I was fearful it had, like the lion, started killing for fun. It would be dangerous to the rest of us.
The tiger had left the lake and returned to where it slept each night. Neither Blip nor I could figure out where it was hiding. We had thought of different ways to canvas the area. We had tried my tree, and while it’s incredibly tall, it still gets lost in the canopy, and the field of view is limited. We ended up make a sniper’s nest from one of the Jacobs. It’s how I knew I could force the doors open. Blip had convinced number six to only go up a few dozen feet, just high enough to get a good view of some of the beast’s hunting grounds and low enough that we could get to it if we spotted it. We pushed the doors open and just hung out there. For days. We had stocked up on snacks, and Blip had flown out a few times to get me a few extra items from the tree or one of the reserves. Then one night after the sunstrips had faded and a subtle cerulean hue lit the entire Disc, we saw something move between the trees.
It was smart. It moved from bush to bush to high weed along the eastern end of the lake. We never did catch a look at the black and orange patterning, but we could see it clearly by how the foliage moved. We followed as the disruption in the leaves moved further toward the rise of living structures along the curve of the outer wall of the Disc.
It stopped from time to time, and we were sure we had lost it. The movement of the brush would stop and all would grow still. Far away we heard a small bird squawk but other than that, our world was silent and still.
Then it moved again. Finally, after minutes of watching this odd, random advance, the tiger broke from beyond the shrubbery and walked atop a stone bench and stood, staring behind it, daring someone—daring me. It knew I was following. It never looked at us, but there was a moment that I knew it was aware of our eyes on it. How? I don’t know. But it knew I could see it. It knew that its secrets were about to be revealed. But as it could not see who it sensed, the tiger shivered and then leaped from the bench onto the tile floor and walked into one of the main houses, a green condominium along the first-floor level. It disappeared in the shadow of the open doorway. It was going to sleep, aware that morning was coming soon.
I wouldn’t hunt it at night. It was too awake. Too alert. Too dangerous.
15
THROUGH THE MIRROR
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
The gate assembly was thicker than she had imagined. They floated through the quiet corridor until Blip flashed red and stopped. The light of the access tunnel went out.
“Blip?” Syn said, a flood of fear washing over her.
“It’s fine,” he stated in a whisper, “Just be quiet.”
Always cautious Blip, Syn thought.
“Let me ahead. I’ll try to open it up,” he said.
She felt him push past her as she hugged the wall.
In front of them, an opening appeared. Only a faint glow of red lights was visible and that was broken up by harsh shadows. At best, the light was a glow cast from some far-off source. Syn couldn’t see much but she could smell something. Acrid. The air was pungent and the stench of chemicals wafted through the corridor. She took a breath and felt her throat burn. Her nose felt like it was on fire, and she started to cough. She struggled to hold it back, but the impulse was too powerful. One hand clamped over mouth, she began to cough. The sound echoed through the access chute and out into the major room.
Blip whirled around. “Stop,” he hushed.
It did no good. She continued to cough, her eyes watering with tears and her face turning red. She let loose her spear and brought both hands up to her face, trying to stifle the fit.
Blip glared and then flew out of the opening, into the room. For a brief moment, between coughs, between the haze of her watered eyes, she saw the red glow cast on Blip’s shell, and he looked like some ghastly spirit risen to haunt her.
The fit continued, but after a minute, it lessened until she was only hacking with an irritated throat. The air was still noxious in her nostrils. The smell was worse than anything she’d smelled before, save the air hovering the body farms, but even that smelled organic. The body farm produced chemicals that spoke of life and death. The smell from the other side of the gate was something else. It was unnatural. Unreal. And Syn hated it.
She floated there, bumping against the edges of the tunnel, wiping the water from her eyes. They’ve heard us. They’ve heard us, she thought. She wasn’t sure who “they” were. Blip seemed certain they were dangerous, and she’d accepted that fact on this side of the gate.
A moment passed and the fit subsided, she took shallow breaths, working to avoid more irritation. Again, it was only her and the hum of the engines. Where had Blip gone?
She started to speak when the red-hued orb of Blip flew back down to the front of the opening. “It’s okay,” he said. “The room on this side is empty. He glanced back behind him, “Well, not empty.” He scanned around and motioned with a slight nod at the floating debris littered around them. “Not like our side. But there’s no one over here. No one heard you.” Then he floated close to her. “Are you okay?”
Syn shut her eyes. His lying had hurt her. This brief moment, as he demonstrated he was still concerned for her, worked to heal that, and she recognized it. It wouldn’t resolve everything, not even the majority of it. But it helped a bit.
She nodded. “I’m fine.” She pushed out toward him. “It smells horrible.”
Blip turned on a few additional sensors. “Yes. There’s been a fire here.”
“The explosion?”
“Yes, that. And more.” He moved ahead of her and went up past her view.
She followed after, pulling herself out of the access point. As she exited, she heard a small whoosh and looked back to see that way vanish. Just as on the other side, if there was a hatch there, she couldn’t tell it. It was simply a wall. A huge iron wall. She followed the wall up and out. The room was bathed in red glow from several orbs floating in the center of the room. Large chunks of debris and machinery floated around. There was no clear path from one side to the other. Only crimson, mangled chunks of metal before them.
In the depths of the room, she lost the far chunks in a haze of smoke. Something had been burning on this side. The smoke still pumped from somewhere unseen. She could see the clouds of white smoke billowing up and out, continually filling the space.
“Stay close,” Blip said.
She nodded. She didn’t need the reminder. She hadn’t expected this. Although she wasn’t sure what she had expected.
Nostalgia caught her. Not for the location but for the experience. In the early years, after descending into the Disc, she’d explored day after day. Every morning brought a new site and unexpected danger. The trek they were making now was foreign.
“I missed this,” she said to Blip as they pushed off from the edge toward the center of the room.
Blip didn’t respond. Perhaps he didn’t hear. She was glad that he hadn’t acknowledged because she felt embarrassed as she uttered it. A bit immature.
They moved further into the room. They grappled and rolled around larger chunks of machinery. Each piece dented and smashed as if they had been mauled by some gigantic hand attempting to create a snowball. Yet, the pieces were twice her height. How did they get them up in the room? Where had the machines come from?