“I have been monitoring the situation,” Prometheus’s powerful voice boomed.
“If you would be so kind, please punch us to Full-Core. It’s time to make sure everyone is awake.”
“Announcing Full Core,” Prometheus said, and an alarm echoed. The sound inside the control room was muffled. But Ellis also felt a rumble as something large was moved, although he couldn’t see what.
“We’ve got at least one and possibly two more explosives to locate,” Geo-1 shouted. “Everyone not crucial, hit the portways. The rest I want remote-tracking. Keep your cons open for information about locations. Report the moment you find something.”
“What can we do?” Pax asked Geo-3.
“Stay out of the way and let us do our job.”
“Is this really just another typical day for you?” Ellis asked.
Geo-3 grinned. “Oh, the stories I could tell.”
Ellis and Pax had climbed up one tier of stairs to the second-floor stations and stood near the rail, which kept them out of traffic. The elevation made it easier to watch the Jumbotron, as they didn’t need to crane their necks so far. They stood holding on to the balcony rail, watching the big monitor as the purple cloud dwindled and disappeared.
A cheer filled the command center, but it was brief, as there were still two more to eject.
“I never knew it was like this down here,” Pax said. “It’s so scary—exciting, but scary. The rest of Hollow World has no idea. We show geomancers respect and all—revere them, observe Geomancer Day—but I don’t think anyone above us has a clue why. Until you actually come here and see it—you can’t really know.”
“That’s one gone,” Geo-1 told them, climbing up the stairs. “And a team near Amethyst Ring says they have a lock on the second. They’re moving to eject it now. But there’s been no sign of the third. Are you sure there were three?”
“They were working on the third when I left,” Ellis said. “Having trouble with the timer. It’s possible they couldn’t get it to work at all. The bombs are pretty old.”
“About as old as you.”
Ellis was wondering why Geo-1 never asked who or what he was. Most Hollow World residents gawked. The geomancers didn’t seem to notice.
“You know me?”
“Can’t go anywhere without hearing about Ellis Rogers. You’re as popular as the last tank of air at the bottom of the sea. So I’m old—real old, and these bombs are older than I am. Where’d they come from?”
“Museum of War in Jerusalem.”
“Makes sense, but those warheads wouldn’t be live. The radioactive materials would have been removed.”
“They obviously managed to rearm them.”
Geo-1 nodded. “So there might not be a third to deal with?”
“I don’t know.”
“I hope not.” Geo-1 looked up at the screens. “Cause we can’t find it. And that disturbs me.”
Ellis imagined it took an awful lot to disturb Geo-1.
“How long do we have?” Ellis asked.
“Thirty minutes, and I—”
Geo-1 stopped, eyes darting about the way people do when listening to a sports broadcast on earphones. “Fantastic! I don’t need to remind you we’re in a race here, right?” There was a pause. “Good work!” Geo-1 looked up and grinned. “We got it. Right outside in the Sea of Gehenna portway—just appeared on the readout. Delta team is on it.”
“Did you say it just appeared?” Ellis asked.
“Yep. Must have just ported it in.” Geo-1 fixed Ellis with a crushing stare. The face was that of a twenty-something, but the eyes were old, and hard as those of a salt-leached sailor. “And you’re positive there were only three?”
“That’s what I was told and what I saw.”
“Okay then, looks like we have this.”
Ellis wanted to check the time, but the battery of his cellphone had finally died. He wished he still wore a watch.
“Could I use one of your Makers?” Pax asked.
Geo-1 pointed. “Third floor.”
“Does it have a standard menu?”
“It’s custom—but it has the basics too.”
“Thanks.” Pax took Ellis by the hand and led him up to the third floor, where they found a small bank of industrial-designed Makers in various sizes, each connected to an auto-feed gravel chute. One was the size of a walk-in freezer with huge double doors that would have been roomy enough to summon a Buick. A hand wave from Pax made one of the smaller countertop models light up.
“Antique watches,” Pax said.
A panel came to life and displayed a series of 3-D timepieces that rotated in midair. They were projected images but looked solid, as if he could pluck one up. Ellis saw complicated diver’s watches, digital ones, diamond-encrusted bracelet pieces, multicolored plastic ones, pocket watches, even an original Ingersoll Mickey Mouse with a leather band.
“Have a preference?” Pax asked.
“A digital.” Ellis pointed when Pax didn’t understand.
Pax selected the watch pattern. A flash occurred and a bing. Pax opened the door and handed Ellis the watch from the image. It felt warm and blinked 12:00. He played with the buttons, discovering the watch had a timer before he worked out how to set it, which he did according to the displayed Hollow World core time. If what Warren told him was accurate, they had seventeen minutes. Ellis set a countdown running. Then they returned to their perch.
“Pax,” Ellis said, “how did you know I wanted a watch?”
Pax shrugged. “You just looked like you did.”
“Seriously? You thought I lookedlike I wanted a watch.”
“Well you must have, right?”
“And how did you knowI didn’t kill Geo-24 when we first met? Did I just lookinnocent?”
“I’ve told you…I’m an arbitrator and a good judge of character.”
“But you also knew the Geomancer’s phrase about the sky is falling.”
Pax smiled uncomfortably.
“You learned that from your first meeting with Geo-24, didn’t you? During that conversation on Miracles Day, right? Only I’ll bet Geo-24 never told you.”
“I don’t know what—”
“You probably said something that Geo-24 picked up on. You made a mistake because you were flustered and starstruck. You slipped and Geo-24, being trained to detect even tiny anomalies, noticed. That’s why Geo-24 was researching you. I bet your record was extraordinary. All those people you helped, like Vin. No one else could do anything. Even the ISP was helpless when Vin continued to scoop out pair after pair of eyes with a spoon. But you were able to save them all, weren’t you? Able to understand, to feel their pain.”
“Understanding and helping people is what arbitrators do.”
“But your skill goes beyond understanding, doesn’t it? You found out the code phrase from Geo-24, just like you found out about Ren from Pol. You tried to warn me about them. You knew what they were going to do.”
“No. No.” Pax’s head shook. “I didn’t know about all this. If I had—”
“You’re right. You didn’t know…until you found me at Firestone Farm. I was telling you how we had to leave, and then you brought up how they were going to concreteHollow World.”
Pax looked frightened, drawing away from him. “Ellis Rogers, please, don’t—”
Below them the command room erupted in surprise as someone dressed in a full hazard suit entered, dragging another behind. The moment they cleared the tunnel Ellis could see the streak of blood the limp body trailed across the floor.
“People are with the bomb!” the member of Delta team who was standing said as others rushed to help the bleeder. “There was this series of loud pops, and 884 fell. I felt a pain in my…in my…” The team member collapsed. As he did, Ellis saw a small hole through the suit near the shoulder.
“Warren,” Ellis told Pax. “He’s guarding the bomb.”
“Send Beta and Alpha teams in to—” Geo-1 started to say.