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It suddenly occurred to Lukas that he still could He wasn’t one for sunrises--he ht and the stars--but if he wanted to see her, all he had to do was climb to the cafeteria and scan the landscape There would be a new body there, a new suit with the shine still on it glih those blasted clouds

He could see the is twisted, ar back at the silo Sadder still, he saw hi in front of that gray wallscreen and drawing not star charts but landscapes The saht-have-been, sketching that sa old-man tears that dripped and turned charcoal toof the Deputy, who died with no one to bury hi Juliette had told hied him to find soripped landing fifty’s cool steel railing and leaned over Looking down, he could watch the stairwell drill its way deep into the earth The landing for fifty-six was visible below, the several landings between jutting off in unseen angles It was hard to gauge the distance--Lukas was used to the ured it was hty-thichclear path down to ninety-nine

Suddenly, he saw his splayed He reckoned he would just s would catch him and saw him near in half Or maybe if he jumped out a little further, maybe if he aihtened, feeling a twinge of fear and a rush of adrenaline frolanced around and checked thehis they’d lost He’d always assuh their heads Because he knew, growing up in the silo, that only children dropped physical things froot older, you knew to keep a grip on all that you could Eventually, it was so else you lost that tuh the heart of the silo, thatshivered with the beat of a hurrying porter; the sound of bare feet slapping against steel treads ca and tried to focus on what he was doing that day Maybe he should just crawl back in bed and sleep, kill some hours with unconsciousness

As he atte porter flew past, and Lukas caught a glimpse of the boy’s face twisted in consternation Even as he sped out of sight--his pace swift and reckless--the ied in Lukas’s mind

And Lukas knew As the rapid patter of the boy’s feet wound deeper into the earth, he knew so neorthy about the cleaning

A seed of hope caught a taste of moisture Some wishful kernel buried deep, where he was loathe to acknowledge it lest it poison or choke hi never happened Was it possible his petition had been reconsidered? Had the weight of all those signatures gathered over a spread of a hundred levels finally worn the judges down? What if Bernard had actually coe to lower Juliette’s offense?

Lukas recalled his appeals to Bernard, begging him as a friend, as his boss, to intervene on her behalf He had asked hinature to the petition, which he finally had But Bernard had warned hies would decide, that his authority as interim mayor made him practically powerless

And yet, if a porter had dire news on a day of cleaning, could it be that his friend had kept at it all night and had finally corew vine-like through Lukas’s chest, filling hiency to run up and see for hi after his worries, and pushed his way through thein the porter’s wake He wasn’t the only one who had noticed

As he joined the upbound traffic, he realized the aches in his legs from the days before had vanished He prepared to pass the slow- family in front of him--when he heard the loud squawk of a radio behind

Lukas turned to find Deputy Marsh a few treads back fu for the radio on his hip, a small cardboard box clutched to his chest, a sheen of sweat on his forehead

Lukas stopped and held the railing, waiting for the ot the volulanced up He nodded to Lukas The both of the as a worker and his shadow passed heading upbound

"What’s the news?" Lukas asked He knew the deputy well, and he knew he ht spill it for free

Marsh swiped his forehead and moved the box into the crook of his other arm "That Bernard is whoopin’ h this week!"

"No, what of the cleaning?" Lukas asked "A porter just hurried by like he’d seen a ghost--"

Deputy Marsh glanced up the steps "I was told to bring her things to thirty-four as quick as grease Hank nearly killed hi ‘em partway up to me--" He started up the stairs around Lukas as if he couldn’t afford to stay "Look, I’ve gotta keep movin’ if I wanna keep my job--"

Lukas held his arm, and traffic swelled below theainst the occasional traveler heading down "Did the cleaning go through or not?" Lukas de Quiet chatter popped through his radio

"No," he whispered, and Lukas felt as though he could fly He could fly straight up the space between the stairs and the concrete heart of the silo, could soar around the landings, could go fifty levels at a leap--

"She went out, but she didn’t clean," Marsh said, his voice low but laced ords sharp enough to pierce Lukas’s dreams "She wandered over them hills--"

"Wait What?"

Marsh nodded, and sweat dripped froht," he hissed, like a radio turned do "Now I’ve got to get her things up to Bernar--"

"I’ll do it," Lukas said, reaching out his hands "I’ to thirty-four anyway"

Marsh shifted the box The poor Deputy seeed him, just as he had two days earlier in order to see Juliette in her cell "Let me take them up for you," he said "You know Bernard won’t ood friends, just like you and me have always been--"

Deputy Marsh wiped his lip and nodded ever so slightly, thinking on this

"Look, I’ the box fro through his own body made it difficult to focus The traffic on the stairs had becoround noise The idea that Juliette may still be in the silo had slipped away, but the news that she hadn’t cleaned, that she hadelse It touched the part of him that yearned to map the stars It meant no one would ever have to watch her waste away--

"You’ll be careful with that," Marsh said His eyes were on the box, now tucked into Lukas’s aruard it with my life," Lukas told him "Trust me"

Marsh nodded to let him know he did And Lukas hurried up the stairs, ahead of those rising to celebrate the cleaning, the weight of Juliette’s belongings rattling softly in a box tucked tightly against his chest

2

"Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears"

Walker the electrician bent over a cluttered workbench and adjusted his reat bulbous lens was attached to his head with a hoop thatit for lass into position, the sreen electronics board came into crystal focus He could see each of the silver s bent out froly trapped in silver puddles of frozen steel

With the tip of his finest soldering iron, Walker prodded a spot of silver while he worked the suction bulb with his foot The h a straw, one little leg of sixteen free