by P. T. Hylton
“Other remote locations, then?” Stearns asked.
There was a long pause. CB had been holding back until now, not wanting to overstep, but he decided, what the hell. “That’s exactly the problem. We know what areas were sparsely populated one hundred fifty years ago, but not now. I once ran a mission to the Australian outback for some satellite equipment. Supposedly, extremely low populations back in the day, but I saw one of the largest hordes of my life there. Vampires are unpredictable, and they like to roam. Point is, wherever we land, we’re taking a risk.”
Rising despair filled the faces staring back at CB when he finished.
“Other options?” Stearns said.
Horace leaned forward and stretched his beard. “What about lightening the load up here? Could we extend the thirty days if we dumped all nonessential items?”
All eyes turned to Jessica.
“Possibly. Especially if some departments cut down on energy consumption.” She stared pointedly at Williams.
“We can cut back a little, but I’m not putting the crops at risk,” Williams said. “We run out of food, we’re just as dead as if the vampires get us.”
“Fair point,” Stearns said. “All the same, do what you can to reduce energy usage. That goes for everyone here. The Council will begin looking into the matter of reducing weight. We’ll get rid of as much as we can. Jessica, you and your team start looking for old reactors on the surface that might fit the bill for what we need. Horace, you and your team scout for possible landing locations, just in case.”
“Can I ask a question, sir?” It was Kurtz. This was the first time he’d spoken in this meeting, and his rich baritone voice echoed in the room. “How much are you going to tell the people?”
That question clearly caught Stearns off guard. “As little as we can. We don’t want to cause a panic.”
“The people aren’t stupid, Councilman,” General Craig said. “They know there was a large fire in Engineering. If we start taking measures to lighten the ship, they’re going to know something’s up.”
“Then we’ll deal with it,” Stearns said. “We only need thirty days, for better or worse.”
There was another long pause, and then Jessica said, “Due respect, but is now the best time to be keeping secrets? Trust for the Council is at an all-time low, and my department was just attacked to force our hand.”
“We don’t know that!” Stearns snapped. “It may have been a simple accident.”
“That’s hardly likely,” Jessica said.
CB exchanged a glance with the general. Clearly, Stearns didn’t want to admit the seriousness of this situation.
The general turned to Stearns. “Councilman, our badges are stretched to the breaking point already. If the tension grows any more, these protests are going to turn into serious riots. If that happens, we may not have to worry about the ship landing in thirty days. The people will take the controls and land the damn thing themselves.”
Stearns shook his head. “That’s a little dramatic, General. I expected a cooler head from you, of all people.” He turned to the other Council members. “Here’s what I propose. We put as many resources as we can into helping Jessica find her replacement parts. Overtime, extra people, whatever it takes. Meantime, we’ll meet tonight to discuss the weight situation. Let’s get Haven as light as we can and keep her afloat. All in agreement?”
The other Council members voiced their approval.
“Good. Thank you, everyone. We’re adjourned.”
As people began to file out, CB leaned in and whispered to General Craig and Kurtz. “Jesus, I knew the Council was clueless, but this situation is going real bad real quick.”
“Tell me about it,” Kurtz said. “My guys are gonna take a serious beating from the crowds tonight. I’ll be lucky if they don’t walk out on me. What do we do, General?”
Craig grimaced. “We do what we always do. We follow orders and try our damnedest to get the job done. And CB? If Bowen locates replacement parts, we sure as hell better get them back here.”
General Craig was almost to the door when Councilman Stearns called to him. He let the rest of the people move past him to the exit, then made his way to the councilman.
“There’s something else I need you to do,” Stearns said. “Do you have people you trust in your department?”
“Of course, sir.”
Councilman Stearns appeared to think for a long moment before continuing. The general waited him out.
“I need you to find proof that Fleming and his people were behind the fire.”
Craig nodded. “Kurtz’s pretty short-staffed, but I’m sure he can find someone.”
“No,” Stearns said. “Don’t just farm this out to any old badge. There’s a reason I didn’t bring this up in front of everyone. I’m not sure who I can trust. Aside from you.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“We go way back. If you were going to betray me, you would have done it by now.”
“You think Fleming has ears at this level?”
The councilman sighed. “Honestly? I don’t. But he found out about the Daylights, didn’t he?”
“He certainly did.” The general was loath to admit it, but he didn’t want Stearns going on a witch-hunt over the Daylights. CB had told the general an assistant in R&D was involved, but the general hadn’t had time to look into it any more deeply yet.
“It’s not just that. Fleming has seemed one step ahead of me for months. He’s got a lot of supporters, and some of them are smart enough not to wear his colors on their sleeves.”
“I understand, sir. We can trust Kurtz and CB. I’ll talk to them and see who they recommend.”
“Good. And when we do find proof, are you willing to do what’s necessary?”
The look in Stearns’s eye told Craig there was weight behind this question. “What are you asking me, sir?”
“I think you know. If this cult of personality keeps gaining steam, we’ll have to take measures to stop it. I believe that eliminating Fleming and a few of his highest-profile supporters could end this thing.”
