The Lost Puzzler Page 40

  Daeon turned back and continued walking. Vincha rolled her eyes behind his back. “I’m only asking because it is illogical—”

  “We are not using the lifts because Nakamura said not to use them.”

  “Ah . . . the great Nakamura. Did he tell you why we shouldn’t use the lifts?”

  “No, Vincha, he did not.”

  “Do you blindly follow all of his commands?”

  Daeon turned to the next set of stairs so Vincha could see his face. It was obvious he was trying to keep his temper in check, and Vincha didn’t blame him. He must have been as tense as she was with the prospect of going to the heart of the City within the Mountain, the deepest run ever attempted. Her own mood and juvenile behavior was probably the result of the fact she’d barely slept through the night, a mixture of dread, plug fever, and the maddening quietness in her own head, now that she’d gone vegan.

  It was easy for her to pass Daeon and block his way on the set of stairs. He tried to pass her, but Vincha kept playfully moving in front of the heavily geared warrior.

  “I asked you a question, Troll.”

  “Vincha, I am not in the mood.”

  “Just answer me.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Do you follow all of Nakamura’s orders?”

  Daeon locked stares with Vincha. “Of course I follow his orders, and so should you.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why do you follow him like that? I mean—” Vincha made a show of looking Daeon up and down “—you seem capable enough. There are many safer ways to earn coin than to be taking orders from that freak.”

  From the steel in Daeon’s gaze Vincha knew she had touched something, but he kept his cool.

  “I follow all of his orders, and so should you. Those who didn’t follow his orders are dead.”

  “By his hands or yours?”

  Vincha saw Daeon’s jaw clench twice and quickly added, “You haven’t even given me a weapon. How am I going to be useful if I can’t even defend myself in a deep run?”

  “Nakamura’s orders were to bring you down now,” Daeon said stiffly, “and should you resist or delay me, to knock you out and carry you over my shoulder, an action I am beginning to contemplate.”

  Vincha held his gaze but made a show of slowly moving aside and spreading her arms wide. “After you, Troll.”

  Daeon passed her without another word, and they climbed down two more levels and entered a huge underground hall that reminded Vincha of the Long Tube platforms in the City of Towers. There were four large tunnels, two from each side of the hall. Their surfaces were similar to the material the Tarakan highway was made of.

  Nakamura, Sci, Herev, and Rafik were already standing on the central platform. Herev carried even more weapons than Daeon, including his two power swords strapped to his back. Sci had two large metal trunks floating next to him. Rafik was standing quietly, dressed in diminutive battle gear with a power pistol hanging from his belt. He did not acknowledge Vincha or Daeon but was staring at nothingness with a blank look on his face.

  “It’s about time,” Herev commented as Daeon and Vincha approached.

  “We got a little lost,” Daeon answered. He walked to Nakamura and handed him a palm-sized Tarakan screen pad. “Here it is. All is set, as you asked.”

  Nakamura nodded silently and began fiddling with the pad. Daeon walked to Sci, handing him several power tubes and stuffing his backpack inside one of the floating crates, before finally turning to Rafik.

  “I found this in your room—you must have dropped it,” he said, handing Fahid’s blade to the boy. Rafik silently took the knife and looked down at his hand, bounced it in his palm as if weighing it. Vincha saw how a smile of relief replaced the blank expression and suddenly, ever so briefly, Rafik was just a boy again.

  “Thank you,” he said in a meek voice and pocketed the knife.

  Daeon patted Rafik kindly just as Nakamura lifted his head from the pad and said, “Get ready.”

  Sci climbed down and ran into one of the tunnels with only a light backpack on his back. They waited until there was a sudden rumbling from one of the tunnels, and a Long Tube emerged and stopped at the platform, its doors silently opening.

  “Imagine loading that baby up with the loot from the City within the Mountain,” Herev said, grinning, as Sci stepped out of the Long Tube.

  “This will bring us most of the way, but we will still need to enter the City within the Mountain,” Nakamura said from inside his cowl. He turned to Rafik and simply asked, “Are you ready?”

