Let me set the scene.
The power went out. All grid access ceased. And no one knew what was going on—it might have been the end of the world.
Then Rafe Wilde walked onto my stage, all pulp fiction hero, offering his hand to the poor damsel in distress.
I wanted to kill him.
—From When the Lights Went Out, by Sanya Thorn
Sanya was glad they’d finally found their way out of the tunnels.
They’d circled back through the same intersection three times, and it had taken more than an hour for Rafe to finally find the exit he was seeking. In fairness, he probably usually had grid access when he was navigating the dark underground spaces that seemed to form a virtual smugglers’ network under the city.
Now they climbed a long ladder through a narrow access shaft, the walls way too close to her on all sides for comfort. She’d never been claustrophobic, but this place might push her over the edge. She took a deep breath and pushed herself onward, upward, hoping this was finally the right path.
Rafe stopped, and she almost ran into him. “Hey, a little warning next time?”
“Sorry.” He flashed her a toothy grin from above.
His rakish charm was wearing thin. “What now?”
“I have to access the emergency release for this hatch. Alpha has everything locked down.”
Or someone does. She stared at the wall in front of her, rough-hewn rock that shone with the glisten of sealer.
It was warm in the tight space. She watched a drop of sweat fall off her forehead and down out of the light, into the darkness from where they had just come. The headlamp Rafe had given her for the climb followed it down until it was lost from sight.
“Got it.” There was a grinding sound, and then blessedly cool air flooded the access shaft from above. Rafe climbed out and then held out a hand, helping her into the light.
It took her a minute to get her bearings, looking up at the dark trees and smelling the grass beneath her feet. They must be in a small clearing in Riverside Park, near the heart of the city along the banks of Moon River. It was officially nighttime, but the solar bands above provided a faint golden light through the branches of the quiescent mallow trees.
She pulled off the headlamp, turned it off, and handed it back to him.
Rafe tucked it away in his duffel bag. “Do you still have your canceller?”
Sanya checked her collar. “Yes, it’s still there. Now what?” She was tempted to check the grid, see if anyone had pinged her.
“Don’t even think about it. Remember, something already tried to kill us once today.”
She nodded, fidgeting. “I don’t like being disconnected for so long.” Her brain itched.
“You’ll get used to it.”
She wondered if that statement came from personal experience. Who are you really, Rafe Wilde?
The park was empty. Likely the entire town was, with the emergency declaration keeping everyone inside. “Won’t we stick out like, well, the only people on the street?”
“We’re not going to be on the streets. Come on.” To her surprise, he led her away from the city, toward the cavern wall. She followed, wondering how her whole world had been turned upside down in the space of a few hours.
They climbed up the low hills toward the edge of town. As they went, the trees of the park became sparser, giving way to bushes that sank their roots into the thin layer of soil that clung to the gentle upward curve at the city’s boundary.
The light from the wells above started to dim. Nightfall. She’d all but forgotten it was tonight. As Luna turned away from the sun, darkness swept across the Marius Hills, blanketing the city in shadow.
Normally Alpha would begin to release some stored solar power, making up for most of the missing sunlight to light the city. But today it remained dark.
Scattered lights came on in houses, creches, and other buildings in the city proper, and in the morning, the trees and bushes would provide their own light. But save for the blue glow of the junlei, the ceiling was dark.
She and Rafe exchanged a look and then resumed climbing.
I could use a shower. I must stink. She hadn’t planned on exerting herself so much today, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Things weren’t exactly normal, and it might be a long time before she got to go home again.
She wondered if Terry, her boss at the paper, missed her. Would anyone? She’d cut herself off from the grid, so he wouldn’t even be able to check her location.
“We’re here.”
Sanya looked up at the dark wall of the lava tube. “Cracking hell, another ladder?” This one disappeared into darkness above, climbing the sheer wall of the cavern.
“Here, tie this around your waist and then clip yourself for safety.” He handed her a rope attached to a carabiner and demonstrated, pointing to a rough pole that paralleled the ladder. “If you fall, you won’t fall far.” Then he climbed up out of her way.
Sanya clipped herself with a second carabiner and followed him up, panting. I really need to work out more. She laughed softly at the inane thought.
As they climbed, she glanced over her shoulder at the city behind them.
