Drift Pattern by George Wright Padgett

Author:George Wright Padgett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grey Gecko Press
Published: 2022-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

After a complex series of twists and turns through the industrial maze of hallways, the four of them pass through a corridor of normal width. Luci halts as Cavazos gestures for her not to speak with his index finger pressed against thin lips, and the bigger of the two cybos enters through a door. She sighs disapprovingly and leans against the wall while rubbing her temples to massage out the pain of another Jardon headache. Soon after, the shuffling sound of the cybo’s tattered boots grow louder as it returns to them.

“We’re clear,” Cavazos states as they enter.

When she was here a week ago to go to the Grange, she was dressed like Maid Marian, and the control room bustled with activity. Now, there is an uneasy stillness save for the miniature well basins gurgling away in each of the empty operator cubicles.

Eight of the fifteen longchairs remain, giving Luci pause about the five sitters reportedly trapped in Poland 1952.

Cavazos makes his way to the platform stairs. The larger of the two cybos stands at attention facing the door they entered through in the back of the chamber. The cybo behind Luci breaks off to guard the side door.

“Speed it up,” Cavazos commands while activating the longchair to open the glass coverings of the pod.

Luci hurries past the cybo in position at the stair edge. Cavazos grunts and huffs as he awkwardly descends into the back of the longchair. Luci doesn’t say anything, but it’s obvious that he’s ceded the front seat to her because the compartment is too small to accommodate his enormous girth.

Back-to-back in the seats, Cavazos instructs her over his shoulder, “There’s a panel in front of you. Slide it open and press the orange button.”

The plastic drawer sticks when she tugs at it, causing Luci to wonder when it was last opened, if ever. Pressing the flashing orange button, she asks, “Okay, now what?”

The glass covering snaps into place, sealing them in with a short hiss.

“Give it a moment,” Cavazos answers.

A soft computer-generated voice comes through the longchair’s inset speakers. “Manual override initiated. Enter nine-digit one alpha NBSI destination code using control pad.”

A thin slot beneath the orange button opens and extends a metal keyboard slightly thicker than a Tupperware lid out to her midsection.

Luci begins to panic. “I don’t know UNIFON letters,” she says over her shoulder to Cavazos, who faces the opposite direction.

“Calm down,” he answers, peeved. “It’ll be all numbers followed by a multiplication sign.” He pauses before he adds, “But you have to get it exactly right or you’ll kill us. And in a weird way, you’d be doing the job of L’inversione for them, so pay attention.”

She nods even though he can’t see her. “Yes, I understand,” Luci says, fidgeting. “I’m ready for the number.”

“Alright, punch in 194576001X.”

She takes her time and slowly enters the numbers one by one, repeating them aloud for Cavazos’s benefit.

“Now press the orange button again to lock in the destination.”

When she does this, the automated voice

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