Skybreach (The Reach #3) (18 page)

Around him, the other members of Skybreach looked at each other with disconcerted expressions.  No one said anything.  Even Holger seemed to have run out of wisecracks.

Knile reached over and touched Silvestri on the shoulder to gain his attention.  Silvestri half turned to him, his face ashen, and shook his head.

“Everything we knew just went up in smoke,” he said.

18

“Not everything,” Knile said adamantly.  “There has to be part of the plan we can still salvage.”

“Hey, man,” Holger drawled, “were you listening to that bitch just now?  We’re in lockdown.  Those were her words.  Do you think we’re somehow going to walk up through the Atrium and plonk our asses on the railcar like it’s business as usual?”

“The rules of the game just changed,” Yun agreed.  “And we hadn’t even finished learning the old rules yet.”

“Wait a minute, everyone.  Please,” Silvestri said, drawing himself up.  He seemed embarrassed that he’d lost faith so quickly and shot Knile an apologetic glance.  “Knile is right.  Let’s think this through rationally.  If there are components of the old plan that are no longer applicable, we discard them and come up with alternatives.”

“Components?” Holger said.  “I’d say the whole thing is trashed.”

“We’re here to find a way off this planet,” Silvestri said forcefully.  “That has always been Skybreach’s goal. 
Nothing
has changed in that regard.  Anyone who doesn’t want a part of that can walk away now.”  He raised his hand and pointed.  “The door is right there.”

Everyone stood where they were.  Holger glanced around cautiously, as if expecting someone to take Silvestri up on his offer, but no one did.

“So it’s settled,” Silvestri went on.  “We’re going to revise our plan, and then we’re going to make it work.  Now would be a good time to start.”

Remus stepped forward.  “Valen mentioned something about evacuating the Reach,” he said.  “What do you think that’s all about?”

“You bought that?” Iris said, incredulous.  “Get real, Remus.  There’s no way she’s going to evacuate the whole population of the Reach.”

“Why not?” Remus said.

“I agree with Iris,” Silvestri said.  “Valen was being purposely vague about the
evacuation because she wants co
operation from the citizens of the Reach.  She wants them to think that they might be rewarded if they do what she says.”

“Right,” Knile said.  “She’ll get the Consortium personnel out first.  Once that’s done…”  He chewed his lip thoughtfully.  “I think we can assume they’ll shut the Wire
down.”

“You don’t know that,” Remus said.

“Remus, I’ll tell you what I
do
know,” Knile said.  “The Consortium have shown over the years that their only interest here on Earth is as a business.  They’re here to make a profit.  We’d be kidding ourselves if we believed that they were going to stay here forever.”  He looked around at the others in the room.  “They’ve been taking the last of the resources left on Earth –
rich
people, artefacts – and shoving them up the Wire, right?  But since Children of Earth began to piss over everything, they’ve obviously decided it isn’t worth it anymore.  Otherwise they’d be fighting back instead of pulling out, wouldn’t they?”

“So after they evacuate the Consortium personnel, then what?” Remus said.

“They’re unlikely to stick around for humanitarian reasons,” Silvestri said.  “The cost to evacuate everyone in the Reach would be enormous.”

“Well, if you think about it,” Talia said, “they
can’t
evacuate anyone after the last of their people leaves.  Who’s going to coordinate the evacuation from down here?  Where are they going to put all of the refugees who travel up the Wire?  All of those thousands of people aren’t going to sit around in Habitat One, are they?”

“And who’s going to relocate them all to the outer colonies?” Knile said.  “That’s an awful lot of Sponsors.”

“All right,” Silvestri said.  “We’re agreed on this.  We have to assume that once the Consortium get their people out, they’ll shut down the Wire, at which point, Skybreach would be officially finished.”

“So we have to get out before that happens,” Holger said.  “This plan just gets better every minute.”

“The question is, how long is that going to take?” Iris said.

An uneasy silence descended upon them as they considered the implications of her words.

“There’s uh… a couple of hundred Consortium personnel spread around the Reach,” Aksel said.

“So,” Silvestri said thoughtfully, “if they run the railcar day and night – which they will – they could have them all evacuated within a week or two.”

“So our two week window still works,” Yun said, a modicum of hope entering his voice.

“It would be dangerous to rely on such a timeframe,” Lazarus said from the doorway.  They all turned to look at him, and he stood there for a moment longer before stooping his massive frame through the entrance.  “I would advise against it.”

“Thanks for showing up,” Holger said brashly.  “Where you been, big boy?  Taking a nap?”

“I have been listening to the address from Administrator Valen.  What she conveyed in her message has me greatly concerned.”

“Why?  Because you’re worried your buddies from the Consortium are going to leave you stranded here?”

Lazarus came to a halt not far from Holger, and as he did, the other brawlers formed up behind their leader in a show of solidarity.

Lazarus tilted his head upward and slightly to the side and stood there thoughtfully, as if he were a hunter trying to pick up the scent of his prey on the breeze.

“Your breath is redolent of both dread and cowardice, brawler.  Your attempts to mask your misgivings through false bravado are utterly transparent.”

Holger took a step forward, sneering.  “I don’t know what the fuck that means, but it sounded like an insult.  You wanna do battle with me, Redman?”

“Battle?  A most inappropriate term.  I would
do battle with you no
more than I would with a rodent.  Extermination is a more appropriate descriptor of what I would do to–”

“All right,” Talia said scornfully, interjecting herself between the two of them and pushing them apart.  “Put your dicks away, gentlemen.  This isn’t getting us anywhere
.”

