But this machine had evidently broken down. What Elliott saw around her was unprecedented chaos: streets strewn with foul-smelling rubbish, piles of wrecked furniture heaped in front of houses, and even people’s personal belongings scattered in the gutters. There were signs of neglect and turmoil everywhere she turned.
Finally Elliott came to the terraced house in which she’d grown up. This was the house she’d left early one morning when she ran away to the Deeps, leaving behind all she knew.
As a child she’d learned to live with the lie that her aunt was her mother, but the risk of being outed as a Drain Baby grew as she grew. And although choosing to go to the Deeps was tantamount to committing suicide, the alternative would have been worse. Not only would Elliott and her real mother have immediately been put to death by the Styx for the illicit liaison, the rest of the family would most likely have been lynched for their part in the cover-up.
And whispers had already begun to circulate in the neighborhood about Elliott’s dark eyes and Styx-thin physique, with one man attempting to extort money from her aunt in return for his silence. Elliott decided that she had to disappear from the Colony, thus removing any grounds for blackmail or discovery.
Walking slowly up the path, Elliott’s gaze strayed over the lawns of black lichen to either side where she’d played as a child. From the state they were in, it was evident that they hadn’t been tended to for some time. But unlike many others in the street, the house itself looked lived in. Elliott was encouraged by that.
She reached out and pushed on the front door. It wasn’t locked, and swung open a few inches.
“Hello,” she called.
For a moment she was distracted by a huge roar from the crowd elsewhere in the city.
“Hello,” Elliott repeated, although she sensed that the house was empty. She raised her foot to step over the threshold, but then stopped herself. Inside would probably be signs to confirm her mother still lived there. But Elliott knew that her reappearance and the way she looked now would just reignite the old suspicions, and her mother’s secret would become known. There was little doubt in Elliott’s mind that the age-old prejudices about Styx-Colonist interrelationships would persist.
And part of her was also reluctant to find out about her mother. The mission to the center of the Earth was fraught with danger, and Elliott was only too aware she might not return from it with her life. Perhaps it was better to embark on it with the belief that her mother was still alive and well.
“I’ll come back another day,” Elliott said out loud, pulling the door shut. Tucking her hand inside her jacket, she took out the bottle of perfume Mrs. Burrows had given her and placed it carefully on the doorstep. “That’s for you, Mother,” she whispered, then turned from the house.
“THIS IS WHAT I wanted you to see,” the First Officer said to Drake, Will, and Mrs. Burrows. Drake was keen to leave the Colony and continue their journey, but he also knew it was important to help the First Officer in any way he could now that the city had declared its independence.
And, as they turned the corner, there was the Styx Citadel.
With its stark facade of roughly hewn granite, it was built into the cavern wall itself, extending all the way up to the canopy high above, where it disappeared into the ever-present clouds that swirled and lapped there. And never had any Colonist been known to set foot inside the forbidding building.
“This is the closest I’ve been to it,” Will whispered, as the black crystal windows marking the upper levels of the Citadel stared down on him like pitiless Styx eyes.
The First Officer stopped at the open gate in the iron railings, and a large man holding a pickax handle came out from the watchman’s cabin to meet them. “This is Joseph,” the First Officer said. “He and another citizen have been guarding the compound around the clock, in case the White Necks decide to come back.”
Drake nodded at Joseph, who was deep-chested and stocky, typical of the “pure stock,” as they were known — descendants of the original army of laborers who had helped Martineau to build the subterranean city some three hundred years ago, and then populate it. Joseph was staring fixedly at Will, which the boy began to find rather unsettling.
“Very wise,” Drake said. He indicated the man’s pickax handle. “But you’re going to need more firepower than that.” For a moment he considered the Garrison, a squat, two-story building beside the Citadel, letting his gaze linger on the entrance. But then he struck out for the Citadel itself. When he was some forty feet away from it, he bent to pick up a stone, which he slung at its doors. The stone struck them, clattering down the front steps. Nothing happened, so Drake began to move closer to the building.
