“We’ve got him on the line, but I think someone a little higher up should talk to him.”
“Okay, sure. Want to tell me what’s up?”
“Better if you hear from him.”
He glanced at his daughter. “I’ll be back in a while. Go on ba—”
“I’m coming with you,” Josie said, stepping out of the room and pulling the door closed.
He could have argued with her but saw no reason to, so the two of them followed Crystal back to the communications room, where she motioned for Ash to take the seat at her station.
She put on her headset and, after a quick tap on her keyboard, said, “I’m back. Thanks for waiting…Yeah, just a second.”
Ash donned the auxiliary headset.
“What about me?” Josie asked.
Crystal looked over at the girl in the station next to hers. “Hannah, borrow your extra headset?”
After the headphones were secured and plugged into Crystal’s computer, she handed them to Josie.
“Sanjay?” Crystal said. “I’d like to introduce you to Captain Ash. He’s one of the main people here and works closely with Rachel.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Sanjay.”
“Are you in the military?”
“Not anymore. As far as I know, there is no military.”
Crystal looked at Ash, and, with her mic on, said, “Sanjay’s people have found something they thought we might be able to help them with.”
“Okay,” Ash said. “What is it?”
“Sanjay?” Crystal prompted when Sanjay didn’t jump in.
“Are you sure you are not military?” Sanjay asked.
Something was clearly bothering Sanjay, but Ash didn’t know what it was, so he decided to give the most honest answer he could. “I was military. I would still be military if not for the Sage Flu. But I’m not anymore. I’m just trying to do my part to keep things from getting worse.” When there was no immediate response, Ash said, “Maybe you can tell me what your concern is.”
“The only military people we’ve seen have been the ones who claim to be with the UN.”
“There is no UN, and I have never been with the people who made that claim.”
Another pause. “Of course,” Sanjay said. “I was only caught off guard. I apologize.”
“Don’t. It’s understandable,” Ash said. “Why don’t you tell me what you found?”
“Do you know about the survival station here?” Sanjay asked.
“He’s not aware of the most recent update,” Crystal interjected. She looked at Ash. “The Mumbai station was abandoned earlier today.”
“Everyone’s gone?”
“That is correct,” Sanjay said. “After the last of these Project Eden people left, two of my friends went into the compound to have a look around. Most of the place has been destroyed, but there is one room that has escaped harm. We think it is a communications room.”
Ash’s mind was still not completely awake, so it took a few extra seconds for him to process what Sanjay had said.
“Is that right?” he asked looking at Crystal.
As she nodded, Sanjay said, “As far as we can tell, yes.”
A communications room. In a Project Eden facility.
“And you’re staying it’s still operational?” Ash asked.
“I am saying the equipment is still there, undamaged as far as we can tell, and there is power, so it seems to us that everything should still function correctly. We thought it might be helpful to see how Project Eden personnel communicate with each other.”
There was no might about it, Ash thought.
“Our problem is,” Sanjay went on, “we do not know how to make it work.”
“We can absolutely help with that.”
“I have been told this, but also told that such a thing would need to be approved first.”
“Consider it approved.” Ash locked eyes with Crystal. “Do whatever you need to do to make this happen right away.”
“Of course,” she said. “Sanjay, I’ll need to get a few things organized here. Can I call you back? Fifteen minutes at the most?”
“I will be here.”
As soon as Crystal disconnected the call, Ash said, “Pull whatever resources you need. Make this a priority.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ash headed for the door, and then stopped. “If they are able to get things working, wake me up again.” He paused and looked over at his daughter. “As long as that’s all right with you.”
Josie gave it a moment’s consideration before nodding. “But right now you go back to sleep, okay?”
Caleb Matthews stood on the street corner in a constant state of anticipation. Every few seconds, he would lift his foot and start to step out, but without fail the black car would screech around the intersection and zip along the edge of the road, forcing him to jump back again.
He only wanted to get across. Why? He didn’t know. But the other corner was where he was supposed to be. Again he lifted his foot. Again he inched it toward the street. And again the black car appeared.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he yelled as he pulled away from the curb.
“Caleb.”
After the car passed by, he restarted the cycle.
“Caleb.”
He lifted his foot. He inched it forward.
“Caleb, get up!”
His eyes flew open as his whole body jerked away from the hand that had been shaking his shoulder. “What? What?” he said, blinking.
Crystal was kneeling next to his bed. “I need you down in communications.”
He looked around, half expecting to see the black car heading toward him. As the real world began to embrace him again, he rubbed his eyes and scratched his beard. “Um, what’s wrong?”
“I’ve got a project for you.”
“Now?”
With a smirk, she said, “No, I just woke you up for fun.”
“Wouldn’t put it past you.” He started to pull his covers off, but stopped.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked. “We need to go.”
“I, um, sleep naked.”
“Dear God,” she said, standing up and backing toward the door. “I’ll meet you down in communications.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“You’ve got five.”
Caleb walked into communications wearing his favorite Firefly T-shirt and a pair of jeans that probably should have been in the wash. He hadn’t bothered doing anything about his hair so it was still in the same messy state it had achieved while he was sleeping. He had, however, taken a moment to stop by the cafeteria to pick up a cup of coffee and a couple of leftover rolls from the previous night’s dinner.
“All right, ladies. No need to worry anymore. I’m here.” There were groans from all three of the women manning the stations. “So what earth-shattering disaster do you need me to save us from now?”
“Just sit,” Crystal said, pointing at a chair next to hers.
He plopped down and took a bite of one of the buns. It was going stale, but his taste buds weren’t really awake yet, so it didn’t matter.
“Want some?” he asked, holding out the bun to Crystal.
“No, thanks.”
He shrugged and shoved the rest of the bun into his mouth. As soon as he’d swallowed enough of it so he could talk, he said, “So what’s the deal?”
Crystal grinned. “I think you’re going to like it.”
“I doubt it,” he said, trying to look skeptical.
“What would you say if I told you we’ve gained access to an undamaged Project Eden communications hub?”
He leaned back. “Is this a joke?”
Instead of answering, she said, “And what if I told you we don’t know how to get it working?”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “I would say that’s because you hadn’t talked to me yet. Now please tell me you’re not pulling my leg.”