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A subhuhts blared in his head, but that alone drowned the air sterilized by the Aura--hell, inside the Aura So Neil never dreahts, iht be the next Builder event He had assumed another vessel would arrive, like the last three times

Two times, he corrected hi he punished himself for The Elevator and the disease, that’s what history will say That line must be towed at all costs What came before that was his business and his alone

His focus swerved back toward the present, and the future He’d been so fixated on the idea that another ship would arrive, it never occurred to hi circumstances

The last event, the arrival of a s the seed of the SUBS disease, had forced those who could do so to huddle within the Aura Neil sed bitterly as his ht, the last five years have just been a grace period? What if they had meant for us to vacate?

A chill washed over his entire body Goose bu his cocked in inhuman fashion "Kelly," Neil said "My God, Kelly How the hell did it get up here?"

Hands grasped his shoulders and shook him Kelly’s hands--she’d come to him at some point

"There’s nowhere safe now," he muttered "We misunderstood We’re doomed …"

She slapped hi of pain dispelled the fog in his ed to focus on her If anyone else hit him like that, he would have sent them back to Darwin’s slu that thing here?" she asked "Some kind of damn experiment?"

"No," he said, incredulous "Of course not I have no idea how this happened"

"It got here somehow," she said

"Listen to ned thebody, as if seeing it for the first tiht have seen this coht If only Tania’s father hadn’t blindedbut pain lay down that road

"We should alert the other stations," Kelly said "Initiate a lockdown"

"No," Neil said "God, no! There’d be chaos You were in Darhen the survivors started pouring in You sa people acted"

"But--"

"What if he’s the only one," Neil said His words silenced both of them "A freak of nature," he went on "There’s people iht? Maybe there’s so at straws"

A laugh slipped from his lips "Let’s bloody hope so, anyway, or we are well and truly daot to put him out the airlock, before anyone finds out"

"What?"

"If you don’t want chaos, we can’t have the body of a subhuman found up here"

"And then?" he asked "The others will know soripped his chin, forced him to see her "Then we leave If anyone asks, he left with us You had other work for hi true No matter how vile the business, no other option would work

He took the lead,Kelly and the corpse toward an airlock one level over The lack of gravityto think about, Neil realized Murder in zero-g It sounded like the title of a detective story

At the inner airlock door, he helped Kelly steady the body, and then entered the access override code She pushed the body and let it float into the small compartment

"Did you know hi the thick door closed and activated the lock again "Trevor, I think"

Override code still in place, Kelly handled the sequence of commands to open the outer airlock door Neil couldn’t help but watch through the tinyIn total silence, the black of space came into view A flash of humidity as airwith the air into the void, slack liained distance with surprising speed

"I’m too old for this," he said

"You and me both"

Neil forced himself to look away fro else to say to her Nothing caripped his shoulder "What’s done is done Let’s get out of here"

He grinned, despite the circumstances Only he knew his past sins In this he had a co-conspirator, soth from that

Chapter Seven

Toyaet, the rear cargo door of the aircraft opened and Jake ju the eastern horizon, cast the cloud tops below in a deep red

Skyler watched until the sniper vanished into the nebulous puffs Satisfied, he picked up a handheldon the wall and pressed it to his ines off"

"Copy," the pilot replied through a speaker on the wall The engine noise faded a second later, until only the rush of wind could be heard Skyler punched the large red button that controlled the ramp Hydraulics wheezed as the thick metal door closed

"Sixty seconds," he said, and set to work strapping on his parachute

Saernail She’d put her gear on ray and white, insulated for winter cliun strapped across her chest

Skyler caught her attention and motioned toward Takai Help hian to inspect the engineer’s equipment

"That parachute has seen better days," Skyler said to her, noting the frayed stitching along an edge

"The whole world has seen better days, Sky"

Takai tried to look, but Sa forward "Not funny," he said

Skyler took a closer look at the yellowed material "Maybe we should drop on a nylon factory, fix these up"

"Or," Sa into that"