Authors: Matt Stephens
"How could I know?" Vincent argued. "I haven't seen
any
of you for two years!"
Yasi nodded. "I know." She couldn't stop the slight smile.
Vincent tried to smile for her around cracked lips. "It's good to see you too."
"The Riverfolk are an ongoing problem for us." Archivist said. "One we live with. It is to us, what gangs are to you Above. It's not a problem that we can easily clear out, and for the most part you protect yourself by taking sensible precaution. We avoid the lowest levels, they don't come up." He paused. "There has been consistent trouble, but this week, there was a lull. They went completely silent. The same thing happened three years ago, shortly after Vincent's first encounter with us."
"Around that time, we investigated." Yasi added. "We found this on the wall beside The River; at the edge of the Riverfolk's territory."
She showed them an old Polaroid. The quality of the picture suggested an older camera, but the image was clear enough. Written on a grungy wall in glowing paint was a message.
KEIST FAILED. STAND BY.
"Keist telecommunications." Vincent read. "How old is this message?"
"We found it two days after you blocked them from opening up the Steam Pipes." Yasi confirmed. "Connie, you know what we're talking about?"
"Vincent told me about it." Connie confirmed. "What do you know about Keist Telecommunications?"
"Nobody knew much about them... their first really big account was the one they brought to us." Vincent thought out loud. "I think Keist was based out of Germany. Once the fiber-optic thing fell through, I think they turned to real estate..." He shut his eyes a moment, trying to remember. "Um... Last I heard, the market ate them up and they folded."
Heavy silence.
"Germany." Yasi said. "VonGunn knows more than he let on."
"Who?" Vincent asked.
"He's in charge of the Berlin Underside." Yasi explained. "He was the one that put us onto Owen years ago."
"You knew all this time?!" Connie exploded.
"But I stopped them." Vincent protested thinly, knowing it wasn't that easy. "I stopped the Fiber-Optic deal..."
"And when you did, they started a new plan." Archivist countered. "Vincent, the point of Gill's suicide attempt wasn't to get someone close to you. It was to get him into your office."
Vincent paled. "Oh no... Yasi, he's been there for two years!"
"And in that time, he's gotten a pretty good idea of all the ways he could expose us at will."
"Why now?" Vincent asked. "If the whole thing was a setup to remove Gill and get Owen into the City Planner's office, why wait two years to wrap up the last loose end?"
Yasi pulled out a new photograph. "There was another lull in Raids this week. Given that the last one followed a message on the walls down below, I figured it was worth checking. We found this."
EUREKA! 44-B L4-18
"We don't know what it means, but we do know that it's only been here a week." Yasi summed up. "The last one was connected to you, and given that you were targeted..."
"Sorry Yasi, I'm afraid I can't help you." Vincent shrugged. Yasi deflated a little.
Archivist was moving. "Well, you two should get some rest. I have to talk to Keeper. Something is going on, and I don't like where it's leading."
"I'll go with you." Yasi agreed. "There's something I want to discuss with you both."
"How do you summon one of the basket elevators?" Connie asked Archivist, but the older man had already leaped out into the open space beyond their chamber. Yasi leaped after him, using her sheathed sword as a grip, taking the rope as a zip-line.
Connie let out a breath explosively as they were left alone.
Vincent stroked his thumb over her hand. "So, how are you holding up?"
"Well… I think I'm getting used to the fact that this isn't a dream… But Yasi scares me." Connie told Vincent. "She scares
everyone
in this place. Did you see them on the way here from The Chapel? They all look away, they step aside. I don't know whether she's the Top Cop or a Mafia Don, but nobody here wants her to notice them." She noticed the hammock hanging above and went looking for a way to lower it down to them. "Except you."
Vincent sighed, feeling an edge creeping into the conversation. "Connie, what did I just say? I haven't seen or heard from any of these people in over two years..."
"She asked... if you told Owen about her." Connie said carefully. "Yasi. Her exact words were: 'Did you ever tell Owen about us? You and me?'"
"Connie..." Vincent started to say, but she wasn't finished.
"You've been smiling ever since we got here. Don't get me wrong, you have a great smile, and I love seeing it... except that you've just been severely beaten. Why the hell are you smiling so much?"
Vincent was forced to concede that point, but still shook his head. "There's nothing going on between me and Yasi."
"I know that. I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about
this
." Connie waved a hand out of the chamber at the Secret City. "How can you be so… into all this?"
"Connie, before we're taught anything in school, we understand that there's more to the world than we can see. Every kid can see it, and we stop looking when we grow up and focus on our own lives. Look around; we're through the Looking Glass. We're
in
Narnia."
"Vincent, when I moved to New York, my mother nearly fainted. The city is dangerous... and down here, if something happened to us... they wouldn't even find our bones."
Vincent sighed. "I wish you loved the Secret City."
Connie smiled, just a bit. "I love you. It's enough for me."
Vincent smiled back at her, and gave her a soft kiss. Connie turned, putting her back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind. She tilted her head back and nuzzled into his neck. "I feel like I've been running for a million years." She whispered. "It's nice to stop for a minute."
"Yeah it is."
"It's a beautiful place." She admitted softly. "But it's not
our
place. Our world has questions and the longer we're missing... We have to get out of here and go home."
Vincent glanced over at her sharply. He schooled his expression quickly, but it was too late. She'd seen the look, and they'd practically had the conversation. They'd said it all in that one quick glance.
