Chapter 265: Duct Crawling
5:30 A.M. Somewhere between Sections E and H, in a medium-sized duct.
"I'm beginning to have regrets."
Belinda's voice came to Milo from forty feet further down the medium duct. He was curious what she meant by that statement. "Does that do any good? Whenever I regret something, it usually means I'm running for my life from an angry monster. I've got too much to think about when that happens. Regrets are better for when you're dead and have a time-out. And even then, you should spend your time on how to do better the next time."
"I was thinking specifically about insisting that you drag me through a mile of dusty, dark, and claustrophobic tunnels while I lay on a makeshift skateboard."
Milo got to the next junction where there was more room, and he could pull on his ropes with more leverage. Belinda was lying on two of his wheelie boards while he pulled her through the ductwork with help from Max and a crawler. "Well, you have lots of time to do that, but it still doesn't make much sense. I warned you how difficult it might be, and we're halfway home. I don't want to take you back once we've got this far."
"Milo, you also said you traveled through them all the time with no problems and never got lost. You made it sound easy. Normal people don't squeeze through places this small, for this far. Especially when there are perfectly good hallways nearby."
"Well, yes, but the whole point of taking you this way is not getting caught. All it takes is one person seeing us, and Victor or your Stepfather would know where you are. We'll take a break up ahead, and you'll feel better."
With a few more tugs of the rope, Belinda slithered out of the tunnel and could stand up in the six-foot diameter room where several ducts came together in front of one of the large air pushers.
Milo sat down, pulled off his helmet, and took some high-energy snack bars from the crawler, handing one to Belinda. "You need to eat. Even only laying on the wheelie board while I pull, you're burning energy. A lot more than you normally do. You're under stress, and your muscles and nerves are fighting with each other."
She felt exhausted, and as she started eating, she felt hunger return. "Fighting each other, with me in the middle. But I can walk and move better. This is a huge improvement; I just need to build muscle and keep working out. I know this will work. I've been off the new drugs for a week and feel better than I have in years. I'm sorry if I'm being bitchy, it's a little scary in those ducts."
Milo looked at the ducts again, trying to think about them differently. "But we're safe here, and no one can find us. When I'm in the bigger areas of the hab where people go, I'm always nervous. It would be hard to live that way all the time."
Milo took the opportunity to look at the data from her suit. He was cautiously optimistic. She was under a lot of stress, but similarly to when she first put on the gloves, Belinda had undergone an immediate improvement in how she moved once the suit was on. They'd spent an hour working together to build her coordination, and for Milo to see that, at least initially, her heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals were in acceptable areas. Belinda had insisted on leaving while they could, and despite his misgivings, Milo was glad they did. It felt like a huge weight was off of his mind. Getting her through the ductwork was just another problem to solve. Once at his house in the tank, she could rest, and he could do a full check-up on her and begin looking at the data he'd stolen. Then he needed to make a lot of calls, trigger some events, and keep Victor, John, and a lot of people from thinking about where Belinda was and who had helped her run away. Or had he kidnapped her? He should look up the rules. He was pretty sure he couldn't legally call it a rescue, or could he? His thoughts were interrupted when Belinda touched his shoulder.
"Earth to Milo. You there?"
He vaguely knew she'd said something. "Sorry, thinking. Lots to do."
She looked at him very seriously. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who was apologizing. You're doing all the work, and I'm just laying there getting pulled along. I shouldn't complain about the tunnels."
Milo agreed with her and smiled to show it. "No, you shouldn't. Tunnels are awesome. You'll get used to them. Wait until we swing across the Big Drop; that's even better. You'll like it, lots of space, especially down, and after that, there's a 48-inch crawl space that goes almost all the way home."
Belinda didn't like the term 'Big Drop,' when she saw the open shaft, she backed away quickly. "You can't be serious. You swing across that. For real?"
