Kingdom of Cages(147)

“Thanks,” she said, straightening up. Without waiting for his answer, she turned and strode down the corridor, heading for the thickest part of the crowd.

No one called her back. No one did anything except try to find room to walk or to stop and wait for an elevator.

Score, thought Teal happily as she joined the elevator crowd.

There were lots more superiors in Arm One. They marched in groups of four up and down the hallways, peering at every passerby, occasionally stopping them and demanding sheets and passes. Teal kept her head down so that her hair partially curtained her face, and tried not to walk too fast. She also tried not to worry too much about whether she’d be able to get into the directorate offices once she got there.

Thankfully, there were no more checkpoints. But the farther she went, the wider and starker the corridors became, until finally they had been pared back to the original plates. There weren’t even any info screens. All the panels had been scrubbed and resealed until they gleamed under the bare fluorescent panels that glowed overhead without even attempting to imitate sunlight. Teal wondered if this section was even on the daylight rotation anymore. The people walking past her looked peaked somehow, as if they were short on sleep, or real light, or both. Most of them had three or more different kinds of badges on their sleeves, and only a few of those looked familiar.

Overcrowding had evidently brought serious reorganization. Teal resisted the urge to touch her unmarked shoulder. If somebody stopped her, she’d deal with it then.

But nobody did. Teal just kept on walking past yards of bare walls, across a floor that all but echoed when she stepped on it. Chena had said a billion times that if you acted like you belonged someplace, pretty much everybody would assume you did.

Looks like she got something right after all. A memory of Chena holding her tight and saying they had to look after each other now welled up in Teal. She shoved it away. Like Chena had really looked after her, running off to go get herself maybe ripped open by the hothousers because Nan Elle told her to, and because she wanted a few days alone with her lover-boy.

The directorate was one of those places you couldn’t miss. Even back when Teal had known it, its reinforced silver archway took up the breadth of the corridor. Information and dedicated credit terminals stood sentry outside the entrance in between desk banks of superiors and moderators who were there to route citizens into the proper offices or files.

Much to Teal’s relief, all that remained intact. The superiors were armed and armored now, of course, and wired plastic and intercoms encased the desks, and there was nobody clogging the way to them, like there used to be. Still, they were all there.

Let’s hope they’re all there to be used. Wrapping her mind around that wish, Teal walked up to the nearest nonsuperior desk bank.

Three women and two men sat in individual shatterproof boxes. Teal picked the woman nearest to the pass-through on the grounds she might need to run for it.

“Hello, citizen,” said the woman as Teal approached. She sounded mechanical, and her downturned eyes were wary under a fringe of straight black hair. Teal’s hand went up automatically to smooth back her own hair.

“Hello,” she said, stopping what she hoped was a comfortable distance from the shatterproof. “But I’m not a citizen. I’m with the Authority and I need to get a message out to them.”

The woman stared at Teal blankly for a moment, as if the input refused to register.

“I’m sorry.” The woman blinked and pulled herself upright. “You said you were with the Authority? You’re not in uniform.”

Teal gave her a watery smile. “I know. It’s a long story. Could you just please put me in touch with the official rep?”

The woman frowned and poked at her keys for a moment. Teal wished she could lean over and see what was coming up on the screen. Her heart fluttered inside her, despite all her efforts to stay calm. It would be all right. She’d be talking to the Authority in a minute. She’d tell them everything. It would be all right….

The woman’s whole face creased into a frown, but then it cleared as she reached her decision. Hope joined the fear spreading up Teal’s heart. The info worker lifted her hand and beckoned—to the woman next to her, Teal thought.

But it was one of the superiors who moved. Teal’s legs rooted her to the floor. Before she could force them to run, the superior was there, hand on his belt.

“We’ve got a rogue,” said the woman, nodding at Teal. “Got through the checkpoint without processing. Better put her in holding until we can sort her out. She claims to be with the Authority, so don’t mess her up.”