Her lessons were supposed to teach him to be a fine upstanding citizen. It even worked, for a while. But then he realized that if he stole money from her purse on random nights, instead of every Friday, no trap would be set. If he came in through the front door, an hour earlier than usual, she’d miss him. The new tactic worked so well that Russell decided to have the letters VTP tattooed on his right forearm. Initials of some fallen friend, most people assumed. They stood for “Vary The Pattern.”
Alex Warthen went on. “You’re a mess lately, and I think it’s because you’re torn between some feeling of obligation to ‘run things’ while what you really want to do is bring the runaways back into the fold. You’re unable to focus. And on top of that is the knowledge that you handed Darwin to someone else, and he’s doing a damn fine job.”
“I’m only letting you say this shit because I’m too drunk to stand up.”
“But it’s true, right?”
“Yes it’s fucking true!” Russell shouted more than said. “Doesn’t mean I have to like hearing it. I still don’t understand what the hell you expect me to do. Go down to Darwin with a squadron of thugs and kick Grillo out? Won’t be pretty, and like you said, he’s the bloody messiah down there.”
“What I’m saying,” Alex said with pointed patience, “is that you should put all your energy into the runaways, from now until the situation is resolved. And I mean really do it, not just talk.”
Russell opened his mouth to speak but Alex’s upheld hand stopped him.
“Hear me out. You focus on Tania and the new Elevator. Whatever it takes, just bring them under our umbrella. You know it’s what you really want to be doing, anyway. Let myself and a few of the old council members deal with the minutiae of keeping these space stations provisioned.”
“And Grillo?”
“I thought I might try handling him.”
“Oh? What difference would that make?”
“Your first instinct was to take a squad of thugs down there. I thought I might try a little diplomacy.”
Russell rolled his eyes. “Oh God.”
“It worked well enough with you for years.”
“Now you’re just being a prick.”
Alex brushed the comment aside. “You tell Grillo I’ve been placed back in charge of managing shipments on the cord, and I’ll take it from there. Once you’ve got the Brazil situation under control, if I don’t have Grillo behaving to our liking then you can turn your guns on him.”
The plan had a sobering effect. Alex had him figured perfectly, and he couldn’t deny the appeal of putting all his attention into revenge against Tania Sharma. “Grillo promised me fighters. He’s been dodging that ever since.”
“I’ll make it a priority that he deliver.”
Russell nodded, then turned to the blue planet out the expansive window. The deal was done. “Neil, Tania, maybe Grillo after that. What happens then?” What happens when I run out of prey?
Alex inclined his head slightly. “Well, there’s always the Builders.”
Belém, Brazil
12.JUL.2284
THE THIN CORD plunged into darkness, well beyond the limit of Skyler’s flashlight. Radiance danced along its length, as if a strand of shiny black hair had been stretched right down the middle of the abyss.
He pulled a glow stick from his vest pocket, shook it until his arm hurt, and then cracked it. A green glow built within the childish object.
With his flashlight turned off, the space beneath base camp became pitch-black save for the faint green glow coming from the stick. Skyler held it out over the precipice and dropped it.
It seemed to fall forever, spiraling on the hot air that rose from the power source below. The glowing stick fell until he almost couldn’t see it. Finally, the object stopped, as if it had become caught in some invisible field within darkness. Skyler put his binoculars to his eyes and tapped the autofocus until the green glowing stick came into view.
The surface it rested on was another iris, just like he’d seen below Nightcliff. This came as no surprise. Skyler had been down here many times since the tunnel team finished their work, months ago, but he still liked to survey it for any changes. Any hint that it might experience the same failures Darwin’s had. The room where he stood, twenty meters beneath the center of camp, had been carved largely by hand after a tunneling machine bored the main access way. Warm air from the alien generator below gave the space a sauna’s climate. Moisture dripped down the packed soil walls, traced lines along the rocks too big to remove. Wooden beams were irregularly placed around the circular space, with a simple square formed across the top to presumably hold up the “ceiling.”
Something about the pit drew him back, time and time again. It never looked any different, of course. Nothing led him to believe it would, but he still felt the need to check. Part of him wished it would change, that he’d stare down into the hole and see brilliant yellow light emanating from the alien thing, beckoning him to dive in again and become enveloped in the light, in the machine. To feel every memory held within his mind splayed out before him again—
“There you are.” It was Karl’s voice, from the access way.
Skyler turned from the pit and raised an arm to shield his eyes from the bright light the other man carried. “I usually get some peace and quiet in here.”
“Very apt,” Karl said, “since peace and quiet is why I came looking for you.”
The older man came and stood next to Skyler. He took a pensive glance over the edge, down into the depths, and clicked off his own light.
“How’s the headaches?” Skyler asked.
“Under control, thanks to you and a diet of ibuprofen,” Karl said.
Skyler said nothing for moment while Karl’s eyes adjusted.
“Hell of a long way down,” he said once he’d spotted the green light.
“Peace and quiet, you were saying?”
