Outside In
Page 61

“You shouldn’t have risked yourself for me, Trella.”
“A moment of weakness.” I smiled. “A mistake even. Everyone is entitled to make a few mistakes.”
Logan slept on the couch. His arm covered his eyes and one foot dangled off the edge. I dropped down. The light thud woke him. Before I could say a word, he hopped up and embraced me.
“Trella! You’re here,” he said with glee.
“Even though I’m not as smart as you, I do know where I am.”
“I feared the worst. No one could find you. Anne-Jade had all her ISF officers searching.”
“I wasn’t in any real danger. And I’m sorry to have kept you in suspense, but no one had time to stop by here.” I explained about Jacy and Riley’s plans to build a separate network. “Riley’s stringing wires as we speak.”
“Ooh. I like! Why didn’t I think of that?” He bounced on his toes as his gaze turned inward.
“Because it’s been me, you and Anne-Jade, while Jacy has recruited a bunch of people.”
“True.”
“What about your idea?”
He stopped bouncing. “When you said I should climb the Expanse, you didn’t explain there wasn’t a ladder.”
“The ladder starts about seventy-five meters up, but there are lots of things to hold onto.”
“That’s assuming I have the strength to hang on and pull myself up the Wall. I don’t know how you did it, but I didn’t make it past twenty meters before my legs and arms turned to mush.”
“What about Anne-Jade?”
“She was too busy, and I thought it would be less suspicious for one person to be up there. Besides, I doubt she would have climbed much farther.” He plopped back onto the couch. “Is there another way up there?”
I considered. “I could rig a pulley to the end of the ladder and hoist you up.”
Logan bent over and pulled a wipe board out from under the couch. “You’ll need more than one wheel in order to lift my weight.” He wrote a list of supplies on the board and drew a little diagram of how to hook them together. “This should work as long as the pulley is securely attached to the ladder.”
I studied his diagram. It didn’t appear to be too complicated. Hank could put this together in no time. Except Hank wouldn’t like us exploring in the Expanse. I had a difficult time believing Hank was behind all the sabotage. He was Cog’s right-hand man and good friend. Perhaps he wasn’t involved. And perhaps I was kidding myself.
Why did I have no trouble accepting Jacy’s involvement with the Outsiders? No answer. My head spun and I sat next to Logan. The trip to his room had taken me twice as long as normal. I had to keep stopping to catch my breath.
“Are you all right?” Logan asked.
“Just a little dizzy.”
“Me, too. I’m not sure if I’m sick, but I keep having these dizzy spells.”
That seemed odd. Lamont had also commented on feeling light-headed. “Since when?”
“A few hours after you rushed off to help the doctor. Do you think something’s wrong with the air plant?”
“Could be. Last I heard, it was working even though not all the air filter bays have been repaired.” A strange thought floated to the surface of my mind. “Logan, do you know what’s going on with the Outsiders?”
He gestured to the computer. “I managed to get into a few subsystems. It’s frustrating as hell, like putting my toe in the water, but not being able to jump in!”
“And?”
“Oh. Their vehicle is still attached, but I think no one has opened Gateway yet. I don’t understand why they haven’t.”
“Maybe our air isn’t right for them? Maybe the people who want them to come in have to adjust it slowly or risk hurting us?”
“Pure speculation. Maybe they’re waiting for us to be told about them. Can you imagine if they just showed up? Massive panic.”
“Then why aren’t their cohorts spreading the word?”
“Maybe they plan to sneak in? Get a sense of the situation first?”
Too many unknowns at this point, guessing would be a waste of our limited time. “You’re right. It’s all conjuncture. We need more data.”
“That’s my girl.” Logan slapped me on the back. “Spoken like a true Tech No!”
Unfortunately, in order to get more data, I would have to get closer to Bubba Boom. I’d rather be getting reacquainted with Riley. I checked the power plant’s control room on level four, the air plant and maintenance in Sector B2, but couldn’t find Bubba. He might be sleeping. I didn’t even know what barrack he lived in. Actually, I knew very little about him.
While climbing around level four, I had placed the wipe board with the pulley diagram in Riley’s bedroom, hoping he could make one and pass it to Jacy. Since I’d run out of places to look for Bubba Boom, I returned to the infirmary to help Lamont.
People filled the patient area. Lamont moved among them, handing out cups of water and white pills. Hair stuck out from her braid and she moved as if walking through a thick stew.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“Headaches, dizziness and nausea,” she said. “And a few patients have minor bumps and bruises from passing out. Everyone’s blaming the air plant.”
When I had poked my head into the plant, the air filtering machinery appeared to be working. However, a number of maintenance workers had been repairing one of the air scrubbers. “How can I help?”