Foreword

You might think you know your town. You might actually be right. You know that if you go down two blocks, there's a grocery store. And if you turn left at the light, you've got a great burger joint. All your friends live within walking distance, or if not, you know how to drive to get to their places. You take it for granted that when you leave your house, or your dorm, or your apartment building, you step out under the open sky, and everything subconsciously falls into place. North is to your left. The sun is setting behind you. If you wanted, you could go to the movies, or a bookstore, or a restaurant, and any time you want, you can go home.

You don't know how good you have it.

Chapter 1

Izzy Frey pounded down the corridor, her feet making dull ringing noises on the metal panels of the floor. She gave no attention to the dim red lights glinting from gaps between the metal sheets that lined the walls, her eyes fixed ahead of her so that she could see and avoid the rusted and moldy bits of junk that were barely visible in the low light from bulbs in the ceiling. Her hair was kept short and spiked to prevent blocking her vision even for a moment, because tripping could be disastrous.

She ran because she could hear a soft grinding noise in the wall beside her as old gears within turned, scraping each other. When that happened you didn't know what was closing, but you knew something was going to, and you ran like hell to get back home. No one wanted to be caught away from the home sector when a node sealed.

"Don't close, don't close, don't close," Izzy chanted to herself as she ran, skidding to a stop as she suddenly saw the node to one of the side corridors iris shut. She stopped because on the other side she could see a person, running as she had been, his face panicked. And then the node shut all the way, the grinding of the gears ceased, and she couldn't see him anymore.

All was silent. No further machinery worked to close off sections of the Maze.

Izzy sighed and ruffled her hair as she stared at the closed node for a brief moment before continuing on her way home, pacing slowly to catch her breath. The home sector was just ahead, and as she passed through the last node, she felt the same sense of relief at being safe that she'd felt the last dozen times.

The main chamber was crowded, but silent. A high vaulted ceiling made the space feel less enclosed than the cramped corridors, and the flat gray walls were relieved by colorful banners posted over most hatches, announcing who lived or worked within. As Izzy walked in, everyone turned to look at her with varied expressions on their faces. She caught her mother's glance, at once thankful and disapproving, and knew that she was up for a lecture once again. Mika didn't appreciate her only child exploring the corridors alone.

"Did anyone get--get caught?" someone asked hesitantly.

Izzy frowned slightly and nodded. "Donald." A group of people, clustered together, gasped, and some burst into tears. "I'm sorry to have to tell you."

An older woman pressed her hand against her mouth, and her four tearful daughters escorted her away to her rooms, but her husband stepped forward with a grim expression. "Tell me which node closed him off from us."

"Jason, what good will it do you?" someone in the crowd asked. Some murmured agreement, and others wandered off to continue whatever work had been interrupted by the closing of the node.

"Tell me," the man said stubbornly. "He's my son. I can't just leave him to die, shut away from his family."

Wondering what he could possibly hope to do, Izzy shrugged. "Node 14-C, just beyond the entry node." She gestured behind her.

Jason nodded. "Thank you, Izzy." He started to walk back to his workspace, moving slowly and deliberately, as if he was worried about tripping over something.

A young man stepped in front of him and put his hand on Jason's arm. "What are you planning, Jason? You know he's not going to get out."

The man shook himself free, jerking away spasmodically. "I'm going to get him out," he said firmly. "I'm a mechanic. If anyone can, I can. Shove off, Cale."

Cale gave him a look, clearly questioning the older man's state of mind, but he said nothing more.

"Don't do this, man," someone else said.

"Yeah, look, you've still got six other kids to feed, you can't take time off, you can't afford it."

"It's none of your business," Jason said, and a look of desperation crossed his face. "I have to, can't you see? I can't leave him there. It doesn't concern you, anyhow. John is a better mechanic than I am, everyone knows that. He gets more business than I do anyhow. I have to get Donald back, I have to. He's my son, don't you care? You all pride yourself on being so self-sufficient, just in case someone you love gets stuck on the other side of one of those damned nodes, but that's--that's just messed up. You cut yourself off from everyone just in case." He realized that he was ranting, and subsided with a last muttered, "It's cut up."

Everyone who had remained stared at him, some with their mouths agape, others with stony expressions. Izzy frowned, bewildered.

Jason shook himself. Raising his head, he strode off to his workspace, this time unhindered. The group of people dispersed, although Izzy stayed standing where she was, next to the entry node.

