“It took us all day, but we finally got through,” Celia announced as she grabbed the rail behind them as the water shifted below. “The other habitats are hanging on. They understand the supplies have to wait. They’re grateful you guys are willing to do this.”

  “How long do you think it’s going to take?” Russ asked. Russ grew up on the East Commoner side of the city. Commoners were the people who lived in the ready-made cruise ships, which were the anchors of New Eden to the east and west. Over the course of Ari’s life, she’d visited the ships sparingly and had never entered a personal dwelling. She was aware of the horror stories about their upkeep—that they were nothing more than broken-down hovels. Russ hadn’t elaborated on his upbringing, but everyone agreed that the cruise ships were better than the hulls. But, by her guess, not by much.

  “Depending on the distance, we’re hoping the entire round trip takes us no more than an hour or two,” Jake answered. “That’s if we’re lucky and nothing goes wrong.”

  “If we’re unlucky, give us six,” Hector said, holding up all five fingers on one hand and the thumb of the other. “After that, we ain’t coming back.”

  Paris grumbled, “Don’t say that.” She nodded toward Celia. “Give us eight. Once we get the goods, there might be time left over to help the people locked up in New Eden.” The group had decided to sacrifice a few of their magnetic hot-laser keys. Their plan was to lob them against the ship wall, which would activate the hot laser inside, designed to melt a crescent-shaped hole in the steel. With any luck, after about five seconds, the prisoners would spot the newly formed spots and find the laser keys. After twelve hours, each key’s chemi-capacitor would recharge, and they could be used to cut through the steel bars of the cells.

  It was a long shot, but it might work.

  Paris had attached personal messages to a few of the laser keys. She and Hector carried them in their pockets. This was a better plan than blowing things up and making noise. After all, they had to do something. But that plan would work only if they got onto the engineering ship undetected. If they were spotted, they’d be lucky to escape with their lives.

  Ari patted the small space behind her. “Get on.”

  Paris obliged, her small body fitting into the space behind Ari with plenty of room to spare. The seat was actually made to hold three adults. Ari grabbed one side of her safety belt, Hector grabbed the other, and they secured it into the same slot Ari had used for hers.

  “It’s a little tight,” Jake said. “But you should be able to unclip no problem once we arrive.”

  Once they got there, securing the skis to the side of the engineering ship would be tricky. Each hydro-ski was equipped with a magnetic cable that was stored in a special housing. They just weren’t sure how loud the sound would echo on impact, so they had to toss them from close range. How much the ocean was rolling at the time would affect that endeavor.

  Jake still looked unsure. Ari reached out and grabbed his hand. “It’s going to be okay,” she assured him. “It’s this, or we all starve.” They’d already said their goodbyes in private. Public displays of affection didn’t happen often in their world.

  “I know it’s going to work, because you’re a better pilot than me.” Jake grinned. “You’ve always been the fearless one.”

  Once upon a time, Ari had indeed felt fearless. She wasn’t going to share with her partner that everything had changed once the resistance began. It’d been easy to live free from fear when she hadn’t cared about herself. It was another thing to carry the weight of the welfare of others heavily on her shoulders. Fear was her motivation now.

  Ari switched on the ski. The motor was powered by electricity, but the boosts were triggered by fuel cells. It was lucky these hadn’t been drained, because they had no replacements. Ari and Paris were on the ski they’d confiscated from the guards. It was clear that whoever had been piloting it before hadn’t known how to use the equipment efficiently, or the cells would’ve been burned. Instead, they were almost full. “And don’t forget. I wasn’t the only fearless one when we were kids,” Ari told Jake. “If I remember correctly, your prowess on the skis was unparalleled.”

  Jake chuckled. “I’ll show you prowess.” She thought for a moment he would kiss her after all, but he stepped back, giving her a salute as he mounted his ski. Hector practically danced around it, waiting for his turn.

