He met H124’s gaze again. With a brisk smile he moved past her, and she felt that familiar buzz of electricity. He pulled out the same device she’d seen him steal in New Atlantic. He approached one of the servers and opened a panel. Gently he pulled out one of the control crystals and slid the device in behind it. Then he replaced everything and stood back. “That should be it.” Rowan pulled out his modified PRD and took it out of hibernation mode. A stream of data flowed over the display. He grinned. “It’s working! We’re patched in to their communication.”
Dirk looked over his shoulder. “Won’t they find the device?”
“Not if they don’t know to look for it. It’s untraceable.” He glanced once more at his display. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”
After leaving the room, H124 took out her multitool and fixed the door, bringing the lock back online and leaving the door just as they’d found it.
“Did you come in through the tunnels?” Rowan asked.
Dirk nodded.
“Let’s hurry back there,” Rowan decided, taking the lead.
H124 stopped. “Wait. I can’t leave. I’ve got to get out my message.” She turned to Byron. “Please. Help me.”
Rowan approached her. “Is this about the asteroid? You want to warn people?”
“I’ve got to.”
Rowan looked thoughtful. “This would be your only chance to do it, I suppose.” Rowan turned to the others. “Byron, get them out. We’ll join you back at Rocky Basin Camp.” He turned to H124. “You guys arrived in the solar-powered car?”
“Yes.”
“I left my car right next to it. I assume that’s a new find?”
H124 crossed her arms. “That’s one way to put it. They stole it from me.”
Rowan turned to Byron. “Just leave us a car. You get the hell out of here. I’ll see to this.”
Byron hesitated. “No. I’ll go with her. We can’t risk losing you. You know this tech better than anyone.”
Rowan shook his head. “We can’t risk losing anyone. Just go!”
They all hurried to the stairwell, but Rowan took her hand and started up instead of down. “We have to patch into the antenna manually. Unfortunately, that means going up,” he told her, giving her hand a squeeze.
Byron and the others started down. Then Byron paused on the stairs and looked up at her. “You going to be okay?”
She met his eyes. “No one can stop me now.”
He smiled. “I admire your resolve.” He ran back to her and handed her Willoughby’s PRD. “Just in case you need it.” He glanced at Rowan. “You watch after her, or I’ll kick your ass.” With a smack on Rowan’s arm he returned to the others and raced down the stairs.
When she looked back at Rowan, he had a puzzled expression. “What was that all about?”
“Might feel guilty for kidnapping me.”
“That must be it,” he said with a sly smile. “Guilt.” He started up the stairs with her. “You don’t get out much, do you?”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
As they rushed upward, her legs felt as if they’d give out at any second. Her feet were starting to numb, and all her muscles quivered. But she thought of getting the word out, of saving lives, and it was enough to make one foot follow the other.
They went up ten more floors, where he came to a halt outside another stairwell door. She opened it quickly, and they slipped inside a hallway. It was empty, with only the humming of distant machinery to be heard. “This is about as high as you can go in this building. The antenna’s above us. I hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
He pointed to another TWR next to an iron door. She opened it, gasping as the door slid open to admit a draught of fresh air and a stunning view. The city stretched out beneath them, little specks of buildings reaching as far as she could see. Millions of lights twinkled below.
“Will they catch us up here?” she asked.
“We choose Delta City for our pirate broadcasts because the PPC troopers are stretched too thin here. It isn’t as protected as New Atlantic.”
Rowan stepped out onto a narrow metal walkway. The wind whipped around him, tossing his hair. She joined him, looking down. She was instantly dizzy. She’d never been this high up. She could see the roofs of skyscrapers far, far below. And overhead, she could see the curve of the shimmering atmospheric shield.
All about the tops of the buildings she saw green gardens. She pointed to one. “What are those?”
“It’s where the media elite grow their food.”
She thought of the giant food-producing warehouses in New Atlantic. She’d even peered inside them a few times. They used plants that were grown there to make the food cubes that fed the citizens. But it was nothing compared to the gardens she looked out on now. “So many!”
“Still not enough to feed all the people in the streets.” He pointed ahead. “The antenna’s over here.” He walked along the platform, and she noticed she could see right through the holes in the grating, down thousands of feet below. She forced herself to look up.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and shouted over the wind. “It’s a bit overwhelming the first time!”
“Yeah!” she managed to say. “A bit!”
They followed the walkway around a corner, and the antenna came into view. It was a massive protrusion sitting at the very top of the building. She craned her neck but couldn’t see its peak.
He pulled out his PRD, entered a few commands, and held it up next to the base of the antenna. The wind whipped around, forcing his hand to waver. “This’ll take a few minutes. It has to lock on to the right frequency. They change it constantly, and it’ll probably switch up a few times as you get out your message.”
She got out Willoughby’s PRD and pulled up the videos she’d recorded, showcasing the damage wrought by the asteroid’s smaller chunks. “Can we sync this to your PRD and patch in these images?”
He
