TANIA SAT CROSS-LEGGED on the floor of the Helios, a map spread out in front of her, a pencil tucked behind her ear.
She took a small sip of instant coffee, winced at the cold temperature, and set it aside. A quick glance at her slate indicated eight minutes before she should check in with Vanessa for the next position fix to chart. She’d made a mark every twenty minutes since takeoff, hoping to find some pattern to the path the emerald aura towers had taken. Normally Tania would have used a slate for such work, but seeing Skyler’s hand-marked map in Belém had inspired her to try the old-fashioned method. It turned out to be strangely cathartic, and the large size of the paper was somehow liberating.
The marks on her map traced a wavy line that swooped and turned, erratically if gently. She was beginning to suspect that the random nature of the path was deliberate, as if this set of towers for some reason didn’t want to be found.
The sky outside her small window dimmed as the sun neared the horizon. Soon they’d have to land, having no way to track the path in darkness.
She stared at the curvy line again, focusing on the landscape over which it traversed rather than looking for some pattern in its shape. But there was nothing obvious there, either. The path seemed indifferent to the land over which it crossed. Twice they’d lost it when it went out over water, but luckily the curves the path took were not so extreme that it couldn’t be extrapolated with reasonable accuracy for short distances. As of yet, the line had not left land for more than twenty kilometers or so. Tania had fretted about this as they’d flown up the spine of Central America. Anything more than about one hundred kilometers of water and she feared they’d lose the path for days, maybe weeks.
Her headset crackled, and Vanessa’s voice came through. “Everything okay back there?”
Tania glanced at her timer. Five minutes left before they were due to mark another position. “Yeah, I’m good. Is something wrong?”
“We’re going to need to land soon. I’ve been looking for a place on the path with power so we can top off, but it’s pretty desolate below.”
“Cap level?”
“Seventy percent, so it’s not critical.”
Not yet. Tania looked at the general direction the path took on her map. Although it curved erratically, the general direction was north. For all she knew it could end over the next hill, or wind all the way up to the North Pole. A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth at the idea of the path wrapping all the way back around and ending a few kilometers south of Belém.
“Hold on,” Vanessa said. “Pablo’s spotted something on infrared. Yes, there’s a heat source to the northeast.”
“Okay, let’s mark the path here and go check it out. Any opportunity we have to spool the capacitors is worthwhile.”
Vanessa rattled off a latitude and longitude combination. Tania confirmed the numbers and a few seconds after she felt the aircraft bank. The tone of the engines dropped.
“Tania?” Vanessa again. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
The woman’s tone gave Tania pause. “Go ahead.”
“Tim contacted us a few minutes ago to let us know the Magpie has left Belém on the yellow path.”
“Good to hear.”
“He also said, well … look. Skyler and Ana took Russell Blackfield with them.”
Her stomach tightened. “What? Tim allowed that?”
“Skyler didn’t tell anyone until they’d departed. I’m sure there’s a good reason,” Vanessa said.
Tania forced herself to remain calm. Vanessa, though no doubt loyal to Skyler, was probably right. Skyler hadn’t wanted to take anyone along, much less someone he despised. There must be a reason. But the fact that he’d done this without asking permission, or even telling anyone, meant he knew the action was ill-advised.
She thought back to when she’d first told him that Blackfield had come to Belém, hat in hand, asking for asylum. “Put him out the nearest airlock,” Skyler had said immediately.
Could it be they’d taken the prisoner along just to dispose of him? She wanted to believe Skyler had a bit more compassion than that, but perhaps he’d seen his chance and acted rashly. Perhaps it had been Ana’s idea. The girl had been known to do reckless things in the past, and maybe she held more sway over Skyler than he held over her.
Stop that, Tania. There must be a reason. Skyler’s mission called for continuing on to Darwin to pick up the object Grillo held. Perhaps he felt Blackfield could be useful there. Maybe he intended to exchange the fugitive for the device. That plan seemed ridiculous to her. She knew nothing about Grillo, but if he saw the object as some kind of holy relic, she doubted he’d hand it over for a broken man like Russell.
No, there must be something else, something worth adding such a huge risk to their mission. Whatever it was, Skyler must think it’s a long shot or he would have made his case to take the prisoner along.
“Are you there?” Vanessa asked.
“Thank you. I’ll try to raise Tim once we land and get the details.”
“Copy that. I would have patched him through, but he was in a rush.”
