Higher Ground (8 page)

The Institute might be the local arm of the all-powerful Terraforming Authority, but the colony’s elected council ran everything else. And there was one thing in particular Zach needed them to do.

“They have to order an evacuation of the island.”

This time, Morrison had to shout to make himself heard over the reaction. “Dr. Benesh, that’s quite enough. We will look at your results and decide if we need to alert the council. In the meantime, go back to your lab. Now.”

Zach glanced at Phillips, who was sitting reading the data, the only one in the room not protesting. He could see it, couldn’t he? See what it meant. He should back Zach up. Instead, he looked up and nodded in confirmation of what Morrison had said.

“Go back to your lab, Benesh. Finish your quarterly report.”

The chill in his tone implied Zach might not be able to call it
his
lab much longer, but this implied threat had no effect. In a few days, nobody here would have a lab or an office either. He wanted to tell Phillips to stick his quarterly reports where the sun never shone but managed to at least keep from doing that. Without another word, he spun and ran from the building.

He found his bike still lying on the ground where he’d left it. If he wanted to keep his job, he would go back to the Physical Sciences building as ordered and wait for his respected superiors—he snorted—to check the data. But he feared he already knew what would happen. They’d argue about the results and decide they needed to run more tests. Zach couldn’t wait around for that, whatever it meant for his job. His job had ceased to have any meaning the moment the full implications of the results became clear to him.

Zach rode off.

He didn’t go back to his lab.

* * * *

Adam saw him. He’d come out to the test fields to check the growth of a batch of plants and saw Zach riding fast down the road. He’d have to pass Adam, who was working near the road. Surely he’d stop to explain himself and apologize for his behavior last night and this morning.

Zach didn’t stop. He rode past Adam without so much as a glance. Rode like his ass was on fire and a hellhound was snapping at his back wheel.

Well, shit.

Adam began to use his trowel in an aggressive manner as he created a new hole for an uprooted plant.
Looks like that was dead in the water, then
. They’d been doing so well, but then it all suddenly went to hell. He hated feeling this annoyed about it. Zach shouldn’t be able to get to him like this. Adam barely knew him, and he wasn’t all that cute anyway. His nose was definitely too big. And the big-nosed bastard might at least have had the class to come and talk to him and end it face-to-face.

He stomped into the botany lab half an hour later and went over to the sink. As he scrubbed the dirt from under his fingernails, Jan strolled in, carrying a mug of coffee.

“Oh, there you are. Have you heard about the excitement over at the Admin building? Your new boyfriend’s gone crazy.”

“What?”

“Benesh. Burst into a meeting of the senior staff and started raving about the volcano exploding and throwing us all into the sea. Bill said they could hear the row all across the second floor.”

“The volcano?” Adam knew Zahara Island sat atop what had been a gigantic ancient supervolcano, but it had been extinct for millions of years. “That’s crazy. And he’s not my boyfriend.” Good thing too, if the guy was insane enough to burst into senior staff meetings. By God, most of those people had tenure. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”

She shrugged. “Hayley said he said the island was going to sink, not that the volcano will explode, but hey, pretty crazy stuff, right?”

“Erupt,” Adam said. “Volcanoes erupt, not explode.” He wiped his hands dry. “How could the island sink?”

“He’s the crazy geologist, not me.”

“He’s a geophysicist.”

“Aren’t you Captain Pedantic today? Anyway, if he’s as smart as they say, he’ll be hiding under a bench in his lab. Can you imagine what Phillips will do to him? Guy will be flinching at sudden noises for a month.”

Adam could believe it. You didn’t do an end run around your head of department. There were channels. He frowned, thinking about Zach passing him earlier—
not even a glance
—and the route he’d been taking. He hadn’t gone to hide in his lab; he’d been heading into town. Maybe he should go see what Zach was doing. Keep him from getting into any more trouble. He had no reason to, after the way Zach had jerked him around, but Adam had second thoughts about just ending things with him. Zach was too interesting to do that. Despite the nose. Actually, Adam liked the nose. Patrician, you might call it.

