The Exodus Towers: The Dire Earth Cycle: Two

by Jason M. Hough

  Skyler gagged, and stumbled from the morbid scene. Outside he emptied his stomach into the dirt and staggered away.

  “Only those black-clad subs could have done this,” he told Tania and Karl via radio.

  “So they aren’t confined to that cloud,” Karl noted.

  Skyler took a swig of cool water from his canteen, swished, and spat it out. “They certainly appeared to be yesterday.”

  “Perhaps,” Tania said, “the red towers are what confines them, not the cloud. This attack happened a week ago, before the towers lit up and encircled the cloud.”

  “Good point,” Skyler said. “Still, all the more reason to make sure that cloud is monitored twenty-four/seven.”

  “Agreed,” Karl said.

  Skyler said goodbye and clicked off. He ventured back into the aircraft once, decided nothing within was valuable enough to keep him there, and left. He paused only long enough to close the rear door. Outside, he instructed the scientists who’d found the site to burn the bodies that littered the ground, then return the next day and recover any weapons left behind by the flames. “The guns won’t be reliable,” Skyler told them, “so toss the lot in the river. I’d rather nobody picked one up and tried to use it only to have it fail when actually needed.”

  In the days and weeks that followed, life in Camp Exodus returned to a semblance of normal, and mourning turned into stoic resolve. The luxury of movable auras had basically vanished, and with supply shipments to orbit still irregular at best, the area within the Elevator’s aura became very crowded. Skyler found himself called upon daily to fetch things from the city, and his request list grew faster than he could fill it.

  Of the two hundred original aura towers, only thirteen remained in camp after one lone surviving tower was found on what had been Mercy Road. That “road,” along with Water Road, had to be abandoned.

  With so few towers left, Tania and the others were hypersensitive to any request for use. Unless absolutely necessary, the towers were held in reserve. So it fell on Skyler, and his group of newfound immunes, to scavenge.

  A mystery lingered, one that Skyler found himself often thinking about despite the willful denial exhibited by the rest of the camp. Where had the other three groups of towers gone? Only one such group was accounted for—“red circle” as it had come to be called. These were parked in an area around the Builders’ crashed ship near the reservoir, a place now labeled off-limits.

  The other three groups remained unfound and unsought, much to Skyler’s chagrin. Every morning, or at least those he spent in camp, he would wake to the sight of their paths. Carved straight through trees and buildings, the scars left behind by the tower groups felt like an invitation to seek them out, and he wondered constantly where they’d gone.

  It didn’t take a lot of imagination to conclude they now ringed other crashed Builder ships. But only four groups had vacated Belém. Tania saw five small ships through her telescope, spread out from the main vessel when the second Elevator arrived. So where was the fifth? And why didn’t it need a group of towers around it?

  Perhaps that one would be the easiest to explore, he mused.

  As of yet, the colony had no capacity to link into old mapping satellites and download the imagery they continued to compile. Anchor Station used to have that capability, but it came from a combination of Black Level and Green Level, a marriage that no longer existed.

  With each passing day Skyler felt the desire grow to follow them. He figured they’d find the same terrifying creatures at each, but perhaps one would be easier to assault than the others. Fighting creatures that moved that fast in a dense cloud was one thing, but add the rainforest to the mix and the prospect of beating them seemed impossible.

  Often, in the dark of night, with only the songs of nocturnal curassow and the occasional cry from a night heron to keep him company, Skyler found himself studying a child’s school slate. He’d found the devices by the dozen in a Catholic school not far from the Elevator, and a few still held a charge. One program on the device taught geography and included a highly detailed map of Earth, replete with satellite photos from as recently as 2260. He’d traced three lines across it, radiating out from Belém and color-coded to the still-missing tower groups: purple, emerald, and a yellow he called “sunlight.” The red towers near Belém he’d marked as well.