“Stop!” the First Officer shouted. “It’ll knock you down!”
It wasn’t just the portals that the Styx had protected with their subaural fields. The First Officer had already been called out to rescue several unconscious Colonists who’d been incapacitated by the one around this building.
Drake paid him no notice, mounting the steps at the entrance.
“How can he do that?” the First Officer asked as Drake appeared to be completely unaffected by the field. He was checking all around the entrance, pushing on the huge stone slab where the doorway had previously been. Then he walked backward from the building, examining the windows, which began on the upper floors.
As he rejoined everybody, Drake was yawning and working his jaw as if he had chronic earache. “There’s an immensely strong field around it,” he said to Will and Mrs. Burrows. Then he addressed the First Officer. “The Styx have brought down protective barriers inside the building and completely sealed it, so I have no way of telling if there are any left inside.”
The First Officer looked extremely uncomfortable at this. “You know that it’s rumored there are various Topsoil routes down into the building, so” — he turned to regard the Citadel — “so this might be where they return to take control of us again.”
“They can try,” Drake said.
“But you’ll be ready for them,” Mrs. Burrows chipped in.
“Let’s investigate the Garrison building,” Drake suggested to Will.
“Um,” Joseph began. He still couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off Will.
“What is it?” the First Officer said.
“Can I accompany you?” Joseph asked Drake. “You see, I used to work there.”
The First Officer was about to object to this request when Drake reached into a pouch on his belt and took out a spare pair of earplugs. “Put these in,” he said to Joseph.
As Drake set off toward the Garrison, Will and Joseph were following a short distance behind him.
“Seth?” Joseph began nervously.
Will turned to him. “It’s really Will. I’m not called that anymore.”
“Sorry,” the man whispered, running his hand over the stubbly white hair on his scalp. Then he spoke with more assurance. “I knew Sarah, your mother.”
“You did?” Will asked.
“We were friends when we were young.” Joseph frowned and seemed to have difficulty in continuing. “The last time she was here . . . when the White Necks trapped her and brought her back, we saw each other again. I looked after her for the weeks she stayed in the Garrison.”
Although Joseph had lowered his head, Will could see that his expression was incredibly sad. And when the man gave Will a fleeting look, his pale blue eyes — with identical coloration to Will’s own eyes — seemed to reflect the light as if they were brimming with tears.
“I think she knew what was coming,” Joseph mumbled. “She could tell it wasn’t going to end well for her.”
Will suddenly felt such a strong kinship with this massive man that he briefly put his arm around him as they continued to walk. Like Joseph, Will, too, was overcome with sadness, but at that moment they reached the entrance. Will could feel the buzzing in his skull — there was a field around the steel doors, but, surprisingly, they were unlocked.
&nb
sp; They entered the building, and Will walked the polished stone floor that his real mother had once trod, with her friend beside him.
“I don’t think she ever really believed a single word of what the White Necks were trying to fill her head with about you,” Joseph said in a low voice. “She went along with them because she wanted to find you.”
“Thank you for telling me that,” the boy said.
“Are you two OK?” Drake asked, eyeing them curiously as he noticed they both appeared rather overwrought.
“We’re just fine,” Will replied.
“Good, then let’s put a stop to the subaural field in this place. I know there’s an armory in here, so if you show us where it is, Joseph, let’s break in and see what the Styx have left behind,” Drake said. “You’ll want something a little more businesslike than that pickax handle if they pop up here again.”
Will, Drake, and Mrs. Burrows were heading back to the Quarter, when Elliott appeared from nowhere.
“I thought I told you to stay put,” Drake said, clearly annoyed.
Elliott didn’t reply, and Will noticed that she was purposefully avoiding his gaze. Perhaps all wasn’t well between the two of them after Mrs. Burrows had attacked her father and the angry exchange that had ensued. And Elliott didn’t speak to him during the time it took for them to rejoin Sweeney and Colonel Bismarck, who had been guarding the nuclear weapons and the rest of the equipment.
