41

　　And too soon marr’d are those so early made.

　　The earth hath swallow’d all my hopes but she.

　　Lukas followed Bernard through the halls of IT, nervous techs scattering before them like night bugsstartled by the light. Bernard didn’t seem to notice the techs ducking into offices and peering throughwindows. Lukas hurried to keep up, his eyes darting side to side, feeling conspicuous with all thesehidden others watching.

　　“Aren’t I a little old to be shadowing for another job?” he asked. He was pretty sure he hadn’taccepted the offer, not verbally anyway, but Bernard spoke as if the deal was done.

　　“Nonsense,” he said. “And this won’t be shadowing in the traditional sense.” He waved his handin the air. “You’ll continue your duties as before. I just need someone who can step in, who knowswhat to do in case something happens to me. My will—”

　　He stopped at the heavy door to the server room and turned to face Lukas. “If it came to it, in anemergency, my will would explain everything to the next head, but —” He gazed over Lukas’sshoulder and down the hall. “Sims is my executor, which we’ll have to change. I just don’t see thatever going smoothly.”

　　Bernard rubbed his chin and lost himself in his thoughts. Lukas waited a moment, then steppedbeside him and entered his code on the panel by the door, fished his ID out of his pocket—made sureit was his ID and not Juliette’s—and swiped it through the reader. The door clicked open, snappingBernard out of his thoughts.

　　“Yes, well, this will be much better. Not that I expect to go anywhere, mind you.” He adjusted hisglasses and stepped through the heavy steel doorway. Lukas followed, pushing the monstrousenclosure shut behind them and waiting for the locks to engage.

　　“But if something did happen to you, I would oversee the cleanings?” Lukas couldn’t imagine. Hesuspected there was more to learn about those suits than the servers. Sammi would be better at this,would actually want this job. Also—would he have to abandon his star charts?

　　“That’s a small part of the job, but yes.” Bernard guided Lukas through the servers, past numberthirteen with its blank face and still fans, all the way to the back of the room.

　　“These are the keys to the true heart of the silo,” Bernard said, fishing a jangling set out of hisoveralls. They were strung on a cord of leather that hung around his neck. Lukas had never noticedthem before.

　　“There are other features to this cabinet that you’ll learn about in time. For now, you simply needto know how to get downstairs.” He inserted the key into several locks on the back of the server,locks designed to look like recessed screws. What server was this? Twenty-eight? Lukas glancedaround the room and tried to count its position, and realized he’d never been assigned to maintain thistower.

　　There was a gentle clang as the back came off. Bernard set it aside, and Lukas saw why he’d neverworked on the machine. It was practically empty, just a shell, like it had been scrapped for parts overthe long years.

　　“It’s crucial that you lock this after coming back up.”

　　Lukas watched Bernard grab a handle in the bottom of the empty chassis. Bernard pulled it towardhim, and there was a soft grinding noise nearby. “When the grate’s back in place, you simply pressthis down to secure it.”

　　Lukas was about to ask What grate? when Bernard stepped aside and dug his fingers into themetal slats of the floor. With a grunt, he pulled the heavy surface of the flooring up and began slidingit over. Lukas jumped around to the other side and bent down to help.

　　“Wouldn’t the stairs … ?” he started to ask.

　　“They don’t access this part of thirty-five.” Bernard waved at a ladder leading down through thefloor. “You go first.”

　　Lukas’s head spun from the day’s sudden turn. As he bent to grab the ladder he felt the contents ofhis breast pocket shift and shot a hand up to hold the watch, ring, and ID steady. What had he beenthinking? What was he thinking now? He lowered himself down the long ladder, feeling likesomeone had initiated an automated routine in his brain, a rote program that had taken over hisactions. From the bottom of the ladder, he watched as Bernard lowered himself down the first rungsbefore sliding the grate into place, sealing them both inside the dark dungeon beneath the already-fortressed server room.

　　“You are about to receive a great gift,” Bernard said in the darkness. “Just as I was once grantedthe same.”

　　He flicked on a light, and Lukas saw that his boss was grinning maniacally, the anger from beforegone. Here was a new man before him, a confident and eager man.

　　“All the silo and everyone in it hinges on what I’m about to show you,” Bernard said. Hebeckoned Lukas down the brightly lit but narrow corridor toward a wider room beyond. The serversfelt very far above. Lukas felt closed off from every other soul in the silo; he was curious, but alsoafraid. He wasn’t sure he wanted such responsibility and cursed himself for going along with this.

　　And yet, his feet moved. They carried him down that hidden passageway and into a room full ofthe strange and curious, a place that made the charting of stars seem insignificant, a den where thesense of the world’s scale, of size, took on wholly new proportions.