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  “Amber 2514-0172-912.”

  “Do you have a lift emergency, medical emergency, fire emergency, or other emergency?” asked the recorded voice.

  “Medical emergency.”

  “What is your exact location including both area and level?”

  “I’m in area 510/6120, on the downway between the shopping areas on Teen Level 50 and Level 51. Please come quickly.”

  The recorded voice continued with its relentless questioning. “Please give a short description of your medical emergency.”

  I groaned. “Linnette fell down the stairs. She broke her left leg and fainted.” I peered at Linnette’s face, and saw her eyes were still closed. “She was talking to me a couple of minutes ago, but she’s fainted again.”

  There was a pause of a few seconds before the voice spoke again. “Are there any hazards in your location that could endanger a rescue team?”

  “It’s very dark,” I said, with an edge of sarcasm. “They should take care not to fall on the downway.”

  Another pause. “This call will now be ended to free the connection for other emergency calls. Medical Emergency Triage will call you as soon as possible.”

  My dataview flashed a call ended message at me.

  Chapter Twenty

  What? Emergency Services had ended my call! I glared at my dataview in outrage. Yes, I could reluctantly accept the point about freeing the connection for other emergency callers, but it wasn’t very helpful to tell me Medical Emergency Triage would call me as soon as possible. That could mean anything from ten minutes to ten hours. What was I supposed to do while I was waiting for ...?

  My dataview chimed, I tapped it to answer the call, and a man’s voice spoke. “This is Medical Emergency Triage. Amber, you reported an injured person with a broken leg.”

  “Yes,” I said eagerly.

  “I need to check the details with you. Is it correct that the injured person is named Linnette, and currently in area 510/6120, on the downway between the shopping areas on Teen Level 50 and Level 51?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Do you have any further identity information for the injured person?”

  “She’s Linnette 2514-1003-947.”

  “Area 510/6120, corridor 11, room 18?”

  “Yes, that’s her.”

  “Thank you. Casualty identity confirmed. Is Linnette conscious at the moment?”

  I glanced at Linnette, saw her eyes were open again now, and she was staring at the lanterns.

  “Yes.”

  “Does she have a head injury?”

  “No.”

  “Wait one moment please.”

  I waited impatiently. It was at least five minutes before the man’s voice spoke again.

  “Unfortunately, we do not have a rescue team in your vicinity, Amber. With the lifts and belt system out of operation, our rescue teams have to travel to locations and take casualties for treatment on foot. This means response times are far slower than usual. Our nearest teams already have a heavy queue of serious, closer calls to answer, so their current estimated response time is not a viable option for you.”

  “Not a viable option? But ...”

  The man kept talking. “Your local medical facility has evacuated to your area park. I’ve tried contacting them and asking if they can despatch assistance to you, but they are overloaded with new casualties in need of urgent treatment. You’ll have to take Linnette to the park for treatment yourself.”

  “What? Me? How?”

  “I need you to listen closely to my instructions, Amber,” said the man, in soothing tones. “There is an emergency store room on the north side of every shopping area. The door is marked with a red cross. The door code is 999, followed by the area code, followed by the level. You need to get a wheeled stretcher, a pack of strength three pain relief medication, and a box marked adult leg protection. Have you done the basic first aid activities on Teen Level?”

  I was too busy panicking to reply.

  “Amber? Have you done the basic first aid activities on Teen Level?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. The pack of strength three pain medication will contain two tablets. You should give both tablets to Linnette, then wrap the protection unit around her leg and inflate it. After that, you move her onto the stretcher to take her to the park. On arrival, you must hand the empty pain medication pack to the medical staff so they know exactly what tablets Linnette has been given. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, but the stretcher won’t work on the stairs of the downway.”

  “You’ll have to move Linnette up the steps.”

  I gnawed at my bottom lip. “Won’t that hurt her leg?”

  “The inflated protection unit should prevent any further damage. I have to deal with other calls now, Amber. If you discover Linnette has any additional injuries, you should call Emergency Services again for more instructions.”

  The call ended. I tucked my dataview into my pocket, and ran my fingers through my hair. I shouldn’t be doing this. Linnette needed help from experts, not from someone who’d attended two first aid sessions over a year ago.

  There was a whimper from Linnette. “The lights are flickering.”

  “Yes, sorry.” There weren’t any experts to help Linnette, there was only me, so I had to stop panicking and do the best I could. I wound both the lanterns, and tried to speak in a calm, confident voice.

  “Emergency Services have told me to fetch some painkillers and other things for you. I’ll only be going as far as the shopping area emergency store room. I’ll need to take one lantern with me, but the other will stay here with you, and I promise I’ll be back in a few minutes. Is that all right?”

  “Painkillers,” Linnette breathed the word in a voice of desperate hope. “Yes.”

  I picked up one of the lanterns, and moved carefully up the stairs to the Level 50 shopping area. Once I reached its black void, I paused to try to picture the layout, and headed in the direction I thought was north.

  A minute later, I was standing by a clothes shop that was definitely on the east side of the shopping area. I worked my way along the line of shops until I reached the north side, and eventually tracked down the emergency store room.

