Superior Saturday (The Keys to the Kingdom 7)

'Fair enough,' said Suzy. 'Can't blame her for that.'

'Yes, I can.' Arthur was about to say more when a huge torrent of water crashed down between him and Suzy, knocking the Piper's child off her feet.

'This 'ere rain is a bit much,' Suzy said as she struggled to her feet. 'Wouldn't mind a bit of sunshine, meself.'

'Wouldn't we all,' said the Denizen at the nearby desk. He didn't look away from his mirror-screen.

'Thought you lot weren't supposed to talk to us,' Suzy chided.

'We're not,' sighed the sorcerer. 'But it gets so boring just watching the mirror, waiting for something worth watching. What was that you were saying about someone wanting to get rid of you? I couldn't hear properly over the rain.'

'It was nothing,' said Arthur.

'Just the usual?' The Denizen sighed again. 'I thought you grease monkeys weren't so afflicted, not being eligible for promotion and so forth.'

'Afflicted?' asked Suzy.

'Resentful and envious,' said the Denizen. 'Take my last promotion, for example. The fellows I'd drunk tea with for the last thousand years, shared many a biscuit . . . they threw our department silver teapot at me as I rose above their heads.'

'Come on, Suze,' said Arthur. 'We need to go back up.'

'We do? What about that Overseer?'

'An Overseer?' squeaked the Denizen. 'Get away from me! I must attend to my studies!'

He immediately opened a book and began to read it quietly aloud while also watching his mirror, one eye focussed left and one focussed right, which was quite disturbing to see.

Arthur stood still for a minute, thinking, then started back toward the stalled office.

'What about that Overseer?' Suzy asked again in a whisper as she caught up with him.

'If we keep our distance, we should be fine,' Arthur assured her. He was so mad at Alyse that he didn't even consider the potential danger of being discovered. 'I'll get the information we need from Alyse and we'll go again.'

Four grease monkeys were working on the broken office, but Alyse herself was not there and neither were the unconscious sorcerer, the Sorcerous Supernumeraries, nor any other Denizens. Arthur watched for a few seconds to make sure the coast was clear, then climbed up the corner framework and back into the office.

Whrod looked over from where he was undoing a chain link.

'I thought Alyse sent you to get a chain bracket!'

'She did,' said Arthur. 'But I have to check something with her first. Where is she? With the Sorcerer-Overseer?'

'What Overseer?' asked Whrod. 'There was an Automaton-Scheduler, but that's like five . . . four ranks below . . .'

'Where's Alyse, then?'

'Dunno.' Whrod shrugged. 'Everyone's checking the chain up on the next floor, except for us.'

'Right!' said Arthur. Flexing his knees, he jumped to the top of the desk, which had been tipped up to get it out of the way. From there, he jumped again to the next floor, a leap of at least eight feet.

'Show-off,' grumbled Suzy, and climbed up the corner.

SIXTEEN

ALYSE WAS ONE office away on the next level, rolling up a piece of paper to put in the message capsule that was on the sorcerer's desk. All the other grease monkeys were busy inspecting chains, spread out through all the offices around. There was no sign of the automatons or the Automaton-Scheduler.

Arthur bounded over to Alyse and grabbed her elbow, turning her around so their backs were toward the sorcerer.

'You tried to trick me,' whispered Arthur fiercely. 'Your handbook has the information I need.'

'Let go of me!' Alyse protested, but she was whispering too.

'Don't make a fuss,' warned Arthur, tightening his grip on her arm. 'If they find out who I am, then the whole gang will be punished . . . maybe even executed.'

'All right,' said Alyse. 'What do you want?'

'I want to find a large reservoir or water store. But first I want to see that message.'

He reached over and took the paper before Alyse could snatch it away, and flicked it open one-handed.

To Senior Shift-Sorcerer 61580

Report two suspicious Piper's children flying down to Grease Monkey Depot of 27th Chain and Motivation Maintenance Brigade. Calling themselves Ray and Suze.

