She looks at him incredulously. “You mean to say you don’t know?”
“Don’t you?”
“No,” she says. “I don’t.”
“Why’s that?”
“Oh you bastard,” she says. “You fucking bastard.”
“I’m not sure I follow, Claire.”
“Then follow this, asshole. I’ve been drugged. Someone got to me. Someone fucked with me. And I’m thinking that someone’s you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’re the one who’s standing there laughing.”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?”
“You look like you’re fucking with me.”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose orders?”
“Whose would you think?”
“I was thinking the Throne. But that was before …” Her voice trails off.
“Before what, Claire?”
“Before you started asking me whether anyone had been here before you.”
“Don’t you think the Throne would want to know that?” he asks.
“I would think the Throne would be aware of that already.”
“I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask,” he says.
“Well, the answer is, I’ve no idea.”
He looks around. He seems to be scanning the rest of the room now. He turns back toward her, frowns.
“In any case, you’re right. The Throne ordered you placed here.”
“Here being where?” she asks again.
“This ship. We’re eight hours out from moonfall.”
“We’re going to the
“Why so surprised? You’ve been sent this way before.”
“But we never made it that time.”
“This time you will. We’re almost there. We left Earth a day and a half ago.”
“But why the hell are we going in the first place?”
“The same reason you’re confined within this room.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will in a moment.”
The city center rises to the very ceiling of the dome. Most of it is off-limits to anyone lacking the proper credentials. Lynx and Linehan are showing what they’ve got to one of the innermost checkpoints. Guards wave them through.
“That was easy,” says Linehan.
“That was just the warm-up,” says Lynx.
He’s nosing the truck up a ramp that’s about ten stories off the ground. Congreve sprawls below. Platforms and elevators are all around. They’re in the outer sectors of the city’s citadel. There’s a lot of construction going on. A nice chunk of dirty fission released right here would blow the whole thing clean to hell, taking them down with it. Something that Linehan’s all too aware of. He can virtually feel the blast ripping him apart already. He wonders if that’s what people mean by premonition.
“We’re getting into the thick of it,” he says.
“Don’t think I don’t know it,” replies Lynx.
They brake, dump the ore onto a conveyor belt, watch as the belt takes their cargo around a corner and out of sight. Ostensibly there’s no further purpose for them here. Another truck gets in behind them, starts honking.
“Let’s get out of here,” says Linehan.
“Maybe,” says Lynx.
He eases the truck along, starts heading down another ramp. Razorwire extrudes from his bionic fingers, slides into the instrument panel. The truck’s engines splutter. They’re still running, but only barely.
“Oh dear,” says Lynx.
“Don’t think I didn’t see that.”
“Doesn’t matter what
“What the hell’s going on?”
“Breakdown.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Don’t know.”
“Hold on,” says the suit—he steps off the platform, drops away. Linehan and Lynx watch him disappear.
“So we just wait here?” asks Linehan.
“No,” says Lynx. “We walk.”
“Sorry?”
“You heard me. Get out of the cab.”
Linehan hops out. Looks around.
“Isn’t he gonna be back any moment?”
“Probably. But we’ve got orders.”
“What?”
“Let’s
They proceed to the side of the ramp and hop down to the one immediately below. It leads beneath a ceiling overhang, ends in a door. Linehan glances around.
Because according to the zone they do. Lynx reaches out to the panel adjacent to the door, keys in access codes. The door slides open. He and Linehan enter and the door shuts behind them. They’re standing in an elevator, which starts to rise.
“What about the truck?” asks Linehan.
“What about it?”
“We’re just leaving it there?”
“Does it look like it’d fit in here?”
“What’s the suit gonna think when he gets back to find us gone?”
“He’ll think whatever he’s told.”
“And what’s he being told?”
“That we got ordered to get the hell off the premises.”
“And the cameras at the exit? What are they gonna show?”
“Nothing. Hate to break it to you, Linehan, but we don’t exist anymore.”
“You mean we’ve exchanged one false set of pretenses for another.”
“Linehan, nothing the zone says is
The elevator doors open. They walk out and find themselves in a different part of the base. This section looks pretty complete. They go through another door, find themselves in the midst of a lot of activity. Power-suited soldiers are everywhere. So are workers.
