Anna didn’t care. The bed was on wheels. It was the biggest thing in here that could move.I need to get out.The wheel safety locks unlocked one by one, and she pushed with all her might, slamming the bed into the door.
Her arms shook as the door barely moved. There was barely a scratch for her efforts.
She firmed her shoulders. “Again. I’ll push it again. Only from farther back.” She braced herself against the floor and dragged the bed back again.And if this doesn’t work, I’ll break the window leading to outside and get help.
Also, where was Atlas?
Fear flooded her again.Stella must have tricked and trapped him as well. Anna gripped the bed, pushing it again to ram into the door. The bed made contact with the metal, stopping immediately.
“All you fucking machines!” Anna screamed. “You should be scared of an angry human!” Her voice broke as she pulled the bed back again. “I’ll do whatever it takes. Anything at all. That’s my baby!”
Chapter fifty
Atlas
Atlas briskly walked to his private quarters. The halls were eerily empty, and his footsteps echoed. It had been almost a month since he was last down here, but that time had made his former home almost unfamiliar.
He tried his wireless connection. Only static.It’s still down.Was the entire communal grid not responding? He tried a private connection.“Sterling?Zero?”
No answer. Everything must be offline.
Or was it only Atlas that was not connected?
The lights were all off in the corridor. Unease crept into him.Something doesn’t feel right.He quickened his footsteps.I should probably turn back.Sterling could tell him later what he found when the grid was restored. He stopped in the hallway.Yes, I’ll go back. I don’t want to leave Anna.
His feet were fully turned around when a familiar heel sound clicked toward him.
“Oh Atlas, what are you doing here? Are you meeting with Sterling too?” Stella had a maddingly cool expression and a forcefulness to her walk. She slid up next to him, matching his gait. On her shoulder was a crisp, gray, oversized bag.
A shiver went through Atlas. He stopped in the corridor. “What do you want, Stella?”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “The same thing you do. Sterling messaged me and said there’s some data on the baby he wants us to see. He said to meet in your old office. Are you not going to look?”
Her too?His neural mind revolted as two sides warred within him. Follow Stella? Or return to Anna? His feet still pointed the way back to his family.
“Whatever.” Stella waved her hands and rolled her eyes. “I’ll just listen then. You’re too busy playing house.” She walked off, her blond hair swaying down her back.
Atlas’s jaw clicked.He didn't want Stella anywhere near that data alone.
“No. Stop!” Anger flared, and he stormed back down the hall toward his office. “Stay away, far away, from any of this data. Nothing about this child concerns you at all.”
“No.” Stella crossed her arms. “Sterling invited me too.”
“Fine.” He shook her off and walked to his quarters, keeping her at his side. What could Sterling possibly want to show her as well?
Then he pressed ahead, to open his office door ahead of her. It was empty inside, the lighting turned off. “Sterling?”
Silence.
Stella walked in at his side, trailing her fingers on his desk through a thin layer of dust on the top. She stared at him, full in the face, then gripped her bag tighter to her side. “Is he not here?”
Atlas stayed facing her, glancing around the room.Where is he?Everything appeared abandoned. All his favorite plants were gone, moved to his house with Anna, leaving the walls cold and sterile. Everything was different from the hundred or so years he had spent here, tending to his plants and experiments in this room. Only a few plants remained now, their grow lights on their automatic timers.
But in his living quarters, the overhead light was on. Stella held back in the office entrance, fidgeting with her bag, then walked towards the light, entering the other room.
Atlas walked, hesitantly, forward. “Sterling, are you in there?”
No one answered.