  Rafik silently nodded and sat himself down. Sci went to the front of the Long Tube and busied himself with the controls. The Long Tube began moving, and soon they reached a speed that could be matched only by a SuperTruck. They rode through many tunnels, some wide and others tight.

  “Get ready,” Sci suddenly said, and the Long Tube began slowing down.

  Sci handed Vincha a headlamp. “What about a gun or something?” she asked, turning to Nakamura.

  “I don’t think so,” Nakamura answered as the Long Tube stopped at a platform

  “It’s a deep run,” Vincha protested, but Nakamura didn’t even bother to answer

  The doors of the Long Tube opened onto complete darkness.

  Nakamura stepped out, and a moment later a ball of light emanated from his staff and wide beams from the crew’s head gear, arm lights, and weapons joined to penetrate the darkness. It was so cold, Vincha began shivering almost immediately.

  “Follow,” Nakamura ordered.

  He walked past them on the platform and above two high bridges. Vincha looked down and saw more tunnels and platforms below them, but the ground was too far away to see.

  “Are we in deep yet?” Herev asked.

  “No,” Daeon answered, “but my guess is that very soon we will be.”

  They reached the last platform, a vast, open space that featured twenty large, Tarakan steel doors.

  “This is the entrance to the first level of the City within the Mountain,” Nakamura said. “From the vastness of the place and the number of doors, my guess is that many traversed in and out of the city every day.” He turned to Rafik. “Choose any door you wish.”

  Without saying a word, Rafik walked to one of the doors and the crew followed him. When they got close, Sci said, “I don’t see a puzzle box.”

  Rafik walked on until he reached the wall next to the door. When he was only one step away from it he held out his hand.

  Nothing happened.

  He took a step forward and touched the wall. For a heartbeat nothing happened, then the part of the wall around Rafik’s hand lit up. Vincha watched in awe as the metal molded itself into three holes. Without hesitation Rafik closed his eyes and shoved his fingers into the wall.

  He stood rigid.

  “Get ready,” Nakamura said and stepped forward. “As soon as the doors open we must hurry inside.”

  “You don’t have to ask twice. If we stand here for any longer we’ll freeze,” said Herev, jumping lightly from one foot to the other.

  Rafik let out a soft sigh just as the door slid open. Vincha saw a large hall, mirroring the platform they came from.

  “Get in, now,” ordered Nakamura.

  Daeon and Herev went in first, power rifles ready. Sci went after them, with the two floating metal trunks close at his heels. Nakamura grabbed Rafik and nodded at Vincha. She stepped in through the door. Painfully aware she was weaponless and exposed, Vincha crouched low behind one of the floating trunks as soon as she entered the new hall. She looked back and saw Rafik calmly walking in. There was a distant smile on his face. Suddenly he turned around, as if forgetting something, fished an object from his pocket and tossed it through the open gap. The object landed with several clinks on the cold floor outside, and Rafik turned back and walked after Nakamura. Without thinking, Vincha aimed the light beam from her bracer back outside, and just as the door began to slide closed
she recognised what Rafik chose to leave behind and for some reason her heart missed a beat. It was his brother’s blade.

  59

  “Vincha, Wake up.”

  She was always a light sleeper, and her eyes opened as Daeon finished uttering her name. Immediately her back and neck began protesting from the uncomfortable position she’d slept in.

  Daeon crouched nearby, out of arm’s reach. He waved and smiled. Vincha turned her head and saw Rafik sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. His face was blank as he was staring into nothingness.

  “Hello,” she said to the boy, sitting up.

  Rafik turned his head, and Vincha felt a shudder flashing up her spine. It wasn’t as if he was looking at her, or even through her, but as if he could see what she was made of.

  “You okay, Rafik?” she resisted the urge to touch him.

  “We are not far,” he answered in an even tone.

  “That’s good to hear, and you th—”

  “We are not far,” Rafik said again, and turned his head away.

  Daeon took a step forward, extending his hand, which Vincha took, and he helped her up.

