“Really?”

“It’s your city. Do as you like.”

Russell knew bullshit when he heard it, even from a true master of the art.

The glorified slumlord went on. “I hope you will see the benefits and perhaps extend our arrangement another six months. Your focus should be on the future of our civilization, after all, not which street gang holds which street.”

“True enough,” Russell agreed. He liked the sound of that and let it settle on his shoulders like a warm blanket. “Which brings me to the real reason for my visit.”

“Oh?”

Russell took a swig from the bottle and set it down with a deliberate thump. “We’ve found our runaways, and the rest of the farms.”

“That is excellent news.”

“Thanks to both our efforts, the farms are no longer a card they can play, though I haven’t called them on that bluff yet.”

“Why?”

Russell grinned. “If we still need food, we’ll keep sending people for it.”

“You intend to continue this trade?”

The grin on Russell’s face widened. “One more time, is all. Ten squads, armed to the teeth.”

Grillo nodded slowly. “So many men? That’s a risk, isn’t it? Your stations will be understaffed.”

“That’s where you come in.” He felt a pang of pride at the way Grillo sat forward now. “I’d like you to send up a security detail to fill in. Temporary, right? Good fighters, loyal.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Russell thought of that strange black tower, and the nightmare creature that cut through Tania’s fighters like a machete. A shudder ran through him, and he hoped Grillo didn’t notice. He would have a sudden change in plans when Grillo’s men arrived in orbit. He’d send them to the meat grinder. Let them take the risk, and at the same time deplete Grillo’s strength here. Then his own people could sweep in and clean up. Perfect.

“Perfect. Have them on a climber before the week is out,” Russell said. “I’ll need some time to train them for zero-g combat.”

“A week is impossible. Every available fighter is deployed. A month would be better.”

Russell shrugged. Tania wasn’t going anywhere. A silence followed. He sipped from the bottle.

“Is there anything else?” Grillo asked.

“One more thing. I want to bring the immune, Samantha, with us when we go after the traitors. She was part of their little rebellion, and it might be that I can use her as bait. But when I went to the brig to fetch her, I found she wasn’t there. The guard said she hasn’t been there in months, nor the other. Kelly, I think her name was.”

Grillo nodded, slowly. “I have other uses for them. It would be difficult to end that arrangement right now.”

“No mention of that in your reports.”

“There are numerous things I don’t bore you with. I figured you wouldn’t care about a couple of prisoners rotting in cells.”

An old rage welled inside Russell Blackfield. A lot of things irritated him, but perhaps nothing more so than people who thought they knew his mind. He looked at the bottle of crap whiskey in his hand and thought of how satisfying it would be to smash the thing across Grillo’s smooth-combed hair. “You found uses for them, eh? Playthings for your men?” He conjured an image of the tall blond immune, a head taller than he. How I want to climb that mountain.

Grillo had been looking at the floor, as if in prayer. He glanced up without moving his head, and for a second Russell saw wrath in those eyes. “Your brig proved insufficient to hold them, you should know. I thought it prudent to have them moved, but then I thought that still might not work. I realized I could accomplish two goals, then. So Kelly now resides at my own facility, under constant watch.”

“And the immune?”

“Samantha is in charge of the scavenger crews at the airport.”

“At the … wait, in charge?”

“In charge, and doing a fantastic job. Holding Kelly’s safety over her has proved a remarkable motivator.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea. She’s nothing special. Nice rack, hell of a right hook, and that’s about it.”

“She’s immune. There are some who think that marks her as one of God’s chosen.”

Russell barked a laugh. “Or, you know, it’s just some random genetic whatever. No need to get all biblical on the topic.”

Grillo refused to rise to the bait. “The fact is, the scavenger crews were sitting on their hands after that business in Africa. Not anymore.”

Heat rose on Russell’s cheeks. His hand tightened on the neck of the glass bottle and it took a conscious effort to keep from swinging it. “Going to rub my nose in that again, eh?”

Grillo waved his hands. “That’s not what I meant at all. I’m simply saying the crews were idle after that. Afraid and unsure of their status in your airspace. Samantha has them running like a Swiss watch now. It’s really quite impressive.”

“I’m sure.” Russell found no path he could take to argue the point. He knew all too well the benefits of having a functional scavenger corps, and the immunes were the cream of that crop. It galled him, however, that Grillo had thought of it. More than that, he’d pulled it off. Scavenger crews running, the city calm and producing nearly all the food it needed … deep down he knew he’d never have been able to accomplish the same thing.

I did, though. I put this bloody rat in charge. Russell had no qualms about taking credit for that. Great leaders delegate.

The question was how hard it would be to undo.

Chapter 30

Belém, Brazil

18.OCT.2283

TANIA STEPPED DOWN the rollaway staircase, each footfall producing a soft metallic click on the textured metal steps.

At the bottom, her feet met freshly poured concrete, and she smiled.

Compared to her last visit to the colony, almost two months earlier, the base camp was almost unrecognizable.

“Impressive,” Zane said behind her. He came down the steps slowly, his attention shifting from his feet to the scene around him and back. Tim appeared in the climber’s airlock next. The young man squinted in the sudden brightness, and then smiled as he took in the camp.

Large swaths of the ground within the Elevator’s aura had been surfaced with concrete, and this had gone a long way toward reducing the mud, dust, and misery within the camp. The concrete had been poured in long rectangular strips, and the spaces between were surrounded by low brick walls. Black soil filled those walled-in areas, and in places she could see signs of vegetables beginning to poke through.

All of the tents were gone. In their place, a mishmash of motor homes, modified cargo containers, and small prefab houses served as living space. These were placed in orderly rows along the concrete strips, with the spaces between them serving as narrow alleys. One wide avenue had been left, from the main entrance of the camp to the base of the Elevator, and then on to the shore of the river beyond.

