Part 26 (2/2)

Lilly peered at the screens. ”Hey, what's EdenHome?”

I realized now that not all the screens were the same. The one in the bottom right corner was different. It showed a bleak landscape, hardpan with patches of loose dirt and crumbled rock that was a burned rust color, the sky hazy with dust and tinted amber.

”I don't know.” Lily was right. There were six screens instead of five, and this one was labeled EdenHome. ”Looks like it's in a desert. Must be sunset or a dust storm or something.”

”So, that means there's a sixth Eden somewhere, like, that n.o.body knows about?”

”I wouldn't put it past them.”

”I am not feeling good about this,” said Lilly.

”No.” I moved away from the screens, around the desk and over to the refrigerators, peering through their clear gla.s.s doors. There were racks of blood inside, hundreds of vials, each with a label similar to the one Dr. Maria had used for me. But the number of vials was small compared to the racks of tiny plastic slides on the bottom shelves, each with a single strand of hair coiled in the center. These were marked with similar numbers. And also birth dates.

And then I remembered: ”We had to submit a hair sample with the application to Camp Eden.”

”Huh?” Lilly joined me.

What had it said in the application? That it was to screen for allergies and compatibility with Eden's unique environment. ”Okay,” I said, my heart starting to race. ”I think I know how I 'won' the drawing to come here.”

Lilly stepped beside me. ”You think you were selected?”

”Yeah, and not just me.” I opened one of the cases and reached to the back of the shelf, pulling out a tray of slides. I pointed to the birth date on the front one.

”November nineteenth, 2046,” Lilly read. Her voice slowed as she understood. ”I was born in forty-eight. These... these are the Cryo kids.”

”This is why you got in, too,” I said, feeling pieces click together. ”If they had DNA from every applicant, they could screen it. Like, to see if we had the Atlantean code. Maybe they already had a profile, like, a sample from some other site. Maybe they found a skeleton or something, and they were trying to match us to it. And they selected the candidates who fit.”

”So, they used the Cryo program to screen for possible matches first,” said Lilly. ”And then expanded it to the camp program? And then what, brought us here to see what happened? Like if any of us grew gills?”

”I think pretty much.”

”If they were choosing the Cryos based on the genetic match,” said Lilly, ”then that means from the start, like as far back as the domes go, they've been looking for...”

”Us,” I finished for her. I turned away from the samples, feeling a heaviness from all this information, almost like this whole place was going to come down on me, crush me. I tapped the gla.s.s desktop. A white box appeared in the black: [AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED]

Below the words was a circle and a blinking picture of a thumbprint.

I flicked open the orange case and pulled out the semiclear oval. I picked it up with my fingernails and pressed the mold onto my own thumb, holding it for a second. When I let go, it stayed in place. I pushed it against the spot on the monitor. The box blinked.

A voice spoke from the screen. ”Welcome back, Dr. Estrella.”

The screen jumped to life, folders appearing on top of a background photo of red rock mesas. Somewhere Dr. Maria had been, maybe.

The folder in the center had the t.i.tle For Owen For Owen.

I tapped it.

There were two more folders inside, one t.i.tled DI Index Monthly Report DI Index Monthly Report, and the other t.i.tled PE Quarterly Report to Eden Board PE Quarterly Report to Eden Board.

I tapped the DI file. It opened and a chart filled the screen. There was a scroll bar on the right. The chart was long. There were columns of data, by date, most recent at the top. Normal things like temperature, humidity, pressure, and then on the right, the dome integrity rating.

I read the numbers. ”Whoa.”

”What?” Lilly asked.

I pointed at the chart. ”Look at the DI levels for each week.”

Lilly started reading. ”Fifty-seven percent, fifty-five percent, fifty-two percent... Um, those are way way lower than what they tell us. The Nomads were right.” lower than what they tell us. The Nomads were right.”

I scrolled down. ”And look: they're like that for the other domes, too. And... six months ago the results were in the sixties.” I kept scrolling. ”Last year near seventy.” I turned to Lilly. ”It's going down, fast.”

”EdenHome isn't on that chart,” said Lilly.

I looked at the columns. ”No. Maybe it's a different kind of facility.”

I scrolled to the bottom and found a final row of numbers, t.i.tled Time to Integrity Compromise. Time to Integrity Compromise. For EdenWest it was 238 days. The others were in the same range. I pointed to the numbers. For EdenWest it was 238 days. The others were in the same range. I pointed to the numbers.

”That's, like, eight months,” said Lilly. ”Eight months until these domes start to fail. Wow.” She peered at the screen. ”Look at that.”

There was another table below this one. The first column was each Eden name, and then columns labeled Yearly Expected Mortality Percentage. Yearly Expected Mortality Percentage.

I ran my finger across the EdenWest line, watching the numbers rise. ”Fifteen percent a year from now...”

”Meaning fifteen percent of EdenWest's population will be dead?” Lilly was almost whispering.

”I think so.” I kept reading. ”Thirty-five in two years, seventy-four...” My finger reached the end. ”Everybody in here will be dead in three years.”

”If they stay.”

”And there's nowhere for them to go.”

I remembered the boy with the burns the other day. ”n.o.body here has any idea how much danger they're in.”

”It's... it's just like we thought....”

”Only way worse,” I finished.

Lilly sighed, like she'd picked up something heavy. ”Everybody needs to get out of here.”

I scrolled back up to the top of the file. ”Look at the date of the latest reading,” I said. ”Four days ago. This must be what got Paul so upset. I heard him freaking out in his office the other day.” I thought of that dome panel bursting into flames. ”So, Project Elysium must have something to do with this. We We must have something to do with this, and Atlantis.” must have something to do with this, and Atlantis.”

”Yeah, but wh-”

Lilly didn't finish. She was stopped by a scream in the distance, a muted, desperate sound.

I looked up. ”What was that?”

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