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Fenton tried to take control of the situation.
"Listen, Captain, if we could just step through and explain the situation we'll stop holding up the line and I'm sure when you hear what we have to say you'll see it our way. And if you don't, we'll leave. Okay?"
The captain seemed uncertain. He looked like he wanted to ask someone what to do but was afraid of losing face. Fenton leaned in to his indecision.
"Well?"
The captain was tipped over.
"Yes, I suppose you'd better step inside."
Fenton and Vickers made to pass through but the guard didn't get out of the way. She looked enquiringly at the captain.
"Sir?"
The captain covered himself with impatient bluster.
"Yes, yes, let them through."
"On your authority sir?"
"Yes, damn it, on my authority. Now start this line moving." He waved Vickers and Fenton to where he was standing on the other side of the barrier. "So what is all this about?"
Fenton put an arm around the captain's shoulder and steered him away from the guards and the lines at the gates. Vickers followed them.
"It's like this, see. We think we might have a problem with one of your jumpers and all we wanted to do was to go down to the jumpers' locker room and discreetly go through his stuff."
The captain was looking nervous again.
"A jumper? One of the ones who actually go inside the reactor?"
"One of those. One of those exactly. That's why we have to be so very careful. I mean, those people don't have very long lifespans, do they?"
"It's not as bad as it was on the outside, we take better care…"
"Yeah, but what with contamination and their hair falling out and everything, they've still got plenty of room to get mean. Am I right?"
"I guess so."
"And if one of them went rogue they could do an untold amount of damage."
"That's right."
"We only had the faintest of whispers that one of these people might be up to something but there was no way that we could ignore it."
"What was this whisper?"
"That someone was stashing explosives inside the fusion loop."
The captain actually turned a little pale.
"You have to be joking. Do you know what even the smallest explosion in the fusion loop could do?"
"And that's why we have to go in and check things out."
The captain shook his head.
"If you want to go in and search why didn't you go through cha
Fenton removed his arm from around the captain's shoulder with a look of exasperation.
"Are you back on that again? You know what it's like around here. If we'd gone through cha
"I guess not."
"So are you going to take us down there or do I have to get someone with some real clout?"
It was Vickers' moment to interrupt. "Do we have to fuck around with this jerk any longer? Let's just find his superior and explain how he's fucking us over."
Fenton became the calming influence.
"Hey, give him a break, will you? He wants to cooperate, he's just nervous. They go by the book down here, that's all." He turned to the captain. "You're going to help us out, aren't you?"
The captain caved in. "Okay, but I'm going to have to come down there with you.
Fenton beamed. "Sure. Let's go to it."
With the captain completely buffaloed, the rest was easy. They went through to the jumpers' locker room and opened the locker of one Jose Torres. The computer had selected him as being the same size as Vickers, so his radiation suit would fit. He was also off-shift so the suit would be hanging in his locker. While the captain watched, they searched every inch of the suit. Finally they delivered the verdict.
"There're no secret pockets or gimmicks in the suit that we can find. We're going to have to take it in for some lab tests."
Vickers had an apparent thought.
"We really ought to put another suit in its place so Torres won't suspect anything." He looked at the captain. "Can you fix that for us? Can you get us another suit?"
The captain was now a hundred percent anxious to please. He practically skipped to the nearest wall phone. Inside of ten minutes, a mystified orderly had brought down a second orange radiation suit. Vickers folded Torres' original suit under his arm and let the increasingly relieved captain lead them back the way they'd come. As they walked out through the security check, Vickers couldn't resist a parting shot. He wagged a cautionary finger at the captain.
"Not a word now, right? Nothing to anyone?"
The captain was as eager as a terrier. "You can trust me."
"I sure hope we can."
Vickers and Fenton walked slowly between two lines of parked vehicles to the first level, doing their best to look like it was just a routine patrol. Over the past two days they'd conducted a lot of random, unauthorized patrols and no one had challenged them or even asked a question. This, however, was the big one. It was their first shot at the outside. Vickers had Jose Torres' radiation suit slung over his shoulder in a canvas tote bag and, in addition to the usual Yasha, he also carried a big 12 gauge Churchill autoload. As far as hardware went, Vickers was ready for the outside. Emotionally, he wasn't so sure. The dry metallic taste was in his mouth and the acid knot in his stomach. It was different, though, from preparing for combat. This was something completely unknown. He knew that he was scared of what he might find out there. All he could do was lean back on his nerves and carefully put one foot in front of the other.
They came to the end of the line of vehicles. They turned and walked up another. Without being too obvious about it, they were gradually working their way away from the sealed elevator door toward the far back of the level. After sauntering casually for another five minutes, they were between two rows of tall armored perso
"This looks like as good a place as any." Vickers dropped the tote bag on the ground. They stood still for a few seconds, waiting for any possible challenge. When none came, Vickers bent down and dragged out the suit. He unrolled it and laid it flat.
"You want to help me with this?"
"Sure."
Fenton held up the bulky orange suit while Vickers struggled into it. Finally he pulled on the headpiece but left the faceplate open.
"Christ, you could sweat to death in one of these."
They both glanced around at the black, silent lines of armor. Nothing seemed to be moving. Vickers took a deep breath.
"I guess I'd better get going."
Fenton glanced at his watch. Vickers did the same. Fenton had one more look round.
"You want to give me five minutes to get out of here?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Take it easy, right? Just two hours and then right back inside."
Vickers nodded. "If I'm not back in three, you've never heard of me."
Fenton briefly gripped Vickers' arm and then he walked away. Vickers watched him go. His diminishing footsteps were measured and even, as though he didn't have a care in the world. The old familiar feeling of wanting to be somewhere else crept over Vickers. He did his best to focus his attention on the passage of time, staring at the digits on his watch, willing them to change. He gave Fenton his full five minutes, then he shouldered the Churchill and started determinedly into the darkness.
It was like another world. At first the things that scuttled out of the way of his flashlight beam were rats and lizards and small desert rodents. As he got further in though, they sounded bigger and a lot more timid. People? Mad enough to live out here in the dark? No flooring had ever been put in and the ground underfoot was covered with building debris. He had to take care not to stumble on rocks, chunks of masonry and discarded boards. Stacks of unused building material and heaps of garbage gave the unfinished area a set of contours that provided natural cover for whoever and whatever lurked. At regular intervals there were small smokey fires with dark figures crouched among them. Vickers didn't approach any. He figured that those who had elected to live in this place had sufficient troubles without the addition of being scared witless by a monsterous, armed figure in an orange suit. At some point, someone had clearly tried to marginally improve the unfinished area. Loops of electrical cable hung down from the ceiling like black jungle vines. Vickers had seen a handful of jury-rigged lights off in the distance but they were quickly extinguished when he threatened to come anywhere near them. The oddities who hid out in the place were skittish and extremely watchful.