Genesis (25 page)

“Rosie–”

“All right.” She sighed with irritation. “I’m ready.”

He watched her closely. “You sure?”

“Are you?” she retorted.

“Keep your head down and when you get to the airlock make sure you follow someone in. Don’t look around. There’ll be surveillance.”

“I’m not stupid.”

Riley’s calm didn’t waver. “I’ll meet you in the hangar.”

“What if you pass out again?”

“I won’t.”

“Sure, you’re in great health – nothing wrong with you.”

Riley’s jaw twitched but he didn’t reply.

“Is the com still working?” she asked.

He pulled it out of his pocket. “Yes, do you want it?”

“No, just make sure it’s on in case you pass out and I have to come find you.”

“That won’t happen. I told you–”

“You feel fine,” Rosie finished for him. “But you don’t look fine.” There was a film of sweat on his brow and she had seen him wincing when they squatted down.

“Rosie,” his tone was even but with an undercurrent of annoyance, “just listen and I’ll tell you what to say to Yuang.”

It was ridiculously easy to get into the colony. No one questioned her, no one did more than glance at her; she just followed some people in. Perhaps it wasn’t unusual for a young woman to be seen coming in from the farms.

Inside the hangar was a huge space topped by the high curved roof of the dome. It was filled with rovers, machinery and people going about their business. At the far end a set of automatic doors led to the rest of the colony.

Rosie took off her breather and hurried towards them, wending her way around slow-moving vehicles and groups of people. On her right were several storehouses and on her left enormous coolrooms, their metallic doors gleaming in the soft light that came from the crystal globes installed in the roof. Everyone appeared too busy with their own work to bother with her and she made it through the doors without any trouble.

On the other side was a walkway. Like in the public domes, the walkway was a double layer of curved pyloglass, sunk deep into the Martian soil. It was lined on either side with small shrubs and led towards a connecting dome and more walkways.

There weren’t many people about here, and as she walked, she kept trying to think of what she could have said to change Riley’s mind. Why couldn’t he see that she could help him? She knew the codes; they could still get in. It was such a gamble for him to think that Yuang would let her family go and stop the destruction of the Enclave because he gave himself up.

She emerged from the walkway into one of the large connecting domes and paused inside the entrance. The dome was essentially a hub connecting eight walkways that led to other parts of the colony. Four comnet booths rose from the floor in the central area arrayed around a two-metre-high, 3-D AI directory pillar. Two young boys were messing around with the AI, laughing and waving their hands through the semitransparent figure of the woman, and there was a man seated on a bench hooked into a virtual workstation. Around the central perimeter, streams of people moved purposefully in and out of the walkways. Rosie couldn’t see any sign of a Senate uniform among them. A screen embedded high in the wall of the dome was showing images of the clear Martian day outside, complete with oxygen levels and predictions for windstorms. It was eight degrees outside, but it was warm in the dome and the air smelled faintly of pollen and iron.

“Move along there.” Someone spoke behind her and she jumped and turned around. A middle-aged man with a greying beard looked down at her with a smile.

“Sorry.” She stepped to the side but he was already moving away. Her heart was racing. She had to get this done and get out.

On the far side was a shuttle station that provided transport within the colony. Four carriages were lined up next to the low platform. They looked like elongated eggs with the tops sliced off. After using the comnet, Rosie was to take the blue line to Arcadia where Jo would be waiting for her; then they would take another to the western hangar.

Rosie walked as calmly as she could to the comnet booths, choosing one partly concealed by a potted plant. The com had a wide flat screen and a sound’n’speak device slid out of the booth as she put her palm on the screen. She slipped the fine curl of wires over her ear and waited impatiently as the five-second intro advertisement played. The screen faded to pale red with an array of options. She ignored them all and called up a virtual keyboard then typed in the contact override Riley had provided that would divert to Yuang’s com. She started sweating as she watched the screen suddenly flick off then come on again. There was a soft crackling sound in her ear then a blue tinted image of Yuang filled the screen. His expression was aloof and suspicious.

