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The blue areas within the dome had collapsed as well, and in the snow around the pummeled with the accumulated snow Vanessa shot three dead before Skyler could e to find his wits and ai went silent
"Is that the last of thee in the environ that had been there a ure out what A sound had gone, like being in a room when the ventilation system suddenly turns off Vanessa looked around She’d noticed it, too
"The towers," she said "They’re dark again"
Skyler looked at the nearest pillar in the circle that now marked where the dome had been True to Vanessa’s word, the trace wave pattern of purple light within it had vanished Once again it looked like it had before the exodus: black, and dead The other towers around the perimeter stood dark as well Skyler shuffled over to the close one, hugging hiid breeze, and pushed the e
"The hell …" He paused The huain A whisper, but there and building "Jesus What now?"
Vanessa grabbed Skyler’s ar"
Together they pushed the wheelbarrow a dozen e of the circle into a snow-dappled field By the tiain, the black obelisks had begun to move
Not all of them, Skyler realized, but exactly half Every other tower pulled inward, draard the partially buried shell ship in the center Then with ree, the sharp point airound, toward Belém
The towers that remained in the circle fore group began toback," Vanessa whispered
"Half, anyway" Skyler tried to iine some version of reality where this all made sense He watched the towers pick up speed as they slid along the ground, eerily upright despite the undulations in the ground
"I call this a success," Vanessa said, a proud grin on her face "The colony can certainly use thee the same result at the other three sites--"
"--there will be a hundred plus in caet one of these weird little trophies each ti, but in his ht," he et Ana home and fixed up We also need to warn Karl"
"Warn him of what?"
"Those towers," Skyler said "Nice as it is that they’re co toto be another fiasco"
Wrapped in areen He’d muttered silent thanks that he’d not turned it on in theand Marcus broadcast
It was the last day of February They’d found Pablo in the barn, cleaning a rabbit carcass for meat The man looked thin and sported a beard that hadn’t been there before Other than a query about Ana’s injury, he said little when the party arrived Skyler could see the relief in Pablo’s eyes, but the ht into how he’d fared while awaiting their return Six hts When Skyler asked if he’d heard froed "Once a week I tell them there’s no news; they tell me that they hope we’ll hurry The ship is close now, that doctor says"
With the cold had coht warmth, and after the first encounter he’d spentfrom the second-floor s for the creatures He culled the local population by building a bonfire in the adjacent field, picking a few off as they caht blaze The visits all but stopped after that He’d either killed them all, or they’d learned to avoid the area
The link indicator turned green
"Pablo?"
"It’s Skyler, Tania"
He heard a sharp intake of breath "You’re okay," she said "Oh my God, Skyler, you’re alive"
"We all are," he said "More or less Tania, we found so--"
She spoke over hiht now I …" She trailed off There was desperation in her voice he hadn’t heard since the day he found her locked in her cabin on Anchor Station "So much has happened Another ship has arrived And we had another of those vibrations on the Elevator, a discharge of electricity So I need your wisdom"
"The ship’s arrived then?"
"It’s enor"
Six Jesus "Where did it stop?" Part of hi part, hoped she’d say Ireland
"Over Africa We sent a drone to survey it, Skyler, and found so There’s a door, or airlock, surrounded by these … sy to--"
"Shapes? What shapes?"
"There’s five," she said "Each is basic, but they all have an imperfection A circle with a half-circle dent at the top, a square with a notch, a triangleone tip The oval one is wavy on the top half And the last looks like an hourglass, with little teeth on the top and botto Wait for us to get back"
"Why?"
"We found solass-shaped just like you described And when I entered that cave east of Beléht it was a little altar, re, but circular"
"God, Skyler," she said, then went silent for a few seconds "I wish I knehat this all meant"
"Me, too, Tania Me, too"