He stared at the intersection for a few more seconds before making his decision and turning right, starting down the next corridor. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they all looked exactly the same. Without the plaques, there was nothing to differentiate one junction from the next, one passageway from the one after it.

  He was past Metro; he knew that much. He had taken Levi up to deck eight and then over the top of the city, along a corridor that stretched nearly two kilometers along the length of Pioneer. It was taking forever, and he had no idea how much longer Levi would remain unconscious. He needed to get the man off his hands before he woke up.

  He needed to get rid of him before anyone saw them.

  He had only kept himself clear of the security detail by sending them to the Guardian module to report, and there was still a chance one of Oslo’s roving techs could walk through the area at any moment. He didn’t want to be seen wheeling around an unconscious Marine. The crew might not question him because he was the captain, but someone would talk to someone and the rumors would start. Better to finish this dirty business and get on with his regular duties.

  He kept walking, certain he was getting closer to his destination. If this could have waited, he might have come this way with Siraj during their walk, and then he would already know where he was going. But it couldn’t wait. Corporal Levi was clearly troubled, terrified of being a Guardian and desperate to get back to his children. He had seen other soldiers break the same way. He knew what happened to them back home.

  The same thing that was happening here.

  What did it say about Sergeant Cross that he had gone along with the idea to toss the Marine out of an airlock? What did it say about himself that he had suggested it? Civility was suffocating long before the trife came to Earth. It succumbed completely when the creatures began roaming the streets, killing with reckless abandon. What he had offered as a solution was mercy compared to the way people were treating one another, right up until the end.

  He could suggest it. He could justify it.

  But he couldn’t do it.

  That’s why Levi was still on the gurney with him while he wandered the aft side of Metro, looking for the emergency access seal. He had thought long and hard about the plan to wash his hands of the Corporal. He had even stopped at an airlock, opened it and put the gurney inside. His hands had become clammy, his forehead sweaty and his heart rate through the roof. That’s when he had grabbed the gurney and pulled the man out, running across the ship toward Metro.

  He had tried to save Colonel Hale and as many Marines as he could. Despite his words to Sergeant Cross, he couldn’t convince himself to kill one of those Marines because the man simply wanted to be with his kids. If that made him soft, so be it. He needed to draw the line somewhere or who knew what he might become.

  Levi would live and die in Metro with his children. Once the city was locked down, there was no way the Guardians would ever find out he was there. Yes, it was devious and deceitful, but also effective and harmless in the grand scheme of things. And Tyson’s conscience would be clear.

  It was a win-win situation for everyone. Except maybe for Sergeant Cross, but Tyson knew the kind of man he was. Joseph would put his regrets into a mental box, lock it up and file it under the heading of following orders. He would continue carrying out his duties to the best of his abilities, which were considerable. And he would be fine.

  Tyson kept walking down the corridor, finally pausing at the next junction. Turning his head to the left, he smiled when he saw the single blast door, its frame marked in yellow and red hazard warnings, a security panel connected to the bulkhead beside it.

  At last.

  He pulled the gurney toward the door. Reaching it, he stretched his wrist out toward the security panel. His comm beeped softly. “Captain Grant,” Sergeant Cross said.

  “Sergeant?” Grant replied stiffly. Why was the sergeant contacting him? To check on Levi’s status? “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, sir,” Joseph replied. “We’ve completed our transfer to the Guardian program. Second West was just showing us how to use our CIC controls to locate any comm badge on board and I was trying it out. I apologize for the intrusion.”

  Tyson froze. Joseph had to know where he was. Damn technology. He felt like a rabbit caught in a snare, but that feeling quickly turned to anger. He was the captain of this ship. He didn’t need to sneak around or make excuses for his whereabouts to anyone.

  “I would appreciate not being spied upon in the future, Guardian Prime.” He spat it out more harshly than intended, but he didn’t think Joseph would think it suspicious. “My affairs are of no concern to you unless I request your assistance or you need to report an emergency.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joseph replied sharply, falling completely into line. “It won’t happen again.”

  “Thank you, Prime,” Tyson said. “Grant out.” He hit the comm badge to disconnect and then swiped his wrist across the security panel. It flashed green and the blast door slid aside.

  He pushed the gurney into a short connecting passageway. A second blast door stood a few meters away. It wasn’t secured from his side, but he knew it was on the other. Before Metro was locked down, anyone with basic clearance could get out into the ship, not that there was much need at this point. The doors were open primarily to let the people outside come in once their work was complete. People like Lieutenant Wall.

  He continued to the next door, which began opening at his approach. He was used to the relatively dim, artificial white light of the LEDs that ran across the top of Pioneer’s corridors, but the sudden brightness that greeted him left him squinting. He brought his hand up over his eyes to block out the light.

  This wasn’t Tyson’s first time in Metro, but the warmth from the atmospherics surprised him anew. He forced himself to look up, impressed all over again that the top of the massive hold, lined with pipes and wires, ventilation shafts and catwalks was invisible behind the thin membrane that was currently projecting a perfect blue cloudless sky, the sun about to creep behind the tops of the identical buildings. The membrane stretched about halfway down the sides of the hold, allowing the sun to set, the AI-controlled light fading so naturally it was easy for anyone to forget they weren’t back on Earth—in New York, Chicago or Seattle. Maybe not Seattle. The sun was out after all.

