“Ha. Ha.” Phelen deadpanned. He gestured to the door with his stunner. “Let’s—”

A bright flash cut him off. I dove for the heating vent as a wave of energy exploded from the bomb. The glass shards pelted the walls as the men grunted. When quiet returned, I peeked out from the duct. Lying on the floor, Phelen and his team remained motionless. A few sported cuts from the glass.

I checked to make sure the gashes weren’t too deep and they all had strong pulses. Then I removed all their weapons and anything else that looked interesting, like Phelen’s communication device.

Back in the air shaft, I signaled Riley, warning him of incoming and sent my loot down to the laundry room. I kept one stunner. “Any damage?” I asked him.

“One really annoyed Tech No, but otherwise all came through fine. How many did you neutralize?”

“Only five.”

“Better than getting caught. What are you planning now?”

Good question. “I’ll spy around level five. See what we’re up against.”

“Be careful. We’re starting our ascent. Bubba Boom is leading the Quad I team, and I have the Quad A stairs.”

I ghosted through the air shafts on level five for the next hour. No one guarded the brig. It was my first clue of something strange. Groups of Hank’s supporters raced through the hallways, but I didn’t see any Outsiders. And Lamont failed to answer my hail.

Sloan reported success in the air plant.

Riley and Bubba Boom encountered only a token resistance as they secured each level.

The fight to reach Hank’s control room in Quad A5 lasted a mere five minutes. We met up outside the double doors. They opened without trouble.

The control room appeared the same. Banks of computers. Half completed consoles leaking wires. And Hank, sitting in the big captain’s chair in the center. He was alone.

22

“RIGHT ON TIME,” HANK SAID.

“For what?” I asked.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. All thanks to you,” he said.

Riley and Bubba Boom flanked Hank, but he was unarmed. All his supporters had been stunned, but a threat still hung in the air.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What are you talking about?” I asked.

“The Controllers have made some changes to their plans. They’ve acknowledged their growing sterility so they’re going to keep that transport full of people alive to breed with. That’s the good news.”

“And the bad?”

“They’re going to clean house.” Hank swept his arm out, indicating all the people standing in the control room. “They’re going to kill us all.”

“How?” Riley asked. “We have the air plant.”

“They’re going to hide in those transport ships and turn the power plant off,” Hank said.

No power meant no electricity, no heat and no pumps to move the air around. It would be a slow death. So much for not wanting to dispose of corpses.

“How?” I gestured to the computers. “They don’t have control of the network.”

“They don’t need all this for control,” Hank said. “There’s an antenna on the Outside. That’s what they used to hijack our network.” He explained how the Outsiders could communicate with the network without wires.

“Maybe Logan can bypass the power plant controls,” I said. I signaled and asked him to join us.

“Logan’s one sharp fellow,” Hank said. “The Controllers are well aware of his knowledge and don’t plan to wait for us to save ourselves.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” I asked.

“I’m in the same position you’re in. Since I couldn’t handle one small problem,” he glared at me, “I was left behind. Ponife couldn’t handle you either, but that didn’t seem to matter to him.” He continued to stare at me. “You know, Karla was right. I should have kill-zapped you long ago. Before Ponife put that damn collar on you.” Hank mimed shooting me with his finger and thumb.

“Where is Karla?”

“Up with the Controllers. Along with your mother and Jacy.”

Worry mixed with relief. Lamont would be safe with the Outsiders. They would need her expertise if they planned to repopulate.

“What did you mean by the Controllers don’t plan for us to save ourselves?” Riley asked.

“They’re not playing around this time. They’re going to open up Gateway and all our air will blow out into Outer Space. I’m guessing it’ll take us four to six minutes to die of asphyxiation.”

“You don’t seem upset,” I said.

“Well…when your saviors turn out to be thugs from the past and you’ve been nothing but a fool, endangering the entire population of Inside, then dying seems insignificant in comparison.”

I understood the feeling.

“How do we stop them?” Riley asked.

“You can’t. Not in time,” Hank said. “They’re already up in the port.”

“And even if the lift is working, we could only get a few people up there at a time. Easy pickings.” I considered. “What about their transport? Is it still attached to Gateway?”

“No. They flew it up to the port,” Hank said. “All they left is a couple of their space suits and a bunch of empty gas cylinders.”

“Space suits? Can you survive in Outer Space wearing one?” I asked.