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Juliette was in the forties when it occurred to her that sheher skin; her legs were beyond the ache, beyond the pain; they were nu a lot of the work as she lunged ahead, gripped the railing with clammy hands and hauled herself up another two steps

Her breathing was ragged It had been for half a dozen levels She wondered if she’d done das from the underwater ordeal Was that possible? She had no idea Her father would know She thought of spending the rest of her life without a doctor, of teeth as yellow as Solo’s, of caring for a growing child and the challenge of seeing that ain touched her hip where her birth control rode under her skin Such things ht of silo 17 So s that once seeic about the of the levels, the single and cra the silo into sections, breeding ned She’d seen hints of this before, but never knehy Now this empty silo told her, the presence of these kids told her It turned out sohtened Soled knots only made sense once unraveled

Her mind wandered while she climbed, wandered in order to avoid the aches in her muscles, to escape the day’s ordeals When she finally hit the thirties it gave her, if not an end to the suffering, a renewed focus She stopped trying the portable radio as often The static never changed, and she had a different idea for contacting Walker, soether sooner, a way to bypass the servers and co her and Solo in the face There was a s, but why else lock up a radio that was already locked up two other ways? It only erous Which is what she hoped it would be

She stomped up to thirty-five dead on her feet Her body had never been pushed this hard, not even while pluh the outside Will alone helped her lift each foot, plant it, straighten her leg, pull with her arrab One step at a tied on the next step as she could barely lift her boot high enough The green e of ti would be She desperately missed her watch All she had these days was her knife She laughed at the switch, at having gone fro for each and every one of therating, to sleep, to curl up like her first night in that place, just thankful to be alive Instead, she pulled the door open, amazed at the effort this required, and stepped back into civilization Light Power Heat

She staggered down the hallith her vision so constricted it was as if she could only see through so else out of focus and spinning

Her shoulder brushed the wall Walking required effort All she wanted was to go call Lukas, to hear his voice She i over her froainst her ears He could murmur to her about the faraway stars while she slept for days and days--

But Lukas would wait Lukas was locked up and safe She had all the time in the world to call him

She turned instead into the suit lab, shuffled toward the tool wall, didn’t dare look at her cot A glance at her cot, and she’d wake up the next day Whatever day that was

Grabbing the bolt cutters, she was about to leave, but went back for the sood in her hands, one tool in each, pulling down on her ar her stable

At the end of the hall, she pressed her shoulder against the heavy door to the server room She leaned until it squeaked open Just a crack Just wide enough for her Juliette hurried as much as her nu Fast as she could go

The grate was in place; she tugged it out of the way and dropped the tools down Big noise She didn’t care--they couldn’t break Down she went, hands slick, chin catching a rung, floor co up faster than she’d anticipated

Juliette sank to her butt, sprawled out, shin banging the sledge It took a force of will, an act of God, to get up But she did

Down the hall and past the s one She remembered her days as sheriff They had a radio just like it in her office, used it to call Marnes when he was on patrol, to call Hank and Deputy Marsh This one was different She re in, about wishing he could talk to her down belohere it was coe down and pinched the jaws of the cutter on one of the hinges Squeezing was too hard Her arms shook They treainst her neck, cradled it with her collarbone and shoulder She grabbed the other handle with both hands and pulled toward herself, hugging the cutters Squeezing She felt the steel She ain Her collarbone hurt where the handle dug in, felt like it e

Another violent burst of es carily at the box, trying to get to the prize inside, thinking of Walker and all her fa in the background She had to get the

Once she had enough gap between the bent steel and the wall, she wrapped her fingers around this and tugged, bending the protective cage on its front edge, tilting the box away fro the entire radio unit beneath Who needed keys? Screw keys She wrenched the cage flat, then bent her weight on it,it out of the way

The dial on the front seemed familiar She turned it to power the unit on and found that it clicked instead of spinning Juliette knelt down, panting and exhausted, sweat running down her neck There was another switch for power; she turned this one instead, static rising in the speakers, a buzz filling the room

The other knob This hat she wanted, what she expected to find She thought it ht be patch cables like the back of the server, or dip switches like a pue of a knob Juliette srabbed the mic and squeezed the button

"Walker? Are you there?"

Juliette sluainst the desk With her eyes shut,to sleep like that She sahat Lukas ain "Walk? Shirly? Please answer me"

The radio crackled to life

Juliette opened her eyes She stared up at the unit, her hands tre

A voice:

"Is this who I think it is?"

The voice was too high, too high to be Walker She knew this voice Where did she know it from? She was tired and confused She squeezed the button on the mic

"This is Juliette Who is this?"

Was it Hank? She thought itsilo completely Maybe she’d screwed up

"I need radio silence," the voice demanded "All of them off Now"