Karl turned his light back on and shot Skyler a sidelong grin. “I’ve spent the morning on the comm with Tania.”
“Oh,” Skyler said. I know that look. “Some new emergency, and you need me to go fetch something. Let’s put off the big issue for a few more days, Skyler. That about right?”
The man’s grin shifted to a grimace, and in that instant all the signs of exhaustion and stress returned to his haggard face.
“So what is it this time?” Skyler asked.
A hint of sadness crept into Karl’s eyes. He hesitated, studying Skyler as if he’d never seen him before. “This rift between you and Tania, it’s pretty deep, isn’t it?” Karl gestured at the pit.
“Don’t change the subject. Especially not to that subject.”
The older man’s expression held, though. He looked back and forth at Skyler’s eyes, as if seeking his answers there. “You two should hash this out, Skyler. It’s unhealthy.”
“I’m here if she wants to talk.”
“Bullshit,” Karl said, his voice even. “Every time she comes down you either have Ana at your side, or me. Plus some excuse locked and loaded in case you might be forced into any conversation other than the business at hand.”
“And every time I try to get out of here, to go do the work we all know needs to be done, she finds some critical project that simply must be top priority. Or she simply writes it off as too risky. You all do.”
Whatever Karl had been about to say, he swallowed it, and visibly calmed himself. “You’re both acting like children.”
“I’ve been cordial. I’ve done everything asked of me.”
“I know,” Karl said. “I know. I just wish you two would put that business with Gabriel behind you.”
“That’s not even the issue anymore. At least it’s only part of it. Karl, we’ve squandered a lot of time. The calendar is no longer on our side. Digging out this room shouldn’t even have been on our radar. It’s a diversion.”
Karl fell silent.
Skyler went on. “I never thought I’d see it happen, but all these scien
tists, Tania chief among them, seem terrified of risks, of the unknown. The camp needs the tools required for survival, granted, but we’ve done everything we can without expanding the aura. And all the while the clock ticks.”
He took a breath. When Karl said nothing Skyler went on. “Those towers vacated the camp for a reason. We all know it. That thing, whatever the hell it is, out there in the rainforest, is there for some purpose. It must be. Karl, dammit, we need to figure out what the hell is going on here before the Builders throw everything out of whack again. Zane is stable. The camp is operating smoothly. Our last two trades with Blackfield came off without a hitch. And …”
“… time is running out.” Karl finished for him.
“Exactly. Yes.”
Karl stared into the abyss for a long time. Thick with the smell of soil and rock, the air felt heavy even compared to Belém’s humid standards. “Maybe you should just go then,” he said, finally. Then he turned toward Skyler and gripped his shoulder. “You’re right. Tania will find reasons to keep you here as long as possible, simply because she doesn’t want to lose you.”
“I’m useful, sure, but not invaluable. We have other immunes now—”
“She doesn’t want to lose you, Skyler. Don’t act like you don’t know that. That business with Gabriel, the decisions she was forced to make, devastated her.”
“That may be so, but no one forced her to lie to me about it.”
Impatience flashed on Karl’s face. “Is it so goddamn hard to understand? She was consumed with guilt and saw a way out with just one little white lie. I would have done the same damn thing. But then you caught her in it and had to make a big goddamn stink about it. Did you know she almost quit after that? She wanted to, wanted to run off to Black Level and hide in a cloud of research again.”
Skyler hadn’t known. “Why didn’t she?”
“Talked her out of it. Zane and Tim, I mean, though I would have been happy to help persuade her. Put yourself in her shoes, Skyler. Brilliant scientist, the favorite son—if you’ll pardon the expression—of Mr. Platz. She never asked to be the leader, to make decisions that had people’s lives hanging in the balance. All she thought she had to do was tell Neil the specifics of the new Builder ship, and then let him take the reins like he always did before. Except it didn’t work out that way. Neil finally lost a battle and out of every possible candidate he trusted her with carrying out his plan. I think if Neil Platz earned one thing in his life it’s our trust in his judgment of people. He chose you, too, you know. And me.”
A picture came to Skyler’s mind. The research room on Black Level, where they’d shared a bit of food and drink while they discussed Neil’s plan. For all her drive and bravery, he’d seen the terror deep in her eyes. He’d tasted it, when she kissed him moments earlier as thanks for coming to help. He had undertaken that journey with a single-minded sense of purpose, and even left his friends behind in order to seek out Tania. For all the reasons he’d used to justify the race to find her, he knew deep down the truth of it: He’d wanted to be with her. The oldest, dumbest reason in the book. Who’s the liar? What excuse did I give Prumble, or Sam? Something about seeing Neil’s plan through, about Tania being the key to it all. Bollocks.
“Maybe some time away,” Karl said, “would do you both some good. Prep your aircraft, get your crew ready, and find out where those towers went. I’ll explain to Tania and the others. She’s more likely to come around to the idea you’re just tracking the other three, instead of tackling those demons in the forest.”
