Chapter 5.
"Come on, Halo . . . It's not that bad . . .
"No! No, go away . . . Y-you're dead! You're dead! All of you!" Halo screamed, turning and clasping her hands over her ears, trying to liberate herself from the words of the dead people behind her. She ran. She ran hard, fast, and as far as she could go, down that same, dark, empty corridor . . . She feared what would be at the other end . . . She knew what would be at the other end.
She turned left into a shorter hall and leaned against the wall, moving down slowly to sit on the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes were closed tightly, tears sliding swiftly down her cheeks. She was silent. No stray sobs escaped her lips.
They would come for her. Silent or not, they would find her . . . and haunt her . . . They wouldn't go away, they were always there, always ready for her . . . She opened her eyes and stared at the wall, though she couldn't see it, and then . . . There, it was beside her, a figure barely noticeable except for the smooth breathing sound of its slightly open mouth . . . It was Atlas.
Without so much as a glance Halo knew who it was. She held her knees even tighter to herself, placing her chin upon one, closing her eyes, and giving a faint smile.
The traces of dawn still hung in the air as the dew dripped from the window panes. It was hard not to think about the things that went on in her dreams, even harder now that they were coming every night instead of once or twice a week. Even worse was there was no one to tell, no one to confide in . . . no one to understand her problems.
They were always ready for her when she slept, ready to haunt her, always there, she could never escape. At times she was afraid to even attempt to sleep, afraid of what await her when she got there . . . But now she had become so accustomed to the dreams that her fears hardly ever recurred anymore . . . Though there were those few times . . .
A knock came to her door. She ignored it, staring out the window at the tops of the towers and roofs next to her own as the golden rays of the sun beamed across them, glaring down on the tin. The light seemed to have no effect in warming her, as the crack and hole in her window admitted a stream of cool breezes. She was just thinking about fixing the hole when the person interrupting her thoughts knocked again. She gave a light growl and ignored it.
The large gap between buildings was clearer now in the morning. The Fall of the Zigguraut, it's many long, confusing corridors still . . . Damn it!
"Halo, I know you're awake, get your ass out here!"
Jack. Damn it all to hell! Halo turned, her arms still crossed to keep them warm in her large, loose coat. She opened her door and looked at the man menacingly, as if daring him to knock again.
"What?" she croaked.
"We . . . Are you cold?" Jack eyed her arms folded tightly.
"Just a little." Jack walked past her and kneeled beside her window, running his hand across the smooth sill, inspecting the base of the bottom left window pane. A whistling noise was heard even across the room as a more powerful stream of air whipped through the hole.
"Got a crack here . . . I'll have to fix it." He stood straight. "We gotta go to the Tower to pick a few things up that some buddies o' mine found the other night."
"The . . . The Zigguraut?"
"Well, yeah, what other Tower would I be talkin' about?" Jack walked back out the door and turned to face her again.
"I . . . do I . . . do I have to go with you?"
"I would prefer if you would. Don't feel too comfortable leaving you here alone. Besides, today is the two-month inspection, remember?"
"Yeah . . . Yeah, I remember." Halo coughed and turned, walking back across the room to stand in front of her window again. Jack only watched from the door frame.
"You had another dream, didn't you?"
"Yeah . . . It was nothin' though." She coughed again.
"Why don't you see a psychiatrist or somethin' about it?"
"Because, Jack, things like that cost money, which we don't have-" she covered her mouth as a rasping cough scraped her throat. "-and even if we did it's a horrible waste of money. I just need a way to . . . vent, that's all." Jack sighed.
"Fine. Just hurry up and get dressed. Meet me in the lobby in ten minutes." Jack had almost closed the door when he stopped. "And take something for that cold."
She had been about ten minutes late, having bounced around in the bathroom and kitchen to find something for her cold. When she couldn't find anything the second go around, she walked downstairs and into the lobby, where Jack sat on a chair, staring up at the ceiling, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Bored without me?" Halo said, stifling a fresh wave of coughing. Jack snorted and stood.
"You're just a little late," he said sarcastically, pushing open the heavy glass door to let Halo through.
"Only a little."
"You find anything for that?" Jack questioned as Halo erupted into another fit of coughs.
"Um, no, but I'll be fine for a little while. Don't worry about it."
