The Ambuloks

The Ground Floor

The last stretch of Ren and Benny's journey inside the carrier was spent in a rotation of comfortable silence, quips and the occasional anecdote. The last two were mostly from Benny- although Ren more than held her own in their banter. Both of them were practiced in solitude, which was an unlikely art, and as Ren sat alongside her friend the carrier creaked and shook. She listened to the hum and rumble of the machine and felt the rhythm and familiarity of it bringing her into an almost meditative state.

Her palms were pressed against the bottom of the box, probably getting covered in a layer of either dirt, rust, or soot. Ren didn't care. She leaned her head back, counting each breath with closed eyes, trying to forget that they could be some of her last. So far she was up to 4,954.

Underneath Ren's fingertips, the mostly consistent shudder of the carrier turned into a rumble as the metal began to scream. Ren winced as it grinded against what must have been clamps bringing it to, what was hopefully, a secure stop. A knot formed in her throat as she opened her eyes and slowly stood up. Dread made time move like tar and each second was filled with horrible suspense as Benny worked with the levers and panels that controlled the carrier. The clang of metal in the walls echoed in Ren's head as she waited for the doors to open, not knowing what to expect on the other side and desperately hoping that her suspicions were just paranoia from a lifetime of secrets.

As the door slid roughly with a few loud groans, Ren looked through the grate that served as a secondary barrier. She tried to see past the small chamber in the wall where the carrier was tucked in, but all she could make out was a small glimpse of light that peeked around the corner.

Ren's gaze was limited to gaps between the metal, but she could see that the carrier wasn't in frequent use even in the lower levels where people were in the know. Although the landing area on this ring seemed cleaner and less polluted than the one they came from, it still seemed like the equivalent of a back door or a service hatch- small, dimly lit, and in need of a sweep. Ren doubted anyone respectable came by carrier, or at least this one. Such a contraption was against the core philosophy the Spiral preached, but Ren suspected that this wasn't the only one they had.

With a rattle, Benny pulled open the grate and grinned at Ren, "After you girly. Let's get a move on!"

Maybe it was just Ren's projection, but even though Benny was smiling, she thought she saw a slight tremble in his goofy composure. She remembered what he'd said when she'd asked if he had ever thought of running away. All the time... She couldn't bring herself to smile back.

It was time to meet her maker.

***

Ren wandered to the edge of the light she'd seen from the carrier, following the noise of machines, as she waited for Benny to wrap up whatever else needed to be done to the their ride before they left. She had been expecting to see the vast space of the core and all of the contraptions and machines that supported life, like they'd seen before, but Ren was surprised to see a ceiling with swinging fluorescent lights above them and a bare space all around. She frowned at the scene. The only object in sight was a circular staircase that sat in the middle of the enormous, flat center of the spiral. It went into the floor and ascended past the ceiling. Ren could tell that all of the machines she'd seen before were close, probably sitting right on top of them. She hadn't noticed the difference at first, but their clamour was slightly muted from the noise she'd heard on London's ring. Ren resisted the urge to investigate further, knowing that she was already in a precarious situation. Still, maybe she could get a bit of a closer look, she thought. When else would she have an opportunity to see what those stairs were leading down to?

"Alright, girly!" Ren jumped as Benny clamped a heavy hand on her shoulder. She felt caught. The machines above them must have masked his footsteps as he'd come up behind her.