Her mouth went dry. She hadn’t thought about that. Part of her hadn’t been sure they’d make it this far. Now that she was here, she had to say something. She had to persuade everybody.
“When you do this, I’m going to cut all the PPC’s programming that’s being transmitted out. So when you’re talking, you’ll be the only thing these people see or hear.”
She swallowed. No pressure.
He glanced at his display. “Okay. It’s locked on to the frequency. You ready?”
“Not really.” Maybe the Rovers could access the PPC’s programming. Maybe they’d hear her. Maybe they’d start on a solution even if she didn’t make it to them in person.
“In three, two, one . . . you’re on.”
H124 stared straight into the imager’s eye. She was frozen. She swallowed again, then began, “Please listen carefully to what I’m about to say.” She felt her stomach churn. “Disaster is about to strike us all. Right now, an immense asteroid, a nine-kilometer rock in space, is on a collision course with our planet, along with several fragments. The first will strike the earth in less than two months, followed by two more. The main asteroid will collide with us in just over a year. If anyone knows a way to stop this from happening, I urge you to do all that you can. If you don’t know how to stop it, it’s imperative that you seek cover. Go underground and stay there. Bring supplies.”
Rowan held up his hand, then entered some commands on his PRD. “Frequency’s changing again. Hold on a sec.” While he fiddled with it, she gazed out over the city. It sprawled endlessly, toward every horizon, a sea of concrete and steel and glass and lights. Suddenly, in the far distance, some of those lights went out. Then more blinked on the other side of the city, and fell into darkness. She watched as block after block went out. “Okay,” Rowan called out. “You’re on again.”
She stared into the imager again. She felt braver now. “The following images were recorded after smaller chunks of the asteroid broke off and crashed into the earth.” She pointed at Rowan. He played the video of Chicago’s devastation. People screamed, fires raged, and buildings fell. Everything came crashing down.
When it was over, he pointed back at her. “You’re on,” he mouthed.
She stared into the camera. “The pieces that are going to hit this time are far bigger than the ones you just saw. And the primary asteroid will cause a global catastrophe. Life as we know it will come to an end. This isn’t a stunt, this isn’t fiction. This is really happening, and if you want to live, you’ve got to act. And again, if anyone can prevent this, please, for all of our sakes, know that the fate of the world rests in your hands.” She went silent. All around the PPC tower the city plummeted into darkness. Rowan mouthed, “Are you done?”
She nodded. He cut the transmission and took her hand. “That was great. Now we have to get the hell out of here.” He pointed to the darkened streets below. “See all that? All those lights that just went out? You got people’s attention.”
She followed him back down the catwalk. “How do you know?”
“Jacked-in people, the ones you just talked to, keep up the infrastructure of the city. They don’t know it, but they do. To keep their entertainment going twenty-four-seven, they enter a series of commands into windows in their consoles.”
She thought back to what Willoughby had said about this, then remembered the floating console she’d seen in that living pod when she went to take care of her last corpse. She’d seen the man entering commands into the window.
“All those lights going out? That was them listening to you. They stopped typing in commands. The PPC doesn’t like distractions. They keep the masses tuned in to what they want them to watch, the games they create, the shows they make. In return, each citizen performs a task that keeps the city running. They regulate water, gas, electricity . . . everything. Right now, I guarantee you some pressure valve didn’t get released, and water is spewing all over the place. But . . . the important thing is that they listened.”
She agreed. Taking his hand, she got them back through the door, grateful to be out of the howling wind. She could hear him a lot better as he said, “I wonder what the scuttlebutt is on the inside PPC channel.” They started down the stairs, and he checked his PRD. “Thanks to that device I picked up in New Atlantic, we can eavesdrop for the first time.” He started reading, then froze.
She stared at him. “What is it?”
“They’re on to us all right. The soldiers are moving to surround us.”
“Let’s go!” She took his hand again, and they dashed down the stairs.
Chapter 21
They tore down the stairs, using the railing at the landings to careen around the corners. H124’s legs had forgotten their exhaustion. Above them she heard soldiers filing into the stairwell. “Down there!” one of them yelled, and her blood froze.
They raced to the next landing, where she jolted to a halt as she heard soldiers entering the stairwell below. Rowan stopped too.
She stared up. The soldiers were descending. She thought of exiting at the current level, making for the maintenance elevator, and going down. But the soldiers could easily cut the power, and then they’d be trapped.
Rowan reached into his bag and pulled out a coiled rope. “We’ll have to take the fast way down.” He quickly secured it to the railing, tested the knot, then pulled out a pair of gloves. He handed them to her, and she put them on. Then he tore a
