Page 67 (1/2)

The Oriental boy was Zeke’s age and approxi top braid like Fang’s, but he was dressed almost identically to Zeke, as if the two of them had coordinated this se crew

The captain said, "All right, everyone You’ve had your chance to stare This here is Jereirl, Miss Vinita Swakhammer"

Mercy said, "Hello, um, everyone And just so you know, I’mwell, I was married, so it’s Vinita Lynch But y’all can call me Mercy if you like It’s just a nickname, but it’s stuck" Before anyone could ask, she added quickly, "My husband died That’s why I’m out here alone"

Andan Cly said, "I’m real sorry to hear that,in the center of the bridge, she felt large and aard in their midst; and now they felt sorry for her, which made her feel even more conspicuous She was taller and heavier than everyone present except for the gigantic captain, and her suainst the dark hair and eyes of everyone else Unaccusto quite so out of place, and a little unco the object of everyone’s attention, she nonetheless continued, "Well Thanks a whole bunch for pickingme a ride out to my daddy I appreciate it"

Briar Wilkes assured her, "We’re happy to do it And now that the captain’s finally welded in soot the space to transport you without o nets," the captain said under his breath, like it was a private joke

The sheriff didn’t pay any attention to hio hold, where a wide net was hanging behind a bench that had straps attached to it "You and uht over here You just buckle one of these harnesses over you, and it’ll keep you froh air"

Mercy took a look at the apparatus, generally understood it, and sat down to fasten herself into place Briar Wilkes took a seat beside her, and iot to sit in the engineer’s chair Zeke lost the ensuing battle and was subjected to the indignity of sitting beside his mother

The boy asked Mercy, "You ever flown before?"

And she said, "Once A feeeks ago I flew froa, sort of"

"Sort of?" hisstory," Mercy summed up

As the steaave the order to unhook from the pipe He pressed various buttons, and the ship drifted upward in a lazy rise

No one spoke while the Naa superstition, until the craft was tipping its crown up against the low, heavy clouds above Taco coluhtlessly, to swivel the craft to face the north The thrusters were fired, and the hydrogen vessel began a leisurely flight

Once these things were under way and there see i stories," she began, even though no one had spoken of such things for several ht’ve heard about Seattle"

"Seattle?" Mercy wrinkled her forehead "Well, I guess I don’t know h it, isn’t that right?"

Zekelike that"

His ht about it, and answered slowly "I thought there was an earthquake or soo I had it in my head that the toas pretty much torn down, or just abandoned To tell you the truth, I didn’t know anybody lived there, much less that ht than wrong There was an earthquake; that’s a fact But it was ood A lot of people died, and a bunch of buildings were destroyed, but most of the city proper is intact" She hesitated, as if that was not the correct spot to end her commentary So she added, "In a sense"

The captain chi glass wraparound windscreen "It’s all still there," he said "Everything that didn’t go doith the Boneshaker is still standing"

"The what-​now?"

The sheriff said, "The ht But whatever thatup the foundation like that, under the as makes people sick as hell, and it kills the remark