The streets were busy as ever as Halo and Jack made their way across town. With the Duke gone and the Leader of Marduks dead as well, robots from Zones One, Two, and Three had decided it was time that they emerged from the depths of their respective Zones. Halo thought it was quite a step.
"They just don't seem to realize how short their freedom will be," Halo said, watching a couple of robots playing poker on the street corner.
"Yeah . . ." Jack didn't say this too enthusiastically. Halo had nearly forgotten that he hadn't been a robot supporter and didn't care what happened to them. It just wasn't a very good subject to talk about in front of him.
"Jack, they're not that bad," said Halo, turning her head to look up at him. He growled deep in his throat.
"The bastards took our jobs. We starve and freeze out here with no money for food."
"It's our fault, we created them." Jack was silent. Not another word was said from any of them until they approached the site of the fallen Zigguraut.
"Shit," Jack swore. He pushed Halo back up against a wall and peered around the corner. "Marduks are everywhere."
"I thought they were disbanded."
"You and me both, but apparently not. We'll have to go around."
"Around? Are you crazy?! We'd have to go down to Zone Three and follow the Pipe all the way to the vent!"
"I think I know that, but there's a few things I really need to get . . . Now."
"What could be this important?"
Jack didn't reply. He watched the Marduks for a few minutes longer and walked back the way they came. Halo followed. They edged their way back through the crowded streets until they came upon the gateway. When they arrived at Zone One, Jack ordered the Operator to stop.
"Halo, you get off."
"Why? I thought I was coming with you . . ."
"No, I need you to stay on this side of the Pipe. If there's any trouble, you'll hear it, trust me. Just . . . go." Halo sighed and stepped off the gate. She stood on the closed-off platform, watching the gate going down. Zone One appeared to be a lot less crowded now that most of the robots were roaming Upper-level Metropolis. The non-supporters, the humans, had stayed put.
Halo passed a cart holding all sorts of alcohol and spirits, the smell thick around the small wooden stand. She held her breath walking past it, until she was stopped.
"You tryin' to get away from them too?" It was the man running the cart. "Yeah, I can- hic- understand that. Damn things, they are." Halo ignored the man and continued walking. The Pipe was on Other Side, a place Halo thought she would never have to go to again.
She ventured deeper into Zone One, the copper-hued pipes lining the walls. "Better start climbing," Halo muttered to herself. She began to climb up the many pipes, dangling occasionally to think about what she was doing and if it was worth it. Still, she kept going until she reached the main controls. The door leading into Pipe was latched closed to her left and the control panel was to her right. "Okay, stay and wait for Jack . . . or . . ."
The Pipe was wide and large and could easily fit five people standing on top of each other. Halo looked both ways down the long pipe and pulled her head out again, grabbing the light that had been left on the ground. She clicked the 'on' button and dropped herself into the Pipe. The yellow sewage water came up to her ankles, filling her nostrils with a very unpleasant smell. She was unsteady at first, the Pipe being round, but she began to make her way down the Pipe, her hand sliding against the wall in case she fell.
She could just barely hear the sewage water falling up ahead in the left passage. As she approached it she stopped. "Take the left or keep on walking." She couldn't remember if the left passage lead to the southern outskirts of Upper-level Metropolis or not. She decided to take the left passage, out of plain curiosity.
"Disgusting," she whispered with a slight giggle. She was, of course, referring to the yellow water she had been wading through for the past three or so minutes. When she came to the end she stopped. There was a large grille in front of her, the light coming through the slots making lines across her face. She peered down through the slots in the grille. A few tall stacks of crates and boxes stood near a rather large hole that was directly below her, the sewage water tumbling down into it. "Ew," she breathed shortly. But beyond that stood two figures, one in red and the other in brown. She couldn't hear their voices over the pounding of the water to the ground below her.
She stuck the small flashlight between her teeth and pulled the loose grille from the circular hole and began to climb down over the jagged wall, hoping that they couldn't see her behind the crates and boxes. When her feet touched the ground she fell unsteadily to one knee, then stood back up again trying to stifle a sneeze. She hoped to God that they couldn't hear her.
Halo leaned forward to peer through a gap in the boxes. Still no good, she couldn't hear them. Hell, she could barely see them. She leaned in more to get a better look and sent one of the boxes tumbling to the ground.