“No problem.” Tania clicked off transmit mode and set the headset aside. Then she pinched the skin between her eyes to stem a coming headache. Too many pieces were moving at once. Too many variables, points of possible failure. She hated the feeling of not being in total control of a situation. More than that, she hated not having the luxury to analyze and plan. She lacked Skyler’s ability to act purely on instinct and never look back. It was a characteristic he shared with Neil Platz, and she knew it was the reason she felt incomplete when he wasn’t around.
Of course, it was also the reason she often felt infuriated when he was.
The Helios set down shortly after dark on a landing pad beside a dry lake. Tania found the location on her slate’s map and, when switched to historical view, saw that there had once been a man-made body of water here, created by a dam. A hundred or so years ago the water had dried up, either by choice or due to a shift in climate. Hydroelectric power had all but vanished in the face of much cheaper and more flexible thorium reactors, so it made sense that the dam had simply been shut off. The lake had once again become a stream.
However, the electrical infrastructure in place would still have been useful, and what Pablo had spotted on the infrared turned out to be a large complex with an array of thorium reactors inside. The units predated miniature versions but were nonetheless reliable enough that electricity still flowed despite a lack of supervision for the last seven years or so.
Tania studied all this from the tiny porthole window on the aircraft’s door. She longed to go outside, to stretch her legs and look around, but unsealing the cabin now would mean she’d be in her spacesuit for the duration of the trip and they still had no idea how much farther the search would take them.
So she remained inside and watched. Since landing she’d turned all the lights off in her cabin, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness outside. The buildings were simple cube-shaped affairs with metal stairwells and catwalks attached to the outside. Each was identical from the last, save for one that was roughly half the size of the others and had windows. An office, she guessed.
For five long minutes the immunes remained in the cockpit, studying the immediate area for movement or sound after the engines finally went quiet.
“All clear,” Vanessa said. “We’re going out.”
“Okay,” Tania replied. “I’ll keep an eye from here and let you know if I see anything.”
A few seconds later she saw the pair walk out toward the reactor complex. They carried their assault rifles casually. Vanessa took the lead and walked purposefully to a metal box the size of a refrigerator a few meters away from the landing pad. Pablo followed, constantly turning to scan the area around them.
“Cover me,” Vanessa said.
Pablo walked a circuit around the charging station while Vanessa tried to open it.
“It’s locked,” she said after a short pause.
“Shoot it open?” Tania asked. She wondered if they’d brought any explosives, but then thought that might damage the unit.
“Too risky.”
“Might be a key in that office,” Pablo said.
Vanessa stood and looked toward the smallest of the six buildings. “We’ll try that first. You okay, Tania?”
“Yes,” she said despite a growing anxiety. She didn’t want to voice it, afraid she’d sound weak. Who cares? she told herself. You are weak. You’re stuck inside here, isolated and helpless. “Actually, no. Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I …” She swallowed. “I’d feel better if you stayed with the aircraft, Vanessa. God forbid anything happens out there, but if it does, you’re the only way any of us are getting home.”
The pair walked back to Tania’s window so they could see her. “If anything happens out there,” Vanessa said patiently, “we’re better off handling it as a team. But … you don’t look convinced.”
“I’m trying.”
“Okay,” Vanessa said. “I explained this to Pablo already but you should know, too. If something happens to me, suit up and get to the cockpit. There’s an autopilot unit just above your head when seated in the pilot’s chair, and before we left I set it to record our departure position. Tap the option to execute, then confirm, then power up. The Helios will fly back to Belém, no further action required. Just make sure they clear the landing pad, because it will set down exactly where we took off from.”
Tania balked initially, but when the words sank in she found a surprising amount of comfort there. Her anxiety melted away. “Thanks, Vanessa. I understand.”
“Good. Stay put, we’ll be back in a few minutes.”
They moved more purposefully now, reminding Tania of Special Forces teams she’d seen in dozens of action-thriller sensories. She noted how Vanessa always took point, her focus on the goal unwavering, while Pablo came behind, his gun and gaze sweeping in a circle around them, then up above, too. It amazed her that just a few years ago they’d been a lawyer and a farmer, respectively. Skyler had taught them well, and despite all the firearms training and the endless hours of Krav Maga sparring, Tania realized then she still had no idea what she was doing. Worse, she doubted she’d ever have thought to look in the office building for a key to the charging unit, yet Pablo had suggested the idea almost instantly. A scavenger’s instincts, as if he’d been at it all his life.
