A long silence settled in. Alex stared out at the stars. “On the other hand,” he said, while my blood froze, “maybe you're right.”
“Good.” I tried to sound as if I were relieved.
“If we leave, nobody will ever come back for him.”
I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just sat there.
“Tell you what. On the next orbit, we'll ride down and take a look around, okay? See if it looks safe. Then we can take it from there.”
We crossed the terminator and passed out of the sunlight. We weren't equipped for night vision, so that meant no more churches, and no more superluminals leaving for Heaven.
Lights moved through darkness. And I knew an ocean lay ahead because more lights lined the coast as far as I could see in both directions. Beyond was only darkness. We passed over them and moved out to sea.
“We should stay in the same orbit,” Alex said.
That was, of course, obvious. And I'd already locked us in. But I didn't say anything.
Twenty minutes later, we were over land again. Scattered clusters of lights were everywhere. Then a city standing at the junction of two rivers. We'd passed it earlier, and I remembered admiring its brightly lit stadium and getting a chill when I looked more closely and saw only empty seats. Another city, on the side of an enormous lake, was the site of a bridge that must have been twelve kilometers long. But the bridge had collapsed. It lay partly in water, partly on land, apparently beyond the restoration capabilities of the system. Or maybe they just hadn't gotten around to repairing it yet.
We looked down at a vehicle moving along a secluded road. A house in the middle of nowhere. A broad darkness giving way to an illuminated canyon. Eventually, dawn broke ahead of us, and another coastline approached.
“If you're determined to go down and look for Charlie,” said Belle, “we're getting close to your launch position.”
“How long?” I asked.
“Nine minutes, Chase.” She made no effort to conceal her disapproval.
“Let's go,” said Alex.
We loaded up on weaponry. Each of us took a cutter and, in case of attack by a wild animal, a scrambler. We had a spare pulser, which was supposed to disable electrical equipment, but obviously had been ineffective against the spider. Or maybe Alex had simply missed. In any case, he put the pulser in his belt. And, in case that wasn't sufficient, I took along a blaster.
We went down into the launch bay.
“The lander has been recharged,” said Belle. “It's ready to go.”
“I think,” said Alex, “it would be a good idea to get into a suit.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Just a precaution.” He opened the locker, pulled one out, and handed it to me. Then he was asking Belle to see if she could raise Charlie.
I stared at the suit. “You expecting a gas attack?”
“Just do it, please,” he said.
Moments later, we heard Charlie's voice:
“Thank God,” he said. “Have you changed your mind?”
The Richard Wayne Elementary School was located in a rural area, on the outskirts of a few houses and a couple of semicollapsed larger buildings. It might once have been the site of a town, but if so, most of it was buried. The few buildings that remained had been pushed aside, or crushed altogether. Three or four private homes and a shop had been restored, and some trees had been cut down and hauled away. But the AIs were losing ground.
The school had been contained within a sprawling single-story brick building. It was still in decent condition although it, too, was close to being overwhelmed. Shutters and doors sported what appeared to be fresh red and white paint. The brick looked relatively new. Swings, slides, and monkey bars in a play area were also in good condition, although the area itself had been engulfed by bushes and vines. A wide track with a carpet of thick grass ran up to the front doors, presumably to allow egress to whatever bots showed up to work on the school.
We drifted overhead. “It doesn't look like much,” I said.
Alex laughed. The laughter had a strange, hollow sound. The school felt ominous. Like a snare.
There was plenty of space in the track leading to the school, so I set down right in front of the doors. It had been late afternoon there when we'd made our previous pass. Now it was a beautiful summer evening. The sky was cloudless, and a fading sun was sinking toward the horizon. Everything-trees, shrubbery, some tall thin stalks with flowers at their tops-was in bloom. Something that might have been a lizard came out of the woods, looked up at us, and walked slowly away.
We pulled on our helmets. “Okay,” he said. “We do not deviate from the plan, right?”
“Right.”
I adjusted my air flow, and he tried the radio. “You hear me okay, Chase?”
“I hear you.”
He nodded and clipped an imager to the pressure suit, so I could see everything.
I depressurized the cabin. The airlock would slow us down in an emergency. Alex went through the outer hatch and set one foot on the ladder. “If anything goes wrong, clear out. Understood?” That message was intended as much for whatever lay inside the building as it was for me.
“Yes, Alex.” I wasn't sure what I'd do if he actually got in trouble. I was, after all, responsible for our being there. If I'd kept my mouth shut-
“If anything strange happens out here, anything threatening, let me know. But don't hesitate to leave.”
“Okay.”
He wished me good luck, and I thought how he had it backward. But I didn't say anything as he climbed down, looking out at the sun-drenched foliage. Then he was on the ground, walking toward the school.
Charlie's voice broke in: “Thank you, Alex. I know this isn't easy for you.”
The school doors opened easily. The twenty-year-old male, the hologram that had represented Charlie earlier, waited just inside, in a corridor that ran down the center of the building. Lights came on. “Hello, Charlie,” Alex said, using his link as a speaker.
Charlie smiled. He never allowed himself to look surprised by the suit. Instead, he casually brushed back his hair, which had fallen in his eyes. “Alex, I'm so grateful. I was terrified you'd leave. To be honest, I thought I'd never get away from here.” He pointed down the passageway. “Time may be short.”
“Okay. What do we do now?”
“Follow me, please.” He turned and, looking back to be sure Alex stayed with him, led the way at a brisk pace past closed doors and rows of lockers.
The walls were off-white. There were a few framed pictures, but whatever had been in them had faded long ago. Windows that might once have overlooked a lawn were darkened by a tangle of vegetation.
They passed two offices, one on either side of the corridor. “This one is-was-the administrative center.” I could see a desk and two or three chairs, and an inner office. More frames with faded contents hung on the walls. “Over here is our guidance department.” He kept going. Young man in a hurry. “I'm located at the far end of the hallway.”
“Charlie, do you expect trouble?”
“They know I'm leaving. I'm sure they know you're here. I'd be surprised if they don't try to stop us.” He glanced at the pressure suit. “Alex, why are you dressed like that?”
“Allergies, Charlie. Chase and I had a difficult time earlier today. There's something in ihe air.”
“I'm sorry to hear it.”
“We'll survive.”
They stopped outside what appeared to be a storage area. “In here, Alex. This is where I'm located.” The door opened. The room was about half the size of a normal classroom. It had two tables, some cabinets and chairs, two windows, and a bank of electronic equipment.
“Good. Okay, Charlie, let's see if we can get you out of here. Which one are you?”
“The little beige box. Here.” Tucked away on a bottom shelf. The box was shiny, polished, not at all like something that had been lying around since about the time they discovered electricity. It was engulfed in a tangle of cables.