Broken Pixels (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 4) (24 page)

“Problems?” Cam asked.

“She flickers when she overdoes things. Didn’t you see that the night she was fighting with the dragon in the streets of Portland?” Sam asked.

“I don’t recall any flickering.”

Mara tucked her phone back in her pocket and said, “What’s the best way into this place?”

Cam pointed to the opposite side of the building from which they had approached. “A maintenance entrance and a one-bay loading dock are on the far side of the building. Since this is a six-sided building, we should be able to get in there without being seen by that crowd of people out front, assuming there aren’t guards or more crowds over there.”

“Great. Let’s go,” Mara said, turning to leave.

Cam held up a hand. “Wait. Let me explain the layout of this place in case we get separated.” After Mara nodded, he continued, “As you can see, the building has six sides. A central triangular atrium is open from the ground floor to the dome, where you’ll see a large glowing sphere suspended—that’s the power node itself.” He pointed to the glowing dome atop the building. “That’s what is glowing up there, although it is usually much brighter. Hallways run along the edge of the atrium. On the second and third floors, the halls are exposed to the atrium, forming a sort of balcony. All the rooms, offices and whatnot are across from the atrium. On one side you have atrium, on the other side you have offices, etcetera. Got it?”

Sam and Mara nodded.

“Okay, so let’s say we get in the building. Then what?” Sam asked.

“First we find out if Abby is in there, and then we find out what she’s up to,” Mara said.

Cam interjected, “Once we get inside, I would suggest we get to the operations control room. It is on the opposite side of the building from where we are entering, but, if we can cut through the atrium unnoticed, it will only take a few minutes to get there. According to the technical specifications, I should be able to access the status of the node’s systems through a manual interface. That might give us a clue as to what they want to accomplish.”

“Okay and then what do we do?” Sam asked.

“We try to stop her,” Mara said.

“And what if we can’t?”

“Well, we won’t know that until we try. Will we?” she said.

Despite being nighttime, the ambient glow of the dome at the top of the building held back the darkness like a full moon filling the sky. Cam led them to a narrow path alongside the building, close enough that they walked in its shadow and felt less exposed. The back two walls of the six-sided building were blank and featureless, but, as they passed a second corner, they could see banks of tinted windows on the second and third floors. Several yards ahead was a platform at the end of an access road—a loading dock with one large bay door next to two industrial doors. Cam waved them toward the stairs, but then his hand froze in the air.

“What is it? Do you see someone?” Mara whispered.

Cam shook his head. “No. There’s something on the ground in front of the dock, but I can’t tell what it is.”

“Let’s get a little closer,” Mara said. “Just stay close to the building. I don’t think anyone can see us, if we don’t make any sudden movements.”

They slowly crept in the shadows until they came to the foot of the stairs, the side of which extended toward the front of the loading dock. Mara stepped forward and looked past the steps. In the glow from above, she could make out about a dozen prone bodies near the dock. Though they were now just feet away, she could not tell if they were alive. She slipped behind Sam, unzipped the backpack he was carrying and removed the flashlight.

“You two stay here, and I’ll take a look,” she said. When Sam was about to protest, she raised a finger to her lips and added, “Hush! Don’t argue with me.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned deeper into the shadows, against the wall of the building.

Mara craned her head to make sure no one was on the loading dock, then stepped from the shadows and onto the access road. After five long, slow strides, she came to the first body. It was on its side, facing away from her. Crouching next to it, she turned on the flashlight, turning the beam toward the upper body. A mass of curling ashes sat on top of the person’s head, disintegrating into tufts of dust kicked up by the light breeze of Mara’s arm swinging the light in that direction. Shifting her gaze downward and leaning forward, she saw a blackened rictus grin, white teeth set in a partially skeletonized jaw and cheekbones made of dull gray metal. The light began to shake. Mara steadied her wrist with her other hand as she slowly straightened, consciously trying not to gasp and inhale the burnt hair floating around her head. After making sure her feet were firmly planted, she allowed herself a breath and looked down again. The circle of light settled on the body’s lower half, where Mara could now see the tattered remains of a stylish skirt and charred pumps—professional or business attire.

