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“And you must give more weight to data from those who have lived longest outside of the Society,” I say. “For second-generation, and third-generation villagers. Their information will have greater importance. ”
“We’ve come by some additional data recently,” the Pilot says. “A second group of villagers has also proved to be immune, though they only arrived in the mountains recently. ”
The farmers from the Carving. It must be. I remember the small dark house, the symbol for settlement, that we saw marked on the mountains of the farmers’ map. They didn’t know the name of the village or if anyone still lived there, but that was where the farmers fled when the Carving was no longer safe.
Ky is looking at me. He’s had the same thought. What if we can see Eli again? Or Hunter?
“When the people from the Carving arrived, the villagers of Endstone let them build a settlement of their own nearby,” the Pilot says. “We weren’t sure at first if the people from the Carving would also be immune to the mutation. They lived in a very different climate and had had no contact with those living in Endstone for many years. But they were immune. Which was a huge boon to us because—”
“—then you could correlate their data,” I say, understanding instantly. “You could look for commonalities between the two groups. It would save you time. ”
“How close are you?” Xander asks.
“Not as close as we’d like,” the Pilot says. “There were many commonalities in the diets and habits of the two groups. We’re ruling out each possibility as fast as we can, but it takes time, and people to try the cure on. ”
He’s looking at the three of us. Have we convinced him?
Xander watches me, too. When our eyes meet he smiles and I see the old Xander in him again, the one who used to smile at me exactly this way to try to get me to jump in the pool, to join in the games. When I turn back to Ky, I se
e that his hands are shaking just a little, his fine hands that taught me to write, that touched me when we went through the canyons.
Long ago on the Hill, Ky warned me about a situation like this, where we might be caught. He told me about the prisoner’s dilemma and how we would have to keep each other safe. Did he ever think that there might be three of us, not two?
Here, between Xander’s smile and Ky’s hands, I come to my own understanding, that the only way to keep one another safe is to find the cure.
“We can help you,” I say again to the Pilot, hoping that this time he will believe me.
Grandfather believed in me. In my palm, I hold the microcard. It is wrapped in a paper from my mother that is covered in my father’s words, written by my brother’s hand.
PART FIVE
PRISONER’S DILEMMA
CHAPTER 24
XANDER
Outside the ship, Ky paces the clearing while we wait for the villagers to come down to meet us. “You should rest,” I tell him. “There’s no evidence that continued motion delays the onset of the illness. ”
“You sound like an Official,” Ky says.
“I used to be one,” I say.
“The reason you don’t have any evidence that this works,” Ky says, “is because you never had anyone try it. ”
He and I are talking and joking, using the same tone we did when we played at the game tables. Once again Ky is going to lose and it’s not fair. He shouldn’t have to be still.
But he hasn’t lost Cassia. The way the two of them look at each other is like touching. I’m caught in the middle of it.
There’s no time to think about that now. A group of people emerges from the trees. There are nine of them. Five carry weapons and the rest have stretchers.
“I don’t have any patients for you today,” the Pilot says. “Nor supplies, I’m afraid. Just these three. ”
“My name is Xander,” I say, trying to put the villagers at ease.
“Leyna,” says one of the women. Her hair is in a long blond braid and she looks young, like us. None of the others move to introduce themselves, but they all appear strong. I see no signs of illness among them.
“I’m Cassia,” Cassia says.
“Ky,” Ky says.
“We’re Anomalies,” Leyna says. “Probably the first you’ve ever seen. ” She waits for our reaction.
“We knew other Anomalies in the Carving,” Cassia says.
“Really?” Leyna asks, her voice full of interest. “When was this?”
“Right before they came here,” Cassia says.
“So you know Anna,” says one of the men. “Their leader. ”
“No,” Cassia says. “We came after she left. We only knew Hunter. ”
“We were surprised when the farmers came to Endstone,” Leyna says. “We thought everyone in the Carving had died long ago. We believed that those of us in the stone villages were all that was between the Society and the rest of the world. ”
