‘Yes,’ said Arthur. He let go and dropped down to the next floor. He’d thought of aiming for the desk so he didn’t have so far to fall, but decided against it. There was no point in attracting the attention of the sorcerer there, particularly since he’d just noticed that these Denizens with the purple umbrellas weren’t writing. They still looked into the shaving mirror viewers or whatever they were, but they weren’t writing anything.
‘Where we going?’ asked Suzy.
‘To the side and down,’ Arthur said quietly as he led the way through an office and dodged around the occupant, who had pushed his chair back much farther than normal. ‘Flying. We have to find Dartbristle again and get him to lead us to wherever the stormwater goes.’
‘Why not just ask Alyse? She’s got that guide to the whole place and all.’
Arthur stopped suddenly and Suzy ran into his back.
‘What guide?’ he asked.
‘That book – it’s got maps and instructions and everything, for wherever the gang might have to go,’ said Suzy. ‘Least that’s what Bigby was telling me. Kind of like your Atlas, only not as good.’
Arthur looked back. They’d only gone half a dozen offices.
‘She just wanted to get rid of us,’ he said.
‘Fair enough,’ said Suzy. ‘Can’t blame her for that.’
‘Yes, I can.’ Arthur was about to say more when a huge torrent of water crashed down between him and Suzy, knocking the Piper’s child off her feet.
‘This ’ere rain is a bit much,’ Suzy said as she struggled to her feet. ‘Wouldn’t mind a bit of sunshine, meself.’
‘Wouldn’t we all,’ said the Denizen at the nearby desk. He didn’t look away from his mirror-screen.
‘Thought you lot weren’t supposed to talk to us,’ Suzy chided.
‘We’re not,’ sighed the sorcerer. ‘But it gets so boring just watching the mirror, waiting for something worth watching. What was that you were saying about someone wanting to get rid of you? I couldn’t hear properly over the rain.’
‘It was nothing,’ said Arthur.
‘Just the usual?’ The Denizen sighed again. ‘I thought you grease monkeys weren’t so afflicted, not being eligible for promotion and so forth.’
‘Afflicted?’ asked Suzy.
‘Resentful and envious,’ said the Denizen. ‘Take my last promotion, for example. The fellows I’d drunk tea with for the last thousand years, shared many a biscuit... they threw our department silver teapot at me as I rose above their heads.’
‘Come on, Suze,’ said Arthur. ‘We need to go back up.’
‘We do? What about that Overseer?’
‘An Overseer?’ squeaked the Denizen. ‘Get away from me! I must attend to my studies!’
He immediately opened a book and began to read it quietly aloud while also watching his mirror, one eye focussed left and one focussed right, which was quite disturbing to see.
Arthur stood still for a minute, thinking, then started back toward the stalled office.
‘What about that Overseer?’ Suzy asked again in a whisper as she caught up with him.
‘If we keep our distance, we should be fine,’ Arthur assured her. He was so mad at Alyse that he didn’t even consider the potential danger of being discovered. ‘I’ll get the information we need from Alyse and we’ll go again.’
Four grease monkeys were working on the broken office, but Alyse herself was not there and neither were the unconscious sorcerer, the Sorcerous Supernumeraries, nor any other Denizens. Arthur watched for a few seconds to make sure the coast was clear, then climbed up the corner framework and back into the office.
Whrod looked over from where he was undoing a chain link.
‘I thought Alyse sent you to get a chain bracket!’
‘She did,’ said Arthur. ‘But I have to check something with her first. Where is she? With the Sorcerer-Overseer?’
‘What Overseer?’ asked Whrod. ‘There was an Automaton-Scheduler, but that’s like five... four ranks below...’
‘Where’s Alyse, then?’
‘Dunno.’ Whrod shrugged. ‘Everyone’s checking the chain up on the next floor, except for us.’
‘Right!’ said Arthur. Flexing his knees, he jumped to the top of the desk, which had been tipped up to get it out of the way. From there, he jumped again to the next floor, a leap of at least eight feet.
‘Show-off,’ grumbled Suzy, and climbed up the corner.
SIXTEEN
ALYSE WAS ONE office away on the next level, rolling up a piece of paper to put in the message capsule that was on the sorcerer’s desk. All the other grease monkeys were busy inspecting chains, spread out through all the offices around. There was no sign of the automatons or the Automaton-Scheduler.
Arthur bounded over to Alyse and grabbed her elbow, turning her around so their backs were toward the sorcerer.
‘You tried to trick me,’ whispered Arthur fiercely. ‘Your handbook has the information I need.’
‘Let go of me!’ Alyse protested, but she was whispering too.
‘Don’t make a fuss,’ warned Arthur, tightening his grip on her arm. ‘If they find out who I am, then the whole gang will be punished... maybe even executed.’
‘All right,’ said Alyse. ‘What do you want?’
‘I want to find a large reservoir or water store. But first I want to see that message.’
He reached over and took the paper before Alyse could snatch it away, and flicked it open one-handed.
To Senior Shift-Sorcerer 61580
Report two suspicious Piper’s children flying down to Grease Monkey Depot of 27th Chain and Motivation Maintenance Brigade. Calling themselves Ray and Suze.
‘You traitor!’ spat Arthur.
‘Is that message ready or not?’ asked the sorcerer. He was unperturbed by the obvious animosity between Arthur and Alyse. ‘I haven’t got all day.’
‘There’s been a mistake,’ said Arthur. ‘No message, thanks.’
He forced Alyse toward the temporary shaft and handed the message to Suzy, whose face clouded as she read it.
‘Us Piper’s children always stick together,’ whispered Suzy. ‘Always!’
‘The job comes first,’ said Alyse.
‘You hold her, Suzy, while I look up her book,’ Arthur instructed. ‘Act casual. Alyse – remember that if you try anything, the whole gang will cop it, one way or another.’
‘What do you mean, act casual?’ asked Suzy as she took Alyse’s other arm.
‘Act like you’re friends looking at something on the floor together,’ said Arthur. He opened Alyse’s pocket and took out her handbook.
‘It won’t work for you,’ said Alyse. ‘Gang bosses only.’
‘It had better work for me,’ Arthur said as he opened it up. Alyse gasped.
‘But you can’t open it!’
Arthur ignored her and read the title page: Chain and Motivation Maintenance Guide Registered No. 457589.
Arthur flipped to the back. There was an index that just listed the capital letters A–Z. Arthur touched the W and the pages flipped to show a list of topics that began with that letter. He read through them quickly, until he saw Water, which had a long list of subtopics, including Storage facilities, permanent and Storage facilities, transient.
Under Water, Storage facilities, permanent, there were several listings, including Central Rain Reservoir and Mid-tower Rain Booster Tank. Arthur didn’t even need to touch the latter topic; he just looked at it longer than any other line, and the pages immediately flipped to show a cutaway drawing, a map and a list of technical details.
‘There’s a water store up higher; it’s about a hundred offices square and sits between 61350 and 61399,’ Arthur said. ‘That’ll probably do – it must be big enough.’
‘Big enough for what?’ asked Suzy, who was crouched down with Alyse, both of them apparently intent on the latticed floor.
‘I’ll tell you on the way.’ Arthur checked the handbook again, closed it, and was about to put it in his pocket when it shook in his hand and made a rattling noise.