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Inside

The roof of Special Circumstances had looked flat and featureless fro on it, Tally could see air vents, antennae,circular door that the hovercars had coh, now closed It was a wonder neither she nor David had cracked their heads hover-bouncing across it

"So hoe get in?" David asked

"We should start with this" She pointed toward the hovercar door

"Don’t you think they’ll notice if we coh there and we’re not a hovercar?"

"Agreed But what if we jam the door? If any more Specials show up, we don’t want to make it easy for them to come in after us"

"Good idea" David searched through his knapsack, bringing out what looked like a tube of hair gel He squeezed out white goo along the edges of the door, careful not to let any touch his fingers

"What’s that?"

"Glue The nano kind You can stick your shoes to the ceiling with this stuff and hang upside down"

Tally’s eyes widened She’d heard rulies weren’t allowed to requisition it "Tell me you haven’t done that"

He sood shoes So hoe get down?"

Tally pulled a powerjack from her pack and pointed "We take the elevator"

The big e shed, but the double doors and eye-reader gave it away Tally squinted,sure the reader didn’t flash her, and worked her powerjack between the doors They cruh the doors, a dark shaft dropped away to nothingness Tally clicked her tongue, and the echoes indicated that it was a long way down She glanced at her collar light Still green

Tally turned to David "Wait for me to whistle"

She stepped off into thin air

Falling down the shaft wasinto space from the hilltop The darkness offered no clue how deep the shaft was, and it felt to Tally as if shepast, and wondered if she was drifting toward one side as she fell, about to crash against it She i fro to a soft landing already broken and bleeding

Tally kept her arms close to her sides

At least she was sure the jacket would work in here Elevators used the sanetic lifters as any other hovercraft, so there was always a solidcount of five, the jacket gripped Tally She bounced twice, straight up and down, then settled onto a hard surface and found herself in silence and absolute blackness Stretching out her hands, she felt the four walls around her Nothing suggested the inside of closed doors Her fingers careasy

Tally peered upward A tiny shaft of light shone above, and she could justdown She pursed her lips to whistle, but stopped

A

She crouched, trying to grasp the words But all Tally could hear was the razor sound of a cruel pretty’s voice Thetone re, the floor dropped out fro When the elevator stopped again, one of her ankles twisted painfully under her weight, but she ed not to fall

The sound below her faded One thing was certain now: The complex wasn’t empty

Tally lifted her head and whistled, then huddled in one corner of the shaft, hands covering her head, counting

Five seconds later, a pair of feet dangled next to her, then jerked back up, the bea around drunkenly Gradually, he settled beside her "Wow It’s dark down here"

"Shhh," she hissed

He nodded, sweeping the flashlight around the shaft Just above the on the elevator’s roof, they were ers, locking her hands together to give David a boost up to where he could wedge the powerjack between the doors They crumpled open with a metal screech that set her hair on end He pulled hih, then extended his hand back down to her Tally grabbed it and pulled, her grippy shoes squeaking on the walls of the elevator shaft like a herd of panickedtoo much noise

The hallas dark Tally tried to convince herself that no one had heard theht

She pulled out her own flashlight, pointing it at the doors as they walked down the hall Sy Neurology Magnetic I Theater Two"

She looked at David He shrugged and gave the door a push It opened

"I guess when you’re in an underground bunker, there’s no point in locking up," he said softly "After you"

Tally crept inside The roo, the walls lined with dark and silenttank stood in the middle, the liquid drained out of it, tubes and electrodes hanging loosely in a puddle at the bottolistened with the cruel shapes of knives and vibrasaws

"This looks like photos Mom showed me," David said "They do the operation here"

Tally nodded Doctors only put you in a tank if they were doing ery

"Maybe this is where they ht didn’t cheer her up