Although the First Officer had had other matters to attend to and wasn’t yet with them, he’d suggested that they wait for him at his police station. So that was their next stop, and once they’d moved all the equipment over there, they sat around in the main office, eating their rations. The nuclear weapons were safely under lock and key in one of the cells in the Hold, somewhere that held only bad memories for Will. So bad that he’d found himself unable to go into the dank and dismal place again.
When the First Officer finally turned up, strolling breezily in through the swing doors, he’d only made it a few feet when there was the frantic noise of claws scrabbling on stone from beside Mrs. Burrows. If Colly hadn’t been carrying so much extra weight, she would have undoubtedly leaped over the top of the counter. Instead she cannoned straight through the opening in it.
“My girl!” the First Officer bellowed as the Hunter reared up and put her paws on his shoulders to lick his face. “I thought I’d lost you for good.” Purring at deafening volume, Colly rolled onto her back, inviting him to rub her stomach. “Who’s Daddy’s girl, then? Who’s Daddy’s girl?” he cooed at the animal in baby talk.
He looked up when Mrs. Burrows came over to the counter. “My Hunter was with you all the time!” the First Officer said to her. “Thank you! And she looks so fit and well — she’s really filled out.”
“It’s a bit more than that,” Mrs. Burrows said.
“Kittens! No?” he asked, as he examined the cat.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Burrows.
A big, stupid grin creased the First Officer’s face. Still grinning, he stood up. He stuck a finger in the air as something occurred to him. “And I have a little surprise for your son.” He trundled through the counter and into his office. Reappearing with something hidden behind his back, he went over to Will.
“Here,” he said, revealing what it was.
“Awesome!” Will burst out. It was his trusty spade — his favorite possession from his time in Highfield. He reached for it.
“Not so fast,” the First Officer said, teasingly putting it out of the boy’s reach. “It’s yours on one condition: I want you to promise never ever to clobber me with it again!”
“Done!” Will said, taking his spade and inspecting the brightly polished blade.
Colly wouldn’t leave the First Officer’s side and was now rubbing herself affectionately against his legs. “I missed her,” he mumbled.
“She’ll be stopping here with you when we go,” Mrs. Burrows said. “It wouldn’t be fair to take her along.”
“Of course,” the First Officer agreed readily, stroking the cat’s broad head and making her purr at even greater volume.
“Um, I’d like to make a proposal, Celia,” Drake began, putting aside his sandwich and rising from his chair. “I’ve talked this through with Will . . . and we think you should remain behind in the Colony, too.”
“O-kaaay,” Mrs. Burrows said slowly.
“I’ve got all the manpower I need for the mission,” Drake continued. “And you’ve already given us a glimpse of how useful you can be to the Colonists now that the Styx are out of the picture. Not least that, with your supersense, you’d be invaluable as an early warning system if the Styx try to pick up where they left off. You’ll be able to smell them coming.”
Mrs. Burrows considered this for a moment. “I can see the logic in that,” she said. “Yes, I’ll stay, then.”
Will was surprised she’d decided so quickly, but the First Officer was overjoyed. “Excellent,” he kept repeating as he clapped his meaty hands together.
While everyone thought about going back to their sandwiches, Drake remained on his feet. “There’s something I need to air with all of you. And this involves you, too,” he said, turning to the First Officer.
Drake slid a small attaché case from his Bergen and took it over to the counter, where he laid it on the worn oak surface. “As you know, our objective is to seal the inner world with the nuclear weapons. So that the Phase — if it’s been resumed there — is fully contained.”
Drake undid the catches on the attaché case. Inside, there was a metal canister nestling in a foam inset, which he took out.
“During the year I was held prisoner in the Laboratories, I overheard the Scientists discussing a virus,” Drake said, then smiled. “Academics do like to boast to each other.”
“It wasn’t Dominion?” Elliott asked.
