The Exodus Towers Read Online Free PDF

glanced at one another. Their surprise and discomfort at the order came through the video feed with surprising clarity, by way of nothing more than their body language. Some of them must have recognized Zane’s voice, too, which only added to their confusion.
    Tim suggested the strip-down tactic after the first batch of colonists came aboard, one month earlier. With them, the order had been to simply sit on their hands and wait to be searched. The process took far too long, she thought. More important, after studying the video they’d found a correlation between those who obeyed eagerly and those who were spies.
    A request to remove one’s clothing, Tim suggested, would be even more telling. The idea surprised her coming from the young man. Or, man, rather. She’d learned over dinner recently that he was a year older than her, despite his boyish looks. It was the freckles, Tania decided, that seemed to radiate youthful innocence.
    One of the forty individuals began to disrobe without hesitation.
    Zane put one hand over the microphone. “Spy,” he said.
    “Yup,” Tim replied from behind. “That one, too,” he added, pointing. “Too eager to comply. See?”
    Tania grinned and shook her head at the same time, as ifshe’d lost a friendly bet. She wrote quick descriptions of the two on a pad of graph paper, marking their rough position within the larger group. By the time she looked back up, all of the candidates sent from Darwin were in the process of undressing. A few already lay naked on the deck of the curved room. Only then did she find she could exhale.
    That first moment, when the fresh arrivals walked out of their capsule, terrified her. Up until that instant, all she could picture was a stream of well-armed Nightcliff guards rushing forth from the makeshift shuttle. Or worse, no one at all, but instead a bomb with a red ribbon tied around it. Russell Blackfield is toying with us , she thought. He needs the food, yes, but not enough to set aside his wounded ego. Sooner or later he will try something, something more ambitious than a handful of informants. At least this second shipment contained no overt surprises.
    There was still the matter of interviewing the newcomers. They’d be photographed, too, the images sent up to Black Level and down to Camp Exodus so existing members could look for people they recognize, vouch for them. She promised herself she would apologize personally to all the legitimate colonists. Tim’s technique for rooting out spies might be effective, but she wanted to make sure the others realized they were leaving indignity like this behind.
    Of course, she had more to apologize for. Leaving in the first place, taking the farms. The innocent scavengers and crews who’d died when the farm platform came down in Africa. These crimes weighed on her, as if she bore the corpse of her former self on her back.
    “Are we ready?” Zane asked.
    “Ready,” Tim said.
    “I’d feel better if Skyler were here,” Tania said. “We’re not as good at judging people.”
    “There’s too much to do down below.…”
    “I know, I’m just …” Tania let the sentence die and handed Tim the graph paper. “Take the team in, and be careful.”
    He took it and offered her a reassuring grin. Then he vanished through the door of the tiny security office.
    A section of hallway one level over had been designated for “colonist processing,” if for no other reason than it had lockable doors at both ends, and an access tube up to the cargo bay. Tania felt strongly that no one should be in direct contact with an arriving group until they could ascertain that none carried concealed weapons. As with the first shipment a month ago, Russell appeared to be exercising some restraint once again, if the nude bodies on the monitor said anything.
    “We’re at the door.” Tim’s voice, over the handheld.
    Zane replied, “It’s still clear, son.”
    On the screen, the door at the far end of the room opened,