Luca (26 page)

“You have curry?” Giraffe’s head swivels on his long neck. His mouth drops open. “It’s been ages since I’ve tasted curry.”

The other girls nod in disbelief.

Rika turns to open the door. “Luca, can you come help me? We have a lot of catching up to do.”

37

BACK

Jedd sits on a plastic box inside the tent, his head pounding and stomach still queasy. At least he’s been freed.

The flap on the tent is flung back. Light explodes through the entrance.

Two large men in army fatigues throw Ricky into the middle of the floor. He lands on his face and rolls to a stop, hands on his belly and red goo dripping from his lips.

“You OK?” Jedd kneels and lifts Ricky’s head.

Looking up, Ricky manages a smile just before turning and retching more red death onto the dirt floor. “Never been so glad to see you. Moses wasn’t in a good mood. Soldiers were coming to shoot me. Had me tied up to a post, just like when we were kids. Guns trained on my chest. Remember? Thought for sure it was the end.”

Jedd wipes Ricky’s mouth with his shirtsleeve. “You know I’d never let that happen to you.”

“You made a deal with the bastard, didn’t you? Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stopped the execution. You know Moses. He doesn't like traitors.” Ricky turns to retch again, but nothing comes out. Convulsions rack his body, and then he settles down. “So what was it? Something big? Something impossible?"

“As a matter of fact, Moses and I—”

The flap of the tent gets yanked back again. Four soldiers carry Qaara into the tent, one holding onto each of her limbs. She’s blindfolded and squirming like a severed snake. They drop her on the floor and leave.

She lies still for a moment and then sits up, as if smelling the air.

“Jedd?”

He stoops and undoes her blindfold, unable to suppress the big, goofy smile on his face. “So good to see you. Are you—”

In less than a second, her fist connects with his jaw and lays him out flat on the floor. Then she jumps on top of him, grabs his shirt and pulls him up within inches of her lips.

He wraps his arms around her head and closes off the distance, kissing her.

For an instant, she doesn’t resist.

And then she thrusts him down, kneeling on his chest and arms.

Jedd looks up into a picture of beautiful rage.

Her fingers find his throat and begin to squeeze. “You think this is funny, do you? One big joke.”

Moving his mouth and trying to talk, Jedd chokes. Qaara won’t let go. He manages to get out two words, using up the last of the air in his lungs.

“Saved you.”

With no oxygen, Jedd’s consciousness slips away.

And then Qaara yanks him up. “Tell me the truth. The old guy named Moses said you came back to join the Family. He said you brought me here as a peace offering for him. He tried to—”

Jedd takes in a deep breath. “He’s a liar. You know I’d never do that. It was your idea to come to the Zone, remember? You're the one who wants to make it to Colorado. I was pushing for Florida.” He clenches his jaw. “Did anyone hurt you?”

“From the looks of it, I’ll bet it was the other way around.” Ricky smiles weakly.

“They must not think a woman’s capable of fighting.” Qaara presses a fist to her palm. “I showed them a thing or two.”

“Unless they’ve changed, the women in Moses’ tribe do what they’re told. My guess is they’ve never seen anyone like you.”

“I’ve seen men like that before. In India. My own father. When I ran away from Genesis, I left that part of me behind.” Qaara shakes her head. "What happened? Why did they decide to put us together?”

Ricky points at Jedd. “Looks like the big boy here made a deal with Moses. Never even bothered to ask us.”

“What kind of deal?” Qaara says.

*******

“Are you crazy?” Qaara glares down at Jedd and then swings her eyes past Ricky.

“Look.” Jedd holds up a hand to quiet Qaara’s fury. “I know Moses. If he doesn’t think he can use us, he’ll kill us.”

“Let me see if I have this straight.” Qaara turns her back on Jedd and paces back and forth in the tent. “You volunteered us to go back to the City and help that madman unleash smallpox on the population? I can’t believe you would agree to that. Do you have any idea what smallpox does to a person?”

“I’m just trying to buy some time to save you so you can save the world. I’m not going to let Moses use the virus.”

“We don’t have time for this. We should just destroy the virus and get on our gyropods and head west. To the Free City of Denver. There isn’t much time left."

