‘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.’