After a moment, Jason returned, walking quickly across the chamber, carrying his toolbox. He made as if to push by Izzy, but she placed her hand on his upper arm, and he halted. He turned a slightly wild-eyed look on her. "You can't stop me," he said.

"Good luck," she told him, and walked off.

Mika was waiting for her at the hatch to their quarters. "You see why I don't want you exploring beyond the first node?" Mika demanded as soon as her daughter entered.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "I didn't get caught, did I?"

"Don't you be ass out to me," she huffed. "Always so disrespectful. I feed you, I clothe you, I even gave you your own room, and that's more than a lot of people have. That's more than Donald had."

"Mom, calm down. It's all right. I know to run when the nodes shift. You can't expect me to stay in the home sector every day of my life."

Mika turned away, hurt. "I do. I stay here and cook for people, every day."

"Oh, Mom," Izzy muttered. "It's your job. You're a good cook," she soothed. Her mother softened and patted her daughter's spiky brown hair.

"I made you lunch," Mika said, reaching for a small cardboard box. "I know you've got things to do. Go eat and talk to your friends."

"Thanks, Mom." Taking the lunch box, Izzy leaned forward and kissed her mother on the cheek. "Tell Dad hi for me. I might stay with a friend tonight."

"He's going to shout later, I bet. He always complains about being overworked, and now if Jason isn't taking his share of the load, your dad will be the only mechanic on call here." She smiled wryly. "I wouldn't blame you for staying away through that, but I wish he'd have someone else to shout at, too."

With a chuckle, Izzy left. She did have things to do. She had to find Seymour and tell him what she'd found while exploring outside the home sector.

Seymour was an only child, too, and the same age as Izzy; both were seventeen. Izzy's parents worried over her best friend being a guy, but she knew they didn't need to. He had a hopeless crush on someone else, and she simply didn't consider him a romantic interest. Not her type.

Luckily Seymour was home--she hated having to track him down when she had something to tell him, although to be fair, he was usually in the vid library if he wasn't at home. Unluckily, however, he wasn't alone. Annie was there, too.

"Hey, Seymour. Annie." Izzy nodded to the two of them. Seymour smiled wanly and Annie bobbed her head politely. Inwardly, Izzy sighed. Annie was everything she hated and everything she was jealous of, rolled up into one. Long blond hair, swept back into a ponytail; icy blue eyes to match her pale skin; so skinny you were sure she was about to break. Too gorgeous by half, Annie was only sixteen. And Seymour was half in love with the girl.

Knowing that her friend would rather be alone with his dream girl but was too polite to say so, Izzy said, "Can I come in? I have something to tell you." Without meaning to, she reached up to pat her plain brown hair self-consciously, too aware of her boyish cut. Annie's blond hair shone softly in the thin light, seeming to signify everything feminine. Izzy hated feeling inadequate.

Seymour pushed his glasses up his nose even though they weren't slipping, a nervous habit. "Sure, sure. Come in. What's that, lunch?"

"Yeah, Mom made it. Want some?"

"Totally. I'm hungry as shar."

Settling down on the threadbare couch in the main room, she opened the box from her mother and pulled out a sandwich. "Help yourself. She always makes too much--thinks I'm too skinny," she said, and immediately regretted it, glancing at Annie's bony frame. The younger girl didn't seem to notice, taking a cookie for herself and politely thanking Izzy.

"So what's up?" Seymour asked, snatching a sandwich for himself.

"I found something," Izzy confided, ignoring Annie and leaning toward her friend. Really, she would have preferred to tell Seymour alone, but she didn't actually consider the blond girl much of a threat to her discovery.

"Yeah, what's that?" he asked with his mouth full.

"There's an access panel, y'know, those things that are right next to the floor in some of the corridors, just a grate. And on this one the screws are rusty. Although if they weren't, I could have just brought a screwdriver. Just never thought of it before. Anyhow, I pulled at it, and it came away easy. It's a bit of a squeeze, but you can crawl through, and guess what's on the other side?"

"Umm. Wires and stuff?"

"No, there's a hatch. An old-style one, I mean. Set in the floor. Like in the vids. You have to unscrew it."

"What's under it?" he asked, mouth open, having forgotten the sandwich in his hand.

"A tunnel," she whispered, leaning close.

"Where does it go?" Annie asked.