“Actually, I never said I would take Moses all the way back to the City. I only agreed to come up with a
plan
to get back to the City. I have no intention of actually going there.” Jedd rubs the rope burns on his wrists. “Look, we don’t have any choice. We have to play along with Moses. The guy has a long memory. And he’s not forgiving. He's ready to kill Ricky and me right now. I can only guess what he was planning for you. There’s no other way to buy time.”

“Which we are quickly running out of.” Qaara flings open the tent flap. Her eyes widen. “Did you see this?”

Jedd walks to her side. “Incredible.” He looks out on a field with rows of green and gray tents. Shiny new army trucks and jeeps neatly line up in rows and hide under layers of camouflage netting. Helicopters with their thin rotors and glass bulb cockpits sit like waiting locusts. Men and women walk around in military fatigues and helmets with machine guns hanging from their shoulders. Guns that actually shoot lead bullets.

Just like in the old movies.

“He certainly does have an army.” Qaara shakes her head. “But if they get within ten klicks of the City, the sky will fill with attack ships, pulse cannons, mag-lasers and drone-swarms. They won’t last five minutes.”

“I don’t know.” Jedd turns and walks back into the tent. “Moses is a smart guy. I’ve seen him in a fight before. He knows how to make the most of his resources. All we have to do is get him close. Give him a shot.”

Qaara shakes her head. “Impossible. Moses has no electronics. What can he possibly do to the City?”

“I think I saw some radios,” Ricky says.

“OK, so they have rudimentary communications.” Qaara walks to the middle of the tent and sits on a box. “But they completely lack the data-crunching algorithms and AI capabilities that are commonplace in modern civilization. It’s analog versus digital. Analog versus quantum. Quantum wins every time. It’ll be a total one-sided slaughter.”

“Moses isn’t going to like it if that’s all we have to tell him.” Jedd takes in a deep breath. “If he thinks we can’t help him, then he’ll just kill Ricky and me. And make you his slave. And I'm not going to let that happen. I’ll lie if I have to.”

“So we have to come up with a workable plan or at least one that sounds workable. Otherwise, we’re toast.” Ricky sits up. The color is returning to his face. "Looks like we’ll have to put off that trip to Denver.”

“There’s just one big problem.” Qaara faces Jedd, hands on hips. “Have you forgotten about the Cloud? Earth will be swallowed in two days. The killer molecules will rain down from the skies. Things will go downhill fast after that. We don’t have much time to do anything.”

Ricky raises his hand. “What? Are you crazy? The world’s gonna end and no one thought that was important enough to tell me?”

“There are a few things we need to explain to you, Ricky. Sorry, but we didn’t have much time till now.” Jedd motions to Qaara. "Be my guest.”

Qaara proceeds to tell Ricky about the Cloud in space and the killer molecule and the acid.

By the end of her explanation, Ricky’s eyes are wide. He shakes his head. “Why didn’t you tell me before? How do you know any of this is true?"

“It’s all on a memory crystal Mercer gave me. He’s keeping it a big secret. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to tell the world.” Qaara lets the rope strand drop from her fingers. “Imagine what will happen when all the structures in the world are coated in that kind of acid.”

Ricky swallows. “The end of civilization.”

“The end of everything,” Qaara says. “Except for Mercer. He’s got a material that withstands the acid, and he’s constructed a large compound in Japan stocked with food, technology, everything he needs to preserve civilization. And he’s going to make it available to a few thousand lucky people he's chosen. Anyone not on his list will die.”

“What’s the point?” Ricky says. “There won't be anything left once the killer molecule does its work, right?”

“Not quite.” Qaara stands and walks to the tent flap, closing it tighter. “The killer molecule eventually burns itself out. What it leaves behind is nothing short of incredible."

Jedd and Ricky sit in silence, waiting for her to continue.

“All the dissolved matter turns into a sort of biological stew that recombines into something new. Something
alive
.” Qaara turns from the tent flap to face them. "It’s called the Last Universal Common Ancestor. The LUCA. The precursor to all life. Evolution starts over. But Mercer isn’t going to wait another three billion years for that to happen. He's going to try to beat the system. His compound is stocked with basic groups of plants and animals.”

“Like Noah’s ark?” Jedd says.

“Same concept. Billions will die. Only Mercer and his chosen few will survive. They will quite literally inherit a new Earth all their own.”

“So,” Jedd says, “I’ve got a tiny little question. If the killer molecule is going to destroy every living creature not in Mercer’s compound, what can we possibly do? What’s the point of even trying if we’re all going to be dead in a few days?"

