The Exodus Towers Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Tim entered with the processing team, a group that consisted of seven other fighters trained by Kelly Adelaide months earlier. Most had either a military or law enforcement background.
    The process went smoothly. The fresh colonists were escorted in groups to cabins that lined the hub hallway beyond. Each would be interviewed later, the spies or miscreants sent back at the earliest opportunity.
    Soon only the two men marked as spies remained. Tim returned with four of his team in tow. The suspected Nightcliff agents’ bags and clothing were searched, and then Tim gave them a short speech. “Sorry, going to need to hold you two for a while.”
    Slumped shoulders and heads hung low, the two men walked between an escort of guards toward their improvised cells. They weren’t stupid.
    “I wonder how many more we’ll find,” Zane said, “in the interviews.”
    “Your guess is as good as mine,” Tania replied, standing. She dreaded this but saw no other choice. So much work had yet to be done on the ground, not to mention the myriad of tasks being neglected on the farm platforms.
    Before she reached the door of the security office, the comm activated and Karl’s face appeared.
    “I’ll take it,” Zane said. “Hello, Karl.”
    “Zane. Is Tania around?”
    “Right here,” Tania said, stepping back into the room. “How about some good news?”
    Karl grimaced.
    Oh, hell , Tania thought.
    “Just talked to Skyler. He found the reservoir team. Looks like they let their tower get away from them somehow. All are lost, I’m afraid.”
    Tania slumped into her seat, her eyes never leaving Karl’s sad, exhausted face. “Go ahead without me, Zane,” she said flatly. Her focus went to Karl. “Tell me what happened.”
    She closed her eyes as Karl recounted the story. Memories of Hawaii, of battle and the crumpled bodies that resulted, helped her picture what Skyler found out there. More than anything, she wished a role could be found for him here, in orbit, next to her.
    His immunity still meant too much, though. Despite the aura towers, Skyler’s unique attribute and his ability to find things made him ideal for scouting and mapping the city. If anything he could help even more down below by training others to scavenge. They had two years, a bit less now, to get Camp Exodus running smoothly before the Builders’ schedule indicated another event would occur.
    Schedule . The concept still boggled her mind, even though the math worked. For reasons she figured she’d never understand, each Builder event arrived after a specific fraction of time from the last. First the Darwin Elevator arrives, then almost twelve years pass and the SUBS virus begins its relentless march across the planet from somewhere in Africa. A bit less than five years later Tania spots the next ship, the one that brought the Belém Elevator and the strange aura towers. Forty-two percent of the time elapsed between prior events. If that pattern holds, in just about two years something new will happen.
    She shuddered. On most days two years seemed like a luxurious amount of time to her. Sometimes, though, it seemed like a blink of the eye. She had to resist the urge not to rush things. They’d only get one chance to start over, of that she felt sure.
    “How’s it going up there?” Karl asked, breaking her train of thought.
    She sighed. “So far, so good. Only a few obvious spies this time.”
    “A welcome change, I guess.”
    “Tim is processing them now. Anyone able-bodied we will send down to you as soon as we can.”
    Karl nodded. “I do have some good news. We’ve got a climber loaded with a partial shipment of water and air. The crane just hoisted it onto the cord, and it should begin the climb in about ten minutes.”
    “That is great to hear,” Tania said. Other than a few test shipments, no significant delivery of air or water had occurred since they arrived above Belém. She’d already moved all noncritical personnel down to the