Wool (Wool Trilogy Series) by Howey Hugh

Author:Howey, Hugh [Howey, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781448150205
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2012-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

40

KNOX SAW THE uproar in Mechanical as just another emergency to overcome. Like the time the basement subwall had sprung a leak, or when the oil rig had hit that pocket of methane and they had to evacuate eight levels until the air handlers made it safe to return. Against the inevitable flow of commotion, what he needed to do was push for order. To assign tasks. He had to break a huge undertaking down to discrete bits and make sure they fell to the right hands. Only this time, he and his people wouldn’t be setting out to repair something. There were things the good people of Mechanical meant to break.

‘Supply is the key,’ he told his foremen, pointing to the large-scale blueprint hanging on the wall. He traced the stairwell up the thirty flights to Supply’s main manufacturing floor. ‘Our greatest advantage is that IT doesn’t know we’re coming.’ He turned to his shift leaders. ‘Shirly, Marck, and Courtnee, you’ll come with me. We’ll load up with supplies and take your shadows with us. Walker, you can wire ahead to let ’em know we’re coming. Be careful, though. Assume IT has ears. Say we have a load of your repairs to deliver.’

He turned to Jenkins, who had shadowed under Knox for six years before he grew his own beard and moved to third shift. The assumption everywhere was that Knox’s job was his in waiting. ‘Jenks, I want you to take over down here. There are no days off for a while. Keep the place running, but get ready for the worst. I want as much food stockpiled as possible. And water. Make sure the cistern is topped up. Divert from the hydroponics feed if you have to, but be discreet. Think of an excuse, like a leak or something, in case they notice. Meanwhile, have someone make the rounds and check every lock and hinge, just in case the fighting comes to us. And stockpile whatever weapons you can make up. Pipes, hammers, whatever.’

Some eyebrows were lifted at this, but Jenkins nodded at the list as if it all made sense and was doable. Knox turned to his foremen. ‘What? You know where this is heading, right?’

‘But what’s the larger picture?’ Courtnee asked, glancing at the tall blueprint of their buried home. ‘Storm IT, and then what? Take over running this place?’

‘We already run this place,’ Knox growled. He slapped his hand across the floors of the mid-thirties. ‘We just do it in the dark. Like these levels here are dark to us. But now I mean to shine a light in their rat hole and scare them out, see what else they’re hiding.’

‘You understand what they’ve been doing, right?’ Marck turned to Courtnee. ‘They’ve been sending people out to die. On purpose. Not because it had to happen, but because they wanted it to!’

Courtnee bit her lip and didn’t say anything, just stared at the blueprint.

‘We need to get going,’ Knox said. ‘Walker, get that wire out.

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