Broken Pixels (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 4) (35 page)

“Do you have a sense of how far we have come?” Mara asked, whispering.

“What does your odometer say?” Cam asked back.

“Odometer? Do I have one of those?”

He chuckled. “Maybe a metaphysical one. I’d guess we’ve gone about one-third of a mile. I think there’s a bend coming up, and then we’ll approach a small platform, smaller than the one at the repository stop.”

Mara glanced ahead into the darkness. For a second, it fluttered, lightened a bit. She reached out and grabbed Cam’s bicep. “Did you see that?”

“What?”

A loud shuffling sound bounced off the walls of the tunnel followed by a muffled grunt, as if someone were straining with effort. Heated whispers snapped at each other with indistinguishable words that floated in the darkness, then stopped, as if interrupted.

Mara gingerly stepped over the rail and pushed Cam to the left side of the tunnel, pressing his back against the wall. She slid in next to him and leaned toward his ear, intending to whisper to him, but stopped.

Instead, she visualized a signal bouncing between the two of them.

“You getting this?” she asked.

“Yes, I can hear you. Although I think I should point out that we don’t really talk to each other like this on the Sig-net, not with voices in our heads. It’s a very inefficient way to communicate information and requires a great deal of attention.”

“Shut up. You can teach me how to be a good synthetic person later,” Mara said. “I think that’s them up ahead. Let’s just walk forward slowly and stay against the wall.”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him along with her as she slid forward, keeping her back pressed to the wall. Cam was right; they were coming to a bend. Just around the curve, a smudge of light reflected off the tunnel wall across from them. Leaning forward she could not see the source.

Another spate of shuffling caused her to freeze. Bands of faint light danced around amorphous shadows on the wall for a moment and then disappeared, swallowed by the darkness of the tunnel.

“I think that might have been them climbing up to the rail stop platform,” Mara signaled.

A loud clatter made her jump.

Cam patted her arm. “I think that might have been a door. It sounds to me like they might have exited the tunnel and gone upstairs.”

Mara pulled him forward. “Let’s go.”

He pulled back. “Don’t you think we should wait for a moment to make sure?”

“If they were dragging your body around, would you wait and risk losing them? If it’s really them, it’s practically a miracle we found and caught up with them at all. Let’s go.”

Mara didn’t bother walking softly or staying near the wall. Unless she wanted to spend an hour or two creeping around in the dark, she knew of no way to approach the next rail stop without being seen, in case someone lurked ahead. Since she found no break in the darkness, she doubted anyone comprised of light waited for them. Her pace quickened as they cleared the bend.

“Do you hear anyone?” Cam signaled her. He was several paces ahead.

“If someone was up there, I would think we would know it by now,” she whispered back.

The sound of her voice startled him, and he stopped. “Are you trying to get us caught?” he said back.

She didn’t answer him but stopped walking as well. The sounds of her rummaging through the book bag filled the darkness. A loud zip punctuated the end to the noise, followed by a sharp click. The flashlight beam sliced through the tunnel and landed on the side of the small platform to their right. It hung five feet over the tunnel floor.

“They had to lift the body up there. I bet that’s what we heard a few minutes ago,” Mara said. “Come on.”

At the base of the platform, Mara pointed the flashlight at its edge and said, “You crawl up there first, and I’ll hand you the light.”

Cam placed his hands on the ledge and easily lifted his body. Standing, he brushed himself off, reached for the flashlight and asked, “Do you need a hand up?”

Mara gave him the light and said, “No, I think I can handle this.” She scrambled up with a bit more effort and noise. When she straightened on the platform, she noticed Cam staring at her with his lips pressed together. “What?” she asked.

“It’s all right to let people help you, you know,” he said.

“I didn’t need help. It was just easier for you because you’re taller. That’s all.”

She took the flashlight from him and panned it around. The small platform abutted an old brick wall which featured an arched doorway. It looked as if the railcar tunnel had been dug out and finished around the foundation of an existing building.

“Strange. There’s no door. It’s just a passageway,” Mara said walking toward it. “I could have sworn we heard a door closing earlier.”

