Inside Out
Page 45
“People said the same thing about Gateway.” I gestured to Logan. “Yet we’re one password away from the location.”
Logan met my gaze. “How should I type it? Week one million or the millionth week?”
“Try both.”
Unable to remain seated, Riley and I joined Logan at the computer. I held on to the back of his chair as he typed the millionth week and hit Enter. The words disappeared and the password prompt returned. This time he entered week one million.
“Are you sure?” Logan’s finger was poised over the key.
I let go of the chair and clutched Riley’s arm. “Yes.” I wanted to turn away, but I watched the screen. It turned black then lines of text raced across, matching my heart’s rhythm. I couldn’t read the words; they kept jumping up as more white lines streaked on the screen.
“Logan?” I didn’t care if I used his name.
“Yes! Got it!”
I wrapped my arms around Logan’s neck and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and hugged Riley. Caught up in the excitement, he leaned back and picked me off the floor, spinning me around.
Logan rattled off a bunch of numbers.
“How do I find it?” I asked, still dizzy and thrilled Riley’s arms supported me.
“Oh, right.” Furious typing and a crude schematic of Inside appeared, showing a cube with a pulsing dot near the bottom of one side. “It’s along the west wall in Quad G1. That’s hydroponics.”
“You’d think the workers would notice it,” Riley said.
“Maybe it’s one of those near-invisible hatches Trella found,” Logan said.
“Near-invisible?” Riley looked down at me.
He held me close. Tall and with his strong arms wrapped around me, I knew I should extricate myself from his embrace, but a part of me wanted to stay. “Some doors are hard to see. Perhaps the vines have grown over it,” I said.
“Oh, yeah. Lots of vines,” Logan said.
Annoyed, Riley’s muscles tightened. “Your friend’s a lousy liar. What are you hiding?” When I hesitated, he moved his hands to my shoulders and pushed me back so he could see me better. “Enough. The location…the existence of Gateway is huge. No. It’s way bigger than that…it’s a whole other phenomenon. The repercussions are going to be unimaginable if it is really there and it works. I need to know everything right now, or I’m going to…”
“To what? Report me? You risk being implicated.”
“No. I’m going to follow you. Yes, even through those vents until I know the whole story.”
Logan eyed him. “You’ll get stuck.”
“It’s ridiculous. He’s not going to do it,” I said.
“Then I won’t let you leave until you tell me.” Riley straightened, trying to look bigger.
“Two against one,” I said. “And I’m armed.” I rested my hand on my tool belt.
He deflated and dropped his hands, but, by the gleam in his eyes, I knew he hadn’t given up.
“How about in exchange for Sheepy?”
“Really? You’d give me Sheepy?” I called his bluff.
“Yes.”
He meant it, and my reaction surprised me. I would have loved to have the little sheep. “No. Sheepy stays with his mama.” I put my hand up to stop Riley. “Just let me think.”
As Riley had said, discovering Gateway’s existence was a whole other realm of problems and possibilities. If caught right now, Riley would be recycled just for knowing about it. Too late to save him. Remembering his lecture about choices and sacrifices didn’t make me feel any better.
“You’d better sit down,” I said. “It’s a long story.”
“So Gateway wouldn’t be on the wall in hydroponics, but on the real outer Wall?” Riley asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“And no one knows about this except the three of us?”
“As far as I know. I’ve never seen anyone in the Gap, but it’s possible high-ranking uppers could know or find it in the computer.”
“Complete and detailed diagrams and blueprints of Inside have been deleted,” Logan said. He had been searching through the computer, trying to gather as much information as he could about the Controllers.
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t the engineers need them?” Riley asked.
“Each system—water, air, electrical and heating—has its own blueprints. Let’s see…if I put them…together.” Logan typed. “Still not showing Trella’s Gap or Gateway. Lot’s of other stuff’s missing, too. Historical records and logs have been wiped clean up until…week 132,076.”
Almost one hundred and fifty centiweeks ago.
“The first log is written by Admiral Peter Trava. He mentions saboteurs wielding magnets and trying to destroy Inside. He says they were stopped with no loss of life, but with major damage to the computer, causing data loss.” Logan scrolled through a few more pages. “Something’s wrong. The deletion was too clean for a magnet.”
“Do you know when the files were deleted?” I asked.
“The same week Admiral Pete’s entry was written, which was only fifteen centiweeks ago. Whoa! It’s bogus.”
“What happened that week?” I asked.
“Could have been when a few of the uppers tried to get into protected files on the system,” Riley said. “My dad told me about it. Maybe they got too close to the truth, and the Travas decided to delete all the data prior to their takeover and write the bogus entry to explain it.”