“I’ve got some errands to run,” he said. “I’ll be a couple of hours.”

“Okay. Are you taking the truck?”

“Yes.”

“You remember what Dr. Wilson said about treating it like it’s your own.”

“I know.”

“It’s for department business only.”

“I know. I’m going to…check out some of the test crops out of town.”

He was a liar. A few moments later, he maneuvered the botany department’s truck onto the same road Zach had taken.

Chapter Seven

“I’m sorry, but Ms. Johnson can’t be disturbed. She’s in a meeting.”

Zach had to wonder if everyone but him spent their entire time having meetings. How did they ever get any work done?

“But I must speak to her at once. It’s a matter of life and death!”

The secretary had no reaction to his dramatic statement. She must have heard all this before from people trying to get in to see her boss.

“If you’d like to wait, sir, it should only be another half an hour, and then she may be able to spare you a few minutes.”

Would half an hour make much difference? When she heard what he had to say, Johnson would spare him more than a few minutes. Should he wait? No. If she would listen, then the sooner she started listening, the better. He turned away from the secretary’s desk and headed toward the comfortable-looking armchairs provided for visitors. Apparently pleased with his cooperation, the secretary spoke in a warmer tone.

“Would you like some coffee—hey, stop!”

Zach dodged past her and grabbed the handle of the door into Johnson’s office. If it had been locked, he’d have crashed into it nose first, but it opened, and he burst into the room. Johnson sat behind a desk, a man and woman sitting on the other side of it. All of them stared at Zach as he stumbled over an unexpected rug. He heard the secretary scurry in behind him.

“Ms. Johnson, I must speak to you. The colony is in terrible danger. You must issue a distress call and start an evacuation immediately.”

“I’ll call security.” The secretary ran back out.

Johnson rose from her desk. “First, please tell me who you are. Then tell me what you’re talking about.”

Damn, he hadn’t identified himself. “Dr. Zach Benesh, ma’am, Physical Sciences Department. I’ve got some very disturbing results from scans of the geology of the island.”

“Dr. Benesh, this is rather irregular. Surely Dr. Morrison—”

“I know, I’m sorry. They’re examining the data, but you need to know about this immediately.” He heard sounds, heavy footsteps, and knew the security men were behind him. Johnson remained as calm as if he’d brought her news of a problem with the colony’s supply of marshmallows. As a politician, she must be used to dealing with unreasonably excited people. But she needed to
listen
to him. She needed to understand the urgency of the situation.

“Ms. Johnson, this island is about to sink into the ocean.”

“He’s crazy,” one of the other people sitting by her desk said.

“What are you talking about?” demanded the other. “Are you trying to spread panic?”

Zach groaned. Dammit, why wouldn’t people listen? Panic? Maybe they did need a little panic here. It would be too late to panic about it when the water was up to their knees and rising. He sprang forward and shoved his Link into Johnson’s hands. This proved to be a mistake, as the security men at once grabbed his arms. He struggled against them to no effect.

“You have to listen to me! If we don’t leave right away, every man, woman, and child of the colony will die!”

“Throw him out,” one of the other people at the desk said. “You’d better call Morrison and see if he knows anything about this lunatic.”

“Yes…” Johnson said, looking at the Link in her hand. Look at it, Zach thought. Just look at it. But she wouldn’t understand the data; it was too specialized. She was thinking about it, he knew; she had to keep an open mind, in case he was right. But, like Morrison, she had few reasons to listen to Zach. She didn’t know him. She’d want to think about it and take advice and decide if she was ready to risk taking a chance on the word of a young, unproven, and junior scientist. She wouldn’t make a decision affecting so many people—so many voters—lightly, if it could come back and bite her in the next election. She’d consult and spread the responsibility around. But that would all take too long.

Johnson passed the Link back to Zach.

“I will speak to Dr. Morrison. Good-bye, Dr. Benesh.”