  “How long was I out?” she asked.

  Daeon glanced at his wrist. Vincha still hadn’t gotten used to the old timekeeping artifacts they wore.

  “A little more than two hours, here.” Daeon held out a large red pill. “Sci said to take this.”

  “What is this?”

  “It’s a sort of nourishment pill.”

  When Vincha hesitated, Daeon shrugged. “If Nakamura would have wanted you dead he wouldn’t bother to poison you.”

  “It’s nothing like any pill I’ve seen before.”

  Daeon smiled reassuringly. “He said it’s from his special, limited stock, a little hard to swallow but very effective.”

  Vincha took the pill from his hand, put it in her mouth, and swallowed with a sharp head toss.

  Daeon smiled when her eyes widened. “Nice, yes?”

  She nodded and coughed. “Not bad.” They moved a little closer to the rest of the group, which was huddled around Sci’s hover cart. “So, how are we doing?” she asked.

  Daeon shrugged. “Same as we were a few hours ago. Stuck.” By their body language it was obvious that the crew was not happy. “I think we might need to go back and try a different route.”

  “That would put us in a whole bucket of rust,” Vincha said. Her head turned back to Rafik, who was still staring into space. “How’s he doing?”

  “Same as before, just doing his job and keeping to himself.” Daeon shrugged. “Is it just me, or is he getting a little odd?”

  Vincha stiffen but decided to keep her thoughts to herself. She’d stopped counting the times Rafik had solved puzzle locks. Thankfully, they did not encounter any Lizards, but most of the time Rafik had to solve puzzles when they were under fire from automated gun posts that sprang from the walls or squads of combat drones. Each time, Rafik opened the door or bypassed Tarakan security with only his pursed lips and the whiteness of his complexion betraying any kind of strain. Yet with every puzzle he solved, Rafik withdrew more into himself. They had been walking inside the corridors of the City within the Mountain for the past three days, but she never saw Rafik sleep. Instead, he just sat with his eyes open, daydreaming. He was calm, obedient, and silent. The perfect Puzzler.

  Vincha, on the other hand, was more nervous with every step they took into the city’s inner sanctum. The long corridors and seamless walls felt foreboding. Daeon, Sci, and Herev seemed to share her nervousness. They’d already passed several promising-looking nodes, but Nakamura ordered them to keep moving. The third or fourth time it happened Herev was close to losing it. “We are walking away from hard metal, just behind this door.” He pointed.

  Even Vincha didn’t see it coming. In the blink of an eye Herev was pinned against the wall, the end of Nakamura’s staff shoved against his throat.

  “Follow my orders and shut your mouth,” Nakamura rasped, “or we shall part ways, right here.”

  Herev never complained again.

  The sudden aggression didn’t seem to faze Rafik, or anyone else in the crew.

  The items from Sci’s hovercarts proved useful for many things, but there was a limit to how prepared you could be in the City within the Mountain. At that particular moment they were stuck behind a corner. They could see a short corridor that led to a puzzle-locked door, but a cleverly placed power gun obliterated anything and anyone that stepped into the corridor. It was hidden from view and positioned at such an angle that they could not destroy it with a direct shot. Nakamura ruled out the use of explosives, as they might damage the puzzle lock. “We will pass this obstacle,” he rasped from within his cowl. “It will just take time.”

  Sci was running out of ideas as well as the metallic creatures he called crawlers. Vincha approached the rest of the crew just as Sci was connecting the last wires through a hole he managed to drill in the wall. Sweat was pouring down Sci’s face. He had to work fast because every time he stopped drilling the walls began to slowly regenerate. “Okay, this might work,” he finally said, more to himself than to the people around him. “I think I delayed the reaction of the gun, but we are down to the last crawler, so let’s hope this works, folks, or we’ll have to go back.”

  Sci lifted an oblong metal disc with several mechanical arms and legs and a controlling device from the cart. Sci got his bearings and the crab moved around the corner. This time it got halfway down the corridor before they heard the movement of the gun on its railings and the whining noise of its power-up.