  Certainly the exercise provided no clue as to where the towers had stopped. He even went so far as to draw the lines all the way back around the planet, reconnecting with Belém as they came around the other side. One night he calculated how long it would take them to circumnavigate the globe, assuming their speed remained constant. He doubted they’d return that way, but it passed the time.

  The child’s learning tool also proved useful for scouting Belém. He could zoom in on details as fine as five meters across, and even alter the angle to get some sense of perspective.

  Each time the sun rose, Skyler dreaded the hours that would follow. Two things happened each morning in camp. First, Karl would inform him of the new additions to his growing scavenger wish list, a list the man now curated at Skyler’s request. Karl had become his Prumble, in that sense, and life became a bit more bearable when Skyler could tell people to talk to Karl if their request didn’t make it onto the day’s priority list.

  Second, Skyler would seek out the other immunes and casually invite them to join him in his foray into the city. It had been a rude awakening, the first morning after they tried to reach the Builders’ ship, when Skyler gave the immunes orders. He’d forgotten what they’d all been through, and forgotten that no formal agreement existed as to how long they would stay, or if they would even help. They were free for the first time in years, and so to avoid the appearance of bossing them around, Skyler had to dance around the subject and take care to avoid giving orders.

  So he would ask, nice and casual, over breakfast. “Going over to that plumber’s supply today, for more PVC pipe and pumps. Anyone up for a hike?” A different question each time. More often than not, Pablo and Vanessa would agree to come. He suspected they were sticking around only because they hadn’t come up with a better idea yet.

  As for Ana, well, Skyler suspected he could not get rid of her if he wanted to. She went everywhere with him, and if he hadn’t insisted that she move into Vanessa’s APC, he sensed she would want to continue sleeping on the bench across from his. Skyler didn’t need the gossip that would cause.

  For the most part, though, he didn’t mind her at his side. The young woman was bright, alert, and could hold her own in any conversation. Good company, on the whole. The erratic reckless actions seemed to come and go with no rhyme or reason, but with each day that passed since Davi died she seemed to get herself a bit more under control. Once in a while she would descend into a state of deep depression, lasting hours or even days. Skyler quickly learned a delicate balancing act for such times: Leave her alone, and make sure she doesn’t wander off.

  One evening he found himself sitting alone with her at the edge of the river, each with a fishing pole in hand. She’d been quiet the entire day, since Skyler had chastised her for shooting at a snake that had surprised her in the slums. Not ten minutes before she did that, they’d spotted evidence of recent subhuman presence in the area, and he’d ordered absolute silence as they trekked through the crumbling neighborhood. The echoes of her gunshot rolled through the streets like thunder, and though no subhumans came, he’d let frustration and anger get the better of him in admonishing her.

  “Ana,” he said, his voice breaking the trancelike state brought on by watching a lure bob on the rippling water.

  She glanced up at him, a slight defiance still in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry I spoke harshly earlier. I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

  “You called me stupid.”

  Skyler feigned confusion. “I don’t remember the specific words—”

  “Specifically,” Ana said, “you said it was a stupid fucking move, and that I needed
to get my ‘shit’ under control.”

  He winced. “Like I said, I’m sorry. I just … I’d appreciate it if you tried to follow my orders when we’re out there. That wasn’t the first time, and it puts us all in danger. Part of being in a squad is keeping everyone in mind when you act, not just yourself.”

  Her eyes flared and she came right to the precipice of flying into a rage, but then, remarkably, she backed down. She visibly deflated, and after a few seconds of staring at the dazzling twilight sun that glinted off the river, she began to nod. “Davi used to say the same. Well, not exactly the same; he knew how to speak to a lady even when angry.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s okay. You’re right, and for you I will try. I’ll try to get my shit under control.” She grinned as she recited the line.

  Skyler found himself smiling, too.

  Unlike Darwin, which dried up like a prune when wet season passed, Belém still received a healthy dose of showers. Not nearly as much as when the colonists arrived, but enough to keep the world around the camp green and lush. Gardens began to flourish within the limited space inside the aura, though they required constant tending. Luckily there was no shortage of bored colonists to pull weeds, trim overzealous vines, or maintain the insect nets.

