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Ana disappeared later that afternoon Her twin’s body had not been a him, and when the business with the colonists was done, she took Pablo and Vanessa with her to find sorave

At camp, a dozen tents needed to be replaced Skyler offered to tackle that scavenging job on the morrohen he could hopefully enlist the help of the other immunes, except Elias, who nursed a broken wrist For the rest of that day, the entire camp pitched in to load two climbers with compressed air canisters and as much water as they could boil and purify with the crude an to amble its way up the cord Despite the insects that swarether outside that evening, around a big ca the two climbers until they disappeared into the starry sky above

AnotherKarl and Tania with a halfhearted plea to venture into the forest There was too much to do in camp, and the prospect of a battle with subhumans tempered even the scientist’s desire to explore the crashed alien vessel He’d yet to tell thee subhuman he’d seen; he was unsure now if he’d really seen it or if it had just been some kind of hallucination So Skyler spent the better part of the day with the other immunes

He’d intended to chat with them about the future, now that Gabriel’s hold on the camp had been broken Skyler planned to ask them to stay with the caather supplies would be greatly li out would be extremely valuable

But he didn’t need to ask Ana broached the topic alht idea, a surprise she said, and led the the walk, and Vanessa put it doith a single shot from a pistol she’d acquired The woman performed the action with total efficiency, and no emotion Skyler knew then he could trust her at his side in a fight Pablo, on the other hand, said so little, Skyler had yet to form an opinion about him

Ana was another matter entirely She would run off with no notice In dark, craed total caution, Ana would soe and blurt her excitement For his part, Skyler couldn’t decide whether to chalk her behavior up to immaturity, or to her experiences since the disease caround her already reckless personality Soht He had no illusions as to who that "someone" was

She redeemed herself when they reached her "surprise" Ana bowed and swept her arm when the fenced yard came into view, as he had done when he’d shown her the adventure supply store

She’d led the lot The back lot, Skyler realized, of a recreational vehicle dealership Row after row of the long vehicles were crae square area The fence that surrounded it was five s of razor wire across the top Vines crept halfway up the barricade, and the thick ones had wrenched holes in the chain link big enough to walk through

Skyler’s excitement abated somehen they entered The vehicles were all in wretched condition Five years was a long time for such machines to sit out in the rain, wind, and dust Vines and weeds choked the wheel wells and routed up through the electronics bays If any of them ran, Skyler would be amazed

But Ana didn’t stop She led the rest of thee with ten massive metal doors All were closed save one, and that last had been rolled up only recently, Skyler judged Ana had been here before, he realized

Inside the enclosed bays were nine e, but once inside he realized they were in a showrooh-end models, and other than a coat of dust, they were ihtened

It took soer to cobble together a cable long enough to reach the garage By nightfall they started charging the first of the RVs: a sleek, silver box of a vehicle, fifteen oddaodda they each drove one of the vehicles back to Camp Exodus The sh to et about the task still to be performed in the rainforest For a time, at least

By the end of that day, all nine of the recreational vehicles were safely in caed Before ht, every colonist had taken a hot shower, and uments would ensue over ould live in the vehicles He’d take no part in that If the colonists were good at one thing, it was debating the optimal use of communal resources

A full week passed before the topic of the Builder ship finally caear for the day, when Karl approached

"I think it’s ti plain "Tania does, too"

Skyler looked him up and down His bruises had faded A few scabs rerabbed a few more items from his tent: pocket utility knife, a watch with a built-in compass, and two pairs of compact binoculars All went into pockets on his vest or pants, except one of the binoculars, which he handed to Karl "Let’s go talk to Tania"

The ainst the wall of the steel room, next to the tourist ainst her chest, her ar tucked up behind her

For a second Skyler thought she slept there, on her feet, but when the door closed behind Karl, Tania said "They’re here, Zane"

Skyler looked to the sat-comm unit on the table On the screen were the faces of Zane and Tim, and Skyler felt as if he’d not seen them in months It had been weeks, in truth Both the older entlemen," Zane said "Tania has filled us in"

Tim leaned in toward the camera "Thanks for the supply delivery, by the way It’ll buy a bit of time, at least"

"More will be on the way soon," Tania said She hadn’t budged froainst the wall, and hadn’t looked up at Skyler, either

Christ, I should have kept e to cross the room and take her hands in his, tell her not to blaood was a lie to coht caed her instead of the other way around

"Tania says you found so in the rainforest?" Zane prorateful for the shift in focus He crossed to the map, aware of Tania as she ive him space At least, the others would think that "Here," he said, drawing a circle on the lauess, I’d say it’s one of the pieces Tania saw approaching with the shell ship above us"

"There were five, right?" Tim asked

"Five that I could see," Tania said

Skyler tapped the circle he’d drawn "It carved a long, shallow tunnel when it landed, and sits half-subed at the far end There were, well, a nu so," Karl aze fell on the otten with the news of a discovery "So you entered the tunnel?"

Skyler nodded "What I saw in there has given htmares since," he told them all The silence that folloas absolute "The side of the vehicle has a hole in it, or so, it’s open The whole place is shrouded in soh to see inside"

"What was in there?" Karl asked, his voice a gruff whisper