"There's something I haven't asked," he shouted over the roar of the water.
Hui kept her gaze on the metal rungs. "What?"
"Where do we reenter the Facility?"
"I'm not sure."
This stopped him. "Excuse me?"
"I know there's one, maybe two access hatches on the upper floors. But I don't know what decks they're on."
"Fair enough." Crane wiped his dripping eyes, shook the water from his hair.
They had, he estimated, perhaps as many as a hundred more feet left to climb. From his precarious vantage point, he glanced uneasily up at the damaged pressure spoke. It was just two floors or so above them now, a massive, horizontal spar half obscured by the cascades that jetted from the rupture in its skin. The blizzard of water was so intense Crane was unable to tell if the Facility had been punctured, as well. He let his eye travel farther up the line of rungs. Luckily, they were bolted at some distance from the spoke. Even so, the rungs directly overhead were being lashed and buffeted by wave after wave of black seawater.
It would be a bitch to climb through that.
He felt his heart accelerating, and the muscles of his legs begin to spasm. He glanced away. The sight was paralyzing; if he didn't start moving again right away, he never would.
"Let's get going," he called out over the cataract.
They resumed their slow climb. With each new rung they ascended, the force of water against them grew stronger. Where before it had felt like a drenching downpour, now-as they began to draw level with the breach-the water was coming at them more and more horizontally.
Crane could barely see Hui's legs amid the water. "Careful!" he shouted. "Be sure you're secure before taking a new step!" He opened his mouth again to say more, but salt water abruptly filled it and he turned away, coughing and choking.
Pull up…anchor feet…reach for a rung…pull up again. Crane tried to think of nothing but climbing, to lose himself in the rhythm. The water was driving straight at him, filling his eyes and ears, tugging at his fingers, trying to pluck him bodily from the face of the Facility. He had lost track of how far they'd ascended now; and with water all around him-flooding over his limbs, blinding him, chilling him to the bone-it was impossible to determine by sight. It seemed his whole world was water. The very breaths he gulped were more water than air. He began to feel light-headed, disoriented.
He stopped, shook his head to clear it. Then he reached up, grabbed another rung; his hand began to slip and he grasped the rung tighter, steadying himself. Turning his face away from the water, he took a deep breath, then pulled himself up. We must be opposite the spoke by now, he thought. This can't go on much longer. It can't.
Suddenly, he heard a shriek directly above him, the sound all but lost in the thunder of the water. A moment later something struck him violently in the head and shoulders, and he almost let go of the rungs. A weight now hung around his neck, jerking and thrashing. He stood in the blinding, choking whirlwind of water, fighting to keep his hold.
Then there was another cry, almost in his ear, and he abruptly understood. Hui had slipped and fallen. In a desperate attempt at self-preservation, she'd managed to grab him.
"Hui!" he yelled.
55
"Hui!" he shouted again.
She moaned, her cheek cold and wet against his.
"Hold on! Tight as you can! I'll try to climb out of this!"
He steadied himself on the rungs, the muscles of his calves and arms screaming under the extra weight. Summoning all his energy, he freed one hand and reached up, feeling for the next rung. With her arms around his neck, it was torture; his fingertips touched the rung, then slipped away. With a grunt of effort he tried again, grabbing it this time. He half pushed, half jerked himself upward with his legs, grabbed another rung. He felt her knees press hard against his hips, her ankles lock around one of his knees.
Another grab for the next rung, another heroic thrust upward. And suddenly he realized that the awful torrent of water was ebbing slightly. This brought renewed hope, and he pulled upward again. Now his head and shoulders were above the jets of water. He paused to rest-chest heaving, every muscle dancing and jerking-then he pulled the two of them up another couple of rungs.
Now they were above the water, which ran like a surging river a few inches beneath their feet. Anchoring himself as best he could, Crane took Hui's hand in one of his and guided it to the nearest rung. Slowly, gently, he helped her gain her own footing.
And then they stood there-gasping, sobbing-as the cataract screamed directly beneath them.
It seemed that hours passed while they clung to the side of the Facility, motionless, without speaking. Yet Crane knew it could not have been more than five minutes. At last, he forced himself to stir.
"Come on," he shouted. "We're almost there, we must be."
Hui did not look at him. Her clothes and white lab coat were plastered to her narrow frame, and she was shivering violently.
He wondered if she had even heard him. "Hui! We have to keep going!"
She blinked, then nodded absently. The fear in her eyes was gone; shock, and exhaustion, had driven it away.
Slowly they continued to climb. Crane felt almost stupefied with cold and weariness. Once-only once-he looked down again. The rungs led into a perfect chaos of water. Nothing else could be seen. It seemed impossible they had managed to climb through that hell.
Above him, Hui was saying something, but he couldn't make it out. Languidly, as if in a dream, he looked up. She was pointing to a spot ten feet above her, where another small platform had been set into the wall of the Facility.
With the last of their strength they pulled themselves onto it. There was another hatch here, unmarked. Crane raised his hands to open it, then stopped. What if it was sealed? If they could not get back inside, they were dead. If the rising water didn't drown them, they would die of cold.
He took a deep breath, grabbed the bolts, and bore down hard on them. They turned smoothly. He spun the access wheel, then threw his weight against the hatch. With a squeaking of rubber, the seal parted and the door opened inward. Crane helped Hui step into the small airlock beyond, then he followed her, sealing the hatch securely behind them.
They were back inside.
56
They stepped out of the airlock into a narrow, dark chamber. Crane paused a minute to catch his breath. From beyond came the whoop, whoop of an alarm.
Crane opened the door and they emerged into an empty hallway. Here, the cry of the alarm was much louder.
"Deck eleven," Hui said, taking a quick glance around. "Staff quarters."
"We need to get to the conference center on twelve," Crane said. "Dr. Vanderbilt's waiting for me there."
At random, Crane ducked into a stateroom, plucked a towel from the bath, and wrapped it around Hui's shoulders. Then they ran for the nearest stairwell. The floor seemed deserted, and only once did they pass someone: a man in a maintenance jumpsuit who stopped to stare, openmouthed, as they went past, drenched and dripping.
Reaching the stairwell, they dashed up a flight to the top level of the Facility. Unlike 11, deck 12 was crowded: people stood in the corridors and in open doorways, faces tense and drawn.
The conference center consisted of a central space that resembled a lecture hall, surrounded by a few small breakout rooms. Half a dozen people stood huddled together in the central hall, talking quietly. When Crane entered, they fell silent. One man detached himself from the crowd. He was tall and thin, with red hair and a closely cropped beard. A pair of black glasses poked out from the pocket of his lab coat.