|
Page 4
“Occupants on the lift automatically void the ‘sport’ command.” Jeremiah says his expression impassive.
Abruptly a blank stare crosses his face, which then turns inwards. When he finally snaps out of his introspection he looks up at M-1, and takes a half step backward to clear the elevator entrance.
“No doubt.” M-1 replies while observing him. It shrugs its shoulders and enters the elevator wagging its head from side to side.
The elevator door closes slowly.
They descend, passing below the platform into an underground hanger.
The hangar is one hundred fifty meters from floor to ceiling and twice the layout dimensions of the platform above. Shelves of private spacecraft line the walls. Additional aisles of shelving fill the interior. Gigantic robotic cranes stand ready, one in each row between the shelves, silent and unmoving, mobile along floor rails. There appears to be about eighty to ninety percent occupancy.
The aromas of steel, sinth-oil, human perspiration, and professionally abused electric motors find their way into the elevator cabin as it continues downward.
M-1 Whistles loudly “That is one big empty warehouse.”
Jeremiah gives M-1 a strained stare. “Looks full to me.”
M-1 steps towards the transparent plasteel wall of the lift. It appears to be observing the hangar as the elevator descends. It raises its right hand and begins to tap the transparent wall with its forefinger, obviously pointing at the hangar. “Is there a party going on somewhere we weren’t invited to?”
Jeremiah frowns but doesn’t look at M-1.
Its sensor band is a field of shifting purple with ribbons of green, hot pink, brown, burnt orange, and grey. “What is it that you want from me Ambassador Tahn?”
Jeremiah speaks without hesitation, “We want to know why you’re here.”
Without missing a beat M-1 replies, “I’ve written the story of my children.”
Jeremiah stares blankly at, and then through M-1 for several moments.
In this silence the elevator continues to descend, now dropping below the level of the hangar.
“But it might be exactly what you’re looking for.” Jeremiah speaks by mistake. He catches himself, rolls his eyes, and turns slightly away from M-1. The blank stare returns.
A few moments later the elevator comes to a stop on a platform just below the hangar. Jeremiah looks up once then exits quickly, nervously. M-1 follows quietly. They cross a short distance to an awaiting Tube capsule.
The Tube® is the most popular mode of transport on Earth. Essentially it is a plasteel transparent capsule, four meters in diameter, that is vacuum propelled through a friction controlled plasteel transparent pipe. The capsules vary in length from commuter snakes, strings of 60 capacity capsules, to private capsules for as few as six. It is commonly referred to as the Sewer Sub, its occupants: nuts.
Page 5 |