Izzy almost jumped. She'd forgotten the girl was there. "Uh. Well. You go down through the hatch, and there's some ladder rungs, and then there's this dark tunnel, just about at my height. And it leads away in either direction. But I don't actually know where it goes," she admitted. "I wanted to ask if you'd come with me, Seymour. It'd be way more fun to go with someone." She smiled brightly and hoped they didn't notice the lie. The main reason she wanted company was because it was damned dark, and she was too scared to take it on her own.

Seymour stared at her blankly for a moment. Abruptly he glanced down at the sandwich in his hand and took a bite out of it. "C'mon, Izzy," he mumbled around his mouthful. "You don't have the slightest clue where it goes. What if we got lost? You're spun out."

"It's not crazy," she insisted. "Look, I go exploring all the time, and I always find my way back. I'm good at it."

"You're still here," he acknowledged. "But hey, I don't do that stuff. That's all you. I'd rather not take the risk."

"No, you'd just rather read about it later," Izzy snarled, losing her temper. "Damn it, you rat, you never do anything, you just watch vids and get your kicks that way. Vicarious enjoyment. Maleric rat," she muttered, then leapt up and left.

Outside, she leaned against the wall and thought dark thoughts. One of these days Seymour was going to give up entirely on the outside world, she knew it, and she could never draw him out enough. Damn. She needed more friends.

A soft cough interrupted her musings. Glancing to her left, Izzy saw Annie standing there.

"He seemed a bit upset, so I thought I'd leave, too," the girl offered.

"Yeah. Well. He'll get over it," Izzy muttered.

"I thought it sounded exciting," Annie said, tilting her head to the side. "The tunnel and all."

"It'd be great if I could get him to think that, too."

"Maybe he'll come around." The two shared an ironic glance. "Well, you know. He does admire you. He thinks you're so brave, he's said so. I bet he wishes he could be brave like that, too." Annie smiled and waved, walking off.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm brave," she muttered to herself. With a sigh, she straightened and knocked on Seymour's hatch again.

It opened, and he looked out sourly at her. "Yeah?"

"Just wanted to apologize," she said. "Y'know."

His mouth quirked up at the side in a wry smile. "Yeah. I know." Izzy had a rotten temper, and the two of them fought a lot, but never for long. He stepped back. "C'mon in."

"Sorry I made Annie leave," Izzy said uncomfortably as she walked in and sat on the couch again. Seymour had never told her about his crush, and she had never acknowledged it aloud, but they both knew.

He shoved his glasses up his nose. "Oh, yeah, well. She only came here because I offered to lend her one of my vids." He frowned thoughtfully. "She didn't even take it before she left."

Izzy laughed. "Anyhow," she continued, "I'm thinking of going back to the tunnel tomorrow, with a light. I really want to know where the tunnel goes. It looks flat, so maybe it goes right under the whole level. Maybe it can get to the areas that've been sealed off by nodes," she added, eyes gleaming. "Can you imagine how helpful that'd be? Maybe I could get Donald back."

Seymour grimaced. "Poor Donald. He's caught in one of the back loops, right? One of the ones that doesn't go anywhere?" Seymour's working knowledge of the tunnels was thin at best, compared to Izzy, who knew them intimately.

"Yeah, and who knows when it'll open again. I think that one's been open for as long as I can remember."

"Do you think Jason'll get the node open again?"

Izzy shrugged. "I think if anyone could do it, a mechanic could. I don't know if it can be done, though. It's never happened before, so why should it be possible now?"

"Maybe no one's ever tried before?"

"Yeah, I guess.

"Although. . . ." Seymour trailed off, staring at the wall.

"What?" Izzy prompted, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, y'remember that vid where the guy decided to try to pass a curfew code, and he said that no one had ever tried it before, so that's why it'd work? And then he got caught past curfew and got killed?"

Izzy cocked her head at him a moment, considering, then finally said, "And what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"I just mean, maybe something's never happened before because it shouldn't happen. For some reason." He shrugged and picked a cookie out of her lunchbox. "I'm just saying, maybe there's a reason why the nodes don't open unless they want to. Or unless he wants them to."

Izzy was walking slowly home, taking her time about it, weaving around benches and other obstacles in the main chamber. She didn't doubt her mother's words one bit; she knew that if she went home, her dad would just rant at her, too. Not that she could blame him. But she didn't much want to go home yet.

Preoccupied, she almost tripped over a toy someone had left to the side of the chamber. Blinking, she picked it up; it was a well-loved cloth doll with yarn hair, a patch of which was missing entirely.

