“It was probably just the vehicles firing up their engines—those things are big, they’re bound to make some noise.” Milo stepped closer to her, and she could see his open expression through his helmet’s thick visor. “Listen, we’ll be careful. If it looks dangerous, we’ll turn around and head home.”
She forced a smile. “I wish we could’ve come down somewhere else. The vehicles must be a mile away from here—I’m not sure we’ll even be able to see them.”
“Yeah, well we had to take a detour to avoid your dad and his buddies.”
“I know, it’s just—”
“What now?” Milo interrupted. “It’s no good making excuses. You’re not going to chicken out on me, are you?”
“No, of course not,” Siobhan snapped. “I’m not scared, but that doesn’t mean we should do this. I think maybe my dad was right. We should let the patrol check things out first.”
“Your dad worries too much. They all do.” Milo gestured toward the wall. “There’s a whole planet out there, Shiv, a world just waiting to be explored, but if we wait for the patrol and the council to say it’s safe, we’ll never even set foot on it. Don’t you at least want to do that? Don’t you at least want to get out from behind this damned wall for once in your life?”
“Yes. You know I do, Milo, but—”
“It’s too late to get cold feet,” Milo interrupted. “We’re ready now. We might never get another chance.”
Siobhan took a slow breath. “All right. We’ll take a look, but if it’s not safe, I’m heading back.” She paused. “And if you call me chicken one more time, I’ll put you on your ass. I’m not kidding.”
“And she’s back.” Milo smiled. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Shiv. Let me give you a boost. But watch out for any sharp edges up there. You don’t want to risk tearing your suit.”
“Yeah. I’ll be careful.”
“Go for it.” Milo leaned his back against the wall and made a cradle of his hands. “Mind where you tread.”
“I know.” Siobhan placed her foot on his hands and stretched toward the top of the wall while Milo hoisted her upward. The panel was thicker than she’d expected, and she ran her gloved hands gently across the top, but there were no sharp edges, so she gripped it tight and pulled hard. And now, at last, she saw it: the vast, barren realm of the lowlands laid out in front of her, so close she could almost feel it beneath her feet. Milo hoisted her a little higher and she took her weight on her arms, heaving herself up. Earlier when they’d traversed the hill, they’d spotted the vehicles, and now she craned her neck to find them. “Milo!”
“What? What’s the matter?”
“They’re leaving! The vehicles—they’re heading away.”
“Go over,” Milo snapped. “Do it now, Shiv. Before it’s too late.”
“But—”
“Just do it!”
He shoved her feet upward and Siobhan had no choice but to slide her leg over the panel and sit astride the wall.
“Lower yourself down,” Milo said. “Quickly.”
“But what about you?”
“I can climb over myself. Watch out!” Milo bent his knees then sprang upward, his hands finding the wall’s edge. He started to pull himself up, and the metal panel shivered and shook.
Siobhan held on for dear life, but the wall bucked and swayed as though it didn’t want her there. I can’t fall, she thought. Anything’s better than that.
She looked down at the grunge-infested ground beyond the wall, and she made a decision. “Oh my God,” she muttered. “Oh my God!” Then she lowered herself down toward the lowland, toward the sea of glistening, turquoise grunge, her mind spinning. For a split-second, she dangled from her arms. I should pull myself back up, she thought. But it was too late to back out now. She had to go through with this.
She let go of the wall and let herself drop the short distance to the ground. And she’d done it! She’d planted her feet where so few had stood before.
She lifted her boot and looked at the sticky, blue-green grunge clinging to the tough white material, then she lifted her gaze and watched the strange vehicles speeding across the lowlands. Soon they’d be gone.
Milo dropped to the ground at her side. “Wooh! We made it! Come on, let’s run!”
“But, they’re going. We’re too late.”
Milo grasped her arms. “I don’t care, Shiv! We’re free. I’ve never felt so fantastic. Let’s go, even if it’s just for a few minutes. I don’t want this to end.”
