Cathedral of Dreams (29 page)

Rene and Nellie relaxed together. “It can't be afraid,” Rene said.

“Well, then, it is the equivalent of fear for a complex this size,” Keith said. He walked away from them, his head down and his hand near his face. He thought about it further. “Part of it is afraid.”

“And the rest?” Rene said, now more curious than before.

“Bored.” Keith rotated back around. “Tell me why you don't want to be chipped.”

Rene's face scrunched up as though she was about to cry. “I would stop dreaming,” she said. “There is something beyond the mechanical, the chemical, I don't know what it is. Spirit. Free will. It's not worth trying to explain, but I see it every day. The residents don't have it.”

“They're asleep,” Keith said. “That's why you call them Sleepers.”

“But they don't even dream.”

“The new chips allow some of that to come through,” Keith said from experience. “But not enough.” He walked over and kneeled near the two of them. “You know why I see the boy and girl, don't you?”

Rene shook her head. “A theory. Based on my own life.” She lowered her eyes. “My grandmother died when I was young,” she said. “I talked with her for years after that. I could swear that she was in my room with me. She climbed in bed with me when I was scared.”

“You still feel her near,” Keith said.

Nellie let go of Rene's arm and sat back on the floor.

“I do,” Rene said, turning her head away.

“We are more than what we appear to be,” Keith said. “The system is linking in with that part of us. Maybe after years of connecting with our emotional states, it's taken on some of our traits, some of the ones that the complex and the chips have noticed all along. It's learning from us.”

“If it's bored, then this is a game,” Nellie said. “You were right when you said it was playing. But it's playing with us.”

“Why did the angel say that she was free?” Rene said.

Keith rubbed his hands together and walked closer to them. He sat on the arm of the sofa. “Because she is. She doesn't show up in the system.”

“But you see her,” Nellie said.

No one spoke for a long time, then. They all processed the situation and waited for one of the others to say what they were all thinking.

“It's spirit,” Rene whispered. “Like the boy with the bullet hole in his forehead, the angel is deformed, too. It's imperfect. It's allowed to make mistakes, to play.”

“But why me? Why can I see it?” Keith asked.

“You're just lucky, I guess.” Rene smiled at him. “But for now, we need to get you out of here. The others are prepared to operate on you to find out what's happening to the system. They'll have you in psychological testing and then physical testing.” She looked at Nellie. “And I don't know what they'll do with you to force you to expose the others, but it won't be pretty.”

“Why help us?” Nellie said in a suspicious tone.

“I've got to get out now, too. Bradley's on his way.” Rene got up and Nellie let her go. “You've got to warn the rest of your friends. How many are there?”

Nellie stared at Rene.

“You've got to trust me,” Rene said.

Keith stepped closer and passed between them. “It's okay,” he said.

Rene reached for the door.

“The cameras in the hall will be on,” Nellie said.

Rene smiled. “They've been broken for years,” she said. “I can get you to one of two exits, then I'm not sure. Can you take us to your homes?”

“We live among the other residents. Just like you explained,” Nellie said. “But now that they know who I am, they'll be able to find me.”

“I can lead us there,” Keith said with confidence.

“The boy?” Rene said.

“I don't think I need him any more.” Keith nodded for them to go through the door.

They walked in a tight group down the empty hallway toward the far end where there would be a stair exit. From there, Keith knew they'd find a doorway into the maintenance walls. He also knew that the system would know where he was going and would let them get through without setting off any alarms. He pictured it all in his head, as though he were sitting in front of his work terminal watching the maintenance reports come through. If he continued to stay calm and clear-headed, he would be able to get through without being noticed.

Sure enough, they turned right down the second hallway and went through the first doorway into the stairwell. On the next landing down stood the maintenance door, which Keith opened and the others followed.

“I've never been in here,” Nellie said. “We always walk the halls.”

“Why is it the system never noticed that you were different?” Rene said.

“We never disrupted anything. Most of the time, we tried our best to look like everyone else. It was fairly easy, even though it was creepy walking around with all these people who were basically not available.” She reached out and touched Keith's back. “Except for Keith. I've been watching him for a long time. We knew he was different when they rechipped him the first time.”

They passed through from the maintenance area into another stairwell and walked down toward the bottom floors. At one point Keith felt anxious and the boy with the bullet hole in his forehead appeared at the bottom of the stairs, motioning him on. He followed. No one had to know when he was leading or when the system, the boy, was leading, so he kept it to himself. At times, Keith didn't know which it was, either. He appeared to be so interconnected with the complex, a spiritual connection of some sort, just like Rene's grandmother.

In less than a half hour, they were coming down a hallway and Nellie pushed her way into the lead. Other residents walked home from work and the hall got pretty busy. Rene and Keith followed Nellie the last hundred feet into what looked like a storage area. Two large metal doors stood against the wall in front of them. Nellie reached out and held one of the doors open for them. They rushed through before she closed it behind them and pulled it tight.

The room was filled with working terminals, a small kitchen area, and what looked like a conference table large enough for about a dozen people to sit around. About thirty people either milled around or sat in front of terminals. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned around. Most appeared happy to see Nellie. One of the women waved briefly. A dark-skinned man stepped forward and addressed Nellie. “You've got a plan, I hope.”

