by John Corwin
"Deserts, forests, oceans—all sorts of environments." Max looked up at the trees, a wondering expression on his face. "I'd bet there are airlocks leading to different habitats. The founders didn't just save humans, they preserved other life from Earth."
"When I first stepped in here, I thought they'd already terraformed Mars and that I was outside." Scarlett tried to imagine an ocean habitat, salt water as far as the eye could see.
"I thought we were on Earth." Max pointed up toward the gray wall barely visible through the thick trees. "I want to climb to the top and see what the outside really looks like."
"How in the dome do you expect to climb that thing?" The surface was smooth and polished just like the wall in City 7.
"I need to find a tree tall enough." He turned and pointed. "Up to the northwest are the tallest trees. I think we'll have the best luck there, but first we need to discuss what we're up against."
Scarlett didn't like the ominous tone in his voice. "You must mean the ranger you mentioned."
Max pushed through a thicket of broad-leafed bushes and looked up. Four thick poles disguised like trees held up a small wooden house. "We're here."
Scarlett touched one of the poles and discovered it was metal covered with something slick. "Why is there a house up there, Max?"
"To keep the animals out." He pulled on a rod beneath the house. A trap door opened and a ladder extended from it. Max motioned her up. "After you."
Scarlett paused a moment before accepting his invitation. She unslung the duffel and wrestled it up the ladder ahead of her.
Max sighed. "Can I help you with that?"
She grudgingly nodded and handed it to him. "Don't open it." Scarlett climbed the ladder and emerged in a dim room. Lights flickered on to reveal a tiled bathroom complete with shower. The top of the duffel bag poked through the door.
"Take it," Max said. "This thing's heavy."
She pulled it up inside. Max poked his blaster through once she cleared the way and then joined her inside. He pressed a button. The ladder retracted and the door swung shut.
Scarlett poked around in the bathroom then walked through the only doorway and into a room with a kitchen and bedroom. "Looks cozy."
Max set his gun down and nodded. "The rangers use them while they're out in the field so they don't have to return to their headquarters every day." He walked over to a door and slid it open to reveal clothing. "Might be something in here that'll fit you."
"I brought clothing." She sat in a chair next to a small table.
"If it's a standard uniform, you'll get hot in this environment."
She didn't have much of her own, just some clothes she'd borrowed from Joseph Britain's closet, so she got up and poked around in the closet. One set of clothes looked too large, but the other looked about the right size. "There are only two sizes of clothing in here," Scarlett said. "I reckon that means there's only two rangers?"
"One now," Max said. He opened the refrigerator and removed a brown bottle, held it out to her. "Want a beer?"
"I don't care for swill."
"You'll like this." He motioned it toward her again. "Give it a try."
Scarlett took it reluctantly and popped off the metal lid. The first sip sent tingles down her throat. She sniffed the top. "This isn't swill."
"I guess they get the good stuff here," Max said. He opened one for himself and took a deep gulp. "Well, are you going to tell me what happened to bring you out here?"
Scarlett reckoned it didn't matter who told their story first, so she nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. "First of all, can you believe they kept me as deputy and made Dominic Barnes constable?"
Max spat on the floor. "Dominic was supposed to be my deputy when I took over as constable, but I convinced Alderman that you were the best person for the job."
A flush of surprise raced up Scarlett's face. "You didn't even know me."
"I saw your aptitude scores and I knew you gave a damn about doing your job." He grimaced. "Dominic would've been a nightmare—hell, he already caused plenty of trouble whenever he was around. Giving him that much authority is just asking to piss off the civvies even more than they already are."
In retrospect, Scarlett knew why Barnes wanted his son, Dominic to be the constable. It all fit nicely with his desire to cause an insurgency. "Well, I reckon it'll make perfect sense to you once you hear my story."
Max took a swig of beer. "I'm all ears."
Scarlett cut straight to the important part. "Someone murdered a lab coat named Joseph Britain and left the body in the steamworks."