Milo grinned at her. "For real. It's not that bad. I know all the physics by heart and can time my swings perfectly. It's the same as what any trapeze artist does. And having a tail helps. It's like having two good legs, or maybe a leg and three arms."
"Is there any other way to get to your house? Please? I can't imagine hanging by a cable while you swing me across that."
He sighed. Of course, there was another way, but this was the quickest and the most fun. "Let me look at my map. Okay, yes, we can take a medium duct south for a hundred feet and pick up the big maintenance tunnel. No one should be in it. I don't see any jobs scheduled. A little risk, but we can get into the pipework level pretty quick, and then another ten minutes and we'll be home."
Max led the way, shining a light along the path, which helped Belinda travel more easily. It took longer than Milo had estimated, the exhausted girl needing more breaks, but eventually, two tired humans and a Roomba tumbled through the disguised opening into the water tank where Milo made his home. She stared around at the dozens of linked computers, videogame consoles, and screens that covered the walls of the tank. In the corner was a stack of video game cartridges and packages of ready-to-heat tacos. The place was totally Milo. She wanted to ask questions but was too tired.
Milo made Belinda comfortable, had her drink and eat, and then told her to sleep with the suit on and hooked up to his pod. She passed out nearly immediately. The initial scan showed a large amount of fatigue build-up, and her nervous system was stressed from working in new ways, but overall, Milo was happy with what he could see of her condition. Rest and recovery were what she needed, but he could only let her have two hours of sleep. She needed to call Eric Kresthammer and set in motion her end of things.
His next job was sending a message to two of Belinda's doctors:
The shit has hit the fan. I have the package and the data, but this place is like a beehive and about to explode. John is pulling people away for an emergency trip to Geneva. Victor is making his play at the same time and looking to tie up loose ends, as we expected he would. If he sees us, we're dead. I'm handling things on this end, leaving the decoy for Victor and getting the hell out of here. Our old routes are compromised. Take no chances and get to the Newark airport. In locker # 36227, you'll find a new set of IDs and passports. Morocco has an outbreak of a new virus, and you're both part of Doctors Without Borders, heading there on emergency Visas. There are rooms for you at the Hotel Media in Marrakech. I'll contact you there once I have our poor girl safely in the clinic we'll be using. Get moving. Take nothing. Burn your phones and stay the hell off of anything electronic.
One job down, the next one was trickier. Steven had kept him up to date with what was happening with Claw Master and Rhebus. He needed to use those connections. But first, he needed to look at Belinda's medical data from the pod. He was anxious to see the data on the discs, but there was so much of it that he wanted Rusty's help with it. The data readers in his command center were a hundred times faster than what Milo had available here with his one jury-rigged machine. But the data from the pod he could access now. A half-hour later, he was sitting quietly in his chair, thinking hard. He was not happy with what he'd seen and had more questions than ever. But some things were very obvious, and he needed to talk with people. But before that, he needed to speak with Belinda, and time was running out.
She was groggy when she woke up. He handed her a bar of chocolate and a nutrient bar. She ate both and asked, "What's up? You're upset and nervous, and your tail is twitching all over the place."
"No time. I found something out about you. I think...I think someone did something to you before you were born. It might be the cause of some of your problems, and the drugs were treating it, but I think it's more likely that they were covering up what was done. It fits with how your pod was set up to send false medical info. Your stepfather and the doctors have been hiding something about you. The important thing is that I can use that to protect you the way someone is protecting me."
She looked at the clock. "But I have to put in a call to Eric and set up this plan of yours, and you have to call people on the other end, and you don't have time to explain it all, and that's making your tail twitch. Do what you need to do. I'll do my part, and we'll put the pieces together over tacos for lunch when we're done."
Milo blinked; that was much quicker than he'd expected. "Tacos...sounds good. Use this computer. I have it set up to alter your image and background to make it look like you're in a bare storage room in the hab, wearing your normal clothing and sitting in your chair. Just in case." She nodded and got to work. "Good morning, Eric. It's your boss calling. I've got some jobs for you."
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