New Taboos Read Online Free PDF

that.
    There was a
click
to Faye’s left, and a noise she’d only been peripherally aware of till now receded: the humming from the 3-D printers faded; the prisoners muttered …
    A few whirling lights went on, shining from the autoguards across the room. “Stay in place until power is restored,” said a man’s firm voice, emanating from one of the robots. It was a deep, commanding, very natural-sounding voice but entirely synthetic. “Stay in place …”
    The lights cut back to almost no illumination as the robots trundled behind machinery, establishing that the prisoners were staying immobile.
    â€œSamuel?”
Rita’s voice was taut with annoyance and serrated with fear. “Can you get a timetable on power restoration?”
    â€œYes, ma’am, I’m hearing it right now. They’re telling me … they’re not sure. They’re not sure what’s happened.”
    Faye could feel cool air drifting over her from the left. That click must have been a door opening, unlocked by the electronic disruption.
    You wanted your chance,
she thought.
Here it is. You can tell them you got lost in the dark
…
    No. Really stupid to do that. But
…
    There was no other way to find out …
    Don’t do this, Faye.
    But operating on sheer will power, Faye turned, hands outstretched, and felt her way along, till she got to the frame of the doorway. The metal door was standing slightly open. Still mostly blind, she felt her way through the door and into the corridor that led to Subpod 17. She could hear Gull talking to someone behind her …
    I should turn back.
    Then a hand closed over her wrist. It was a hand with a sweaty palm, smaller than Gull’s. She assumed it was Rita’s. The hand tugged on her and she went with it,suddenly not wanting to be in the dark in this big room with all those inmates. “Rita? That you?”
    â€œNo.” A man’s voice from the darkness. A light, Hispanically accented voice. Not Gull. “You okay. You came to see, so I take you.”
    â€œI can’t see
anything.
I should go back …”
    But she let herself be drawn through another doorway. Was it curiosity, ambition, opportunism … a desire to get to the truth … She wasn’t sure.
    Go back, you fool.
    Then a light came on just ahead—a flashlight, the beam angling downward, the glow shining upward enough to show her the man holding the light.
    â€œThis is her, the reporter,” said the man who had her wrist.
    He let go of her, and she looked back and forth between them. The man she’d followed was the trustee she’d seen working on the floors. The other man seemed slightly Asian, his skin cocoa, his features mostly Caucasian, his hair straight and smooth.
    â€œMy name’s Rudy,” he said. “Welcome to ARU.”
    She licked her lips. Her mouth was so dry. She was alone with two prisoners. “Um—ARU?”
    â€œAbsconder Recovery Unit. A punishment unit, if you’ve been naughty. I’ve been here since I tried to escape.” He turned to the trustee. “Carlos, man—did you shut that door behind her?”
    â€œYeah, hodey. But they’ll find her when the cameras come back on.”
    â€œWhat happened to the lights?” she asked, for something to say. Trying to decide if she should turn around and bolt back down the hall.
    Rudy shrugged. “Shitty system. It’s easy to overload it, get a surge going that shuts it down. If we talk to a trustee in heating and air conditioning—they can do it.”
    Carlos hooked a thumb at Rudy. “Him, he was an engineer.”
    â€œComputer engineer, on the outside,” Rudy said. “What the fuck, Carlos, we got to show her at least Unit 18, before they find her.”
    Carlos nodded. “Come on. Lights out for only a few minutes more.”
    She followed the swinging flashlight and the two men along a walkway; to her