The Roof Spaces

The first sign of rescue is blood falling through the ceiling.

Graham is standing beneath the ventilation wheel when a voice reaches him through its hum.

Between the rotating blades he catches a glimpse of a man's face. A hand reaches downward. The vane strikes it, and a dark stain appears along the metal edge.

Drops fall onto the floor at Graham's feet.

The face vanishes. Graham waits beneath the opening with every sense alert.

Outside, pale specks drift through the darkness. A flash reveals them as snow.

Metal strikes metal above him. The fan stops. A gust of snow whirls into the warm room and disappears before reaching the floor.

A young man's head enters the opening upside down. His hair is wet with melting flakes; the muscles in his face show the effort of holding himself above the shaft.

He asks whether Graham is the Sleeper.

When Graham says yes, the stranger gives the name of the man who sent him: Ostrog.

Graham has heard the crowd shout that name, but still does not know whether Ostrog is leader, rescuer or another would-be owner.

The stranger says his people have spent three days trying to reach the room. They believe the Council means to prevent Graham from interfering.

Escape is possible if Graham is willing to trust them.

There is no time for a complete explanation. Movement elsewhere on the roof repeatedly forces the rescuer to retreat while the fan starts again.

When he finally drops into the room, he recognises Graham from the years when members of the public were permitted to file past the sleeping body.

To the rescuer, the man before him is not a rumour. He once saw the Sleeper displayed like a sacred object.

More men force their way through the shaft. They cut apart the metal frame while watching the door.

Howard enters carrying a tray. The intruders strike him down before he can react and inspect what he brought. They suspect the food or drink is meant to drug Graham.

Graham cannot know whether the accusation is true. He knows only that Howard imprisoned him and these bleeding strangers have risked their lives to reach him.

The rescuers say his people are calling.

That phrase decides him. Graham climbs toward the opening.

The controlled warmth of the apartment gives way to freezing night.

Graham emerges into snow, wind and a roof landscape unlike any roof he remembers. Giant wind wheels turn above the city. Cables stretch across darkness. Machinery rises in skeletal masses between flashes of electrical light.

A cloak is thrown around him. The group begins moving at once.

The future that looked polished inside the public halls is raw here: exposed power, structural metal, narrow paths and enormous drops.

Graham has climbed out of comfort and into the dangerous machinery that makes comfort possible.

Pursuers appear in the air and across neighbouring structures. Shots flash. The rescuers move Graham onto a cable system suspended over one of the vast interior halls.

He has no control over the journey. A cradle or grip carries him through space while men cling behind and around him.

Then the cable is cut at its upper end.

For one suspended instant, gliding becomes falling.

The cable collapses into the theatre below. Graham strikes something soft, feels hands around him and is lifted by the crowd.

The hall erupts with a single message: the Sleeper is with us.

Graham has escaped the Council. He has not yet escaped becoming the property of a cause.