Wrinkles furrowed Max's brow. "Sarah told me about him. He was in charge of population control or something like that." He winced when he said his sister's name.
Scarlett nearly lit into him about how he'd left his sister to rot in the airlock, but a tear at the corner of his eye quenched her anger. The man was in pain. Maybe he'd meant to go back and do something with her body. For now, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "I put Sarah back outside to preserve the body."
Max squeezed his eyes shut and looked down. "Thank you, Scarlett."
She almost reached out a hand to comfort him, but stopped herself. He let Nathan die. Don't feel sorry for the puppet constable. Scarlett steeled her resolve not to like Max and continued the story. "During my investigation, steamworkers in toughsuits took me prisoner with every intent to kill me."
Max leaned forward. "Who were they?"
Scarlett shrugged. "They covered their faces so I couldn't see. I escaped and ran into Simmons near the tunnel leading to the science campus. We barely escaped with our lives."
He scowled. "Too bad Simmons made it out."
"Can't disagree with you there." Scarlett took another draw from the bottle. "Simmons took me to Overlook where he met with Alderman and Kearns to discuss options for handling what appeared to be an insurgency."
Max nearly dropped his beer. "You're telling me there's armed resistance in City 7?"
"More like a small group of idiots," Scarlett said. "Simmons sent me back out to hunt them down even though he knew they'd probably kill me." Her chest tightened with anger. "I asked him for a safe place to stay and he put me in Britain's house on the science campus."
"Sick son of a bitch." Max pounded a fist on the table. "I'd like to drag him and Barnes kicking and screaming out of the airlock."
Scarlett frowned. She'd never seen Max so fired up or heard him speak such treason. Then again, they were practically in another world. "Well, you don't have to worry about Barnes anymore."
Max narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I found the recording of a conversation between Britain and Barnes. Britain didn't like the variables"—she loaded the word with contempt—" that Barnes was introducing to agitate the civvies and thought it would lead to a revolt. He said he wouldn't do it, and Barnes finally agreed."
"Except he didn't." Max nodded grimly. "Barnes staged the murder."
"He damned well did," Scarlett said. "He'd bugged Britain's house and knew I'd found the recording, so he tried to kill me, too."
Max's eyes flared, but he said nothing.
Adrenalin flushed Scarlett with heat as images of the scene ran through her mind. "I butchered him with a kitchen knife."
"Good riddance!" Max spat at the floor again. A savage smile creased his face. "Wish I could've used my blasters on them, but they caught me first." His grin faded and his eyes widened as if a puzzle piece just snapped into place. "You turned me in!"
"Damned right I turned you in, Max Planck." Scarlett jumped up from the bed and grabbed the blaster. "You sent my brother to feed."
Max surged to his feet threw the chair against the wall. "Sarah would have lived if she'd had that suit, you little idiot." He jabbed a finger at Scarlett. "Your precious revenge killed my sister!"
She jammed the blaster into his chest. "I reckon a sister for a brother is a fair trade! Maybe I ought to just finish what I started."
Chapter
32
Max shoved away the muzzle and turned around. Hands gripping the counter in a white-knuckled grip, a shudder ran through his body. "Why didn't you just kill me, Scarlett?" Agony laced his voice. "Why didn't you just put a blaster to my head and end it? You could've spared Sarah."
Scarlett trembled and dropped onto the bed as the true horror of what she'd done ripped into her soul. It would have broken Nathan's heart to know what she'd done in the name of vengeance. Salty tears stung a cut on her lip. "I'm sorry, Max." Scarlett crossed the small space and put a hand on the sobbing man's back. "I thought Sarah was good as dead anyway. I didn't know about this place."
Max nodded, walked calmly over to the chair, and righted it. His face glistened with tears, but he made no move to wipe them away. "I don't think she knew or she would've told me before we left the airlock." He stared at the beer bottle. "I've already cursed myself a thousand times for not sharing the micro-breather when she passed out. I thought I'd die if I lifted the mask."
