Shepherd by KH LeMoyne Read Free Book Online

her.
    “Place it on the floor.”
    Her hand slid along the hold as she squatted and reached in to drop the wafer on the pod’s floor.
    “Now come with me around the back.”
    The catwalk provided two safe feet of width, but the view through the slats was unnerving. In an effort to focus elsewhere, she zeroed in on the chamber’s design. “The suspension wires isolate the scan from interference of the pod’s motion?”
    The corner of his mouth twitched. “Very good.”
    She glanced up at the cables. “You didn’t assemble this.”
    The smile disappeared. “No.”
    Determined not to let fear win, she continued, “The cylinders inside conduct hot and cold?”
    He nodded.
    Scrutinizing the interior of the main chamber housing the pod, she reviewed the construction from ceiling to floor. He waited, seemingly testing her observation. “The cables don’t conduct your scan.” She waved a hand toward the rectangular crystal implants along the pod’s exterior. “These crystal panels initiate a frequency, simulate the internal image, and store the vibration. The cables don’t look like they house circuits or wiring either, but they have the flexibility to expand and contract because they adjusted to our shifting weight.” She glanced around behind them. “My guess is the size of the holding chamber originally accommodated for dispersal of energy released from this tube.” She tapped the exterior of the scanner. “Intended to contain explosive or unstable materials? Given the pristine condition, I’d guess it was never used.”
    He cocked his head. “Excellent assessment. There’s no way you could have known this, Sugar. This facility was buried a hundred years ago, after the epidemic hit.”
    “I told you. I’m good.”
    “Remember that when you’re inside. Once you’ve gone through the process, you can tell me how you think I rewired the connectivity.” He was keeping her busy, prodding her analytical skills to distract her. She would take any help she could get. “Okay, we’re ready for simulation.”
    He didn’t wait for her concurrence and shut the pod’s door, then tapped at his earlobe. “Conductivity test one for sound within the vibration chamber. Resolution five, proximity floor level.”
    A light pulse initiated from the first crystal on the pod’s panel. A subsequent response emanated in series through every crystal embedded at one-foot intervals along the outside of the tube—every crystal except one. Esme’s stomach flipped. “It failed.”
    Clay frowned as he listened to a relay in his ear-device. He shifted a look toward her as he took in her comment and glanced up toward the crystal she indicated with her nod. “Yes.”
    She focused on the holograph of schematics produced on the control panel. “The crystal is functional, charged, and some signal is proceeding forward, just not all the way.”
    “Yes.” His frown deepened to a scowl, and he looked up.
    Turning again, she canvassed the large chamber, the rounded outer walls and tapered ceiling. “What was this room?”
    “The fermenting tank for a small brewery. Some kegs are still in an older section of the building. Later someone converted the site for testing the infected plant sources.” He glanced back when she didn’t respond. “It’s clean. I eradicated all the toxins via ion pulse and laser sweep.”
    “Through the circuits embedded up there?” She pointed to a series of small protrusions along the wall, five feet above their heads and in line with the nonfunctioning crystal.
    “Hmm, good catch. I didn’t disconnect the main circuits for that process in case I needed them later. They’re inactive, but the residue would be enough to scramble the voice feed and break the relay. Disrupting the circuits’ line of sight should be enough to reestablish the transmission.” He opened a small panel on the pod’s surface and shuffled through what appeared to be an assortment of spare parts.
    “That one.” She