‘What’s that mean?’
‘Change of orders,’ said Alyse. ‘Please, can I check it?’
Arthur hesitated. At that moment, he heard a sudden hiss and rattle erupt from everywhere around, followed a second later by the pop of capsules ejecting from the pneumatic message tubes and clattering onto every Denizen’s desk within sight.
Arthur opened the handbook, which went straight to a page that said in large, red type:
GENERAL MOBILISATION!
The tower has reached the target point underside of the Incomparable Gardens. All engineering gangs are to report immediately to Ground Floor Exterior Platform Lift One under the command of Saturday’s Noon to secure and lift the assault ram.
Arthur looked around. Every single Denizen was standing up, and they were all removing and furling their umbrellas. Those who already had their umbrellas in hand were stepping out to form up in long files, facing deeper into the tower, ready to march.
‘Are the normal elevators that way?’ Arthur asked Alyse.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘What are the orders? We must obey!’
Arthur gave her the handbook. As Alyse read, he looked around. The leader of the Sorcerous Supernumeraries was reading a similar book to Alyse’s. The Supernumerary looked up and her sad gaze met Arthur’s. He quickly looked down, just in case she was powerful enough to recognise who – or what – he was.
‘We have to get going!’ repeated Alyse. ‘This is it, the big one. We’ll get to ride the cage all the way to the top!’
‘What’s this assault ram?’ asked Arthur.
Alyse shrugged. ‘Something big enough that it needs to go up on the outside cargo elevator. It’s amazing – three hundred feet a side and no chain. It’s self-propelling, driven by ten score senior sorcerers-’
‘Can we ride up on that too?’ asked Suzy, fired by Alyse’s enthusiasm.
‘No,’ Arthur said decisively. ‘Alyse, I’ll let you and the gang go, but you have to promise that you won’t tell and won’t betray us.’
‘Sure! Fine!’ said Alyse, a little too quickly.
Arthur looked around. The closer sorcerers were marching away. Only the Sorcerous Supernumeraries were still close, and they were watching the grease monkeys, who were mostly only pretending to inspect chains while they looked at Alyse and waited for her to tell them what was going on.
‘Give me your hand,’ he said quickly and quietly. ‘And promise me, Lord Arthur, Rightful Heir of the Architect, that you will not betray us.’
Alyse took Arthur’s hand.
‘I promise you, Lord Arthur, that I won’t betray you.’
A faint glow left Arthur’s fingers and moved into Alyse’s hand. She cried out, but Arthur didn’t let her go until the faint light had disappeared.
‘What occurs?’ asked a slow, deep voice.
Arthur looked around. One of the Sorcerous Supernumeraries had sidled closer and was sniffing the air.
‘Something shiny fell down from above and went across the floor somewhere,’ Arthur said hastily. ‘But I guess there’s no time to look for it, what with this general mobilisation and all, right, boss?’
‘Yes,’ said Alyse slowly. She shook her head vigourously, sending a spray of water across Arthur’s and Suzy’s faces. ‘No time to waste...’
‘Something from above? Something shiny?’ asked the Supernumerary. He immediately knelt down and started sniffing the floor. Arthur and the others moved away.
‘No time to waste!’ shouted Alyse. ‘Form up, gang! We’re going down to the floor to work on Outside Elevator Number One!’
‘Number One?’ came a shouted question from the tilted office below. ‘Outside Elevator Number One?’
‘Yes!’ yelled Alyse. ‘Come on! Back to the Big Chain!’
The Supernumerary started to sniff toward Arthur’s feet. More of the funereal Denizens were coming over, intent on what their sniffing companion was doing.
‘We’ll take the up chain when the first two take the down chain,’ said Arthur as he and Suzy hurried after Alyse. All the offices were empty now, the Denizens and their umbrellas gone. ‘Get to this water store, get Part Six of the Will, and get out of here.’
‘What about this ’ere ram thing and old Saturday gettin’ into the Gardens and everything?’ asked Suzy.
‘First things first,’ said Arthur. The Big Chain was only a dozen offices ahead. He looked back. All the Supernumeraries were on the floor of the office where he’d been – a big, ugly pile of black-clad Denizens all trying to sniff at the floor. They reminded him of the writhing piles of sawfly larvae that fell from the trees in the garden at home.
I hope I can get back in time to make sure I have a home, he thought. Though people are more important than places, and the house is probably far enough away to survive that nuke attack. But Leaf and everyone – they’re too close, and I don’t even know what I’ve done or how long it will last. I can’t think about it now. I have to concentrate on what’s in front of me...
‘What colour umbrellas do they have in the 61300s?’ asked Arthur. ‘If they haven’t gone...’
‘Checks of blue and yellow,’ said Alyse.
‘We’ll have to count from here,’ said Arthur as he looked up through the structure. He could see lines of moving Denizens, but they had their umbrellas furled and there were none still at their desks. ‘You start heading down, Alyse. We’ll go around to the up chain.’
‘No hard feelings,’ said Alyse.
‘Speak for yourself,’ Arthur replied.
I will return and punish her dreadfully, he thought, then suppressed the brief moment of rage. There are more important things to do. Forget about it.
‘Wotcher, Alyse,’ said Suzy. ‘Don’t get yer spanner in a twist!’
She waved cheerily as Alyse and another grease monkey stepped out and into a moving link of the downward chain. Arthur hurried around to stand on the edge next to the rising chain.
‘Easy does it,’ said Suzy. Arthur took her hand and they both stood there for a few moments, watching the chain speed upward, gauging when they should step on.
‘Now!’ said Suzy, and they stepped forward. Either Suzy wasn’t as good at judging the speed as Alyse, or Arthur was worse with his eyes open than his eyes shut, because they mistimed it a little and were flung about. One of Arthur’s feet trailed over the side before he got his balance and hastily pulled it in.
‘Oopsie-daisy,’ said Suzy. ‘This is a bit of fun, this chain. We could do with one of these back in the old Lower House, I reckon.’
‘There is no more Lower House,’ said Arthur. He was trying to count the floors as they whizzed past.
‘That’s right,’ said Suzy. ‘I forgot. Oh, well.’
Arthur stared at her. How could she have forgotten that so easily? Sometimes he thought the Piper’s children were no more human than the Denizens, no matter that they’d started out as mortal kids.
Thinking about that made him forget to count.
‘Drat! I suppose it won’t matter if we’re a few floors out. The Rain Booster Tank is huge, according to that guidebook. Which I should have kept.’
‘Why do we want to go to a Rain Booster Tank?’
‘Catch some of this rain and take a very close look.’ Arthur cupped his hand to demonstrate, and Suzy followed suit, being careful not to stick her hand out too far beyond the chain, where it might get lopped off by a protrusion from an upper floor.
‘What am I looking for?’ she asked when her hand was brimful of clear water.
‘Letters and words,’ said Arthur.
‘Yes! I see ’em!’ exclaimed Suzy. ‘O-r-l-g-w-x-s-t-r-e... orlgwxstre... hmmm... that sounds familiar but I can’t quite put me finger on-’
‘It’s not an actual word!’ said Arthur. ‘It’s just a random, jumbled-up bit of the Will. It’s split up among all these raindrops. That’s why I need to find a place where lots of water comes together, because more, or even most, of the Sixth Part of the Will should be there.’
‘Right!’ Suzy nodded. ‘So you get it and we get out?’
‘Probably. I guess that’s still the most sensible thing to do, though I wish I knew why Saturday wants to get into the Incomparable Gardens, and why she can’t just go up an elevator. Oh, no!’