“Do we know that?” Samantha asked.

“Not until I get started,” Tania said, and tapped the briefcase.

While she spoke, Jake pushed himself up to a standing position. He probed at his skull before nodding to Skyler. I’ve had worse, his expression said.

“Okay,” said Skyler. “I’ll take Tania below and get her started. Make a barricade with these couches and hold here. We’ll be back with news before Angus flies over.”

Samantha and Jake nodded in unison.

A second passed before Skyler realized Sam had not argued. Hell must have frozen over, he thought.

Skyler led Tania down another stairwell, not trusting the elevators despite power being on. The steps only descended one floor and ended at a heavy door. Though unlocked, Skyler had to give the handle a hard yank before it opened. A waft of cool air hit him as the door swung aside, and they found themselves at the end of a wide hallway.

Something about the place bothered Skyler, and then it hit him: it was clean. The crisp air had a chill bite to it, and carried none of the odors typically found in deserted buildings. He’d been in many places outside the Aura, and Mother Nature had reclaimed it all in some way. Not here.

As his ears adjusted, he recognized the hum of an air conditioner, barely audible but there nonetheless. It knocked and whined, as if it might fail at any moment.

Tania whispered, “Could there be survivors in here?”

Skyler looked at her. The fear in her voice was so obvious that he wanted to hold her. “Doubtful,” he said. “Twice in the past we’ve encountered immunes while in the Clear. One had gone insane over the years and tried to sabotage our ship. The other is my engineer.”

The hallway extended for fifteen meters or so before ending at a closed door. A small window, covered in dust, sat at shoulder height.

“Wait here,” Skyler said, and jogged to the door. He did his best to keep his boots quiet, rolling his feet with each stride, but they still echoed off the beige linoleum surface.

He wiped dust from the window and peered through. Nothing moved in the room beyond. He tried the door handle, gently, and found it unlocked.

With a wave he signaled Tania to come join him.

When she arrived at his back, Skyler raised his pistol and put a finger to his lips. She nodded. Slowly he opened the door and leaned inside. The room was small. White floors, wall, and ceiling, broken only by a series of gray metal lockers on one wall. A few were open, displaying their contents: white jumpsuits and breathing masks.

Skyler pointed at the clothing. “What’s all this for? Is it dangerous inside?”

“I doubt it,” Tania said. “Probably just for keeping dust out of the equipment.”

“Not something we need to trouble with, then. Still, could be valuable.” Skyler opened the satchel strapped to his chest and removed a tightly folded duffel bag. He stuffed it with three jumpsuits and breathing masks.

The other containers were all locked, save one. Skyler opened it to find civilian clothing. He rummaged through the pant pockets.

“What are you looking for?” Tania asked.

Skyler removed a set of keys and jingled them at her. From another pocket he found an access card. “Andrew Ryoko Shu,” he read aloud.

“A. R. Shu,” Tania said, quietly.

Handing her the card, Skyler said, “Know the bloke?”

“The name was in the Japan data. We’re in the right place.”

Satisfied, he slung the duffel bag on his back and moved to the door at the other end of the room. Tania kept one step behind him.

This one proved to be locked. Skyler tried the keys he found, one after another. All failed. Then Tania swiped the access card through a slot on the wall, and a firm click emanated from inside. The door unlocked.

Skyler pulled it open. The floor inside sloped upward and then turned ninety degrees. The hum of the air-conditioning was much louder here.

He stepped inside and felt a rush of panic as a tearing sound came from his feet. Looking down, he saw that he stood on some kind of white pad with a sticky surface, covered in faint, dusty footprints.

“To remove the dirt from your shoes, I think,” Tania said.

Skyler continued up the ramp. Turning the corner, he came into a large room with a high ceiling lined with bundles of cables. Row after row of equipment filled the vast room. Most appeared to be functional, judging by the myriad of small blinking lights.

“This is it,” Tania said.

Skyler looked over the room. “Where do we start?”

