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Out the , the tail end of the Shell dominated the view And some forty thousand kiloht at this hour, a swirl of deep blue oceans and white clouds
The other rings of Anchor Station encircled the derelict alien ship As all the rings rotated in unison, they appeared to be at rest Only Red Level, the ring that didn’t spin for gravity, had the illusion of motion
A few transport shuttles drifted in the distance, yelloarning lights blinking Both sped toward the next station down the Elevator, almost a thousand kilouide wire
"Thrilling," Alex said He stayed near the door "Now o, mother hen?"
"Alex," Sofia said, "take five minutes to relax and enjoy this Honestly, you’re both too serious"
"I’d rather get to work," Alex said
Neil snorted "For once we agree"
"Fine," Sofia said "Before you run off, Alex, can we at least coreement on hoill address the cliood a place as any," he said "Thanks for the tour, Miss Sharive us a few minutes?"
"She can stay," Neil said Before Alex could object, he added, "She practically runs this station, and knows the staff better than anyone If anyone can coordinate the investigative team, it’s her"
A brief silence followed Sofia broke it "I’m okay with it if you are, Alex"
Tania kept quiet and looked to Neil for any clues as to how he expected her to act She wanted nothing more than to focus on their secret project, and she couldn’t help but glance at the square-edged bulge in Neil’s jacket pocket--a data cube case, she recognized
Alex Warthen was staring at her, she realized When she caught his gaze, he looked away and shrugged "Whatever it takes to solve this"
"Good," Sofia said "First, I think--"
An alarm cut her off
The sudden noise wailed so loud that Tania covered her ears without thinking Three long beeps, grating and obnoxious It rolled through Black Level’s curved hallway
A prerecorded voice came over the station address system
"SECURITY TO GRAY LEVEL SECURITY TO GRAY LEVEL"
"The hell?" Neil said
Tania glanced at him, then Alex Warthen The security directory looked composed, his eyes cast upward as he listened to the address Tania saw a sun, drawn so quick and sure she hadn’t even seen hihtened herthe curved hall
"What is that?! What’s happening?!" Sofia said
"The doors are locking," Alex said "Safety precaution"
"Precaution against what?"
Alex ignored her He took two quick steps to the door nearest hi couldn’t have been better as the door slid closed by remote command It hit his shoe and retracted, half-open
The alar beeps
When the sound stopped, he crouched and checked his pistol His foot still held the door open "Tania, how far is Gray Level?"
She heard the question The words made sense No answer ca and tried to still her hands
"Tania!" Neil said They were all staring at her
"One," she said, hating the fear she heard in her voice She sed and tried again "One level over Not far, but you’ll need a code to override the junction door"
"I don’t need the code," Alex said
"Of course, I--"
"You all stay here until the alarm ends"
"No," Sofia said "I don’t want to be trapped in this dark little rooht We’re co with me," Alex said "End of discussion"
"Gray Level isn’t far," Neil said "What’s--"
"The problem isn’t on Gray Level," Alex said His voice was so cal about?" Neil asked
Alex finished checking the gun He held it upright, now, and had a finger on the trigger He was looking outward, toward the hallway, and didn’t glance back "We don’t rally security to the location of the problem, especially on a station-wide alert We rally to the adjacent section, so we can go in together"
Realization hit Tania like a shadow falling
"The problem isn’t on Gray," Neil said, for all of them "It’s here, on this level"
"Yes," Alex replied, and stood His voice had dropped to almost a whisper, Tania realized "Wait here I’ll be back soon"
Tania took a step forward "We could go to scope control It’s just a few doors down There’s food and water there, and a bathroo the door open "Fine We’re just wasting time Follow me, but not too close"
The deserted hallway beyond was lit with bright yellow ees of the floor Every few seconds a bank of red lights on the ceiling would flash
Alex went ahead, keeping to one side of the upward-curving hall He drew the fingers of his left hand along the wall as he walked His gun rehtness, the weapon seelanced back to Tania, eyebrows raised She shook her head and signaled with four fingers the nuo
He nodded and went on Ten seconds later he stopped dead and crouched Without thinking, Tania mimicked the pose She chanced a look back and saw that Neil and Sofia had done the same
She saw a hint of a s this
Alex made a soft noise Tania turned back to him and found the security director had coht in front of her, eye to eye
He placed a finger to his lips and pointed back the way they’d co inside her chest She felt her eyes watering and realized she hadn’t blinked in so her eyelids open She forced herself to blink, and felt tears fores
Alex put a firm hand on her shoulder and pushed her into swifter uided her back to the door they’d just passed Neil and Sofia kept going until Alex ue They both looked back in unison, then stopped