Superior Saturday(50)

‘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!’

‘What!?’ Suzy looked around wildly.

‘I’ve lost count again. Maybe we’ll be able to see it, if the offices are empty.’

All the offices they had been passing were empty, but a flash of movement caught Arthur’s eye a few floors up.

‘That one was full – but they were standing at their desks, not sitting.’

‘So’s this one. What are they doing?’

The floors went by too quickly for Arthur to be sure, but as far as he could see, the offices they’d just passed were full of Denizens doing something that looked like tai chi – a formalised, slow dance, in their case performed at the side of their desks. Their umbrellas were furled too, so they were dancing in the rain, kicking up arcs of spray as they slowly turned and jumped.