But he had lacked the courage to tell her outright that her daughter, his aunt Liz, had vanished during the Collapse. R. sporii, the scourge that his grandmother had once successfully defeated, had been weaponized by madmen to roar back and defeat the victors.
Only—Jason did not feel defeated, and that was going to be the hardest thing of all to explain to her. Ninety-six percent of humanity had perished, but humanity was recovering. The remaining three large Army bases were winning the war against New America, even though the enemy had guerilla mobility on their side and a continent-wide returning wilderness to hide in. The scientists in Lab Dome, which Jason would do anything at all to protect, were going to figure out a way to neutralize RSA. He believed that. Villages and farms, at least those he’d had contact with on the West Coast, had not descended into preindustrial barbarism. The United States had working technology, and enough brilliant minds to restart heavy industry as soon as the war was over and factories could be restarted or built. Children were being born. The oceans and atmosphere were recovering.
Would his grandmother see all that? Could he make her see it?
He knew what she would see at the base, what it would look like to her eyes. Two domes packed with too many people, divided into mazelike warrens by walls of wood harvested from the burgeoning forest or metal from before the Collapse. The result was a functional, unlovely, ramshackle hodgepodge surrounded by blue shimmering walls.
Once Lindy had said, “It’s a mess. But what can you expect in a postapocalyptic world?”
“This is not a postapocalyptic world!” Jason had flared, before he even knew he was going to say anything.
She’d stared at him in astonishment. “Of course it is. The Collapse was an apocalypse, Jason. The Four Horsemen, every last rider.”
“No. We are not scavenging for canned goods. We are not eating dogs. This is an Army base, orderly and growing. We are not some cheap horror film cliché. This is a thriving base of the United States Army.”
“You always have to think you’re in control, don’t you? Have to prove to yourself again and again that you can handle anything because nothing is stronger than you are, not even reality.”
“That is not true.”
“It is, and don’t take that measured and superior tone with me. I’m sick of it.”
The fight had escalated from there. One of their many, many fights. Until the last one.
He could not expect Lindy to tell Grandma about Aunt Liz. Jason would have to do that himself. And this old woman who had come home from so far, who had endured so much over the years, who looked so worn—was she strong enough to bear this double blow?
“Sir,” Li said, “the shelling has stopped and the outside equipment wasn’t hit.”
“Good. We’ll wait for confirmation of liftoff from the Return, then convey the refugees to base. I’ll leave three of the squad here to help you move the station tonight.” Li would already have the next location picked out, and it would be the best fit possible, the borer bot already on site.
Jason needed to call General Lassiter at HQ and brief him, now, before the station’s equipment was either hit or moved. Radio contact among the domes that did not go through the one remaining comsat, and so did not call further attention to the signaling equipment, was fitful. It depended on the use of codes and coding machines, and no one knew when or if New America had broken the latest code. It had all been so much easier when the Internet had existed, along with quantum encryption, cell towers, and eyes-in-the-sky. But if they existed, then New America would have access to them, too. Maybe this way was actually better.
You always have to think you’re in control, don’t you?
And she had always said that he wasn’t. Jason was better off without her.
He straightened his back to go talk to his grandmother.
In the outer cave, Jane climbed into the back of the big self-moving cart—a “fighting vehicle.” Huge guns, much bigger than anything Lieutenant Lamont had had on World, were mounted on the front. The FiVee had no windows along the sides but there was a big window along the front. The shield between front and back was now gone. Five soldiers, one of them driving, and nine people from the Return crowded the space. Kayla still sobbed. Zack McKay perched at the edge of a bench that ran along the inside, talking intently with Claire. Marianne had jammed herself into a corner, her face turned away from the rest of them.
Jane maneuvered to squeeze in beside Lindy Ross, who seemed the most willing to answer questions. “Lindy, are you of Army, too?”
“No, I’m a civilian. That means ‘not in the Army.’”
Jane noted the word. “The soldiers here don’t wear esuits, but Lieutenant Jenner does wear one. Why—”
“Colonel Jenner,” Lindy corrected. Her face took on a fleeting expression that Jane could not interpret.
“Yes, I am sorry. Colonel Jenner.” She had not heard that title from the Terran soldiers on World; the soldier leader there was “lieutenant.” It was confusing.
“Oh, I don’t mind, but he will.” Again that face. “About the esuits—some people at the base are survivors of RSA and so are immune. Like me, and all of the soldiers here although not all of those at the base. Some never had the disease and aren’t immune, and since the virus is airborne, those can’t go outside without the esuits. Is your English good enough for scientific translation?”
“I hope so. My father and Glamet^vor¡ are biologists.”
“I see how eagerly they’re listening. Any English?”
“Not many words.”
“They’ll want to talk with Zack, not me. He’s the virologist. I’m a physician.”
Abruptly the FiVee roared to life, startling Jane. Belok^ clutched his sister.
Jane said, “Will you tell me about the place we go? Are many of people there?”
“About seven hundred, which is more than the domes should hold. They were erected and equipped as an Army base before RSA, a sort of West Coast Fort Detrick—never mind, you can’t know what that was—doing biological research along with basic military functions. Inland, because coastal flooding and superstorms were ravaging the coast. When RSA hit, families and some other scientists not yet infected were flown here on an emergency basis—that was the colonel’s foresight, I have to admit that much—and quarantined until… I’m going too fast, aren’t I? You’re not getting all this.”
“No,” Jane said. “I am sorry.”
“My fault, not yours. Let me drop back several notches. Monterey Base, where we’re going, has two domes, one of living quarters called Enclave Dome and one for scientific research, called Lab Dome, although some scientists live there, too, and the Army has a whole quadrant for the armory. We’re all pretty jammed in, but we manage.”
The FiVee rumbled but did not move out of the cave. Colonel Jenner seemed to be talking to the driver, or maybe to the air, since he wasn’t looking at the other soldier. Jane said, “If the domes are… are closed up against air like esuits are…”
“Sealed,” Lindy said. “And like the esuits, they’re equipped with some mechanism that purifies the air of everything, even nanoparticles, instead of keeping air out completely. Nobody understands exactly how they work, even though we can—could—make them. From the plans that we thought were your people’s. Jane, I have a lot of questions, too. Can I ask some?”
“Of course. I did not intention to be rude.”