“How did you …” he said then stopped as he saw her. “Miss Black.” He smiled in a way that made her scalp tighten. “What an unexpected development. I was worried about you – both of you. Where’s Shore? Is he in one piece?”

“He’s fine,” she said quietly.

“He always had a knack for survival.” He was behaving as if they were old friends. “So what can I do for you?”

“I want to see my aunt and my dad,” she said, repeating what Riley had told her to say. “Show me they’re alive.”

Yuang raised his eyebrows. “Manners, please.”

“Show me!” she hissed through her teeth.

“No.” His tone was flat, his smile gone. “But you may have my word they are alive – for the moment. Do you have something for me?”

Riley had assumed he would say that. She was supposed to tell Yuang that Riley would come to him, and that if he released her dad and Aunt Essie in exchange, Helios would be in the clear. She was supposed to just set up the meeting and switch off the com – but she hesitated. What if that wasn’t enough leverage for Yuang? What if, when he got Riley, he still detonated the labs?

“Miss Black?” Yuang eyed her with some amusement. “I don’t have all day.”

Rosie took a breath. He didn’t know what had been in the box. He couldn’t be sure if she was lying or not. “Release my dad and aunt at the north gate of the Enclave. Riley will meet you there.”

“Will he?” Yuang watched her. “Giving himself up for them, is he?”

“Yes.”

“How noble.” His tone was condescending but the look in his eyes was not.

“Him in exchange for my family and an end to plans to destroy the Enclave,” she said.

“Interesting,” Yuang replied. “And the other contents of his parents’ box?”

“He will bring them,” she said, then added, “all that he has.”

Yuang frowned. “All that he has? Are you implying something, Miss Black?”

Rosie swallowed hard. “I took something out, before, on Earth. He doesn’t know about it but I think it’s important.”

“What?” His tone was cold now.

“A piece of plaspaper,” she said. “It was some kind of shipment order for stuff going from Mars to Earth around ten years ago. Something about malaria vaccines and new test doses. I hid it before I met Pip.”

“Where?” Yuang’s expression was frightening, even through the screen, but Rosie kept talking. She had to make him think she had something, even though she had no idea if a record of the shipment that had brought the MalX to Earth even existed.

“It’s safe,” she said. “But if someone found it …” She let him think what he might.

He watched her closely, his gaze narrowing. “And why should I believe you?”

“Because you can’t afford to have any information leaking out, can you? And if someone saw that document, they might wonder about how the MalX really got to Earth.”

He smiled, a slow scary smile. “That’s brave, Miss Black. If you’re telling the truth. Brave but stupid. Does Shore know what you’re up to?”

“Let my dad and aunt go and stop your plans to destroy the Enclave or someone might see it,” she said.

“Oh, I was planning to let them go,” he said. “They are of little use to me now since they’ve brought me what I need anyway. Shore is a big fish, Miss Black, and we will talk when he comes to me. But as for you,” he smiled again, “there was a reason he told you to deliver your message to me fast and then shut the com off. A reason a smart girl like you should already know.”

Rosie felt a leap of fear as she realised he was right. She had taken too long.

“Miss Black,” Yuang said, “meet Gerry.”

The hairs on the back of Rosie’s neck lifted. Someone was standing behind her. She heard nasally breathing. “Need a ride?” a man said.

Her heart boosted like a rocket ship. She ripped the earpiece off and sprang forward, pushing past a couple using the next com, but he had hold of her arm before she went more than a step.

“I don’t think so.” He pulled her so hard, her head snapped back and she bit her tongue. He was big with clammy hands and white-blond hair, cut short against his skull.

“Let me go!” Rosie shouted. “Help!” She looked at the couple, but they were moving out of the way.

“Now, come on,” Gerry said, “I told your mum I’d catch you next time you ran off.”