  “Rust.” Sci tried to manoeuvre the crawler back but it was too late. Parts went flying everywhere.

  Sci turned to Nakamura. “It’s no use. We can’t bypass this.”

  “You have to,” Nakamura said.

  “Can’t do it.”

  “You must!” Nakamura banged his staff’s end on the floor. “We must proceed! I have foreseen this.”

  Sci threw his arms up in frustration. “Well, maybe your foresight should have told you how to bypass this gun, because I am out of options.” The crew paused, waiting for a response. Herev looked hesitant.

  This might be an opportunity to turn them, Vincha thought. Now is the time to simply go back to one of the nodes we passed and get out of the City within the Mountain, filthy rich and more importantly, alive.

  Vincha locked eyes with Daeon, but he shook his head slightly. He was with Nakamura. She still took a breath and opened her mouth to say something, but Nakamura suddenly cried, “Rafik, no!” and surged past Vincha.

  Vincha saw Rafik disappearing around the corner and into the corridor. It took a fraction of a heartbeat to understand what was happening, but a moment later she heard the unmistakable sound of the power gun locking on a moving target and her heart felt like it was digging a tunnel through her chest. Daeon managed to catch her before she turned the corner and dragged her back. She caught a glimpse of Rafik walking calmly towards the puzzle box while the nozzle of the gun followed his movements.

  She turned her head to Daeon.

  “It didn’t shoot him. Let go of me.”

  Daeon released her from his grasp and Vincha leaned farther and peeked around the corner. The gun suddenly swivelled in her direction. Daeon pulled her away in time, but her stubbly hair and left cheek were singed by the heat of the blast. She found herself on her back, breathing hard, tears suddenly filling her eyes. Did he die? Was there a second discharge?

  She raised her head. The power blast that would have pulverized her head hit the far wall and dissolved in all directions, leaving it unmarked.

  Herev moved passed her and tried to peek around the corner and quickly withdrew as another blast fired at him. “Bukra’s balls, he’s alive,” he said, his voice filled with amazement. “The boy just walked up to the puzzle box and shoved in his fingers.”

  “The gun didn’t shoot him,” Sci mumbled in disbelief.

  “No.” They all heard the
pride and relief in Nakamura’s voice. “The city is finally recognizing Rafik as one of their own.”

  “You should have told me that before.” Sci scratched his head, looking frustrated. “I’ve wasted all our crawlers on it.”

  Surprisingly, Nakamura nodded. “I should have seen this more clearly.”

  For a brief moment they stood in silence until the sound of the gun powering down and the soft ping of a door sliding open broke the odd pause. Rafik was standing next to the lock and looking straight at them for the first time since they stepped into the City within the Mountain.

  “We must go now,” he said. “We are close.”

  There was only an elevator cabin behind the door, and they had to squeeze in to fit. “Leave the hovercarts here,” Nakamura said. “We won’t need them anymore.”

  Sci looked as if he was about to argue but then thought better of it. The door slid closed, and they felt it accelerate almost immediately.

  “Up?” Daeon said. “I thought we were aiming for the lower levels.”

  Nakamura said nothing, but Rafik repeated, “We are close,” as if that was supposed to explain things. No one said another word, and when the cabin finally stopped, the doors opened onto a long corridor, so wide all of them were able to walk side by side with their arms spread. The walls and ceiling were made of shining metal, and as they walked the walls changed into a multitude of colours, which had a surprisingly soothing effect. They followed the strange corridor for at least a mile with no further incident and found themselves in a hall so large Vincha thought for a moment that they were outside. She couldn’t see the ceiling or the opposite wall; the columns that stood around the room and the mirrorlike floor were the only indications that they were actually in a closed space. Only the centre of the hall was lit up, from six enormous metal doors on their left all the way to the opposite wall—perhaps half a mile away. The rest of the hall, what lay behind the columns, stayed shadowy and dark.

  “I know these doors.” Vincha pointed. “This is the actual gate to the city. I’ve seen it from the outside. The gate that never opens. We’re rusting inside.”