The Bookman - Lavie Tidhar [97]
Orphan sighed. What was it with those people and mushrooms? Even his m– even Mary. He closed the book and put it away in a pocket.
"There's nothing in the book," he said to Elizabeth. "Maybe there was once, but now – it's just an empty book."
He was rewarded with a smile, though it was soon gone. "I…" she said, then stopped. "I ran into soldiers when I went to get it," she said. Seeing Orphan's expression she shook her head. "I hid this time. I didn't have you to get in the way."
"That's good," Orphan said.
"I heard them talking," Elizabeth said. She frowned at him. "They said there was someone on the island. Someone out to sabotage the cannon. That's why they were out patrolling. They weren't very happy about it."
"What?" Orphan said.
"It's very busy in the crater," Elizabeth said. "Frantic. I looked. They're all out. I heard the soldiers say Moriarty pushed the launch forward."
"What?" Orphan said.
"To tonight," Elizabeth said. She suddenly looked quite pleased at the idea. "Do you think we could watch it?"
"Moriarty is here?" Orphan said.
"I guess so," Elizabeth said. "I don't know who he is."
"He's the Prime Minister – quite a good poet, too."
"I don't really like poetry," Elizabeth said. "It's boring."
"Wait," Orphan said, not really listening. "They can't launch now – they have to wait until Mars is close enough, and that's not until…" His voice died and he thought, I am an idiot.
The probe wasn't going to Mars. He had forgotten that. That was just a deception. It only needed to get far enough out into space to send a signal. All the rest of it – the ceremony in Richmond Park, the public proclamations, the newspaper articles – they were all a sham. And he had to act now, or there would be nothing left for him; and Lucy – and, perhaps, humanity – would be doomed.
"How can I get to the cannon?" he said.
"To the crater?" Elizabeth looked both scared, and excited. "You can't. We're not allowed."
"But you must have some interaction with the people there?" Orphan said. "You mentioned something about kitchens."
"Yes, but the kitchens are underground," Elizabeth said.
"So how does the food get to the people in the crater?"
"Through a shaft, I think," Elizabeth said. "There's a pulley system."
Orphan sighed. Images of the future flashed before his eyes. They were not promising.
The dumbwaiter was a small confined metal box. It stank of stale food. Orphan looked at it doubtfully. He did not like the thought of what may be waiting above ground.
He and Elizabeth had made their way through the tunnels into the kitchens. They were situated in a great, ill-lit cavern that was full of smoke. Wherever he went the people he encountered stopped and stared at him, then came closer and touched him, as if to reassure themselves of the reality of his existence. He had found it all very trying.
But, on the plus side, nobody tried to stop him. It was as if these people had curiosity bred out of them, leaving in its wake a kind of numb acceptance of the way things were. Elizabeth took him directly to the dumbwaiter. It was sometime between breakfast and lunch, and the machine wasn't being used.
Orphan climbed inside it.
"Good luck," Elizabeth said. And hit a button.
The dumbwaiter shook, coughed, and began to rise. Orphan crouched in the corner, trying to make himself as small as possible.
He rose through a shaft of rough stone. The dumbwaiter clucked and shook. At last it emerged into light, coughed once more, and stopped. Orphan peered out.
The room ahead was empty. He slid out of the box and stood up cautiously.
He was, he soon discovered, in the back of a sort of mess hall. Long tables stood in perfect rows. Small windows cut into the walls filtered in sunlight. He walked over to a window and peered outside.
The giant cannon glared at him. From here, it was impossibly large, dominating everything. People moved about it, as small as ants in comparison. There was an air of tense anticipation to those people, a feel of buzzing activity.