C James - Dome Six

Downing noticed Hideki standing there and the same confusion crossed his face as it had with Elle in the FPC, but then it softened, and he laughed ruefully. “Fucking Yamamuras.”

“What else do you know?” Elle demanded. “What’re we even doing here?”

“You put a listener in the Nexus, didn’t you?” Downing said. “Very smart.”

“Talk.”

“Listen, I didn’t even know we could communicate with the Company until I begged IDA to help Julia. You people do what you want. I’m going to see my wife and daughter.”

“Why you?” Elle demanded. “What do they want?”

“Data. And whatever that shit is they pump into the train. That’s all I know.”

“What about my father?” Owen interjected.

“Look, kid, I know you’re pissed but this is bigger than any of us. The Company holds all the cards.”

“Where is he?!” Owen demanded, fresh tears filling his eyes.

“They told me to put him on the train, so I put him on the train. It wasn’t personal.”

Of all the things Tosh could’ve imagined happening to Stephen, being hauled out of the Dome and put on a train was the last thing she could’ve imagined. Owen lurched for Downing. Aaron and Byron held him back, with considerable effort. He was a big, strong young man now.

“You son of a bitch!” Owen hissed. “Where is he?!”

Tosh and Hideki seemingly realized the same thing at the same time. Whatever line was open to Cytocorp wasn’t for communication. It was for data, and it was only supposed to go one way. That’s why Downing needed Tosh to restore the database. Why he tried to erase her memory of it.

As for Downing’s wife, it seemed they saw her as a way to use him. Everything he’d done was to get back to her and their child. They had him by the balls. But what would they need with a century’s worth of data? And if they had what they wanted, what happened next?

“What about my parents?” Tosh asked softly.

Downing shook his head. “I took your old man down to fix the processor. All he had to do was forget about it, but he couldn’t. It’s not my fault he dragged your mother into it.”

Suddenly it all came clear. Every mysterious disappearance from the Dome — her parents, Owen’s father, and Downing’s own wife — was his doing. But clearly, he’d been manipulated, too.

“What does it do?” Tosh asked, her mouth dry. “What does the train carry?”

“Multimeal’s just the raw material for something called Agar. The train takes it from here to the city. I don’t know why.”

“I knew it,” Owen said, shrugging off Aaron’s grip. Byron let go of him, too. “I told you the math didn’t add up. We made way more food than we needed. That’s because we were exporting this… Agar when all this was right outside our door.”

“Look,” Downing said. “All I want is to be with Julia and Noviah. To start over. You’ll never see me again.”

“What about the Macros?” Hideki demanded.

“Macros? What Macros?” Downing asked.

“The red Macros. What did you think was gonna happen when you left the Dome? That you’d waltz into Pacifica and get a pat on the back?” Hideki said.

Downing was completely flummoxed. “What’re you talking ab—”

A low whine, distant but sure, met their ears from the east. Their heads swiveled toward it. Downing noticed Elle’s distraction and reached for something concealed under him. Only Tosh saw him move. She dove for him, but not fast enough. The neurobullet caught her in the lower right part of her abdomen just as she fell on top of him.

At first, she only noticed the pinprick of impact. But as her heart beat faster, the neurotoxin spread like tentacles and every move became torture. Downing shoved her off him and she rolled away onto the grass.

Elle screamed and fired her own pistol into Downing’s back as he scrambled away. He stumbled but kept running.

Meanwhile, the whine to the east continued to build. Something mechanized was headed their way, and fast.

Downing clumsily angled toward the tracks that stretched east and fumbled for something in his pocket. Owen prepared to give chase, but Hideki stopped him.

“No!” Hideki said. “The signal!”

Owen got in Hideki’s face and pointed emphatically at Downing. “He has the antidote!”

Hideki whirled to Elle, who squeezed off another two rounds at Downing but he was already 25 meters away and the gun’s effective range was short.

Elle looked down at Tosh, horrified. “I don’t have any.”

Though the pain had already spread up to her face, Tosh could see the resolve in her brother’s face. He yanked the pendant up over his head and shoved it into Owen’s hands.

“Hold this.”

Dek took off like a shot after Downing, who looked like he might topple into the grass but amazingly stayed upright. Owen stood dumbly with the necklace in his hands, unsure what to do. They still didn’t know the device’s range and neither did Dek. The sound of approaching vehicles built to a roar.

Hideki caught Downing at about 40 meters and wrapped his legs up, toppling him to the ground. Downing kicked at his face with the heel of his shoe and tried to take off again, but Hideki had latched onto his foot and didn’t let go. The sight of him dragging Dek’s slight frame behind him was almost comical.

The silhouettes of three aircraft appeared over the trees in the distance, framed by the building light of dawn. Their wings bent toward the ground as though by the weight of the armaments underneath. The tail section swept up behind it in a dramatic T shape.

“Cytocorp,” Elle said.

“Maybe they’re here to help us,” Greg offered.

“They’re not,” Elle said, then turned to Owen, who stared helplessly after Dek. “We have to go right now.”

Byron bent low and gathered Tosh up in his arms. Next thing she knew, she was slung over his shoulder with her ass in the air.

“Dek!” Owen shouted. “Forget him!”

But Hideki was determined. In Tosh’s vision he was upside-down, still wrestling with Downing to try and get to the antidote, if he even had it. But even in her addled state, her head swimming from unspeakable pain, she knew that he was only still alive because of the Dome’s signal, not the one from the necklace. That was for them now.

To go after him was to risk the whole group. Even she couldn’t do that for his sake, not that she could have. He knew exactly what he was doing and what the stakes were. It wasn’t about the antidote anymore. It was about buying them time.

Dee looked desperately up at Tosh, then her father. The choice was difficult, but not impossible. They had to run.

“This way!” Owen said, trotting toward the forest.

“What about Dek?” Dee asked.

“We’ll come back for him,” Tosh croaked, though Dee seemed to realize it was a lie.

Byron carried her past the end of the train car and paused. For a moment, she had an unrestricted view of Hideki, Downing, and the approaching aircraft. Dek looked up at the craft, then back toward the retreating group. Tosh and Dek’s eyes met for a moment in the dim light and she could see he understood.

“Keep going,” said Tosh, and when Byron turned to trot down through the grass toward a thick stand of trees, she lost sight of her brother. Her body shook painfully with each footfall. The tips of tall grasses brushed against her bare ankle, her baggy pants bunched up around her knees. A few seconds later, they entered the forest and trees swallowed the dawn.

As he ran, Luther kept reaching to dig the shards of neurobullet from his upper back, but it was no use. The projectile was small and designed to fracture on entry, after which it was quickly absorbed. He thought he’d scoured the ECC for weapons, but apparently not. After gathering up the flimsy E-suits, he set about removing anything Elle would consider useful if she somehow pursued him.