Echoterminus: Echogenesis Book 3, page 23
“So you’re in here, too?” Sam asked her. He gestured at the barn door. “Why aren’t you and Kevin out there with the rest of your new friends?”
“Are you happy now?” she said, looking defiantly at him. “I did what I thought I had to do, to give us all a chance to survive. What did you do, apart from stand by while everything we built burned down around us?” She swallowed and looked away for a moment before continuing. “But there’s something more important you need to know.”
Sam felt his temper flare. “I’m not interested in your excuses.”
Reaching out, she took a grip on his upper arm and pulled him close, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper. “You need to listen,” she said. “They’re going to leave us behind.”
At first, Sam wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly. The barn was filled with a tumult of protesting voices: Ethan was hammering at the barn door, his face streaked with tears and demanding to go to his son. Irish stepped up to him and pressed her hands to his chest, then whispering something inaudible before Ethan collapsed against her, weeping.
“Leave us behind?” said Sam. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I overheard Piper talking to DeWitt,” Sun explained. “They don’t need us any more. They put us in here so we can’t interfere while they refuel the lander from our silos.”
A chill swept through Sam’s body. “Tell me exactly what they said.”
Sun recounted the conversation verbatim as best she could, while Sam listened with growing horror.
“I was on my way to tell Kevin what was happening when the new lander appeared. The next thing I knew, we both had guns pointed in our faces and we were being told we had to go in here with everyone else. They…” She gave Sam a look as if she had swallowed something sour. “They betrayed us.”
Like you deserved anything better, thought Sam, but his desire to hold onto grudges was slipping rapidly away.
“Thanks for telling me,” he said.
“We need to do something,” she said urgently.
“I agree. But right now, I’m not sure what that is.”
She glanced around. “Should we tell the others?”
“Maybe not,” said Sam. “I think Piper and the rest are still outside the barn. We don’t want anyone giving the game away, accidentally or otherwise. Let me talk to people one by one.”
He didn’t need to add because they trust me a lot more than they trust you.
She nodded hesitantly, then returned to Kevin’s side. Kevin, Sam noticed, had an ugly yellow bruise on one cheek. Something gave him the feeling it didn’t have anything to do with the explosion.
And there was another question that had been on his mind ever since the new lander had arrived: where were its crew?
Why hadn’t they shown their faces?
On a day full of surprises, Sam thought nothing else could astonish him.
Half an hour after they had all been forced into the barn, he heard raised voices from outside, followed by the sounds of a scuffle. A single rifle shot echoed across the mesa, and he, along with everyone else in the barn, waited to see what happened next.
Then came another shout, and a muffled scream of anger. Another minute passed, and then the barn door swung back open.
Sean Traynor, looking battered and bruised, was pushed inside, followed by Keira. As she entered, Piper planted one boot in the small of the younger woman’s back and shoved her into the dirt before slamming the barn door shut. Sam heard a jangle of metal as Piper replaced the chain on the door.
Keira, meanwhile, had fallen onto all fours, her face twisted in fury. Sam watched as she stumbled upright before running to the barn door.
She tried without success to haul it open again. Everyone watched in silence until, at last, she staggered back from the door and pressed her hands to her face.
“How about,” Ethan said to Sean, “you tell us what the hell is going on?”
Abruptly, Keira pushed past the people nearest her. She went to the rear of the barn and sat on one of the cots, her back to them as if dismissing them all.
Sam studied her for a moment, then stepped over to Sean.
“Is it true that Piper’s planning to abandon us all, while you and your friends fly off in that lander?”
From around him, Sam heard gasps and shouts.
Sean’s jaw fell open. “Who told you that?”
“It’s true.”
Sam turned to see Kevin had spoken. The rest of the mesa-dwellers exploded into gasps and shouts.
“Sun overheard them talking,” Kevin continued. “They’re leaving us all here to die.” He gestured at the locked door. “Can anyone see if they’re still out there?”
