The Darwin Elevator (23 page)

“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.

“Will we have enough juice to get home?” she asked, voicing their greatest fear. It’d be one thing to go down fighting, another thing altogether to get stranded out in the Clear.

“Gonna be tight, I think,” Skyler said. “You have this under control?”

She nodded, eyes glued to the hall beyond her barricade.

“I’ll head back down then. Retreat to the basement if things get interesting.”

“What about Jake?”

“Remind me to keep him on our side.” With that, Skyler turned and ran to the subbasement.

He followed the same path they took earlier and found Tania right where he’d left her.

“Did you reach Angus?”

“He’ll give us thirty minutes, all the energy we can spare.”

Tania studied the screen. The readout indicated thirty-eight minutes left. “I need more time,” she said.

“No choice, sorry. We stay any longer, we won’t get home.”

Tania searched his eyes. “I hope it’s enough, then.”

Skyler pulled a folded duffel bag from a pant pocket. “Going to scavenge a bit, won’t be far.”

Despite concern in her beautiful face, she managed a single, stiff nod.

Skyler moved through the computer room. From some of the cabinets near the back, which lacked power, he disconnected every cable he could find and tossed them in the bag. Spare parts always found a buyer.

From the front of the racks, he yanked out any removable component. Charred power leads marred some, but he bagged them all regardless of condition. Takai could sort them out.

Next he went to the power junctions along the sidewall. He kept his distance from the one that still seemed to be functional, not wanting to disrupt Tania’s work. From the others he removed circuit breakers and three large wiring harnesses.

Satisfied, he slung the heavy bag over his left shoulder and slipped the strap over his head, letting the strap run diagonally across his chest. He returned to Tania.

“You don’t fool around,” she said.

He turned so she could see just how full the duffel was. “Pays my crew.”

Tania frowned. “It does a lot more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The work you do, people like you, it’s the only reason anyone can survive in orbit.”

In almost five years of scavenging, Skyler rarely went a week without someone offering thanks, praise, or a compliment. Even something simple, like a new bicycle chain, could make all the difference for someone trapped in the Aura. Every person who claimed the world would end without scavengers just added to the pressure.

Tania’s words cracked that barricade. She meant it with total sincerity, and Skyler knew in that moment that all of his work had been for her, and those like her. People striving to do more in the world than just survive. People who kept hope alive for a better future.

He found it impossible to articulate any of this, so he looked away and mumbled his usual response. “No offense, but we don’t do this for the greater good. It pays—well, sometimes—and keeps me and my crew fed and sheltered, which is more than most—”

Gunfire rang out, somewhere above their heads. Not the sniper rifle, with its loud single cracks, but the booms of a shotgun.

“Sam’s in trouble,” Skyler said. He checked his watch. “Ten minutes still. Son of a bitch.”

“Go help her,” Tania said. Her fearful tone contradicted her words. She was shaking.

He grabbed her by her upper arms. “Eight minutes, no more. Got it?”

She nodded.

“Can you find your way back to the stairs?”

Again she nodded.

“Deep breath, Tania. They won’t get past us, I promise.”

She drew a long breath and let it out slowly.

He gave her wrist a squeeze, using the opportunity to glance at the gauges mounted on her suit. The air level read just above half. Satisfied, Skyler ran for the stairs.

At the door he almost ran into her.

She backed up, and they stood side by side in the doorway at the bottom of the steps. Six bodies had already piled up on the stairs, with a fresh one just tumbling to a stop halfway up.

“Better position behind us,” Skyler said. “This is too close.”

“Lead on,” Samantha said.

He closed the door to the stairwell—a nearly useless gesture since it didn’t have a lock—and retreated to the data vault entry door with the shoulder-high window. Skyler slammed the door behind them, and with the butt of his rifle he smashed the glass.

Flipping the gun around, he pointed it through the space the glass had occupied, and waited.

Sam reloaded her weapon at the same time. “These fuckers are really far gone, Skyler. Never seen them so aggressive.”

“And in such a large group. I don’t get it.”

The door to the stairwell burst open and Skyler answered with a spray of bullets. With the awkward angle, aim was out of the question, so he fired for effect.

Another of the creatures dropped, skidding to a sickening halt, blood spilling from wounds on its chest and legs.

“I’m low on ammo,” Samantha said.

Skyler fired again, a short burst. “We’re going to be trapped in here.”

“Where’s the map?”

Skyler looked down at his jacket. “Inside pocket!” he shouted, over the crackling sound of his gun. Samantha reached and took it.

“Go get Tania,” Skyler said. “I’ll hold them off.”

“We can both go. Look, below the computer room. There’s a subbasement marked ‘Shipping and Receiving.’ A ramp leads out of it, back up to the surface.”

She set the map against the door. Skyler studied it and let off another burst from the rifle without even looking. Sure enough, a sloped road led from the subterranean loading dock to a parking lot some fifty meters distant. “We’d be far from Jake, and outdoors,” he said.

“Yeah, but all the subs will be in here. We can come back through the trees, to the rear of the building.”

He fired again through the window. A wild yelp of pain came from the diseased human sprinting toward the door. It fell in a heap.

“You’re assuming there’s a way through the floor.”

“I’ll make one if I have to. Beats the hell out of this.”

Skyler led the way, moving as fast as his legs would carry him. Behind, they heard the snarls and growls of subhumans trying to open the windowed door.

They found Tania in the data center, already packing up her equipment.

“You get it all?” Skyler asked.

She shook her head. “Eighty percent. It will have to do.”

Samantha turned the map in her hands, getting oriented. “Over here, I think.” They followed her to the back wall of the room. Samantha opened a door, which displayed an assortment of warning signs related to electricity.

“We’re fucked,” she said. The room inside the door was barely a meter deep and contained some sort of electrical junction, which filled the entire space.

“Down there,” Tania said, pointing at the floor. Conduits from the equipment disappeared through large panels, set into the floor like tiles. Skyler crouched and, with Samantha’s help, tried to dislodge one of them, but there was no gap to insert their fingers.