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They kept walking, the snow thick but lad she’d stuffed a woolen cap over her head before she exited the car, but Dev’s hair shone dark under the cool winter sun "Aren’t you cold?" Reaching into his coat before he could reply, she took out his own knit cap and tugged it over his head
"Thanks" It was a distracted cos aren’t co around "This place wasn’t abandoned that long ago"
"No," Dev murmured "Look at the way it’s packed on the left - there’s been a strong wind at so that way"
She turned, nodded "We can’t explore that side, not easily" There was no question they had to get inside "It’s so quiet here" The absence of sound hurt her
"Listen tothe snow and ice There is sound" A reassuring squeeze of her hand
Nodding, she did as directed They reached the first accessible building seconds later
"Let’s hope this opens inward," Dev said, walking up to the door "Or we’ll have to find soo"
The creak of the door he opened was loud, the thud of their boots on the plain plascrete floor dull and echoey Snow tunneled inside as she stood looking around "Appears to be a supply depot" Computronic items lay iced over in the case to the left, while tools and ht In front of her stood a stack of plas boxes stauely fa with Dev as he went to look at the equip up a powerful-looking length of rope with one hand
"That’s it" She pointed at the boxes "EarthTwo is a s cos to the labs I worked in" Excited now, she found the courage to let go of Dev’s hand and open one of the boxes "Empty" Even that disappointine this - there is so over, Dev pressed a hotly real kiss to her lips "I told you your mind was fine You should learn to listen to me"
Her heart raced at the electric burst of contact "So you can order rip firm "Let’s see what else we can find This place looks like it hasn’t been disturbed since the toas abandoned"
"Or before either" She pointed to the s, all unbroken
The next place they stepped into couldn’t have been h here," she whispered, staring at the papers that littered the carpet, the shattered glass fro up fro - white, disconcertingly pristine - lay scattered on the papers around italmost as if someone had tried to rip the sofa apart in an insane fury
A touch on her lower back "Stay here," Dev said as hewith a corner of her h the drawers, she bent down to pick up a few of thein the room The top one was an accounts list "Payroll," she said out loud "I think this must’ve been EarthTwo’s ad op," Dev said, holding up a thin paper file "Some kind of a prospectus Sunshine is wholly owned by EarthTwo"
"Strange nah the file "Here’s why - the toas founded a hundred and fifty years ago Before Silence"
"Therevery valuable in the soil around here, then," she said "Either soenerates or that people only need a little bit of I didn’t see any evidence of heavy drilling"
"Could be anything under all that snow - re the prospectus into a pocket, he crossed back to her "It’s going to get dark fast We ht"
She sed "Why don’t we figure out what happened here first" Her eyes lit on so she’d seen but hadn’t seen until then "Dev, the specks of brown on these papersit’s not dirt or age spots, is it?"
He looked at the sheets in her hand "No" His jaw turned to rock "That’s blood"
Chapter 40
The papers floated to the ground in serene silence as she unclenched her fingers "I can see it now" There was a fine spray on the back wall, almost hidden by the way dents had been pounded into the plasboard And the sofasos were rusted Except that wasn’t rust
Dev took her hand "We need to see the rest"
"Wait" Bending, she picked up one of the sheets she’d dropped "It’s part of the co They must’ve printed out a hard-copy backup because of the risk of power failure"
"Why not keep it on the PsyNet?"
"It takes a lot of psychic power to maintain a PsyNet vault Some companies prefer - " Chills snaked up her spine as she realized what she held "Dev"