  I’d been worried I’d forget the door code, but that wasn’t a problem. The door was already wide open, and several empty boxes told me that someone, probably several people, had already been here for medical supplies. I should have expected that. The shopping area would have been crowded when the lights went out and the moving stairs suddenly jerked to a halt. There would obviously have been injuries.

  I held up my lantern and peered anxiously inside the room. Every shelf and space was neatly labelled with what its contents should be. The two wheelchairs had gone, but the wheeled stretcher was still in place. The limb protection boxes were in a jumble where someone had sorted through them in a hurry. There must have been several casualties with arm or wrist injuries, because the arm protection unit boxes were all empty. I thought the leg protection units were gone too, but found one had tumbled on the floor.

  The medication shelf was half empty. I hunted through the remaining small packets, and was relieved to find one labelled strength three pain relief. I tucked that in my pocket, and unfolded the stretcher. I was expecting to struggle to find my way back to Linnette, but I could see a very faint glow in the darkness that had to be coming from the lantern I’d left with her. I towed the stretcher across to the top of the downway, and left it there while I went down the steps to Linnette.

  “I’m sorry that took longer than I expected,” I said.

  She made a dismissive gesture with her left hand. “Do you have the painkillers?”

  “Yes.” I put my lantern and the leg protection unit box down on the stairs, and took out the packet. “Is your leg still hurting you?”

  “Of course it’s still hurting me,” Linnette snapped, in a terse, angry voice that I’d never heard her use before.

  I hastily go
t the two tablets out of the packet, gave them to Linnette, and held the water bottle to her lips so she could gulp down some water. I waited a couple of minutes, and then wrapped the leg protection unit round her leg and inflated it.

  “Is that better?”

  “That’s so much better.” Linnette gave a soft sigh of relief and leant back on the stairs.

  Now I had to get Linnette off the steps so I could use the stretcher. It would be easier for us to go down the stairs, but I could barely find my way around the Level 50 shopping area that I knew very well. I’d get hopelessly lost on Level 51, and I had no idea where their park was anyway, so we should try to go up instead.

  “Linnette, we need to get you to the stretcher so I can take you to the park. If you sit up, then I’ll get behind you and pull.”

  There was no answer. I saw her eyes were closed.

  “Linnette?” I gave her arm a shake, but she just made a murmuring noise in response, and I realized that she was fast asleep. My painkilling tablets had had a similar effect on me but it hadn’t happened this quickly. At least this meant Linnette wouldn’t be in pain when I moved her.

  I positioned myself behind Linnette, put my arms round her, and pulled, but she was heavier than I expected and didn’t move. I braced myself, tried pulling again, and managed to lift her a fraction but not enough to get her up to the next step.

  I gave a groan of utter despair. I wasn’t strong enough to haul Linnette up the stairs. If I went below her and pulled, then I might be able to drag her down the stairs feet first, but that could injure her broken leg. On the other hand, turning her round, and pulling her down the stairs head first, would be even more dangerous.

  I tried to think things through calmly and logically. If I called Ruby or Atticus, and explained the situation, then I was sure Atticus would attempt to reach me despite his fear of the dark. That would take a long time though, and there was a risk he’d get lost or hurt on the way.

  Forge had said he was next to an inspection hatch. If I could find him, and get that inspection hatch open, then he could help me with Linnette. I took out my dataview and tapped at it.

  “Forge, I need you to start calling out to me, so I can follow the sound of your voice and get you out of that air vent.”

  “I told you to forget about me and concentrate on helping Linnette.”

  “Linnette is the reason I need to get you out of that air vent. Emergency Services can’t get a rescue team to us, so I have to get Linnette to the park myself. I’ve got a wheeled stretcher, but Linnette’s lying on the downway. I’m not strong enough to carry her up the stairs to the stretcher, but you are.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Linnette was safe in the depths of sleep, free from pain and fear, but I left my backpack, the water bottle, and one of the lanterns with her in case she woke up. I picked up the other lantern in my right hand, and moved cautiously down the stairs.

  When I reached Level 51, the downway flattened out and turned sharply, before turning into steps again and heading down to Level 52. I paused on the flat section to listen to the muffled shouts from Forge. They were still distant enough that I guessed he was at least two levels down from me.

  I started moving again, my attention still on Forge’s voice, so I didn’t see the object on the ground until I stepped on it. The thing rolled under my right foot, tipping me backwards. Arms flailing desperately, I dropped my lantern as I tried to grab the handrails, missed both of them, and fell heavily.

  I landed on my back, shocked, and sickeningly aware of an agonizing pain in my right ankle. Waste it! I’d fallen and hurt my leg, just as Linnette had done. If I’d broken my ankle, then I was in deep trouble. Even worse than that, if I’d broken my ankle then Linnette and Forge were in deep trouble too.

  My ankle was throbbing so badly that I didn’t dare to try to get up. I lay perfectly still, hoping the pain would soon ease, and gazed longingly at the glow of my lantern. It had hit the ground hard, bounced a couple of times, and landed well out of my reach, but it was still bravely shining as a beacon in the darkness.