Skyler found himself nodding, even though he felt trapped between two choices. Part of him wanted to rush to Tania as he had in Darwin. Apologize, do whatever it took to rewind back to those first days after leaving the city and its Elevator behind.
That was impossible now, though. He knew it. The rift between them had grown too large, and of course there was Ana.
Wild, insatiable Ana.
She’d shared his bed a hundred times now and seemed to grow more eager each time. More than that, she loved him. She’d said it often enough. He’d even repeated the words in the darkness when they lay together, their bodies entwined in the heady sweat of afterglow.
Skyler shook his head to clear the memories. Karl took this as refusal and started to argue, before Skyler silenced him with a raised hand. “We’ll take off tomorrow at dawn.”
“Okay. Good.”
“And Karl? Thanks, friend. For speaking your mind.”
Karl clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll talk to Tania after you’ve left. Find our towers, Skyler.”
La Gaza Ladra’s engines roared to life the instant the sun peaked above the canopy east of camp.
Skyler let Ana handle the preflight. He’d walked her through it at least fifteen times already, and on the last flight she’d handled it with only minimal supervision.
He glanced back through the open cockpit door. In the rear compartment, Vanessa and Pablo double-checked the gear. The clean, tasteful interior of the luxury passenger cabin had been abandoned long ago, in the first weeks of recovering the vessel. The cosmetic back wall had been unceremoniously removed, along with the widescreen display and wet bar attached to it, though not until after a raucous movie night. Behind the cabin was a cargo compartment equal in width and with a floor a meter lower. Removable panels within gave access to a crawl space below the passenger cabin, ostensibly for maintenance of the wiring and ventilation systems that supported the area. To Skyler’s eye, there was a clear secondary purpose for smuggling.
Two doors on either side of the aircraft’s belly provided external access to the cargo space. The design allowed for easy stowage of luggage and small items, but was next to useless for recovery of large items. Skyler felt a bond to the aircraft already, but he knew it would have to be replaced with something more practical at the earliest convenience.
“Tower, this is the Magpie. We’re heading out,” Ana said into her oversized headset. Though everyone liked the ship’s full name, the easier slang version had become more commonly used.
Of course, there were no other planes, no air traffic to manage, but Skyler had insisted the traditions of tower courtesy be maintained, even if informal.
“Magpie, this is the so-called tower. Safe travels, and keep me posted on what you find as long as you can.”
“Count on it,” Ana said. She flashed Skyler a thumbs-up, an unwitting echo of Angus’s signature gesture.
She’s older than he was, Skyler realized suddenly, further eroding his initial misgivings about her age.
“The stick is yours,” the girl said, which got a quick raise of the eyebrows at the innuendo from Skyler.
“Thanks,” he said. “If you’re good I’ll let you fiddle with it later.”
Ana scoffed and rolled her eyes, but not without throwing a small smirk his way.
“Buckle up back there!” Skyler shouted toward the rear.
A few seconds later Pablo called out, “We’re ready!”
On the central screen in front of Skyler, a flashing icon reminded him that a flight plan still hadn’t been entered. He’d fretted over this choice for months, after carefully entering in the four options now presented to him. Four paths traced out from base camp, carved by the tower groups that went haywire during the fight with Gabriel.
One group, of course, went northeast to encircle the crashed Builder ship. Protecting it, apparently, though Skyler also held the theory that they were protecting everything else from what lay within their ring. He wasn’t interested in this group, however. Their location was known, as was the danger they surrounded.
That left three other choices.
One took a path almost to the same location. North by northeast, through the rainforest and then beyond. They’d flown along its trail as far as the coast once, and lost track of it at the waterline. Either the towers had sunk into the ocean, or they’d crossed it. Some of it, anyway. At least the path ran straight, which meant they could follow it on a map.
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Yet another group left the camp heading due east. A few weeks ago they’d followed the trail for a hundred kilometers or so before turning back to base. An interesting discovery had been made: The path wasn’t straight, as it had appeared from the ground. Looking at it from altitude, they could see that it had a slight curve to it.
The same was true of the last group’s route. The group had gone northwest, carving a line right through the city and leaving a path of destruction in its wake, like a tornado with no collateral damage. The curve of its path was almost too subtle to detect; it was only when he’d taken the aircraft up to three thousand meters on a clear day that the gentle arc to the line could be seen.
Curvature worried Skyler. On the surface it would still be fairly trivial to trace on a globe, but they had no evidence that the paths would always follow the same trajectory to their end. What if the curved paths changed directions, or straightened out? What if the one straight path started to curve later along its route? If they could indeed cross water, and the direction change happened out in the ocean, all bets were off.
There was no way to know except to follow one.
“Three paths diverged …,” Skyler said to himself.
Ana, he realized, had been watching him as he stared at the choices on the screen, a bemused smirk on her face. “I vote for whichever takes us the farthest away,” she said softly.
The Exodus Towers: The Dire Earth Cycle: Two Page 38