“What are you so upset about? This is good!”
“I’m not upset. We shouldn’t keep this ghost around without a body.” It was absurd that this machine could have an extra life while a human couldn’t.
Zephyr looked out from the screen. “Please don’t kill me.”
“What?” said Garrett. “I’m not talking about that, just—”
Tess said, “Deleting data? Garrett, I saw him ‘deleted’ the first time. Please, don’t hurt him.”
Garrett backed off, surprised at both of them. Tess was speaking up for the life — for the existence of this machine as though Garrett were doing something wrong. With so much wrecked it only made sense to start clearing away the debris. He wanted to punch the walls, to make himself hurt to stop feeling numb. “Okay. You’re right; I’m… I’m upset right now. But we have other things to do, and Zephyr can’t help us without a body.”
Zephyr said, “I know you don’t trust me. I can help you. If you let me continue running, I’ll try to earn my keep. I’ll gather information for you.”
Garrett felt irrationally hurt. He’d been starting to respect Zephyr’s ideas — but then Zephyr had lost any memories since the backup’s last update. Hell, was I proposing to clear away dross or to kill one of my crew? “Do what you can,” Garrett said, shaking his head. He felt ignorant, like an ogre solving all his problems by swinging a club at them.
Garrett left Zephyr running on the main computer, and was pleased to know that the platform’s internal communications network was mostly intact. “You built it well,” he told Tess as they went back outside.
“I killed Alexis and Zephyr. It’s my fault. You were sick.”
“No! No, I was so focused on the damn hardware that I overdid it and couldn’t help in time. You did your work right.”
Tess let her shoulders slump, uncertain. “Thanks. Look, I don’t want you two to fight. You’re both my friends, and I kind of need somebody right now.” Tess looked embarrassed. “Forget it. I don’t want to stop moving long enough to remember.”
The black solar-panel “suncloth” that had covered much of the deck had been locked away, he finally noticed, leaving bare concrete. “Wait. The solar and wind systems are down, but we’re still getting some charge to the station’s batteries. Is it the pneumatic system?”
Tess shook her head. “It’s not giving power, even after what I did. Needs fixing.”
“Then where is the charge coming from?”
Tess was looking down into the water. “I don’t know.” She shivered. “I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“You don’t stop hurricanes.”
“Why not?”
Garrett was still inspecting things. He started down the exterior stairs of North Tower, and swore. “No Constellation!” All he saw of it was a chunk of fiberglass bobbing on the waves. Sighing, he stood on the dock by the stuck door. He looked up to call out the bad news to Tess, but then he saw the banner.
Across the way, on the far tower, a forgotten roll of solar-panel material was dangling by its cord from the platform’s edge. Amid the ruin of Garrett’s dream, a stray piece of technology had unfurled itself as a glittering black-green streamer, a sail against the sun and wind. Still doing its job.
“Captain,” said Zephyr a few hours later. “We’re being hailed by Martin’s ship.” Martin was bringing the small boat they’d arranged as their main transport to and from Cuba. Garrett had been dreading this conversation.
Audio only. “Fox, what happened? Are you there?”
“I’m here. It’s bad.”
“How much damage?”
“Alexis is dead.”
The radio crackled faintly to itself for a moment. “How?”
“We followed the lockdown plan, with what limited warning we had. But we had a pneumatic system failure at the worst possible time. Alexis, Tess and Zephyr were in the water. God, it was awful and I didn’t even get the worst of it.”
“Tess too?”
“Tess is fine, just shaken up. Zephyr is here too, but just as software without his body. Parts of our equipment are lost, Constellation included. Things wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d prepared better.”
Martin said, “Shut it, Fox. You didn’t say that and you’re not going to say it again.”
Garrett stepped outside and spotted the approaching boat in the distance. “Huh?” He’d expected Martin to tell him he was a failure.
“An admission of guilt on your part could be evidence in a lawsuit. Never say anything was your fault.”
Mistakes were made, thought Garrett, taken aback.
Martin said, “What? You want me to tell you you’re an idiot and that I’m giving up on the whole project before I’ve even seen the damage? If I’m going to continue, I’m not letting my doubts interfere with the decision once I make it. And certainly not your doubts. Now let me get there.”
Soon they gave Martin a tour of the damage, then left him alone to think. Tess stood with Garrett on the deck. She said, “I was mean to Alexis. I didn’t get to apologize.”
“Do you want to go home?”
Tess stared out to sea. “No. I don’t want everything to be a waste.”
“Me neither.”
It took a while before Garrett saw Martin again. The investor looked strained. “Fox,” he said. “Let me ask you again. Are you willing to keep at this, to do everything that needs to be done to make it work? No matter what?”
Garrett gave a quick “Yes.”
“I’ve sunk plenty of money into this project. I won’t be happy if you lose it.”
“I said, yes.”
“And there’s your own money.”
Garrett glared at the old man. “I told you, I’ll do what needs to be done! What more do you want me to say?”
“You sound like a boy who’s being nagged to clean his room.”
At this Garrett snapped. “You weren’t here when it happened! I know I didn’t do enough and I’ve seen the consequences. Do you think I’m ever going to forget being out there with my friends in danger?” He jabbed a finger at the ocean. “If you’re not going to condemn me, then stop testing me and let me do my job!”
Martin shut his eyes a moment, and Garrett thought he detected a satisfied smile on Martin’s face. Garrett said, “Do I get an ‘A’ for my answer?”
Martin’s expression hardened again. “You get to keep working. Now get out of here. Go ashore and find a way to defuse the situation with Alexis’ family. Admit nothing. Make arrangements to buy what you most need, to make the farm work again. I brought some of the items you asked for last time, but I don’t know your job well enough to do the shopping properly. Let’s get this project back on track.”
Garrett didn’t feel he deserved Martin’s support, or anyone’s. What did Martin see in him? But Garrett shook his head, angry at Martin’s smugness. Whether Garrett most wanted to earn the trust Martin had put in him, or to show Martin up, the method was the same: get it right this time.
2. Garrett
The boat’s engine puttered against the waves. It sounded noisy now that it wasn’t competing with a hurricane. He’d been dumb to go out there in that storm, but there’d been little choice.
Cuba looked shell-shocked. Like a leviathan or an omnipotent two-year-old, the storm had hurled entire trees into the buildings. Other trunks leaned against homes with boarded-up windows.
Garrett docked, then bought a newspaper with the storm on its front page. He headed toward a bar to relax for a moment and read, but — no. On the ground was an overturned bench. He righted it and sat.