Page 91 of Coldwire
Kieren clears his throat. “Just because.”
“Our route is constructed to allow passengers to board at every stop,” the bot insists.
“But we have a particular interest in certain areas for sightseeing,” Kieren counters. “You may not get more passengers at other stops. Surely maintaining our customer satisfaction is very important.”
The blue circle on Twelve’s body lights up again. It spins twice in a counterclockwise revolution.
“Okay!”
I can’t believe that worked. Twelve goes quiet. The tour bus accelerates, taking the ramp onto the highway. The buildings on either side of the bus flash by in prismatic streams. Virtual’s pixels never look quite right when we’re speeding through the space, and I think it’s because everything else is rendered with such photorealism that StrangeLoom’s engineers can’t capture what the world looks like when it blurs. Upsie’s structures around the highway develop a faint bend, tired at their middle and relaxing their spines.
“Feeling less creeped out?” I ask quietly.
Kieren leans back and folds his arms across his chest. He’s eyeing the front, inspecting Twelve.
“I suppose,” he murmurs.
That’s a no, then.
I sigh, getting comfortable in my seat.
“It’s nine hours until Threto,” I say. “Better get some sleep.”
25EIRALE
Downcountry Threto under lockdown is noisier than I would have thought.
I pause at the landing, lagging behind. The elevators have cameras, so we’re taking the stairs. My head is spinning from the rotations. Each time I pause, Nik is quick to call a prompt, noticing when I pull behind by even half a stair landing.
Nighttime twinkles through the small window here. Very few apartments in the neighboring building have drawn their blinds.
“Soldier, move it.”
I pick up my pace again. The city shutting may have forced us into an unconventional travel method, but it has also lightened the burden of entering the facility. Threto’s data center should be down to its emergency guards only. The exchange on the rooftop was quick as we decided how we were going to make our approach. Even if we go in with the aggression of bank robbers, we should be out before security sends backup.
We cross the final stair landing with our footsteps quiet, keeping alert as we ignore the door into the building lobby and make another turn for the exit into the alleyway outside. Nik nudges open the door. He pauses, then closes it again to sniff hard. I think he must be smelling something, but when Miz offers him a tissue, I realize he’s only got a runny nose. He blowsinto it. Opens the door wider, looks left, right, then proceeds out into the night.
“Camera at two o’clock,” Blare warns behind me.
“Noted.”
We curve around the building in single file. The Three Towns National Data Center is a humble, thin facility—no more impressive than a regular office block for some company that does mediocre consulting. The silver Medan characters at the front declare this a research center, but otherwise its exterior remains nondescript. We slink around tidily.
There’s an access panel blinking red beside the glass doors. Nik ignores it entirely and opts to retrieve a crowbar from his bag, jamming it between the doors and forcing them open with a smoothwhoosh!
While Miz and Blare are quick to hurry through the open entryway, surprise delays my reaction. No alarm shrieks. Nik gestures for me to move it, waving his arm.
I step inside. In the dark I can’t see much of the reception: I mistake the large potted plants for standing guards at first, but by the time I’ve turned in alarm, my vision has adapted to the shadows. A water cooler glares its beady red eyes at us. The cameras above the front desk stare down diligently, and Miz taps her face, then Blare’s, checking that they’re masked in a way that covers as many facial markers as possible.
“This way,” Nik tells me, steering left beside the reception desk.
“Something isn’t right,” I declare.
“Nooooo,” Miz counters. She hops over the turnstiles. “Don’t say that.”
“Not saying so won’t make it suddenly go away—”
“The room we need is right here,” Nik interrupts, gesturing ahead in the corridor. We’re still on the ground floor. There is one door on either side of the corridor, humming with a sound that only server farms can generate.