"Susie!" a small voice shrieked. A wide-eyed little girl, not more than six, came running up. "My Susie!" the girl demanded, tears in her eyes, shifting from foot to foot, looking ready to bolt behind the nearby trash can.

Izzy grinned. "Here you go, Ness," she said, handing the worn doll to the girl. "You should be careful not to lose her again."

Ness stuck her thumb in her mouth, cuddling the doll close to her, and silently looked up at Izzy with wide brown eyes.

"Thanks for that," someone rumbled behind her, and she jumped, turning quickly to face the voice's owner.

Cale had coloring almost identical to his little sister: black hair, brown eyes, dusky skin. But where Ness looked small and delicate, Cale was large and well-muscled. Since their mother had died a couple years ago, and because their father was in the Guard and posted elsewhere, Cale had been taking care of his sister by himself.

Izzy offered a tight smile. "Ah, sorry, I was just walking by." Something about Cale always made her feel uncomfortable. He was so huge and so quiet, it was just disturbing.

He nodded. "She'd been looking for Susie for some time now," he said, his deep voice so solemn he might have been talking about a missing person rather than a misplaced toy. He blinked, and a brief expression of confusion flitted across his face. "I don't know what she sees in that thing."

"Little girls find comfort in their dolls," Izzy responded inanely, and Cale shrugged and nodded. When he didn't make any move to leave, and the silence pressed too close, she looked for something else to say. "So, um, how's the training?"

"The Guards sent me a letter. Said to wait another three years to apply. To wait until I'm twenty-one."

"Oh," she said stupidly. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. But, um, you're sure to make it in."

"Thank you," he replied and turned away. "Come on, Ness."

Izzy watched them go with a sense of relief akin to what she felt every time she made it safely back to the home sector.

The next day, sorting through a tangle of wires, Izzy wished wholeheartedly that she hadn't returned home last night. If she hadn't, her father couldn't have recruited her to help him at his workstation. She sighed and sat back to untangle the snarl he'd taken from a fridge unit. "This is not what I had planned for my day," she muttered to herself.

"Excuse me," two voices said in unison.

Izzy glanced up, a smile already on her face. "Hi, Benjamin. Hi, Jeremy." Two boys were on the other side of the counter. Well, she didn't know if she should call them "boys," since they were only two years younger than her. But she'd always liked the twins. "What can I do for you? My dad's off at Joanie's, trying to get her to talk some sense into Jason."

"Our pad has a glitch, we think."

"Can you fix it? We can pay."

"Can you fix it?" Their sentences nearly overlapped, they spoke so close together.

Izzy nodded. "Let me see it."

Jeremy deposited a small black pad on the counter, a typical model used to diagnose the large machines that tended to act up. Without hesitation, she opened the rectangular plastic case and pried the keyboard out, setting it aside, exposing the wires and chips within. She was careful not to touch the diagnostic port, the most important and expensive part of the pad.

"You heard it, I guess?" she asked, peering at the pad's interior. "I don't see it here, but it might be difficult to get at."

"We heard it," Jeremy said.

"All right. I believe you; I'll look harder." Carefully she tugged at the chips to see if she could dislodge anything, and then picked up a screwdriver. Slowly, she unscrewed things one by one, peering around into the spaces created. Finally, lifting a thick wire, she said, "Aha." Quickly she reached in and pinched something, then dropped it into a jar nearby. A little insect scuttled around on the bottom of the jar.

"There's your glitch," she said. "You can kill it, if you want to exact your revenge." She grinned at them, and they simply looked back at her with identical blank expressions.

"No," Jeremy said. Benjamin shook his head.

"All right, then." She screwed the lid on the jar. "My dad might want to look at it to make sure it's the same species of glitch we've seen before. Sharry things." She blushed. "Sorry. I mean, darn things." The twins were the only people who made her feel embarrassed to curse.

Quickly, sure of herself, she screwed the pad back together. "Here you go. Good thing you brought it to me; the glitch hadn't had a chance to settle in and damage anything yet." She pushed the pad across the counter toward the twins.

"Thank you," they chorused. Benjamin, always the shyer one, took the pad and stepped toward the door. Jeremy gave her a smile as he paid, then the twins left.

With a sigh, Izzy returned to the tangle of wires she'd been working on. When her father came in half an hour later, she gave him an reproachful look. "Do you still need me to work here today?" she asked.

