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When she got toward the end--ht up and doith all her strength, and she cursed as the pipe snapped There was a loud clang, barely muffled by her suit, and then she collapsed to the floor, landing painfully on her elbow

The pipe was at an angle beneath her, digging into her ribs Juliette tried to catch her breath Her sweat dripped against the visor screen, blurring her view She got up and saw that the pipe was unbroken She wondered if it had slipped free, but it was still threaded through the spokes of the large wheel

Disbelieving, excited, she slid the pipe out the other side She wrapped her hands around the spokes and leaned into it

And the wheel

It budged

6

"For now, these hot days, is the "

Walkerthe coht corridor to enter the wider entrance hall to Mechanical The rooroups, whispering to the stones for chits Walker could hear a dozen interwoven voices spilling out of theears ahile they discussed adult things He took a deep breath and hurried through that da one foot ahead of hi to conquer--

After a short lifetiged the steel panels in relief Behind hihtened to care Sliding across the riveted steel, he grabbed the edge of the mess hall door and pulled hih the mess hall was several ti furniture and people he knew With his back to the wall, his shoulder against the open door, he could alround and rested, the st the

"She’d be out of air by now, anyway," Rick was saying

"You don’t know that," Shirly said She was standing on a chair so she could be at least as tall as the others She surveyed the room "We don’t knohat advances they’ve otten better out there"

The roo, perhaps, to see if the voice would dare speak again and break its anony his way They ith ahad removed so frisky and free to speak forbidden thoughts

"What if it has gotten better?" souys, it’s the suits! They figured out the suits!" Marck, an oiler in his eyes "I’m sure of it," he said "They’ve sorted the suits and noe have a chance!"

"A chance to what?" Knox growled The grizzled head of Mechanical sat at one of the tables, digging into a breakfast bowl "A chance to send more of our people out to wander the hills until they run out of air?" He shook his head and took another bite, then jabbed at the lot of the about," he said, chewing, "is this sham of an election, this rat-ass Mayor, and us kept in the dark down here--!"

"They didn’t figure out the suits," Walker hissed, still breathless fro," Knox continued, wiping at his beard "And what do we get? Busted fingers and ratshit pay And no they come and take our people and send them out for a viee don’t care about!" He sla

Walker cleared his throat He reainst the wall No one had seen him enter or had heard him the first tiain

"They did not figure out the suits," he said, a little louder this time

Shirly saw hi open She pointed, and a dozen other heads turned to follow

They gaped at hi to catch his breath andplumbers as always kind to him whenever she stopped by his workshop, left her seat and hurried to his side She whispered his na him to come to the table and take her chair

Knox slid his boay from hi all over the damned place now, aren’t they?"

Walker looked up sheepishly to see the old foreh his beard at hi at him, all at once Walker half waved, then stared down at the table It was suddenly toorouse you, oldoff over the hills, too?"

Shirly juot to take him his breakfast" She hurried toward the kitchen to fetch him sory

"It isn’t--" His voice cracked He tried again "I caht" He inary hill running across the table "But it wasn’t the," he said He made eye contact with Marck and tapped his own chest "I did it"

A whispered conversation in the corner fell quiet No one sipped their juice, no one moved They were still half stunned to see Walker out of his workshop,the crowd of theh to remember the last time he’d roamed about They knew him as the crazy electrical man who lived in a cave and refused to cast shadows anymore

"What’re you sayin’?" Knox asked

Walker took a deep breath He was about to speak when Shirly returned and placed a bowl of hot oats in front of hi off the rim the concoction was so thick Just how he liked it He pressed his hands against either side of the bowl, feeling the heat in his palms He was suddenly very tired from lack of sleep

"Walk?" Shirly asked "You okay?"

He nodded and waved her away, lifted his head and aze

"Jules ca confidence He tried to ignore howhihts twinkled in his watering eyes "She had a theory about these suits, about IT" With one hand, he stirred his oats, steeling his resolve to say the unthinkable But then, how old was he? Why did he care for taboos?

"You remember the heat tape?" He turned to Rachele, orked first shift and knew Juliette well She nodded "Jules sorted that it weren’t no accident, the way the tape broke down" He nodded to himself "She sorted it all, she did"

He took a bite of his food, not hungry but enjoying the burn of the hot spoon on his old tongue The roo The whispers and quiet play of the shadows outside could just barely be heard

"I’ve built up favors and favors with Supply over the years," he explained "Favors and favors So I called theroup ofin the hallho’d arrived late but could read from the frozen demeanors in the room to stay put "We’ve taken stuff out of IT’s supply chain before I know I have All the best electronics and wire go to them that make the suits--"