Irish, who was closest to the barn door, bent to peer through a gap between two of its planks. “I can see Piper,” she reported a moment later. “She’s talking to someone, but I don’t know who.”
“Any idea what they’re saying?” asked Ethan.
Irish listened a moment longer, then shook her head. “Can’t make anything out. I don’t get the impression they’re paying us much attention right now.”
“Keep an eye on them, can you?” Sam asked her, and Irish nodded, bending down again to peer outside.
“Keira?” Sam pushed past Simon and Kevin to stand by her. “Why did they throw you and Sean in here?”
Keira neither moved nor spoke for so long Sam started to think she wouldn’t speak at all. Then her shoulders rose and fell and she spoke in a flat monotone.
“They don’t trust us. Or at least, Piper doesn’t. Or it’s because I let Kim die before he could finish working on the drones. Or because everything fell apart the moment my father left.” A long moment passed. “He has my children.”
“Who has?” said Ethan.
“Vic,” said Sean. He nodded to the barn door. “Piper took Connor and Lucia inside the lander.”
“Wait,” said Angelina. “Does that mean you saw its crew?”
“No.” Sean looked suddenly troubled. “Only my father came out—no one else. I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Vic spoke to you?” Sam demanded, grabbing Sean by his shoulder and roughly twisting him around to face him. “What the hell did he say?”
“Nothing,” said Sean, looking panicked. “I mean, he only spoke to Piper. She—I mean, Piper—went to him as soon as he landed. They talked inside the lander for a long time. Then she came back out and ordered the others to hold me and Keira at gunpoint while she took Connor and Lucia over to the lander.”
“None of this,” said Angelina, “makes one bit of sense.”
Sam let go of Sean and turned away from him, thinking. “Florence told me Kim was killed when the tunnel collapsed,” he said. He looked back at Sean. “Did Kim finish his work on the drones?”
“No.”
“So we don’t have to worry about the pathogen?”
Sean hesitated a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t believe so, no.”
“Then that’s one thing we don’t have to deal with,” said Sam.
“Don’t be so sure,” said Keira. “If there’s a way to get them flying, they’ll figure it out. They were talking over ways to do it.”
“Why?” Angelina demanded. “They’ve got a lander! They can escape from here. Why kill the Cents when they don’t need to?”
“Because Traynor wants revenge,” said Ethan. “And not just against the Cents.”
“Hey!” said Irish, who was still by the barn door. “Something’s happening out there.”
Sam joined her by the barn door, kneeling to peer out through the same, narrow slit. He couldn’t see much more than a patch of ground.
“Here,” said Irish, moving to one side and gesturing to him to take her place.
He now had a reasonably clear view of the new lander. The lower bay ramp had been lowered, artificial light spilling down from its interior. Then, as he watched, Vic Traynor came down the ramp and walked out of view.
Sam let Irish take over again. A little while later she reported seeing Piper and DeWitt talking with Vic.
“They’re coming this way,” she said, jumping back onto her feet and moving back from the barn door.
The chain rattled, and the barn door slid open to reveal Vic Traynor, flanked by the two other rebels.
Except…something about Traynor struck Sam as different. There was something oddly unblinking about his gaze as he looked around at them all, pausing only briefly on Keira, who still sat with her back turned to everyone.
“I hear you’ve had a busy time while I’ve been away,” he said at last. His gaze settled on Kevin. “I need you to finish Kim’s work for us.”
Kevin blinked at Traynor. “After what you just did?” he thundered. “Go fuck yourself, Vic.”
Vic Traynor nodded to DeWitt. DeWitt slung his rifle over his shoulder by its strap, then unclipped a pistol from a holster on his hip. Stepping forward, he seized Sun by her arm before pressing the pistol against her jaw.
Sam started to move toward DeWitt. So did Ethan. Then Piper moved in turn to stand in their way, her rifle aimed at Ethan’s chest.
“Back off,” said Piper. “Now.”
