Renaldo swallowed. “I used to think I’d be safe with the Warden, no matter what happened. That she’d protect me, because I was one of her most loyal followers. Now I’m not so sure.”
Those words hurt, and Rhea bit down an angry response, saying instead: “I will protect you.”
“I know you plan to,” Renaldo told her. “And that you’ll do your darnedest to protect us all. But like Chuck said, I also know you’re not infallible now, and though you might try to save me, you could fail, despite your best intentions.”
“One of the drawbacks of hanging with your hero overlong,” Chuck repeated.
“But you already should have known I wasn’t infallible,” Rhea said. “All of you saw me fall to the bioweapons in Rust Town. It was live streamed across the world. I failed then.”
“Not really,” Renaldo said. “Because you rallied us all to fight back. You succeeded. And no one really believed you could actually die. Especially considering how quick your recovery was. Sure, we had to pay for a new body, but your mind, your beautiful mind… I don’t know. I guess I thought your mind would always survive, no matter what happened. Protected by your cyborg body.”
“You wanted to know what the real Warden was like,” Will said over his shoulder. “Well, now you know. Ignorance is bliss, huh? Welcome to the inner circle. There’s no going back from this. She’s human, just like the rest of you. A legend, perhaps, yet human all the same. And she can die like anyone else.”
“I suppose so,” Chuck said. “Actually, I’m glad I could see this side of her. The human side. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. And I have no regrets about getting to know you as well, Salvager, along with your robot Horatio. It’s been the experience of a lifetime. I have no regrets. If I die here, I’ll still feel I’ve lived fully. I wanted you to know that. All of you. Going down, fighting side-by-side with the famous Warden of Rust Town and her stalwart companions? Can’t do any better than that.”
“Is that your way of apologizing for your earlier attitude?” Will asked.
“I suppose it is,” Chuck replied.
“Well, I’m sorry for saying I might accidentally shoot you in the back,” Will said. “I’d never do that. You can ask Rhea—the Warden—here. I’m not like that.”
“He’s not,” Rhea agreed. “He’s saved me more times than I can count. I wouldn’t be here, if it wasn’t for him.”
“No, I believe him,” Chuck said.
“Just to clarify,” Horatio said into the silence that followed. “I’m not ‘his’ robot. I’m ‘a’ robot. I operate of my own free will. Will is my friend, not my master.”
“Sure thing, Faceless,” Chuck said.
Again, quietude descended, and the occupants stared tensely into the dark of the parking garage. They waited for bioweapons to appear on the LIDAR.
“Should’ve brought along some portable adhoc cams,” Will said. “So we could have eyes around the bend.”
“It wouldn’t make much of a difference…” Horatio said.
“Do you think Miles made it?” Renaldo blurted.
Rhea glanced over her shoulder at the Wardenite’s blue silhouette. “He made it. His entire team did. Without a doubt.”
The semis had secretly carried several vehicles stowed inside their tanks. Essentially mini tankers, these vehicles had debarked upon reaching the pipeline, using the canopy draped between the tractor trailers and the pipeline for cover.
While the larger tankers loaded water, the smaller vehicles filled their own reservoirs. When they had all topped up, they took advantage of an inherent design flaw in the transport system—the pipeline had been elevated off the ground by the architects in order to protect it from attack by bioweapons. So, when Rhea and her companions departed, the remaining Wardenites, led by Miles, simply steered their smaller vehicles underneath that gap between the pipeline and the ground, and retreated.
The maneuver effectively hid Miles and his team from view of the satellites in orbit. In theory, they’d be able to travel all the way to Rust Town undetected, simply by following the pipeline. There were motion sensors installed underneath the pipes, but the Wardenites, via their city contacts, had bribed a few employees at the monitoring station to look the other way. Hopefully, those employees lived up to their word.
When Miles and his team reached the walls of Aradne, the vehicles would swerve out from beneath their cover and into the ruins surrounding the wall, and then make their final dash to Rust Town in the open. Hackers from the slums were working on bypassing Aradne’s external camera feeds, and hopefully they’d be done by the time Miles arrived so his final lap could be hidden from the authorities.
However even if the cameras remained operational, and the security forces scrambled, likely more than a few of the water transports would make it to Rust Town intact. Especially considering that the Wardenites planned a riot to coincide with the arrival of the vehicles. That, and much of Aradne security was currently deployed above Rhea’s present location.
Once inside the settlement, the transports would quickly be hidden; then water would be doled out to the neediest residents in the coming week. It was a relatively simple plan. And it would work.
“So at least we’re not going to die for nothing then,” Renaldo said. “Though I just wish our deaths would buy Rust Town more than a week’s worth of water.”
“You’re not going to die,” she told him. “You said you felt safe with me? You are safe. I’ll never let anyone harm you.”
Renaldo nodded slowly. “But when you talked about failing in Rust Town, you reminded me that you couldn’t save everyone in the slums when the bioweapons attacked. You tried, but you’re not a superhero.”
“No,” she agreed. “I’m not. Far from it. Of course I couldn’t save everyone in the slums. But we’re not in the slums right now, and I don’t have an entire settlement to protect. Just three men, and a robot.”
“I can protect myself,” Horatio said.
“And