She pointed toward one of the equipment racks that still had power. “That one is as good as any,” she said.

Skyler checked his watch. “Is ten minutes enough time to get set up?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” he said, “a quick sweep of the room and it’s all yours. Wait here.”

He scanned each row. All were empty except the last, where Skyler found a toolbox on the floor. Someone had abandoned their work many years ago. On instinct, Skyler went through the box and removed a handful of useful tools, placing them in a pouch within his jacket.

Satisfied the room was safe, he returned to Tania. “You’re on,” he said.

She walked to the computer rack and surveyed its contents. Then she moved around to the other side of the row and opened the access panel on the back side of the same section. Inside, a chaotic mess of colorful cables snaked through metal loops, connecting all the systems together.

Tania removed the briefcase strapped to her chest and set it on the floor. She opened it to reveal a gleaming, streamlined device, clearly far newer than anything else in the room. She opened a small display on the top of it and powered it on.

Skyler watched, fascinated, as she methodically searched through the cables inside the big cabinet, tracing where they started and stopped.

“These gloves make it difficult,” she said.

Through some criteria that he couldn’t understand, she finally settled on one, and tugged it aside from the others.

Next, she pulled a similar cable out of the briefcase. On the top of the device, she slid open a covered section, revealing a bank of various connection ports. Tania scanned them quickly and plugged the cable into the one that matched.

She took the other end, found her isolated cable inside the old computer rack, and held it between two gloved fingers. From the case she grabbed another wire with two pronged clamps on the end.

“Careful,” Skyler said. With all the violence around them, if she ended her mission by poking a hole in her suit …

Tania paused, steadied herself. With deliberate care she punctured the cable and locked the clamp.

“I’m amazed any of this stuff still works,” Skyler said.

Tania’s gloved fingers danced across the screen inside the briefcase. “It’s all solid state, no moving parts. With proper power and cooling, it will last a century or more. I just hope the data is stored in a standard format.”

Information flooded the interface. She watched it like a hawk, tapping on certain elements and swiping others to the side, creating columns where none existed before. Order from chaos. Skyler didn’t understand a bit of it, and used the quiet moment to study her. He never harbored much desire to become an Orbital himself—too boring, too confined—but the idea of spending more time with this woman had definite appeal.

Almost five minutes passed before she reacted to something on the screen. “I’ve found the data I need,” she said. “Good news: I should only need an hour.”

Skyler checked his watch. “I should tell the others. You’ll be okay here?”

She nodded, absently, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Sure. Take the key card.”

He pocketed it, impressed by her bravery but unsure whether to believe her. He decided he had no choice. “Back as soon as I can.”

She looked at him through her hazard helmet and smiled bleakly. “Good luck, Skyler.”

Her smile thrilled him.

Chapter Sixteen

Hilo, Hawaii

26.JAN.2283

At the entryway, Skyler left Samantha to defend the barricade and took Jake to the roof. On the way, he stopped at the mound of cleaning supplies blocking the hall and gathered ten rolls of white plastic trash bags.

“I have an idea,” Skyler said as they climbed the stairs. He had to pause twice when Jake stumbled. The man’s eyes were cloudy, and his hands shook.

On the roof, Skyler asked Jake to look for the lost communicator while he set to work on his backup plan. From the courtyard below and the surrounding land he could hear the muffled grunts of the subhumans. Occasionally one roared, a pained and eerie sound. Others took up the cry before settling down again.

The reams of white plastic bags rolled out into perfect lines. He worked fast to write his message in giant block letters: “30m.”

Skyler had just put the finishing touches on the makeshift display when the Melville drifted overhead. Angus turned and dropped lower to make another pass. This time he tilted the wings back and forth to indicate he’d understood.

“Half an hour,” Skyler said to Jake. “Let’s make it count.”

“Take a look at this,” the sniper said. He stood at the edge of the roof, leaning over.