Craig put a hand on the table to steady himself. During the meeting, he’d thought Stearns clueless to the dangers they were facing. That hadn’t been true, he now realized. Stearns was just downplaying it for the room. “Eliminating political rivals? That’s like something out of the old stories from the surface days.”
“This isn’t about politics. This is about the survival of our species. Fleming has no idea what it’s really like down there. The vampires are theoretical to him, just a problem to be overcome. I’ll ask again. When we have proof, will you do what needs to be done?”
General Craig was surprised at how quickly and easily the words came to his lips. “Yes, sir, I will.”
18
Two days later, the Ground Mission Team gathered in their briefing room.
Alex had been out at the library when she’d gotten the radio call letting her know about the meeting, and she’d had to race back to her quarters, rinse off in the shower for two minutes, and quickly throw on some clothes to get there in time. She was still the last to arrive. When she got there, CB, the general, and the entire GMT team were seated around the table. Jessica Bowen from Engineering and Brian McElroy were there, too.
Alex tried to enter as inconspicuously as possible. She slipped through the doorway and crept to her seat, but CB decided to call her out.
“Ah, our little princess has decided to grace us with her presence.”
The GMT laughed. Jessica was busy flipping through some papers and didn’t seem to catch the joke, but Brian looked wildly uncomfortable. He looked at Alex with wide eyes, as if he was both surprised and disappointed to see her.
He was probably still pissed about her stealing the Daylights, she realized. They hadn’t talked since it happened. She silently cursed herself for not apologizing to him at some point over the past two days, but honestly, it hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“Sorry, sir,”
she said as she slid into her seat.
She’d only seen CB once since the fire in Engineering. He’d called the team together the day before to brief them on the status of the reactor. He’d sworn them to secrecy and told them to prepare for the possibility of being asked to help with crowd control at the protests, being sent on another ground mission, or both. The fact that Jessica was here made Alex think it was probably a ground mission, which was way better than crowd control.
CB hadn’t mentioned the Daylights incident to Alex since the fire, and she was all too happy to let it be swept under the rug. In revealing the status of the reactor and asking them to keep it secret, he’d shown that he still trusted her. She silently vowed to live up to that trust. She just hoped her teammates would forgive her as quickly.
The general turned to Jessica. “Director Bowen, whenever you’re ready.”
Jessica nodded, then activated an overhead projector. The image on the screen was an aerial view of a heavily forested area with some large, ugly structures jutting out of the trees.
“This is Bay City, Texas. Or it was, back in the pre-vamp days. Today, it’s home to lots of abandoned structures, including a pair of nuclear reactors. Records are pretty shoddy, but we do know this was among the last parts of North America to fall to the vampires. That gives us reason to believe the reactors were likely shut down properly. Which means the parts should still work.”
“Should or will?” Simmons asked.
Jessica met his skeptical gaze. “Should. There are no guarantees here, but this is the best shot we have.”
“Texas is North America,” Brian said. “It’s winter in the northern hemisphere, so that means shorter days.”
The team grumbled at that.
“How long will we have?” CB asked.
“There’s only about ten hours of daylight there. By the time you factor in flying the away ship to the location, it’ll be more like nine.”
“And I’m guessing the control panel we need isn’t sitting next to the front door.”
“No, it is not,” Jessica said. “I imagine you’ll need to make your way deep into the facility.”
“Thanks, Director Bowen,” CB said. He turned to the team. “Let’s talk logistics.”
Alex settled in. This was going to be a long meeting.
After the briefing, Brian pulled CB aside. The captain was surprised at the fire in the usually meek man’s eyes.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“A lot. You’re going to have to narrow that down.”
For the briefest of moments, CB thought Brian was going to hit him. It wouldn’t have gone well for the young scientist, but CB would have respected the effort.
“I’m talking about Alex. What the hell is she still doing here?”
CB grabbed hold of Brian’s arm and pulled him toward the corner where they’d be less likely to be heard. “Listen, I understand why you’re upset, but we need her on the team right now.”
“Does the Council even know about what she did?”
“No, and I’d appreciate it if we kept it that way.”
“I’ll bet you would.” Brian was three inches taller than CB, and he glared down at him.
“Watch yourself, Mr. McElroy.” CB had never seen this side of Brian before, and he kind of liked it. Still, he couldn’t have this guy talking back to him.
Brian backed up just a hair, then slouched into his usual stance.
CB hadn’t told the general or the Council about Alex’s role in the theft of the Daylights. As far as they knew, Sarah had acted alone. Maybe if it hadn’t been for the fire, they would have seen through that. After all, why would Sarah hide the Daylights under the seats on the away ship unless someone on the mission knew they were there? As crazy as everything was, no one had thought to look for an accomplice. Not yet, anyway.
Sarah hadn’t returned to the R&D lab since the night she and Alex took the Daylights.
“So that’s how it is?” Brian asked. “Alex gets to carry on like nothing happened while Sarah is hunted by the police?”