She stepped under the arch and pointed the flashlight inside. It was a corridor, little more than a narrow brick hall leading to a matching arch some twenty feet away, but this one had a closed wooden door mounted in it. Mara waved for Cam to follow.

It would be nice to spend some time in a place that wasn’t dark, a tunnel or a tube
.

Comprised of heavy planks of gray wood bound together at the top and bottom with rusted bands of metal, the door looked primed for a loud creak when Mara lifted the latch and tentatively pushed. It gave way with surprisingly little effort and absolutely no sound. Crooking a finger around the door’s edge, she guided it open enough to peek through without exposing herself to whatever lay on the far side. She clicked off the flashlight and leaned through the opening. It was dark but not completely. Ambient light filtered in from somewhere, and she could make out a flight of stairs straight ahead less than three feet away. Pushing forward, she stepped through the door, still holding on to it to reduce the risk of noise, and found herself standing in a narrow alcove just large enough to accommodate the opened door at the base of the stairs.

“What’s in there?” Cam signaled her from behind.

“Just stairs leading up,” she responded. “Come on.”

Looking straight up, she saw that the stairs simply led to a rectangular opening in the floor above. Finding no trapdoor, she knew, once they reached the last few steps at the top, their upper bodies would be visible to whomever might be standing nearby on the floor above. As she approached the opening, she ducked down and turned to Cam with her finger to her lips.

“The hand gestures aren’t really necessary. Just let me know what you want to do,” Cam signaled.

Mara rolled her eyes. “Just habit I guess. I’ll poke my head up to see if anyone is around. Wait there.”

She slowly straightened and looked over the ledge of the opening. Her nose was now level with a dirty well-worn wood floor. In the dim light, she determined the opening in the floor seemed to be tucked into the corner of a large room. She could make out an old aluminum dinner table topped with linoleum shoved up against a counter. A couple mangled chairs toppled onto their sides lay nearby. Squinting, she could barely make out a faucet sticking up in the distance beyond the counter. Probably a sink. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust.

“I thought you said this was a storage building of some sort,” she signaled to Cam. “It looks like we’re popping up in a kitchen.”

The sound of grit grinding under a shoe made Mara freeze. She turned to the wall at the head of the stairs and saw a shadow lean into view. It was actually a half-wall she faced, and the figure looming above was familiar.

“Dude! Yet another Mara!” Abby’s voice echoed off the unseen rafters above.

Mara raised a hand toward the silhouette.

“Uh-uh. I’m not sure who you are, but I’ll blow a hole in the Mara we’ve got laid out on the floor here if you so much as give off a spark. Now why don’t you and whoever is behind you come out of there. Nice and slow,” Abby said.

Without looking back at Cam, Mara held up her hands and took the last couple steps into the kitchen. Abby smiled, her gaze tracking Mara as she moved aside to make room for Cam to emerge from below. She pointed to the end of the partition that divided the small kitchen area from the rest of the building.

“Come around here where I can get a better look at you,” Abby said.

Mara, followed by Cam, walked the ten feet to the end of the partition and stepped into the open space beyond. There standing next to Abby were two men, both shimmers, giving off a radiant sheen that cast enough light to see the features of the large room. In the darkness, they looked like a cartoon version of someone who had been irradiated. Glancing around quickly, Mara guessed this used to be a firehouse—judging by the two huge doors in the far wall aligned with the two bays that made up the space in which they stood. A pole in the middle of the room disappeared into a hole in the ceiling.
Definitely a firehouse
.

Mara’s gaze stopped, shifting when it came to the bundle lying on the floor several feet away. “What have you done to her?”

“We have done nothing to her. As far as I can tell, her injuries are the result of her own stupidity—blowing up a high-energy facility without considering the repercussions. Now, why don’t you explain to me exactly who you are.” Abby’s left eye narrowed, and her head tilted in an exaggerated expression of curiosity. “You see, I can account for two Maras but not three. The one from this realm is, to the best of my knowledge, indisposed.”

“Meaning you murdered her,” Mara said.

