Spares - Michael Marshall Smith [141]
And then I saw something ahead of me, and the images fled as if they’d never been.
I was staring down the tunnel, half wondering whether I could find some new route, some way which would lead me toward gaps too small to find. I was paralyzed with indecision, my eyes flicking frantically over the smooth metal walls of the duct, when suddenly I realized I shouldn’t be able to see them at all.
There was a tiny light in the distance, like a single candle fluttering in the darkness. As I stared it seemed to come closer, until it was no longer a point but an orange glow. But it wasn’t coming nearer, just getting bigger; it had never been more than yards away.
The glow had a shape inside it. A figure.
I swallowed, feeling as if I had a brick in my throat, and whirled back to face the way I had come. The sound of the men coming down the ladder above told me what I already knew. There was nowhere else to run.
I turned back and stared into the light. It seemed the thing to do. Maybe somebody knew that my time had come, and had arrived to lead me through. I kind of hoped it wouldn’t be Mai. I loved the guy, and hoped I’d see him sooner rather than later, but I didn’t want to eat noodles for eternity.
At first the figure seemed to be made up of many flickering wings beating in time, but then it started to resolve into solidity. When I saw who it really was my mouth fell open, as if it wanted to help shed some of the tears which were forcing themselves up through my eyes. Something had happened. The birds weren’t insane anymore. My lips trembled so much that when I said her name it was inaudible.
“Suej?”
She smiled, and I saw that the scar on her face had gone. She looked whole, and perfect, and I thought that no one should ever look less beautiful than that.
“We have to be quick, Jack,” she said, but the sounds behind me were forgotten as I noticed that as well as her summer dress she seemed to be wearing a ragged jacket, like those the Gap children wore.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered. “How did you get out?”
“I found some friends,” Suej said. “We’re making things different. The Gap’s closing. I’m the bridge.” She sounded proud, and serene, and I took a step forward, wanting so much to hug her. She held up her hand to stop me. I stared at it, marveling at the way it exuded light.
“You must go the other way,” she said. “Down to the lowest level.”
“But this is the way out…”
She shook her head. “Go the other way. And something else, Jack…You don’t need Ratchet anymore. You must throw him away.”
“No fucking way,” I said, but she interrupted me with a confidence she’d never had before.
“You must Then you have to run. And they told me to tell you this: You did more than you’ll ever know.”
I shook my head, not wanting to go, but her face was firm. It felt as if I were the child, as if she now held some truth to which I could only aspire.
Abruptly I realized that the sound of boots on the ladder was now much closer.
“But what are you now?” I asked quickly.
Suej smiled again, and lifted her hands—and then she was gone.
I plunged back into the shaft, suddenly in motion as if someone had just plugged me back in. As soon as I was into it, I heard a shout from above, and I leaped down to land awkwardly on the floor below. For a second I recognized where I was, from my Rapt expedition, and then as the bullets started to spang around me I ducked into the nearest tunnel and ran.
I sprinted past places I’d never seen, over lintels and past strange doors. I saw a rusted sign that said baggage, but then I was past it and still running hard. I remembered what Suej had told me to do and thrust my hand down into my jacket pocket. I pulled out the chip in which