She looked into his eyes, and his excitement stirred something in her soul. Today she was fearless; today she was the woman who’d defied everyone; today she was invincible. “All right. Let’s do it.” She shook herself free from his grip. “Let’s run!” And she set off, her boots pounding the ground, her arms pumping, and her blood singing in her ears. She was free, she was alive, and for the first time in her life, she knew no walls, no boundaries, no limits. Hold onto this feeling, she told herself. Never let it fade, never let it slip away. And for a few precious seconds, her heart soared.
CHAPTER 18
The Hill
THE FULL-THROATED ROAR OF ENGINES drifted up the rugged hillside and echoed across the windswept slopes. A grumbling crescendo, and then the sound shifted, growing lower, fading.
Connor groaned and rolled onto his back. When he’d dived for cover, he’d landed heavily on his shoulder and it still hurt like hell. “Parry? John? Finn? Are you okay?”
No reply. Connor sat up slowly. He glanced at the ridge, checking his head was below its crest, then he froze. A little way across the stony ground, a figure lay still. “John, is that you?”
The figure stirred.
“John?” Connor called.
“Yeah. I’m here.” John coughed and then pushed himself up until he was sitting on the ground. “I hit the dirt pretty hard—just about beat my brains out on the side of my helmet.” He turned his head from side to side. “I’m okay though. Where’s Parry? And Finn?”
Connor moved into a crouch and turned around. “Parry!” His friend lay face down on the ground, one arm trapped beneath his body, the other flat on the ground at an awkward angle. Keeping low, Connor hurried to his side. “Parry, can you hear me?” He touched Parry’s shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.
Parry didn’t respond.
“Is he okay?” John asked.
“I don’t know. His suit looks all right. He can’t have been hit.” Connor shook him again, and Parry let out a grunt of pain. “Parry! You’re alive!”
“Shit!” Parry muttered.
“What’s up?”
“I…I think I cracked a rib. I sure as hell wrenched my shoulder.”
Connor gestured to John. “Help me. We’ll get him up.”
John hurried over and together, they lifted Parry and got him into a sitting position.
“What happened?” Connor asked. “Are you hit?”
“No. A hunk of rock caught me in the chest and took me off my feet. The suit saved me, but I landed wrong.”
“Don’t worry,” Connor said. “We’ll get you home.”
Parr looked Connor in the eye. “I saw Finn. He got hit pretty bad.”
Connor glanced up at the slope, his face grim. “We’ll check in a second. We need to make sure we’re safe before we do anything else.” He turned to John. “Take a look over the ridge. See what they’re doing down there.”
John scrambled up the ridge and peered over the top. “They’re pulling out. They’re going!”
“Stay low,” Parry said. “They must think we’re all dead. Don’t let them see you, for God’s sake.”
But John didn’t reply.
“What’s up?” Connor asked. “Are they coming back?”
“You need to see this,” John said. “I don’t…”
“What is it?” Connor scrambled to John’s side. “Oh no! Oh my God no!”
Because there, on the lowlands, two figures were hurrying across the open ground. They wer
e clad in white EVA suits, and they were running away from the wall, heading toward the moving vehicles. The pair could only be from the settlement.
Connor fumbled at his pocket and grabbed his binoscanner, but he didn’t really need it; icy fingers of cold certainty had already clutched at Connor’s heart. He raised the scanner and stared at the smaller of the two figures. There was something in the way the person ran: the long strides, the pumping fists, the dip of the head. And he was sure; sure that his only daughter, his wonderful, rebellious, headstrong daughter was down there, running for her life across the lowlands, dashing headlong toward her untimely death. And there was nothing Connor could do about it. Not a single thing.
“Siobhan,” he whispered. And before the word could leave his lips, one vehicle changed its course, veering away from the pack. It accelerated, speeding toward the running figures, and then it stopped abruptly, right in front of them, turning to present its flank.
“No!” Connor cried out. He lowered the scanner and clutched at the pocket on his leg, searching for his pistol, but he’d been holding his gun when he’d dived for cover, and he must’ve dropped his only weapon.
