Read Online Shadows by Peter Cawdron - Free Book Online

knowing it was probably another
part for one of his so called inventions as he reintroduced past
technology into the silo. She had to talk to him about this.
Charlie was skirting the stairs, as the porters would say, carrying
an unbalanced load: he was heading for trouble. As much as she
loved him, she knew this had to stop. Sooner or later, someone like
Hammond would figure out where these inventions were really coming
from and there would be hell to pay.
    “ You go
on, ” Lisa said around six in the evening as they approached
the sixties. “ I'm gonna stop for
the night. ”
    “ Are you sure
you? ” Susan asked.
    “ Go, ” Lisa repeated. “ If love
can drive you so hard and for so long, far be it from me to stand
between the two of you. I'll see you tomorrow, and I'll make sure
we stay in the Uppers this time. ”
    Susan smiled,
saying, “ Thank you. ” She found she had a
spring in her step with the prospect of seeing Charlie becoming a
reality. It had been a long, hard day, and it was going to be
longer, but she didn't mind.
    By eight in the evening she
was approaching the last few levels. The lighting automatically
switched to the low-mode, giving the silo an artificial night.
Susan dropped off the letters in the porter's station and continued
on past the dirt farms. She didn't bother looking for Charlie
there. She knew where he would be.
    Her blood sugar was low.
Her legs were sore, but it was a good kind of pain, one born from
raw accomplishment. Her stomach was knotted, crying out for
sustenance, but she didn't care. When she finally took that last
step she felt as though she had conquered the entire world,
standing triumphantly at the top of the silo. The Great Fall had
been subdued, vanquished in a day. In that moment, there was no
part of creation that wouldn't bow before her vibrant
enthusiasm.
    Charlie jogged over to her,
seeing her standing there by the stairs.
    Susan wrapped
her sweaty arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. For
his part, Charlie seemed a little confused. After they kissed, he
said, “ Ah, well that was unexpected, but very
welcome. ”
    “ I have a
present for you, ” she said, slinging her pack from her
pack.
    “ No
way, ” he replied. “ Is
this? ”
    “ Porter's
code, ” she replied, pulling her ‘ kerchief from
around her neck and stuffing it in her pocket. “ I have no
idea what it is, but I know it's yours. I'm guessing you were
expecting this. ”
    “ Yes, but not
for a couple of days. How did you? ”
    “ I drew the
short straw this morning, had to port a hydroponics pump to
engineering Down Deep. ”
    “ You went to
the Deep and back in a single day? ” Charlie asked, his
eyebrows raised in surprise.
    “ Yep, ” Susan replied, feeling proud of
herself.
    “ Damn, ” he said, sitting his hands on either
side of her waist and taking a good look at her. She wasn't sure
what he saw in that moment. She felt exhausted but exuberant. Sweat
caused her shirt to stick to her body. She had her coveralls down,
tied around her waist. Her sweaty hair felt wet and sticky as it
cooled in the night air. She must have looked a wreck, but he
didn't seem to mind.
    “ You are
something else, ” he said, giving her another
kiss.
    “ So what is
it? ” she asked.
    “ It's a
pulley. ”
    “ OK, you're
going to have to explain that one to me, but I'm guessing you saw
this in one of the books. ”
    Charlie grinned.
    “ You're going
to love this, ” he said, leading her over to one of
the tables in the cafeteria. Beyond them, on the wall-screen, dark
clouds drifted over a bleak land of flickering shadows.
Occasionally, the wall-screen revealed the odd star breaking
through the dark of night.
    “ Have you
eaten? ” he asked.
    “ No. ”
    “ Wait
here, ” he replied as he disappeared into the
kitchen.
    There was a light on in the
sheriff's office, but the rest of the floor was empty. During the
day, there was a hive of activity in the open area beside the
cafeteria,