A light started flashing on his display. A message read ‘battery low’.
Three sizes. Three ghosts. And if the third wasn’t down here in the tunnels…
He left the room. As he walked back into the hall, his dimming light fell upon the body once more.
He wanted to take it back into the Tower. He wanted to show it to the people. It proved something, though he was unsure what. The warning light began to blink faster. There wasn’t time. He would have to come back for it later. He quickly scanned the ground and found the flashlight the ghost had dropped, then he headed back to the tunnel that led to the ladder. The battery on his helmet died just as he reached it.
A few minutes later, after he’d clambered back out of the hatch into The Foundations, his wristboard started to flash with messages. They were all from Vauxhall. His hand hovered over the screen, uncertain what he should tell her. He didn’t know whether the third ghost would be able to read the message. He decided to keep it brief. He tapped out, ‘The killer is dead. I’m on my way up.’
“What happened to you?” she asked, when Ely entered the Control Room. He was vaguely surprised to see Arthur there.
“There was a fight,” he said, taking off his helmet. “The helmet’s battery died,” he added.
“I got your message, ‘the killers are dead’. I’ve sent it to everyone in the Tower,” she said. “It’s all over the newsfeeds.”
“What? Er, yes, the killer. One killer is dead,” Ely corrected her. “But there is another. There were three of them.”
“Three? You’re sure?” Arthur asked. “And this third one, smaller or larger than the other two?”
“What?” It was a strange question. He thought back to the jumpsuits. “Smaller, I think.”
“And a man or a woman?” Arthur asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Think. It’s important.”
“I’ve no idea,” Ely said.
Arthur looked over at Vauxhall. They exchanged a look.
“It’s what I thought,” Arthur said, slowly. “Did that man say anything before he died?”
“Nothing that made any sense,” Ely said, he suddenly felt very weary. He sat down heavily in the Control Room’s only chair. “Down there,” he said, “there’s space. There’s room. You could fit this entire Control Room. And the Recreation Room, as well.”
“Down where?” Vauxhall asked. “You mean down in The Foundations?”
“No. I mean down in the tunnels.”
Vauxhall opened her mouth to speak, but Arthur waved her into silence.
“That’s where you went?” Arthur asked. “You went down through the hatch in the Power Plant?”
“No, there’s a ladder. Down in the far corner of the server room. I think… I don’t know. I think they built the Towers on top of the ruins of something else.”
“Oh?” Arthur asked. “What kind of ruins did you see?”
“No idea,” Ely replied. “It’s dank. It’s dark. Part of it’s flooded, of course, but you could live down there. The ghosts did. And there’s metal that could be used. Could have been used.” He sighed. “But there’s no time now. All these years, Arthur, all those Chancellors, they talked about sacrifice, didn’t they? But their efforts were incomplete. They were only ever half-measures. I doubt there’s enough there to make another ship, and there’s no time now, but maybe one more life could have been saved. And now…” He glanced up at Vauxhall. “I don’t think you know, do you? About the colony ships, I mean. You should tell her, Arthur, she deserves to know.”
They shared another glance.
“He’s… he’s already told me,” she said.
“Good. Good.” Ely suddenly didn’t care. He was exhausted. “We need to find this third ghost. Then afterwards… I don’t know.” He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to think clearly. “I need to speak to Cornwall, maybe we can organise search parties or something.”
“Not today,” Arthur said. “It’s election day, Voting’s about to start. And you’re set to be elected.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ely said. “Not anymore.”
“No, but finding that ghost does,” Arthur said. “No one’s safe whilst she’s running around. Whatever happens next, Ely, you are still the Tower’s Constable. You need to do your duty. You understand?”
“Duty. Yes, I understand. Do you have any idea where I should look? There are—”
He was interrupted by an alarm.
“What’s that?” Ely asked.
“That’s nothing,” Vauxhall said. “It just means the voting has started. Look, I think I’ve found a way to track the killer,” she continued. “They keep hacking into our system, deleting and altering records, right? Well, I think I can monitor the location the changes are made from.”
“So we just wait until the ghost decides to—” Ely didn’t get to finish the sentence. There was a muffled bang. The Tower shook.
“What was that?” Arthur asked, running over to the screens. Half had gone blank.
Vauxhall pushed him out of the way. “There’s been an explosion,” she said.
“Where?” Ely asked.
“I don’t know. Half of the systems have gone offline, including the ones that would tell me.”
“Could it be an accident?” Ely asked.
“Of course not,” Arthur snapped. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
“I think it came from down in The Foundations,” Vauxhall said.
Ely nodded, thinking that there were a thousand places to hide down there. He’d probably walked right by the killer without noticing.
There was another explosion, this time far closer. The screens rattled, metal creaked.
“That was the recycling tanks,” Vauxhall said, as she began pulling up files. “More than half the systems are gone. I’ve still got access to the sleep-pods, the air-filtration plant, and about half the Tower’s lighting system.”
“Forget that,” Arthur said. “What about the cameras?”
“Some of them… I think…” She tapped out a command.
“There she is.” Ely pointed at a screen. A woman, wearing a rough-looking coat, stood staring up at a camera. “Where’s that?” he asked.
“That’s the airlock on Level Seventy-Seven,” Arthur said.
“Then that’s where I’m going.” Ely stood up.
“Wait,” Arthur said. “You’ll need this. He took out a package from underneath the desk. It was wrapped in linen, still covered in dirt. “Kept it in the flower beds. Just in case.” He unwrapped it.
“A pistol?” Ely took it, cautiously.
“Kept it since the Disaster. Kept it clean. Careful, it’s loaded. Never had to use it, not in here, but… Do you know how to use it?”
It was far bulkier than the ones Ely had seen in those old movies. It was made of slick black metal, and a plastic far more durable than the Tower’s printers could produce.
“This would have been useful a few hours ago,” he said.
“I didn’t think you needed it then. And you didn’t. But there’s a time coming, and coming soon if I’m any judge, where you’ll have to make a choice. This will help you with that choice. There’s a catch at the side. You want it pointing straight down when you pull the trigger.”
“Right. Got it.” Ely grabbed his helmet. The batteries were still flat. He dropped it. “Keep track of me on the cameras. Send me messages to my wristboard, if she moves—”
“Just go, Ely,” Vox said. “And good luck.”
Ely nodded once, then ran from the room and to the ramp that led up to Level Four.
The Tower was in chaos. The explosions had woken those workers who had been sleeping. Some milled about the corridors, others, just like they did every time they woke, were queuing by the elevators. At his approach they began shouting questions. Ely said nothing as he pushed them out of his way.