Escape! by Ben Bova

stored on
tape.
    “Has anybody checked these tapes?”
    “I HAVE NO RECORD OF THAT.”
    Danny spent a week quietly gathering the right tapes
and erasing all his talks with SPECS. Now no one could ever find
out what he had said to the computer. Then he got to work on his
escape plan. He had a pocket-sized camera now, which Noisy had
taken from the photography class.
    “What’s the layout of the power station?” Danny asked
quietly. And when SPECS showed the right diagram on the TV screen, click! Danny got it on film.
    “How does the power generator work?” Click .
    “When the generator breaks down, what goes wrong with
it most often?” Click .
    “How’s the emergency generator hooked into the
Center’s main power lines?” Click .
    Danny would keep the photographs and study them in
his room for hours each night. And, of course, he erased all traces
of his questions and their answers from SPECS’ memory tapes.
    The winter snows came and buried the Center in white.
Ralph and Hambone, faces red from the wind, noses sniffling, wailed
loudly to Danny about all the snow-shoveling that the clean-up crew
was doing.
    “I told you it’d be hard work,” Danny said, trying
hard not to laugh. If he got them angry, they could crack him like
a teacup.
    Danny started Vic and Coop, on the maintenance crew,
checking into the electrical power lines in each building. He had
to make sure he understood all about the Center’s electrical
system.
    Vic said, “I ain’t seen no other emergency generators
any place. There’s just the one at the main power station. None of
the other buildings even has a flashlight battery laying around,
far as I can tell.”
    Danny stopped Midget one afternoon in the hallway of
the administration building.
    “How’s it going?”
    “Okay. Got the phone line figured out. Any time you
want to pull the cable, I’m all set.”
    “Good. Now, think you can find out when the
maintenance man leaves the power station alone?”
    Midget said, “He don’t. There’s always a kid in
there.”
    “I know. That’s what I mean. Try and find out when
the kid’s in there by himself. And who the kid is. Maybe we can get
him on our side.”
    Nodding, Midget said, “Groovy. I’ll get the word to
you.”
     

Chapter Twenty-Two
     
    The snow melted a little, then more fell. Late in
February, during a slushy cold rainstorm, Laurie visited the
Center.
    Danny ran through the driving rain toward the
administration building, hunched over, hands in pockets, feet
getting soaked in puddles.
    She picked some day to come , he said to
himself. She’s gettin’ to be nothing but trouble. Why’d she come
today? And then he heard himself saying, Maybe she’s come to
say goodbye... that she don’t want me any more.
    By the time he got to the visitor’s room, Danny felt
cold, wet, angry, and—even though he didn’t want to admit it—more
than a little scared. He stopped at the water fountain outside the
door and took an asthma pill. Then he went in.
    Laurie was standing by the window, looking out at the
rain. Danny saw that she was prettier than ever. Not so
worried-looking any more. Dressed better, too.
    She turned as he softly shut the door.
    “Oh, Danny... you’re soaking wet. I’m sorry, it’s my
fault.”
    He grinned at her. “It’s okay. It’ll dry.”
    They stood at opposite ends of the little room, about
five paces apart. Then suddenly Danny crossed over toward her, and
she was in his arms again.
    “Hey,” he said, smiling at her, “you even smell
good.”
    “You look fine,” Laurie said. “Wet... but fine.”
    They sat on the sofa and talked for a long time.
    Finally Laurie said, “Dr. Tenny told me you’re doing
very well. You’re working hard and doing good in class. He thinks
you’re on the right road.”
    Danny laughed. “Good, let him think that.”
    For the first time, the old worried look crept back
into Laurie’s face. “What do you mean?”
    “You’ll see. Maybe you better start