Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls - Jane Lindskold [89]
Concealed in my sleek executive’s briefcase, Betwixt and Between grumble about the lack of a window. From Professor Isabella’s purse, Athena readies herself for what will certainly be her most dangerous flight.
“We should be there soon,” Professor Isabella says, pulling back the sleeve of her dove grey suit to check her watch.
“Then we will,” Midline assures her.
His business suit makes him look more ferocious rather than tamed, the perfect image of an Ailanthus executive. The sweet lines of its tailoring snigger over the weapons they conceal. Even his golden skin job fits with the image of decadent sophistication. Abalone and I are dressed in a similar fashion with briefcases to hold our tools. Peep is our chauffeur, natty in a navy blue uniform and matching cap.
“Outside checkpoint coming,” Peep announces, his eyes busy with radar screens and sensors. “Looks like only one human guard.”
“Stay icy,” Abalone reminds him, “and don’t even speak with him. Margarita says that the executives usually let themselves in, despite the warmbodies at the gate.”
“I remember,” Peep says, flourishing the scanner card, “and here’s our invite.”
We are all holding our breaths as Peep inserts the card into the scanner, but Abalone’s forgery gets us through with barely a glance from the guard. He is so intent on his monitors that I am certain we are forgotten a minute after we pass.
Within the walls, Ailanthus has built a small city. Professor Isabella sighs when she sees the buildings and I do not need to question why. Here are all the technological advances that the city outside the walls lacks. The glass-and-steel buildings are interwoven with solar grids to capture cheap power, decorative ponds serve as emergency reservoirs, the trolley capsules run on superconductors to race the people from building to building with a minimum of delay. The grounds are elegantly manicured to soothe and inspire without distracting.
I can feel her envy, but do not let myself be distracted. Peep is steering us into the parking field near to a trolley terminus. No one drives within the compound and Dr. Aldrich’s building is too far for us to reach without running afoul of guards and dogs. Here will be my first challenge and my heart races as the car stops and Abalone motions for me to get out.
Abalone has fitted her eyes with contacts and her fingertips with false prints to fool those scanners. A track to fool the voice scanner has been easily obtained, but Margarita could do no more. My job will be to find the code that voice must speak.
The trolley station provides sufficient cover as I press my ear to the doorway. Abalone’s breathing is nervously loud, but louder still is the grumbly voice of an executive reading from his latest security memo.
I listen carefully and then recite softly into the tappety-tap. “Aloe, geranium, clematis, iris, lily.” Abalone strokes a key and the voice synthesizer repeats confidently. “Aloe, geranium, clematis, iris, lily.”
The trolley door slides open and Midline and Professor Isabella hurry to join us. We are rushed, but I do not miss the admiring looks they spare me.
Peep immediately drifts the sedan over to parking, where he will conceal himself and await our return.
When the trolley door slides shut, a flat but pleasant voice asks, “Destination?”
Finger to her lips, Abalone keys her tappety-tap. “Aldrich’s Lab” it informs the trolley importantly.
Unquestioning, even to my hearing, the trolley capsule glides forward. The ride is nearly without the sensation of movement, even when we go around curves, and is so swift that we do not have time to wonder about the lack of seats before the pleasant voice announces, “Aldrich’s Lab.”
We step out and I kneel before the code pad. I barely need to listen before Dr. Aldrich’s clipped tones snap, “What nonsense!” I jump, realize that I am not hearing him, but merely a memory of him imprinted on the area and listen again. “What nonsense!” the doorway obligingly repeats, but nothing follows.
Hesitantly, I say to the tappety-tap, “What nonsense!”
Abalone stares