Within the Tunnels by Julie Steimle (best feel good books .TXT) 📕
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- Author: Julie Steimle
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Jafarr nodded, smiling with another blush. “I did work for the major repair crew that serviced the uppercity and middlecity.”
“And the undercity?” she asked, glad she had diverted him off the topic.
He smiled. “I do that just for fun.”
She scrunched up her face. “Some fun.”
Standing up, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. “We’d better go and find Eergvin.”
Malay rolled her eyes but nodded.
When they walked out of the dark room and into the cavern, blinking at the light from the portable lamps, the little boys were done with their game of tag and one of the matrons in the hall now had them working on making mini bombs for Ka’rren. Jafarr grimaced. This was the childhood his father was trying to keep him from, the grim reality that they were in the middle of a war. The kids in the rebellion laughed less. Their eyes held a desperate look in them as if all they wanted was to claw their way to the surface to stand in the sun for one second of freedom, just before they would asphyxiate and die. That desperation was wrong. It was not a life to have. They had to be evacuated. His father had been right—it was best to keep children out of it.
He and Malay walked through the corridors to a tunnel in the metal frame. They crawled through a dugout passageway in the stone, drilled clear through and vented by the rebellion ages ago, which exited on the other side into a machine room transformed into a communications center. Several people operated the hairline radios and security computers, sitting at each station they had constructed so they could hack into the main city computer mainframe, a setup Jafarr had helped modify when he had first joined. One man turned around when they slid out the hole, Malay coming out first followed by Jafarr. The man smiled at the two then motioned Jafarr over to a computer.
“Ready for your shift?” he asked.
Jafarr nodded. Malay stood by to watch as Jafarr sat at the computer consol. He punched in a code and the screen lit up, reading the access to the main grid.
“Ready boys?” the man called to the others around him. Three security watchers nodded and logged their computers onto Jafarr’s station, watching for changes in the access patterns.
Jafarr the hacker started to work.
Sneaking
The small, pronged access card had been expanded and modified into a larger keypad where he typed in codes to break into the government high security system, waiting for the card to light up. The card started to run codes itself until it ceased. The entire grid on top suddenly lit up in a bright array of colors, gauging the degree of access he got.
“In,” Jafarr said. He immediately opened up the file on the screen for the others to glean from and browsed the options. Names and lists ran across the screen. Jafarr’s expression grew more intense as he stopped and poked into files. He halted when his eyes caught on familiar names. Opening the files, he erased the most incriminating parts of their records. Then his eyes paused on one name. He opened the file labeled Alea Arden Tedd out of curiosity.
It read <<Head of Alpha district. Undercity born. Guard Class. Adult level 110. No criminal charges. Outspoken against People’s Military. Possible threat. Keep under surveillance.>>
Jafarr sighed wondering why Arden wasn’t part of the rebellion. He would have fit right in.
He kept running through the files. His eyes caught on his file, so he took a quick look.
<<Jafarr Zeldar: Undercity born. No class. Adult level 115. Highly dangerous. Apprehended: 1 count adolescent computer fraud, 1 count adolescent rebellion suspicion, 1 count adolescent resisting arrest, 2 counts adult attempted theft of Surface Patrol property, 2 counts adult escape, resisting arrest. At large.>>
Jafarr shook his head and close his file. No need to change anything. He knew Dural Korad probably kept that file personally. No editing would clear him.
He ran down the list of names of people he had to clear, revising and scanning. So far their security watchers detected no computer sweeps. Jafarr continued his scan and then stopped on one name. <<Anzer Zormna Clendar.>>
He wondered. Was this that girl that Dzhon had bumped into? There were many Zormna’s in all of Arras, even more Clendars, but few Surface Patrol Officers made it on the lists. This one just might have. He opened the file and looked at the photographic image. It was she.
<<Claimed middlecity born. Orphan. No class. Adult level 130. Youngest adult on record. Highly dangerous. Favored of the Kevin and head Alpha alea. Apprehended by Surface Patrol: 12 counts of adolescent reckless and dangerous flying, 5 counts of adolescent computer mischief, 1 count adolescent athletic betting fraud, 1 count adolescent resisting arrest, 1 count adult disobeying a commanding officer and adult reckless endangerment.>>
Jafarr shook his head. If he ever felt vengeful, he knew changing her record would not change anything. Hers was far worse than his. He laughed and closed it, continuing on with the list. After three minutes Jafarr heard a call from one of the security monitors.
