24-04-11 Part 3 Casting Off 18 There were numbers on each of the pockets. Juliette could look down at her chest and read them, andso it occurred to her that they must have been printed upside down. They were there for her to read,and for no one else. She num...

24-04-11 17 The generator room was unusually crowded and eerily silent. Mechanics in worn overalls stood threedeep behind the railing and watched the first-shift crew work. Juliette was only dimly aware of them;she was more keenly aware of the silence. She l...

24-04-11 16 The floors flew by faster as they approached home. In the darkest sections of the staircase, betweenquiet floors of people hunkered down and awaiting a return to normalcy, old hands wrapped aroundeach other and swung between two climbers, brazenl...

24-04-11 15 It felt appropriate that their climb back to the up top would occur during a power holiday. Jahns couldfeel her own energy complying with the new decree, draining away with each laborious step. Theagony of the descent had been a tease, the discom...

24-04-11 14 After their meal, Shirly and Marck gave them directions to the bunk room. Jahns watched as theyoung married couple exchanged kisses. Marck was coming off his shift while Shirly was going ontohers. The shared meal was breakfast for one and supper...

24-04-11 13 Marnes and Jahns were guided to the mess hall by Marck, a mechanic just getting off second shift. Marnes seemed to take umbrage at needing a tour guide. The deputy possessed that distinctly malequality of pretending to know where he was, even whe...

24-04-11 12 On the second and final day of their descent into the down deep, the novel gradually became thehabitual. The clank and thrum of the great spiral staircase found a rhythm. Jahns was able to loseherself in her thoughts, daydreaming so serenely that...

24-04-11 11 They were almost down to the fifties before Jahns could think straight. She imagined she could feelthe weight of Peter Billingss contract in her pack. Marnes muttered his own complaints from a fewsteps behind, bitching about Bernard and trying to...

24-04-11 10 It was lunchtime, but neither of them was powerfully hungry. Jahns nibbled on a cornbar while shewalked, priding herself on eating on the climb like a porter. They continued to pass thesetradesmen, and Jahnss esteem of their profession grew and g...

24-04-11 9 Jahnss walking stick made a conspicuous ring as it impacted each metal step. It soon became ametronome for their descent, timing the music of the stairwell, which was crowded and vibratingwith the energy of a recent cleaning. All the traffic seeme...