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He’s not strapped in anymore. He stands at the back of the hold, his hands pressed against the side of the ship, his head bent down, every muscle tight in agony. When he looks at me I see fear in his eyes.
“Caleb,” I say. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” he says. “It’s fine. Go back up above. ”
“You’re sick,” I say. But with what? We can’t get the Plague.
Unless something went wrong.
“Caleb,” I say. “What’s happening?”
He shakes his head. He won’t tell me. The ship shifts a little and he stumbles. “You know what’s going on,” I say, “but you won’t tell me. So how am I supposed to help you?”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Caleb says. “You shouldn’t be here anyway if I’m sick. ”
He’s right. I turn to leave. When I sit down Indie raises her eyebrows at me. “Lock the hold,” I say. “Don’t go back down. ”
We’re almost back to Camas before Caleb speaks again. We’re flying over the long flat fields of Tana and I am, of course, thinking of Cassia and her family when Caleb’s voice comes over the speaker.
“I changed my mind,” he says. “There is something you can do. I need you to write something down for me. ”
“I don’t have any paper,” I say. “I’m flying the ship. ”
“You don’t have to write it now,” he says. “Later. ”
“All right,” I say. “But first, you tell me what’s happening. ”
The commander is silent. Is he listening?
“I don’t know,” Caleb says.
“Then I can’t write,” I tell him.
Silence.
“Tell me this,” I say to Caleb. “What was in those cases you kept bringing back when we delivered the cure?”
“Tubes,” Caleb says immediately, surprising me. “We brought out tubes. ”
“Which tubes?” I ask, but I think I know the answer. They’d fit in the cases perfectly. They’re about the same size as the cures. I should have figured it out long ago.
“The tubes with the tissue preservation samples in them,” Caleb says.
I’m right. But I don’t understand the reasoning. “Why?” I ask Caleb.
“The Rising took over the storage facilities where the Society kept the tubes,” he says, “but some members of the Rising wanted their families’ samples under their own personal control. The Pilot provided that service for them. ”
“That’s not fair,” I say. “If the Rising really
is for everyone, they should have given all the samples back. ”
“Pilot Markham,” our commander says, “you’re engaging in speculation about your commanding officers, which amounts to insubordination. I order you to cease this line of conversation. ”
Caleb doesn’t say anything.
“So does the Rising think they can bring people back?” I ask. The commander starts speaking again, but this time I talk over him and so does Caleb.
“No,” Caleb says. “They know they can’t. They know the Society couldn’t either. They just want the samples. Like insurance. ”
“I don’t understand it,” I say. “Someone like the Pilot should have seen enough death to know the tubes aren’t worth anything. Why would he waste resources doing something so stupid?”
“The Pilot knows you can’t bring people back with the samples,” Caleb says. “Not everyone else does. He uses that to his advantage. ” He exhales. “The reason I’m telling you all this,” he says, “is that you need to believe in the Pilot. If you don’t, we’re going to lose everything. ”
“I didn’t know I was so important,” I say.
“You’re not,” he says. “But you and Indie are two of the best pilots. He’ll need everyone he can get before this is all over. ”
“What’s this?” I ask. “The Plague? The Rising? You’re right. The Pilot does need all the help he can get. He hasn’t managed to get anything under control so far. ”
“You don’t even know him,” Caleb says. He sounds angry. That’s good. There’s a little more life in his voice.
“I don’t,” I say. “But you do, don’t you. You knew him before the Rising came to power. ”
“We’re both from Camas,” Caleb says. “I grew up on the Army base where he was stationed. He was one of the pilots who flew to the Otherlands. He took more people out to the stone villages than any other pilot. And he never got caught. He was the obvious choice to lead the Rising when it was time for a new Pilot. ”
“I’ve lived in the Outer Provinces,” I say, “and I’ve never heard of the stone villages or the Otherlands. ”
“They’re real,” Caleb says. “The Otherlands are the places far past Enemy territory. And the stone villages were built by Anomalies along the edge of the Outer Provinces when the Society came to power. The villages are like stepping-stones in a river. That’s how they got their name. They run north to south and they’re all built a day’s journey apart from one another. When you reach the last one, you have to cross through Enemy territory if you want to go on to the Otherlands. You really haven’t heard of the villages?”
“Not by that name,” I say, but my mind races. The farmers in the Carving were far away from any other Anomalies, but they did have the map with another village marked in the mountains. That village could have been the southernmost of the stone villages, the final one. It’s possible.
