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"No" Bernard walked away from the stove and stood in front of the s above the dinette "We weren’t any part of what those crazy fucks did If I had those guys, the men who did this, if I had theoddamned one of them" Bernard smacked the map with his palm "I’d kill the He didn’t ive us a chance That’s not what this is" He waved at the rooes, not homes Not meant to protect us, butabout their vision"

"Their vision for what?"

"For a world where we’re too htly invested in each other to waste our ti those sa and took a noisy sip "That’sThe people who did this, they were in charge of a powerful country that was beginning to crumble They could see the end, their end, and it scared thean to run out--over decades keep in ured they had one chance to preserve themselves, to preserve what they saw as their way of life And so, before they lost the only opportunity they ht ever have, they put a plan into ? How?"

Bernard took another sip He smacked his lips and wiped his mustache "Who knows? Maybe nobody could believe it anyway Maybe the reward for secrecy was inclusion They built other things in factories bigger than you can iine that nobody knew about They built bombs in factories like these that I suspect played a part in all this All without anyone knowing And there are stories in the Legacy about s, like mayors but with many more people to rule When these men died, elaborate chambers were built below the earth and filled with treasure It required the work of hundreds of men Do you kno they kept the locations of these chambers a secret?"

Lukas lifted his shoulders "They paid the workers a ton of chits?"

Bernard laughed He pinched a stray tea leaf off his tongue "They didn’t have chits And no, they made perfectly sure these men would keep quiet They killed them"

"Their ownwhich tin this story was in

"It is not beyond us to kill to keep secrets" Bernard’s face hardened as he said this "It’ll be a part of your job one day, when you take over"

Lukas felt a sharp pain in his gut as the truth of this hit He caught the first gli people with rifles seem an honest affair

"We are not the people who made this world, Lukas, but it’s up to us to survive it You need to understand that"

"We can’t control where we are right now," heforward"

"Wise words" Bernard took another sip of tea

"Yeah I’ to appreciate them"

Bernard set his cup in the sink and tucked a hand in the round belly of his coveralls He stared at Lukas a ain to the sone Forget them Just know this: They locked up their brood as a fucked-up forale one of us But living by those rules, obeying thelasses and walked over to Lukas, patted him on the shoulder as he went past "I’ this et some rest Make some room in your head and heart Tomorrow, more studies" He headed toward the study, the corridor, the distant ladder

Lukas nodded and reone, the rate was back in place, before walking through to the study to gaze up at the big schematic, the one with the silos crossed out He peered at the roof of silo 1, wondering just who in the hell was in charge of all this and whether they too could rationalize their actions as having been foisted upon the with soanorant and locked up

Who the fuck were these people? Could he see hi one of them?

How did Bernard not see that he was one of theenerator roounfire to a distant hanoring her friends and coworkers asking her as going on outside They cowered along the walls and behind the railing frounfire Just before she reached the control room, she noticed soenerator toying with the ruot it," Shirly wheezed, sla the control room door shut behind her Courtnee and Walker looked up from the floor The wide eyes and slack jaw on Courtnee’s face told Shirly she’d

"What?" she asked She handed the two transmitters to Walker "Did you hear? Walk, does she know?"

"How is this possible?" Courtnee asked "How did she survive? And what happened to your face?"

Shirly touched her lip, her sore chin Her fingers came aith blood She used the sleeve of her undershirt to dab at herwith one of the transmitters, "we can ask Jules herself"

Shirly turned and peered through the control room’s observationShe lowered her sleeve away fro with the exhaust feed?" she asked

"They’ve got soot up fro, the srulass

"Reroute it where?"

"IT That’s what Heline said, anyway The cooling feed for their server roo up the mechanical shaft Soht of a way to fight back from here"

"So, we choke them out with our fumes?" Shirly felt uneasy with the plan She wondered what Knox would say if he were still alive, still in charge Surely all thedesks up there weren’t the proble before we can talk? Before we can try and contact her?"

"Alnifiers--"

Courtnee rested her hand on Shirly’s arhed and shook her head She checked the bloodstains on her sleeve, felt the sweat trickling down her chest "I’oing on any from whatever they did to the stairwell I think I screwed upOh, and did I ht she was?"

She took a deep breath

Courtnee continued to stare at her worryingly Shirly knew none of this hat her friend was asking her about

"And yeah, I miss Marck," she said quietly