“Meaning I disabled her synthetic clone. They can always get fresh engrams from her biological—” Understanding dawned on her face. “Her biological body. That’s interesting. I’m pretty sure the one we’ve got here is the Mara who followed me to this realm. And I don’t believe they’ve had time to repair the Mara I broke and to replace her engrams. So, that means you must be the one from the receptacle, the biological Mara from this realm. Now why on Earth would they release you, knowing you would be exposed to the virus?”

Mara noticed the muscles flex in Cam’s jaw, and he drew in a breath as if to say something. “Don’t say a word,” she signaled him. He froze for a second and then simply exhaled.

“I would suggest you answer my questions,” Abby said. “If you don’t do so voluntarily, I’m sure we can come up with some creative ways of motivating you.”

“Threats aren’t necessary,” Mara said. “They brought me out of the receptacle because that Mara needs a kidney transplant or she’ll die.”

Abby looked doubtful. “That’s impossible. If any part of you touched her, she’d be thrown into her realm, and there’s a good chance that one or both of you would be killed in the resulting explosion.”

Damn. Forgot about that.

Mara stammered for a second then just threw up her hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Yesterday I was in my receptacle in Oregon City, and, the next thing I know, I’m up here in this repository being asked to donate a kidney to a girl who looks just like me, except she’s all burned and banged up.”

Abby turned to Cam. “You were there when this kidney transplant was discussed. Tell me what happened.”

Mara signaled him, “I don’t know, something about metaphysics.”

Cam shrugged. “She came to yesterday and said some nonsense about metaphysics and crystals. Maybe something called a Chronicle? Sounded like gibberish to me, but the doctor seemed convinced they could do the transplant.”

Abby, still looking suspicious, said to Mara, “So you’ve been hibernating in a glass tube since you were ten years old. Doesn’t give you much time to develop your gifts.”

“The girl you murdered was supposed to do that.”

“The synthetic one?” Abby laughed. “She demonstrated absolutely no abilities whatsoever. Simply stood there and let herself get slaughtered.”

Turning to the two shimmers, Abby said, “Take them outside. I want to talk to them again after the gathering at the Butte. I’m not sure I believe them, but we’re running out of time, and they might know something useful.”

The shimmering man to Abby’s right stepped toward Mara. The other one asked, as he made a move toward Cam, “What about the body?”

“Leave it here with me. I’ll dispose of it,” Abby said.

As the man approached Mara, she raised her arm defensively. He grabbed her wrist, and they both shuddered as if they’d been shocked. Mara felt a warmth flow from her wrist and up her arm, where it radiated across her shoulder and chest. She gasped and pulled back. A tingling sensation ran through her skin, filling her with a strange sense of strength and well-being. It was almost like being high. The man had also pulled away, a look of horror on his face. Holding up his arm, his hand was gone, dissipated in wisps of disorganized light at the end of his wrist.

“Look what she did to me!” he screamed. “She’s not biological. She’s synthetic.”

Mara blinked and stared at her hand, then at the maimed shimmer.
What just happened?

Abby stepped back and raised her own hands. Bolts of lightning flew from her palms and slammed into Mara’s torso. While Mara tensed, expected a shock or to be thrown across the room, all she felt was another strange sensation running through her skin. This time it felt like static, but, before she had a chance to consider it, a burst of lightning shot from the hand she held up, striking the ceiling with an explosion. A large chunk of plaster broke loose and crashed next to where Abby stood. She disappeared into a wall of white dust that billowed up from the floor. Another bolt of lightning cut through the air past Mara’s shoulder, illuminating the cloud with a thunderclap. In it, Mara saw Abby’s silhouette, her face in her hands, slightly stooped.

“Move!” she signaled Cam as she ran forward. “Grab my body! I’ll keep them busy.”

She lunged toward the stunned handless man, still standing and glistening in the swirling dust a few feet away, intending to tackle him. However, when she slammed into his torso, she met no resistance. No collision, no recoil. But that energizing feeling of strength swept over her again. Like running through an electric ghost. Momentum took her several more feet before she staggered to a stop and turned around, ready to confront the man again.