“No, not Dominion.” Drake unscrewed the top of the canister and ever so carefully eased a small test tube from it. “The Scientists knew exactly what they’d unearthed in the Eternal City. They’d trialed this on a range of subjects, and they were in awe of what it did.” Drake held up the test tube. “This little baby is far more powerful and more indiscriminate than Dominion. Not just humans but the Styx and many of the more developed life-forms are susceptible to it. It’s deadly with a capital D.”
“So you got it from the Laboratories?” Will said.
“Yes. When Chester and I raided them and fortuitously rescued Celia at the same time, I had the opportunity to grab it from the secure vault in the secondary path lab. That was why I was late on the scene and Eddie got the better of me.” Drake thought of something. “By the way, none of you need to worry — you were all immunized against it when I gave you that shot back in the Complex. And when I was in London, I had my friend Charlie weaponize it — so it’s now not just transmitted by direct contact but by droplet nuclei transmission.”
“That being . . . ?” Mrs. Burrows interjected.
Drake’s eyes were slightly unfocused as he stared at the clear fluid in the test tube. “It can spread in air . . . on the wind. And I doubt there’s anything quite as lethal or as toxic anywhere on this whole blasted planet right now, inside or out.”
“But you made it worse when you weaponized it. . . . Was that wise?” Mrs. Burrows asked.
“Maybe not, but when we’re on the ground in the Colonel’s world, if all else fails I might need a bargaining chip. The Styx know what this virus represents. They know it will bring about what the scientific community calls an Extinction Event . . . and that means an end to their race, too.”
He turned to the First Officer. “The reason I’m bringing you in on this is that I have enough vaccine for all your people.There’s a chance — a slim chance — that if it’s released in the inner world, it might eventually work its way up to the surface. And you’d be bang smack in its path if it does.”
“What about Topsoilers?” the First Officer asked.
“Parry’s got the vacci
ne, too,” Drake replied as he slotted the test tube back into the metal canister.
Mrs. Burrows was frowning skeptically. “Enough for everybody?”
Drake closed the clips on the case. “No, and there wouldn’t be time to vaccinate everybody, anyway. I don’t have the slightest intention of letting it loose, but ask yourselves this . . .” He took the case back to his Bergen, then turned to everyone, looking at them each in turn: at Sweeney, Colonel Bismarck, Elliott, Will, the First Officer, and finally Mrs. Burrows. “What’s worse, this deadly pathogen or the Phase? Because I don’t think there’s much in it.”
THE MINERS' TRAIN chugged out of the station in the Colony as they set off on the first leg of the journey that would take them deep into the bowels of the Earth. Unlike the last time, when Will had stowed away in one of the open trucks, he was now in the guard’s car at the very end of the train. And although the warped timber planking that formed the sides and roof of the car had numerous gaps in it, at least it offered a degree of protection from the smoke and soot spewing from the locomotive up ahead as it began to build up a head of steam.
Over the roar of the engine, Will could hear the pair of pure white stallions whinnying in the next car. The First Officer had requisitioned them from one of the Governor’s residencies — the official had kept them hidden away in his personal stables during the troubles, knowing that the starving masses would have devoured them, given half a chance. The Governor had been beside himself with rage when Cleaver turned up with an official letter from the newly formed Colonists’ Committee, although he’d had no choice but to let them go. The horses would be a real boon in the Deeps; Drake wanted to cover the distance across the Great Plain as quickly as possible, and the railwaymen assured him that there was bound to be a cart somewhere in the Miners’ Station to hitch them to.
The guard’s car was dimly lit by a single shaded luminescent orb suspended at its rear. For a while Will watched the odd fiery spark as it found its way into the car, then traced a short streak in the air until it burned itself into invisibility. Watching the brief lives of these sparks, he found himself thinking about the parting from his mother. Will didn’t know quite what had changed between them, but she hadn’t given him the send-off he’d had on other occasions. Mrs. Burrows was aware of the risks her son would be facing, yet she simply hugged him in a perfunctory way and wished him good luck.