Outside In Part 32

They jerked, but remained frozen in place.

"Hurry! They're dying," I said.

Ponife said, "We will bring the doctora""

"No. She'll need access to her medicines and equipment." I pulled the slight female Outsider upright and managed to get her weight over my shoulders.

Bubba Boom followed my example and swept one of the Outsiders up in his arms. Without waiting to see if the others followed, I bolted for the lift between Quad A5 and Sector B5.

We carried them down to the infirmary.

Lamont pushed a gurney over to me. "What's wrong?"

I rattled off what I had learned as I laid the Outsider on it. Without hesitation, Lamont took control, shouting orders and checking vitals. I filled syringes and fetched instruments.

Bubba Boom and Hank helped as well. Ponife and the two others who had carried the Outsiders stood to the side, keeping out of the way until Lamont ordered them to bring canisters of the Outsider's air mixture down from level five.

We worked for hours and saved three of them. The other two never recovered. I closed their eyes, arranged their arms and covered them with a sheet. When I looked up I met Bubba Boom's gaze. He had been watching me.

"I'm sorry," Lamont said to Ponife. "We did everything we could. They were just too far gone. Do you need me to prep them to be recycled?"

"No. We send our dead out into Outer s.p.a.ce." Ponife didn't act too upset. "Come, Trella, we must return."

"No." Lamont stepped in his way. "I need her help."

"I will send you plenty of helpers."

"She knows what to do. You saw for yourself. I don't have the time to train another."

He hesitated.

"Where do you think she'll go that you can't find her?" Lamont asked.

"Do not leave the infirmary," Ponife said to me.

Hank, Bubba Boom and the other maintenance men followed Ponife. Before he left, Bubba Boom once again met my gaze. He gave me a slight nod. Hope touched my heart for the first time in weeks.

Lamont grilled me as soon as the men were out of hearing range. She already knew quite a bit about the Outsiders and the command collar. Riley had explained much of it to her before he had disappeared. Her questions focused on me.

And after I a.s.sured her I was at least healthy, she asked, "Okay what's the plan?"

"I've no idea. I don't even know what week this is."

"It's week 147,027, hour fourteen."

"Thanks."

"And you don't have to worry about being overheard. Riley found the microphones planted in the infirmary and removed them."

"It doesn't matter. I've got nothing. Everyone's been arrested. Level five is filled with Outsiders and everyone thinks they're the long lost Controllers who are going to make life better."

"Thinks?"

I explained our soon-to-be change in location.

"Then we need to stop them."

I laughed, but the sound lacked mirth. "How?"

"You tell me." She stared at me as if daring me.

"I told youa""

"Nothing, I know. Let's see if we can change that. Did you know that even with all this insanity, I've been testing people and telling them their family bloodlines?"

I had forgotten all about that. "But I didn't send anyone to you. And you can'ta""

"I couldn't leave level three, but that was before. Once everyone knew I had the tracer, I removed it."

"How manya""

"About half have been tested. I've been busy."

"I see."

"And I know something else that'll help you." She had a smug smile.

"What?"

"The Outsiders need us. Otherwise they won't survive very long."

"How?" Now it was my turn to challenge her.

"All those weeks living in that transport vehicle has affected their heath."

"So? They'll be in here. Nice and safe."

"Won't help."

"All right, Mother. Spit it out."

She faltered for a bit and I realized what I had just called her. Oh well. Nothing I could do about it now.

"Well?" I prodded.

"They need us because they're sterile."

20.

"STERILE? AS IN UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN STERILE?" I asked.

"Yep," Lamont said.

"All of them?"

"That's harder to determine. Two of these three are and so was one of the two that died. From what I've been able to observe, the younger generationa"those under twenty-five hundred weeks old or so are all sterile, but the older Outsiders aren't. It's just a matter of time before no one is able to have children."

"What caused their sterility?"

