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postdoc in Linden Polk's lab and continued until her father's death three years ago. Even more, she had
known Thomas as a family friend all her life. She had so many memories: Thomas relaxing with her father
on the porch of their cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, that summer she had spent swimming in the
lake with red and gold fish; Thomas and his wife laughing with her parents as they sipped drinks she had
thought were apple juice, back before she knew about wine coolers; Thomas walking with her along a
dusty road in rural Virginia beneath a sky of fat clouds, a thunderstorm lurking within their bulging sides;
Thomas visiting on her first day at BioII to congratulate her on the new job. She hated to think he might
be involved in the vicious way Charon toyed with Turner.
She considered Turner. "How did you run so fast back there?"
"I was scared." He motioned at the screen. "Look. We've left them behind."
Sam scanned the data flowing across the bottom of the image. In bare minutes they had put fifty miles
between themselves and the base. She looked up at Turner. "I'd like to contact Giles."
Alarm flashed on his face. "Sam, no!"
She chose her words carefully. "He knows everyone in our field. He might recognize some of the people
we met at Charon's lab." She leaned forward. "We need to search the meshes, too, and see what we can
dig up."
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"I've already searched on Charon. I can look again His face took on an inwardly directed expression,
and a light on the dash flickered. "I'm doing a search on his people now, coordinating with my memory of
their faces."
"You find anything?"
After a few more moments, he said, "Nothing on Alpha, Hud, or the other guards." His expression
became outwardly directed again. "Shouldn't they havesomething out there? Most everyone does."
"Unless they're deliberately trying to hide."
He hesitated. "Are you sure about contacting Giles?" He spoke awkwardly. "It's not jealousy. It just
doesn't seem a good idea to call anyone from this truck, which belongs to the Air Force, especially if
we're calling a biomech scientist in another country. Wouldn't both his government and ours be
monitoring him right now?"
He had a point. "It's possible. My friendship with Giles is no secret. Maybe we better wait." For now
anyway. She didn't want to do anything that would interfere with her chance to find Sunrise Alley.
They fell silent after that. Sam leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Despite her lack of sleep in the
past few days, though, she was too keyed up to rest.
"Why don't you come over here?" Turner asked.
Sam opened her eyes. "I don't want to distract your driving."
"You won't. The truck is driving." He put his arm across the back of the seat. "Come sit with me, lovely
lady."
Even after last night, she hesitated. He was the man who had made love to her, yet he was also an EI.
Hell, he wasdead. "I should probably stay here."
"Don't be afraid of me." His eyes looked even larger in the dim light. "Last night, you didn't analyze."
Sam warmed with the memory. Perhaps he was right; she was always analyzing. She had let go last
night. She bit her lip, then slid across the seat. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her against
his side. Sitting this way made her feel like a teenager except for his cabled arm pressed into her skin.
She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he rested his cheek against her head.
For a while they watched fields roll by. Sam hadn't realized how little prairie the Midwest had left; most
of what they saw was agricultural. The truck had chosen a route with no human settlement, just endless
fields, some grain and some corn, most harvested now. A crescent moon hung low in the sky, half
covered by long, thin clouds.
Eventually she said, "You moved fast when you carried me to this truck. I've never seen anything like it."
"I guess so." He sounded half awake.
"If I moved that fast, it would injure my legs."
"Hmmm . . ." His eyes were closed and his breathing had deepened into the slower rhythms of sleep.
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The more Sam thought about it, the less likely it seemed he could have sustained such high speed over
such a long distance. She was growing uneasy. Finally she steeled herself. Then she leaned over and
pulled the cuff of his trousers, uncovering his lower leg.
The limb had turned to metal.
XII
Human Interlude
"Ah, no." Sam slid away from him, across the seat, until her back hit the door on the passenger's side.
Turner opened his eyes. "Eh?"
"Your legs."
He woke up fast, sitting up straight. "They're stronger, Sam. Better."
"They're metal." Made from bundled cables, they had more than one joint.
"Don't." He looked as if he were breaking inside. "This is no different from my arm."
"It is different. It's it's too much."
"Sam "
"No!" She felt lost. "I don't understand why you even want a lover."
"You think I stop feeling because my limbs change?"
"Do you?"
"No."
"How far will you change?"
"Listen." He stretched out his arm, but the truck was too wide for him to reach her, so he laid his hand
on the seat. "When I've recharged, I'll change them into something that looks more human."
"Will you look like Turner?" She wondered if he realized what he had said. Recharge. Not sleep.
He tried to smile. "Don't I?"
"Your face does." That face she was coming to love, the way his mouth quirked on one side, the way his
lashes lowered over his blue eyes, the way his hair stuck up over his right ear. "But for how long?"
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"I won't change it."
"What happened to the tissues from your legs?"
"I consumed the material for fuel. To transform fast enough while running, I needed every resource I
had."
Sam felt as if she were in an existential play where she had no script. She wanted to reach out to him,
but her mind was whirling. How far would he go? She wasn't ready for this.
"How much longer will we be driving?" she asked.
"Sam, don't." When she didn't answer, he leaned his head back on the headrest and stared out the
windshield. "Most of the night."
"They'll find us before then."
"I doubt it. I covered my tracks."
"Even you have limits."
"What do you want me to say? That I'll go back?"
"No." Sam felt torn in two directions. "If Granger's people can't capture us, they might destroy you. They
can only see the danger in you, Turner, even more if you keep changing." She struggled to put into words
the emotions she had so much trouble expressing. "It matters to me that they don't hurt you."
His posture eased and warmth came back into his voice. "We'll be safe with my friends." He spoke with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]