“My mum’s dead!” Rosie squirmed and twisted in his grip. “Help me,” she pleaded to the couple.

But their eyes were set on the golden insignia of Helios on his breast and they backed off fast.

“She always gets like this,” Gerry was saying to them, a smile on his face as he dragged her away. “Hates astrophysics.” He chuckled.

“I do not!” Rosie shouted furiously. “Probably know more about it than you. He’s kidnapping me!” she screamed, but no one wanted to interfere.

He pulled her close, leaning down to whisper in her ear, the smile still on his face. “Don’t be bad or you don’t get to see Daddy.”

“Your breath stinks,” Rosie replied.

He looked sidelong down at her and grunted. “Tough, eh? Won’t last long.”

Rosie just glared at him. Her heart was beating so fast, she couldn’t breathe properly.

Gerry dragged her at a fast pace down a walkway and into a living dome. What looked like an ordinary home for someone flashed past as he dragged her through to an outside airlock.

He thrust a breather at her. “Put this on and don’t do anything to make me hurt you.”

It was frigid outside, the sun was dropping and a red light dressed the bare earth. A few metres away a three-wheeled vehicle was waiting, another man at the controls.

“Get in.” Gerry prodded her and she climbed into the back. He sat beside her, squashing her against the side.

“Go.” He tapped the shoulder of the driver.

The vehicle trundled up a narrow track towards the Tharsis Mountains and away from the colony. Wedged into the back, Rosie watched the massive bulk of the ranges filling the sky before them and felt a moment of panic and despair. Would Riley guess what had happened? Would he still turn up? She had no idea and could only hope Yuang believed her about the plaspaper. If anything, it might buy them a bit more time.

Pip watched. Keeping still and silent, he moved in the background, staying in the shadows of the walls, listening in doorways and using all the tricks he’d taught himself to survive on Earth.

Being a Feral made you a target and he’d become very good at being invisible. It was amazing what people could miss. As big and muscled as Yuang’s grunts were, they were far from bright and most of them were spinning on enhancers.

Pip gritted his teeth, feeling the hatred oozing like river mud. Even Yuang was a bit stupid. He’d thought that telling him he was immune to the MalX would keep him docile, on the leash. If it was even true. He wasn’t sure what to believe now but somehow the idea that he might be immune made some sense. He’d helped Essie screw up Yuang’s plans and normally that might be enough to get him a one-way ticket through the airlock. Maybe he
was
special. And Yuang thought the threat of not letting him cure Rosie and her family would make him do whatever he said.

Yuang was deluded if he thought that. As far as he could tell, he didn’t think he could do much for Rosie’s dad anyway, and her aunt wasn’t looking too good either, which was a pity, because he’d liked her. But Rosie … Fury surfed cold through his veins as he watched Essie through the gap in the vent. That was not going to happen to her.

He smiled grimly as Essie spat at the grunt attaching her drip. The spit landed short but it was satisfying nonetheless. She shuddered for a while as the sedation took hold and Pip watched until she subsided then he crept away.

He’d heard they’d picked Rosie up at the colony and he wanted to see for himself when they brought her in.

Silent as snowfall, he melted into the corridors of the Enclave and into an unused room. It looked directly out onto the back area where the rovers came in. He crouched low and crooked a finger under the blind and waited for Rosie to arrive.

They threw her in a tiny room and slammed the door.

It was pitch black. For a moment Rosie panicked. She couldn’t draw a proper breath. She crawled forward until she felt the wall, then sat back against it.

The wall was hard against her back but surprisingly warm. She pressed her cheek and the palms of her hands against it and told herself not to think about what Riley said Yuang had done to him. She told herself he’d only made it up to scare her into staying behind. She concentrated on wondering where Riley was, if he’d noticed she was gone. Was it sunset yet? Was her family still alive? She thought hard about them, pictured her aunt and her dad, and after a while she could breathe again. She curled up and waited.