Scarlett perfectly understood. She used to tell Nathan every treasonous thought she ever had. After he'd been condemned to feed, she had no doubt her ideas had indoctrinated him, made him take action that led to his execution.
Scarlett sat back down, folded her hands in her lap, and stared at them. "I reckon we both have a lot to answer for, Max." She looked up and met his tortured gaze. "Since we're still living, I reckon we have time to make up for what we did."
Max barked a cynical laugh. "Redemption, Deputy Flynn?"
Scarlett swallowed hard and nodded. "Redemption, Constable Planck."
His mirthless chuckles turned to disdainful belly laughs. Max held up his beer. "Here's to damned souls and damned idiots. May we kill the evil overlord bastards before they kill us." He gulped his bottle until it was dry.
Scarlett stared at him. "We're also damned lucky to be alive, Max."
Max nodded. "I reckon so." He reached into the fridge and removed another beer. "I suppose it's my turn for story time."
"It sure is." Scarlett picked up her beer and waited.
"You already met my best friend, Patch." Max leaned back in his chair. "That leopard chased me up a tree not long after I arrived here, and that's where I spent my first night." He continued on about how he'd found water and nearly met his end by the horns of a billy goat while trying to kill it. "Patch took that kill from me, but I found new prey and ate it raw."
Scarlett grimaced. "Well, I suppose you had no choice."
He shook his head. "That was when I met the ranger, Creed." Max told Scarlett how he'd run but the wily ranger followed him and tricked him when Max tried to use trees to avoid leaving footprints.
Scarlett gasped when Max recounted how he'd killed Creed. "You outfoxed the fox, Max."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Creed underestimated me. He thought I made the same mistake twice." Max slid the epad from his backpack and showed Scarlett the map. He tapped a finger on the door icon to the northwest. "I think this is where he came from. Won't be much longer before the other ranger comes looking for him."
A cold chill walked down Scarlett's spine. "Do we lie in wait and kill him too?"
Max's eyes went distant. "I think it might be best to avoid them altogether. I think there are more airlocks leading to more habitats. Maybe we can use the shelters in each one, spread it out so they don't know we're there."
"We'll be just like the ancient nomads," Scarlett mused. "Moving from one place to another; surviving, but not living." She shook her head. "That's not how I want to live, Max. I need a goal."
"I figured as much." Max stared at his beer bottle. "I reckon we'd kill each other before long in that kind of life. In another life maybe…" His eyes wandered up to meet hers. "What I suggest is that we explore and map out these other habitats. Creed didn't know City 7 existed. I'd bet he didn't know anything about the other habitats either."
"I stayed the night in the airlock," Scarlett said, "and nobody from City 7 came looking for me. Makes me wonder if Alderman doesn't know or just doesn't care."
"I wonder the same thing," Max said. "What I'm sure of is that someone somewhere knows about this entire place, and I'd like to find them." He took his empty beer bottle and held it over the floor. "This is what got Sarah into trouble." The bottle clanged on the wooden floor.
Scarlett didn't make the connection. "What in the dome are you talking about, Max?"
"She said the gravity here was wrong, that it was close to Earth normal when it should only be a third of it." Max retrieved the empty bottle and set it on the table. "I wouldn't know if we weigh as much as we should. She said human bodies waste away in low gravity, but obviously that hasn't happened. That's why I thought we might be on Earth."
"It's possible," Scarlett said. She waved a hand around. "We have no idea what's outside these walls."
"That's why I want to climb the wall."
Scarlett tapped a finger to her chin and considered the idea. "That means we have to go to the northwest section where the trees are tall enough."
"When you went up to Overlook, did you see the window to the outside?" Max asked.
Scarlett shook her head. "I didn't go all the way across. The glass looks just as blurry up there as it does from the ground."
Max pursed his lips. "In other words, Alderman and the others can only look outside to the west or thereabouts."
"I reckon you're right," Scarlett said. "The dome was designed to keep us in the dark."
"If that's the case, why would this dome be perfectly clear?" Max stood up and paced. "What prevents someone like Creed from climbing a tree and looking outside?"