Sam stepped slowly back. Sun’s mouth opened as if she were trying to say something, but no words emerged beyond a horrified gasp.
“Sorry,” Traynor said to Kevin. “Desperate times, and all that. Do what I ask, or DeWitt will blow her head off.”
“Where are the crew of the new lander?” Sam demanded. “Why haven’t we seen any sign of them?”
“Because they were all dead by the time I got there,” Traynor replied.
The way he said it, it was obvious to everyone in the barn that he was lying. But what chilled Sam was not just the fact he had lied, but that he clearly didn’t care if they believed him or not. And as he thought this, he again caught a flash of something in Traynor’s gaze, like glimpsing a wounded animal through tinted glass.
“Why are you doing this?” Sun gasped. “We helped you!”
“You helped yourself,” Traynor growled. He shifted his attention back to Kevin. “Karl here is going to assist you.”
“If Kim couldn’t get the drones in the air any sooner,” Sam shouted, “what the hell makes you think Kevin can?”
“We were all presumably picked for this mission,” Traynor countered, “because we were all smart and adaptable. Karl’s managed to patch something together, but we’re getting a little short on time. I’m sure he and Kevin can put their heads together long enough to complete the job.”
Kevin stared tight-lipped at Traynor, then gave him a tight nod. Traynor smiled, after which Piper ordered Kevin to stand next to the open barn door.
“Sean,” Traynor said to his son, “I want you to come here and stand with me.”
Sean stepped forward, but not, Sam noted, without considerable reluctance. “Are you going to tell me why I’m in here?” he asked. “I don’t understand—”
“Piper?” Traynor said to her before Sean could finish. “If you would.”
Piper set her icy gaze on Sean. “I heard your radio conversation when you thought no one was listening. The radio was set to a clear channel when, if you’d known what the fuck you were doing, you’d have set it to a secure channel.”
Sean’s expression shifted to outright terror. “I heard most of your conversation over my walkie-talkie,” Piper continued. “I know Amit Subarash’s voice. He talked like he knew you well, which shouldn’t be possible. He said he’d saved your life.” Her lip curled in disgust. “He ordered you to sabotage your own father’s efforts to save us all from the Cents.”
“Wait,” said Sean, his voice shrill with panic. “If you heard him, then you know what he said is true! If we use the pathogen, it’ll kill all of us!”
“He lied to you.” Piper’s voice was almost pitying. “Subarash is a deranged extremist. He’d willingly sacrifice every one of us to save the Cents, so he told you whatever he needed to, to make sure they lived while we all died.”
As she spoke, she stepped a little closer to Sean. “And you chose to trust him over us. The people who took care of you and gave you a home and safety in the forest. Even after you got injured, when we’d have been better off killing you rather than allowing you to become a burden.”
Sean stared first at her, and then at his father, with wide, terrified eyes. Piper turned her attention to Keira, who was staring at Vic with a stricken expression.
“After that,” Piper continued, staring hard at Keira, “we kept a very close eye on both of you. And you knew all about this, didn’t you?” she asked. “You’re hardly any better than your brother. Worse, probably.”
“Amit told the truth.” Sean stammered the words out. “Yes, I’ve been meeting with him. He’s the reason I survived all those years ago. I…I brought him things sometimes, to help him. If he says the pathogen will kill us, then we have to—”
One moment, Sean was standing there, pleading with his father. In the next, he was sprawled on the floor of the barn while blood pumped from a hole in his chest big enough Sam could have put his fist in it.
The sound of the shot reverberated around the barn. Sean, meanwhile, gaped up at the ceiling, his mouth working like he was trying to say something. Then his head fell back and he grew still, his face slackening with death.
Vic Traynor lowered the pistol that had appeared in his hand and gazed down at his son’s corpse with an unreadable expression. Keira, who had stood as Sean collapsed, swayed on her feet, her mouth wide in shock and disbelief.
Sam stared disbelievingly at Traynor. “You killed your own son?”