The Chinese Quarter—Kaishi, or beginning in the old language—was below them now. Over time, the two original colonies had become one, but the old district still retained its historic charm—beautiful geometric streets and homes that hearkened back to the traditional structures that had once existed on Earth—though it was hard to make out more than the street outlines in the blue glow of the junlei.
In the distance, the Garden Quarter’s streets were lit by specially engineered bioluminescent plants, biotech from one of the gen ship files.
The gen ships themselves had been destroyed during the Crash, or were long gone.
Sanya turned away, concentrating on putting one foot after the other up the rungs of the ladder. Her arms and legs felt heavy, weighed down like lead. Still, she forced herself to follow Rafe upward, stopping only to detach and reattach her carabiner to each successive pole.
About halfway up the wall, they finally reached a wide ledge. Sanya unclipped herself and climbed up beside him, her legs protesting the additional exertion.
Sanya took in this new circumstance. The ledge ran all along the edge of the cavern wall, carved out of it at some point after the colonists had arrived. A thin mag-rail ran in both directions, hugging the wall, leaving a few feet for them to stand under the overhanging wall above.
A guard rail along the edge of the ledge made her feel a little less concerned about falling back down the way they’d come.
She looked out over the city below from this new height. It was beautiful, especially in the darkness. As she watched, the golden lights of the trees that lined the main streets flared to life. Moon River was a dark snake that twisted from one end of the city to the other, a soul eater swallowing up all light.
Above, the junlei trees shone with their soft blue glow.
She leaned on the railing.
With a groan, it collapsed, pitching her forward toward the abyss.
Rafe’s hand caught her by the collar, hauling her backward to fall in a heap with him next to the mag rail.
“Holy hissing hell.” Her heart raced, and her breathing came in startled gasps.
Rafe glanced at the collapsed rail over her shoulder. “Those were put in a hundred years ago. I should have warned you.” He grinned. “That was close, but look at the bright side—you’re still alive.”
She stared at him, their eyes inches apart. “Thanks to you. You saved me.”
For just a second, she’d felt the old feelings of warmth and safety from Rafe that Avri had always inspired in her. The two of them looked absolutely nothing alike—Rafe was tall, dark, and handsome as a tridee star, and Avri had been short, blond and female. But still…
Rafe grinned. “Just dumb instinct. I would have done it for anyone.”
That killed it. Sanya snorted. She was getting really sick of that grin. She pushed herself up and away from him and got up to dust herself off. “What now?”
“Now we hitch a ride to the base.”
“A ride on what? Wait, the base… won’t Alpha—”
Rafe tapped the canceller on his collar. “Remember these? We’ll be just a blur.”
“Ah.” Maybe he did know what he was doing, after all. Too late to back out, anyhow.
“Heads-up. Here comes our ride.”
A growing rumble brought her around to look toward the Dark at the far end of the city. A sledge was humming along the rails, driven by a blue-eyed mech.
“Is it going to stop?”
Rafe’s answer was another of his maddening grins. He started to run, and she followed, careful to watch her step in the dim light lest she slip over the edge again. Her tired limbs protested this new torture.
He reached out as the sledge passed and grabbed onto the railing of the second car, loaded with moon rock. As promised, the silver driver didn’t seem to notice them, though it turned back to stare right at Rafe as his weight slowed the sledge just a little.
Sanya followed his example, first missing but then managing to grasp the edge of the third car. She pulled herself up and over, landing in the back of the car on top of a pile of rocks. She tried to make herself comfortable.
The sledge gave off a surprising amount of noise—creaking and rumbling as it headed for the station. -What now?-
-I’ll tell you when to get off.-
Too easy. -When?-
-Watch me!-
Sanya nodded. How the hell did he know all of this? How long had he been planning his escape?
And why? He seemed to enjoy her discomfort. Handsome bastard.
With an unsatisfied grunt, she settled in for the journey.
Hera led the way downhill, as they passed from mostly empty grassy slopes and stands of zongi trees into the ruined village that surrounded Martinez Base. According to their pre-drop records, the town had been taken over by the base in wartime, providing both a protective perimeter and housing for base personnel.
The warm breeze from the south had stiffened into a steady wind, and Hera’s lips felt parched and dry.
A rockslide had obliterated about a third of the city’s southern end, burying it in dirt and debris, and many of the other buildings were in an advanced state of collapse.
Their target was the complex of white buildings in the heart of the base, visible above the high fence that surrounded it. One wing had been the base fabrication facility, while the base AI core had been located somewhere underground.
