Chapter Seven

Superposition

Sarah took ten quick steps into the center of the Society's Operations Center, and nodded to Alice Richardson, who didn't have to be told that Sarah was taking over command. "All right," said Sarah, sitting down, as Alice walked to an adjacent terminal. "What's going on?"

"We just got the breach alarm from the thirteenth floor. The elevator's been activated--had been activated, ten minutes ago. Nothing since."

"What do we have for telemetry at station TX-four-one-two?"

Alice shook her head. "Most of the signals are out. We had a short in the main wire last night. We've still got standard communications, but the dedicated lines are down. They've been for about the last nine hours."

"Wait--comm's out on the exit level and we didn't get it immediately repaired?"

"I questioned Commander Honshu, but he was adamant that we repair it in the morning--he said the cost to replace it overnight was prohibitive."

"You should've brought it to my attention, Alice--Honshu was completely wrong there. I know he's got seniority, but you've got a brain, too."

"I know, Ma'am. I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't bring the cows home, Alice," said Sarah as she pounded a fist on the console, and made a mental note to tear Yoshii Honshu limb-from-limb later--or at least to place a negative note in his file. Punching a button almost idly, she said, "TX-four-one-two, what's your status?"

No response came.

"Lock down the building," said Sarah. As klaxons began to blare, she repeated, "TX-four-one-two, please respond."

"TX-four-one-two here, this is Stanton. Sorry for not responding immediately, we just had a situation down here."

Sarah sighed in relief. "Report."

"Three prisoners attempted to get out, we detained them. They've been incapacitated; request permission to send them back up the lift."

"Granted," said Sarah.

"Also," said the guard from the station below, "One of us--uh, Redolent--she got a pretty bad cut in the crossfire. Request relief down here so we can get her some medical attention."

Sarah nodded. "Joplin, take Aria and go relieve the crew at TX-four-one-two. Have med teams standing by on floor two. Alice, I want you to go with them--you need to get up to floor thirteen, I'm sure that they'll be happy to see you," said Sarah, looking at the monitors.

She noted that two guards were down on thirteen--switching to infrared, she could see they were still alive. It looked like the people inside the blockhouse were still okay, but the door was sealed. The escapees must have made it through beforehand. Tricky.

"Do we have an ID on the three escapees?" said Sarah to a young trooper.

"Yes'm. We have three signals not reading in the blockhouse. Looks to be Stevens, Victoria Scarlett, H02-14-29; Martel, Yvette Fabienne, H06-32-04; and…wow, Anderson, Elizabeth Michelle, H93-01-01."

"Liz?" said Sarah, sitting forward. "What's she doing with those two? Never mind. We're still locked down, right trooper?"

"Yes'm," he replied.

Sarah drummed her fingers. Something wasn't adding up.

* * *

Lil and Lloyd lay together, half-asleep, as the train roared out of the tunnel.

The train hit a bump, and Lloyd woke a bit more, and snuggled closer to his fiancée, and looked around the cabin. They'd have to start over when they got to the continent, he thought. Lay low for at least a few months. Maybe they could make contact with the Society, he thought. He didn't know much about them, other than what he caught on the news--but if Henry thought they were bad, they had to at least be all right.

He felt like he was missing something. He looked over at Lil and sighed. What a trip so far, rushing through the city, getting tickets for the train at the last moment….

And then made a sound rather like a choking mongoose.

"What--what's up?" asked Lil, stirring.

"God, but I'm stupid!" he whispered. "We used my card to buy the tickets."

"So?"

"Lil--we used my credit card. Don't you see?"

Lilavati suddenly woke up completely. "Oh, bloody hell--they'll know we're on the train, won't they?"

Lloyd nodded. They'd surely had time to get someone to France. Heck, the French government may well be involved--there was a conservative streak to French society that often went unremarked. But how could they get past the gendarmes without being spotted?

Lloyd looked helplessly over at his lover, who for her part was showing a look of dawning realization. He watched her quickly eye the cabin, and point. "There!"

Lloyd followed her finger to a couple of chattering French students--too old to be in Lycée, but clearly not encumbered yet with any actual responsibilities. He eyed them for a second, before saying, "I don't follow you, love."

"Look by the girl's feet," she said.

Lloyd followed the dancer's legs of un petite femme to where her feet touched the ground, a Harrod's bag laying flat and open. "I still don't know what you mean, love. There aren't any Harrod's in France that I know of."

Lil rolled her eyes. "Not Harrod's Lloyd. The bag. The bag! Don't you see, it's the perfect way to slip past them!"

Lloyd looked at her briefly as if she'd lost her mind, then stopped it, as he suddenly knew exactly what she meant.

"That's--that's the most brilliant thing I've ever heard," said Lloyd. "How long before we reach Calais?"

"About twenty minutes," said Lil.

"All right," said Lloyd. "Then let's get a move on. I hope you enjoy this."

