Letting out a sigh, Laura shook her head. "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, Ray, but.... It's too much right now. You're lucky to still be in the division doing light duties. Especially since they've gotten approval to open up the Outer Limits to A-CAN."
Ray made a face. "And to think, I donated food rations to that loser Richter, only for him to do this stuff, anyway."
"He is a rancid human being," Maddie commented.
Mouth agape, Ray turned to her in awe. "That's what you're worried about? You don't think I know that? I voted for him because of what he'd do, not because this is a personality contest. He wasn't bringing A-CAN to the Outer Limits. His reasons might have been twisted but the results were supposed to be the same. No poison for the Vagrants. The end."
The confines of the vehicle were quiet. The remnants of the driving robot lay at Maddie's feet. She felt better knowing Laura sat behind the wheel.
"Still think I'm crazy?"
Hands bound behind her back, Maddie sat slumped. "I never thought you were crazy."
"Course, you did. At least for a little bit. I've often thought it of myself, so you must have, too."
The silence after that was unbearable.
"You gonna tell 'em what it was that saved you?" Ray muttered.
Maddie sat back. "Why do you assume that I know?"
"It wasn't a plant, was it?" Ray met her gaze. "A small one with greenish-red leaves?"
One gasp of air and Maddie's body sank.
"Found some on Augustus when I tagged his body and sent it back." Ray shrugged. "Now three months later they're itching for a reason to get us into the Outer Limits. You don't think that's weird?"
Maddie didn't. Until five months ago when they came back from the Old City, Maddie wanted nothing more than better air for the Outer Limits. She believed the reports that said Vagrants died of the tumors much faster and that's why harvested bodies were so readily available. But she couldn't ignore the fact that Gus wasn't harvested. Why were their tumors different? Was there such a thing?
"I kept the leaves for myself," Ray said. "Crushed it up and hid it safe. But...there are more."
Maddie looked up at her and begged, "Stop talking."
"And I'm wondering if they're going in to find it."
"Stop talking," Maddie repeated. "Stop talking. Stop working your brain like a rodent on a wheel. Stop talking."
Ray's boldness faded. "Don't call me a rodent. You don't get to call me that again."
Maddie sat there. She felt helpless.
"I can't fight this way for long. What happens when I get bigger and can't run? What happens...what happens when it's born?"
She felt stuck, with no safety. And in a few hours she'd have to give Andy an answer.
Like Ray, Laura listened to Richter's radio station. Today's news was troubling. Sure enough, it ended followed by a message from base and a request for Volunteers in the Outer Limits to secure key areas where A-CAN centers could be built. Additional sweet air stops as well. This was a commercial endeavor. Nobody had time to go in and build schools or fix those fifty-year-old air filters, but the sweet air would be fine.
And Maddie forced herself to believe it.
"No one'll listen to talk like yours. It's foolish."
"Any more foolish than catching people in the Old City and chopping them up?" Ray asked, "Would they believe that?"
YOU ARE READING
Sentinel 555: AIR ✔
科幻In Maddison's last visit to the ancient city, she encountered a man. More surprising was what he lacked on his face.... He wore no mask. A hundred years since the Great Disaster and he not only lived beyond infancy, but he breathed the air. No one b...