'You traitor!' spat Arthur.

'Is that message ready or not?' asked the sorcerer. He was unperturbed by the obvious animosity between Arthur and Alyse. 'I haven't got all day.'

'There's been a mistake,' said Arthur. 'No message, thanks.'

He forced Alyse toward the temporary shaft and handed the message to Suzy, whose face clouded as she read it.

'Us Piper's children always stick together,' whispered Suzy. 'Always!'

'The job comes first,' said Alyse.

'You hold her, Suzy, while I look up her book,' Arthur instructed. 'Act casual. Alyse – remember that if you try anything, the whole gang will cop it, one way or another.'

'What do you mean, act casual?' asked Suzy as she took Alyse's other arm.

'Act like you're friends looking at something on the floor together,' said Arthur. He opened Alyse's pocket and took out her handbook.

'It won't work for you,' said Alyse. 'Gang bosses only.'

'It had better work for me,' Arthur said as he opened it up. Alyse gasped.

'But you can't open it!'

Arthur ignored her and read the title page: Chain and Motivation Maintenance Guide Registered No. 457589.

Arthur flipped to the back. There was an index that just listed the capital letters A–Z. Arthur touched the W and the pages flipped to show a list of topics that began with that letter. He read through them quickly, until he saw Water, which had a long list of subtopics, including Storage facilities, permanent and Storage facilities, transient.

Under Water, Storage facilities, permanent, there were several listings, including Central Rain Reservoir and Mid-tower Rain Booster Tank. Arthur didn't even need to touch the latter topic; he just looked at it longer than any other line, and the pages immediately flipped to show a cutaway drawing, a map and a list of technical details.

'There's a water store up higher; it's about a hundred offices square and sits between 61350 and 61399,' Arthur said. 'That'll probably do – it must be big enough.'

'Big enough for what?' asked Suzy, who was crouched down with Alyse, both of them apparently intent on the latticed floor.

'I'll tell you on the way.' Arthur checked the handbook again, closed it, and was about to put it in his pocket when it shook in his hand and made a rattling noise .

'What's that mean?'

'Change of orders,' said Alyse. 'Please, can I check it?'

Arthur hesitated. At that moment, he heard a sudden hiss and rattle erupt from everywhere around, followed a second later by the pop of capsules ejecting from the pneumatic message tubes and clattering onto every Denizen's desk within sight.

Arthur opened the handbook, which went straight to a page that said in large, red type:

GENERAL MOBILISATION!

The tower has reached the target point underside of the Incomparable Gardens. All engineering gangs are to report immediately to Ground Floor Exterior Platform Lift One under the command of Saturday's Noon to secure and lift the assault ram.

Arthur looked around. Every single Denizen was standing up, and they were all removing and furling their umbrellas. Those who already had their umbrellas in hand were stepping out to form up in long files, facing deeper into the tower, ready to march.

'Are the normal elevators that way?' Arthur asked Alyse.

'Yes,' she said. 'What are the orders? We must obey!'

Arthur gave her the handbook. As Alyse read, he looked around. The leader of the Sorcerous Supernumeraries was reading a similar book to Alyse's. The Supernumerary looked up and her sad gaze met Arthur's. He quickly looked down, just in case she was powerful enough to recognise who – or what – he was.

'We have to get going!' repeated Alyse. 'This is it, the big one. We'll get to ride the cage all the way to the top!'

'What's this assault ram?' asked Arthur.

Alyse shrugged. 'Something big enough that it needs to go up on the outside cargo elevator. It's amazing – three hundred feet a side and no chain. It's self-propelling, driven by ten score senior sorcerers-'

'Can we ride up on that too?' asked Suzy, fired by Alyse's enthusiasm.

'No,' Arthur said decisively. 'Alyse, I'll let you and the gang go, but you have to promise that you won't tell and won't betray us.'

'Sure! Fine!' said Alyse, a little too quickly.

