Alliance by Timothy L. Cerepaka Page B

“The Head doesn't want you knowing anything she
hasn't approved of you to know.”
    “ I do not care,” I say.
I tighten my grip around his neck; not enough to choke him, but
enough to make him think twice about refusing to tell me what I
need to know. “All I wish to know is where I am and how to get out
of here. Hardly what I call an unreasonable demand.”
    “ Doesn't matter if your
demand is 'unreasonable' or not,” says Garga. “What matters is that
the Head says you aren't allowed to know, so you aren't allowed
to—”
    I slap him across the face again. “I do
not care. How many times must I say that before you understand it?
Must I speak in Elvish Delan before you will understand what I
want?”
    A trickle of blood appears from the corner
of Garga's mouth. I have no intention of beating him senseless, but
as a J bot, I am authorized to use force during interrogations in
order to gain the intelligence I need. It is sometimes the only way
to learn what I need to know, especially in situations like
this.
    “ Perhaps I should make
it simpler for you,” I say. “Instead of telling me where this place
is located, why don't you simply point me in the direction of the
nearest exit?”
    I fully expect Garga to insult me again,
which would require me to become far less gentle and merciful in
order to get what I need.
    Instead, Garga raises a hand and points a
shaky finger to the left end of the hallway. He doesn't meet my
eyes as he says, “Just go down that way. You'll find stairs going
up to the next floor. Keep following the stairs, and you'll
eventually find the exit.”
    Garga appears to be telling the truth, so
I say, “All right. Thank you for your cooperation, Garga. This will
be very helpful in my escape. But unfortunately for you, I will
have to knock you out for now. Don't worry; it will only be a
little while, I promise.”
    I slap Garga again, this time with far
more effort than before. The blow knocks him out and I stand up.
His friend has not moved a muscle since I knocked him out as well,
which is good because that is one less obstacle I will have to deal
with on my way out of this place.
    I run toward the left end of the hallway,
which appears to be a heavy stone door, although where it leads to
I do not know. My guess is that it will open up to a staircase that
will lead me upward, as all clues support the theory that I am
somewhere underground. It is the only reason why this hallway and
the room I was in earlier do not have any windows, although they do
have ventilation systems that likely funnel air into these areas to
make them breathable to the organic Foundation members who work
down here.
    When I reach the door, I push it open and
enter. I expect to find myself in a narrow stairwell, but instead,
I stumble into another room, this one much wider and open than the
one I had been kept in like a prisoner.
    Like the hallway, this room has
cobblestone walls and floors, as well as a ceiling made out of that
same material. Glowing candles hang from the ceiling, which appear
to be the only sources of light in this room, shining as brightly
as the indoor lights of most Xeeonite buildings.
    These candles show me a dozen
beings—probably Foundation agents, although due to their lack of
identification I do not know for certain—sitting around a table
talking amongst themselves. On the table itself are maps, skyras
rings, and pictures, which tells me that these agents are probably
discussing Foundation plans, whatever those are.
    But if that is what they are talking
about, they are no longer doing so, because now every eye in the
room is on me. Many of them look at me in surprise, as if they had
not expected me to enter, but none of them move to get up and try
to grab me.
    I turn to leave, but when I try to pull
open the door, I find that it refuses to budge. That is odd,
because I opened it just fine before. Brief analysis shows no
reason for this, except that this door appears to have been locked
by