The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

I shoved another piece of bread in my mouth, the taste deliciously sour and fresh, and looked at Dylan for an explanation as to why the sentinels had played a role in the decision to go down. She knew that I wanted to get to the Citadel as quickly as possible, so there had to be a reason she had done the opposite.

“The sentinels are still mostly on the upper levels,” Dylan reported. “Which means the doors on those levels are the most dangerous, because sentinels could be lurking on the other side. It would be madness to try to slip back into the shell and get back up to the Grounds that way. So we went down, to see if we could get ahead of the sentinels and slip out one of the doors down here. Get back into the shell.”

I chewed thoughtfully, mulling over what she was saying, and realized she was right. It had been the right call. Getting to the Citadel to help the others meant avoiding as many obstacles as possible, which meant the path of least resistance was the right one.

“So then why are you fighting?” I asked after I had swallowed the bread. “It makes sense.”

“Because I think you should exit on the north side of the shell, and use the power conduits running up the side to climb up,” Lynch said angrily. “They have no sensors, no cameras, and none of the sentinels would think to look for you in there.”

“And I said that would take too long,” Dylan practically snarled. “The area in there is tight, not meant for fast movement. You need to get us to the west side of the Tower. Lift shaft number 12 on that side goes all the way up to level 83 of the shell before it dead ends, so we can use our lashes to climb up the shaft all the way to the top, taking rests every ten levels or so. From there, we would just have to sneak up two flights of stairs.”

I stared at both of them for a moment, and then took another bite of bread, using the time to consider both their plans. In truth, I hadn’t been thinking about the how of getting up; I’d just assumed we would return to the Grounds and climb up the same way Sage did. But they were right to be considering it, because with the sentinels in the shell, movement within it was going to be very tricky, if not downright impossible.

But I didn’t like the sound of either of their proposed options. The power conduits that Lynch was talking about were one of the four main power lines that transferred power from Water Treatment and Cogstown and distributed it to the Core and the rest of the Tower. While they ran all the way to the top, and had just enough space for workers to climb in and out, the conduits in there emitted massive amounts of thermal radiation, making it dangerous to be in there for a long time. There were environmental suits we could wear to resist it, but even then, they started losing integrity after an hour. Not to mention, if Sage needed power diverted to the Core for his plan to kill Scipio, then he was undoubtedly keeping an eye on those conduits—if only to make sure no one tampered with them.

But just because they were out didn’t mean going up an elevator shaft was any better. The entire shell was without power and pitch black, making something that was difficult enough to navigate—even when lit—damn near impossible to do so in the darkness. The Tower held a veritable pitfall of ways you could plummet to your death, and if we weren’t extremely careful (and slow), then we could accidently step into an elevator shaft or plummet into one of the plunges. Or worse, someone from an upper level could accidently fall into one while we were in it, and plummet down on top of us, killing everyone on impact. Not to mention, the sentinels would undoubtedly be monitoring them as well, looking for anyone trying to escape. It was far too exposed.

I’m glad you got there quickly, Tony said in my head, his voice exasperated. Because I didn’t want to waste time giving you the numbers. Your best option is to go outside.

“Outside?” I exclaimed out loud, and Lynch and Dylan both exchanged confused looks. I ignored them, my mind racing. What he was talking about was risky, but I immediately saw the appeal. Sage wouldn’t anticipate anyone going outside the Tower to avoid him. He would assume that everyone would try to remain inside rather than risk getting stuck outside. If we could make it to one of the access hatches and get out, then we could scale the side of the Tower with our lashes. It was still dangerous. If the lash ends failed, the gyros in our harnesses gave out, or we grew careless due to exhaustion, we could plummet to our deaths. But Tony was right: it was the best way to get up the Tower unobstructed.

I looked at the other occupants of the room, and smiled. “Tony suggests we scale the outside of the Tower, and I happen to agree with him. Where’s a good place to do that?”

Lynch leaned away from the table, his face contemplative, and then nodded thoughtfully, while I took the opportunity to stuff more bread into my mouth. “On the north side of the Tower,” he said. “It’ll put you out of direct sunlight, which will hopefully prevent you from getting too sunburned or dehydrated, and it’ll give you the best access to the Citadel without forcing you to navigate too much of the shell. You’ll be exposed on the bridges, but… I don’t know where you go from there. I’m not really familiar with that area of the Tower, so you’ll have to figure it out. I can at least get you out.”

“Excellent,” I said approvingly around another spongy mouthful of bread.

“Not excellent,” Dylan cut in before I could say more. I switched my gaze over to her, swallowed the piece down, and waited for her to air her issues to the group. “We don’t have the equipment to scale the Tower. I don’t know when you last switched your lash ends out, but I haven’t done it in a while, and we’ve both been exposed to all sorts of radiation, which you and I both know causes them to degrade. I don’t have any spares, and you’re talking about climbing a hundred stories with them. They will fail, and we will die, long before we reach the top.”

She was right, of course, but I had already been going over the problem in my head, and I had thought up a solution.

“Lynch, where’s the nearest Knight supply station?” I asked.

Every department had supply stations on the other floors, just for situations like this. And though they were some of the most secure rooms in the Tower, they also ran on battery power, making them accessible even during a crisis. Only workers from the right department had access, meaning only Knights had access to Knight supply rooms, Cogs to Mechanical supply rooms, etc. It was impossible for Scipio to lock anyone out, as they operated outside of his systems.

He blinked, a surprised smile dawning on his face. “On the way, actually. Why?”

“Well, for one thing, Dylan and I are going to need replacement lash ends. But for another, you’re going to need batons to fight Alice. One won’t do much to slow her down, but if you can organize people, and you all hit her at the same time, then you can disable her long enough to rip the hard drive out of each sentinel’s back. Rose, would you show him?”

She turned around and pointed to the black box under the metal cage fitted between her shoulder blades, and I continued talking. “Do whatever you can to destroy that, and you destroy the sentinel.”

He nodded and pulled out his pad to type a message on it while I looked at Dylan, raising an eyebrow in mocking smugness. She arched one of her own, and then looked me over from head to toe.

“That was a really smart suggestion,” she admitted with a smile. “But you better take a look in the mirror before you go acting all superior.”

I laughed at that, and turned toward one of the pictures in the wall, trying to catch a glimpse of my reflection. “Are you saying that I don’t look pretty enough to bust in and rescue Grey and the others?”