Chapter 21

H
e has all the plans,” Nellie said while pulling Keith around in front of her.

“That's good,” the man said, “because we're trapped in here and they're heading this way with unchipped security.”

“That can't be true,” Keith said.

“Oh it can be true, and it is. Now, let's decide what we're going to do to keep nearly a hundred people safe,” the man said.

“There aren't a hundred people in here,” Keith said.

“Not here, but they'll search us out now that they know we're operating in here. And I doubt they'll stop until each one is found. They'll chip the whole lot of us.” He approached and held out his arms. Nellie stepped into them and hugged the man. When they parted she turned toward Rene and Keith, “My Uncle Philip,” she said.

He held up a hand to stop Keith and Rene from questioning before they had the chance to open their mouths. “It's a long story, but somehow Lori and I got skipped over and never received a chip. A few years later we stumbled upon a way to tell when a chip had gone off line. Sometimes we can get to a person early enough to bring them here, sometimes not. We couldn't find Nellie. Then she had her accident and we knew exactly where she was.”

“Where's Lori?” Rene asked.

“In one of the apartments at the moment. But we've just alerted everyone. They're waiting for our direction. What do you say?” He stared at Keith.

“If this is a game of some sort, it's not a fun one,” Keith said. He swung around to Rene. “The most secure area?” he asked.

“System Center,” she said. “You have to go through the labs, though, and that's where Bradley's heading.”

“I should have known. Can you get us there quickly?” Keith said.

“I don't think that's the best idea,” Rene said, and when Keith didn't respond to her concern, she delivered the information. “From here? I'm not sure where we are exactly.”

Keith closed his eyes and considered the path they'd taken. They had spiraled up, but then came back down, as though they were in a maze. At the moment, they were several floors and a long walk from where they'd held him not long ago. “I can find it,” he said.

“They'll know we're coming. Even if only some of the surveillance works, our direction will alert them,” Rene said.

“They're coming for us now, so we'd might as well chance it,” Philip said. “After all, we're a hundred strong.” He smiled a broad, toothy grin. “It's about time we did something in here besides stay low.”

He jumped to work giving specific orders to the people in the room: where to meet up with the others, what supplies to bring, and where they'd be able to find terminals so they could interrupt the system if they had to. Finally, he stepped behind a young man and put both his hands on his shoulders. “Shut down as many of the remaining surveillance cameras that you can. We're moving out in two minutes.” He then turned and strolled toward Keith shaking his head. “Let's go.”

All the others dropped what they were doing and headed toward Keith like a mob.

He reached for Nellie's hand and pulled her next to him, then pushed open the door. The hallway was busy, but there was plenty of room to wind through the residents. He knew that upsetting any of them would bring the chipped security police, but wasn't so worried about that as getting to his destination.

Although Keith was supposed to be leading; Philip, who traipsed close behind him, asked him to stop and wait for others to join them. At one point, Philip told Keith to turn to the right when they needed to go left. It was okay. Keith knew multiple ways to get through the system now, even though he wasn't sure how he knew the answers. He would just follow his instincts and hope that the system wasn't playing a dangerous game.

That concern was evidenced when several of Philip's people showed up with guns. Keith had no idea where they had acquired them, and didn't ask. Lori joined them along the way too. She was a tall, beautiful woman, dark like Nellie, with full lips and bright eyes. She had a confident gait, yet appeared soft and motherly. Keith saw Nellie give her a wink.

In only about ten minutes of rushed walking, they approached the lab. Keith had never been in that part of the complex before. He did guess that these guards would not be chipped. Rene verified his hypothesis with a whispered confirmation.

But Philip was ready. “Gabe, Andrew, pull your men into the front.

They were still marching down the hall.

Keith could hear the calm, “Halt, halt,” suggestions from chipped security coming from a side hallway. He turned to look and noticed that some of the residents didn't know whom the police were ordering to halt, so they stopped in the middle of the hall, getting in the way.

Philip's crew pushed ahead as soon as the lab guards kneeled and stretched their arms out straight, pistols pointing. Before they had the chance to address the group, Gabe and Andrew's small, armed band began shooting. The guards went down before they could shout their warnings.

The residents scattered like quiet mice. Keith jumped at the pop-pop from the guns, but Philip's crowd wouldn't let him stop moving forward. The police bodies were dragged to the side. Two more shots at the locks, and the doors were opened.

Lab personnel stood transfixed in whatever position they had been in when the shooting began. Women and men sat looking into microscopes, holding beakers filled with liquid, or had a hand perched over a knob or switch ready to activate a piece of lab equipment. A loud humming came from some of the devices.

Philip advanced, “Nobody try anything and you'll all be safe,” he said. “Close those fucking doors and get us locked down, now.”

He had the people in the lab stop what they were doing and huddle into a group in one corner. He shouted for Gabe and his men to shoot out the cameras. Then he whirled around, checking the area before coming to Keith and stopping. “We're safe. For now,” he said. “But we're trapped in here until we can figure out our next move.”