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  Ane Zaki eyes grew brighter. “It’s our home, Nick.”

  “Bullshit,” the NP growled. “I don’t believe it.”

  As they walked on, side by side, Dominic was troubled. He couldn’t doubt Ane Zaki’s word, yet it confounded him. Even as Nord.Com drove them into bankruptcy, these protes had sacrificed their food to keep their submarine operating. A week ago back in Trondheim, he could not have imagined it. He kept glancing at Qi, but the major trailed too far behind to join in their talk. Benito shifted uneasily on his shoulders.

  Halfway down the next row of fuel cells, he noticed three strange contraptions. When Ane Zaki saw where he was looking, she emitted a quiet laugh, covering her mouth with her fingers. “Our new gas turbines.”

  As she took his hand and pulled him along, her voice grew high-pitched and eager. “We’ve been cannibalizing our cabin walls for materials. When Dominic Jedes freed us, we devoted all our resources to finishing these three. You notice how they work? The turbines capture waste thermal energy from the fuel cells to generate more power. We’ve increased output from these three cells by 70 percent.”

  Dominic examined the devices with interest. “Why not build more?” he asked.

  “Preter-keen idea.” Qi walked up and snapped her fingers in his face. “More turbines, Anzie! Are you sitting on your hands, girl? Why don’t you build more turbines?”

  “Major Qi.” Dominic stood to his full height and stuck out his chest. Sometimes her sarcasm exasperated him.

  “Nick-O, you are so freakin’ dense. If Anzie had parts for more turbines, don’t you think she’d build them?”

  “Of course, I—”

  Just then, Ane Zaki swayed, and Qi dashed over to catch her. “You’re worn-out, Anzie. Sit down, okay?”

  “There’s more that Nick should see.” Ane Zaki began to titter in a hectic, unnatural way, and Dominic perceived at once that she was ill. Qi swept her up and carried her to a bench, while Benito squirmed down and ran to her side. With a sense of his own clumsy ineptitude, Dominic followed.

  “When did you sleep last?” Qi was searching pockets. “Freak, I’m all out of tabs. Poor Anzie. I don’t have a thing to give you.”

  When Ane Zaki closed her eyes, the light went out of her face, and she looked deathly pale. Dominic recalled the last antiviral tab he’d swallowed. Now he wanted to kick himself.

  She spoke without opening her eyes. “Our careful plans are failing, Nick. We can’t distill fuel fast enough. The demands are too great.”

  Dominic involuntarily stretched out his hands toward her. He thought of the lie he’d been telling everyone, that he could get more fuel. But he couldn’t lie to Ane Zaki. Qi found an alcohol wipe in one of her numerous pockets and used it to bathe Ane Zaki’s forehead. Benito knelt on the floor and rested his chin against her knee. Not knowing what else to do, Dominic stalked off into the machinery.

  He wanted to shoot that idiotic council. The miners could have survived, he saw it now. The original crew could have made themselves a haven here at the bottom of the sea. They could have grown that vat goo and distilled their homemade fuel and salvaged whatever they needed from the junk piles. They could have traded with each other and amassed wealth.

  Instead, that ego-mad council invited the whole world to join them, and now they’d worn the life out of this mild, bright angel, Ane Zaki. Worse, they were still sending the invitation, and more workers kept streaming in. All the possibilities would come to ruin now, because of that insane broadcast.

  Dominic cursed through his teeth. He had no trouble believing that the council would retreat to some lair and keep broadcasting, even as their recruits fell ill and died. And let’s not forget the Orgs, he thought bitterly. In their secret satellites, the AI gods would exploit the situation for their own dubious ends. Anger churned in his belly, and the accumulated fatigue and stress came tumbling down on him like an avalanche. He clenched his fists and looked for something to hit. But his enemies weren’t here in Ane Zaki’s immaculate power plant.

  “Let’s go smash that Net link,” he said under his breath. “Which way?”

  “Now you’re talking, boy!” The NP sent a healing wash of warmth through his left eye, and a second later, he felt a jolt of energy, as if he’d mainlined amphetamine. The NP must be screwing with his body chemistry. Before he could object, the genie said, “All these detours are filling my memory. I’ve had to triple in size just to store this boring stuff.”

