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"Don’t judge--"

"Don’t judge? He knew about the Elevator and built an ehtcliff and the water plants and all that All those aerospace co knew about SUBS and didn’t warn anybody?"

"Stop"

Her voice hit hi hisabout Neil: You’re talking about my father And we don’t knohat exactly they knew, except the number Six events, Skyler, and we just experienced the fifth"

He had more to say A lot more But the look in her eyes, and the memory of her brush with death, pulled him back from that precipice He stared into those eyes, the deep broith flecks of gold, and felt one final revelation, one more piece of the puzzle, click into place All of that business in Japan and Hawaii had been bullshit Neil had already knohat they would find; he just didn’t want to expose that fact No other explanation er, and Jake to his death, to keep his secret He’d known It was, quite possibly, thein history, and like so one to great lengths to cover it up Only when faced with certain death or capture had he bothered to tell anyone Despite the plea in Tania’s eyes, Skyler couldn’t bring hih

"Thank you," he said, "for telling ht at the end of the tunnel" Tania didn’t look convinced, so he tried a different tack "Can you ihty-two o!’ No offense, but I probably would have thrown upas he spoke "And I wouldn’t have bla this somehow makes the task ahead seem worth the blood, sweat, and tears I fear will be required It’s like …"

"Like the surge of energy you get when you know the end of the race is just over that next hill"

Tania grinned at the analogy "I’ve never run a race," she said

He laughed

"I was going to say it’s like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, when you reach thatpieces seey is better," he said Her shis opinion of Neil Skyler decided then that he’d keep his revelations to hiood to point out to Tania what he now understood She knew it, too, probably, and had enough on her mind already Neil was dead What was done was done

"I brought you a present," Skyler said

"Chocolate?"

"Er …"

"I’?"

Skyler stepped aside and watched her reaction as she saw the black case just behind him

A split second of confusion crossed her face, then her eyes darted back to Skyler "Is it … which one?"

"The red one Belele"

She folded her arreckless about it"

Tania rolled her eyes "How’d you do it?"

"We just went in and asked Nicely"

"Uh-huh"

"There may have been some explosives involved A lot of explosives, actually"

"Perhaps you can share the details another time" She patted the sheets next to her

Skyler sat, and they both stared at the case for a longine what possible motive lies behind all this What the Builders are up to, I ured it out," Skyler said "They’re a race so advanced the only amusehbors"

She elbowed hile finger along the surface of the thing, as if trying to feel soy fro question," she said with her back to hi around his collar

"Is it wise to install these things in the ship the moment we find them?"

"Tania"

"Or, should we hold on to them until we know lanced over her shoulder at hih-pitched yelp rang out across the roohtly at her spine, and returned to her seat, all in the span of a heartbeat

Skyler stared at the curtain next to the bed for a long , estimated the sizes of the various pipes that snaked across it

"Would you give me a minute?" she eventually asked

He stood and walked away, heard the sound of the curtain drawing closed behind hirimaced, stifled a sainst a table, studying a slate Skyler introduced hi, really?" he asked

"Tania? She’s fine, but you don’t need to tell her that I’ve only kept her here so she can get some rest"

"She looks exhausted"

"You should have seen her a few days ago She slept twelve hours last night, which is asin an entire week lately Now if she’d just eat"

"So she’s okay?"

Dr Brooks nodded "We’re always concerned about possible brain daen deprivation, and she was certainly in the danger zone in terative She’ll be fine with a little more rest and a decent ed, then nodded past Skyler "Now, froe from the curtained area in one of her jumpsuits, a white one with blue stripes that ran from the neckline down the arestured for Skyler to rejoin her