  The weather patterns were designed to be random, the atmospheric generators capable of producing nearly any combination of temperature and precipitation, and adjusting to seasons as if Metro really was in a more temperate location on Earth. Meanwhile, a combination of hundreds of speakers and active noise canceling would allow for a realistic soundstage for thunder and wind that made the city sound so much larger than it was and prevented echoing from the nearby bulkheads.

  The counter-inertial generators were incredible. The anti-gravity coils, amazing. But it had always been Metro’s atmospherics that impressed Tyson the most. He knew what was going on behind the curtain, but he still had trouble believing the sky he was looking at wasn’t real.

  Such a beautiful day. Had the engineers turned off the randomization to produce perfect weather for the launch? He was grateful to them if they had.

  He shifted his attention away from the sky to the street ahead of him. Unlike existing Earth cities Metro was brand new, and it looked it. The buildings made rows of spotless white synthcrete, wood, and glass monoliths, while the roads between them were unscuffed and spotless, small trees planted at equal intervals along the routes. There were no abandoned, burnt out cars, no garbage, no graffiti, no litter. The waste bins were fresh and clean and probably empty, the thoroughfares currently free of the limited number of small electric vehicles brought on board to traverse them.

  The streets weren’t totally empty. A random smattering of the city’s inhabitants were outside, standing in a few separate groups and conversing. They didn’t notice Tyson as he wheeled Levi off the main road and into one of the alleys between the buildings, getting out of sight. Like the main streets, the alley was pristine, though there was a lot more going on behind the scenes than out in the open. The delicate pipes and wires that provided utilities to the buildings were mostly exposed on the surface, running along both sides of the structures and making the space between them much tighter.

  Entering the alley reminded Tyson of the engine room of a Navy destroyer, only the complex collection of service delivery systems seemed to stretch on forever.

  He pushed the gurney through the alley, each step leaving him more eager to get Levi into the hands of someone who could help the corporal locate his children. Passing the first building, he came to a junction in the alley, which he was pleased to find were labeled, but dismayed to realize the labels were too basic for him to understand. As near as he could tell, he was in 5-41-6, whatever that meant. He could go left to 5-41-5, or straight to 5-40-6, or back the way he had come to 5-42-6. He’d never had time to learn the layout of his sectors of Pioneer, there was no way he’d had time to study the layout of the city.

  Fortunately, all he really needed was to find an access box, which he spotted a few meters down the alley marked 5-41-5. He pushed Levi over to it. The security panel had a chip scanner and a keypad, and he put his wrist to the scanner, opening the box. An engineering junction, it was the size of an old-fashioned phone booth, the front side of it lined with circuits, switches and knobs that could isolate the flow of water, electricity, sewage or whatever else ran through the alleys, cutting them off from the rest of the system. The box also contained a limited comm system that would patch him through to the main engineering control room on the other side of the city.

  The comm only had one switch. Up to connect, down to disconnect. He flipped it up.

  “This is Metro Engineering Control,” a man’s voice said a moment later. “Who is this, and what are you doing on this line?” His voice was accusing. He had to know which box Tyson was on and that none of their people were in that area.

  “This is Captain Tyson Grant. I’m sorry to use this line, but it’s the only access I have to city resources. I have a sick man with me who needs immediate medical attention.” Not that Levi was actually sick, but claiming he had a medical emergency would ensure someone would come to get him right away.

  “I have confirmation of your access ID. I’m contacting medical services and will have an ambulance dispatched to your location. Please standby, Captain.”

  “Of course,” Tyson said.

  He waited nearly a minute before the man came back on the line. “Emergency service should reach you within the next thirty seconds. Would you like me to stay on the line with you?”

  “No. I’m fine. Thank you for your quick response.”

  The engineer disconnected the comm before Tyson could flip the switch back down.

  Behind him, Levi groaned.

  19

  Grant

  Pioneer. Metro. 11.11.2052. 1700 hours.

  “Wh…where am I?” Levi said, his voice soft and weak.

  Tyson stared at the corporal. The man’s timing was terrible. “You’re safe, Corporal.”

  Levi’s eyes were open, looking up between the buildings at the perfect blue sky. “I’m back on Earth? I dreamed I was on Pioneer. That the ship launched. That they wouldn’t let me be with my kids.”

  “It wasn’t a dream.”

  “What?” Levi slowly raised his head, eyes settling on Tyson. “Captain Grant?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where am I?”

  “Metro.”

  Levi’s eyes widened. “Metro?” he parroted, voice filling with hope. “I’m in Metro?”

  “Yes.”

  He stared at Tyson. “But…but you said—”

  “I know what I said. I’m the Captain. It’s within my rights to change my mind.”

  “You…you mean?”

  “You’ll be reunited with your children,” Tyson said. “You’ll spend the rest of your life with them here.”

  Levi’s face brightened almost enough to match the sky. “Captain Grant, I… I don’t know how to thank you. I don’t know what to say.”