John sighed and ruffled her hair, causing the short spikes she maintained to stand up even more. It was the best hairstyle, she thought, because it was supposed to look messed up, so she never had to do anything to it.

"Just for today. I have to go out again to look at the cooling unit for the sector, and that can't come to the shop. I don't want people to have to live with broken things just because I'm not here. Besides, it's good training for you," he told her earnestly. He had always assumed that she would want to be a mechanic, too. Inwardly she wondered why she didn't--she had the talent for it, and it was the most respected profession in the Maze. Guards came a close second simply by virtue of being intimidating. But mechanics were the best, hands down. If you didn't have a mechanic, and something broke, you were screwed.

"I guess," she said uncertainly. "Well. Oh, while you're here, take a look at this." She pulled out the jar with the glitch in it. "The twins had it in their portable pad, and I know you keep an eye out for them."

"So does everyone, you know, hon. Those things get in and eat the components, and everything goes haywire." He peered into the jar and shook his head. "Luckily it's just one of the brown ones. I haven't seen any more red ones in a while." The red ones were worse because they grew faster, and therefore ate more. When they were tiny grubs, they'd get into machines through small cracks, and then grow to adulthood feasting on the wires inside.

John unscrewed the lid from the jar and carefully reached inside to squash the bug with his forefinger. "Good job getting it out," he said and set the jar with its grisly contents aside.

Izzy nodded and resigned herself to continue sorting through the tangle. Her father, about to leave, regarded her for a moment. "Hey. How about, when I get back in about an hour, you can go. I'll cut you some slack for today."

Surprised, she glanced up at him and grinned. "Thanks, Dad!"

He chuckled and left.

True to his word, John returned an hour later to relieve his daughter, who was just finishing one of the projects he'd set aside for her.

"Good timing, Dad," she said, and looked up at him. She laughed. "What happened?"

He smiled wryly. "Mechanics tend to get a bit oily." His arms were smudged with oil up to the elbow.

"No kidding! Not even a servicer would touch you, the state you're in," she teased.

"I'll go wash up," he agreed. Mika walked in as he went to the sink in the back. Over the sound of running water, Izzy's mother asked, "How's the work going?"

"It's been busy, but not much more so than usual," Izzy replied.

Mika nodded, and called to John, "What happened earlier at Joanie's? Did you talk to Jason?"

John returned and grimaced. "Joanie's messed up, and Jason's hatch isn't sealed."

"They're both crazy," Mika agreed. "But did you convince them to leave off the node thing?"

Looking abashed, John muttered, "No."

Mika raised an eyebrow, and Izzy regarded her father with surprise. "What did you do?"

"He needed some tools, so, well. . . ."

"John!" Mika was shocked. "You need those!"

"I can get them back anytime," he argued. "I just lent them to him so he can get the node open."

Izzy and her mother glanced at each other skeptically. "Now whose hatch isn't sealed?" Mika asked.

"Look, it's not that crazy. He just wants his son back, and he's not dismantling the node permanently. Just for a little while." John shrugged.

"Right, well. Just be careful," Mika admonished, the perpetual warning of a mother and wife.

Thinking suddenly of what Seymour had said yesterday, Izzy nodded agreement.

"Anyhow," her father said, "Izzy, you're free to go. Seymour was asking about you, said something about being ready."

Leaping up, Izzy crowed, "Yes!" as she ran out. Her parents traded amused glances behind her retreating back.

Seymour was just leaving his quarters when Izzy ran up to him. "Did you mean it? You want to go?" she demanded.

He blushed. "Well, I guess, I mean, why not? I think you're right, I probably watch too many vids. Time to do something, huh?"

She grinned idiotically. "I haven't gotten you to go anywhere with me since the time we found that old broken microwave past Node 37-F. This is so mechanized!" she enthused.

He rolled his eyes at her, but her eagerness was infectious, and he chuckled. "There is one thing, though," he added before she danced off.

"Okay, what?"

"Can Annie come with?"

That was almost enough to put a damper on her spirits. She stopped bouncing and considered him. No, not even Annie could deter her, not when Seymour had agreed to actually explore with her. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Great, let's go get her!"

Listening to his genuine enthusiasm, Izzy realized that Seymour knew that she didn't really care for the other girl. He gave her a slightly chagrined smile, and they left.

Annie, ready and waiting patiently by her hatch, held a backpack in her hands.

"What's in the bag?" Izzy asked skeptically.

"A light and some lunch," Annie said, then grinned as she slung the pack over her shoulder. "I brought some for all of us."