“Don’t be so dramatic, kid. I didn’t say Alex is going to get away with it. I just said we’re not turning her in right now. Let’s make sure life can continue on New Haven first. Then we’ll deal with her.”
Alex marched into the hangar and saw the team’s gear carefully arranged on six tables for their inspection. The R&D team would later collect this gear, give it a final check, and set it up in their lockers for easy load out in the morning, but CB insisted that each GMT member carefully go over the equipment themselves first.
He’d often told the team, “Don’t trust an egghead to check your gear. Hell, don’t trust me. In the end, your equipment is your responsibility, and if a vampire gets you because there was a hole in the neck of your silver mail suit, that’s on you.”
Alex made her way to her table and began looking over her equipment. The silver mail suit was laid out in the middle of the table. The guns were arranged to the left. Alex started on the right side, at her favorite item, the sword.
The last time she’d seen this beauty, it had been covered in black goo and severely nicked. Now, it looked perfect. As she was inspecting the sword, she noticed Owl out of the corner of her eye. The woman stomped up to her table and snatched her silver mail suit.
“You okay?” Alex asked.
Owl gave her a long look, as if trying to decide whether to speak to her. “Far from it, actually.”
“You pissed at me, too?”
“Yes.” She began inspecting her silver mail suit, looking over it closely, going inch by inch. “But not just you. This whole damn city. Everything going on out there, it’s like people have forgotten how to be decent to each other. We’re the last of our species, right? Maybe we should treat each other with respect.”
“Damn right.” Simmons was at the table on the other side of Owl, cleaning his disassembled rifle. “Politics is one thing, but this is survival. We gotta keep New Haven afloat. We can all agree on that.”
Firefly had been watching the conversation, and apparently decided he’d had enough. “Come down off your moral high ground and take a look at the real world, Simmons. You call it politics, like it’s some game, but this affects people’s lives, man. The Council betrayed the will of the people, and there’s no getting around that.”
“It’s not that simple,” Simmons said. “I’m talking about the fate of humanity.”
“So am I!” Firefly strode toward Simmons. “You want humanity to survive long-term? We ain’t gonna be able to hide up here forever. We want to survive, then vampires have to go. All of them.”
Simmons stepped right up to Firefly. Their faces were mere inches away from each other now. “You’re missing the point. I’m not talking about long-term. You want to take back the Earth? Okay, fine, but we also have to survive now. And that means fixing the ship.”
“Sure, let’s delay Resettlement until the ship’s fixed. After that, they’ll come up with another reason it’s not the right time. And another after that. And so on, until our grandkids are looking for their own excuses why Resettlement can’t happen.”
Alex had had enough of this. She swung her sword overhead and brought it down exactly between Simmons and Firefly, stopping it between their noses. “This isn’t the men’s room; you can have your pissing contest later. For now, we have work to do, yeah?”
Simmons glared at Firefly for another moment, then turned back to his rifle. “She’s right. CB will be back soon. We’d better finish up here.”
Firefly shook his head at Alex. “I thought you of all people would have my back on Resettlement after what you did.”
Alex ignored the comment. As she was turning back to her equipment, she saw Brian marching purposefully across the hangar. She put down her sword and ran to meet him.
“Hey, Brian, hold up.”
He stopped and waited but didn’t look at her.
“Listen, I just wanted to apologize about the Dayligh
ts. That was way—”
Brian held up a hand to stop her. “Honestly, I don’t want to hear it.”
She blinked hard, taken aback.
“You want to apologize because you feel bad,” he said. “I’m not interested in helping you feel better. You betrayed us, Alex. You betrayed the Council.” He stopped there, but the sentiment was written all over his face. She’d betrayed him.
“I know I did. And I was wrong. That’s why I’m apologizing.”
He let out a sardonic chuckle. “You just keep getting away with everything, don’t you? That won’t last forever. It’ll catch up with you, Alex. I guarantee it.”
“Brian, it was a stupid move, and I should have realized—”
He turned and walked away before she could finish.
19
Daniel Fleming and Sarah were in Fleming’s new private quarters hidden away in the depths of Sparrow’s Ridge. They were hunched over a table, as they were all too often these days. This time, they were working together on a statement that Fleming was planning to give to his supporters the following day.
It had been three days since Sarah helped Alex plant the Daylights on the away ship. Three days since she’d left the life she’d known and gone on the run. She’d loved her job and her coworkers—especially Brian, as goofy as he was—and she’d been proud to be part of the Ground Mission Team’s support unit. It was an important job, and she felt like she’d made a real difference there.
Now she was marked a traitor and in hiding from the very government she’d spent her adult life working for. She couldn’t reach out to friends or family. If given a list of these circumstances, Sarah would have expected she’d be distraught, but, to her surprise, she couldn’t remember a time she’d felt so alive. Every morning, she woke energized and excited about what the day might bring. She’d felt like she was making a difference in her lab job, but now she knew she was. She was helping humanity reclaim its rightful place on the surface of the Earth.