  “Triple?” Dominic touched his eyelid. “You’re growing?”

  “Relax. I’m hardly bigger than your fingertip. But the longer this takes, the more energy I have to leach from your bloodstream to power my comp. So let’s get moving.”

  Fingertip? Dominic looked at his index finger and imagined an object that size growing inside his head. The idea was gruesome. In fact, it was intolerable! He lurched toward the nearest cylinder and punched it with his fist.

  “Settle down, son. We’re on the same side. When this is over, I’ll dissolve in your bloodstream. You’ll never know I was here.”

  Dominic’s neck muscles stood out like ropes as he stared at the bloody dent he’d made in the cylinder. The chemicals in his blood made his heart hammer, and heat flashed up and down his body. Then he took a long breath through his nose, and when he spoke again, he subvocalized. “I want a hard-and-fast agreement. When this is over, you’ll remove yourself. I won’t take another step until I have your solemn oath as an exec.”

  “As an exec? Sure, you have my word.”

  “Damn you to hell.” Dominic sank to the floor and dropped his head between his shoulders. What could the NP know about executive honor? Its guts were made of binary code.

  And what am I, he thought. A genetic copy of a dead man. He scowled at his split knuckles where he’d punched the cylinder. Then he turned his hand over and gazed at his battered palm. Djuju’s bandages were long gone, and the cuts from the miners’ bucket handles had turned dark. The inflammation between his ringers had spread to the back of his hand. But the four lines running across his palm were still clear. Heart, head, fate, life, the palm reader’s map of destiny. Once, his father had paid a roving psychic to read his young son’s future in his palm. “Two for the price of one,” Richter had joked, spreading his hand next to Dominic’s to show how exactly their palms matched.

  Dominic spread his lacerated palm till the wounds burned. At that moment he despised himself and his father both. He despised the inscrutable Orgs, the renegade employees and the finger-sized genie growing in his eye. He was tired. All he wanted was to go back to his condo in Trondheim and take a nap. He didn’t belong here. Why shouldn’t he just leave?

  Yes, why not? The major knew where to find that bathysphere, and he could force her to tell him. Then he could take Ane Zaki to safety. Benito, too. If he happened to meet Tooksook along the way, or Penderowski, or that pretty Captain Gervasia, he could rescue them as well. Sure, he’d even bring the wily major along. Let the guards arrest all the others. He would take his friends away in the bathysphere and sail to that charming mountain lodge in Hammerfest, overlooking the Barents Sea. He had plenty of money. Why shouldn’t he set them up in a new life? Benito could go to school.

  He got to his feet, marched back and grabbed Qi by the shoulder.

  “What the freak! Let me go,” she said.

  Qi was strong, but she was no match for Dominic in his present mood. He hauled her away from Ane Zaki’s bench. Benito watched with round eyes as Dominic drew her into a space between two fuel cells. When they were out of earshot, he whispered, “Help me talk Ane Zaki into leaving. Before the lights go out for good, we need to find that bathysphere.”

  “Oh. You wanna sneak away and leave these people to die.”

  She shoved past him, but he blocked her. When she tried to punch him, he caught her wrists.

  The NP flared, “You can’t leave yet! You have to find the Net link!”

  Dominic tightened his hold on Qi. “Better to save a fe
w lives if we can. Ane Zaki. Benito. Maybe some others. I’ve thought about this.”

  “You want to handpick your friends out of nine thousand? Yep, it’s tip to nine thousand people now.” Qi’s ebony face had gone pale. “Do you really think anyone will go with you?”

  When she tried to jerk away, he gripped her close and twisted one of her arms behind her back. But she knew a trick to escape that hold. She spun fast, and Dominic fell hard against a steel cylinder.

  “Don’t pretend you wanna save people. You’re a coward.”

  “Major, I—”

  Qi seized this chance to kick-punch him in the chest, and he slumped to the floor with a gasp. At that moment, Ane Zaki appeared.

  “Anzie, you shouldn’t be up.” Qi kicked Dominic again.

  Ane Zaki leaned on Benito’s little shoulder. Her skin gleamed with perspiration, and she was trembling. Had she overheard his escape plan? It seemed shameful now. He turned his face away from her.