  Rats became a problem. A big problem, once they started to get into the supply tents. Skyler and Ana brought back as many traps as they could find, but they were either ineffectual or in too short supply.

  One day, when the sun blazed overhead, Skyler and Ana hiked out down to the harbor in hopes of finding watercraft that could be moored on the river within the aura. Another boon to the livable space within the protective sphere, just like the motor homes. So they hoped, anyway. As they ambled toward the boatyard, Ana noted a line of houses that had become overrun with cats. The felines lounged all over the decaying structures, their tails flapping back and forth as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

  “I bet there’s no rats in there,” Ana joked.

  “Not likely to be, no,” Skyler agreed. The idea hit them both at the same time.

  They returned to camp and borrowed one of the flatbed trucks. After a quick stop at a veterinary clinic for cages, Skyler and Ana spent an afternoon befriending as many of the feral creatures as they could. Many had lost their trust of humans, but some seemed to be survivors from before the disease and remembered that people meant a life of constant pampering. These entered the cages without too much struggle, though by sunset Skyler found his arms were laced with scratches. Ana fared better, having worn long sleeves.

  “Might be a good idea to give each other rabies and tetanus shots,” Skyler noted, frowning at the red lines on his forearms.

  Ana grinned and winked at him. “Oh, el diablo! Your bunk or mine?”

  He chuckled but said nothing. Her flirtations started innocently enough, but she grew bolder with it every day. Sooner or later he would need to sit her down and clarify their friendship, but for the time being he was loath to do anything that might trigger another bout of depression in the young woman. She’d been through a hell of a lot, and at an age when hormones raged within her. She’d spent most of her years of puberty as a member of Gabriel’s clan, with all that entailed, or alone with only her brother for company. He couldn’t begrudge her a little outlet for her emotions, not now.

  Besides, it reminded him a little of Samantha.

  The cats were a huge hit, as much for the entertainment they provided as their rodent-catching skills. For the first time since the towers left camp Skyler found colonists smiling, saying “hello” or “g’day” when he walked by.

  Two months passed with no further sighting of the black-clad subhumans, save for the occasional report of shadows lurking near the edge of the cloud.

  Jury-rigged security cameras placed around the roughly circular haze picked up subhumans entering the area on two occasions. After that, no one questioned the need for constant monitoring of the site.

  Skyler assisted in a complex project requiring four days and a dozen people. They took two aura towers out to the site of a skyscraper abandoned while under construction. There, the group set upon a tower crane that had yet to be lifted to the topmost floors. The machine was separated from a loading winch, and two smaller cranes were used to hoist the massive object onto a flatbed truck. This took an entire day. The other three days were spent navigating the twenty-meter-long steel lattice arm back to camp.

  After another week of trial and error, the camp soon had a working cargo loader. One of the scientists even figured out how to program the controls so that it could repeat the same function with little supervision. Push a button and the huge arm would move whatever had been attached to it up and over to a waiting climber. Press it again and the motion was reversed.

  The system still required a team to spin the climber car forty-five degrees so that the next slot could be loaded or unloaded, but no one complained. The process of lifting cargo to orbit had been significantly streamlined.

  Idle hands also made short work of the construction of a wall around camp. At three meters tall, the barricade had nothing on Nightcliff’s massive metal face, but it would keep subhumans and larger wildlife out.

  On one rare afternoon when not a single cloud marred the sky, Ana came to Skyler. She’d been gone all day with Vanessa and Pablo, and he hadn’t bothered to find out where they had been. “Follow me,” she said simply.

  Intrigued and a little concerned, he agreed. Vanessa and Pablo waited at the edge of camp and fell in with them. None of the other colonists asked where the group was going, as they often left without a word save from Karl.

