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"Don’t change the subject Especially not to that subject"
The older h He looked back and forth at Skyler’s eyes, as if seeking his answers there "You two should hash this out, Skyler It’s unhealthy"
"I’m here if she wants to talk"
"Bullshit," Karl said, his voice even "Every time she comes down you either have Ana at your side, or ht be forced into any conversation other than the business at hand"
"And every tio do the e all know needs to be done, she finds some critical project that simply must be top priority Or she simply writes it off as too risky You all do"
Whatever Karl had been about to say, he sed it, and visibly cal like children"
"I’ve been cordial I’ve done everything asked of me"
"I know," Karl said "I know I just wish you tould put that business with Gabriel behind you"
"That’s not even the issue anymore At least it’s only part of it Karl, we’ve squandered a lot of ti out this room shouldn’t even have been on our radar It’s a diversion"
Karl fell silent
Skyler went on "I never thought I’d see it happen, but all these scientists, Tania chief a them, seem terrified of risks, of the unknown The caranted, but we’ve done everything we can without expanding the aura And all the while the clock ticks"
He took a breath When Karl said nothing Skyler went on "Those towers vacated the ca, whatever the hell it is, out there in the rainforest, is there for soure out what the hell is going on here before the Builders throw everything out of whack again Zane is stable The ca smoothly Our last two trades with Blackfield ca out" Karl finished for hi time Thick with the smell of soil and rock, the air felt heavy even compared to Beléo then," he said, finally Then he turned toward Skyler and gripped his shoulder "You’re right Tania will find reasons to keep you here as long as possible, simply because she doesn’t want to lose you"
"I’m useful, sure, but not invaluable We have other immunes now--"
"She doesn’t want to lose you, Skyler Don’t act like you don’t know that That business with Gabriel, the decisions she was forced to make, devastated her"
"That may be so, but no one forced her to lie to oddauilt and saay out with just one little white lie I would have done the saht her in it and had to oddamn stink about it Did you know she almost quit after that? She wanted to, wanted to run off to Black Level and hide in a cloud of research again"
Skyler hadn’t known "Why didn’t she?"
"Talked her out of it Zane and Tih I would have been happy to help persuade her Put yourself in her shoes, Skyler Brilliant scientist, the favorite son--if you’ll pardon the expression--of Mr Platz She never asked to be the leader, toin the balance All she thought she had to do was tell Neil the specifics of the new Builder ship, and then let him take the reins like he always did before Except it didn’t work out that way Neil finally lost a battle and out of every possible candidate he trusted her with carrying out his plan I think if Neil Platz earned one thing in his life it’s our trust in his judgment of people He chose you, too, you know And me"
A picture came to Skyler’s mind The research room on Black Level, where they’d shared a bit of food and drink while they discussed Neil’s plan For all her drive and bravery, he’d seen the terror deep in her eyes He’d tasted it, when she kissed hi to help He had undertaken that journey with a single-minded sense of purpose, and even left his friends behind in order to seek out Tania For all the reasons he’d used to justify the race to find her, he knew deep down the truth of it: He’d wanted to be with her The oldest, duive Pruh, about Tania being the key to it all Bollocks
"Maybe soood Prep your aircraft, get your crew ready, and find out where those toent I’ll explain to Tania and the others She’sthe other three, instead of tackling those de, even though he felt trapped between two choices Part of hiize, do whatever it took to rewind back to those first days after leaving the city and its Elevator behind
That was irown too large, and of course there was Ana
Wild, insatiable Ana
She’d shared his bed a hundred tier each tih He’d even repeated the words in the darkness when they lay together, their bodies entwined in the heady sweat of afterglow
Skyler shook his head to clear the ue, before Skyler silenced him with a raised hand "We’ll take off tomorrow at dawn"
"Okay Good"
"And Karl? Thanks, friend For speaking your mind"
Karl clapped him on the shoulder "I’ll talk to Tania after you’ve left Find our towers, Skyler"
La Gaza Ladra’s engines roared to life the instant the sun peaked above the canopy east of caht He’d walked her through it at least fifteen tiht she’d handled it with only h the open cockpit door In the rear coear The clean, tasteful interior of the luxury passenger cabin had been abandoned long ago, in the first weeks of recovering the vessel The cos with the widescreen display and wet bar attached to it, though not until after a raucous o compartment equal in width and with a floor a ave access to a crawl space below the passenger cabin, ostensibly forand ventilation systems that supported the area To Skyler’s eye, there was a clear secondary purpose for s