Michael Sullivan - Hollow World

“That’s what I was told and what I saw.”

“Okay then, looks like we have this.”

Ellis wanted to check the time, but the battery of his cellphone had finally died. He wished he still wore a watch.

“Could I use one of your Makers?” Pax asked.

Geo-1 pointed. “Third floor.”

“Does it have a standard menu?”

“It’s custom—but it has the basics too.”

“Thanks.” Pax took Ellis by the hand and led him up to the third floor, where they found a small bank of industrial-designed Makers in various sizes, each connected to an auto-feed gravel chute. One was the size of a walk-in freezer with huge double doors that would have been roomy enough to summon a Buick. A hand wave from Pax made one of the smaller countertop models light up.

“Antique watches,” Pax said.

A panel came to life and displayed a series of 3-D timepieces that rotated in midair. They were projected images but looked solid, as if he could pluck one up. Ellis saw complicated diver’s watches, digital ones, diamond-encrusted bracelet pieces, multicolored plastic ones, pocket watches, even an original Ingersoll Mickey Mouse with a leather band.

“Have a preference?” Pax asked.

“A digital.” Ellis pointed when Pax didn’t understand.

Pax selected the watch pattern. A flash occurred and a bing . Pax opened the door and handed Ellis the watch from the image. It felt warm and blinked 12:00. He played with the buttons, discovering the watch had a timer before he worked out how to set it, which he did according to the displayed Hollow World core time. If what Warren told him was accurate, they had seventeen minutes. Ellis set a countdown running. Then they returned to their perch.

“Pax,” Ellis said, “how did you know I wanted a watch?”

Pax shrugged. “You just looked like you did.”

“Seriously? You thought I looked like I wanted a watch.”

“Well you must have, right?”

“And how did you know I didn’t kill Geo-24 when we first met? Did I just look innocent?”

“I’ve told you…I’m an arbitrator and a good judge of character.”

“But you also knew the Geomancer’s phrase about the sky is falling .”

Pax smiled uncomfortably.

“You learned that from your first meeting with Geo-24, didn’t you? During that conversation on Miracles Day, right? Only I’ll bet Geo-24 never told you.”

“I don’t know what—”

“You probably said something that Geo-24 picked up on. You made a mistake because you were flustered and starstruck. You slipped and Geo-24, being trained to detect even tiny anomalies, noticed. That’s why Geo-24 was researching you. I bet your record was extraordinary. All those people you helped, like Vin. No one else could do anything. Even the ISP was helpless when Vin continued to scoop out pair after pair of eyes with a spoon. But you were able to save them all, weren’t you? Able to understand, to feel their pain.”

“Understanding and helping people is what arbitrators do.”

“But your skill goes beyond understanding, doesn’t it? You found out the code phrase from Geo-24, just like you found out about Ren from Pol. You tried to warn me about them. You knew what they were going to do.”

“No. No.” Pax’s head shook. “I didn’t know about all this. If I had—”

“You’re right. You didn’t know…until you found me at Firestone Farm. I was telling you how we had to leave, and then you brought up how they were going to concrete Hollow World.”

Pax looked frightened, drawing away from him. “Ellis Rogers, please, don’t—”

Below them the command room erupted in surprise as someone dressed in a full hazard suit entered, dragging another behind. The moment they cleared the tunnel Ellis could see the streak of blood the limp body trailed across the floor.

“People are with the bomb!” the member of Delta team who was standing said as others rushed to help the bleeder. “There was this series of loud pops, and 884 fell. I felt a pain in my…in my…” The team member collapsed. As he did, Ellis saw a small hole through the suit near the shoulder.

“Warren,” Ellis told Pax. “He’s guarding the bomb.”

“Send Beta and Alpha teams in to—” Geo-1 started to say.

“Don’t send anyone else!” Ellis shouted from above as he and Pax scrambled down the stairs to the cluster surrounding the wounded geomancers. “He’ll kill anyone who comes close.”

“Who’s he ?” Geo-1 asked.

“Warren Eckard.”

“Another Darwin?”

“Yes. He has a gun and will shoot anyone coming near. He must have discovered we’re spacing the other bombs and intends to make certain this one goes off. He’ll probably wait until the last second and then port out.”

“Can you—can Prometheus create a portway to the bomb?” Pax asked. “Isolate it?”

Geo-1 nodded. “But it won’t help. Portways are tunnels with open ends. When the explosion goes off, half the force will blow back through here, ripping GI apart.”

“Like the barrel of a gun,” Ellis said. He glanced at his new watch: 00:14:53. “I’m going to need a Port-a-Call.”

“I’ve got one,” Pax said firmly. “And yes, I know what you’re thinking—and no, that’s not going to happen unless you shoot me dead. And yes, you’re right, we don’t have time to argue. So let’s go.”

“Promise to admit to me how you do that, and you can come.”

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know if we live through this.”

“Deal.”

“You might want to have everyone evacuate,” Pax said.

“Yeah.” Ellis nodded.

Geo-1 turned to Geo-3. “Call it. Purge Hollow World—everyone to the surface.”

“I hope they still remember the drill,” Geo-3 said.

“In fifteen minutes, if we’re all still here, you’ll know if we were successful. If not…”

“What are you going to do?” Geo-1 asked.

Ellis drew out the pistol. It felt cold. “Stop him.”

Ellis refused to wear a suit. It would take time, but more importantly it would hide who he was. Warren thought nothing of shooting “the baldies,” but he might think twice about shooting him.

For all his bravado, Ellis really didn’t expect to kill Warren. It wouldn’t come to that. If he absolutely had to, Ellis would just wing him, shoot him in the arm or leg and kick his gun away like they did in the westerns he and Warren had grown up watching. He remembered how the digital watch had blinked 12:00 just before he set the time—high noon—the traditional time for a showdown gunfight.

Warren wouldn’t really shoot me, would he?

The Warren Eckard he knew in 2014 wouldn’t, but this was Master Ren. Something fundamental had happened to him in that cabin in the woods. That experience had changed his friend, profoundly. For one, it got him to read the Bible, and Ellis hadn’t imagined anything would ever do that. Somewhere in those pages he had found permission to beat and kill. Warren had developed calluses on more than just his hands.

With the clock reading 00:12:53 , Ellis and Pax stepped out into the portway tunnel that crossed the molten Sea of Gehenna. An eerie silence—just a faint hum that came from the stream of portals. Sound didn’t pass through the barrier any more than water, heat, or the vacuum of space. This was good, because they were walking through a bubbling ocean of rock, and he was pretty sure at this distance both of them would have already evaporated.