* * *

Alice led the team down to the service level; she was already considering how best to restore order on thirteen. She was grateful that she'd just got a tongue-lashing from the Chair--from the second she'd seen the failure at the exit station, she'd had a bad feeling about it. She should've sent more guards to take care of the station. She should've alerted Sarah. Yeah, Yoshii had told her not to bother the Chair--but Sarah pretty much lived to be bothered.

Alice was preoccupied as the elevator doors opened, which is why she was completely surprised as she suddenly found herself shrinking.

"What the--?" she said, as she stared at the woman waiting by the door. She was aiming five ways simultaneously--something precious-few non-adepts could do. But their parries were almost instantaneously overcome, and they were soon but a few inches tall.

The red-haired woman walked over to her, and bent down, picking her up gently. "Give me your passcard," she said, "and I won't hurt you or your team."

"Can I hurt them?"

"No, Victoria--for the last time, we're making this break cleanly. If we kill a few on the way out, they'll search all the harder for us. Now," she said, turning back to Alice, "your passcard, please."

"Y--you're--the--the Coed," Alice stammered.

"Yes, I am," said Liz. "And while I'd prefer not to kill you, I will if you don't turn over your passcard. You wouldn't be the first person I've terminated."

Alice considered her situation. She pulled her passcard off the chain, depressing a silent alarm button as she did.

"Now, quickly," said Liz, dropping Alice to the floor along with her team. "She certainly hit her alarm button--she's a commander. We have maybe a minute."

With that, she pulled Victoria and Yvette onto the elevator, and pushed the button for the lobby.

* * *

The trek across the train was not as easy as one might think. Lloyd and Lil held hands, ducking under seats and trying to move quickly when out in the open. Two inches tall was just about perfect, Lloyd thought--small enough to go largely unnoticed, but not so small that the journey became impossible. Even so, they were currently biding their time behind the enormous Birkenstock of a giantess who was playing with her sandals constantly--sliding them forward, dragging them back with her toe, and then sliding them forward again.

"Is that how big I look to you?" Lil asked.

"Well, the day I skipped work, you looked about eight times bigger. But yeah."

Lil swallowed. "How do you let me talk you into it? I'd think you'd be terrified. I'm terrified right now. If she gets a bit careless with the sandal…."

"It is," Lloyd said. "It's scary as can be, how much power you have. But--well, that's part of the fun, innit?"

The woman finally slid her foot inside the sandal, and Lloyd said, "All right, one more row to cross. Let's go!"

* * *

Up in operations, a new alarm sounded, this one the high warble of a Command-level officer's personal alarm.

"It's Looking Glass," said the trooper, noting Alice's passcode.

"Alice, what's your situation?" said Sarah. Getting no response, she stood up. "Seal the doors to the building. Alice, respond."

No response came.

"Are any elevators in operation?" said Sarah to the trooper.

"Yes'm. The elevator from the exit level is opening in the lobby."

"Shit," said Sarah. "Transport!"

Sarah rematerialized in the lobby, to the left of the statue of D.X. She pointed at three troopers guarding the door. "Stand fast, trouble approaching!" she said, and steeled herself.

Trouble came around the corner quickly, with Liz in the lead. Sarah quickly moved to cut her off, firing a quick burst of shrink spells, hoping to catch Liz off-guard. Liz pivoted just in time to parry all three.

She looked at Sarah calmly. "I have to do this," she said. "I don't want to hurt anyone in the process."

"I do!" said Victoria, who was quickly shushed by Yvette.

"Liz, I can't let you go. You know that."

Liz sighed. "You don't understand the stakes, Madame Chair. Someday I hope you'll forgive me for this."

"For what?" said Sarah, but Liz simply waived a hand.

Sarah caught it. "No, damn it, block!" she said, a picosecond after Liz finished saying, "Transport."

And the three escapees disappeared.

"Stupid!" shouted Sarah at herself. It was the obvious move. With an average escapee, she'd try to lock down part of Chicago. With Liz--well, Liz could literally be anywhere on Earth by this point.

Sarah looked up at D.X.'s statue. "What the hell is your ex up to, Jake?" she said. Then, straightening her shirt, she picked up her phone, and dialed Ops. "We need an all-points bulletin issued," said Sarah. "And we need to call in senior staff, ASAP."

* * *

It was late, Scott thought. Very late.

He was tired of being hurt. But he knew that they couldn't do much more than they already had. Waterboarding was no fun, but he knew they wouldn't dare kill him. He was too valuable alive. Leah had said it herself.

It was Alyssa Freitag who was at present carefully adjusting his body for maximum discomfort. He grimaced as she pulled him into a stress position. "Alyssa," he said, "why are you doing this?"

Alyssa shrugged. "Where were you when I was raped? Nowhere. You saw what your brethren did to me."

"Yes, and I don't fault you your revenge," said Scott. "My best friend used to say that's what a rapist gets. But…how are you better than them, Alyssa?"