  As Skyler walked with the other three immunes, he realized they all shouldered backpacks, whereas he had only the usual equipment he carried on himself. They took him west, leaving Mercy Road on a route that would bring them to the modern buildings and harbors that lined the waterfront along the Pará.

  “Where are we going?” Skyler asked.

  “Shush,” Ana replied.

  He caught a playful undertone in her voice and decided to let the mystery continue. His eyes, though, kept returning to the backpacks they wore. They’ve provisioned a boat, he thought. They’re going to say goodbye and sail off. Maybe they’ll ask me to come along, out of earshot of the other colonists.

  It startled him to realize that he didn’t know what answer he would give if asked.

  Well before the harbor, though, the three immunes turned from the road and entered the marble lobby of a luxury hotel. Other than a few skeletons near the welcome desk, the place showed no signs of wear or use. Skyler realized that tiny LED spotlights recessed into the ceiling were on, creating pools of warm yellow light at regular intervals along the space.

  Skyler followed Ana into a well-lit elevator, and when she tapped the button for the penthouse, the doors slid closed.

  “I’m not sure this is safe,” Skyler noted, as he imagined the cables that pulled the metal box up the shaft. “Five years of neglect …”

  Pablo chuckled.

  The indicator on the wall counted through all fifty-six floors before reaching “PH.” A chime sounded and the doors slid open once again. A small lobby greeted them, and beyond that a pair of fine wood doors. Someone had hacked them open with an axe, which leaned against the wall nearby.

  “After you,” Ana said, and bowed. “Tonight, we set the real world aside.”

  Skyler found himself inside a spacious apartment, trimmed and furnished in luxurious fashion. The modern décor was a study in hardwood and shades of gray: bleached slat floors, black carpets, and walls done in two-tone vertical gray stripes. Black leather couches and chairs were backed by brushed-metal supports. The kitchen had every convenience imaginable, all stainless steel surrounded by black marble and whitewashed hardwood cabinets.

  All of this paled compared to the curved glass wall that ran the entire length of the space. The sky outside blazed orange and red around a sun half-set behind the mountains to
the west.

  As Skyler took in the view, Ana set to work in the dining area, placing cutlery and candles upon the thick wood table. Vanessa took to the kitchen, hoisting her backpack onto the counter and removing the contents within. Two bottles of wine, plus something wrapped in brown butcher paper and tied with string, as if she’d just popped out to the corner store.

  Pablo ventured out on the balcony and dropped his pack near a professional grill built into the wall beside an empty lap pool.

  “What’s going on?” Skyler asked Ana.

  “It’s my birthday,” she said, and offered him a half smile as she lit a candle.

  “Isn’t this a bit excessive—oh.” He swallowed the rest of his comment, realizing his mistake. Ana’s birthday meant it was Davi’s birthday, too. “Shit. Sorry.”

  A loud pop saved him from further embarrassment. In the kitchen, Vanessa giggled as champagne erupted from a green bottle and splashed onto the floor. It might have been, Skyler thought, the first time he’d heard the former lawyer laugh.

  Dinner consisted of chops Pablo had cut from a boar he’d felled that morning. He’d grilled the meat to perfection and it dripped with hot grease as Skyler shoveled the first bite into his mouth. For a side Pablo had roasted vegetables inside packets of aluminum foil with a dash of cooking oil, salt, and pepper.

  The trio had brought enough wine for each of them to claim two bottles, and a wet bar within the apartment offered up a dozen different options for harder libations.

  For a time no one spoke, at least not verbally. The chatter of cutlery on porcelain, the murmured coos of pleasure brought by rich, flavorful food, said everything that needed saying. The meal eclipsed everything Skyler had eaten in months. No, he thought, years, as he savored a sip of the merlot. Better even than the bowl of ramen that Prumble had served him after his journey through no-man’s-land.

  And then Vanessa poured the wine. She said a toast in Portuguese, then wished happy birthday to Ana on behalf of the whole world.

  Ana blushed and took a healthy gulp of wine.