Sancia lay back into the tiny capsule, pulled out a scrived light, and turned it on. “I’ll think about that drink. If I survive, that is.”
“Do,” said Berenice. Her smile faded. “I’m going to submerge the capsule next, and then plant the anchor. Hold on.”
“All right,” said Sancia. Then she shut the hatch.
<Huh,> said Clef as she sat alone in the capsule. <Well. That didn’t go how I expected.>
<Yeah, no kidding. I—>
She didn’t finish the thought — her belly swooped as the capsule abruptly descended, sinking to the bottom of the canal. “Oh shit!” she whispered. She could hear the water gurgling and bubbling all around her, the sounds magnified in the tiny, tiny capsule. “Shit, shit, shit!”
<Don’t worry,> said Clef. <This thing has been well built. You’ll be fine. Just breathe normally.>
<Will that relax me?>
<Well, yeah. It’ll also mean you won’t run out of air.>
She shut her eyes and tried to breathe calmly.
<You ready, kid?> asked Clef, excited. <We’re going to crack the biggest safe in the world tonight! Bigger than a whole damned city block!>
<You sound pretty excited for a dead guy.>
<Hey, I’m technically not dead — just dying. I have to get my fun where I can find it.>
Sancia sighed as she heard the barge drifting through the waters above them. <Trapped in a casket under the water, with a dead man trapped in a key. How the hell do I get myself into these situations?>
There was a gentle tug, and the capsule started slowly trundling forward, scraping along the bottom of the canal.
<Here we go,> she said.
Sancia lay there, listening to the sound of the capsule scraping along the mud and stone, and waited.
An hour passed, maybe two. She idly wondered if this was what being dead was like—If this thing sprang a leak, and I died in here, would I even notice?
Finally the capsule came to a stop. She said, <Clef — anything up there?>
<There are rigs aboard the barge — I guess the whole barge is a rig, really. I think they’re unloading it.>
<Then this is the place. Let’s hope no one’s fishing right where I’m coming up.>
She hit the switch on the door of the capsule. The metal canister slowly, awkwardly bobbed to the surface.
Sancia cracked the hatch and took a quick look around. They were floating next to a stone walkway running along the canal, just south of the Mountain’s dock. She flung the hatch open, scrambled onto the stone walkway, shut the door behind her, and hit a switch on the front. The capsule silently sank back down to the bottom.
She looked around. No one was screaming or raising any alarms. She was dressed in Candiano colors, so she didn’t look unusual, and there was only the barge crew nearby, unloading on the dock.
Then she saw the Mountain.
“Oh…Oh my God,” she whispered.
The Mountain bloomed into the night sky just ahead of her, surging up like smoke from a forest fire. The thing was lit up brighter than a magnesium torch, spotlights shooting up along its curving black skin, which was dotted with tiny circular windows, like portholes on a ship. The sight set her guts fluttering.
Somewhere up there is the thirty-fifth floor, she thought. That’s what I’ve got to break into. And that’s where I’ll fly from. Soon.
<The garden,> said Clef. <The door. Hurry.>
Sancia walked up to the street level and moved down the fairway until she spotted the garden entrance, a big white stone gateway stretching above a somewhat tattered-looking hedge wall. White floating lanterns made lazy circles above the garden. She glanced around and slipped inside.
The garden skirted the edge of the Mountain’s walls, which gave it the feeling of a quaint courtyard built next to a cliff. The trimmed hedges and noble statues and stone follies looked queer and disturbing on the rolling green lawns, lit by washes of brittle white light from the lanterns.
<Guards here,> Clef said. <Three of them. Walking through the hedges. Be careful.>
The garden was theoretically open to any enclave resident, but she didn’t risk it. With Clef’s direction, she evaded their slow circuits until she found the stone bridge, which arched above a small babbling stream. She touched the cold metal casket, hidden in her pocket. This would be the first test of the blood Estelle Candiano had given them.
She waited until the way was clear, then paced up the stream to the bridge. As she neared it, a perfectly round seam formed in the smooth stone face. Then, without making a sound, the round plug of stone sank into the bridge and rolled aside.
<Whoa,> said Clef. <That was impressive! This thing was scrived by a brilliant hand, kid.>
<Not reassuring, Clef.>
<Hey, credit where credit’s due.>
She slipped through the round door. It silently shut behind her. She now stood at the top of a set of stairs, and she walked down until they ended in a straight, smooth, gray stone tunnel, lined with bright white lights, which stretched forward so far it confused the eye.
She descended and started down the hall. <This is a lot nicer than most of the tunnels I have to move through.>
<Yeah. No shit or rats or snakes, right?>
<Right.> She kept walking. The end of the tunnel didn’t seem to get any closer. <But…I’d frankly prefer the old kind.> She glanced at the smooth gray walls. <This creeps me out. Are we close to the end?>
<I can’t tell. Which means no, I think.>
She kept walking. And walking. It felt like she was walking into empty space.
Then Clef spoke up: <Whoaaaa…>
<What? What is it?>
<You don’t feel that?>
<No? Feel what? >
<We just crossed some…barrier of some kind.>
She looked behind, and saw no line or seam in the smooth gray stone. <I don’t see anything.>
<Well, trust me. We did. We’re in some…place. I think.>
<The Mountain?>
<Hell if I know, kid.>
After at least ten more minutes, she finally came to a set of stairs up, though these were winding rather than straight. She climbed and climbed until she came to the top, where they ended at a blank wall.
A vast whispering filled her mind as she got to the passageway at the top. She spied a handle on the side wall. She paused before she pulled it. <Anyone on the other side of the wall, Clef?>
<Uh, no.>
<What is on the other side, Clef?>
<A whole bunch of stuff. You’ll see.>
Sancia pulled the handle. Again, a perfectly round seam appeared in the stone, and the stone circle rolled aside to let her through. But on the other side was — well, nothing, or so it appeared at first. It looked like she was seeing a sheet of cloth. Then she realized—He hid the door behind some kind of wall hanging—and she shoved it aside and stepped through.