She nodded at the security men, and they hustled Zach from the office. A moment later, they manhandled him through the main entrance to the colony’s central admin building and pushed him back out onto the street. He stood panting, thinking. He needed to calm down and find someone who could understand this and who wouldn’t reject the idea on principle. He knew only one person who fit that description.

His bike lay on the ground where he’d left it. He lifted it up and started the motor, but it only gave a brief whir and then died. The battery warning showed red on the handlebar display.
Hell.

“Zach?”

He looked up to see a familiar vehicle pulling in to park beside him. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to tidy it up and smiled at the driver.

“Hello, Adam.”

“Are you okay?” Adam asked, getting out of the truck.

“Fine,” Zach said, though he feared there might be much evidence to the contrary; his cheeks burned, and his hair, unruly at the best of times, was a disaster. Running his hand through it again only made it worse.

“Adam, will you help me, please?” He had no right to ask, he knew, after the way he’d acted last night and this morning. But he was desperate.

“Of course.” Adam frowned. “Ah, I mean, what do you want help with?”

“A ride. My bike’s battery is flat.”

“Back to the Institute?”

Zach shook his head. “No. Do you know where Professor Korrie lives?”

“Korrie? Yes, I think so.”

“Would you please take me there right away?”

Adam hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. “Not exactly department business, but what the hell? Chuck your bike in the bed.”

“Thank you so much.”

Zach found a box of sandwiches on the dash when he climbed in and remembered he hadn’t eaten all day.

“May I have one of these?”

“Knock yourself out,” Adam said. Zach demolished the whole boxful as Adam drove out of town.

“I’m sorry about last night and this morning,” Zach said as he ate. “I have no right to expect you to help me after that. But this is more important.” He grimaced when Adam frowned at him. Yes, more important than their budding relationship, however harsh that sounded.

“Is it about those test results of yours?” Adam asked. “The ones you told me to pack a bag because of?”

“Yes.”

“I’m told you busted into a senior staff meeting.”

“Yes. And I just forced my way into Ms. Johnson’s office.”

“That really doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Zach shook his head. “You’ll understand when we get to Korrie’s. I’ll explain then.”

Adam sighed and shook his head. “Okay. But you know none of this is going to make them likely to renew your contract.”

Zach laughed. His tension and tiredness made it close to hysteria, and Adam gave him a look of alarm. Calming himself, Zach rubbed his eyes. “In a few days, none of that is going to matter. I have to send a message.”

An idea had hit him suddenly as they drove through the town and he saw people on the street and children playing outside the school. He’d tried to convince those at the top to listen to him. But there might be another approach. He took out his Link.

“Adam, if you wanted to have a large public meeting, where would you hold it?”

“A public meeting? I guess the plaza, or if you wanted to be undercover, the B dome.”

“Ah, yes, good.” He started to tap on his screen.

“Thinking of running for office? I don’t think the next council elections are for six months.”

They would never happen. Zach kept typing. The B dome made sense. He’d use the platform the schoolchildren had performed on at the recital, which seemed like a hundred years ago. Ideal. He wouldn’t be able to arrange for chairs, would have to do without.

He glanced to the side, at Adam’s tanned, bare forearms with more of his many freckles and the fine hairs that caught the sun. But the glance only lasted a second. He couldn’t think about Adam now. He opened the messaging program and started to type. He ate the last sandwich as he composed the message and drank some water. He’d like coffee. He needed coffee.

Adam kept giving him odd looks. He even spoke a couple of times, but Zach barely grunted in reply. He had to get this message out. He avoided too much detail, hoped leaving the threat mysterious might intrigue people enough. Then he feared it was too vague and added a last line to the message.

If you value your lives and the lives of your children, YOU MUST ATTEND.

He didn’t delude himself everyone in the colony would show up, but if he got enough, then he could create a groundswell. He tapped Send, and a moment later, the message appeared in his inbox. He heard a soft beep from Adam’s pocket.

“If you have something to tell me, I’m right here,” Adam said.

“It’s a message to everyone in the colony. Thank you for your suggestion about the dome.”

“You sent a message to everyone in the colony? I didn’t think the message network even allowed that.”