“Someone’s coming out,” John said.
Connor’s hands shook as he raised the binoscanner, but he could see the vehicle all too clearly. And while he watched, a door slid open at the rear and a figure, clad in a dark protective suit, clambered onto a short ladder and jumped down to the ground. The person wasn’t carrying a weapon as far as Connor could see, so perhaps Siobhan could still escape. Perhaps she’d realize the danger she was in, and then she could turn and run back to the hill, back to safety.
But the person from the truck waved at the runners, gesturing toward the door, and Siobhan and her companion did not alter their course, did not falter or slow down. Instead, they ran straight to the vehicle, climbed the ladder and disappeared inside.
The dark figure hurried after them, and the door slid closed. Immediately, the vehicle darted forward and swept around in an arc to rejoin the others.
The ground swayed beneath Connor’s feet, and a wave of wintry despair crashed over him, leaching the warmth from his bones. “She’s gone,” he whispered.
Parry grunted in pain, then he stood at Connor’s side, watching the vehicles speed away into the distance. “No, Connor. We’ll get them back.”
Connor lowered the scanner and looked at his friend. “How?”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes. We’ll walk. Track them down.”
“But, that’s imposs—”
“No,” Parry interrupted. “No, it isn’t, Connor. The only thing we can’t do is give up.”
Connor stared after the retreating vehicles, and a grim resolve stiffened his spine. “Yes. You’re right. We’ll never give up. Not until we get them home.”
“Good man.” Parry laid his hand on Connor’s arm. “Come on, we’ll fall back and regroup. We’ll get supplies, weapons, and anything else we can think of. We’ve got to do this right.”
“I’ll come with you,” John said. “No way I’m letting those bastards take our people.”
Connor looked from Parry to John and back again. “There is a way. I could follow them, but I can’t…I can’t ask you to come with me. Siobhan is my daughter, my responsibility. And you’ve already done so much.”
“That’s too bad because you don’t have a choice,” Parry said. “Let’s head over to the container and take stock. We’ll work out a plan on the way.”
“What about Finn?” John asked.
“He’s dead,” Parry stated. “I’m sorry. I was trying to tell you before, but…I saw him get hit. No way he could’ve survived. John, you’d better go check. And retrieve his pistol.”
John started up the slope, and Connor, watching him climb, felt the blood drain from his face. Finn was dead? Dead? And the people who’d killed him, those murderers, they had his daughter.
“We’ll deal with Finn’s body later,” Parry said.
“I’ll have to tell Una. His kids.”
“It’s a bad business.” Parry cleared his throat. “This sounds cold, but don’t dwell on it, Connor. Remember what we need to do. Focus.”
“Yes. You’re right.”
Parry urged him forward. “It’s that way. Let’s go.”
And Connor started walking, his mind a maelstrom of disjointed thoughts and disconnected emotions. But one certainty remained fixed as though scorched into his soul: whatever it took, whatever he had to do, he was going to bring his daughter home.
CHAPTER 19
Truck Two
“CLENNAN, GET BACK HERE AND TAKE CONTROL.” Kyrksen unstrapped his safety harness and fretted over the truck’s control panel. “Clennan!”
The cockpit door opened and Clennan appeared, his cheeks red. “Sorry, I was supervising the decontamination.”
“You could’ve damned well done it quicker.” Kyrksen glared at his co-pilot. “Sit down for God’s sake.”
“Sir.” Clennan took his seat and strapped himself in.
“Just stay in formation with the others. I told Teare we were taking a detour but I didn’t tell her why, so if anyone asks any questions, refer them to me.” Kyrksen stood and went to the door, but he hesitated before leaving. “And don’t disturb me until further notice—not unless there’s a critical problem.”
“Understood, sir.”
Kyrksen grunted and headed into the main compartment, closing the cockpit door behind him, and as he walked through the dimly lit interior, he plastered a smile across his face. “Good morning. This is a nice surprise.”
The young man sitting on the chair, his suit partially unfastened, smiled hesitantly; the young woman scowled.
