Falling Sky (18 page)

Miranda.

I walk toward her, grab her by the arm, and drag her back into the back room of the gondola. I can feel the heat rising in my face. But my momentary anger is drowned out by my shock.

“Miranda, what . . . what are you doing here?”

She tries to keep her face straight, but the hint of a smile flits across it. “Making sure you're okay.”

“Miranda, you're supposed to be back at your lab.”

“I left Sergei and Clay behind with Alpha. They'll have to do without me for a little while.”

“How did you even get off that rock? How did you end up on the
Osprey
?”

Miranda sighs. “I begged them to let me stay in Tamoanchan. I spoke to Clay and Sergei, and we decided that someone—one of us, I mean—had to be free. We weren't expecting to be grounded. We need certain supplies. Things we don't have on the
Pasteur
. I figured Diego was my best bet, so I went to find him and he told me about your plan.”

“They didn't have your supplies on Tamoanchan?”

Miranda cocks an eyebrow. “No. I checked. I even gave Brana a list. Someone had to fill in the gaps.” She shrugs. “I have the most field experience.”

It's true, I think. And for a moment I think of how annoyed Clay must have been and I want to smile, but then I'm back to Miranda. I drop my face into my hands. “Miranda, do you realize why I left you there?”

She walks forward. “Yes. Because you wanted me out of the way. Because you were trying to help. But I can't do what I need to do without these supplies. And . . .”

“And?”

“And maybe I wanted to help
you
this time.”

“What are you going to do, Miranda?”

“Think, for one,” she says. “And if you're dealing with Gastown, you're going to need some help. I remember what they did. I was there, too.”

Images of dying Ferals with gaping chest wounds, spraying blood everywhere. Human faces contorted in fear.

I turn away. “I didn't want you involved in this.”

“I know. You want to protect me. Keep me safe.”

“That's my job, isn't it?”

“It's the job I hired you to do, yes,” she says. “But it's also the job you quit.”

I wince. I can feel a dull ache building behind my eyes. Maybe a side effect of all that beer. I rub the bridge of my nose.

“You put us down on Tamoanchan. I'm just trying to help make it work. And . . .”

I feel her presence like static, close to my body. “And?”

She stares back at me but doesn't say anything.

Before either of us can continue, Rosie appears in the doorway. “We've got ships out there,” she says.

I spare Miranda a look that I'm hoping says “We'll continue this chat later” and then head back to take a look.

Rosie points out one of the windows. I look out and see several ships moving at an angle to us. It looks like they're moving away. “You worried?” I ask.

Rosie shrugs. “After last time we're a little bit jumpy.”

“I completely understand.”

“They're flying Gastown flags,” Miranda says. She's holding a pair of binoculars.

“More of them?” I ask.

“They're up to something,” Rosie says.

“I'm still surprised that they're flying Gastown colors,” I say. “Pretty much everyone must know that Valhalla is running the show. Why the pretense?”

“Tell me more about this Valhalla,” Diego says from the controls.

“You sure you can handle those ships?” I ask.

Diego fixes me with a look that shuts me up. “I'll keep our distance. Just . . . keep an eye on them. If they seem to take any interest in us, let me know.”

“I will certainly do that,” I say.

“Okay, then. Valhalla. It's out near what my dad called the Great Lakes. Colder country. Unlike Gastown, which hangs free, Valhalla is anchored to a building out there, one of the tallest in the country, I think.”

“It's been around long?” Rosie asks.

“Pretty long. Before Gastown, certainly. Gastown was supposed to be the new, improved version. I bet that pissed off Valhalla something good.” I pause for a moment. “Either of you know what Vikings are?”

Diego shakes his head, but Rosie nods. “I think so. Like barbarians or something, right?”

I nod. “Something like that. Valhalla is run by a bunch of freaks who follow those old ways. They're into conquering others, pillaging, taking what they want. They believe in violence. Their leader calls himself Odin, named after an old god. Valhalla is named after the hall where the warriors of the world would go or something like that.”

“Rosie, you know about that stuff?” Diego asks. Rosie shakes her head. “She was the one who got all the learning,” he continues. “I was too busy getting into trouble.”

“I wasn't much for mythology,” she says.

“I would stay away from anyone from Valhalla,” I say. “They're crazy. You can see it in their eyes.”

“Aren't we headed directly into a nest of them? After we get this salvage?”

“Well . . . yeah,” I say. I shrug. “I guess you're out of luck, then.”

“Hopefully not,” Rosie says.

Miranda takes off her glasses and wipes them with the bottom of her shirt. “There's something that's been bothering me about Gastown,” she says. “Sergei and I were talking about it.”

“What?” I ask.

“Well, it's just that Valhalla's pattern, before Gastown, I mean, was always to sack a place and then leave. They would take what they wanted and then return to Valhalla. Like what they did to Apple Pi.”