  Qi stepped over him and took Ane Zaki’s arm. “Sorry about this, Anzie. I was hoping… But as usual, I’ve been a fool.”

  “Hope is never foolish.” Ane Zaki gently drew Qi’s head down and kissed her brow. Then the lady electrician offered her slender hand to Dominic. He scrambled to his feet. He felt unworthy of her aid.

  “Coin giver, we’ll meet another time.” She took his hand despite his reluctance, and as he met her weary glance, he felt like a criminal. Her face filled with light. “Go, Nick. Make your offer to the council. I know what you’ve come to do.”

  CHAPTER 15

  * * *

  VOLATILITY

  FOR a long while after they left the power plant, Dominic felt the touch of Ane Zaki’s hand. Though she’d showed him nothing but kindness, her touch burned like an accusation. He couldn’t stop thinking about her parting words. Somehow, she’d heard the lie he’d been telling that he could get fuel and supplies for the colony. And she believed it. The last thing he wanted was to deceive Ane Zaki.

  Qi led the way up the ladder, the boy followed, and Dominic came last. Inside his head, the NP kept up a steady harangue, claiming it could recombine his neural transmitters to boost his energy level. He ground his teeth and thought about what he was going to do. Ane Zaki expected something brave. That was the worst—she trusted him, the same way Benito and Penderowski and all the others did, starting with his sweet, bleeding-heart assistant, Elsa. Their trust weighed on him like a heavy coffer of loot he’d stolen by mistake. They expected him to offer a deal that would rescue everyone, but what deal could he parley between a council of lunatics and an unyielding bit-brain? He was a banker, not a miracle worker.

  He rubbed the stinging inflammation that covered the back of his right hand. If only he’d found decent jobs for the miners right at the beginning. That was his original plan. He’d even told his young assistant Karel to start the process. That night before he made the disastrous joke about the spin-off, he asked Karel to make a list of Coms that owed him favors. He’d intended to call them the next day. Why hadn’t he stuck with that reasonable course of action?

  Yes, he could have found jobs for the miners. But with all his eloquent phrases, could he have convinced the miners to take them? He suspected not. Not then. And not now. Their position was hopeless. Returning to Com protection was their only chance, yet he knew they were too naïve, or too thickheaded, to act reasonably. He wanted to throttle them. They were as stubborn as the NP.

  Deep in his eye socket, the genie buzzed nonstop, counting down the minutes and reminding him the broadcast was still going out. Why did the council keep inviting more people? It made no sense. Surely, Ane Zaki had warned them this place was a death trap.

  “Protes are children,” the NP said inside his eye. “They need us. I know we’ve had differences, but we always agree on the main points.”

  “Shut up,” Dominic said aloud. If Qi heard him, she didn’t react.

  The shaft leading up from the power plant was wider than the others. It held six ladders jammed together in a star pattern, and all of them shook with climbers. Assembled in haste out of scrap plastic, the slender rungs deformed under Dominic’s weight, and in the dimness, he felt the soft impact of heels and shoulders as workers moved on the other ladders.

  The walls were a bas relief of patches, rivets and welds. Yet the shaft looked plumb. It led straight up without interruption to a bright round hole far overhead. When Dominic leaned back to see the top, he felt woozy. That was the Dominic Jedes above. Ane Zaki had said so, and he believed her. No more detours.

  “How much air left?” he subvocalized to the NP.

  “Two hours, forty minutes.”

  “Two!” Dominic nearly missed a rung. “When I find the link, how long will it take you to call the guards?”

  “All you have to do is touch any part of the apparatus. I’ll send our coordinates instantly. You’ll return a conquering hero, boy.”

  “When the guards arrest these people, we’ll need to move them immediately to a safe habitat. We’ll need transport and facilities standing by.”

  “No worries. I’ve planned everything to the last detail.”

  Dominic mulled that over. He imagined a hot shower and clean fresh clothes—and then he imagined his first few days back in the office—the calls he’d have to make, the favors and bribes and coercion he’d have to use to find jobs for all these runaways. Yes, that’s what he would have to do, despite the personal cost. He wouldn’t leave them to rot in some detention center. But nine thousand people? It might take weeks to place them all. Meanwhile, ZahlenBank would have to feed and house them. What a mess he’d made. Well, he would just have to pay his dues.

