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Hat’s off, Tania, he thought You play dirty, we have that in common But no one, no one, plays dirty like ht
Black Level, formerly part of Anchor Station
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"I expected a shell, like the other," Tania said "This … flower … it’s beautiful"
Despite the incredible sight out the s at her Her eyes ith open wonder, and yet they darted fro He had no doubt that the action she’d taken to thwart Russell Blackfield weighed heavily on her, but she’d not spoken of it since Even if the bold plan worked, the collateral dae would haunt her forever
A few kilometers away, the new Builder ship spun its elevator cord
He disagreed with her appraisal but said nothing Tania was beautiful This ship, he thought, looked terrifying
Admittedly it bore some resemblance to a flower A conical shape ofdoard Earth The material looked exactly like the iris he’d encountered deep below Nightcliff Even from here he could see fine patterns laced into the surface
The shell ship nestled within, identical to the one over Darwin Al to Tania, the ship was roughly 20 percent larger This fact alone had sparked intense speculation from the other scientists aboard Black Level
Tania spoke of a few ses, but there was no sign of them now
For hours they watched in awe as it slowly cannibalized itself, spinning an elevator cord out of theoval blades visibly dier be seen
Skyler sensed a growing nervousness in the creenty hours was a lot of time for the ad hoc spacecraft to support six hundred people
Electrical poas not the issue A s-shaped station for thousands of years, if needed No, the concerned whispers were all about air and water Recyclers would only go so far, the Platz-built stations having been designed with constant resupply inBlack Level fro from the for fast If Platz’s crew failed in their half of the plan, Black Level would have to drift back to the Darwin Elevator, to face whatever punishment awaited
"It must have acted as a shield," Tania said
Skyler soaked in her voice like the scent froht accent, froentle and authoritative It made him self-conscious of his own accent, the product of a childhood spent on the streets of Amsterdae They must sound stupid to her, but he asked the about the fact that no one from Neil’s secret station had made contact yet "A shield How so?"
"The distance traveled," she said, "the speed required It’s almost impossible to comprehend Every microscopic piece of interstellar dust would be like a ain with fresh eyes "They look flawless Well, they did, before they were converted into the thread"
"Self-healing" She shifted in her seat, leaning closer to the"We know they can do that Every time we’ve detected a flaw in the shell ship’s structure, or the Elevator cord, a second look proves it to be repaired"
He grunted in aine if we had that ability," she said "All that decay in Darwin, replaced with buildings that healed themselves That’s what Neil was after, ultimately"
"It would put me out of a job No spare parts to fetch"
She elbowed hithe back of Skyler’s seat to stop himself "Dr Shar man had auburn hair and eyes to match A spate of freckles dotted his pale cheeks and nose, and his narrow chin only served to accentuate a pair of enor the station controls since they’d departed From what Tania had explained to Skyler, Tie subtle adjustments in the positions of the farm platforms No one else aboard Black Level kneork the controls
Tim hesitated "Zane Platz," he finally said "He’s alive And on the cootten Skyler braced for bad news and turned rin on his face "Get this: He says they’ve got a clith of Skyler’s spine He closed his eyes and shivered, stress burning away like
Tania covered herShe looked close to tears
"They’re on the ground already?" Skyler asked "With a cli wider He looked at Tania "You know Hab-Eight, the perpetually delayed station the council is always debating? Zane and the rest of the Platz Station staff moved it over here"
"Neil pulled it off," Tania said, more to herself than anyone She shook her head in amazement
"It’s parked four hundred kilometers above the surface The climber and supplies were stored there ahead of ti it New Gateway"
Needs a better naht
"Come on," Tim said to Tania "Zane wants to talk to you"
"Start the attach up out of her chair "We need to be ready to receive that clirace of a dancer toward the curved hallway and the makeshift co her go, unsure what to do She’d kept him at her side since Black Level’s successful detachment She had treated hiht froh Skyler could feel the eyes of her co-workers on hier Tania kept so close With everything going on, she hadn’t bothered to introduce hied the scenario instantly Neil may have perished, but he’d pulled off his end of the plan, and though Skyler didn’t know anything about Zane, the Platz name visibly boosted the spirits of the crew around hilance at him He knew it couldn’t last, that his future would not consist of si around Dr Tania Sharma And yet he’d not dared broach the subject of his role in the new … nehat? New nation? Whatever the case, things would change quickly now
Survival was all anyone should be thinking about Romantic delusions could wait for another day
Withinof Black Level, foran a slow drift toward the new Builder ship, and the new Elevator
As news of contact from Zane spread, the mood aboard Black Level Station lifted Worried whispers turned into animated conversations Skyler allowed the view to envelop hi on around him
The Builder ship loolinted off the hair-thin cord, allowing him to track the line of it up to the nose of the Builders’ ship As he watched, the last of the material from the flower petals vanished as some unseen process converted them into cord Black Level floated much closer now, perhaps fifty ht, bewildered him If only he could share it with friends Samantha would probably have rattled off a dozen lewd remarks about the phallic nature of the alien ship by now A sudden tug of sadness stole the ain he’d left Sam behind She was entirely cut off, nowhere safe to retreat to, only Kelly on her side This time she’d at least made the decision herself, but after what Tania and Skyler had done … Samantha’s situation could only end badly