“Someone’s on!”
Jafarr immediately disengaged the code card, punching in the diversion code on the keypad. The screen went blank. Leaning back in his chair, he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked over at Malay who was operating a hairline at the far end of the room, listening to conversations on the police line. He turned around in his chair to face the man that directed that room, breathing slowly and deeply from the ordeal.
The redhead grinned down at him. “That ran longer than I expected. You’re getting faster, Jafarr.”
Jafarr lifted his eyebrows at the compliment then gazed about the room. “You haven’t seen Eergvin have you?”
The guy shook his head.
“Not since yesterday. He and Orrlar have been going over the plans your dad left before…” he stopped, expecting Jafarr to feel hurt at the mention of his late father.
Jafarr merely nodded and rose. “It’s ok, Henten. I’ll find him.”
Waving over at Malay to let her know that he was leaving, Jafarr vacated the seat for another operator. She waved back, still listening to the hairline. Satisfied, Jafarr stretched his aching legs then walked into the tunnel past more machinery that ran the air vents. He had to lean against the cold stone away from the warm metal, carefully stepping on the thick rod anchors that held the machinery to the cavern wall. Just below him was nothing for five yards, and that was the mesh ceiling to a repair hall where catwalks hung over sky panels with rotating lights. Those lights shone in patches over an undercity cavern forty floors up. He was glad to get back into another machine room that had been carved out for anchored metal turbines, the walk space just enough between them. The turbines themselves hummed within the hall, creating deafening white noise that drowned out any other sound. It left his ears humming even after he exited that space.
He looked around the empty passage just beyond the turbines and gazed up at the overhanging vents that tunneled through the rock wall beyond that cavern. Some were easy to reach, and Jafarr tapped on one panel. It bobbed up as he hit it. Grinning to himself, Jafarr grabbed onto the restraining bar that held it in place and pushed the panel in with one hand. It folded inside leaving a large enough hole for him to pull through. Jafarr heaved himself inside. Sliding the panel door closed, he slid the length of the vent, crawling on his hands and knees until he reached the next vent door, which was five minutes away. That he pried open with his fingers.
The door opened into a dimly lit space between gravity machinery. He could hardly see inside so he stuck his head down into the room to see better.
Two men jumped back, drawing out pistols. Both startled, the older of the two stared as Jafarr cringed. The younger one recognized his dangling head, and put his pistol down, grabbing his chest. “Jafarr, don’t stick your head in like that. You’re supposed to knock.”
Maps
Jafarr smirked, pulling the rest of himself inside and flipping to the floor. “Sorry, Eergvin.”
The other man, a blonde who was more around Ka’rren’s age with male pattern baldness, put his gun away also and shook his head. He was Orrlar Aflov, the man whom many thought really ought to have been the rebellion leader. “Ka’rren told me you were impulsive.”
Jafarr nodded sheepishly with a shrug. “Yeah, well, Malay told me you needed me for something.”
Orrlar frowned. “Malay told you? Ka’rren didn’t let you know himself?”
“He didn’t get around to it,” Jafarr said with a shrug and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “We had a disagreement about something.”
Orrlar nodded and then turned to Eergvin. “I see.”
Jafarr always had the impression that this man did not hold a high opinion of him, not that he expected any different. He had heard Orrlar Aflov was a hard man to please, an ex-police officer that even Officer K’ren had mentioned was somewhat of a tightwad. Jafarr supposed that Orrlar only entertained Ka’rren’s confidence in him because of his father. But it was also because of his father Orrlar didn’t want him in the rebellion. Since Jafarr had joined the rebellion, he learned how much his father had been respected and trusted, and how much they missed him. He also learned exactly how much his father wanted to protect him. It was reflected in the sharp remarks several had made to him when Alzdar and Mr. Demmon had first brought him to the shelter inside the walls. And though both Alzdar and Mr. Demmon strongly argued that Jafarr had no choice now, Orrlar had been one to speak up that the last Zeldar had no place in the rebellion, and if he were smart he’d go back to his repair job.
But of course Jafarr never did.
Orrlar glanced back at Jafarr and waved him over with reluctance. “Ka’rren said you know these systems.”
Jafarr nodded, walking over. Pointing on the map, he said, “Yeah. This is just above my dad’s old shop.” He pointed to another section. “And here is near the scraps plant on the third
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