Skybreach (The Reach #3) (52 page)

Authors: Mark R. Healy

She looked at him. “Yeah?”

“
I just wanted to say thanks. For
sticking around, that is
. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“No, you’d be sipping vodka in a hot tub on Saturn if it weren’t for me,” she grinned. “Remember how I stole your passkey?”

“Oh, yeah,” Knile said good naturedly. “
That
whole thing.”

She gave him a genuine smile, the first that had touched her lips in a while.

“You don’t have to thank me, Knile. Let’s say we’re even.”

Knile nodded and began to walk alongside her. “Sure. Although I have one more favour to ask.”

“Damn. Really? What is it?”

“I need to borrow that longwave of yours.”

Talia started at the sound of her holophone. In the gloomy silence of the roof, it was deafening. She got to her feet warily, then drew it from her pocket, not really knowing what to expect when she answered.

“Hello?”

“Talia, it’s Knile.”

Silvestri appeared at her side in the gloom, a curious expression on his face.

“Holy shit,” she gasped joyously. “You made it? What happened?”

“Not exactly. We had a few difficulties up here.”

“What do you mean?”

Roman and Yun crowded around excitedly, and Talia put the call on speaker. Zoe and Duran watched on curiously from nearby.

“Valen evacuated the habitat when it became clear that we couldn’t stop the detonation. For a while, it looked like we’d have no way out, but we got s
ome help from my friend in the h
abitat, Ursie. She sped up the railcar and we arrived a few minutes early, long enough to get to the escape modules.”

“And?”

“Lazarus was injured as we came in to dock. I tried to help, but Holger didn’t seem to want to wait around. He took Morgan and Aksel and stole the last escape module.”

“Bastard,” Silvestri muttered.

“Are you serious?” Talia said, horrified.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Talia’s brow creased in concern. “But what
happened then
? Did you disarm the bomb?”

“No. Ursie, me and one of her companions made it to something called a ‘Skywalk’. It’s like a bridge between space elevators. The habitat was destroyed.”

Talia’s heart sank. Although she was elated to hear that Knile was alive, the moment was undeniably bittersweet.
Around her, the enthusiasm and excitement of the group evaporated as the harsh truth became apparent.

It was over.
She, Roman and the others were never leaving Earth.

“Understood,” Silvestri said soberly. “Thank you for letting us know, Knile. What are you–?”

“I’m not giving up on you.”

Silvestri seemed nonplussed, raising an eyebrow and twisting his mouth.

“Say again, Knile.”

“It’s not over yet. We’re heading to the next elevator. We’re going to try to get it working.”

“What elevator?” Talia said. “Where?”

“It’s located at a place called Sunspire Mountain, a couple of hundred kilometres to the east of the Reach. I need you to go there, all of you, as soon as you can.”

“I don’t know if that’s feasible for us, Knile,” Silvestri said. “We’re in a difficult situation here. I doubt we can even make it out of the Reach alive. If you can make it to this Sunspire elevator, and there’s a working cruiser dock, I can try to organise for the cruiser to rendezvous with you. You can still make it off-world.”

“No deal. Like I told Roman and Talia a hundred times, I’m not leaving without you. We all go, or none of us do.”

Talia glanced around the group, assessing their reactions to Knile’s words. It wasn’t possible, was it? This small group of them couldn’t fight their way through the living hell below them,
through the warzone that had supplanted the Reach, then beyond into the wilderness, into the unknown.

Or could they?

Silvestri smiled, flashing his gold tooth at them, and then he laughed. Talia smiled back, and Roman gave her a nod that spoke of both calmness and determination.

“I’ll take that as a yes,”
Knile said.

“It’s half-way between a no and a maybe,” Silvestri said. “But I have a feeling you’re going to hear what you want to hear.”

“Damn straight. Now get going. I’m no physicist, but I figure there’s going to be one hell of a shock wave hitting the Reach in a few hours. The Wire’s been severed, and it’s going to make a mess when it comes down around you.”

“We don’t want to be on the roof when that happens,” Roman said.

“I’d say not. I’m going to try to stay in touch on this longwave, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last. We might go dark any minute. Is there anything else you need to know?”

“Directions to this Sunspire place?” Talia said.

“East.”

“Yeah. Thanks for that.”

“Gotta go. Good luck, huh?
Keep me updated, and see you soon.”

“You too.”

The call terminated, and Talia placed the phone back in her pocket.

“How ironic,” Silvestri said. “Now we have to fight our way
out
of the Reach.”

“While everyone below us is trying to tear each other apart,” Talia said.

“And don’t forget, after that, Link is waiting for us,” Roman said. “And then the slums, and then a couple of hundred clicks of the lowlands.”

“This plan is insane,” Yun muttered. “Absolutely insane.”

“Just like all the other plans we’ve made,” Roman said cheerily, slapping him on the shoulder. “This is business as usual.”

Silvestri turned to Duran and Zoe. “What about you two? What are you going to do?”

They glanced at each other. “I think getting out of
the Reach makes sense right now,” Zoe said.

“There’s nothing left to salvage.”

Talia pursed her lips.
“Looks like we share a common goal, then
. But after the way your friend talked to Knile,
” she said, gesturing to Duran, “I don’t think we should be around each other for longer than we have to.”

“
Believe me, I don’t like being around you either,” Duran said. “But my issue is with Knile, not with you or anyone else on this roof. It makes sense to stick together until we can get out of here. Once we leave the Reach behind…” He shrugged impassively. “We don’t ever have to see each other again.
”

“Let’s get to it, then,” Silvestri said, adopting a businesslike tone. He sounded like the leader of Skybreach again, a man with a purpose. “Gather up the weapons and we’ll take stock, figure out how to bust out of here.”

“Yeah. Okay
,” Talia said, sending one final glare the way of Duran
. The others turned away, and Talia
stood watching them for a moment, not sure of how to feel about what had just happened
. She was ecstatic that Knile
hadn’t been killed, and cautiously optimistic about the second chance to make it off-world that had been offered to them.
On the other hand, the task ahead of
her, Silvestri and the others
was incredibly daunting. Skybreach had been decimated,
and she knew that there would be many obstacles in their way as they descended through the Reach, and more still should they make it to the lowlands.

Still, they had to try. What else was there to do?

She stooped to gather up the rifle at her feet, every muscle in her body aching
. As she stood, she stopped for a moment to look out across the darkened landscape far below. Out in the east, the approaching dawn sent a scattering of wan, blue-grey light across the horizon. A new day was coming, and it wasn’t going to be any less harrowing, demanding or relentless than the one that had just passed.

Somewhere out there, Sunspire was waiting.

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About the Author

Mark R. Healy is an author and musician from Brisbane, Australia. He lives with his wife Nic and children Elise and Hayden.

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You can find more of Mark’s stories through his project ‘Hibernal’. This project features professional voice actors, original music and Mark’s own sci-fi stories to create a cross between audiobooks and movies. The result is an atmospheric, immersive and unique theatrical experience for the listener. This project is available to hear online at
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and can also be purchased through iTunes and Amazon. Just search for ‘Hibernal’.