“Yeah.”
If some of them were spotted, the others could carry on, assuming that Leadville sent troops to capture them instead of dusting the entire valley floor with the snowflake nano. Their vaccine was protection against only the archos plague. But Leadville wouldn’t indiscriminately dust a wide area for the same reason that their enemy hadn’t hit Sacramento after evacuating all forces — it would be stupid to kill Ruth and the others without knowing exactly where to find their bodies, to recover the phenomenal machines inside them.
I’m glad I don’t have to say good-bye to you, she thought.
The three — two division had been obvious. Ruth and Todd needed to separate, to improve the chances that a nanotech expert would escape. Young and Newcombe would also split up, each of them acting as a bodyguard, and because both Cam and Ruth were handicapped — his hand, her arm — it made sense to put them together in the larger half so they could help each other.
The soldiers’ training and Cam’s long experience with this world gave them an edge, a good edge, and Ruth didn’t think she was crazy to feel optimistic.
It would literally be an uphill battle, trudging on foot from here to elevation and then onwards from peak to peak, carrying immunity to the scattered survivors. Lord knew some of those people would also be a danger, too hungry or too full of hurt to understand why or how they had come. Others would help them, though, perhaps a majority, dispersing in all directions, reclaiming the low ground between the coast and the Continental Divide and someday beyond…
And if they succeeded, if they discovered peace again, who could say what might come of the archos technology and everything else they’d learned?
Before too long she might make Cam whole again, and heal the burns and internal injuries of all survivors. She might find the immortality that Freedman had chased. Ruth turned again and smiled, even though he couldn’t see the lower part of her face. She knew the expression would affect her eyes and her voice. “I guess this is the easy part.”
“Walk in the park,” Cam said. “Absolutely.”
* * * *
They spread north along the Sierras first.
Acknowledgments
Most of all I want to thank my best friend, Diana. (She was also kind enough to marry me a few years ago.) Without her patience and support, this book would not exist.
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I’d also like to thank my father, Gus Carlson, Ph.D., engineer, former department head at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and all-around smart guy. He’s been an excellent sounding board in my research and brainstorming, not just with the nanotech featured in Plague Year but for a good deal of the concepts in my other stories as well.
* * * *
Kudos also to my bright and tireless editor, Anne Sowards, and to Ginjer Buchanan, Susan Allison, and everyone else who’s been so great at Penguin USA. Also a tip of the hat to my agent, Donald Maass, and to Cameron and Stephen in the office there.
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There are other people deserving of mention for their contributions and friendship: Patti Kelly and Ute Kelley, both super grandmas; Meghan Mahler for her maps; Peter Kelley for his amazing work in my corner of the Internet at www.jverse.com; Derek, Troy, and Darren for the skiing; and of course, Steve and Naomi.