The buildings were at the center of the huge shimmer screen dome that covered the base and its surrounds. Hera figured they’d have the best chance of bringing down the field there.
It was also the most dangerous place they could go.
“Where do you think the others are?” Ghost climbed a pole and brushed away dust from an old street sign. “Brown Street. That’s… boring.”
Hera laughed in spite of herself. They’d gone back to their old camaraderie, and by unspoken agreement weren’t talking about the kiss. She was fine with that. Totally fine with it, in fact. “I don’t know. It looked like they came down somewhere a little to the north. Maybe near the water?”
Ghost nodded. “I thought so too. What about that Humber?” He looked at the sky.
She followed his gaze. The ship’s contrail was long gone. The night was clear, the stars sparkling like a million moonstones.
Luna was rising to the east, its edge covered in shadow. Must be nightfall today. It was strange to see their home from here, and to watch the stars, so clear and solid from Redemption, shift and shimmer. They looked different from down here, the Earth’s atmosphere adding a twinkling effect that she found charming. “Don’t know. We need to get the damned field down so we can talk to someone.”
The streets of the old town were paved with hydrocarbons. The whole city—no, the whole planet—had run on them.
Hera shuddered. We’ll do things differently this time. If there was a “this time.”
Brown Street looked like it would lead them right down into the heart of the base. They had to hurry—who knew what kind of trouble Rai and Tien might be in?
The air here felt warm, much warmer than during the daytime, almost oppressive and wet like a swamp. Hera was sweating under her uniform, but she felt weird about stripping off the top.
Ghost had no such compunctions. He’d shrugged out of the sleeves and jacket of his uniform and had tied it around his waist.
Hera tried not to pay attention to the heat, or to Ghost’s naked chest. She wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her arm and stared at road ahead. “We should come up with a plan.”
Ghost didn’t reply.
Hera turned around to look for him, but he was gone.
“Hey, Ghost—where’d you go?”
“In here!” He popped his head out of a storefront. “Something’s weird. Come and take a look.”
The plastic sign above the door was cracked and weathered—all she could make out was “barbershop.”
She frowned. They were wasting time—they should be moving on, looking for Rai and Tien, not poking around old ruins. Besides, who knew how stable these buildings were? “I don’t think it’s a good idea to—”
She looked inside the door where he’d disappeared.
The room was completely empty. Not a fixture left. Not a box or can or anything else to speak of. Just windows and walls.
Even those had been ripped open, and wires and pipes removed.
“That’s weird.” If the world had ended as suddenly as they’d been told, where were all the things?
Ghost nodded. “And look.”
He pointed at the dusty floor.
Small footprints crisscrossed it, though they were old and covered with their own layer of grime.
“Maybe it happened just before the Crash?”
“I thought so, too, at first. I’ve been peeking into the houses and shops. They’re all like this. Every last one. And look at this.” He led her into the next room, full of empty shelves—probably once a storeroom—and shone his light on the floor.
There was another set of prints there, sharp and crisp, leading to and from the back door.
“Those aren’t that old.”
“No, they aren’t.”
They stared at each other, letting that sink in. The prints weren’t standard issue dropnaut boots, either. Unless Rai or Tien had found a convenient shoe shop, someone else was still very much alive down here.
What did that mean for the Return, if people still lived here? “It doesn’t change anything.” Hera turned on her heel and made her way out of the old shop.
Ghost ran after her. “What do you mean? It changes everything.”
I will not take what is not mine.
Ghost was right. If there were others here already, how did the Redemption Creed square with that?
Hera sighed. “That’s way above our pay grade. In the meantime, we have to find Tien and Rai. The sooner we get to the base control center, the sooner we can do that.”
Ghost scooted in front of her. “You’re missing the bigger picture here. Someone survived the Crash.”
She looked up at him. “I know. And I get that it means we were wrong. About almost everything, apparently.” She wiped sweat off her brow. “It doesn’t matter right now. We’ll figure that part out later. I have this pit in my stomach. I’m scared half to death for our friends. Who knows—they might be lying on the ground just ahead somewhere, injured or worse. Or these… survivors… whoever they are, might have them. Or any of a hundred other terrible things.” She wiped her face again, determined not to let him see her fragile emotions.
Ghost stared at her, the excitement draining from his face. “I know. You’re right. It’s just—well, it can wait. But we should be more careful.”