Something hissed behind her. Sam stood halfway up the stairs, and he pointed toward the bay door on the far side of the loading dock.

Suppressing the impulse to admonish him, she said in a half whisper, “What is it?”

“There’s a body up here too. It looks like a security guard, or what’s left of one,” he said.

“Is he burned?”

Sam shook his head. “No. It looks like he’s been torn to pieces.”

“Hold on. Let me check out these guys, and could you please go wait in the dark, in case someone shows up?”

Sam slouched down the steps and back into the shadows.

Mara stepped over the woman in front of her and approached a cluster of shadows piled along the curb on the opposite side of the road. Three more bodies. The center one’s arm was held up in the middle of the pile, holding a stick of some kind. The tip of it was rounded and blackened even more than the shaft.
A torch. More self-immolation
.

Panning farther down the road, Mara counted at least ten additional bodies scattered in a ragged arc surrounding the area immediately around the loading dock. Maybe another one of those gatherings they had seen at the park. Not much point in getting a closer look, she backed up a couple steps, carefully turned on a heel and jogged toward the building, making sure not to tumble over anyone.

As she stepped into the shadows, Sam asked, “Are they all dead?”

“Yes. It looks like they set themselves or each other on fire, just like downtown,” she said. She turned to Cam and asked, “Where do we need to go?”

“Into the door here to just a small loading and maintenance area. Once inside, we take a right in the hall and head for the center of the building,” he said. “On the left side of the hall will be a set of large doors that lead into the atrium. From there we can get to the control room.”

Mara nodded up the stairs and said, “Let’s go.”

Cam led the way. At the top he froze and stared toward the security guard’s body, which was strewn in several pieces at the foot of the bay door. His arms and legs had been torn from his torso, and his head was flattened. A heel print clearly imprinted his cheek.

“How can she make people do something like this?” Cam asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s one thing to get people addicted to something, like those little purple diodes, but I’m not sure how she’s exerting enough control to get people to kill themselves or others in such unspeakable ways,” Mara said.

Sam had grabbed the door handle and shook it. “It’s locked.”

Mara stepped up beside him and held out her hand. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the chrome handle sticking out from the door. After a moment, a burst of light enveloped the mechanism. When the light receded, the handle was gone, replaced by a vertical rectangular hole. A second flash of light appeared above Mara’s hand, and, when it dissipated, the handle reemerged.

“Try it now,” she said.

Sam pushed on the door, and it didn’t open. “Nope. Won’t budge.” He bent down and looked through the hole in the door. “It’s boarded up somehow.”

Mara dropped the chrome handle and said, “I guess I should quit being so subtle about this. Step back.”

Mara slowly closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them, both of the large industrial doors emitted a low groan and then blurred. After another moment, they broke apart into tiny translucent cubes and fell away, disappearing into nothing as they fell to the floor, revealing a large six-inch-wide board nailed diagonally across the door frame. Mara nodded at the board, and it crumbled into tiny pixels as well.

To Cam, Mara said, “Okay. You lead the way.”

Walking through the door frame, he said, “That’s disconcerting to see. Part of me thinks I’m delusional.”

“Part of me thinks that too,” Mara said. She waved her brother to go ahead as well, but, after entering the building, he stopped and looked at the opening, about to say something. Mara followed him in and raised a hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll close it up. It’ll reduce the chance of someone following us in.”

While Cam and Sam crossed the small receiving area to the door that led to the hall, Mara turned and eyed the door frame. In her mind, she visualized grout-lines crisscrossing the air in front of her. Between the lines, gray translucent pixels appeared one after another, thousands of them, filling the spaces until they were opaque. When she could no longer see outdoors, the pixels condensed and compacted, forming cinder blocks and a wall where the door had been.