"Long-term exposure to the radiation in Outer s.p.a.ce. When you discovered Outer s.p.a.ce, I found a few files about the adverse health effects of being Outside. Inside's Walls have a lead lining to protect us from this radiation, but the article mentioned these things calledameteoroids that could hit us hard enough to make a hole, letting in radiation."

Yet more things we didn't know about. Lovely. If the Outsiders had indeed been in charge of running Inside, they had to know.

"They're planning to evacuate our entire population," I said.

"You might be able to use this information to your ad vantage. Plus, if you tell all the Insiders about the Outsiders' plans, I'm sure you'll have plenty of volunteers to help."

"The Insiders see them as our saviors. They won't help me. I'm the one who caused all this trouble in the first place."

"Then educate them. Recruit them. You can do it."

"The collara""

"I've heard. Come back to the exam room, I want to take a look."

No arguing with the doctor, I sat on the examination table as she used various diagnostic tools to inspect the collar.

I explained how we had thought the device broken before the air plant raid. "Ponife called it living metal."

"It's quite amazing," she said. "As far as I can tell, it's connected to your body's electrical system and using it to power itself."

"I have an electrical current inside me?" I asked.

"Yes. A body produces a small electrical charge."

"Any way to turn off the current?"

"Yes. When you die, but that's not an option."

I considered. "Why? In a controlled situation, you could stop my heart anda""

"Absolutely not." She shot me her fiercest frown. Impressive. "Besides," she said, "it might not work. The collar is also linked to your nervous system, which is why it causes such intense agony." Her voice softened. "You have some nerve damage. Did theya"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I can handle it." I lied to my mother, and I half expected the collar to zap me. "Would my nervous system shut down if I died?"

"Not an option, Trella. You'll have to find a way to get that X from Ponife."

"He won't come close enough. And most of the time he has a couple of the maintenance guys with him."

"You'll have to wait for the right opportunity."

Easy for her to say.

Ponife visited the recovering Outsiders at hour twenty four. Bubba Boom and Egan accompanied him. I felt much better. Almost optimistic, even. Amazing what a long shower and eight hours of sleep on a real bed could do.

Lamont and I answered his questions about his colleagues' health. Then Ponife dismissed Lamont. Shooting me a significant look, she headed to her office.

"We have started to load the first transport ship," he said. "In six hours all the residents of level four will be on board."

I did a quick mental calculation. "The ships can fit over two thousand people?" I asked.

"They are designed for one thousand. They were intended to ferry people down to a planet's surface and not to live on." Bitterness laced his tone. "We have eight ships and your population is currently at 22,509 people."

This calculation was a bit harder. "You're going to put a little over twenty-eight hundred people on one ship?"

"You are fast. Seven ships will have 2,813 and the eight will have 2,809," he said.

I glanced at Bubba Boom. Did he catch that? Ponife had counted everyone. Bubba Boom wouldn't meet my gaze. Instead, he told Ponife he needed to speak with the doctor and went into the back.

"But that's too many." I tried.

"Not your concern. We are going to need you to do a sweep of each level and in all the ducts as boarding progresses," he said. "No one is to be left behind."

They were trusting me with an important task. Too important. There had to be a catch. "What if I miss someone?"

"We plan to fumigate before we move in. Anyone still here will die from the poison. Try not to miss anyone. We do not wish to dispose of too many corpses."

Lovely. "Do you need me now?" I asked.

"We will start in two hours." He gestured to my clothes. I had changed from my climbing suit to my medical clothes. "Make sure you are ready and the doctor has a suitable a.s.sistant."

"Okay."

Bubba Boom returned and, without looking at me, followed Ponife from the infirmary. Curious, I searched for Lamont. She was in the surgery, organizing supplies.

"What did Bubba Boom want?" I asked.

"He asked a bunch of strange questions."

"Like what?"

"Questions I really couldn't answer. Like how much food and water would two thousand people need to survive. I told him to ask Riley's brother, Blake. He works in the kitchen and should know."