Part 23 (1/2)
Salvation.
SESSION DATE: 2128.04.09.
LOCATION: Inst.i.tute of Psionics Research.
CLEARANCE ID: Dr. Amy Bennett.
SUBJECT: 2581.
FILE NUMBER: 308.
”You broke it,” Aisling says as she tugs on the short sleeve of her yellow dress. A wire is caught in the fabric and she frees it with careful fingers. She kicks her feet where they dangle in the air.
”We didn't break anything,” the doctor replies, not looking up from the datapads on the table.
”Tell that to the people of Rio Gallegos.”
The doctor's head snaps up, face turned toward the two-way mirror near the door. She makes a gesture with one hand, one she has made before.
”Too late,” Aisling sighs. ”You're always too late. Bombs away.”
The doctor slams her hand against the table, shaking it. ”We wouldn't still be in this situation if you helped us!”
”If I could help you, I would, but you would still be in this situation.” The girl slides a little in her chair, her small head tilting back. She stares at the ceiling, with its bright lights, and doesn't blink. ”Please don't be mad. I'm trying to fix this.”
”How? How are you trying? You're not giving us the information we need.”
”I'm sorry, but you wouldn't understand.”
THIRTY.
SEPTEMBER 2379.
TORONTO, CANADA.
The Strykers Syndicate was pared down to a skeleton crew over the course of hours. Every Stryker was ordered into the field to deal with the escalating riots, including those who were still recovering from wounds incurred in Buffalo or elsewhere. To stay behind meant dereliction of duty and the promise of instant termination. That was the order of the World Court, and Ciari heeded the warning. Their absence meant Lucas's small group had far fewer people to run into and risk tipping off the government.
They gathered in a debriefing room, standing around a large conference table that had the small carrying cases stacked neatly across it. Everyone's attention was on the vidscreen embedded in the wall.
”This isn't going to trip an alarm, is it?” Jael asked.
”I know government code and I learned a few new tricks while on the run,” Jason said, never taking his eyes off the vidscreen. ”They won't know we're hooked up where we're not supposed to be.”
”Will it last?”
”Longer than the measures you've got running in Ciari's office to hide your activities.”
The vidscreen showed a view none of them had ever before seen. A hazy, ethereal blue glow seemed to smudge the center, dividing black from a curve of gray-blue. The cloud formations were gray and thin over a murky blue ocean. The darkening shape of a continent moving into night seen from s.p.a.ce was unfamiliar. The old satellite they were using didn't have the best focus capabilities after decades of floating through s.p.a.ce without upgrades. Still, Lucas knew what was happening when he saw it.
”There,” Lucas said, leaning forward, eyes on the grainy picture.
A tiny, brightly glowing dot was lifting off the planet, rising into s.p.a.ce. It grew larger, the satellite bringing the shape into focus. It was a s.p.a.ce shuttle, the first of many, and no one could look away as it left Earth behind and disappeared offscreen. More s.p.a.ce shuttles followed the first.
”That's the start of it,” Lucas said. ”We'll only have so much time left now. A few days at the most.”
”With the amount of people they need to move, I'd think it would be longer,” Keiko said.
”The launch site was built to house s.p.a.ce shuttles, not people. It's a bottleneck in terms of movement. It's why the government wanted to do this over the course of weeks, not in the middle of a panic. They can't hope to s.h.i.+p thousands and thousands of people into s.p.a.ce, then put them all into cryo on the colony s.h.i.+p quickly. Cryo is complicated and there are only so many doctors on board the Ark who can oversee the process.”
”Which means a lot of people won't make it,” Ciari said, staring at the vidscreen.
”If a registered human misses their shuttle to Paris, then there's no chance for them.”
”And the ones in s.p.a.ce?” Threnody said.
Lucas shrugged. ”I've seen the schematics of the Ark. It's mostly storage s.p.a.ce, bays and bays of cold boxes for cryo sleep and storage units for supplies. Easier to pack bodies in as cargo than as pa.s.sengers. You use up less s.p.a.ce if you don't have to factor in living quarters for anyone but the crew.”
”Will that s.h.i.+p make it to Mars in one piece?”
”It's survived over two hundred and fifty years cold-docked in s.p.a.ce. It'll survive a few more.”
Ciari stared across the table at him. ”You don't want it to.”
”I thought we could let them go, let them fly to some uncertain future.” Lucas ran a hand through his hair, nails scratching against his scalp. ”We'd have Earth, which is all I ever wanted, but they would return.”
”Are there Warhounds on the s.p.a.ce shuttles launching right now?” Quinton wanted to know.
”There will be Warhounds on every single one until Nathan has transferred them all.”
It went unsaid that when the Ark returned from a failed colonization on another world, it would arrive bearing humans and psions beholden to Nathan, who would fight for his rightful place in society. The world didn't need another war.
”What now?” Kerr said. ”You want to stop the launch? How do we do that and save the Strykers as well?”
”Distributing the virus has priority. We're going to need everyone free to help fight, because we won't be enough on our own, even merged,” Lucas said.
”Can you be sure they won't run away?” Samantha said, not looking at her brother. She hadn't looked him in the eye since letting Gideon go free. ”If I was a Stryker and no longer had a neurotracker in my head, I'd go to ground in an instant.”
”When I give an order, Strykers obey,” Ciari said. ”You weren't trained how we were. Don't believe all of us will abandon our posts. Freedom won't mean anything if we don't have a place to stay and live.”