“Maybe not every living creature will be destroyed. And there’s no need for
all
the humans outside of Mercer’s complex to be destroyed either.” Qaara paces the short length of the tent. “We don’t know how the oceans will be affected. Maybe the water will dilute the toxin enough so that it doesn’t kill all marine life. And then there are all the ways that humans might be able escape.”

“I don’t understand,” Jedd says.

“Think about it. The acid ate through 200 feet of bedrock, but what if someone was in a mine thousands of feet below the surface? What if you were in a submarine resting on the bottom of the Marianna Trench in the Pacific Ocean when this all hit? The point is, there may be ways for some people to escape the destruction. The world needs to know about it. All the information Mercer has been hoarding needs to be released to the public on the Mesh where it can get some attention. But that’s only going to happen if we do it in a way that Mercer can’t control.”

Jedd nods. “And the sooner we give the world notice, the sooner people can get to work on survival plans.”

“OK. Now I get it. Access to the Mesh is key.” Ricky stands and joins Qaara in the middle of the tent. “Too bad Moses took my jax. I don't suppose either of you have yours, do you?”

Qaara and Jedd both shake their heads.

“We couldn’t access the Mesh from here anyway. It’s too far away from any Mesh-hubs. The bottom line is clear. We have two choices." Ricky extends his thumb. “Choice number one, escape Moses and the Family, steal the gyropods back and try to make it through the Zone to the Free City of Denver, which was your original plan, I take it.”

“Yes,” Qaara says.

“That’s not going to happen.” Jedd sneaks a peak outside the flap of the tent. “Look at all those soldiers. We’ll never get through.”

“Choice number two.” Ricky extends his index finger. “Go back to the City.”

“With Moses in tow,” Jedd says.

“Not my first choice,” Qaara says. “But the more I think about it, it might be our only choice.”

“So, we’re back to where we started. Figure out a plan to get Moses close to the City.”

“What about the smallpox virus?” Ricky says. “Are we really going to let him unleash that?”

Jedd purses his lips. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the least of our worries?”

“What do you mean?” Ricky says.

“What he means,” Qaara says, “is that the killer molecule will kill everything anyway, including the virus.”

“Exactly,” Jedd says.

“Alright, then, what are you suggesting?” Ricky leans back on his hands.

Almost instantly, a plan comes together in Jedd’s mind. And that worries him. It’s simple. Maybe too simple.

“How about this?” Jedd squats down on the floor between them, lowering his voice. “We tell Moses it’s his lucky day. He has a 48-hour window to get close to the City. We can help him cross the Divide. We’ll scout ahead on the gyropods and make sure the path is clear.”

“And, just supposing we actually get close to the City, what then?” Ricky narrows his eyes.

Qaara motions that she’s going to speak. “We slip away at the earliest opportunity and access the Mesh in a big way. Upload everything on my memory cube. Try to get the word out in a Mesh-blast that Mercer can’t stop.”

“Pretty vague,” Ricky says. “And Moses isn’t stupid. The closer we get to the City, the closer he’ll watch us. Do you really think we’ll be able to get away?”

“The only alternative is to make a break for it now.” Jedd moves to the tent flap to look out. “And that doesn’t look very promising either.”

“So it’s settled.” Qaara rises. “We take Moses back to the City. Starting tonight.”

38

CURRY

“You should have killed them both a long time ago.”

Rika pulls up on a handle attached to a wooden square in the middle of the kitchen. A floorboard moves, exposing a dank cellar under the house. She walks down a narrow set of stairs and returns with a bowl of potatoes, carrots and onions. Then she goes to a pot of water sitting over an old propane stove and grasps a knob. With a flick of her wrist, flames jump up from the stove to lick the bottom of the pot.

Luca moves to the stainless steel counter. “I’ll peel the potatoes and cut the onions.”

“Zero and Giraffe,” Rika says. “They tortured you. They beat the other girls. And you did
nothing
.” She opens a cabinet and pulls out a weathered bag of rice. Grabbing a cup, she fills it five times, dropping the rice into another pot. “I listened. Heard it all. Mostly in the middle of the night. I could feel your pain and your fear. You never fought back. You never even
tried
to hurt them. Why?” Rika lifts a small knife, stares at the reflection of her eyes in the blade and hands it to Luca, smiling.