  Ari turned to Celia. “If we don’t return, you’re in charge, along with Brandon and Lila. Your last resort is to turn on the biosphere and atlas propellers and hope the sea doesn’t break them apart too quickly.” It was a long shot, as the strength of the propellers was greatly weakened by the lack of power to any of the farms, and the sea was rough. If they found land, there might be hope for survival. But they had no idea in what direction it lay.

  Celia nodded. “It will be done. Ride safely. We’ll eagerly await your return.”

  Ari was surprised to see a small crowd had gathered behind them. William, the old farmer, lifted his hand. His face was solemn, as were the others’.

  They couldn’t fail. Ari couldn’t disappoint these people.

  She faced forward. “Get ready,” she told Paris. A wave swelled beneath them from behind. Even though she couldn’t see it, she could feel it. It was as if she was a child again. “One, two—”

  On three, they plunged two meters into the angry sea.

  HOLLY

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Two more hours.” I held up two fingers, then swung my hand around so everyone had a clear view. “That’s it. Two. Then we’re grabbing Maisie and heading to the barracks.” After Darby had shared the plans for the floating city, along with an itemized list of every supply the Flotilla had had access to—an amazing amount of materials—there was no question in my mind that the city had been built. And it had to be massive. A city like that was meant to thrive.

  Now all those people were in trouble, and I was beyond sick of waiting.

  We’d voted to give Lockland the benefit of the doubt. Whether or not that was the right thing to do remained to be seen. But I wasn’t waiting any longer than the time I’d just specified for Lockland to show. With the new information Knox had overheard about the communication from the floating city, it was Lockland’s responsibility to let us know what was up. As Claire’s second-in-command, he was privy to all the inner workings of the government, which in and of itself was completely bizarre, but that meant it wasn’t our job to ask him what was going on. It was his job to tell us what we needed to know.

  I comprehended, on some level, that Claire might be worried about us surviving the mission. After all, it was full of uncertainty. But Lockland owed us the truth. There would be no excusing any lies or manipulation.

  Bender had parked himself on a chair in the main room of the Emporium and hadn’t moved for the last forty-five minutes. He was likely going over the same scenarios I was. In all of our years together, a crisis like the one with Ari and her people had never reared its helmeted head. We’d never been at odds as a group before. All we had in this world was each other. Messing that up was unthinkable.

  “Maybe the taste of power got to him,” Darby said from his position on the couch next to me. We all had sort of miserably congregated in the main room, while we waited for our partner to make the right choice. “Not everyone is immune to the headiness of ascending the ladder of command.”

  My hands were steepled. “It’s not about the power. If anything, he’s doing what he thinks is right. He’s just choosing wrong.”

  “Yeah,” Bender said, finally breaking his silence. “I never saw this coming. And that pisses me off even more than him not showing up.”

  “We voted to give him the benefit of the doubt,” I argued, surprising myself. “You know, like Walt said.”

  Bender arched an eyebrow at me that stood out because it was the only hair on his head, and it was kind of bushy. “Since when are you the voice of fucking reason?”

  “I’m not,” I answered defensively. “At least, I don’t want to be.” I stood, shaking out my arms. “What do you want me to say? We all know this sucks. But like Walt said back there”—I jerked my thumb toward the labs—“our relationships were built on trust, and trust doesn’t evaporate overnight. What’s his motivation? Why is he keeping things from us? He must have a good reason, right?” The last part came out a little weaker than the rest. Was it right? Hell if I knew.

  “If we knew his motivations, we wouldn’t be sitting around here waiting like a bunch of assholes,” Bender fumed. The fact that Bender had stayed seated was the scariest part of all. Bender, being Bender, would normally be tearing the place apart. His anger came out physically. He liked punching stuff. Plus, he was closest to Lockland. He’d brought him into the group. They were friends on a different level. Yet, Bender stayed seated. I didn’t know what to make of that.

  “He could’ve been ordered to keep quiet,” Case offered. My partner with the incredible lips sat across from us, Daze on the floor next to him. Case was frustrated, like we all were, but it wasn’t the same for him. We’d been his crew for only a short time, and working as a team was not his happy place.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “The only person above him is Claire. Plus, the last time I checked, Lockland didn’t take orders from anyone.”

