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The flu of Year Two started with pigs. It hit them hard leaving farms with pens full of carcasses. Farmers died too, and many facilities were abandoned by those unable to deal with the losses, human and otherwise.
History of a Changed World - Angus T. Moss
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NICK BROUGHT HIS DINNER tray down to the infirmary to eat with Angus, surprised to find Martin and Wisp already there. ”Having a meeting without me?” His voice sounded harsher than he’d intended, but his frustration level was skyrocketing. He wanted to be on the road, gathering information to find the missing people and figure out who was sending out the pressgangs.
“No, Nicky, they are just keeping an old man company,” Angus said with a welcoming air. The usual clutter of papers and tablets covered his bed. A side table held an empty plate and glass. He was glad to see Angus had a good appetite.
Martin had pulled in a table, setting it athwart the foot of the bed. He and Wisp sat there with their dinners. Wisp’s rain-damp hair fell loose down his back like the white mane on a palomino. Nick thought that was a good way to think of the biobot—powerful but useful, graceful, with a touch of the wild. Nick pulled up a chair next to him, forcing a bland smile for Angus. “What’s the latest?”
“On me?” Angus asked. “Looks like more of a crack than a break. Swelling came down faster than expected. Ruth is intrigued. I am delighted if it gets me back to normal any sooner.”
“Good news,” Nick said neutrally. He wasn’t sure if Angus was embroidering the truth. He looked over to Martin. “Any news?”
“Sort of. Got word back that High Meadow and Clarkeston stations are still shut down. White Bluff station doesn’t have the steel grates on the entrance like the other two, but they do have internal security doors. They got access to the food stores, but there’s no access to the cubbies in the storm shelter. Anybody looking for a dry spot can sleep in the lobby, but that’s it. The men brought back a van full of train food. Left some flyers.
“The ether banks?” Angus asked.
“Disabled.”
Angus absently tapped a finger on the tablet he held. “Don’t like the sound of that. Why would they leave the food but disable communication?”
“Perhaps different people did it,” Wisp offered.
Nick had noticed Wisp spending more time in the building. He hoped that meant the biobot was getting used to all the people because they had gotten used to him pretty fast.
Angus raised a hand, palm up, in uncertainty. “Anything’s possible, isn’t it. And that is the basis of all our problems. We have no definitive data.”
“I can go get some,” Nick grumbled.
“I know you want to get out there Nicky, but we have to be smart about this,” Angus said, nodding his head appeasingly. “Finding the Barberry Cove children’s parents is still at the top of my list, but we have so very little information. Why were they taken? Who did it? Where are they being held?” He huffed out a great sigh. “Until Glenn wakes, or we know a little bit more, I don’t want to waste your talents.”
“And Wisp,” Nick said.
“I’ve got men asking questions,” Martin said. “They’ll be to Haver Falls in a couple days and on to Ashton. We’ll check the whole of the Continental Line.”
“Doesn’t go all the way to the coast anymore,” Nick said.
“How come?” Martin asked.
“Sinkholes. Took out a station west of Tulsa. Deactivated a chunk of the line, couple years back.”
“Took some highway, too,” Wisp added. “Hard to get through the new badlands without going nearly to Canada.”
“Okay,” Martin said. “So we go north or south and keep asking questions.”
“They were southwest,” Wisp said. “Last time I checked.”
Nick knew Wisp wanted answers as badly as he did. “Wisp can track them,” he said pointedly.
“We had this discussion already,” Angus said, his blue eyes pinning Nick. “It’s a long journey with too many unknowns on the other end. Your trip to the vaccine lab could have ended very differently. We started without forethought.” He raised a hand to stall Nick’s protest. “Despite your training with the FBI, we encountered unforeseen complications. I’ve learned my lesson. We need more information before we can make an effective plan.”
Wisp pushed his empty plate away. Nick wondered if he would volunteer to go on his own. His skills for intelligence gathering were superb, and even though Angus wouldn’t use that word, that was what they needed right now.
“My brother is worried,” Wisp said.
“Kyle?” Nick asked. Since he and Ruth had arrived, they had kept to themselves. They were always in the lab or their quarters working. They seemed much more comfortable in the lab than in the public areas of High Meadow. Tilly had even arranged for someone to bring them food, so they could keep working on understanding how the virus and the so-called vaccines were interacting.
“No, another brother, Theta.”
“He’s the linguist?” Angus asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s not a skill that’s a whole lot of help these days,” Martin grumbled.
“He is moving slowly, probably walking. He has been concerned for some time, but I have felt...stronger emotion lately.”
“When’s the last time you visited?” Angus asked.
Wisp looked away. Nick wondered if he looked out to where Theta was or back into his memories. The life of a biobot could not be an easy one. Especially now when most of them were out on their own with no keeper to run interference for them.
“I don’t visit Theta,” Wisp said in a flat voice.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Martin said.
Wisp twitched a shoulder in unspoken disquiet. “I would go to his aid if he needed me.”
Nick thought he phrased it oddly, but it didn’t clarify why he hadn’t visited this brother. Although according to official records, Wisp was dead, so he’d been staying below the radar for the past ten years. Considering what Nick had seen of Wisp’s skills, he knew he could travel anywhere without being noticed.
“How would you know when he needed help?” Martin asked.
Wisp tapped his temple. “I feel him. If his concern gets worse, I will go look for him.”
Angus blinked at that, but Martin looked away. Nick knew they were all feeling the same thing. Wisp wasn’t one of them. He may be here and be helping them, but he had not put himself under Angus’s purview. If he left, would he come back? Was this Wisp’s way of reminding them that he had no master, even one as benign as Angus? Nick wondered what he felt from them right now. Angus looked affronted, but Martin looked angry. His own feelings were somewhere in the middle. He wanted Wisp to stay.
After a long minute of stunned silence, Angus spoke in a casual tone that belied the stir of emotions in the room. “Would you bring him here?”
Wisp tipped his head in thought. “I don’t know what Theta needs. If he needed a place like this, I would bring him here.”
That made Nick more uneasy. What could a linguist need? A library? He saw his concerns echoed in Martin’s scowl.
“And if he didn’t?” Angus probed.
“Then I would take him elsewhere.”
Nick grunted as he settled back in his chair. He was angry and worried and biting his tongue. But Wisp most likely knew all of that. “You’d just go off and leave us?”
Those pale blue eyes turned to him looking curious and maybe a bit sad. “Do you still have need of me?”
“Always!” Angus barked. “Wisp you are irreplaceable. We will always have need of your remarkable range of skills and your unique abilities. You are a fascinating person. I still have a million questions for you. Take your brother to wherever he needs to be, but please know that we want you to come back to us.”
Nick saw a smile tug at Wisp’s mouth. “It’s nice to be wanted.”