Holger made a sharp motion with his hand, pointing a finger threateningly at Lazarus with an almost comically antagonistic expression on his face, and the Redmen turned away, unconcerned.

“My apologies,” Lazarus said to Silvestri.  “That was unbecoming of me.”

“You were speaking about Valen,” Silvestri said.  “Please go on.”

“Knile speaks the truth in regards to
the motivation of the Consortium.  Profit is their god.  Their master.  It would not be beyond reason to expect that they may leave some of their own behind when they leave, those of lower station, if it would drain less from their coffers.”

“So you’re saying that they’re only going to take the most important personnel,” Iris said.  “Then they’ll pull out?”

“I do not know for certain.  I am merely suggesting that this may be the case.”

Talia’s seemed horrified by the implications of this.  “But that means they could be gone in…”  She trailed off.

“Your window for escape may well be days, not weeks,” Lazarus said.

Knile looked around the room at Iris, Yun, Remus, Aksel, Roman and the others, and saw the same deflated expression on each of their faces.  They looked lost, the hope that had glimmered in their hearts for so long extinguished by the morning’s revelations.

Silvestri seemed to be the exception.  As Knile’s eyes met his, he could see that there was still a fire burning therein.  He still believed.

“We can do it,” Silvestri said.  “It’s not over yet.”

“Look, it’s real nice that you’re trying to be the inspirational leader,” Holger said, “but let’s face–”

“We can still travel up the elevators, right?” Silvestri said, turning to Aksel.  He jabbed an index finger at him.  “We can still get to the Atrium. 
Right?
”

“Assuming they don’t completely change their system and lock me out, I can still do that part,” Aksel said.  “That hasn’t changed.”

“And after that we’re screwed,” Iris said.  “We can’t get through the Stormgates if they’ve revoked the passkey access.”

“Wrong!” Silvestri snapped.  He began to pace about energetically, as if he could barely contain himself.  “We’re not using passkeys.  Are we, Yun?”

Yun seemed to come out of his torpor, blinking his eyes rapidly.  “No, we’re not.”

“We’re using chips that are copies of those embedded in Redmen’s suits.  It doesn’t matter that they’ve locked down the passkeys.  We’re using a different method of access.”

“You’re right,” Knile said brightly.  “If we can get through the Stormgates, they’ll probably assume we have elevated privilege, that we’re part of the Consortium.”

“That is true,” Lazarus said.  “The Crimson Shield are not there to question those who pass through.  It is the Stormgates that determine who may proceed.”

“Exactly,” Silvestri said.  “And with that being the case, the plan should still remain the same.  Team Alpha goes through and plants the EMP, then Team Omega follows through behind.  We hit the Redmen from both sides and take control of the Wire.”

“One hitch,” Roman said.  “We don’t have those Redmen chips built yet.  How long is that going to take?”

Silvestri turned to Yun, who blanched.  “I guess I wouldn’t make myself popular by saying one to two weeks.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Silvestri said.  “Try one to two
days
.”

“What?” Yun gasped.  “Fair go, man.  No way.”

“Talia and I brought back the materials you required half an hour ago.  That’s everything you need, isn’t it?”

“It’s more complicated than that–”

“Are you ready to start production?”

“Yes, I’ve calibrated the fabricator.  It may take a few attempts to get it right, but I guess there’s nothing to stop us getting to work on them otherwise.”

“Do it,” Silvestri said.  “Take Knile, Aksel, or any other resources you need to get it done.  Those chips have to be our main priority now.  Once we–”

He stopped, noticing Talia had tuned out and was now walking slowly over toward one of the terminal screens that had been fixed to the wall.  Silvestri followed her gaze to see what had caught her attention.

“My god,” she said, her voice full of dread.  “Look at this.  That’s Gaslight, isn’t it?”

They all began to crowd around to get a better view of what was being depicted on the camera feed.  It was a marketplace that Knile remembered well; he’d bought chow sticks from one of the vendors there many times in the past, as well as a bitter and yet strangely addictive soy drink that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the Reach.

“Yeah, it’s Gaslight,” Knile said.  “That’s only a few levels above where we are now.”

They watched as shadowy figures streamed across the feed, emerging from the darkened corners and causing those around them to flee in terror.  Shopkeepers and vendors were mobilising into action, pulling down steel shutters on their doors and windows and packing up their carts as they attempted to protect their goods.

“Children of Earth?”  Iris said.  “
Again?
”

“No,” Talia said immediately.  She pointed at several of the figures, who had paused to discuss something not far from the camera.  “These don’t have the circles in their foreheads.”

They watched as a vendor, a plump man wearing a stained white apron, was dragged away from his cart by the mob.  They then set themselves upon his merchandise, stuffing items inside backpacks, shirts, or whatever else they had at their disposal, before moving onto the next target.

“They’re rioters,” Silvestri said.

“Seems like the calming words of Administrator Valen weren’t so calming after all,” Knile said drily.

“You might want to take a look at this, too,” Aksel said, staring up at another feed nearby.  He pointed to the screen.  “This is some bad shit.”

Together they moved across to see what Aksel had found.  Knile’s eyes fell upon an image of a street bathed in sunlight – obviously somewhere in Link – where people were running blindly in the same direction for some unknown reason, and then the feed flicked to another location, which Knile recognised immediately.

It was the wall that separated Link from the slums, and wild-eyed cretins from outside were pouring inward through the unmanned gates like a torrent.

“Look at that,” Talia said breathlessly.  “The Enforcers are already pulling out of Link.”

“And the slummers aren’t wasting any time getting inside,” Roman added.

“It’s beginning already,” Talia said, awestruck.

“What is?” Remus said.

“The end.”