Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) (30 page)

“Strike team is moving,” said
Adika.

I didn’t need to read
minds to feel the reaction of the Strike team to those words. Their eagerness
filled lift 2. While the imprint controlled me, Lucas and Megan had fought a
battle for my mind, but my Strike team could do nothing to help. Now their
ordeal of useless inactivity was over, and they were back leading the hunt.

Lucas’s familiar voice
spoke in my ear crystal. “Tactical ready.”

Matias had been declared
fully fit by Megan, so he was back with the Strike team. I wished Lucas was
coming with us too. At the same time, I was glad he was staying safely in the
unit. We were heading back to 600/2600. Our last two trips there had gone very
badly indeed, and I daren’t make any assumptions about this one being
different.

The tense voice of Nicole
came over the sound link, interrupting my thoughts. “Liaison ready. Tracking
status is green.”

It was me next. I checked
my dataview. “Green here.”

Lucas started speaking in
his relaxed, briefing voice. “First thing this morning, we held an emergency
meeting of all the Telepath Unit Tactical Commanders, as well as representatives
from Hive Trade, Hive Security, Hive Defence, and Hive Politics. Capturing
Elden, and bringing Hive Genex to justice, is now the top strategic priority
for our Hive.”

“I should hope so,”
muttered Adika.

“The other good news is
that Hive Security are confident that Elden could only have hacked his way into
the low security areas of our central data core,” continued Lucas. “He
shouldn’t have access to the high security areas containing Telepath Unit
records, or be able to decipher our encrypted communications.”

“He should never have been
able to access anything,” grumbled Adika.

“There are plans to
tighten security on the whole of our central data core,” said Lucas, “but we
don’t want Hive Security to block off Elden’s access yet. We need to keep him believing
he’s still in control of both the situation and Amber while we hunt him down.
The other Telepath Units have agreed to deal with all emergency and check runs for
the moment. If Elden has a way of checking the status of Telepath Units, he’ll
see that our unit is labelled as unavailable because Amber needs extended recovery
time.”

He paused. “That should
keep Elden happy, but it means we can’t have people seeing you moving round the
Hive. We’ve got you wearing standard brown maintenance coveralls, and you’ll be
travelling through Level Zero to reach your destination. Level Zero is always
packed with maintenance crews, so you’ll blend in among all the others.”

“What’s Level Zero?” I
asked.

“Level Zero divides the accommodation
levels of the Hive from the industrial levels,” said Adika. “It’s like a giant
interlevel, and holds a lot of special systems.”

I groaned. “A whole level
of the Hive that I didn’t even know existed.”

I heard Lucas’s laughter
through my ear crystal. “Most people won’t be aware that Level Zero exists,
Amber. Imprints only include knowledge relevant to a person’s profession.”

The lift stopped. We were
on Industry 50 now. I watched, fascinated, as Adika entered a code into the
lift controls, and the destination level number changed to zero. The lift moved
on a short distance and the doors opened.

Level Zero was huge, over
twice the height of a normal Hive accommodation level. It seemed incredible
that I’d not known about a place this large, but the moving stairways only went
as high as Level 1, and lifts moved so rapidly that you wouldn’t notice the
extra distance between Level 1 and Industry 50.

Adika led us across to
what looked like a standard belt interchange. Once we were riding along an
express belt, I looked around in bewilderment. There weren’t any corridor
walls, just …

Actually, I had no idea
what half these things were. A few large pipes reminded me of Level 100, but
there were also weird, vast tanks that must be the size of a park. I could see
what seemed to be murky liquid through the inspection windows.

“What are those tank
things?” I asked.

“I think they’re part of
the water recycling system,” said Adika.

Lucas started talking
again. “My team has been going through all the old records for 600/2600. Nearly
sixteen years ago, some oddities started happening there. That must be when Elden
first arrived in our Hive, set up a nest in 600/2600, hacked into our central
data core, and started stealing supplies and equipment.”

“Were any investigations made
back then?” asked Adika.