She reared up, and brought a fingernail down across his back. He cried out in pain and anguish. "I'm better than them, 'Master' Chelgren. I don't question for a minute what I do. My sisters rely on me to fight for them. When this war is over, they will need fear your kind no more."

"And we will fear you, right?"

Alyssa smiled. "Well, you're a bright one. Yes, you men will fear women. Just like you fear me right now. Just like we've feared you since the dawn of time. It will finally be fair."

Scott groaned as Alyssa took her index finger and thumb, and raising them to his head, simply flicked him. His head snapped back, and the lights went out.

* * *

They had hunkered down in the bag as it bounced along through the world around them. Lloyd and Lil were rather amazed at how haphazardly the giantess was wielding this bag, although, they both realized, the fact that the bag contained only clothes meant that it was unlikely that their hostess particularly cared what happened to it.

"You'd think," said Lloyd, "that the bag would be set down eventually."

"You'd think," said Lil, who was holding onto him with all her might. "But you'd be wrong."

Then, all of a sudden, the bag was set down, hard. The opening spilled forward, and Lloyd crept up to it.

"Looks like a bus. Should we get out?"

Lil nodded. "Let's go."

They exited onto a large black plain, underneath the seat where the no-longer petite woman rested. "So," said Lloyd, "what's the plan?"

"We need to get out of France," said Lil. "Maybe go to Heidelberg or Prague. Somewhere that they won't be expecting."

Lloyd said, "You know, if we use our credit cards, it'll give us away."

Lil sighed. "I have five hundred quid that I got at the ATM in London. That will have to hold us."

"So how do we get to Germany?"

Lil looked around. "Well," she said, "If you don't mind riding forty-third class, I think we might be able hitch some rides for free."

Lloyd smiled. "I thought that might be your suggestion. All right. It's a plan," he said. "But first, we're unshrinking. We're having at least one good meal before we're tiny again."

Lil kissed him. "This is going to be a story for the kids, isn't it?"

Lloyd smiled. "I sure hope so, love. I sure hope so."

* * *

Liz hoped she knew what she was doing. She'd let Victoria and Yvette tag along for a few reasons, but mostly because Yvette might know how to get in touch with the league. Victoria came as a package deal with Yvette, so she hadn't had much choice.

But as they wandered the streets of New York City, Liz shuddered involuntarily. She couldn't help thinking that it had really been fifteen years since she'd been a free woman--and that thought didn't comfort her. Fifteen years is a long time in the grand scheme of things.

"So you're sure there's a safehouse here?" she asked Yvette.

"I'm sure there was a safehouse," Yvette replied. "Whether there still is, I don't know."

They walked up the stairs of the apartment, and knocked on the door.

"We have no bananas," came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Who needs bananas? Not any woman I know," Yvette replied.

"Not any woman worth mentioning," the voice replied. "All right."

The door opened, and the woman looked up at Liz, as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Oh my--oh, it's you! Oh, my love, it's been--I thought I'd never see you again!"

Angela McMartin fairly tackled Liz, kissing her hard. Liz returned the favor. "I wasn't expecting you here, Angie," she said, pulling back just a bit. "We've engaged in a bit of a prison break."

Angie smile wide. "Then you've come to the right place," she said, ushering them inside. The door closed behind them, shutting the apartment off from the outside world.

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Sarah?"

"Sit down, Teri," said Sarah, not looking up.

There was a fairly long period of silence.

Finally, Teri said, "Madame Chair, I've got a lot going on trying to sort this mess out…."

"That's why I want to talk to you, Teri. I'm going to ask this point-blank: did you say anything to Liz that would cause her to escape?"

"What?" said Teri.

"Look, I know you visited with her yesterday. Then she escapes overnight. Strange coincidence, no?"

"Sarah--I didn't threaten her, if that's what you mean. If I'm going to be working in the same building that housed the woman who killed Jake, I needed to get my head clear. And that's why I went to see her--to try to forgive her, and try to close it for myself. That's all."

Sarah drummed her fingers. "Okay." She said. "That's what I needed to know. I didn't see anything when I watched the tape of your talk with her, but I needed to be sure that you didn't slip anything through sub rosa.

"Teri, this is bad. Liz seemed to know some of our operational procedures. I don't know how she knew them, but she did. If she goes over to the league, she'd be a powerful asset for them."

Teri nodded. "I know."

"I've tasked Wollstonecraft with tracking them down. Liz Anderson is smart, but Tori is stupid enough to balance the smartness out. She'll get into a scrape somewhere. But I need you to redouble your efforts. I need you to find out who's leaking information--and soon."

"I'm working on it," said Teri. She started to add something, but stopped herself.

No, she thought, Sarah doesn't need to know that yet.

Instead, she simply said, "I'll keep the heat on."

Sarah nodded. "I'm glad to have you here, Teri. I need you. And I have faith you'll get to the bottom of this."

"I know, Madame Chair," Teri said, rising. "I just hope that your faith is well-placed."