Page 57 of Echoes of the Tide

CHAPTER 23

The building bathed in yellow light said PAINTED LADY in the neon glow outside of the building. She’d expected the doctor to live in a much nicer area of Gamma, but this apartment building was just run down. Even before the flooding had occurred—before the undine had attacked the city—this hadn’t been a great place to live. She could see it in the rickety way they had tried to make the building stand a little straighter. The rough supports were already falling apart.

Someone had gone to great lengths to make sure this building remained standing. And soon, all that effort would fail.

They had to get in and out as quickly as they possibly could. She didn’t want to linger any longer than she had to. They found an opening at the bottom. Not a crack, like in some of the other buildings, but a genuine opening that was likely meant to make it easier to service the building that clearly needed far more repairs than the others.

Maketes swam them up into the air, narrowing his gaze as he made sure no one was in the room they entered. But this building looked abandoned.

Considering the way the walls were already bending in on themselves, she had a good guess why there weren’t anypeople here. It seemed like this wasn’t safe, even for the worst criminals.

The entrance appeared to be some kind of tech room. There were plenty of old servers and huge computer parts that were all rotting here. Each one was waterlogged beyond reason, but there was a small service droid in the corner that bumped against the wall repeatedly. Poor thing was stuck on something and couldn’t move.

“This place isn’t safe,” Maketes intoned, his voice deep with worry. “We should find another way in.”

“I don’t know where his apartment is, though. I have to find some kind of a directory before we can do that.” She wriggled in his arms, trying to get free. “I can reprogram the droid.”

If she fiddled with that box on the back, the droid definitely had a map of the tower. Maybe it wasn’t as rusted shut as it looked. Usually, service droids were sent all over the entire tower to fix whatever needed to be addressed. Which meant this droid knew where Doctor Faust’s apartment was.

They were so close. She could taste it.

Maketes tightened his arm around her waist, holding her a little firmer against his chest. “Wait. We don’t know if anyone is here.”

“I can tell no one is here. And if they are, then what is the problem with getting out? They aren’t in this area.” She wiggled a little harder. “Let me go.”

“There could be danger.”

She twisted hard and then ducked underneath the water. With the added help of being very slippery, she was able to move out of his grip and kick her feet to the edge. She knew, without a doubt, he could catch her if he wanted to. But he didn’t. He let her clamber out of the water, dripping wet, and plod toward the droid that was still banging itself against the wall.

The droid was little more than a square box. Someone had put wheels on the bottom, but she had a feeling this service droid had been used as a catch all for tools. It would arrive wherever it was needed with the tools of choice, and then disappear once the technician didn’t need it anymore. Ace caught the back of it, gently holding it in place as it tried to move forward again.

“Damn,” she muttered. “You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you?”

Even Tera clacked in her pocket, as though the other droid could feel its pain. It had bashed itself against the wall so many times that its screen was cracked. Shattered into jagged little shards that showed the inside wiring and the motherboard panel that was somehow, miraculously, still dry.

She didn’t even have to get the rusted back of it open. She just turned it around, held it in place with her foot, and then crouched down in front of the shattered glass.

“All it takes is a couple wires in different places,” she muttered as she plunged her hand into the shadows. “Tera, do you mind?”

Her droid clacked and then raced down her arm. The beads attached themselves to the metal sides, running up and down on the inside until they found what she needed. The motherboard was a start, but without a screen, there wasn’t a lot she could do with this droid. Unless it had a controller.

Sometimes service droids did. They broke down often, so a controller was placed on the inside. That way, someone could manually drive the little droid back to the depot, where they would get fixed. And there it was. A controller, just like she needed. Of course, it was in the farthest back of the compartment, and she hissed out a long hesitant breath as she sank her entire arm into the cavity.

“Careful,” Maketes muttered, as though he was scared if he spoke too loud he’d distract her.

“I know.”

“There are shards of glass all over that thing.”

“I’m aware,” she grunted, shifting her hand through the back pieces. There were loose bolts all throughout, and frayed wires that she was a little concerned would shock her if she got too close to them.

Then her hand closed around the controller, and she gently pulled it out. Tera guided her the entire way, clacking once for right and twice for left, until she had the piece in her hands and was free from the threat of cuts.

“You hurt yourself,” Maketes grumbled.

Peering at her forearm, she shrugged. “Just a couple scrapes. Nothing broke skin.”

He grumbled a bit more about irresponsible women and how she couldn’t take care of herself, but he stayed in the water and that was the best she could ask for. He didn’t insist that she come to him, either.

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