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　　• Silo 18 •

　　“—said Thursday that I’d get it to you in two days.”

　　“Well, damn it, it’s been two days, Carl. You do realize the cleaning’s tomorrow morning, right?”

　　“And you realize that today is still today, don’t you?”

　　“Don’t be a smart-ass. Get me that file and get it up here, pronto. I swear, if this shit falls throughbecause you were—”

　　“I’ll bring it. C’mon, man. I’m busting¹ your balls. Relax.”

　　“Relax. Screw you, I’ll relax tomorrow. I’m getting off the line. Now don’t dick around.”

　　“I’m coming right now …”

　　Shirly held the sides of her head, her fingers tangled² in her hair, elbows digging into Walker’sworkbench. “What in the depths is going on?” she asked him. “Walk, what is this? Who are thesepeople?”

　　Walker peered through his magnifiers. He dipped the single bristle⁴ plucked from the cleaningbrush into the white paint on the wet lid of primer. With utmost care, his other hand steadying hiswrist, he dragged the bristle across the outside of the potentiometer directly opposite the fixed⁵ markhe’d painted on the knob itself. Satisfied, he counted the ticks he’d made so far, each one marking theposition of another strong signal.

　　“Eleven,” he said. He turned to Shirly, who had been saying something, he wasn’t sure what.

　　“And I don’t think we’ve found ours yet.”

　　“Ours? Walk, this is freaking me out. Where are these voices coming from?”

　　He shrugged⁶. “The city? Over the hills? How should I know?” He started spinning the knobslowly, listening for more chatter⁷. “Eleven besides us. What if there’s more? There has to be more,right? What’re the chances we’ve found them all already?”

　　“That last one was talking about a cleaning. Do you think they meant … ? Like … ?”

　　Walker nodded, sending his magnifiers out of whack⁸. He readjusted them, then went back totuning the dial.

　　“So they’re in silos. Like us.”

　　He pointed⁹ to the tiny green board she’d helped him wire the potentiometer to. “It must be whatthis circuit does, modulates¹⁰ the wave frequency, maybe.” Shirly was freaking out over the voices; hewas more fascinated by these other mysteries. There was a crackle of static; he paused in turning theknob, scrubbed back and forth¹¹ across it, but found nothing. He moved on.

　　“You mean the little board with the number eighteen on it?”

　　Walker looked at her dumbly. His fingers stopped their searching. He nodded.

　　“So there’s at least that many,” she said, putting it together quicker than he had. “I’ve got to findJenkins. We’ve got to tell him about this.” Shirly left her stool and headed for the door. Walkerbobbed his head. The implications made him dizzy, the bench and walls seeming to slide sideways.

　　The idea of people beyond these walls—

　　A violent roar rattled¹² his teeth and shook the thought loose. His feet slipped out from underneathhim as the ground trembled, decades of dust raining down from the tangle³ of pipes and wirescrisscrossing overhead.

　　Walker rolled to his side, coughing, breathing the musky mildew¹⁵ drifting in the air. His ears wereringing from the blast. He patted his head, groped for his magnifiers, when he saw the frame lying onthe steel decking before him, the lenses broken into gravel-sized shards¹⁶.

　　“Oh, no. I need …” He tried to get his hands underneath¹⁴ him, felt a twinge in his hip¹⁷, a powerfulache where bone had smacked¹⁸ steel. He couldn’t think. He waved his hand, begging Scottie to comeout of the shadows and help him.

　　A heavy boot crunched¹⁹ on what remained of his magnifiers. Strong, young hands gripped hisoveralls, pulling him to his feet. There was shouting everywhere. The pop and rattle¹³ of gunfire.

　　“Walk! You okay?”

　　Jenkins held him by his overalls²⁰. Walker was pretty sure he would collapse²¹ if the boy let go.

　　“My magni—”

　　“Sir! We’ve gotta go! They’re inside!”

　　Walker turned toward the door, saw Harper helping²² Shirly to her feet. Her eyes were wide,stunned, a film of gray dust on her shoulders and in her dark hair. She was looking toward Walker,appearing as dazed as he felt.

　　“Get your things,” Jenkins said. “We’re falling back.” He scanned the room, his eyes drifting tothe workbench.

　　“I fixed it,” Walker said, coughing into his fist. “It works.”

　　“A little too late, I think.”

　　Jenkins let go of his overalls, and Walker had to catch himself on his stool not to go tumblingback to the ground. The gunfire outside drew nearer. Boots thundered by, more shouting, anotherloud blast that could be felt through the floor. Jenkins and Harper were at the doorway²³ shoutingorders and waving their arms at the people running past. Shirly joined Walker at his workbench. Hereyes were on the radio.

　　“We need this,” she said, breathing hard.

　　Walker looked down at the glittering jewels on the floor. Two months’ wages for those magnifiers—

　　“Walk! What do I grab? Help me.”

　　He turned to find Shirly gathering²⁴ up the radio parts, the wires between the boards folded up,tangled. There was a single loud pop from one of the good guns right outside his door, causing him tocower, his mind to wander.

　　“Walk!”

　　“The antenna²⁵,” he whispered, pointing to where the dust was still drifting from the rafters. Shirlynodded and jumped up on his workbench. Walker looked around the room, a room he had promisedhimself he would never leave again, a promise he really had meant to keep this time. What to grab?

　　Stupid mementos²⁶. Junk. Dirty clothes. A pile of schematics. He grabbed his parts bin²⁷ and dumped iton the floor. The radio components²⁸ were swept in, the transformer unplugged from its outlet²⁹ andadded. Shirly was yanking down the antenna, the wires and metal rods bundled against her chest. Hesnatched his soldering³⁰ iron, a few tools; Harper yelled that it was now or never.

　　Shirly grabbed Walker by the arm and pulled him along, toward the door.

　　And Walker realized it wasn’t going to be never.

 

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