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Chapter One

Above the Indian Ocean

12JAN2283

Blood streamed down the inside of the tiny vial and pooled at the bottolass with a dull thud

Skyler turned the vessel over again Fresh froainst his skin A small refreshain in his mind The dead subhu, the scent of burned hair so strong that Skyler had retched Then Sa, stood triumphant over the corpse In one swift motion her dark coain as she brought it down on the poor creature’s hand Two fingers, and half of a thumb, skittered away "Before it all burns," she’d said

"We only need one," Skyler had replied when his nerves allowed

Hair would have been sied away A h the end result was all thathius said froit was caked with dirt and ended in a yellow, cracked fingernail chewed to uneven length It almost defied belief that it had been shorn from a once-human hand Almost

Even by subhuressive And part of a large pack, twice the typical "falanced up Ahead, a series of lights ht climbers, Skyler counted, from the peaks of the clouds all the way to the stars above He watched the Up, at the moment Air and water then, for the Orbitals Soood o bay, flush with spoils fro Malay air force base outside Kuala Lumpur Tomorrow, maybe the day after, one of those climbers would lift the iterinned Success felt good He’d aler alone would cover the mission’s cost, if the DNA rilass tube vanished with the question He slipped the vial back into its sleeve and sealed it Out of pure habit he reached for the flight stick, then stopped himself Old habits die hard He balled his fist and pulled his hand away "You handle it this tius turned in the pilot’s seat, trying to see Skyler over his shoulder and failing A few seconds passed before the kid flashed a halfhearted a-okay

The Melville tilted forward and began to descend Skyler leaned to his left and looked doatchingdanced beneath the purple rew until finally the aircraft slipped into the thick haze

A ghostly fog roiled around the cockpitfor less then ten seconds and then they were through Once below the storainst the fuselage

Another minute went by before they passed under the stor in wet season A nice welcous said "In ten, nine …"

Skyler closed his eyes Some small part of hie aura on a physical level The invisible field ehly nine kilo It protected those within from the alien disease that had laid waste to the rest of the planet How, or why, the aura did this was as much a mystery as the Elevator itself

"… five, four …"

The shifting, rippling effect ended in a zone coined Aura’s Edge A no-man’s-land where the protection faded

Skyler leaned his head back against the copilot’s seat He would feel nothing He never did; nor did the rest of his crew The disease had no effect on the and curse, a trait few others shared Very few

"… three …"

Though immunity allowed him to leave the city at will, there remained that small part of him that wanted to be normal, to be trapped like all of the rest of theht after Truth be told he’d rather be back in the Netherlands, flying ood life But that was a long tio, in a different world

"… two, one … mark"

The aircraft bucked

Notfor a spell of turbulence, he thought An eh escaped his lips

Below, out the , trash fires dotted the city’s edge Small crowds huddled around the flames for protection more than warmth The worst-off lived here, so far out froht it e of a cliff "Weird Did you feel that bounce?" Angus asked Then, "Oh, shit Look at this"

Skyler glanced up The kid’s voice had shifted froed, ahead of theo?" Angus asked

The lights on the cord were gone "What in the world?"

The wireless crackled "Melville, this is Nightcliff control," a panicked voice said over a hiss of static "What the hell did you do?"

Skyler’s throat went dry He could only stare at the thin strip of sky where the clius," Skyler said, ignoring the radio "Hover here"

The kid nodded and tilted the aircraft back, switching to vertical thrust

"Think, think," Skyler whispered to himself He leaned forward in his seat, as if a few extra centi, Skyler traced a line froainst the dim clouds, he saw the black shape of a climber, motionless on the cord Not vanished, then, just dead

Loss of power? he thought It shouldn’t be possible So about friction with the atenerate power In the five years since he first came to the city, he’d never seen Darwin’s skyline without the awe-inspiring sight of cli fresh air and water up to the Orbitals, or bringing food back down

"Melville," ca"

Skyler absently tapped the transhtcliff, this is the Melville Don’t fire We’re holding position What happened?"

Even as he waited for a response, Skyler saw the beacon lights on the clihtness