“On that much we can agree.” She squeezed his arm. “Come on. Let’s get going. That field’s not going to shut itself off.”
Together, they set off again toward the white buildings at the heart of the base.
Ghost couldn’t remember having ever been so hot. Sweat poured off his brow, and the hot, wet wind blowing up from the south provided little relief.
Once, when he’d been out on a surface excursion in the middle of the fourteen-day lunar daytime, his suit’s climate controls had failed, and it had gotten a bit toasty inside before he was able to reach the airlock to get back to Redemption.
And of course they’d run simulations on the Launchpad in all kinds of weather. But this….
“Gah.” Hera sounded as disgusted with the heat as he was.
“Gah?” Ghost dredged up a laugh. He took a swig from his canteen, but they were running low on water. The stars above burned like pinpricks in the night sky, only a little fuzzed by the shimmer screen.
“Gah,” Hera affirmed.
Earth’s climate was still on a seesaw, up and down and throwing things at you that you never expected. Like sudden storms and floods, and nights hot enough to melt metal. At least that’s how it felt.
They reached the far edge of the base’s residential zone. A tall fence barred their way forward, but the metal was old and rusted. An almost illegible sign said “Martinez Base Preserve. Keep Out.” Ghost looked around, half expecting to see a drone nosing its way up the street behind them, but the town was quiet and empty.
Who made those footprints? He wiped his brow again, seriously considering licking off the sweat. They’d seen no other signs of human life in this ghost town.
Ghost town. That made him laugh, just a little.
Maybe someone had been traveling through the area, but then why would they take the time to steal the wiring?
He glanced up and down the length of the fence.
Hera had a pair of bolt-cutters out, ready to make a hole in the fence.
A flash of red light atop the closest pole caught his eye. “Hera, don’t!”
The blade touched the metal, and she was thrown backward onto the street, the cutters clattering along the ground and landing with a thunk against an old wooden utility post.
“Hera!” Ghost knelt beside her, putting a hand on her neck to check for her pulse. “You okay?”
Her eyes were closed, but her heart was still beating. “Hera!”
Ghost’s mind flashed back to that time when they were eight years old, and she’d been lying motionless—just like this!—at the bottom of the rockslide.
He put a hand on her cheek. -Hera… don’t leave me.-
Her dark brown eyes fluttered opened. “Hey.” She blinked. “What happened?”
“The fence. It’s electrified.”
She pushed herself up. “Even now?”
He nodded. “I saw a light. I tried to warn you. You feeling okay?”
She checked herself over. “I think so.” She frowned. “I can’t lift my legs.”
“The shock must have shorted them out.”
“Not likely. They’re pretty well shielded.” She flipped open the control panel on the right side of the biframe and rapped out a quick sequence with her fingers. “There. Rebooting.”
They sat together, staring at the arc of the stars. “How in the cracking hell is it so hot?”
“There’s a big swamp just to the south of here. Used to be the Central Valley. Lots of agriculture. It burned for a month when the Heat began, and then eventually filled with water.”
“Yeah? How do you know so much about it?”
She grinned. “It was one of those parts of our training I paid attention to. Unlike some of my classmates.” She shot him a look. “At night the winds blow north and bring up this hot, damp air.” She sniffed it. “Stinky too.” She took out her own canteen, sipped on it, and offered it to Ghost.
“Nah, I’m okay.”
She nodded and leaned over her legs to look at the control panel. “Still no go.”
“Maybe you burned out your button.” He reached up to take it off and gave her his instead.
“Ah.” She lifted her right leg and then bent her left. “I can’t take that. You need it. It might be the only thing keeping you hidden from the drones and whatever’s is running the base.”
“You need it more than I do. Without it, I can run and hide. But you’re stuck wherever it finds you.”
Hera grunted. “If anything happens to you because of me…”
“I can handle it.”
She pushed herself up from the ground and stomped over to the pole to retrieve her bolt cutters. She turned to stare at the tall fence. “We have to find a way through.”
Ghost looked up and down the barrier. It stretched off into the darkness, who knew how far? “Somewhere, maybe there’s a breach. Or a way to get over or under it.”
She nodded. “Any idea which way we should go?”
Ghost looked both ways. Fuck, it’s hotter than Hades out here. “I say north.” He pointed off to the left. “That way, if there’s no break, at least we’ll end up at the bay and I can take a nice cool dip in the water.”
Hera smirked. “North it is.”