Free Saving Thanehaven by Catherine Jinks Page A

you?”
    “No.” All Noble can see is a sticky-looking pinkish wall. But as Rufus raises the door a little farther, more of the scene becomes visible. There’s a wedge of slimy ceiling just above them, ribbed with a network of pipes—or are they veins? Three large metal bins are parked close by. And the wheels of the van have left tracks in a slick, pulpy, purplish floor.
    “Where
are
we?” rasps Noble.
    “I’m not sure yet,” Rufus admits softly. “Let’s go find out.”
    He slips beneath the half-open door and drops stealthily to the ground, then shuffles sideways until he can peek around the corner of the van. Noble does the same.
    The sight that greets them both is utterly astounding.
    “Are we inside a stomach?” Noble hisses.
    “I dunno. I don’t think most stomachs are full of spacesuits.”
    “What’s a spacesuit?”
    But Rufus has already forged ahead. Noble followshim along the side of the van, catching up just in time to see him stick his top half through the driver’s window.
    “He took his keys with him,” Rufus mutters. “Pity. An AV’s keys would have got us into pretty much every part of this computer.” Then he drags something out of the front cabin. “Look,” he says, indicating a sheet of parchment attached to a small, thin, wooden panel. “He’s left his clipboard. See this? This must be his schedule. And
this
is where we are now. In
Killer Cells
.” After scanning the document in front of him, Rufus gives a satisfied nod. “I get it. Right. So it’s where a spaceship has turned into a living creature, and the crew are getting attacked by the ship’s immune system.”
    He then replaces the clipboard, ensuring that he puts it back exactly where he found it. Noble, meanwhile, stares at him mutely. The word
clipboard
means nothing to Noble. Neither do the words
spaceship
or
immune system
.
    “Okay,” Rufus continues, straightening up. “Our AV must have headed for the bridge, which is where this game actually starts. He’ll look for me there, and when he doesn’t find me, he’ll come back. So we’ll hide in here until he leaves.” After glancing around, Rufus points at the metal bins sitting nearby. “Those are perfect,” he declares. “Let’s see what’s in ’em.”
    Noble frowns. “If I was searching for someone, they’d be the first place I’d look,” he argues.
    Rufus waves this objection aside. “The AV won’t search for me in here,” he assures Noble, “because there won’t be any evidence that I’ve ever set foot in this game. After he works that out, he’ll head straight for the next one.”
    “And then?”
    “Then we’ll see what we can do for the poor subprograms stuck in this nightmare,” Rufus replies. As he moves toward the bins, the soles of his shoes peel off the gluey floor. “At least, we won’t have any trouble finding reinforcements,” he adds. “The people in here will be
begging
to leave.”
    “Why?” says Noble. And Rufus snorts.
    “Man, you think
you
had problems? Wait till you check out
Killer Cells
!”
    It’s some time, however, before Noble can do anything of the sort. First he has to climb into the largest of the metal bins. Then he has to sit in the dark, without moving a muscle, until he finally hears the van start up again. And even after the noise of the engine has faded to silence, he
still
has to wait. Because Rufus has told him not to stir without permission.
    Permission is finally granted when Rufus taps on the lid above Noble’s head. “All clear,” Rufus announces. “The van’s gone.”
    “Gone where?” asks Noble. As he pushes the lid open, he adds, “How will we get back to Thanehaven without the van?”
    “Don’t worry.” Rufus sounds unconcerned. “We’llgo out the way we came in. Through that airlock.” He draws Noble’s attention to something that’s probably a door, though it’s not like any of the doors in Thanehaven. For one thing, it has no knob or handle. It’s also shaped more