  “The government has different departments,” Case offered. “In order to get access across all places, he might’ve had to make a promise he doesn’t feel he can break.”

  “He wouldn’t make an agreement like that,” Bender argued. “He wouldn’t choose them over us.”

  “Well, he chose something—” I started.

  All of our tech phones went off at once.

  As I grabbed for mine, relief flooded through me.

  We were hardly ever in the same area together, so it was almost comical. Lockland’s voice cracked through next. “You’re needed at the bureau. Enter through the basement.” Then the phone went dark, meaning he’d shut off any further communication.

  “The basement?” I sputtered, trying to analyze the message. “Entering that way means we use the tunnels we lasered through to get there undetected last time. Tell me that doesn’t mean he wants us to sneak in.”

  “That’s exactly what he means.” Bender scowled, already heading toward the door. “Something’s up if he wants us to come in under the radar.”

  “We may have underestimated him too quickly,” Darby said sheepishly, scrambling after us. “I’ll be the first one to admit it.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” I shot back. Case and Daze were already up the stairs. “To ensure nothing goes wrong, we’re going in armed. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there’s a chance he could try to detain us. The best way to do that would be to gather us all in an indefensible location.”

  Case tossed me a glance as we exited to the roof. “The chance of that is fairly slim.”

  “A chance is still a fucking chance,” I muttered.

  * * *

  My Gem and HydroSol were positioned out in front of me. We’d just made our way through the last challenge in the underground maze, a tough spot where we’d haphazardly supported a crumbling wall with sheared-off beams we’d constructed on the spot. Getting to this point had been slow going. I hoped Lockland hadn’t sent for us because he had an emergency, because if he’d needed us fast, we were arriving late.

  “What now?” I asked. We’d left Daze at the surface with orders to pick up Maisie if we didn’t communicate within two hours. The status reader-turned-LiveBot had loyalty to Daze first and foremost, and if she found out something had happened to him, she would come to his aid, then he would direct her our way. That was the theory anyway.

  I guess we’d see. Having a LiveBot was new to all of us.

  “This is strange as hell,” Bender said, dusting off his shoulders after getting through the last bit of tunnel. “I understand about meeting in a stealthy location, but we have quite a few of those that don’t require crawling around in the fucking rubble.”

  “Well, this is what he picked,” I said. Our shoulder lights were the only illumination in the dark space. “Now that we’re here, how do we let him know? He turned off his phone.”

  “I suppose we can knock,” Darby suggested.

  We all peered at him like his intelligence had finally failed. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Knox replied generously.

  Case chuckled. “No, it’s not. I’ll take the lead. If I don’t come back, you’ll know something’s up.”

  Before we were able to hash out the matter, solving it by me going instead, a voice popped out of the darkness. “Hey, guys, over here.”

  “Mary?” My visor was down. I searched for a heat signature, but found none.

  She stepped from behind a large partition to our left. It must be some kind of insulation-coated concrete. No heat came through. “Yes, it’s me. I’m supposed to take you to Lockland.”

  This was getting stranger by the moment.

  We all lowered our weapons, so they weren’t pointing at the poor woman. We followed her, picking our way through the debris farther into the tunnel, because what else were we going to do?

  “What the fuck is going on?” Bender grumbled. That about summed it up for all of us. “Somebody better tell me soon, or there’s going to be trouble.”

  We crunched along a broken trail of stones in silence for a full thirty seconds before Mary came to a halt. “I don’t really know what’s going on,” she whispered, “other than he told me there are too many eyes and ears upstairs and to bring you here. He doesn’t want to arouse suspicion.”

  “The government won’t let him leave?” I asked.

  “Like they could keep him,” Bender sneered.

  “I’m sorry, Mary,” I told the nice lady trying to help us. “We’re just having a tough time figuring out what’s going on. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I understand, and I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t have any answers for you. I wish I did. But I want you to know I’m thankful to all of you. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.” She made a turn, surprising us by heading through a small opening. Once inside, she gave a door on the left a tentative tap.