Skyler moved to stand next to him and looked down. Subhumans filled the wide outdoor space, four floors below. There were a hundred at least. Most were naked; all were filthy. Some carried found, primitive weapons—thick sections of tree branch, the occasional length of copper pipe.

He’d only seen a group so large once, many years before, during the Purge. Back then, in the fledgling days of Darwin’s role as “last city,” the subhuman population in Australia was massive. Large groups happened more by accident than anything else. In the years since, the population across the planet had dwindled significantly. Now they usually formed small packs of four or five, and spent their days fighting one another when they weren’t eating or sleeping.

“It’s like a bunch of swagmen took speed and decided to have an orgy,” Jake muttered.

Skyler barked a laugh. Too loud.

One screeched, a wild sound of raw anger.

The creature stared directly at Skyler. Like a chimp in a zoo, it began to jump about, waving its arms in rage and frustration.

More took up the cry. Soon they were all looking up, and feeding off one another’s disease-fueled bloodlust. A few retreated to the corners of the yard and cowered, the disease amplifying their flight reaction. Others began to throw rocks, which fell short.

“This is bad,” Jake said as the volume of the inhuman cries rose. Out of pure habit he’d already unslung his long rifle and pulled the lens cap from its scope.

A couple of the stronger ones started to climb the side of the building, using the overgrowth of vines, cracks in the concrete walls, and windowsills to pull themselves up.

Skyler hoisted his machine gun and flicked off the safety. “Retreat to the door,” he said, and began to backpedal.

Jake followed.

At the door, Skyler yanked it open and moved inside. He allowed enough room for Jake to come in as well. The sniper crouched and leveled his long gun toward the edge.

When the first head emerged over the rooftop, Jake fired. The poor creature’s skull snapped backward and then it disappeared, back to where it came.

Before Skyler could compliment the shot, the man re-aimed and fired again. Another dropped.

More appeared now. Six or seven. Jake fired in rapid shots but couldn’t keep up.

The subhumans ran very fast, their lean bodies corded with muscle. Skyler aimed and squeezed off a burst, taking one in the chest. A female, he realized. She toppled over in a heap.

Still more came. They streamed over the rooftop now.

One stood out. It had a mess of wild gray hair and wore tatters of old clothing. The leader, Skyler realized, as the sub raised its arms and bellowed.

Jake saw it, too. His shot exploded out the back of the leader’s head, spraying blood and brains across the faces of those behind it. The being went down in an unceremonious heap.

The others faltered. Some turned back, confused. A few did not, and started to laugh as they ran past the body. Jake’s rifle took on a drumlike rhythm, pat-pat-pat, as he ended their sorry lives. He worked so fast that Skyler had no time to aim.

Quiet settled. Even the birds had gone silent.

A dozen bodies littered the roof, right on top of the “30m” sign Skyler had drawn. Blood spilled on the white plastic bags in stark contrast. Pools and splatter of deep red.

Skyler wiped the sweat from his brow. His heart pounded from adrenaline, he could feel blood throb in his temples. He took a long, measured breath. “Bloody hell,” he said after a moment. “Nice shooting.”

Jake kept his focus on the edge of the roof, and said nothing. He expected more to come, and for good reason. If the creatures were anything, they were persistent.

“We should get back downstairs,” Skyler said.

“You go,” Jake said, reloading his gun. He laid his extra clips in a line on the ground in front of him. “I’ll thin the herd.”

Skyler stared at the back of the man’s head. “Sure?”

“If Angus is going to land here, we need to clear these bastards out,” Jake said. “Besides, this is much more fun than cowering down there in the dark.”

Skyler clapped his friend on the shoulder. He turned ran down the stairwell, taking two at a time, and reached Sam at her barricade within a minute.

“What was all that noise?” she asked.

“The maestro at work,” Skyler said. Despite the relative safely, he crouched behind the stack of bookshelves she’d piled up.

Samantha grinned at him. “Think Angus got our message?”

“He got it,” Skyler said.