She watched as they took positions on each side of a first-floor doorway. They were almost two hundred meters away now, but even from this distance she could see Vanessa count to three on her fingers. Then Pablo kicked in the door, causing a sudden distorted burst of sound in Tania’s ear. He took a step back and Vanessa stormed inside.
Tania remained glued to her window, watching the door, listening to her headset. Other than breathing and the occasional footstep she heard nothing, as the two immunes were working as silently as possible.
They’re good. They’re really good. Skyler would know this already, but she made a mental note to tell him later. Skill like this deserved recognition.
“Clear,” Vanessa said a short time later.
“Clear,” Pablo agreed.
Tania let out a relieved sigh. She listened in silence to the sounds of them searching the building. In her mind’s eye she saw them rifling through desk drawers and coat closets, perhaps knocking aside things that in any other circumstance would have been collected and returned to the colony.
A subtle movement caught Tania’s eye. Something small crept along the edge of the landing pad. A cat? It was just a shadow in the darkness, bobbing along the lip of the circular raised platform. Then it stopped, and Tania went still.
An arm appeared over the edge, hoisting a rifle. The weapon was set down on the pad, and then she saw another arm. He or she placed both hands on the landing pad and thrust up on to it, one leg swinging over the side and then the other. The person picked up the gun and stayed crouched at the edge of the pad, studying the Helios. A man, Tania numbly realized. He had a catlike litheness to the way he moved, and he seemed to be staring right at her.
Tania tried to speak and couldn’t. She didn’t move, unsure if she’d been spotted. She wanted to duck away, to find a gun and wait in the corner. A sudden panic filled her when she realized she wasn’t suited. If this intruder opened the cabin door from the outside, she’d be exposed. Her pulse pounded in her ears and her hands were shaking. Tania swallowed, made two fists, and squeezed. She took a deep breath and exhaled it.
“There’s someone here,” she finally managed to say. Her voice cracked, and sounded childlike.
“Repeat that?” Pablo said.
“Someone’s on the landing pad.”
“A sub?”
“No,” Tania said. “An immune I think. He’s got a rifle.”
“What’s he doing?” Vanessa asked, urgency in her voice.
“Just crouching there, looking at the aircraft.”
“Okay. We’re coming back. Pablo found a key ring.”
The man on the landing pad stood and began to walk—no, creep—around the aircraft. It took all the willpower Tania had to remain still, knowing she’d killed the lights in the cabin upon landing, which meant her window would be dark. She moved back a little, just to be safe.
A sudden blinding light fell upon her, and she leapt backward. A flashlight, she realized with dread. She moved away from the door, stumbled on the water bottle she’d left on the ground, and almost fell. Her heart raced. Had he heard that? The light slid away, then swept across the window, then fixed on the window again. Tania willed herself to be calm. Maybe he hadn’t seen her after all.
“We’re coming out,” Vanessa said quietly in Tania’s ear. “What’s happening now? Where is he?”
Tania gathered her wits and pressed herself against the wall by the aircraft door. The light became very bright and began to dart around the inside of the cabin. “He’s right at the door. Has a flashlight. I think he saw me.”
“Relax, Tania,” Vanessa said. “Don’t assume he means harm. He’s just a survivor, probably saw us land and came to see what was going on. We might be the first people he’s encountered since the virus swept through here.”
The words made perfect and complete sense, or at least would if she hadn’t seen the way the man moved. Curious didn’t apply. Tania thought him more like a thief trying to find an open window.
“We see him, almost there,” Vanessa said.
Once again the light shifted away from the window. Tania heard something soft and mechanical. She looked down to see the large door lever starting to turn.
“Oh God!” she exclaimed, and grabbed it with both hands. She pushed it back with more force than she’d intended. The man outside reacted a split second later, pushing from his side. Tania strained, squeezed her eyes shut as she leaned into the lever arm, and pushed with both arms. The lever remained caught between two positions.
Then, one horrid centimeter at a time, it began to move in his favor.
“No …” Tania grunted. She gave up a few centimeters to get better footing, then shoved with every bit of strength she had. Still the lever arm ratcheted toward open.
Vanessa spoke in her ear. “What is it?”
