Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(41)
The Heights was one of the better hotels in Chicago. It was usually reserved for visiting dignitaries and off-planet corporate executives. The cost of staying here per night was usually more than the employees who worked there made in a week. In the present day, few hotels in the solar system outside of Europa, Callisto, and Titan were considered finer.
Elise wrinkled her nose, clearly unimpressed. “What a dump.”
James checked them in to the penthouse and led her by the hand to the unit’s private elevator. A few seconds later, they saw daylight as the elevator rose past ground level to display fully the splendor and rot of the city. Elise’s eyes stayed glued to the window as she saw the advanced technology and the decay of the present side by side. Dozens of tall skyscrapers rose into the air, their tips lost in the lowlying gray smog clouds that blocked out the sun. More smokestacks rose from the ground, spewing massive columns of smoke that seemed to hold up the clouds.
Hundreds of small vehicles and transports zoomed around the tops of buildings, a swarm of metallic locusts coming in and out of the city over the skyway, which reached out as far as the eye could see. On the ground, those who couldn’t afford cars walked, bussed, or trained in huddled masses, like tiny ants.
Everywhere they looked, rust dominated the landscape, from the walls of the buildings to the frames of the cars to the railings of their elevator. Occasionally, a dim pale ray of light would sneak past the thick gray clouds, laying down an orange glaze across a surface, only to be swallowed up seconds later. In the far distance over Lake Michigan, an electric storm sparked and shot long streaks of lightning at the water, puncturing the haze, if only for a moment.
Elise look disgusted as she peered out the window. “Everything looks so washed out. What happened to this place?”
“Not just this place. Everywhere on Earth,” he said.
“You sure as Gaia lied about the present when we were underwater, James the time-traveling liar.”
The elevator dropped them off at the fifty-sixth level, just below the skyway. James led Elise to the suite. It was a spacious four-by-four-meter room with its own bathroom. A single clean bed occupied the center of the room, and a vid screen was mounted on the opposite wall. Being the most expensive unit available, one of its walls consisted entirely of windows, though the grime caked on several of the panels made it difficult to see outside. At this height, James could see only the brown and black wind as it swirled around the building.
He turned to her. “Listen, stay here. Do not leave the room. Do not answer the door. If the lobby calls up, tell them you’re indisposed and do not wish to be disturbed. This is important, understand?”
Elise gasped, momentary panic blanketing her face. “You’re leaving? Where are you going?”
“I have to report in. I’ll be back; I promise.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meanwhile?”
James kept the growing irritation rising up his gut in check. After all, she didn’t realize how serious a situation they were in right now. It was all he could do to hold it together and not outright panic. For a brief second, he considered surrendering her. He could tell them it was a mistake, a moment of weakness. Perhaps he could even sell the auditors the story that she clung on to him. There were dozens of scenarios that he could concoct to escape this dilemma. Then he thought about Sasha.
“Fucking abyss,” he muttered. He led Elise to the bed and sat her down. “There’s nothing to worry about. Get some rest. I’ll be back shortly.”
She nodded. “What if someone knocks? Room service or something?”
“Don’t answer it. If someone does try to come in, run. Hide. It’s important no one knows you’re here yet. Understand?” She nodded again.
James turned on the vid screen to a channel showing a game of Lok Gull from the Callisto League. That should keep her preoccupied. He got up and walked to the door, looking back at her once more while she sat on the bed, confused and still in a bit of shock. He didn’t blame her. She had just traveled from her utopian past to his dystopian present. There wasn’t a greater contrast between the two worlds than that. It was a lot for her to take in.
“I’ll be back shortly,” he repeated, hoping desperately that he was telling the truth and that he was not actually saying good-bye.
SIXTEEN
POWERS THAT BE
The powers that be were not happy when James, about three hours late, finally landed at Earth Central. James watched from the sky as he made his descent toward the landing pad. Smitt was there, flanked by four monitors. From fifty meters away, James could see the worried grimace on his friend’s face; he also noticed the fidgeting. The auditors must have really put the screws to him when James went so far off protocol.
James recited his prepared excuses. One of the requirements for being a chronman was thinking quickly on his feet and believing his own lies. During the Publicae Age in the mid-twenty-third century, neural bugs were commonplace and a chronman couldn’t even step foot in that period unless he was trained successfully to lie and think through the constant mental surveillance. Still, James had the feeling he had his work cut out for him.
His being gone nearly half a day, especially on Earth, of all places, had to have raised alarms. He wasn’t sure how closely he had been monitored, but the fact that they were waiting for him at the landing pad probably meant they had tracked him nearly every step of the way once he hit Chicago’s airspace.