Free Beat by Jared Garrett

in the darkness, it seemed like the pipe stretched all the way up to the stars. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the pipe and put my foot on the lowest bracket, pulling hard.
    My foot slipped, and my elbows slammed into the solid walls. Lances of pain shot up into my shoulders. My fingers popped free with a brief jolt of pain.
    Steeling myself, I tried again, gripping tighter and imagining I was a spider. This time my foot stayed. Victory flared. I kept my left hand tight on the pipe and slid my right up a little. I put my left foot on the next bracket, clenching as tight as I could. I pulled.
    Both feet slipped, and my fingers jerked painfully out from between the pipe and wall. My left forefinger stayed stuck longer than the others; it felt like it nearly stayed behind. I hit the ground hard, my elbows leading. 
    No good. I shook my hands, willing the pain in my fingers to go away. I broke into a run around the outside wall. The building was essentially a huge rectangle with a tall dome for a ceiling. It looked exactly like the other large buildings in New Frisko except for the orange stripes on its walls, marking it as the Enjineering Dome. The Med Dome had red stripes. Unsurprisingly, the Ag Dome had green stripes. And so it went.
    I tore around the building, seeking inspiration.
    A rock might work. I looked around; it was worth a try, and I had no time left. I searched the ground all around. No rocks. Of course. Maintenance bots had been through this area earlier in the night; they picked up any debris they found, including stray rocks.
    It was a dumb idea, anyway. The glass in the windows was reinforced. I needed a torch or something to cut through the walls or windows.
    I heard the Enforser pod again. It was getting closer.
    I had to get in this building. Now. I stood in front of the east entrance again. I ran to the sliding doors. If I were arriving for a shift, the doors would have opened no problem. I’d have to find some other way to open them.
    Pushing at them didn’t work; the magnetic seal was too strong. The magnetic seal. Maybe I could break it or weaken it enough to push the doors apart. It came to me in a flash. I had the cycle in front of the door in seconds. I took off the back wheel, dropped it, and dragged the cycle right next to the door. Then, sticking the back fork in the ground just enough to keep the cycle steady, I unclipped the cover of the kinetic motor.
    I used one hand to steady the cycle and the other to push the pedal. With the front wheel still on, the cycle was angled upward, as if it were on a hill. I knew the kinetic motor had a way to detect a slope, so I hoped this slope was enough. I pushed the pedal. Within three or four revolutions, the kinetic motor kicked in and the chain began to move on its own. Electricity.
    I had to channel that electricity to the magnetic seal. I heard the Enforcement pod’s siren again. Closer now. 
    I needed a wire, or something that would—
    My wheel. I dashed to the back wheel I’d taken off and stomped on it as hard as I could, sharp pain slashing through my right arm at the movement. What had I done to my arm?
    Pushing the thought aside, I stomped again and reached down, pulling two broken spokes free. Back at the door, I checked my distance. One spoke was enough to reach from the kinetic motor to the doors; I just had to find one of the electro-magnets. It took maybe two seconds to find the nearest magnet inside the body of the door on the left; the spoke nearly jumped right out of my hand. I bent the other spoke in half and stuffed it in my zip pocket, not wanting to get rid of it.
    Having tinkered with every cycle I’d ever had and shadowed several people in the Enjineering Dome, I knew where the electric charge in the kinetic motor was stored. I pedaled with one hand and, with the other, positioned one end of the spoke on the motor’s power source, Then I put the other end on the magnetic seal where the electro-magnet hid behind the