In the back of the room, she found Sam and Cam waiting for her, staring.

“Mind-boggling,” Cam said.

Sam shrugged. “I don’t know …” He reached for the door to the hall.

“What? I think I’m coming along pretty well in the metaphysics department. What’s your beef?” Mara asked.

“I’m wondering why we had to walk all the way to this side of the building if you can make doors and walls appear and disappear. Why didn’t you just make a door for us on the back wall the building?”

Mara shrugged. “Lack of imagination I suppose. Besides, you never know what’s on the other side of a wall.”

“But you can see through doors just fine,” he said, smiling.

“Shut up and keep moving,” she said.

When they stepped into the hall, Mara froze. Voices, hundreds of them, echoed down from the right, the front of the building. The clamor reminded her of a lobby during an intermission of a play or opera or a busy restaurant, dozens of conversations going on simultaneously. The noise was muffled, some distance away in another part of the building. She glanced at Cam with a questioning expression.

“There’s a vestibule at the front of the building. It sounds like they are congregating there for some reason,” he said.

“Can they get to the atrium from there?” she asked.

“All three sides of the atrium have entrances. If there are as many people as it sounds, it’s likely they are making their way into the atrium. It is the largest space in the building—a logical place to gather. We might have to go around it to get to the control room. We should go this way.” He pointed to the left and began walking.

Mara fell in beside him, matching his stride. Sam followed by a few paces.

“How much longer will it take us to go around?” she asked.

“About fifteen minutes, if we don’t encounter problems and walk at a normal pace.”

“All right, that’s not too bad. Let’s stop by the atrium doors and have a look. If we have to, we’ll go the long way,” she said.

They walked about a hundred feet, and Cam began to slow. He pointed to a darkened alcove ahead on the left side. “That’s the entrance to the atrium.”

Not giving it much thought, Mara stepped into the recessed area and walked directly to the doors. To her left, a scream came from the dark. “Keep back! I swear I will defend myself!”

In the corner of the alcove, cowering next to the closed doors leading into the atrium, a wild-haired, wild-eyed man brandished a mop over his head. Before Mara could fully understand what was happening, the mop head flew toward her face. Instinctively she raised her hands, and the stringy mass stopped just inches from her nose. She staggered back from it and leaned against the opposite wall of the alcove, regaining her balance.

Sam walked up to the man and examined his face. “He looks terrified.”

“He probably works here,” Cam said. “I’m sure, if he hasn’t been compromised by the diodes, he would be pretty freaked out. What do you want to do with him? You can’t leave him frozen like this, can you?”

“No, we can’t leave him like this,” Mara said. She looked at her brother and said, “Maybe we should talk to him and see what he knows. He might have seen something that would help us understand what is going on.”

Sam nodded and said, “You unfreeze him, and I’ll prompt him.”

Mara straightened and said, “In just one minute. Let’s see if the atrium is clear. It might not be a good idea to make a big racket here if there are a thousand diode-carrying people on the other side of the door.”

She ducked under the mop handle and pressed her ear against the door. Glancing back, she whispered, “It sounds like someone’s in there. I’m going to peek. You two get ready to run, just in case.”

Grabbing the handle of the door, Mara cringed, half expecting its hinges to let out a loud squeak when she pulled back, but it was silent. The only sound was a light hiss of air passing from the alcove to the atrium.

Through the crack in the door, Mara saw the backsides of dozens of people standing in the atrium. There was shuffling of feet and rustling of clothes but no voices. From this vantage point, she could not tell if those inside were looking at something or just standing still, waiting. Deciding she had the information she needed for the moment, she released the door, and it slowly slid closed.

“It looks like we’re taking the long way around to the control room. The atrium is packed with people,” she said.

“What’s going on?” Cam asked.

“I can’t tell. They are just standing there. It doesn’t sound like anyone is talking or doing anything.” She glanced at the frozen man and said, “Here, let’s take the mop from his hands, and then we’ll unfreeze him.”