Except for the red lamp, the place was dark.
"Great," Derec said. "It's an automated garage."
"There has to be an office or a service station. "
"Mmm. Maybe. Or it could be-wait."
Ariel heard him pat the wall as he moved away from her. Then a sharp click and suddenly a wan yellowish light filled the immediate area. He stood by another panel filled with switches. A walkway ran directly along the side of the wall. Outside that, the garage itself remained lightless.
At the far end they came to a row of cubicles, each containing a desk and datum terminal. The dust on the transparent walls obscured detail within. Derec ran his finger down it, leaving a clear trail.
"You're sure this is the one?" Derec asked, brushing his fingers on his pants.
"No. This is only the last known address."
Derec walked slowly along the row, then stopped. "Ariel."
The cubicle wall showed trailing handprints near its door. The desk and terminal inside had been dusted off and there were clear footprints on the dark tile floor.
"Could have been the regular staff," Ariel suggested.
"I doubt it. If there was a regular staff, it would be cleaner." He entered the cubicle and stepped up to the desk, then sat down and switched on the terminal. "What's the ID number on the ambulance?"
Ariel brought out her datum. "Here." She showed it to him.
Derec entered the code and sat back, absently tapping his chin with a forefinger.
"Decommissioned thirteen months ago," he read from the screen. "It gives overhaul estimates, then lists component values for recycling it as parts… and a secondary market value for direct resale… a bid was made on it eleven months ago."
"Someone bought it?"
"It doesn't say. Just that a bid was made. It only gives an auction number." He frowned. "No further updates of any kind. It evidently was sold."
"Is it here?"
"It doesn't say that, either, but it does give a bin number on the original entry. I suppose we could just go look."
"Let's."
Derec entered a few more commands, then took the flimsy sheet that extruded from the printer. He closed the terminal down and stood.
"Level Four, Row F, Bin Twenty-Eight."
"What about lights?"
Derec opened each drawer in the desk, then went to the cabinet near the door. "Ah," he said as he straightened, holding a flashlight.
Their footsteps echoed loudly, mingling with the stray, obscure sounds of the garage. In the near total darknessbroken by constellations of readylights here and there and the circle of their flashlight pushing before them -the noises made the space seem vast and complex. Ariel walked alongside Derec, trying to control her reflexive jitters at every click and whir and drip. It was not fear so much as a formless unease at not knowing where she was or what it looked like.
They came to a stairwell. A fading LEVEL TWO glowed bright yellow in the halogen glare. Derec started up the steps.
They emerged from the stairs adjacent to Row B. Vehicles occupied stalls. Cables and tubes connected each one to a diagnostic unit, but those they looked at showed their units all on stand-by. The machines appeared untended, the vehicles dirty, many in various stages of disassembly, and even that process seemed abandoned.
Row F, Bin Twenty-Eight, was different.
The diagnostic equipment was old but not neglected. Only the standby light glowed, but in the wash of the flashlight Ariel saw clearly that the control panel was clean. The ambulance itself shone neatly, grimeless and intact.
"Well, well," Derec said and stepped into the stall. Overhead a worklamp came on. Derec, frowning, switched off the flashlight. "We better not stay long. What do you need?"
"Its log." Ariel handed over her datum. "Do you know how?"
Derec took the datum and opened the rear door of the vehicle, looking up at the silence.
"Either it's not alarmed or-"
"We'll have visitors soon," Ariel finished.
Derec climbed into the ambulance. Ariel peered into the darkness, listening. The glow from the stall's worklight cast marginal illumination across to the opposite row. It seemed less a garage than a necropolis, the broken shapes hunkering together in sepulchral consolation.
A thud came from behind her. "Ow!"
"Are you all right?"
"Fine," Derec called from within. "Be done in a minute."
Ariel stepped away from the stall. The various noises of the place seemed less sinister now. It was only an old, near-forgotten storage facility. She wondered how many of them were strewn throughout the fabric of Earth, niches wherein Terrans stuffed all the things they thought they might need again someday and then forgot they ever had them in the first place. Layers upon layers of urban complex, down she did not know how many levels, and at the very bottom, just before primal earth, actual soil, there must be an entire layer of nothing but storage lockers, garages, closets, stalls, bins, dumps, and depositories, filled with a history of experiment and expedience
She started at a new sound. Not a click or a whir, but a faint grinding, like something rolling across broken pavement. She took another step away from the light behind her, careful and silent, listening. The grinding stopped.
The skin up the backs of her arms rippled with chill. She felt watched now and stared into the murk, searching for eyes.
Something moved to her left and she jerked to the right, heart racing. Ariel backed into the stall and went to the rear of the ambulance.
"Derec," she said.
"Done." Derec climbed out and shut the doors. "Clean. Like just recently."
"Time to leave."
He handed back the datum and went to the end of the stall. He stood quietly and listened, then gestured for her to follow. He sprinted across the driveway and entered three more stalls at random. Two of them lit up with worklights. He returned to this side and did the same to another three. One lit up.
The sound started again, louder and clearer. Treads.
"Probably an automated inspection unit," Derec said. "We triggered an internal security program, that's all."
At the landing, she stopped. From below came the faint echo of voices.
"Damn," she hissed.
"Where?" he asked.
"Up."
They moved up the stairs as quickly as they could and came out on Level Six.
The tread noise grew stronger. Ahead, Ariel thought she saw a reflection, dull red, and guessed it might be the source of the sound.
They descended one level and sprinted along the dark stalls. Another machine-sound started toward them and they scurried into one of the stalls. The worklight above did not wink on and they hunched behind a mass that once may have been a functioning vehicle.
Beyond, a large shape, its general dimensions outlined by small amber, red, and blue lights, rumbled past the stall. Derec took her hand and drew her out. They watched the drone roll around the intersection by the stairwell and disappear. Quietly, they walked after it.
Suddenly everything was still. All the drones had stopped, apparently, their inspection done. Distantly, Ariel heard two sets of footsteps echoing.
She heard two people descending the metal steps. Below.
When it was silent, she tapped his shoulder and they continued up.
At Level Eight the stairs ended.
Derec shined his light. Most of the stalls here were empty. At the far end of the row was a bulky door.
Ariel stopped halfway. "Derec?"
"What?" He returned and shined his light into the stall.
Packing crates, about forty centimeters on a side, filled the space. They had a familiar look, and Ariel knelt down by the nearest and lifted it.
"About six or seven kilograms," she estimated. She turned it over, but there were no markings on its dull grey surface.
"Hey," Derec said. He aimed the light into the next stall. More crates. Two more stalls were filled with them.
A distant hissing began and Ariel snapped to her feet.
"We need to go now," Derec said and hurried to the door. He studied the panel for a few seconds, then produced his wafer again. A minute later, the door lurched open and they stepped outside.