Izzy's stomach growled and she smiled, suddenly almost grateful that the blond was coming along. Almost.

They walked quickly across the main chamber, and as they passed through the entry node, Annie shivered.

"What is it?" Seymour asked with concern.

"I've never been outside the home sector," the girl admitted with a blush. That gave Seymour the excuse to wrap his arm around her reassuringly, although Izzy scornfully thought of how little he'd been out. She was really the only one who was unworried about the excursion.

Izzy led them through a convoluted course, winding through corridors.

"I'm very lost," Annie said quietly.

"I'm not," Izzy said confidently, with no false bravado.

Seymour chuckled as they rounded yet another corner. "She's not lying to make you feel better, either. She's been exploring these corridors for ages."

"Why?" Annie asked curiously.

Izzy shrugged and smiled. "Just 'cause, I guess," she replied, knowing that wasn't quite the reason. But the others let it rest.

Finally at the junction between two dark corridors, Izzy pointed to the wall by the floor. "See the access panel? I put the grate back on, just in case someone came along."

Beside her, Seymour scoffed. "Who would come here?"

She ignored him and pulled at the grate, tugging it loose. "Here we go," she said as she laid the grate aside. Because she was the one who'd discovered it, Izzy crawled through first, pulling the hatch in the floor up asthe other two scrambled through behind her.

"Down we go," she said happily and clambered quickly down the ladder rungs set in the access tube.

Above her, the other two looked uncertain. Then they shrugged at each other, and Seymour climbed down while Annie pulled the light from her pack.

"Here," she called, and tossed it to Izzy, then slowly made her way down the ladder. When she reached the bottom, Izzy had already switched on the light and was peering curiously down each of the two tunnels.

"Both directions look the same," Annie commented, frowning.

"Yeah," Izzy agreed. "Which way should we go?"

"Which way would take us toward home?" Seymour asked. "I think it'd be good to see if we can find familiar landmarks."

Izzy shrugged, but she considered, and pointed to the right. "Then we'll go this way." Without hesitating, she strode off down the tunnel, the light bobbing as she moved. Seymour and Annie hurried after her. Annie pulled some food packets from her bag and handed them out.

After a few minutes of eating and walking down the tunnel, Annie said, "This is sort of--erm--boring. I mean, there's no turns or anything."

"Makes it bloody easy to find your way back, though, doesn't it?" Seymour said with a grin. Annie gave him a weak smile.

Izzy suddenly switched off the light she held. Her friends cried out, but she just said, "Look, there's light up ahead."

Surprised, they walked toward the light. After a minute, they came upon another access tube, and they looked at each other questioningly.

"Oh, I'll go up first," Izzy said, and quickly climbed the ladder. At the top she could see another little chamber with the hatch set in the floor, like the one they'd entered, but this hatch was set aside and the room was well-lit. She peered around curiously for a moment, then called down, "I think it's safe, you guys."

As they climbed the ladder, Izzy removed a screwdriver from one of the many pockets in her pants and clutched it as she crawled through the small access shaft. However, she didn't need the tool; the access panel was hinged and swung open when she pushed it. Excited, she crawled through and looked around at the corridor she now stood in.

Seymour and then Annie squeezed through the access tunnel and stood beside her, staring around blankly. "So, um . . . where are we?" Seymour asked, turning to Izzy.

Izzy was grinning. "This is great--we're much closer. Going through there saved us five minutes of walking time." She pushed the access panel shut, pleased when it latched.

"You never thought to open this access panel before?" her friend teased. She poked him in the arm.

Annie said, "Do you hear that?" She was frowning, staring down the corridor toward the home sector.

Amusement fading, Izzy recognized faint shouting noises, like an angry mob in one of Seymour's vids.

The three of them took off running, with Izzy in the lead, since she was the only one who knew the way home. They weren't far away, and in just a few minutes, they were back. But as they approached the entry node, Izzy was very worried--there were no more noises. No shouting, but no noise at all.

As they crossed into the main chamber, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were all dimmed, shadowing everything. A glint caught her eye; she saw the exit node swishing closed, and she was momentarily relieved. Only Guards could use that node. If the Guards had been here, then they were safe. But then Annie cried out and stumbled back, and Izzy followed her pointing finger. She gasped, grabbing Seymour for support.

People sprawled in odd positions across the floor. They didn't just lie there--they were bleeding. "What--?" Izzy blurted. She dashed to the nearest person on the floor, falling into a crouch to check for a pulse at his throat, but there was none. With a shock, she recognized Donald's face.

