, Roman.  I had a nightmare.  That’s all.”

He sat up.  “You okay?”

“Yeah.  It’s nothing.”

“Was it about Silvestri?”

The mention of his name brought the image of Silvestri’s ruined face back into her mind, and once again it made her feel ill.

“No,” she said.  “Not this time.”

But he’ll make plenty of appearances in the years to come
, she thought.

Roman fell silent, and the two of them sat and listened as the quietude of the Sunspire complex seemed to press in around them.  Talia thought she could hear the distant white noise of rain on the roof, and the murmur of voices down the hallway.  Norrey and Kolos, perhaps?

She checked her holophone.  They’d been asleep for hours, and now time was really starting to run out. 
They no longer had the luxury of sitting around.

“We need to get moving,” she said.

She got up.  Roman followed her lead, climbing to his feet and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  He yawned.

“What now?  You going to try calling Knile again?”

“I guess.
  Let me give it a shot.”

She dialled the number for the longwave, but, once again, there was no response.  Either she or Knile must have been out of range of the relays.

“No good, as per usual. 
I–”

She paused, straining to listen.  That voice was in the hallway again.

“What is it?” Roman said, but she made a curt motion with her hand, indicating that he should be silent.  She moved toward the door.

The voices were louder here, more distinct.

It was not Norrey or Kolos, that was for sure.  Suddenly she recognised who it was, although s
he couldn’t quite believe she was hearing it.

“Knile?” she gasped, stepping out into the corridor.  She stood listening, trying to ascertain where the sound was coming from, and then Roman appeared at her side.

“I hear it too,” he said breathlessly.

“He’s here,” she said, disbelieving.  “He made it!”  She raised her voice.  “Knile?  Where are you?”

The two of them started off down the corridor, pausing at the next juncture as they tried to follow the sound of his voice.  Down the adjoining corridor, it was getting louder.

“Knile!” Roman called.  “Where are you, man?”

They arrived at the long and narrow corridor with the explosive trap wired across the ceiling, and the sound of Knile’s voice was loud and clear now.  He was in the next room.

“Knile!” Talia called, starting down the corridor.  “We’re here!  We didn’t hear you arrive.  When did–?”

She reached the end of the corridor and found herself in the room labelled ‘Transit Communications’.  On a nearby console she saw the system she had activated earlier, the one that established a comms link to the railcar.

Knile’s voice was emanating from the console, and what’s more, she could see an image of his face.

She sighed in disappointment.  He hadn’t arrived after all.  Still, this was the next best thing.

She and Roman made their way over to the console and she activated the microphone.

“Knile?” she said.

Knile started, almost jumping out of his chair at the sound of her voice.  He manipulated the controls on his end, then a broad smile spread across his face.

“Hey, you two.  Good to see you.  Where are you
calling from?”

“We’re in the comms room at Sunspire,” Talia said.

“That’s great.  Nice work.”

“Hey, buddy,” Roman said enthusiastically.  “What about you?  Where are you?”

“As it happens, I’m on my way down to you right now.”

“That’s fantastic,” Talia said.  “How far away are you?”

“Less than an hour.  We’re still sorting out some logistics, though.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“Uh, hi,”
someone said, and then a young girl’s face filled the screen.  She had scruffy blonde hair and a hard edge to her blue eyes, as if she’d seen more than her share of troubles in her short life. 
“Pleased to meet you.”

“This is Ursie,”
Knile explained. 
“She’s directing things from the top end at the moment.  I also have our friend Aron Lazarus aboard the railcar with me.”

“The Redman came with you?” Talia said, surprised.

“Couldn’t hold him back.”

“Okay.  So what are these logistical problems you’re talking about, Knile?” Talia said.

“Just some problems with controlling the descent of the railcar.  Some of the systems were taken offline and we’re trying to find a workaround for it.”

“Is there anything we can do?” she said.

Knile thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. 
“Y’know, maybe there is.  Have you found the control room down there yet?”

Talia and Roman looked at each other.  “The room with the crazy dead guy,” Roman said.  She nodded, and Roman turned back to Knile.  “Yeah, we found it.  What do we do?”

“See if you can bring it online again.  We might be able to form a link between the two opposite ends, and that in turn might give us more control.”

“On my way,” Roman said, heading briskly from the room.  Talia reached over to the next console and initiated a call to the control room, and in less than thirty seconds Roman had arrived and answered the call.