"Do the tallest trees rise higher than the wall?" Scarlett asked.
Max shrugged. "I couldn't tell from my location. We'll just have to go there and find out."
Scarlett got up. "I'm ready; let's go."
He opened the fridge and looked inside. "I suggest we eat first. You want beef or chicken?"
Scarlett's nose wrinkled. "Is it any better than the meat in City 7?"
Max grinned. "This is gonna be the best meal you ever had."
He was right. A creamy sauce filled with mushrooms covered tender beef and noodles. Coupled with another beer, it tasted heavenly.
"Where do you reckon they get the food to make this?" Scarlett asked.
Max shrugged. "We have more livestock and crop yields than we use. It's possible some of our harvests are diverted to make these meal packs."
"Maybe they have an entire dome dedicated to nothing but food," Scarlett suggested.
"Anything is possible." Max finished his meal and put the empty packet in a recycling bin. "That's why we need to get a look outside."
"Well, let's go." Scarlett holstered her blaster and slung the duffel bag over a shoulder.
Max looked at it for a moment then retrieved his own weapon and backpack. "You'll probably want to change out of that toughsuit before hiking across the jungle."
Scarlett didn't like losing the extra protection from the toughsuit, but it was too bulky for hiking or climbing trees. She pointed to the door. "I need a moment."
Max left the room without a word.
Scarlett unzipped the toughsuit and sighed with relief at the cooler air touching her skin. She shivered at the thought of being unclothed with Max so near, but a feeling bubbled to the surface, a strange sense of déjà vu.
Scarlett drops her clothes to the floor and walks toward a bed.
Scarlett rubbed her eyes and blinked. "Am I seeing things?" I must be more tired than I thought. Nose wrinkling at the odor emanating from the suit, Scarlett tugged it off and peeled off the sweaty slacks and shirt she'd taken from Britain's closet. "Is there any rope or climbing equipment in here?" Scarlett asked as she padded over to the closet and inspected the smaller-sized clothing inside.
"Not that I found," Max said from the bathroom. "You almost done?"
"Almost." Scarlett grimaced at her sticky, salty skin, but figured a
few minutes in the humidity outside would make her just as sweaty again in no time. The underwear and clothing looked identical to what was available to civvies in City 7, though few people could afford the rations for extra clothing. Underneath the shorts she found a bra.
"Do you need deodorant?" Max called.
Scarlett didn't need to sniff her armpits to know the answer. She slid on the bra. "Yes."
Max's hand appeared through the doorway and tossed the stick on the bed. Scarlett applied it generously to her armpits and put on the shirt.
"Scarlett, get me a towel, please," a man calls from a bathroom.
Scarlett laughs. "One day I'm going to make you get it yourself."
"How strong is that beer, Max?" she called.
"You're not drunk are you?" he said.
"Maybe I am," she murmured and tried to recall the vision, but it fled from her like mist in sunlight.
"You done?" Max said.
Scarlett shook from her reverie. "Yes."
He came inside the bathroom and hit the button to open the trap door. "Something wrong?"
"No, I'm fine."
Max gazed at her uncertainly then climbed down the ladder outside.
Scarlett stared into the mirror and tried again to remember what she'd seen, but not even a hint resurfaced. Did it even happen? When she finally emerged outside, she found Max sitting on a stump several feet away intently watching a bright blue frog.
"Don't touch that!" Scarlett said.
Max jumped up, startled. "I didn't plan to. I think it's poisonous."
"You're right about that," she said. "I read in a book that savages would make darts and kill people with the poison from frogs like that."
"Who needs frogs when you have blasters?" Max said. He pointed to the west. "Let's head to the wall and use the path to go north."
"By the way, the other ranger is a woman," Scarlett said.
Max raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"
"There was a bra in the closet."
Max's eyes went to the bulging duffel bag. "We need to lighten your load. Did you put the toughsuit inside?"
She nodded. "We can leave some things in the airlock."