She glanced west. Much of the work being done now focused on the nearby university buildings. These lay just outside the Elevator’s aura, but a clever plan had been hatched to make a courtyard, open on the side that faced the Elevator, into the new impound yard for the aura towers. Two benefits came from this approach: The towers were naturally protected on three sides by university buildings, and in turn the towers provided a protective aura around the structures. This enabled their use for storage and, where feasible, more living space. But the buildings were in bad shape after five years of neglect, and so nearly half the colony now labored to restore them to a passable quality.

It had taken Tania some time to approve the plan. What if the few remaining aura towers suddenly “woke up” and plowed through the buildings like they were made from paper? Anyone inside would surely be killed in the resulting collapse. But as time went on, and no more aura towers showed signs of autonomous movement, she found it harder and harder to argue. At the ninety-day mark, she changed her vote to “yes” for the plan, and work started the next morning.

Tania turned east. That side of camp now looked like a garbage dump compared to the rest. No concrete had been poured there yet, and any equipment that needed repair or dismantling had been carted to that side temporarily. She saw three colonists climbing over a rusted piece of machinery she didn’t recognize. They used wrenches and hammers to yank portions off the bulky object. Spare parts, probably.

Karl strode up. They shook hands and she saw he labored to breathe, as if he’d just run a kilometer.

“Welcome down,” he said between gasps of air. He shook Zane’s hand next, then Tim’s.

“This is miraculous progress,” Zane said.

Karl nodded, still short on breath.

“Are you okay? Is it the headaches?” Tania asked.

He grinned at her, took a few seconds to get under control, and then spoke. “Running late is all. Thanks for coming.”

“Of course. I’m amazed at the progress, Karl. It’s like a little city.”

The pride on his face warmed her. “Well,” he said, “no time to stand around. Come with me?”

“What’s this surprise?” she asked as they walked northwest toward the wide gap in the camp’s barricade. “The firearms training you promised, I hope?”

“Later, Tania. Right now, I have more progress to share.” He led her through the camp entrance.

Four armed colonists, two on either side of the opening, waved at them as they passed. “Keep near the tower,” one said, answering Tania’s unspoken question as to the border of the aura. The wall marked it, roughly, but had been built five meters inside the actual radius to allow for some buffer. But one aura tower waited just outside, and Karl gave it a gentle nudge in the direction he wanted to go.

Once they rounded the corner and were outside the barricade, Tania saw the surprise he’d invited them down for.

Four aura towers were placed in a line formation along the Belém street north of the camp. At the base of each were four colonists, all decked out in survival gear.

Skyler and his three immune friends stood in front of the line, and Karl led the group to them.

“Is this what I think it is?” Tania asked. She flashed Skyler a smile and he returned it, but his expression had lost the warmth she used to find when their eyes met. She wondered if, or how, she could ever win it back.

“Tania, Zane, Tim, may I present your scavenger corps,” Skyler said, gesturing.

The idea had not appealed to Tania when first proposed, and not just because such a setup would required the full-time assignment of four aura towers. She simply didn’t relish the idea of putting anyone into harm’s way, not after what had happened in the rainforest. Granted, with so few towers left the need to scavenge for supplies had become a critical necessity. To her, though, Skyler and his new crew seemed capable of handling the load. It wasn’t until Karl had pointed out to her the marked difference in productivity between Skyler’s outings and those arranged ad hoc by random colonists that she’d relented. “They just don’t think like he does,” he’d said to her. “We need full-time, dedicated crews.”

“I’m impressed,” Tania said to them, loud enough for all to hear.

Skyler came to stand next to her, and turned so he faced the crews as well. “Each group has a dedicated tower, as you know, and each is assigned a certain portion of the city.”

The immune called Ana stepped forward and presented Tania with a map. She took it and smiled at the young woman, but she was looking at Skyler. I know that look, Tania thought. She felt her pulse quicken and a hollowness in her gut that she recognized as jealousy. The sensation surprised her as much as the affection she saw between Skyler and the newcomer. Tania forced herself to look at the paper in her hands, but she couldn’t focus on any of it. What had she expected? Skyler to wait around for her? As if he had no more choice in the matter than the moon did in orbiting Earth?

Tim stepped in next to her, just behind her shoulder. “Let’s have a look,” he said, a bit too loud.

He gripped the edge of the map just below where her fingers pinched the page. Only then did Tania realize her hands were shaking. Not much, but enough that he might have noticed. Whether Tim had meant to rescue her from the moment or not, she felt grateful for the defusion.

On the map the city was divided into quarters of roughly equal size. Those in the more densely constructed parts of the city were a bit smaller, while the vast slums had larger blocks.

“Each section has a name,” Skyler said, “and the crew assigned to that area shares the name.” He leaned close and ran a finger across each section, calling the name as he went. “Tombstones, Dockyards, Ugly Church, and Eden Estates.”

With each name, one of the crews arrayed before her gave a little call, like any military outfit might. At first she cringed at the silly names, but she knew they matched what the colonists already called those areas. The dark skyscrapers of downtown looked like tombstones. The dockyards spanned almost the entire waterfront. The others she could guess, save the last. “Eden Estates sounds nice at least.”

“Oh, believe me, it’s the worst of the lot. Sarcasm was in order, and I don’t say that lightly.”

“Okay,” she said, a little disappointed.

“Now,” Skyler said, “watch. Colton! If you please?”

A young man with the crew farthest to Tania’s left nodded and began to walk away from his tower. He walked some distance, toward the invisible edge of the tower’s protective aura, when suddenly he stopped and held up his arm. A wristwatch-like device was strapped there, and it beeped loudly. Even from here, almost two hundred meters away, Tania could hear it clearly.