"Must have gotten the node open after all," Seymour murmured beside her, looking pale. He stared blankly at the man next to Donald's body, a man staring just as blankly at the ceiling. It was Jason.

"What happened here?" Annie squeaked. She tugged on Seymour's sleeve, but he didn't move or respond.

Someone else ran into the chamber--Cale. He wasn't breathing heavily, but as he skidded to a stop, Izzy could see his nostrils flared and his eyes wide as he took in the scene. He took off running again, to the other side of the chamber, and there he collapsed.

Without thinking, Izzy ran after him. "Cale?" she called.

He had fallen to his knees and was cradling a little doll. Izzy could see yarn hair, a patch missing. Bright red blood stained its face, shiny and wet in the thin light of the main chamber.. "Susie," he croaked. "Ness!" he shouted. Standing, he ran in the direction of his quarters.

Feeling numb, Izzy followed slowly after him, exceedingly careful to step around the inert forms spread about. Cale hurried through the hatch, then moments later came out again, holding his sister in his arms.

At first, Izzy felt glad to see that she appeared unharmed, but then she noticed Ness's neck bent at an odd angle. And Cale's shirt was rapidly darkening with blood.

Finally noticing Izzy, Cale just stared at her. "She was so small," he murmured brokenly.

Overwhelmed, Izzy turned and rushed to her own quarters, eager for once to get home, to have her mother scold her for running off again, and to help her father straighten this mess out.

She found no one in her family's quarters, and she realized they must have hidden in the shop. That would be a safe place. Who would threaten a mechanic? You needed them to survive.

"Mom, Dad! I'm okay!" she called as she sprinted to the shop across the main chamber, dodging around fallen people, none of whom stirred as she ran past. She entered the shop and slowed herself by grabbing the counter on her way past. Suddenly grateful for the counter's support, she realized she'd almost tripped over her mother.

"Mom!" she gasped, dropping down to shake Mika. "Mom, Mom! Please!"

Her mother drooped limply in her grasp, although there wasn't a mark on her that Izzy could see. But her hands felt the spreading puddle of warm blood. Izzy gasped, unable to get a full breath, backing away, wiping her hands on her pants. "Mom? Dad!" she called, her head snapping up. Beyond her mother, she could see her father's arm. Just his arm. Lying on the floor, not two feet from the fridge unit he must have just finished repairing. "Oh, oh, oh," she moaned, and stumbled outside.

Seymour stood there, looking even paler than before. "My parents are--I don't know--they wouldn't move--I think they're dead," he finished, sounding almost calm. Then he turned and vomited next to the wall outside Izzy's father's shop.

Izzy walked, somehow, across the main chamber again, thinking that even with so many dead people--so many!--there could still be people alive. After a moment Seymour joined her, wiping his mouth.

"We have to check for others," she told him, looking around the chamber. But she felt that dizzy sensation she remembered from the time when she'd caught a fever and had been sick for days.

Seymour nodded. "Let's find Annie first."

Annie stood outside her hatch, her backpack in hand. Disoriented, Izzy's mind flashed back to a memory from just an hour earlier of Annie standing there, waiting for them, and Izzy wondered if she was going crazy. Then the blond girl looked at them, and they could see that her face was streaked with tears. "They killed my parents and my brother," she said simply, and the other two nodded. The three of them accepted that "they" had done it, even though no one knew who "they" were.

Occasionally stopping to lean against each other, a bench, anything nearby, the three of them slowly moved from hatch to hatch, looking for survivors. But they found only dead bodies. None of the hatches were locked, which was very unusual for their community.

"Someone must have unlocked them," Seymour spoke in a soft voice. An obvious statement, it was the most complex thought they could handle at the moment. Both girls nodded tiredly.

They were about to exit yet another hatch--this time, at least, they had found nobody, alive or dead, in the quarters--when a scraping noise stopped them.

"Hello?" Izzy called, and Annie grabbed her arm so tightly it hurt.

"What if the ones who did this are still here?" Annie asked, suddenly terrified.

Izzy shrugged. "Then I think we'd already be dead," she stated.

Annie nodded and let go, but clenched her small hands into fists, as if she could protect herself against whatever they found.

"Hello?" Izzy called again. "Is someone there?"

After a muffled thump, a voice whimpered, "Is it safe?"