  “I don’t want you to say anything, Corporal. What I want you to do is make the most of what I’m giving you. To raise good kids and be a positive benefit to the city.”

  “Yes, sir,” Levi said. “I will. I swear. I didn’t mean what I said about damaging the ship. How could I? I would kill my own kids too. I didn’t mean it, Captain.”

  Tyson nodded, though he wasn’t sure how true any of the man’s statements were. Joseph had said Levi wasn’t the sort to make empty threats. It didn’t matter now. “Paramedics are on the way. I need to get back to my duties.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  Tyson met Levi’s gaze one more time before walking past him, heading back the way he had come. He looked back around as a soft whooshing sound signalled the arrival of what he thought was an ambulance. It wasn’t.

  A small, white electric cart came to a stop at the end of the alley. It had an open cockpit with two occupants, a flashing blue light on a pole behind them, and Metro Law printed on its side.

  Tyson pulled to a stop, recognizing the occupant closest to him. Governor Nash. So much for keeping things quiet.

  The Governor and the driver climbed out of the vehicle and started his way. Tyson could tell by the second man’s uniform he was a law enforcement officer. Probably the sheriff.

  “Captain Grant,” Nash said as he approached. “What are you doing in Metro?”

  “Governor,” Tyson said. “I have a new citizen with me. Corporal Levi.” He motioned back to where he had left the Marine. Just then an ambulance stopped behind the sheriff’s cart, and two medics climbed out, hurrying over to them.

  “Where’s the emergency?” one of them asked, without regard for who they were talking to. Tyson pointed them toward the alley where he had left Levi, and they ran off just as quickly as they had arrived.

  “Sheriff Drew, I don’t believe you’ve met Captain Tyson Grant, have you?” Nash asked.

  “No, Governor,” Drew replied. He held out a big, calloused hand. “Sheriff Blake Drew.”

  Tyson shook it. “Nice to meet you, Sheriff. If you both don’t mind, I need to get back to the bridge. I have other business to—”

  “Just wait a second, Captain,” Nash said. “We need to have a little chat before you go.”

  “Do we?” Tyson replied.

  “Mmmhmmm,” Nash said. “You know, if I recall correctly, and I probably do because it wasn’t that long ago, we both signed a document that put Metro under my control, and everything outside Metro under yours.”

  “Yes, I remember.” Tyson’s eyes narrowed. Was the Governor really going to give him shit about this?

  “I also remember you giving me a lecture about why I should stay in Metro where I belong, even though I have the capability to go outside the seals. Do you remember that, Captain?”

  “Quite clearly,” Tyson growled. It seemed he was.

  “So, what I’m wondering, Captain,” Nash went on, “and you or Sheriff Drew here can correct me if I’m wrong. What I’m wondering is why in the hell you think you can just let yourself into Metro unannounced, and in the company of Corporal Levi, one of your soldiers. If you’ll remember, the document we signed was about how the military will take care of the military, and the civilians will take care of the civilians. So why is Levi here?”

  “If you did indeed read the documents, you’d know only a select few soldiers weren’t intended to come to Metro. Corporal Levi is not one of them. That makes him one of your charges.”

  “When we reach the edge of the solar system in a month’s time,” Nash said. “Not before.”

  “That’s not what was written.”

  “From the moment Pioneer leaves Earth’s atmosphere up until the moment Pioneer exits the solar system,” Nash recited. “There’s no specific timeframe mentioned, which means I’m within my rights to make you take him back until we get to Pluto.”

  “The man is sick,” Tyson hissed, pushing the lie. “He’s here because he’s unfit to carry out his duties. It made more sense to bring him to Metro for aid.”

  “And you were just going to drop him off here, without notifying myself or the Sheriff?” Nash asked. “I know you have a doctor out there. Okoye, right?”

  “That’s not the pont. I admit to taking a shortcut—”

  “You mean, cutting me out of the equation entirely?”

  “Governor, I don’t have the time to quibble about this.”

  ”You and your man shouldn’t have come here without notifying me ahead of time. But since you are here, you should get the hell out. Both of you.”

  Tyson’s jaw clenched, as did his fists. He couldn’t believe the way Nash was treating him. Weren’t they on the same damn side? Why couldn’t he just get in, drop Levi off, and get out? This whole situation was getting way out of hand, and he had no more patience for it.

  “He needs help,” Tyson said. “And his kids are here. You wouldn’t keep him from his children, would you?”

  Nash smiled. “So that’s why he’s here? Because he’s homesick? What kind of people are in the military these days?”

  “Whatever people we can find,” Tyson snapped furiously. “You can say whatever you want about me, but don’t you dare disparage the men and women who got you here alive, many of whom died protecting this ship while we launched.”

  Nash flinched at the rebuke. He swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m sorry. That was out of line. I do apologize. Let’s back up a step and keep this discourse civil.”

  Tyson backed down. “Agreed.”

  “Here’s how I see it, Captain,” Nash said. “You and Corporal Levi entered my domain without permission. That means you’re trespassing. If I wanted, I could have Sheriff Drew here arrest you and bring you to lockup.”