The mention of the Core makes my blood pressure rise.

“But they're holding Gastown,” Miranda says.

I shrug. “For the helium, I'd guess. It's valuable.”

“Sure,” she says. “But they'd have to keep the operation moving along. It doesn't seem like something they'd be interested in.”

“Maybe they have new leadership,” I say. Which scares me even more. A bunch of violent, loco monsters I'm used to. Violent, loco monsters with a plan, well, that's another story.

I notice Miranda's look. It's like she has more to say. “What is it?” I ask.

“I just . . .” She puts her glasses back on. “It was hard to be sure from the wreckage of Apple Pi, but I think there were things missing. Not just destroyed. Taken.”

“That's ridiculous,” I say. “Why would they take anything?”

“Why indeed?” She stares at me. “What if they do have new leadership? What if their priorities have changed?”

I shake my head. “That doesn't make any sense.”

Miranda opens her mouth, about to say something, but then Rosie cuts in. She's looking down from the window.

“We're here,” she says.

We hover over the Feral nest and I look down through Diego's scope at the buildings below. Several rectangular buildings form a hexagon surrounded by green fields and a crumbling fence. Like everything in the Sick, it is slowly being swallowed by vegetation, and plants mat its surface. “What was this place?” I ask.

“A school,” Diego says.

“With that kind of privacy?”

He shrugs. “A special school. For smart people. Or rich people. They had those, you know.”

“The people or the schools?” But I know what he's talking about. It's the kind of place Miranda might have gone in another life. The kind of legacy passed down through her family.

“Once the Bug got in there,” he says. “Well . . .”

It would spread like wildfire. Kids, even now, are never the cleanest. And locked up in classrooms. Behind doors. Behind fences. Off on a hill. I wondered when the last of those kids had died out. Now their children's children roamed that hill. As Ferals.

“And no one has looted the place?” I ask.

“It's teeming,” he says. “The guy I talked to pulled out after the first few rooms. But there's salvage to be had. Scientific equipment. Possibly some food that could keep.”

Miranda walks over to us. “We're not going to have time to go roaming about the place, trying to find something. Our best bet is to pick a strategic target, the kind of place that will give us what we want, and go there.”

I pull back the telescope and look at her in surprise.

“What?” she says. “I told you—I'm here for a reason.”

“It's a good plan,” I say. “Best to minimize our time on the ground. We go in, we get out.”

Everyone nods back at me. “We should have brought more people,” I say.

“Are you sure about that?” Miranda says. And she's right. More people would help, but I don't like to work like that. They could also get in the way. They could also get infected. Small was the way I liked it.

Used to be One was the way I liked it, but I guess I'm learning some new tricks after all.

I turn to Miranda. “Then where do we go?”

She looks down in the scope. “It's hard to tell—I don't know this place. But I used to raid schools with my folks growing up. Enough to give me a sense for the way they set these places up. I can't guarantee I'm right, but I'd go for that building.” She points at one of the larger buildings, though not the largest. “I'd guess that's where they did chemistry based on the ductwork on top.”

“I'm just going to pretend I know what you're talking about,” I say.

Miranda smiles. “Why alter a winning formula?” she asks.

“I think we should stay high,” I say. “We can use the ladder and bust in through the windows.”

Diego takes a turn at the scope. “That could be tricky, though. Stabilizing the ladder for one thing. Staying clear of any Ferals that might be in there.”

“I've done it before,” I say. “My dad and I used to do it all the time. Safer off of the ground, give the Ferals limited access to you.”

“Okay,” Diego says.

“We'll leave Rosie here to man the
Osprey
. If necessary she can pull us clear. Diego, you and me will go down. One in, one covering. Sound good?”

“You left me out,” Miranda says.

“I did,” I say.

“Then let me correct that oversight. You need me, if only to identify the important salvage. You're going to need some decent equipment. Besides, I may be able to score some equipment that might fill out our lab back in Tamoanchan.” She sets her jaw. “I'll go down second.”

“Miranda . . .”

“You go in first, then me, and Diego can cover us.”

It makes sense, so I don't argue. “Okay, let's go,” I say.

I have a sinking sensation as I check my ammo and secure Miranda's clothing. She does the same for me. I don't want to go down there. On my own I'd never touch the place. But then I think about the
Cherub
and that's enough to keep me going.

When we're all secured, we walk to the airship's ladder.

Then we go down.

I always feel relief at airship ladders because they lead to the sky and provide exit from the ground. But they aren't the most secure of things. They're notoriously unsteady, no matter how much you try to weight them, and holding anything while navigating one is extremely hard. I once lost my Dad's revolver trying to fire while climbing one, and it almost cost me my life trying to get it back.