Keira suddenly knelt by Sean, lifting his head onto her lap while she begged him to wake up, to please talk to her.
“I’m tired of debate,” Vic Traynor shouted at the rest of them. “I’m tired of being betrayed and used. I’m tired of lies. You took the mesa from us—well, now you have it. You can stay here and rot.
“And you,” he said, stabbing a finger toward his daughter, “can stay here with them. I knew I was making a mistake leaving you in charge, but I couldn’t bring myself to face the truth. I had to find out from Piper that things were so much worse than I’d thought. To think,” he bellowed, “that my own flesh and blood betrayed me!”
The other rebels stood with their guns ready, and in that moment Sam had absolutely no doubt they were willing to kill all of them if it came to it.
“The Cents aren’t going away,” Traynor raged. “Not this time. They’ll stay right here until every last one of you is dead. They brought us to this, and for that, they’ll pay tenfold.” His face twisted into a sneer. “And honestly, I don’t give a shit what the pathogen does to you. We’ll be long gone by then.”
He stepped back toward the barn door and Kevin, who stared hopelessly at the floor in front of him. “Get this right,” he said to Kevin, “and I’ll allow you and Sun to come with us.” He turned to the rest of them. “And if somehow any of you survive,” he added, “don’t come looking for us. Because we’ll kill you on sight.”
“And where are you going to go, Vic?” Sam asked, a great deal more calmly than he felt. “You can’t talk to the Tsiolkovsky and you’ve got no way of flying up there. You’re doomed—you see that, don’t you? Even if you find somewhere safe, there’s too few of you to survive.”
Instead of becoming angrier, Traynor actually smiled. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “See, the people on that lander out there didn’t lose their memories. They’re the same as the people out there on the coast, except for one thing—that new lander crew were able to communicate with the Tsiolkovsky.”
His grin grew wider when he saw their startled expressions. “This is what I learned, Sam. Back on Earth, you and I came up with an override code known only to us. That’s why the Tsiolkovsky never responded to our hails—because we’d forgotten it along with everything else.” He laughed. “I mean, isn’t that rich?”
“This means we don’t need you anymore,” said Piper, looking around at them all. “Thanks to Vic, we’ll be able to initiate a full colonisation and shape it as it grows.” She smiled thinly. “By which time you’ll all be long dead and forgotten.”
“You killed them, you son of a bitch,” Irish yelled. “Didn’t you? You can’t even keep your own story straight—you said they were all dead when you found them!”
Piper fired a shot into the ceiling. Irish stumbled back from her and Traynor, and someone screamed. DeWitt, his face still a mask of blood, lurched forward and seized hold of Sun by her arm. He dragged her outside, followed by Kevin, who had Karl’s rifle pressed against the small of his back
The barn door slid open and Traynor followed them outside, with Karl and Wardell close behind.
The door slammed shut once more, leaving them in silence except for the sound of Keira weeping over her dead brother. Angelina went to her and helped her stand before guiding her over to one of the cots.
Irish and Morgan moved to pick Sean’s body up. Sam watched numbly as they carried it into the furthest corner of the barn, where they carefully laid it down.
“Of all the things that maniac could do,” said Ethan, “I wouldn’t expect him to sink that low.”
“He’s lost his mind,” Sam said in agreement.
“Was he serious?” Joon asked. “About being able to talk to the Tsiolkovsky?”
“He was probably lying,” said Ethan. “He’s always lying. Why else would he be dumb enough to tell us what he’s going to do?”
“He’s not lying,” said Sam.
Ethan shook his head. “Sam…”
“No—Vic can’t help himself. He wants us to know he’s got one over us. He couldn’t hold that information back if he tried.” Sam rubbed a hand over his mouth. “The more I think about it, the more sense it makes that we’d have had some way to override the Tsiolkovsky’s command protocols.”
Irish and Morgan came back over to join them. “Do you think you could guess the code?” Irish asked him.
Sam shrugged helplessly. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
