The Train to Impossible Places by P. G. Bell

Author:P. G. Bell [Bell, P. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250189516
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: 2018-10-02T07:00:00+00:00

16

THE UNDERSIDE

“I’ve got an idea,” said Wilmot, leading Suzy away from the post office and back across the bustling square, dodging traffic as they went. They arrived at a narrow building clad in white and green tile, with a large red neon sign above the entrance that read UNDERSIDE. Beneath this were two doorways, one labeled DOWN, the other UP. Trolls streamed into the first and out the second, and Wilmot only slowed his pace as they joined the small throng pushing its way toward the DOWN door.

“Where are we going?” she said.

“To find one of the posties who deposited a Fact of Entry,” he said. “They’ll be able to withdraw it for us so we can get into the Ivory Tower.”

“What sort of facts are they?”

“They could be anything. Any piece of information known only to the person who deposited it. It’s the price required by the Ivory Tower in exchange for its own information. They won’t even let us in without one. They’re pretty rare, so whenever posties found themselves with one, they’d seal it in the post office vault.”

“So they could withdraw it again if they ever needed to make a delivery to the Ivory Tower,” she said. “Clever.”

“All we need is the right postie,” he said. “And I know just the place to look. Next stop, the Underside!”

Suzy tried to make herself as small as possible as they stepped in through the DOWN doorway and onto a narrow spiral staircase of wrought iron that had obviously been designed with only trolls in mind—she had to stoop to avoid grazing her scalp on the low ceiling. Hundreds of work boots rang out on the stairs, and a chaos of troll voices echoed off the walls. The crowd swept on, forcing her farther down, down, down the tight curve.

“What’s the Underside?” she shouted.

“Yes, it is!” Wilmot shouted back, cupping a hand to his mouth. “Very noisy!”

Suzy grimaced and covered her ears as the crowd carried them down below ground level. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable echoes of the claustrophobia she had experienced in the diving suit, until all of a sudden the walls surrounding them were gone and the staircase was descending through an echoing space the size of a large aircraft hangar. Suzy gawked in astonishment. It was some sort of factory, but its machines were still and silent, and the whole space was cloaked in shadows and dust. In the vague distance, she could dimly see other staircases like theirs spiraling down through the darkness. The sound of thousands of footsteps rang like a great, dull bell in the huge space.

Suzy tapped Wilmot on the shoulder. “Is this where we’re going?” she shouted into his ear.

“No,” he called back. “This is the old manufacturing level. It’s where we used to make technology for the whole Union.” He gestured to the broken machines. “But these past few years it’s all fallen apart. Not the machines,” he added hurriedly, “although that does sometimes happen. I mean … everything else.

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