  It swung open. Lockland stood there, looking relieved. He took a step back, ushering us inside. My inclination was to start the conversation by yelling my grievances at him, but instead I took my place and waited for him to speak.

  He bowed his head. His way of showing regret. “I want to start by apologizing. I’ve been caught up in some business here, and it got the best of me. I rationalized it by saying that what I was doing was for the good of the entire city and all its inhabitants, but I can see that my priorities are not in the right order.” A freely given acknowledgment of an error in judgment from Lockland sounded like it’d been uttered in a foreign language. My ears were confused, but luckily my brain had tracked the conversation like a pro.

  “Cut to the protein. You’re irritating me,” Bender said, his arms crossed. “What business are you talking about? And you damn well know whatever this is, you should’ve told us from the start. We don’t keep shit from each other. Not now, not ever.”

  “I realize that,” he began. “It was a gross lapse of judgment on my part, and it won’t happen again. I give you my word. I fell in line with everyone else on this. Understandably, the government has to keep certain information under wraps,” he continued. “They can’t afford widespread panic.”

  “What panic? What sensitive information?” I asked. “You’re not talking fast enough.”

  “Messages have come in from the floating city,” he said.

  I crossed my arms, matching Bender’s stance, a weapon still gripped in each hand. “We know.” I let that sink in, and judging by the look on his face, Lockland wasn’t extremely surprised we already had that particular information. “You kept that from us. On purpose.”

  “I did.” Lockland ran a hand over his face. He looked extremely tired, like he hadn’t slept in days. That was no excuse. “The radio missives from Marty started five days ago.”

  I balked. Five days? I’d assumed they’d come in more recently. “So, you’re telling us,” I started, my voice ringing with anger, “that at the time of our last meeting, you knew this and didn’t share it? Please explain. I’m assuming someone had a laser to your temple? Or there was a threat to wrap you in a burial shroud and set you on fire? Or possibly they threatened to cut the sensitive parts from your body with a rusty blade? Because anything short of that, then you’re fucked.”

  He shook his head, his eyes pinned to the ground. “I made a bad choice. The first call came in when I wasn’t around. The people manning the communications board were supposed to alert me first, but instead they called a meeting. Word got out about Marty’s rantings to a large government faction before I could vet it. Then the panic set in. I was trying to quell it before I told you.”

  “What did the damn messages say already?” Bender said through an almost fused jaw. I’d honestly never seen the man so angry.

  “Marty Jr. declared war on this city, our city,” Lockland said. “He threatened to blow the entire place up from the comfort of his ship.”

  “Why would he do that?” Bender fumed. “Doesn’t he want to come back? Didn’t they have some pact or something? That he’d bring improved resources to a city of willing followers? Or whatever the hell they decided.”

  “What were his terms?” Case interjected.

  “What do you mean terms?” I said. “I don’t think he’s looking for terms.”

  “No one threatens to blow up a city without a reason,” Case said. “Bender’s right. He wants to come home. But there’s no home if he blows the place up.” Case’s voice was filled with disgust. If he and his father ever met up, it wouldn’t be a loving reunion.

  “He gave no reason. That’s the problem,” Lockland said, running a gloved hand over his hair, which was in need of a trim. “But we suspect he knows his allies are gone. Someone must’ve tipped him off before we could shut the communication down. Without his group, he realizes he won’t be welcome here. I swear to you all, nothing has come over the line in the last few days. During Marty’s last rant, we heard another voice, a younger male. He said something about the farms being disconnected from New Eden. That must be what they call the floating city. No one in the government here is sure what cutting loose the farms means. Then the mystery man mentioned something about an internal war. Then Bancroft got back on and shouted more threats. He listed off a huge arsenal of weapons at his disposal. It’s clear he could raze this city if he wanted to.” It wouldn’t take too much firepower, since our fair city was already pretty much in shambles.