"I don't know," Seymour said, "but I don't think we're in immediate danger."

A small cupboard opened and Jeremy climbed out. "My brother is here, too," he said, going to the fridge. He opened it, and Benjamin rolled out and stood.

"It's not safe to hide in fridges," Annie blurted, relaxing her fists. Everyone blinked at her. "Well, it's not," she insisted. "What if Jeremy hadn't been able to get you out?"

"Then I wouldn't have wanted out," Benjamin said quietly. Annie shut her mouth with a snap.

"Okay, that's five of us," Izzy said. "Six, if you count Cale. I don't know where he is now, though."

"Do you suppose there are any more?" Seymour asked, looking queasy.

"I think we should keep looking," Izzy replied firmly.

"I don't think we'll find anyone else," Annie said faintly. Seymour patted her arm vaguely.

"Well, we won't know unless we look, will we?" Izzy said. "Come on, now." She walked out and felt relieved when everyone followed. She didn't want to do this alone.

They checked all the other hatches until they reached the last one, Joanie's and Jason's.

"I don't want to do this one," Annie moaned. "Jason's already dead, and you know they had so many kids. I can't go in knowing they'll all be there dead. I can't look at all those dead people."

"You can't know they're all dead," Izzy insisted. "Come on, we have to check!" She waved her arm toward the hatch.

Annie just shook her head mutely, lower lip trembling. Seymour put his arm around her, and she turned her face into his chest, shaking slightly as she cried. "I think we'll stay here," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Fine, I'll go by myself," Izzy snapped, moving to face the open hatch. But she quailed at the thought of going in alone and hesitated.

She jumped as Jeremy took her hand, and then Benjamin took the other. They nodded at her in unison, and she walked with them to the hatch.

Once inside, Izzy nearly bolted back out. Bright red sprayed across an entire wall, beneath which a girl slumped, her slashed throat gaping open. "Shar," Izzy muttered. The twins squeezed her hands simultaneously. With a deep breath she faced away from the bloody wall and the victim whose last heartbeats had painted it.

Peering around counters and into corners, she saw no sign of the rest of the family So, gripping the twins' hands, she walked into the bedroom. There they found nearly the entire family, all but Jason and Donald and the poor girl out front. Izzy bit her lip, staring at the bloody devastation. Seven bodies sprawled on the floor, arms and legs awkwardly tangled. In the saddest pose lay Joanie, with her arms outflung over the prone bodies of three of her children. Black holes gaped in foreheads and chests. They had all been shot.

Defeated, Izzy hung her head. Annie had been right about this being a waste of time.

But Jeremy and Benjamin tugged on her hands, then dropped them. She blinked, and looked up to see Joanie moving. "Oh!" she cried, kneeling beside the woman.

Joanie's face had the same blank stare they'd seen on almost every other body that afternoon. Confused, Izzy checked the woman's throat for a pulse, but there was none. Then through the despair fogging her mind it sank in that the woman had moved because someone had shoved from beneath her.

With an effort, Izzy pulled Joanie's body away, revealing a shivering mass of a girl.

"Hey, honey," she murmured, and reached to pat the girl's head. But the child didn't respond. Her eyes clenched tightly shut, her arms folded tightly around some object.

Izzy glanced up at the twins. "I think she's in shock," she said, remembering the term from her basic med course. "Can you help me move her outside? I'm not sure, but I think it's bad for her to be here around . . . this," she finished lamely, gesturing at the carnage around them.

The twins nodded and grasped the girl's arms gently, lifting her, and together the two of them led her outside, Izzy trailing after.

"Do you remember her name?" Izzy asked as they rejoined Annie and Seymour. "I always got Joanie's children all confused with each other," she added, then wished she hadn't, thinking of the fates that all those people had suffered.

"She's Gilly," Benjamin said softly, as he and his brother set the girl down.

"The youngest," Jeremy added. "She's fourteen." Gilly stared blankly up at everyone for a moment, then closed her eyes again and curled up into a ball around whatever she held in her arms.

"Not that young, then. But--too young for this," Izzy sighed.

"We're all too young for this," Seymour interjected. "Did you realize that we're all orphans now?" A ripple of shock spread through their small group. "We're all that's left from this level, and they're all dead, and we're orphans," he said, then sat down hard and put his head in his hands.

"Who could have done this?" Annie wondered aloud, hugging herself tightly.

"You know who," a gruff voice sounded, and they turned to see Cale join them. "He did it."