Arthur looked around. The closer sorcerers were marching away. Only the Sorcerous Supernumeraries were still close, and they were watching the grease monkeys, who were mostly only pretending to inspect chains while they looked at Alyse and waited for her to tell them what was going on.

'Give me your hand,' he said quickly and quietly. 'And promise me, Lord Arthur, Rightful Heir of the Architect, that you will not betray us.'

Alyse took Arthur's hand.

'I promise you, Lord Arthur, that I won't betray you.'

A faint glow left Arthur's fingers and moved into Alyse's hand. She cried out, but Arthur didn't let her go until the faint light had disappeared.

'What occurs?' asked a slow, deep voice.

Arthur looked around. One of the Sorcerous Supernumeraries had sidled closer and was sniffing the air.

'Something shiny fell down from above and went across the floor somewhere,' Arthur said hastily. 'But I guess there's no time to look for it, what with this general mobilisation and all, right, boss?'

'Yes,' said Alyse slowly. She shook her head vigourously, sending a spray of water across Arthur's and Suzy's faces. 'No time to waste . . .'

'Something from above? Something shiny?' asked the Supernumerary. He immediately knelt down and started sniffing the floor. Arthur and the others moved away.

'No time to waste!' shouted Alyse. 'Form up, gang! We're going down to the floor to work on Outside Elevator Number One!'

'Number One?' came a shouted question from the tilted office below. 'Outside Elevator Number One?'

'Yes!' yelled Alyse. 'Come on! Back to the Big Chain!'

The Supernumerary started to sniff toward Arthur's feet. More of the funereal Denizens were coming over, intent on what their sniffing companion was doing.

'We'll take the up chain when the first two take the down chain,' said Arthur as he and Suzy hurried after Alyse. All the offices were empty now, the Denizens and their umbrellas gone. 'Get to this water store, get Part Six of the Will, and get out of here.'

'What about this 'ere ram thing and old Saturday gettin' into the Gardens and everything?' asked Suzy.

'First things first,' said Arthur. The Big Chain was only a dozen offices ahead. He looked back. All the Supernumeraries were on the floor of the office where he'd been – a big, ugly pile of black-clad Denizens all trying to sniff at the floor. They reminded him of the writhing piles of sawfly larvae that fell from the trees in the garden at home.

I hope I can get back in time to make sure I have a home, he thought. Though people are more important than places, and the house is probably far enough away to survive that nuke attack. But Leaf and everyone – they're too close, and I don't even know what I've done or how long it will last. I can't think about it now. I have to concentrate on what's in front of me . . .

'What colour umbrellas do they have in the 61300s?' asked Arthur. 'If they haven't gone . . .'

'Checks of blue and yellow,' said Alyse.

'We'll have to count from here,' said Arthur as he looked up through the structure. He could see lines of moving Denizens, but they had their umbrellas furled and there were none still at their desks. 'You start heading down, Alyse. We'll go around to the up chain.'

'No hard feelings,' said Alyse.

'Speak for yourself,' Arthur replied.

I will return and punish her dreadfully, he thought, then suppressed the brief moment of rage. There are more important things to do. Forget about it.

'Wotcher, Alyse,' said Suzy. 'Don't get yer spanner in a twist!'

She waved cheerily as Alyse and another grease monkey stepped out and into a moving link of the downward chain. Arthur hurried around to stand on the edge next to the rising chain.

'Easy does it,' said Suzy. Arthur took her hand and they both stood there for a few moments, watching the chain speed upward, gauging when they should step on.

'Now!' said Suzy, and they stepped forward. Either Suzy wasn't as good at judging the speed as Alyse, or Arthur was worse with his eyes open than his eyes shut, because they mistimed it a little and were flung about. One of Arthur's feet trailed over the side before he got his balance and hastily pulled it in.

'Oopsie-daisy,' said Suzy. 'This is a bit of fun, this chain. We could do with one of these back in the old Lower House, I reckon.'