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He said, “Oh sure, yeah. The guns. ”
“No, that’s Smith and Wesson. This tower was built with typewriter money. Watch where you’re stepping, kid. Parts of the floor aren’t finished yet, and there aren’t any rails on the stairs. This place wasn’t done being built when the Blight hit. It’s mostly solid, but here and there you’ve got to keep an eye out. ”
“Is it tall?”
“The tower? Yeah, it’s tall. It’s the tallest building anyplace for miles, even though the last couple of floors aren’t up yet. ”
Zeke said, “I want to go upstairs. I want to look out over the city from the top. ” He didn’t add, “So I can figure out where I am, and how much you’ve been lying to me. ”
Rudy’s eyes narrowed behind his visor. “I thought you wanted to see the hill?”
“I do want to see the hill. I want to see it from up there. Are the other floors sealed up?”
“Most of them are,” Rudy admitted. “Just this one’s not, because it’s how everybody gets inside. If you go up or down, you can pull the mask off, but if you go all the way up you’ll have to shove it back on. The airships like to dock up there, and the dock ain’t sealed-up space or anything. And it’s a whole lot of stairs, kid. Are you sure you want to hike it?”
“You think you can keep up with me?” Zeke said, trying to make it a light challenge. He wanted to test his guide, and maybe wear him out a little if he could. He’d already figured out that he might need to run, and if it came to that, he’d need to outrun more than the limping man. He’d have to get out of the way of that cane.
“I can keep up with you,” Rudy said. “Go out there, to the main hallway. There should be a lantern around the corner. ” He tossed him a box of matches and said, “Light it up. ”
Zeke found the lantern and made it bright. Rudy came to stand beside him. He said, “You see that curtain over there?”
“The black one?”
“That’s the one. It’s a seal—silk covered with tar. There’s a bar down there at the bottom; it weighs it down and holds it steady. Slide it out and we can move the curtain. ” He leaned on his cane and watched while Zeke followed instructions, then said, “Now hop through fast. I’m behind you,” and he was.
Zeke reset the bar and they were smothered in darkness except for the lantern, which did its best to hold a cheery glow. “Let’s go down to the end, and then we’ll pop these things off. ”
“Can we breathe in here?”
“Probably, but I ain’t chancing it. I like to put a pair of seals between me and the Blight if I can help it. ” Rudy took the lantern and followed the carpeted hallway to its terminus, then squeezed himself between another set of flaps. After a few seconds, only his left hand with the cane remained out where Zeke could see it. Rudy extended his finger and crooked it, meaning the boy should slip through, too.
On the other side of the seal there was light, though, it was gray and sickly.
Rudy’s mask was already off by the time Zeke pushed himself through the slot. Seeing the other man breathe freely made Zeke desperate to do likewise. He ripped his mask off and sucked in the foulest-tasting air he’d ever inhaled, but it was beautiful because it came without a fight.
Happily he gasped himself back to life. “I can breathe! It stinks in here like shit, but I can breathe!”
“Even the freshest stuff smells like sulfur and smoke up here,” Rudy agreed. “Down below it’s not so bad, but the air up here gets stale because there’s nowhere for it to go. At least underground we force it to move. ”
Zeke examined his mask and saw that his filters were changing colors. “I need new filters,” he observed. “I thought these were supposed to work fine for ten hours?”
“Son, how long you think you’ve been down here? That long, at least, I’ll tell you that much for sure. But that’s nothing to panic about. Filters are a penny a pound in the underground since that big old negro robbed a Confederate supply train last spring. And if you find yourself running low, there are sealed tunnels all over
the place in this part of town. Remember the rule, though: Put two seals between you and the Blight if you can. ”
“I’ll remember,” Zeke said, since the advice seemed sensible.
Off in some unseen corner of the enormous, unfinished tower, both travelers heard a pinging crash. It echoed from loud to soft, and dissipated in the distance. Zeke demanded, “What was that?”
“Damned if I know,” Rudy said.
“It sounded like it was coming from inside. ”
Rudy said, “Yeah, it did. ” He tightened his grip on his cane and lifted it up off the floor so it’d be ready to fire, should the moment require it.
A second scuttling sound followed the first, and it was more unmistakable this time. It was the sound of something falling down the stairs behind them.
“I don’t like this,” Rudy grumbled. “We got to get back down. ”