  My lantern had survived my fall without suffering any serious damage. I just had to hope my ankle had been as lucky. I could hear Forge calling my name at intervals, but I didn’t try to reply. There was no point in worrying him with the news that I’d had an accident until I knew whether I’d injured myself or not.

  One minute went by, two minutes, and I could convince myself that the pain in my ankle had eased. After another minute, I was sure of it. Once the pain was down to a dull ache, I warily tried to get up. Yes, my right ankle could take my weight without any new stabs of pain. It wasn’t broken, just bruised and sore.

  I stood there, gripping the handrail tightly for a moment longer, while my shaken nerves relaxed. I’d been lucky, incredibly lucky to survive my fall without serious damage to myself or my lantern. I had to make sure that I didn’t have any more accidents, because I couldn’t depend on being that lucky again.

  I wanted to go over to retrieve my lantern, but I’d stepped on something once and fallen, and mustn’t do it again. I knelt down, and groped around for the mysterious object. When I had it in my hands, I realized it wasn’t mysterious at all. Linnette had come running through the shopping area, seen the downway too late to stop, and fallen halfway down the flight of stairs. She’d lost her grip on her lantern, and it had fallen all the way to the bottom.

  I made the hopelessly optimistic gesture of winding Linnette’s lantern, and was stunned when it flared into life. It made sense that emergency lanterns were designed to be tough enough to survive minor falls, but I felt this one was truly heroic to have crashed the length of the downway and still function.

  Forge was still calling my name at intervals. The shouts were getting more frequent, and I could hear an anxious note in his voice. He was obviously worried after hearing absolutely nothing from me for several minutes.

  “I’m getting closer! Keep shouting,” I yelled.

  I collected and wound both the lanterns, and headed on down to Level 52, moving with paranoid care. This time I had the sense to stand still while I listened to Forge’s voice and tried to gauge his position. He was definitely a lot closer now, probably on Level 53.

  I moved on, with Forge’s voice getting gradually louder. When I reached Level 53, he sounded very close, though still a little below me. As I turned the corner, and began moving down the next flight of stairs, I heard him give a cry of excitement.

  “Amber, I can see your light!”

  I stopped, looked upwards, and saw an inspection hatch in the wall to my left. There was a glint of light from behind it, which had to be the lights attached to Forge’s silly headband.

  “I can see your lights too,” I called back.

  I’d found Forge, but I had a new problem now. That inspection hatch was much too high up for me to reach it. If I searched the shops in the Level 53 shopping area, would I be able to find a ladder? Even if I did, how could I position a ladder safely on the treacherous, frozen steps of the downway?

  One handrail of the downway ran close to the wall with the inspection hatch. If I stood on it, would that be enough to give me the extra height that I needed?

  The only way to find out was to try standing on the handrail. I stood next to it, positioned ready to jump up, but hesitated. I was used to illegally riding the handrail, balancing precariously on it as it dived down the levels of the Hive, but I’d always done it under glaringly bright lights. Now there was just the light of my lantern, the handrail looked as if it was plunging down into a bottomless, black pit.

  “I can’t see anything through the grille on this inspection hatch except light and shadows,” said Forge. “Are you below me now?”

  “Yes.” I wound up the lanterns and put them down on the stairs on either side of me.

  “How far below me?”

  I didn’t answer. I was busy telling myself that I could do this. I’d often ridden the handrail for as long as ten or fiftee
n levels before being sternly ordered off by the hasties. This time, I’d only need to balance on it for a minute, two at most, while I unclipped that inspection hatch.

  “How far below me?” repeated Forge.

  “Far enough below you that I’ll have to stand on the handrail of the downway to reach the hatch.”

  “Watch out when you undo the clips. You don’t want the hatch cover falling on your head or knocking you off the handrail.”

  I couldn’t help picturing that happening, and me tumbling helplessly down into what looked ominously close to my personal nightmare of an unguarded lift shaft. “Keep quiet,” I said sharply. “I’m climbing up now and need to concentrate.”

  I forced my eyes away from the black depths of the downway, gripped the handrail, and launched myself upwards. There was a stab of complaint from my bruised right ankle as I landed, and I teetered wildly from side to side, as unsteady as a thirteen-year-old trying their first ride on the handrail.

  I leaned one hand against the wall to steady myself, and reached up with the other. I could easily turn the clips on the bottom edge of the hatch cover, but the top ones were out of my reach. I stretched up as far as I could, so I was brushing the clips with the tips of my fingers, but that got me no closer to being able to turn them.

  I groaned and tried the desperation tactic of standing on tiptoe. My right ankle throbbed in protest, but I ignored it. I’d just managed to undo one of the remaining clips, when my right ankle gave way under the strain, and I came horribly close to falling off the handrail.

  I leaned against the coolness of the wall, taking most of my weight on my left foot to let my right ankle recover. Standing on tiptoe obviously stressed my bruised ankle to the limit. If I tried it again, I risked falling, but I couldn’t give up when I was so close to releasing Forge.

  I decided to compromise by only standing on tiptoe very briefly. I braced myself, went for the last clip, and failed to shift it. I took a minute break before trying and failing again.