The Lostkind Read Free Page A

million, and we live in the cracks between them."
    "How come we don't know any of this is down here?"
    "For the most part; because you don't look. But if you mean; why isn't it on the records; it's because the Original Makers kept it to themselves." Archivist explained, and Vincent got the feeling he was used to telling the history as a story. "Remember, it was meant as a bunker. No matter how big it was, there's no way there'd be enough room for everyone in this town. They promised places of safety to the wealthy, to the powerful, to their friends... The money kept pouring in, and they kept digging out the room, but then the war ended and the Depression started, and most of those people jumped out a window. That's the Shelter, but the Underground itself didn't start until a few years later. The millionaires were suddenly broke and had nowhere to go, and nothing to fall back on, so they sold the last of their possessions, spent the last of their money and moved in to the places they had built down below. Then time passed, and..."
    "I know this part. Or at least I can guess." Vincent interrupted. "The subway tunnels were left as the station maps changed and new tracks were laid, and the steam pipes were left as the city moved to electric..."
    "Some of them at least. And we inherited it. Just like the Shelter, just like the tunnels..." Archivist sighed. "The Underground is a world made of the places long forgotten."
    "And the same goes for everything else, I assume." Vincent was already trying to comprehend the logistics. "Power, water, air..."
    Archivist started counting on his fingers. "Air gets pumped through the subway tunnels already. A few extra shafts and it comes to us as well. Water trickles down, like most everything else. Power is tricky because it costs money. People notice things that cost money. We've been doing this a while, we know a lot of tricks."
    "What about… garbage?" Vincent seized on something that came to mind just by looking around. "How do you deal with that?"
    "Boy, you are a city planner, aren't you?" Yasi was amused.
    "We handle our refuse the same way you do. We throw it away." Keeper said simply. "There are supermarkets Above; they throw out more food than they sell most days. They padlock the dumpsters so that the homeless can't get in. Anyone from the underground knows how to slip past locks like that, so we take all the discarded food and goods out, and replace it with our own garbage at the same time. The next night we repeat the process."
    "And that works every night?" Vincent found it hard to believe.
    "How often do you check that you've got the right garbage?" The older woman shot back.
    "Not often." Vincent conceded.
    "Nobody checks what the garbage is, because it's like us: Too distasteful for people like you to think about."
    "You don't like us do you?" Vincent said with wry amusement. "And the people?" He waved at the large chamber. "Where did they come from?"
    "Same place everything else did. The people who live here are the ones that nobody notices are missing."
    "So, the Homeless work for you?"
    "A lot of them do; many do not." Yasi responded. "You don't think we could leave them all to starve? That's what your world does; not ours."
    Vincent felt terribly ashamed suddenly. His mother's voice came back to him, from across the divide of years. ‘ Be nice to the beggars, for they may secretly be kings.'
    "A Lost World made of Lost Boys." Vincent said in open wonder.
    "Girls too." Yasi put in.
    Long silence.
    "So... I can only guess at how much you appreciate your privacy." Vincent said finally. "Why am I here?"
    "There's been a new development." Keeper explained. "The old tunnels are going to be noticed again."
    "Why?"
    "But of course… you know why." Archivist said coolly.
    Vincent blinked, and realization crossed his face. "The Fibre-Optic deal."
    "The new broadband network is planned to go through the old tunnels. The Underground will be discovered."
    "That was the plan." Vincent