“He’s trying to open the door.” The words came out like an angry growl. A burning sensation began to rise in Tania’s shoulders and at the base of her spine. For one fleeting second she wanted to laugh. Months of training and all of it worthless now. And yet she knew that was dishonest. A year ago she wouldn’t have been able to push back on the handle at all. She’d been soft. Not anymore. “Hurry, dammit!” she shouted.
Through the strain she turned and glanced at the porthole beside her. Centimeters away from her was the gaunt face of a survivor. He had a shaggy beard and wore spectacles. His weathered skin was filthy, and as he strained to move the door handle she saw a row of dirty, uneven teeth in his snarling mouth.
She met his gaze. The man might be an immune, but his eyes had the same insanity that a subhuman’s did.
“You! Step away!” Vanessa’s voice.
The man ignored the command. Maybe he hadn’t heard it; maybe he didn’t understand English. The door latch clicked into the open position. One pull from the outside and the cabin would flood with contaminated air.
I’m going to die. Or worse.
“My suit,” Tania said breathlessly. She shot a glance across the cabin, looking for the case. With horror she realized it wouldn’t matter. The suit would fill with the same air as she put it on in, and there was no way she’d get it on before he opened the door. “No time.” She turned toward the door instead, braced one foot against the wall, and pulled the handle toward her, hoping against hope she could keep it closed with the seal integrity intact. She only needed to last until the others returned.
The man outside started to laugh.
A distant gunshot interrupted him. Vanessa or Pablo had fired, the round ricocheting off the airplane’s fuselage. The man returned fire, two booming shots. A split second her friends fired again. Tania heard a dull smack as a round pelted the porthole window. God, be careful!
Then silence.
“He’s down,” Vanessa said.
Tania realized she’d closed her eyes. With trepidation she stopped pulling on the lever. Somehow she had the presence of mind to yank it into the closed position again. Only then did she look out the window. Blood, and what she assumed was bits of skull, dripped down the clear surface. Through the red she could see Vanessa and Pablo, still only halfway to the aircraft and running hard.
“Is he dead?” Tania asked.
“Unsure.”
Tania tried to crane her neck to see the body on the ground, but it was useless. She could only wait and watch through a lens of blood as her companions raced back up the steps to the landing pad.
Belatedly she glanced up at the light in the cabin that indicated the state of its seal. To her relief it still glowed pale green.
Ten agonizing seconds passed before Vanessa and Pablo reached the aircraft. Pablo went to the body, and Tania watched his face as he prodded it with his gun. His eyes then met hers. “It’s over,” he said.
“Thank you,” Tania replied, her voice just more than a whisper. The post-adrenaline crash combined with the physical exertion made her arms feel like two dead weights. She let her death grip on the lever relax and slumped against the door. Of all the scenarios she’d played out in her mind, she’d never expected someone to try to force their way into the aircraft. She’d imagined subhumans clawing without effect on the fuselage, but this … As hard as she tried, Tania couldn’t dispel the image of bone fragments sliding down her lone porthole. Nausea forced her to drop to a sitting position on the floor.
“Okay in there?” Pablo asked.
Tania inhaled through her mouth and let out the breath through her nose. “Shaken up a bit, I guess. That was close.”
Pablo didn’t reply. She heard rustling sounds through her headset. A moment later he spoke. “The guy was carrying a wallet. From Panama.”
“That’s a long way to go just to be in this dump,” Vanessa replied.
“Mm. A notepad here, too,” Pablo said. “There’s a map, and drawings. Lots of them.”
“Drawings of what?” Tania asked.
“Aura towers.”
Tania caught herself nodding despite the empty cabin. “He must have seen them come through, and followed the trail this far.”
“All that distance just to try to force his way inside the Helios?”
“From the way he looked,” Tania reasoned, “I don’t think he was entirely sane.”
“Wait till you see these sketches,” Pablo said. “Anyway, it’s over. I’m going to try these keys now.”
“Pablo?” Tania asked.
“Yes?”
“Before you do that, could you wipe the window clean?”
Vanessa slept while the Helios spooled her ultracaps off the platform’s charging station. It took three hours to reach capacity, during which Tania dozed fitfully. She woke every twenty minutes or so and checked in with Pablo, who’d offered to keep watch from a second-story catwalk on the side of the nearest reactor building, fifty meters away.
Just before midnight Vanessa fired up the engines and flew them back to the last position they had marked on the emerald tower path. She landed there, in the middle of a vast desert, and shut down the engines again. They slept in total silence and isolation until the sun rose.