The divers all stood up, boots clicking on the floor, backs straight. Team leaders Edgar, Arlo, Magnolia, and Kade walked up to the council table.
Layla was already there, only a week from her due date. She slowly rose from her chair with the officers of the airship.
The new captain, Eevi Corey, saluted, as did her lieutenant, Ada Winslow, who had helped lead the fight against the machines after returning from her exile.
Miles trotted in front of X to sniff his new friend Jo-Jo, the monkey.
Pedro and a woman named Cecilia also had seats on the council, representing the people from Rio de Janeiro, Sofia sat on the council as a representative for the Cazadores. Joining them were the leaders of the three airships lured to Mount Kilimanjaro by the machines over the past few decades—Captain Rolo, Captain Fina, and officers Dmitri Vasilev and Olga Novak.
It was only now that X understood the truth. Captain Maria Ash had received the same signal from the machines, but she had recognized the danger after Captain Rolo never returned.
Everyone stood as X walked down the aisle to the throne.
As he climbed the stairs, the doors opened again, admitting General Forge and two of his guards. They had come straight from the marina and now marched to the council table. Forge pounded his chest armor and then stood behind his assigned chair. He carried a metal case in hand, and his helmet under his arm.
Imulah joined X on the platform, along with another translator.
“Welcome back, General Forge,” X said. “I’m anxious to hear what you found out there that is important enough to call a council meeting.”
Forge nodded at Imulah and spoke.
“The general says they raided an old-world port in Panama, where they found the new vessels,” Imulah said. “One is an ITC ship.”
X narrowed his eyes. “So what’s in the case?” he asked.
After Imulah interpreted, General Forge set his helmet down and placed the case on the table. He opened it, and X moved closer for a view of the contents, which appeared to be laminated papers.
Forge unfolded what looked like a map. Not a map, but a blueprint.
He took it up the steps and handed it to X.
X wished he had brought his glasses, which he now must use when reading anything. Although he couldn’t read the small print, he could make out the images.
Forge spoke through Imulah while X studied the blueprints.
“General Forge says these are blueprints of a weather-modification system that ITC built before the war,” Imulah said. “They are located at the poles and along the equator, and he believes they could be used to reverse the electrical storms.”
“Michael?” X said.
The new head of engineering flipped through the blueprints, reading each one carefully.
“Well?” X asked.
“I think you should ask our old friend his opinion,” Michael said. He held up his wrist computer and, with a nod from X, tapped the surface.
A hologram in the shape of Timothy joined them on the platform.
“Hello, Commander Everhart. How may I assist you?”
But this wasn’t the same Timothy, nor did it look completely like him. He had shaved his beard, exposing dimples X never knew the AI had.
The program was indeed Timothy, but it was a backup that lacked most of his memories since leaving the Hilltop Bastion.
“General Forge brought back blueprints from what we believe are ITC weather-modification facilities,” Michael explained. “We want your opinion.”
He held them up for the AI to see, one page at a time.
“General Forge is correct,” Timothy said. “These facilities were named Red Sky and were designed in the year two thousand thirty-six, according to my database. However, I have no record of them ever being activated.”
“If they were, could it reverse the electrical storms?” Michael asked.
The room was silent.
“It is hard to say, Commander. This technology was built to counter the overheating of the planet, but as I said, it was never used.”
Magnolia gasped.
X paid her no attention until he saw Layla standing in his peripheral vision.
“Michael,” Layla stammered.
“What…” Michael turned calmly but then hurried over when the other council members got up.
“Michael, I think Bray is coming,” Layla said.
Clear liquid ran down her leg, pooling on the floor. X was no doctor, but even he knew what this meant. Bray was coming early.
“Get her to the medical ward, and let Dr. Huff know she’s coming!” X shouted. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”
X rushed out of the chamber with a small group led by Michael, who had scooped Layla up in his arms. He ran down the passage to the stairwell, then up two flights to the medical ward.
Dr. Huff was waiting outside with a nurse and a wheelchair.
“Put her in the chair and come with me,” Huff told Michael. “The rest of you, stay here.”
Michael gently set her down, and Huff gave X the glare that said, You’d better not test my patience today.
“Good luck!” X called out.
Layla groaned as Michael pushed her chair down a passage of closed doors. The group vanished around the next corner.
X stood in the lobby with Magnolia and Rodger while Ton and Victor took up position outside the medical ward’s entrance. Miles remained outside, too, sitting on his hind legs and watching the hallway.
“This could take a while,” Magnolia said. “We better get comfortable.”
Rodger hobbled over and took a chair next to Magnolia, but X couldn’t calm his nerves. He paced on the tile floor. When he was younger, children had scared him more than anything, especially babies. Not the kids themselves, but that he would screw things up around them.
An hour passed. Another. X lost track of time while they waited. Rodger dozed. Magnolia left and came back with food and water for the three of them.
After a while, Rodger pulled out an unfinished wood carving and a knife and began carving while Magnolia slept with her head on his shoulder. X couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. He could only sit there, worrying and playing with a thread that had come loose from the arm of his chair. Finally, when he’d managed to work the thread out to triple its original length, a technician came into the lobby with an update.
“Layla’s in the final stages of labor now,” he said.
The man didn’t leave. He stood there looking at X.
“What?” X finally asked.
“Michael said you’re welcome to come back,” said the technician. “But you have to put on a mask and scrubs.”
X looked at Rodger, then Magnolia.
“What are ya waitin’ for, X?” Rodger said.
“Go,” Magnolia said, swatting air at him as she might a pesky bug.
Just as he was about to leave, the doors opened and Katherine walked into the lobby with Phyl. The girl clutched a new doll that looked like a giraffe.
“We were told Layla’s in labor and to come up here,” Katherine said almost sheepishly.
Phyl glanced up timidly.
Since losing Les, neither of them had been the same. X had shared several meals with them and had taken Phyl out to fish, but broken hearts mended slowly.
X’s did, too. The captain, Hell Diver, electrician, and engineer was as good a man as X had ever met. Les deserved to be here with them far more than X did.
“I’m going back with Michael,” he said.
“Have a seat,” Magnolia said, patting the chair next to her and smiling.
Katherine and Phyl sat down, and X followed the technician to a room where he changed into scrubs and a mask. He froze at screams that echoed through the medical ward.
The technician grinned. “It’s normal. Follow me, King Xavier.”