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“Who else?” Nico asks.
“Tristan Bellucci. But he’s dead, so he didn’t have any on him.”
“And other agents of the security council. I don’t want you to get your hopes up, but what if those two smudges aren’t Forrest and Michio? What if they’re agents who were there to make the dome collapse?” Nico says.
“Right, that’s why I was having you play it over and over.” Eros raises his eyebrows.
“You could have said something.” Holter runs his hand through his hair.
“I thought you saw it. My tech would have made it easier to see. But, well, we don’t need it. It’s clear. Anyway, if you didn’t see that, you didn’t see what I’m really excited about.” Eros stares at the spot on the floor in front of him, at me. “Castor, I’m going to need you to get into the entire system. I need another angle, and the tech I have here isn’t good enough. I don’t want to be seen pulling things from up there. My access to tech is well, dead. And as much as I would have thought I would be happy about seeing that ass vanquished, it’s suddenly inconvenient.”
“Sure. Are you going to keep us in suspense much longer?”
“No. Hit play, Sunshine. Watch the top left part of the screen. It’s dark there. Play it once regular speed, then go back and do it slowly.”
The shimmer is there. Where no one would ever look, just barely in view of the camera. It comes once, then twice. At regular speed, and then when it’s slowed down, the flashes form a pattern.
“Holy Mackerel!” Annabelle stands on the bed and wobbles over to the spot. She starts the pattern clip again. “It is!”
“Yes. It’s something Michio read about in a human kids’ story. Using torches to send signals to a friend who lived next door. He made me learn it so we could use it to talk at night after mother turned out the lights.”
“Morse code? Is that right?”
“That’s exactly what it is. And the fact that none of you saw it proves that it’s Forrest, the security member with the tech, and my brother, the one who knows morse code. It’s a message for me.”
“All right, what is it, then?” I’m standing now, and I’m in a line with Holter and Nico. We’re like three naked school podlets.
“Play it.” Eros is bouncing on his heels. “It’s not long. Four letters. Do you know what it says, Sunshine?”
“No, only that the first letter is S, and the last is O. I know S O S, and that’s it. I loved reading my mother’s old scouting book.”
“Exactly, four letters. In English because Michio is fascinated with everything human, always has been. S, blank, blank, O.” Eros wiggles his eyebrows at him.
“I don’t think there is any word like that. There’s a Saco, Maine, but that’s a bit out of the way. Soho, New York, but that’s got another O. Oh... oh.”
“I think she’s got it.” Eros is wearing his shit-eating grin.
Annabelle drops the tablet onto the bed and jumps into his arms. “Silo?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Where your mother taught you how to pilot a solo!” Annabelle squeezes Eros tightly around the neck. “Michio is alive. It has to be your brother.”
“Exactly.” Eros kisses her neck and lowers her onto the bed.
I turn to Holter and Nico, who have the same look on their faces. His mother taught him how to pilot?
“What are you doing?” She pushes on his chest. “We need to get going to the silos.”
“First of all, there is no ‘we,’ Sunshine. You aren’t coming. You’re staying here nice and safe. We don’t know who sabotaged the dome. I know it’s not Michio, but meeting him isn’t going to look good for any of us. Especially you, golden prince.”
“I’m going,” Nico says.
“Me too,” adds Holter.
I glance between Annabelle and Eros. “I sure as hell want to come. But I’m also willing to take one for the team and stay here with Annabelle.” I smile at her.
“Hey.” She crawls across the bed and playfully smacks at my leg. “We should all go.”