Logan met my gaze. “How should I type it? Week one million or the millionth week?”
“Try both.”
Unable to remain seated, Riley and I joined Logan at the computer. I held on to the back of his chair as he typed the millionth week and hit Enter. The words disappeared and the password prompt returned. This time he entered week one million.
“Are you sure?” Logan’s finger was poised over the key.
I let go of the chair and clutched Riley’s arm. “Yes.” I wanted to turn away, but I watched the screen. It turned black then lines of text raced across, matching my heart’s rhythm. I couldn’t read the words; they kept jumping up as more white lines streaked on the screen.
“Logan?” I didn’t care if I used his name.
“Yes! Got it!”
I wrapped my arms around Logan’s neck and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and hugged Riley. Caught up in the excitement, he leaned back and picked me off the floor, spinning me around.
Logan rattled off a bunch of numbers.
“How do I find it?” I asked, still dizzy and thrilled Riley’s arms supported me.
“Oh, right.” Furious typing and a crude schematic of Inside appeared, showing a cube with a pulsing dot near the bottom of one side. “It’s along the west wall in Quad G1. That’s hydroponics.”
“You’d think the workers would notice it,” Riley said.
“Maybe it’s one of those near-invisible hatches Trella found,” Logan said.
“Near-invisible?” Riley looked down at me.
He held me close. Tall and with his strong arms wrapped around me, I knew I should extricate myself from his embrace, but a part of me wanted to stay. “Some doors are hard to see. Perhaps the vines have grown over it,” I said.
“Oh, yeah. Lots of vines,” Logan said.
Annoyed, Riley’s muscles tightened. “Your friend’s a lousy liar. What are you hiding?” When I hesitated, he moved his hands to my shoulders and pushed me back so he could see me better. “Enough. The location…the existence of Gateway is huge. No. It’s way bigger than that…it’s a whole other phenomenon. The repercussions are going to be unimaginable if it is really there and it works. I need to know everything right now, or I’m going to…”
“To what? Report me? You risk being implicated.”
“No. I’m going to follow you. Yes, even through those vents until I know the whole story.”
Logan eyed him. “You’ll get stuck.”
“It’s ridiculous. He’s not going to do it,” I said.
“Then I won’t let you leave until you tell me.” Riley straightened, trying to look bigger.
“Two against one,” I said. “And I’m armed.” I rested my hand on my tool belt.
He deflated and dropped his hands, but, by the gleam in his eyes, I knew he hadn’t given up.
“How about in exchange for Sheepy?”
“Really? You’d give me Sheepy?” I called his bluff.
“Yes.”
He meant it, and my reaction surprised me. I would have loved to have the little sheep. “No. Sheepy stays with his mama.” I put my hand up to stop Riley. “Just let me think.”
As Riley had said, discovering Gateway’s existence was a whole other realm of problems and possibilities. If caught right now, Riley would be recycled just for knowing about it. Too late to save him. Remembering his lecture about choices and sacrifices didn’t make me feel any better.
“You’d better sit down,” I said. “It’s a long story.”
“So Gateway wouldn’t be on the wall in hydroponics, but on the real outer Wall?” Riley asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“And no one knows about this except the three of us?”
“As far as I know. I’ve never seen anyone in the Gap, but it’s possible high-ranking uppers could know or find it in the computer.”
“Complete and detailed diagrams and blueprints of Inside have been deleted,” Logan said. He had been searching through the computer, trying to gather as much information as he could about the Controllers.
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t the engineers need them?” Riley asked.
“Each system—water, air, electrical and heating—has its own blueprints. Let’s see…if I put them…together.” Logan typed. “Still not showing Trella’s Gap or Gateway. Lot’s of other stuff’s missing, too. Historical records and logs have been wiped clean up until…week 132,076.”
Almost one hundred and fifty centiweeks ago.
“The first log is written by Admiral Peter Trava. He mentions saboteurs wielding magnets and trying to destroy Inside. He says they were stopped with no loss of life, but with major damage to the computer, causing data loss.” Logan scrolled through a few more pages. “Something’s wrong. The deletion was too clean for a magnet.”
“Do you know when the files were deleted?” I asked.
“The same week Admiral Pete’s entry was written, which was only fifteen centiweeks ago. Whoa! It’s bogus.”
“What happened that week?” I asked.
“Could have been when a few of the uppers tried to get into protected files on the system,” Riley said. “My dad told me about it. Maybe they got too close to the truth, and the Travas decided to delete all the data prior to their takeover and write the bogus entry to explain it.”