“Sapphire’s unit made a
check run but found nothing,” said Lucas. “Elden was carefully spreading his
thefts across all the different levels to reduce the chance of being caught. Once
Amber had been kidnapped and imprinted, the oddities abruptly stopped. We think
Elden went back to his home Hive at that point. During the next fifteen years
everything was quiet in 600/2600. Elden was probably busy making trips to other
Hives. A few months ago, the …”

“Stop right there!” I said
sharply. “You think Elden may have gone to other Hives and imprinted other true
telepaths?”

“From your description of Elden,
he couldn’t have been more than twenty years old when he imprinted you, Amber. He
wouldn’t dare to imprint another true telepath in our Hive, because a second
telepath requesting a transfer would look far too suspicious, but he might continue
his work in other Hives that speak either our language or the language of Hive
Genex.”

I clenched my fists as
fury hit me. There could be others with a secret childhood imprint. Others who
could find control of their mind and body stolen from them. Others who could be
taken to serve Hive Genex.

“A few months ago, the oddities
in area 600/2600 started up again,” Lucas resumed his briefing at the point
where I’d interrupted him. “Elden was back in our Hive, and working to activate
Amber’s imprint. Now he believes the imprint is controlling Amber, so he’ll have
stopped work and gone into hiding in his nest. He’ll stay there to wait out the
long process of Amber wearing us down into allowing her transfer to Hive Genex.”

“He’ll have a longer wait
than he expects,” said Adika.

“Or a much shorter wait if
I’m right about where he’s hiding,” said Lucas. “My team’s analysis of the
incidents around area 600/2600 suggests that Elden’s not just been using the
same nest, but crucially the same equipment that he used fifteen years ago. There
are very few places in the Hive where Elden’s nest and equipment could have remained
undiscovered during his fifteen year absence. I believe his nest has to be
inside the area 600/2600 structural column.”

“What’s a structural
column?” I asked.

“Hive structural columns
add stability and strength to the physical structure of the Hive,” said Lucas.
“They’re vast hollow columns set into bedrock and reaching up to the top of the
Hive. A structural column would be an ideal place for Elden to set up his nest,
since their last maintenance inspection was in 2500, and they aren’t scheduled
to have another until 2550.”

Lucas paused. “There are
only three entry points to allow maintenance crews to inspect the web of
girders inside a structural column. One at the bottom on Level 100, one on Level
Zero, and one right at the top on Industry 1. I expect Elden’s nest to be
inside the 600/2600 structural column just above the Level Zero entry point. That’s
well positioned for accessing both Hive accommodation and working levels, and
in emergency Elden has an escape route that leads him straight up to near a
maintenance exit to Outside.”

Adika made a pained noise.
“So if Elden’s there, he’ll start climbing, and then we’ll have to chase him up
fifty levels of ladders or maintenance mesh. Lucas, he’ll know that route and
we don’t.”

“I’m not sending you chasing
Elden up a structural column,” said Lucas. “He’s almost certainly armed, and could
have placed booby traps at intervals, or just have rocks ready for him to drop
on your heads. You’ll stop near the structural column and send some men up in a
lift to guard Elden’s escape point on Industry 1. After that, you just have to
frighten Elden into climbing up the structural column and walking into our
ambush.”

“I like that tactic,” said
Adika. “Rothan will be in charge of the ambush team. He can take Eli, Matias and
Caleb with him. Forge is experienced in cliff climbing, so he and I can go into
the structural column. Everyone else will be on Bodyguard team. We’ll start
checking for booby traps as we approach our destination on Level Zero.”

The view around us was changing
now. We’d left the huge tanks behind us, and there were lots of strange spiky
objects coloured bright red. Several maintenance crews were working on them.

Adika spotted me staring
at the spiky objects. “Amber, the main safety rule on Level Zero is that things
coloured bright red are dangerous. You must never touch them.”

We travelled on, passing more
mysterious shapes in assorted colours, including the warning red. When we
finally neared our destination, we stopped by a lift. I watched unhappily as Rothan,
Eli, Matias and Caleb headed off to Industry 1.

