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They waved with desperation at the sight of Skyler’s vehicle and shouted for attention, bare feet splashing in thethe ragged bunch back with ease

Skyler did his best to ignore the sorry lot They would wait there, day and night, ready to petition any crew heading out of the city Most often they wanted e their food, or labor A sister or daughter, in those rarest acts of desperation Sometimes they would write their requests on scraps of paper and push theh the chain-link fence A thousand such scraps littered the ground just beyond the barricade; a nored hopes A waste of paper

He felt sorry for theers represented the only way to acquire so fro, and often impossible to retrieve Items rendered useless by time or the elements Preservall could only do so much Skyler used to try to explain this, or tried to direct thee crews handle it, assuroup of petitioners in turn, hands out with pals and ate, stood in a circle facing inward A body lay in the liuessed, lay dead Her eyes were still open

He sucked in his breath when he saw the telltale rash of a subhuman on her neck

A commotion erupted near the corpse The crowd pushed an olderat him He screamed back, naked terror on his face

"Slow up," Skyler said

Angus eased off the accelerator as they reached thethe entrance

Skyler rolled his n and waved to one of the men "What happened?"

The man turned his head and spat "Crazy sheila was full-blown subby Ran out fros They beat her till she dropped, Sky Can’t blaars were known to push children out beyond the Aura, long enough to develop symptoms They would let it develop until the rash becah to mark them, and thus make them useful as a sympathy tool They would pull the poor kid back in, and the Aura would keep the disease in stasis, indefinitely No worse, no better, for the rest of their pitiful life Scrubs, they were called "A scrub, huh? Looks like she was left out a bit too long"

"Her pa there swears she’s never been outside," the et him killed, too"

Skyler could only shake his head Such a ridiculous claim meant the father was either incredibly stupid …

Or he actually believes what he says, Skyler thought Insane, iving way to a clear sky and oppressive sun Heat shimmered off the cracked asphalt at the far end of the airport Lightning rippled through dark clouds far to the east

Angus steered the vehicle through the gate and then along a dirt path that paralleled the old runway The kilo tarmac, once needed for aircraft to take off and land, now served as a foundation for an array of hastily constructed hangars, barracks, and warehouses

Through the windshield, Skyler watched a fifty-year-old crate hauler descending Thrusters wailed as the aircraft angled for a landing

Angus saw it, too "Whose is that?"

Skyler studied the s on the side "One of Kantro’s old birds"

"What do you think they’re hauling?" the young e, so Kantro does the Bathurst run most of the time" The island, some twenty kilometers off Australia’s northern shore, was a safe bet for work beyond Aura’s Edge Isolated and cleared of subhuo The land had been stripped clean as a result "Miserable work," Skyler added

The truck jostled over the uneven ground,fro the high fence that lined the airfield Volunteers froht reminded hi in Woon’s tavern, and find out when he should next us pulled the truck off the dirt road and onto the flat asphalt runway, a welcome end to the bumpy portion of the ride He drove down a narrow alley, created by a gap between a pair of concrete buildings, before eht

The center of the old runway buzzed with activity Crear for takeoff Manyfor repairs, spare parts, or sius weaved between a dump truck and an ancient sky crane The enor container, and lift an e is so liht

They rolled to a stop in front of a weather-beaten old hangar Angus laid on the horn, four tie doors creaked and rolled back The Melville loomed in the center of the room Her name ritten on the side in small, simple white letters, just like the first tiotten on a landing pad in the Netherlands An old, scarred aircraft painted in olive green Four ht, a design that allowed for ainally built to carry a sear and one vehicle, the cargo bay provided Skyler and his crew oods What she lacked in space she e

Ceramic tiles covered the underside, a feature that allowed atmosphere reentry The squares were charred from frequent use No one alive kne to repair the heat shield, as far as he knew, and as soon as even one block showed a crack Skyler would have to retire the bird

Angus parked to the left of the aircraft and powered off the truck’s engine The electric et comfortable," said Skyler, "I need you to round up Jake and Takai"

Angus frowned "Where are they?"

Skyler ju down at Woon’s Takai, well, look for repair work on the strip, and he’s probably helping"

"Got it" Angus wiggled out of the driver’s seat and dropped to the concrete floor of the hangar

"Oh, Angus Ask Takai if he’ll jump with us We need a translator"

"You want ed "Soften his easier for me Take off is oh-three-hundred"

"So ht prep That’ll help a bit"

"Sure thing, Captain" Angus snatched his jacket froar wall and started off down the runway toward the coar

Skyler stifled a yawn as he watched hiainst all the preparation to do Check the parachutes, load the weapons, prep the Melville … and, of course, brief the crew

He decided the parachutes could be done during the flight, and shuffled across the hangar floor to a ladder He climbed up to a catwalk that ran the entire circuan to form in his mind as he headed toward the far wall

Samantha waited for him outside her roo?"

"Nice to see you, too, Saot work"

She folded her ar, blocking his path "You and Prumble cook up another treasure hunt?"

"Believe it or not, that walking raincoat last night had a genuine lead"

"And he gave this lead to Pruht"

She narrowed her eyes "It’s pointless, anyway The cliet fixed"

"You hope What if they don’t, Skyler? People are saying the Elevator just gave up the ghost Quit working"

He understood then the source of her anxiety The situation had everyone conteht no one wanted to say aloud

So Skyler said it "If that’s true then it’s over End of the world" Her nostrils flared and Skyler raised a hand to calet resolved because itfroed a thin smile and pulled from his pocket the wad of cash Prumble had fronted him "This one has potential," he said, "so relax, back off, and go see if Woon will let us spool the ultracaps from his primary line"