The digital display on the bus dashboard snapped to zero-two-fifty-seven and fifty-three seconds.
Seven seconds remained before the inter-zone transit link severed.
Outside the folding doors, the yellow river fog was no longer drifting. It was boiling upward from the pavement, hissing as it ate away the rubber seals along the step-well. The darkness pressing against the windshield had the heavy, suffocating weight of wet wool.
Lin Mei stood frozen on the bottom aluminum step.
The heavy brass turnstile arm of the Duncan Model 90 Fare-Box remained locked across the entry aisle, cold and immovable. Above it, the red bayonet lamp pulsed with mechanical fury, casting bloody reflections across the ribbed rubber treads.
“Julian, look at the time!” Lin Mei cried out.
Her voice caught in her throat as she pushed her glasses up. “The transit link disconnects at zero-two-fifty-eight sharp!
If the threshold doesn’t lock, the circuit shorts to ground! You’ll be trapped in the dead zone with Clara!”
