Page 55 of Storm of Bells
‘Ah.’ I nodded. ‘Of course. Dear me, thatshould have been obvious. So…’ I scrutinized the covered wall, andthe anxious employees standing around like a crowd at a publicexecution just after the executioner had shouted: ‘Right, which ofyou buggers is next?’
I cleared my throat. ‘Why exactly have youcalled everyone here?’
‘To demonstrate the latest innovation inoffice technology. With it, we shall be able to save enormousamounts of time and money, with minimal casualties.’
‘Minimal…what?’
Seeming not to have heard, he strode past thegrinning Sallow-Face, over to the tarpaulin. ‘Gentlemen, behold…’Reaching out, he grabbed hold of the tarpaulin and tugged sharply.‘…theelevator!’
Silence.
And not the cold kind.
Rather…confused. Confused as heck.
My colleagues weren’t the only ones who feltlike that. I stared at the so-called Elly Waiter, my brow furrowedin confusion. It bore no resemblance to a waiter whatsoever. Itseemed to be nothing but an opening cut into the wall, throughwhich a metal cabin was visible. The cabin was open towards thehall, and in all other directions had solid metal walls. It justsat there, not doing anything. What the bloody hell…?
Tumultuous applause broke out from all aroundme. Mr Ambrose’s employees were cheering, clapping, and throwingvarious items of headgear into the air. I leaned over to thenearest clerk.
‘So…you know what this thing does?’
‘No clue whatsoever!’ he hissed. ‘Clap! Clapalready!’
I didn’t clap. I doubted Mr Rikkard Ambrosewould be impressed by superfluous sound-generation via handcollisions. Instead, I stepped forward and loudly and clearly askedthe question I knew I was going to regret.
‘What does it do?’
And whatever it does, it won’t make mequit!
Mr Ambrose cocked his head.
‘Simple, Mr Linton.’ Reaching into a hole inthe wall, he pulled on something. It sounded like a hidden lever.‘It does this.’
The screech of metal echoed through the hall.From somewhere deep beneath the stone came a rattle, and, a momentlater, the metal cabin started moving upwards. And faster. Andfaster. Soon, it had half vanished up into the wall. No…not thewall, I realized. Rather, it went into a shaft that had been builtbehind the tarpaulin, all the way up to God only knew where. Well,God and Mr Ambrose. My eyes rose and rose and rose all the way upto the top of the hall. How far had the tarpaulin reached up again?I couldn’t remember.
But…I still didn’t know what this bloodything was for. A metal cabin that moved upwards? What use was that,as long as there wasn’t…
Only then did I notice the next metal cabinrising up behind the first. Then another came, and another. Andright beside the row of shiny metal compartments, in anotheropening in the wall, more metal boxes were whizzing downwards, onlyto turn with a loud metal noise and rise up again a moment later onthe other side.
‘Well?’ Stepping forward, Mr Ambrose regardedme. A glitter in his deliciously arctic eyes told me I should bewary.
But…I didn’t really see why. As far as Icould see, this was great! Really great! For once, I was impressed,and not in a bad way. Had Mr Ambrose actually done something nice?Sure, this thing would save him time—but, for once, the master ofmisers seemed to have done something that would also benefit hisemployees. Thanks to this ingenious invention, they wouldn’t haveto run up and down endless stairs anymore, but instead could takethe time in the elevator to rest for a minute or two. It was, in away, really very nice.
So, of course, I was instantlysuspicious.
‘Intriguing.’ Eyes slightly narrowed, Istepped closer to the machine, gazing at the metal cabins whizzingpast at a prodigious speed.
‘You think so, Mr Linton?’
‘Oh yes! I can’t wait to try it out for thefirst time.’
Behind Mr Ambrose, Karim for some reasoncovered his face with one hand. I frowned at him, then glanced atMr Ambrose.
‘So, how does one stop it to get on?’
Cocking his head, Mr Ambrose gazed right atme. ‘One doesn’t.’
I froze.