"Who's there!" shouted the man in the brown, taking out a gun and pointing it her way. She held her breath, as if it would do any good. She saw the man coming closer, slowly, his gun held steady . . . She glanced over to her left, a dark alleyway over there. To her right, only the sewage. The man knocked the boxes over and Halo took off to her left, down the passage. She turned on the light to guide her through it, turning right and running and then left and continuing. Until, that is, she hit a dead end. Panting, she turned. She heard footsteps approaching then they stopped in front of the alley, the figure pointing the gun at her.
Halo moved her thumb down slowly until the light cut off. She then moved her hand toward the ground to find something hard, something solid; nothing. She reached her hand up and threw the flashlight somewhere to the man's right. He turned and began to walk in that direction. Halo edged by him but soon enough she felt her boot begin to slip and fell backwards. The back of her head collided with the concrete ground.
"Shit," she cursed, seeing the brown-clad man standing over her before passing out.
The sound of splashing water filled the Pipe as Jack ran through the sewage. Ahead he saw a patch of light on the right wall. He came to a halt in front of it.
"Damn it!" he said, continuing his trek down the Pipe. "I told her to stay here!" The left passage was just ahead now, but he ignored it. He ran straight until he came to the dip and began to slide down. The dip wasn't steep, just slippery, so by the time he arrived at the bottom his back was soaked with the water.
"If only I hadn't got caught," he said. "Damn it, where'd she go?!" Now there was a dead end and only three ways to go: left, right, or back.
"Damn it, I told you not to go after her!"
"But, sir-"
"No! You were told to leave her be. She wasn't our priority!"
"Sir, you're right, I disobeyed your orders, but if we hold her you know he'll come for her."
"I refuse to drop that low! I want to catch Jack on my own, and I'm in the right position to do it, and Davies has already given his orders. Now get out of my sight!"
The brown-clad man saluted and walked from the room. The man in red turned to the window and stared out angrily. "Rath, don't you think . . . I dunno, maybe he's right?" The man in red turned to look at who the voice belonged to. He was leaning against the doorway, his arms folded.
"Aid, you know that we can do this, without having to use a cheap trick like that."
"But you know he's right, either way. Jack has all those guys around him all the time. It'd be pretty hard to get to him without getting shot."
Rath turned back to the window. "Yeah, I'll admit, he's got a point and it would probably work, but . . . What are you smiling about?"
"You actually admit you're wrong. But Jack tried to go the back way to the Zigguraut. It seems our little decoy Marduks did the trick."
"You caught him?"
"No, I only got a few shots off at him before he ran. Fast bastard, he is. I tried to follow him but he got away. He knows someone's after him."
"He doesn't know it's us, does he?"
"Nah, I don't think so."
"Damn," Rath swore. "Now we have to think of something else . . ."
"He'll probably try to go back, though . . . You know, for the 'stuff'." Rath looked at Aid.
"And again, you're right. He thinks it's that important, doesn't he . . ."
"Yep." Rath walked past Aid. "Are you going to interrogate her or somethin'?"
"Dunno yet. I'm just gonna take a peek."
"Right then. I'll go and talk to Jack, see if I can't find out anything."
"Atlas . . ." The man remained silent. "Atlas, I'm kinda scared." Still, he didn't say a word. Just as Halo looked up, he walked away and in his stead was Rock. "Rock . . ." she breathed. He reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled, forcing her to stand. "Stop! Rock, let go!"
He pulled her all the way into the main corridor, pushing her forward, letting her go so unexpectedly that she fell forward to the ground. She looked up at him, frightened, and he pointed ahead. She looked in the direction that he was pointing at and saw It. The door.
"No . . ." she whispered, increasingly frightened with every passing second. "N-no, no, no, NO! I refuse. I won't do it again!"
A new pair of footsteps were now echoing off the walls in the narrow corridor and Halo knew who it was . . . Only one person it could be . . . Duke Red.
"Halo Kane, it is your destiny," he said softly. "Embrace it. Accept it. Fulfill it."
"She awake yet?"
"I think so, sir."
"Well, then, open the door!"
She heard two male voices, and then the lock on the door sliding back. The huge metal door opened, admitting a man, and then closed behind him. "I know you," Halo said slowly. The man chuckled.
"Yeah, you do. But . . . I have a few questions for you."
"Like what?" Halo gave a frightened gasp as he jumped in front of her face. "Rath!"
"Yep, it's me. And now . . ." He pulled a chair closer and sat down facing her. "Halo Kane, tell me, what happened in the Zigguraut?"