She wanted to leave the Underside and go back to her life. He wanted to stay.
~oo00oo~
"Did you get anything from the prisoner?" Keeper asked as Yasi and Archivist came in.
"Afraid not. He's got an edge we don't know about. Nobody's that cool without an ace."
"VonGunn is on the line again. He's jumping up and down, trying to get us to answer him. He might be willing to offer more information now we have a prisoner."
Yasi steeled herself. "I want Vincent in on the investigation."
"Yasi-"
"First of all, shut up; it's not that. Second of all, I think the Prisoner wants his chance to crow. Vincent knew we existed, and still didn't notice a spy in his office. Owen will want to gloat."
Keeper bit her lip. "No."
Archivist spoke up. "I vote yes. We're only going to get one crack at getting any answers out of VonGunn, so let's make the most of it."
"Two to one. I'll get Vincent."
~oo00oo~
"Owen won't talk to us. But he's spent two years posing as a co-worker, watching you out of the corner of his eye." Yasi explained. "He's following the supervillain playbook, serene smile, patient looks... But I think he wants to rub your nose in it. I think he wants to gloat that he managed to fool you for two straight years. He might give up something that'll help. It'll help us figure out what's going on here, and if we figure that out, it'll help you."
Connie sent Vincent a look. He was weighing it up, thinking it through...
"Also... I want you to listen in on this conference we're about to have." Yasi said. "We're on the edge of getting some answers, and I don't want to screw it up now." She sent Connie a bare glance. "Once before, I asked you for help Vincent, to protect this place." She held her hands out, palms up. "I need your help again, my friend."
The delivery was flawless, and Connie looked to Vincent, already knowing what she would see. He looked eight feet tall, even lying prone on the hammock.
"Yasi..." He answer, rolling her name off his tongue like a prayer. "Of course I'll help you." He rolled off the hammock, landing gingerly on his feet. "Let's go..." He was halfway to the door, when he remembered himself. "Connie, are you coming?"
Connie bit her lip. "Um... no. Ran into Tecca, and he mentioned that Wotcha helped out at the school here, before she started staying up top. I figured I might see if I could lend a hand there."
Plus, I would rather have a spider lay eggs in my hair than spend an hour playing third wheel to you and Princess Yasi.
Yasi met Connie's gaze, not fooled, but not really caring. Vincent however, was thrilled, glad to see his girlfriend settling in.
~oo00oo~
"Connie's not wrong y'know." Vincent said as the basket moved. "We didn't just step out for an hour; we fell off the world. I haven't seen the sun since we got here, or a calender, or a clock. We both have jobs, we volunteer regularly... If we're going to be here much longer, we need to call people." He sent her a look.
"There are no communication lines between here and the city above." Yasi told him, as the basket came in to settle on the ground. "Obviously, cell phones don't work down here, and phone lines don't come this deep."
Vincent grunted a little as he settled his weight on wobbly legs. "You just cut yourself off completely?"
"We could tap the phone lines, but too many ways to talk back and forth would make it more likely someone would find out about us."
"Then how do you talk to each other?"
"We send messages, we have our own phone lines, circa 1910."
"No, not to each other... to other Undersides." Vincent tried. He saw her reaction, and shrugged. "I figure if there are people out there who found their way here, then... New York was the first Megacity, but there are hundreds of them now. Lots of places out there with tunnels and abandoned buildings. If people like you live between the cracks in the world, there have to be other places out there..."
"There are." Yasi confirmed, leading the way down one of the endless tunnels. "Anywhere that people are forgotten, they have to go somewhere. And why not? Nobody else wants them, it's natural they drift together. To some degree, it's an organic process. It's funny, but every metropolis seems to have it's own Lostkind. They have different names for it, settle in different spots..." She shook her head, getting back on topic. "But to answer your question, it's always an event when we find out about another Underside; but other than that we tend to keep to ourselves. When we do have reason... We talk to them in
this
room."
Yasi opened a door and led the way into a rather ornate room with a large round oak table. The table was big enough for twelve people, but had only three seats at one end of the oval. There were television cameras that looked thirty years out of date at regular intervals around the room, mostly pointed at the head of the table. The room was brightly lit, with banners lining the walls. Vincent studied them and noticed each brightly colored banner was a marker of a city. The names he recognized.
New York, Sydney, London, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing...
"My God, how many?" Vincent asked in awe.
"Getting a good look?"
Vincent turned back to the door as Archivist and Keeper came in. They looked worried. Even a little scared. There was a great feeling of gravity in the room, like stepping into the Throne Room of King Arthur, or the Oval Office...
"What do you think Vincent?" Archivist boomed, taking the leftmost seat at the table.
"I think..." Vincent struggled for words. "When I first came in here and saw the cameras, I thought that maybe this room was for making announcements, like a press conference for the whole Underside. But now that I think of it, I haven't seen a single screen in any room I've been in."
"All three of them." Keeper commented blandly.
"There's something about this room." Vincent finished lamely. "Something that makes it important."
"Oh Bravo." Keeper clapped slowly. "Holmes, you astound me."
"Be nice, Keep." Yasi told her, taking the seat on the right.
"Be nice? It's not right." Keeper snarled slightly at Yasi, before turning on Vincent. "This is a
big deal
, and you're so completely ignorant of how bloody big a deal it is; that you just take it in stride. Today on the tour, the freaking Round Table!
And
you get to be here for it. You have any idea how many people come into this room at any given time?"