Descending Road - UPWARD PAST HIM LIKE AN ANGEL by Dana W. Paxson

UPWARD PAST HIM LIKE AN ANGEL

1563 4D

He reached the level he wanted. The stutter of fast steps and breathing descended above him. Here, once inside his old place of work, he knew the ways like nobody else. The maintenance tunnels to the vats shone in his mind like a holo spiderweb. Through the shaft‘s access doors, out to a dark vacant corridor, into a recess, up on rungs and a right, and he reached a locked crawlway hatch. He pressed his palm on the lock, his mind racing ahead to how he would have to break it. It opened.

Arlen inviting him in? His surprise and suspicion held him only for a heartbeat; the sound of running feet approaching forced him through to shut the hatch and lock it again. He lay now in a crawlway, slipsurfaced for easy movement, handholds on the walls for control. A dim continuous strip of glowtube overhead showed him a long straight line to a black spot of ending. He had reached his old workplace: Arlen‘s andro farms.

Belly down, he yanked himself through the crawlway to the far end, polished pipe brackets flashing by. This would let him out at the top of the vat towers, where the andros grew. Best to get as far down as possible and exit the place where many alternate routes might confuse these pursuers for a bit, buy him some time.

He sprang out, sprinted among pumps and filter posts, straining to hear above the hum and wash the noises of the Hounds. An alarm erupted, hooting in long and short soprano tones, pure and penetrating. Now Arlen‘s corpos would join the chase, maybe get in the way. Jeddin knew Arlen hated Gullinder; Arlen might enjoy thwarting this pursuit. Jeddin smiled as he ran, glancing around. Familiar machinery. He had repaired these plasma pumps many times, rebuilt the sensor matrices for the filters.

The hatchway to the vat towers appeared before him, a soft-glowing hole in the floor. He braked himself and dropped into it without taking hold, letting his hands and toes catch rungs near the next level to slow him, then dropping to the next level the same way. After a few levels, he left the ladder and ran past several rows of columns, passing near-translucent young andros still curled under their biohelms, and descended again in a different sector of the matrix.

He stopped. Had the Hounds kept tracking, or had they split up and sent one ahead to cut him off? What about reinforcements or the corpos? The vat matrix offered many places to hide, and just as many to spring a trap. Straight down offered the best answer. He sprinted to a ladder and dropped, floor by floor, a long way.

Maybe his attention flickered to innerspace for just too long, feeling the ranks of gestating people zip past him as he dropped. As he reached once more for the rungs to brake his plummeting, a shining figure stared down at him as it soared upward past him like an angel. An alien, here?

Jeddin‘s arm hit the rungs flying past; he bounced away from the ladder, and slammed, back first, to the grillwork floor with a crash. He lay dazed, paralyzed. Feet rattled above him. In the blue-violet glow of the tanks before his eyes, in gold light blazing inside his head, the angel descended.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	UPWARD PAST HIM LIKE AN ANGEL 1563 4D He reached the level he wanted. The stutter of fast steps and breathing descended above him. Here, once inside his old place of work, he knew the ways like nobody else. The maintenance tunnels to the vats shone in his mind like a holo spiderweb. Through the shaft‘s access doors, out to a dark vacant corridor, into a recess, up on rungs and a right, and he reached a locked crawlway hatch. He pressed his palm on the lock, his mind racing ahead to how he would have to break it. It opened. Arlen inviting him in? His surprise and suspicion held him only for a heartbeat; the sound of running feet approaching forced him through to shut the hatch and lock it again. He lay now in a crawlway, slipsurfaced for easy movement, handholds on the walls for control. A dim continuous strip of glowtube overhead showed him a long straight line to a black spot of ending. He had reached his old workplace: Arlen‘s andro farms. Belly down, he yanked himself through the crawlway to the far end, polished pipe brackets flashing by. This would let him out at the top of the vat towers, where the andros grew. Best to get as far down as possible and exit the place where many alternate routes might confuse these pursuers for a bit, buy him some time. He sprang out, sprinted among pumps and filter posts, straining to hear above the hum and wash the noises of the Hounds. An alarm erupted, hooting in long and short soprano tones, pure and penetrating. Now Arlen‘s corpos would join the chase, maybe get in the way. Jeddin knew Arlen hated Gullinder; Arlen might enjoy thwarting this pursuit. Jeddin smiled as he ran, glancing around. Familiar machinery. He had repaired these plasma pumps many times, rebuilt the sensor matrices for the filters. The hatchway to the vat towers appeared before him, a soft-glowing hole in the floor. He braked himself and dropped into it without taking hold, letting his hands and toes catch rungs near the next level to slow him, then dropping to the next level the same way. After a few levels, he left the ladder and ran past several rows of columns, passing near-translucent young andros still curled under their biohelms, and descended again in a different sector of the matrix. He stopped. Had the Hounds kept tracking, or had they split up and sent one ahead to cut him off? What about reinforcements or the corpos? The vat matrix offered many places to hide, and just as many to spring a trap. Straight down offered the best answer. He sprinted to a ladder and dropped, floor by floor, a long way. Maybe his attention flickered to innerspace for just too long, feeling the ranks of gestating people zip past him as he dropped. As he reached once more for the rungs to brake his plummeting, a shining figure stared down at him as it soared upward past him like an angel. An alien, here? Jeddin‘s arm hit the rungs flying past; he bounced away from the ladder, and slammed, back first, to the grillwork floor with a crash. He lay dazed, paralyzed. Feet rattled above him. In the blue-violet glow of the tanks before his eyes, in gold light blazing inside his head, the angel descended.