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When’s a door not a door? she’d said in her thick accent

When? he’d asked

When it’s ajar

He’d loved her, just as much as he loved his parents And Kaine had taken that away froo!" he whispered fiercely "Now!"

Bryson tore the door open and the three of them slipped inside

They entered a roo and dusty and full of boxes, ed in the middle A lot of the stuff looked mechanical--wires and pieces of metal and exposed circuit boards For the few seconds it took to cross the roo of the Deep once again Crisp and real, even in its deteriorated parts

But they didn’t stop and stare Sarah had her NetScreen on, a htly before her

"No sign of people," she said, right before stepping into a long, dark hallway "Anywhere At least according to the heat sigs"

"Are we sure this isn’t too easy?" Bryson responded "I’?" was all Michael would say to that "Coraer itched on the surface of the bag, as if there were a trigger there that he could pull at any second

"It’s on the top floor," Sarah said "In a coluoes down the entire length of the building, even into the basement, but the easiest way to access it is from above Like a silo I can’t really tell what it looks like"

It sounded strange to Michael--but it didn’t matter They’d come this far, and all they could do wasforward, down the hallway

Michael was at her heels, Bryson right next to him They turned a corner and ran into another dimly lit hall Sarah stopped at the first door and opened it, went through A stairwell They started up, running, skipping every other step when they could So far, no one had made an appearance All Michael could hear was their own footsteps If there’d been guards, they would’ve been on top of theuards

Which ot to where they were going He remembered the KillSirowl He put it out of his mind and climbed

Second floor, third floor Another set of steps led to a roof, but instead of cli, Sarah opened the door to the top floor and they stepped into a hallway She had her NetScreen on, brightness up all the way, ain Still no sign of people Still no sounds but their own Michael studied the ceilings, the walls, the corners, searching for anything suspicious, but there was nothing The building was like any other he’d set foot in

Sarah stopped at a bigelse She yanked on the lever and the heavy thing swung open--Bryson had done his job well A bluish light spilled into the hallway, pulsing like a heartbeat, and for the first tirowl that throbbed along with the light, keeping the same rhythm

"It’s in there," she said

Michael didn’t hesitate He stepped past Sarah and Bryson, directly onto a catwalk that circled the room Below his feet he could see that he’d entered what Sarah had said looked like a silo on the map--a round room that seemed to descend for miles The drop took his breath away for a ht, the smell of ozone and metal There was machinery everywhere: walls lined with circuits and buttons and switches and wires and pipes, all covered in blinking lights

And that pulsating hum that sounded more like a heart now that he was inside and near the source