Page 67 of Sparktopia
“Sector 1 is six levels? Fuckin’ hell. How many levels down is sector 4, quad H minus 5, floor 2?”
“Umm…” She shrugs again, but with both shoulders and hands this time. “A bigger number than I can count. A lot. But I can take you, if you want.”
“You’ve been down there before?”
“Of course. I’ve been everywhere. But down here, mostly in my dreams.”
“I’m not sure that’s helpful.”
“You say that now because you don’t dream the way I do. But if you follow me, you will.”
“I will what?”
“Dream the way I do.”
“Am I gonna get zapped with spark, or something?”
Anneeta laughs, a very childlike giggle. “You’ve already been zapped with spark, Tyse. That’s why you live here.”
“Right.” I’m suddenly very sorry I agreed to this job. “How high can you count?” I ask just so I can get an estimate of how far I’ll need to go.
“Twelve.”
I squint my eyes at her. “No one ever told you about thirteen, eh?”
“Thirteen is forbidden. It’s bad luck.”
“Well, it’s still a number. And if you know thirteen, you know fourteen. Then fifteen. Can you see the pattern?”
“Yes. But thirteen is forbidden.”
“Whatever. Lead the way. Let’s do this.”I wave a hand into the darkness, inviting her to go first.
I expect her to balk at least a little. But she just takes off into the black without hesitation. A moment later, just as I’m pulling a torch off my belt, the way forward illuminates.
Again, like back outside, not all the lights are working. So it’s a disorienting sputter of semi-darkness instead of actual illumination. “Are you doing this?” I point up at the lights when she looks over her shoulder at me.
She stops, waiting for me to catch up. “No. It’s just the god.”
“There’s no god here, Anneeta.”
“Then how do the lights come on?” She falls in next to me, walking again.
“Some kind of sensor? I’ve seen them before. Where I grew up, there was a god. And there were sensors for everything. All the lights were automated like this.”
“Really?” She sounds astonished. “Did you ever meet the god?”
“Oh”—I laugh—“hell yes, I did. I was always in front of that fucker being punished.”
“Punished?” She stops walking and looks up at me, hands on hips. “Forwhat?”
“For… whatever. He was an asshole.”
“What city did you grow up in?”
“Delta.”
She’s standing right under a light so I get the full effect of her crinkling nose as she stares up at me with squinted eyes. “Where’s that?”