“How’s it looking?”
Knile said.  He seemed tense to Talia, on edge, more so than he was letting on.

“Booting up now,”
Roman said through the comms.

“Knile, that subroutine didn’t work,”
Ursie said, seemingly continuing on from a previous conversation.

“Okay, start at the root menu and try the next option,”
he said.  He looked back at Talia and gave her a reassuring smile.

I know you too well, Knile
, she thought. 
I’m not buying it.  Something’s wrong.

“Shit.”
  Roman’s voice.

“What is it?” she said.

“Everything’s locked out,”
he said. 
“I can’t even get past square one.  All of the controls are completely shut off.”

“I thought that might be the case,”
Knile sighed. 
“When Sunspire pulled out, they wouldn’t have wanted anyone to initiate the system from Earth.  The elevator could only be put back into operation from space.  There’s probably nothing you can do from down there.”

“There’s something else, too,”
Roman said. 
“I have a warning here, saying that current power capacity is at less than one percent.  And falling.”

“The system has been sitting here for decades,” Talia said.  “That’s no surprise.”

Knile seemed to weigh things up. 
“Listen, if you can’t control anything from your end, there’s no point in keeping your systems running.  You’re just draining power that we might need for the homeward trip.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“Shut it down.  All of it.  Ursie and I will figure this out.  The best thing for you to do is to conserve the power and wait.”

“Are you sure?” she said.  “I feel kinda helpless here.”

“There’s no other option.  Roman?”

“I’m here, Knile.”

“Shut the control room down.”

“Okay.”
  His hand wavered over the camera as he hesitated. 
“Good luck.”
  Then his feed disappeared.

“You too, Talia,”
Knile said.

She stared back at him, trying to read his mind, but he remained emotionless, steadfast.

That told her everything she needed to know.

“Make it here safe,” she told him, and she reached out and killed the connection before he could reply.

As she turned back toward the door, she almost called out in fright.

Norrey was standing there looking at her.  “Problem?” he said.

“Damn,” she gasped, placing a hand on her chest.  “You scared me.”

He stepped forward.  “My apologies.”  He glanced down at the darkened console, then back at her.  “Is there a problem?” he said again.

“No, no problem,” she said, pulling herself up straight and returning his direct glare.  “Our friends are on the way, as planned.”

Why is he looking at me like that?

They continued to look at each other for a moment, then Norrey smiled, his face transforming to a more relaxed expression.

“That is good to hear.”

He turned his back and began to walk away, and Talia stood looking at the blank console for a moment longer before following after him.

43

Talia rejoined Roman in the control room not long after.  The body of the dead man, Able, had been removed at some point while they slept, presumably by either Norrey or Kolos.  As she entered the room, Roman was shutting down the last of the consoles that sat before the bay windows.

Outside, the rain was still tumbling down.

“All done?” she said.

Roman tapped a button and nodded.  “That should be the last.  I’ve turned off everything I can find.”

“So that’s it,” Talia said, moving over to stand before the window.  She looked up at the vague outline of the space elevator not far away.  “Now all we can do is wait.”

“Were you buying that?” Roman said sceptically.  “That Knile had everything under control?”

“Not really,” she admitted.  “I think there’s more going on than he was willing to
let on.”

“But there’s not much we can do about it.”

“No, there’s not.”

There was a shuffling noise over by the doorway, and Norrey appeared once again.

“Pardon the intrusion in the comms room just now,” he said to her.  “I heard voices and came to investigate.”

“No, that’s okay,” she said.  “I understand.”

Norrey’s brow creased, and he moved over to join them at the window.  Kolos materialised and took his place at the door.

“I hope you’ll forgive me, but I heard a little of the conversation you were having,” Norrey said.

Talia remembered the look on his face, how he’d stared at her, evaluating.  She realised that she hadn’t told the bodyguards anything about what they were doing at Sunspire – how their companions were not just meeting them here, but in fact travelling down from off-world.  Norrey must have realised the truth when he’d overheard the conversation with Knile, and, understandably, he must have been a little taken aback.

“Yes.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about our situation earlier.  I just didn’t know if I could trust you.”

“Of course,” Norrey said reasonably.  “That’s understandable.”  He leaned back comfortably against the console.  “So, am I to understand that your companions are coming down the railcar right now?  How is that possible?”

Talia saw no point in lying to the bodyguards now.  In any case, they were going to realise the truth when Knile arrived in the railcar within the hour.  She figured that she may as well give it to them straight.