“My name is Kyrksen and I’m the pilot of this truck. You must be from the houses we saw on the hill. What shall I call you?”
The young people exchanged a look, then the man spoke. “I’m Milo, this is Siobhan.”
“Right,” Kyrksen said. “So, how can I help you?”
“You can damned well start by taking us back home,” Siobhan snapped.
“Take it easy,” Milo said. “Is that what we want?”
Kyrksen smiled, his eyes darting rapidly between Siobhan and Milo. Conflict, he thought. Weakness. Things I can use. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of them, leaning forward as if to catch their every word. “Tell me—what were you thinking when you ran out toward us.”
“It wasn’t like—” Siobhan started, but Milo talked over her.
“We wanted to get away from here, to get back to Earth. We thought you could help.”
“No!” Siobhan said. “What about my mom and dad? And my kid brother—I can’t just leave them.”
“Yes, you can, Shiv,” Milo replied. “Think of it. You could see Earth. You could walk free—anywhere you wanted. You could have a proper house. A life. A future.”
“Let me just stop you there,” Kyrksen said. “It’s technically possible to take the two of you back to Earth—just the two of you mind—but delightful though that prospect is, I’m afraid we’re not going anywhere until our mission is complete.”
Siobhan stared at him, her eyes narrowed. “What mission? What are you doing here anyway?”
“I saw a map on that monitor,” Milo said. “Whatever you’re doing, I’ll bet it’s something to do with the grunge.”
Kyrksen raised an eyebrow. “Grunge?”
“The slime,” Milo replied. “The sticky stuff on the ground. Are you analyzing it? Taking samples and stuff?”
Kyrksen raised his chin. “Not exactly. The grunge, as you call it, is a highly specialized organism. It’s a fusion of self-replicating nanobots and genetically modified cyanobacteria—a type of blue-green algae. The two live in a symbiotic relationship, so although it’s not quite the correct term, we generally refer to the whole organism as the symbiont.”
Siobhan grunted in disapproval. “You sound like you admire it.
“It’s an elegant arrangement,” Kyrksen
said. “The algae need natural light, some nutrients, and water. The nanobots require minerals from the substrate, but the rest of its needs are met by the algae. In return, the nanobot has microscopic protrusions that can work like tiny limbs—they provide mobility for the algae along with certain other advantages.” He grinned. “You might say that the nanobot gives the algae teeth.”
Siobhan stood. “It’s not funny, you jerk! That thing feeds on people. It burns them alive!”
Kyrksen met her gaze, and when he spoke, his voice was cold. “The symbiont has no consciousness, no intelligence. Yes, it feeds on any organic material it comes across, but you can’t blame the symbiont for that, any more than you can blame a virus for causing a disease.”
“Hold on, Shiv,” Milo said. “I get it. These guys are studying it, looking for a way to destroy it.” He turned to Kyrksen. “What have you tried so far? Have you got some kind of chemical spray or something?”
Kyrksen frowned, but the corner of his lip twitched. “We’re not trying to destroy the symbiont. We put it here. We’ve been seeding this planet for years.”
Siobhan’s hand flew to her throat. “No!”
“Oh, yes. Eventually, it will all be harvested and processed, but only after we reach peak growth. We need to harness the whole planet. We even have a different strain spreading through the oceans.”
Siobhan lunged forward, her fist raised, but Milo jumped to his feet and held her back. “Shiv, don’t! It won’t achieve anything.”
“Get your hands off me,” she hissed.
But Milo held her tight. “It’s no good. There’s nothing we can do.”
“In that, you are correct,” Kyrksen said. “The process is already well underway. No one can stop it now—not even us. The symbiont will digest everything in its path.”
“You bastard!” Siobhan spat. “You’re wiping out everything on this goddamned world. And for what?”
Kyrksen sniffed. “For fuel. The whole planet will eventually become one enormous fuel dump.”
Siobhan’s shoulders slumped, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “My family. The children. You can’t…” She shook her head as if unable to go on.
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