  As he mounted the ladder, the bright round opening overhead grew larger, and he felt a foreboding, almost a premonition. The Orgs wanted him to die here. That was the penalty they meant to extract. Gazing at the steel walls that enclosed him, he commanded himself to stay focused.

  His foot rags had long since disintegrated, and his bleeding feet made the rungs slick. Above him, Benito moved more slowly, and Qi faltered. He saw her hand slip off a rung. Then her chin banged the ladder, and she stifled a groan. Amazing, the valiant major was staggering with fatigue. But she kept going, and Dominic followed.

  After a hard climb, they emerged from the mine shaft and passed through a laser-cut hole into the rusting steel hull of the ship. It smelted of acetylene welding torches and rang with the clatter of construction. Even so, the lower decks were already packed with refugees, stringing together their nomad shelters of boxes and plastic. From a nest of rags, a sleepy toddler stared.

  If he found the Net link now, he would gladly rip it to pieces. He was determined to stop this madness. He ground his teeth till his jaw popped, as step by step, they ascended yet another steel tube through the bowels of the Dominic Jedes.

  When they reached a metal catwalk leading to a bulkhead door, Benito sat down and wouldn’t budge any farther.

  “Major, wait,” Dominic said.

  The boy was exhausted, and Dominic was feeling woozy himself. The NP’s drug must have already worn off. He prodded his cramping calf muscles with his fingertips and tried to catch his breath.

  The NP said, “Hell, you can’t sleep now. You’re nearly there. I’ll give you another jolt.”

  Dominic subvocalized, “How much time left?”

  “One hour, fifty-eight minutes.”

  “We can afford a five-minute rest.” When Dominic sat down, Benito crawled into his lap and locked arms around his neck. “Not so tight, Benito. I won’t drop you. I promise.”

  “You promise.” Qi lounged on the ladder above, smirking down at him. Dirty sweat streaked her face. “Three cheers. Another heartfelt promise from Dominic Jedes.”

  The NP strobed in his eye. “Don’t forget the time.”

  Dominic ignored them both. He was sweating and shivering through hot and cold flashes. Maybe the NP’s drug had thrown his blood chemistry out of balance. He leaned against the wall a
nd waited for the hammering in his chest to slow down.

  “Valuable commodity, your promises.” Qi sat sideways on the ladder just above the catwalk, bracing her feet against the rail. “People get a promise from you, they end up in debt.”

  “Why’re you so angry, Major?” Dominic tried to moisten his lips, but his mouth had gone dry. “Haven’t I done everything you asked?”

  “Everything but open your eyes. Oh, what’s the point. It’s too late now.”

  “But Major Qi—”

  “Once and for all, I’m not your preter-vicious major! I never have been.” Qi pulled a rag from one of her pockets and blew her nose. It sounded like a trumpet. Then she massaged her forehead. Dominic wondered if she’d caught his cold. She said, “Wanna trade with me, Nick-O? Truth for truth?”

  “Sure.” He wondered what new trick she would try.

  “I’m not an exec, okay? I’m a scuzzy, lowlife protected employee. Born in a Sub-Jersey factory.”

  “You’re a what!” He spoke louder than he meant to. She had managed to shock him again.

  “Yep, you heard me. My parents were agitators. Before I was old enough to talk, they hacked your famous ZahlenBank Ark and forged me a new profile. Made me a little executive child so I could get special training and work my way inside the system.”

  Dominic was speechless. Her parents had hacked the Ark? But ZahlenBank’s security was fail-safe. No one had ever broken the Ark’s firewall. He wasn’t quite sure he believed her.

  Qi rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “I wasn’t a very good spy though. I’ve never accomplished anything. Okay, that’s my whole sad freakin’ story.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she tilted her head back so they wouldn’t spill over.

  Dominic blinked. He felt light-headed. “You’re a prote?”

  She sprang toward him with a raised fist, but instead of punching him, she pounded the empty air, and her face puckered. “You know that word’s a slur.”