Broken Pixels (Broken Realms, #4)

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13The elevator’s wire-framed compartment—large enough to accommodate a large vehicle like the one they rode in earlier—came to a stop with a sudden jerk. Before them stood another roll-up garage door that automatically rose once they arrived at ground level. It opened into a dark square featureless space—other than a reflective white line in the center of the single lane of asphalt that led from the elevator door to another bay-size door some fifty feet away. The space resembled a one-car garage. Tentatively Mara exited the elevator and waved for Ping and Sam to follow.

Behind them, the door rattled and rolled closed. Ahead, the other door made a clatter of its own as it opened, revealing a narrow alley tightly wedged between two buildings. As they stepped to the opening, Mara was surprised that it was dark outside. Her virtual reality experience with Cam had given her the impression that it was still daytime, but that event had occurred earlier in the day. Outside, mounted on the cinder-block wall of the building to the left beneath a rusty domed shade hung a single light over two small green Dumpsters. On the right, a brick wall was unadorned except for Dumpster shadows.

They stepped into the alley, and the door behind them rolled down. Sam looked over his shoulder and then to Mara and said, “How are we supposed to get back in there, assuming we’re taking Cam’s head to the repository?”

Mara was about to say something and then stopped, her eyes narrowing. After a moment, she said, “Cam says I can think it open like they do.”

“Think it open?” Ping asked.

“Use the Sig-net the way they do. Let’s give it a try,” Mara said.

She turned to the door and thought open. The door began to rise. She smiled and looked at her brother with a satisfied expression. The door stopped its upward movement and then lowered again.

“I might get the hang of this yet,” she said.

“I always thought you would make a great robot,” Sam said.

Ping interjected, “Where do we go from here, other than to the end of this alley? Can Cam guide you to the location of his head?”

Mara was about to pose the question to Cam when she noticed a row of tiny yellow dots hovering in the center of the alley. They emitted a faint light that brightened and dimmed in a regular, repetitive sequence, like lights on an airport landing strip. She pointed ahead and said, “What is that?”

Ping looked to where she pointed and frowned. “Are you pointing at the ground?”

“No, those dots just above the ground,” she said. Sam looked at her like she was crazy and was about to comment, but she held up a hand, then added, “No, wait. That’s the path to Cam’s head.”

“You’ve got a Google map in your head now?” Sam asked.

Mara shrugged. “I guess we follow the dots until we find his head.” She held out an arm for them to proceed. “I’m not sure I like having all this stuff flowing into my brain just willy-nilly.”

As they walked down the alley, each glowing dot faded away as they passed it, prompting Mara to grin in amazement. Sam watched her askance and said, “You’re being a little goofy.” He turned to Ping and said, “She might be under the influence of this Sig-net thing. Maybe the robots have control of her.”

“We’ll keep an eye on her, just in case.” Ping smiled.

Her gaze focused on the floating dots that led to the end of the alley, Mara moved a couple paces ahead. Ping and Sam fell in step behind her.

* * *

As they passed the Dumpsters and through the halo of the light that hung over them, Sam felt exposed, as if they were walking on a stage. After they passed into darkness, he looked upward for any sign of movement yet saw nothing but bricks and cinder blocks. The buildings didn’t even have windows, fire escapes or any other features that he could discern. Between them, he could see a dark patch of sky—no stars, just ambient light bouncing off the clouds—however, he could make out thin bands of smoke riding a steady breeze above the city. He heard no sounds—no marauding groups of looters or vandals as he had expected, not even the hubbub of people and traffic moving through nearby streets.

“The silence here is giving me the creeps,” he said.

He looked down as they approached the end of the alley. Mara was still focused on the invisible dots, and Ping looked straight ahead. As Mara stepped from the alley and onto the sidewalk of the intersecting street, she pointed to the left and turned in that direction. For a split second, she was hidden. From the right, a dark figure darted past the end of the alley, knocking Ping out of its path.

“Mara! Watch out!” Sam yelled. He held out a hand to steady Ping and ran from alley.

* * *

Mara turned to see a man, his face hidden by a ball cap pulled low on his forehead, lurching toward her, holding his hand out to her. Her first thought was beggar. She inched toward the building, putting space between them, but he still limped after her, thrusting his upraised hand at her.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t have anything to give you,” Mara said.

The man lifted his hand and said, “See the light.” She sensed awe or reverence in his voice.

He shuffled closer, holding his hand just a few inches from Mara’s face. In his palm was a faint purple light, but Mara couldn’t see its source. Sam approached from behind and grabbed the man’s shoulder, yanking him away from his sister. The man staggered backward and fell to the sidewalk.

Sam stepped over him, stood next to Mara and said, “Are you all right? Was he attacking you?”

“I don’t think so. He’s got something in his hand he wanted me to see,” she said.

The man continued to hold up his hand. A purple glow radiated from between his fingers. Leaning over him, Sam peered at it. A single crystal, smaller than a pea, emitted a weak amethyst pulse, illuminating the dirt-encrusted creases of the man’s palm. Sam reached for it, and the man snapped his fingers closed, hugging his fist to his chest.

“No! See the light. See it,” the man said.

“How can I see the light if you won’t show it to me?” Sam asked.

The man curled himself into a ball around his fist and rolled to his side on the sidewalk.

Ping walked up to the scene and said, “Is this man in need of medical assistance?”

“No, I think he’s just got a bad case of whatever is running around in this realm,” Mara said. “He’s got something in his hand that he was showing me, but Sam freaked him out.”

On the ground, the man hid his face in his own hands and mumbled, “See the light. See the light.”

Ping gave them a quizzical look and said, “What do you propose we do?”

“I don’t want to get distracted by every stranger we meet. I mean, everything will probably look strange to us. I want to find Cam’s head and get it to the repository as soon as possible,” Mara said.

“See the light,” the man hissed. He pulled his hands away from his face. His eyes shimmered like a cat’s, radiating enough to cast light onto his soiled cheeks.

Mara gasped. The man jumped up, pushed past Sam and dashed down the street.

“That looked kind of creepy,” Sam said, staring after the man until he disappeared around the corner a half block away.

“Perhaps that’s not an unusual characteristic of their eyes at nighttime,” Ping suggested.

Mara shook her head and said, “Cam’s eyes never did that, and most of the time we had his head was at night and outside in light almost exactly like this. There’s definitely something odd going on with that guy.”

“You said something about not wanting to get distracted?” Sam asked.

Mara pointed up the street and said, “Right. The dots are pointing us in this direction.”

After they had walked for two blocks, Ping said, “Assuming such a thing exists in this realm, I believe we are east of the Portland State University campus.”

Mara looked down the street and saw the dots hovering over the sidewalk as far as she could see. “We’re definitely heading in that direction,” she said.