“I can’t run circuits on
Rothan’s team with fifty levels of minds in the way,” I said.

“Don’t worry, Amber,” said
Lucas. “If Elden starts climbing, then we can get you up to Industry 1 long before
he arrives there. However good Elden is, he can’t out-climb an express lift.”

Adika moved the rest of us
on a short distance before stopping again. “We’ll begin checking for booby
traps now. We look for cameras that shouldn’t be there, or devices that have been
tampered with. We check anything and everything. Elden played games with us
twice in that park. If we let him beat us again, then we all resign and go stir
protein vats!”

The Strike team had been
keyed up already, but they went up another notch of tension at Adika’s savage
tone. They brought out electronic devices, and started scanning the area. I let
them get on with their job, while I did mine, closing my eyes and searching for
a mind that thought in words I didn’t understand.

Somewhere to the north, a
maintenance team were working, cleansing relay points. I didn’t linger in their
minds long enough to find out what a relay point was. Up above my head, a hydroponics
unit was working at full stretch in harvest phase. Below me was a community centre
packed with children making Halloween costumes and masks.

I’d lost track of time,
and forgotten we were getting close to Halloween. I thought back to Carnival. It
was months ago, a lifetime ago, that I’d ridden the rail with Forge and the
others, plunging into an unknown future.

I reached out to the south,
drifting across the minds of ten thousand shoppers, registering a blur of
trivial excitement and indecision. Arms went round me, picked me up, and carried
me. I ignored them. I had my eyes closed, so my bodyguards knew I was working.
They wouldn’t expect me to comment or respond as they moved the luggage of my
body to a more convenient location.

“We’re at the entry point
to the structural column now,” said Adika. “Amber, is there any sign of Elden?”

“No,” I said, trying to
keep my frustration out of my voice. “All the minds in this area are perfectly
readable and innocent.”

“I expected Elden’s nest
to be just above the entry point,” said Lucas, “but he could be much higher
than that. Rothan, are your team in position?”

“We’re just outside the Industry
1 entry point to the structural column,” said Rothan, “hiding behind some convenient
notice boards. When Elden arrives, we’ll all fire stun shots on my command.”

“Make sure you let him get
out of the column first,” said Lucas. “If he falls down a hundred and fifty
levels of the Hive, then he won’t be answering any questions afterwards.”

He paused. “Adika, you can
open the access hatch now and take a look inside. Be very careful. There
shouldn’t be any power conduits or cabling inside the column, just bare
girders. Stop the second you see anything suspicious.”

Long, nervous minutes went
by as the hatch was removed. I opened my eyes for a second to see Adika and
Forge peering through the hole, their lights probing the dark interior of the
column, then went into Adika’s head and saw his view of things as he stuck his
head inside.

“No ladder or maintenance
mesh here,” he said. “How are maintenance crews supposed to climb up the
structural column to make their checks without them?”

“The structural column
plans show a standard series of ladders on the wall to your left,” said Nicole.

“The structural column
plans are wrong,” said Adika.

“We’ve definitely found
Elden’s nest then,” said Lucas. “He must have removed the first couple of
ladders to deter any maintenance staff from getting nosy about what was inside
a structural column. Presumably Elden manages to get up there without ladders,
in which case …”

Adika gave a faint groan.
“In which case, we should be able to get up there too. There are lots of
criss-crossing girders, so it’s a relatively straightforward climb apart from
the darkness and the one hundred level drop beneath us.”

Forge’s voice spoke for
the first time. “We’ll rope up then, and make sure we anchor ourselves to the
girders at regular intervals. I can go first.”

I was with Adika’s thoughts,
and felt his reluctant acceptance as he replied. “That’s the best approach
since you’re the climbing expert. Remember that when we find Elden, we mustn’t
shoot him. We just take cover and let him climb up the column.”

“Understood,” said Forge.

“If you haven’t found
Elden by the time you’ve climbed up ten levels then stop,” said Lucas. “Amber
and the bodyguard team can go up in a lift so they’re on the same level as you,
and then Amber can have another search for Elden’s mind.”