Chapter 16

16

KILOMETERS OF SEA FLASHED BYas they neared the eco-city.

The ocean does not come poisoned.

Within the confines of the copterbot, Kasey glanced to Actinium.

People poison it.

Their eyes connected, black on black.

Not just the sea, but the land and the air. There are many in this world who live at the expense of others, and they need to pay.

Pay, Kasey had echoed on the pier, not sure if she’d heard right over the storm.

Yes.Actinium had met her gaze head-on, and in his, she saw herself—and the fire she was missing. For what they did to Celia and others like her.

She hadn’t known how to reply. Not at first. Then the ache in her chest had pulsed like a second heart. The heart said yes. Between them, they shared an ocean of loss. It was under their chins, threatening to drown them the moment they sank. And Kasey chose to sink. The world was ending. People were dying. But how many others were consuming more than their fair share when Celia could taste no more? Emitting carbon, when Celia, who’d never polluted in the first place, could exhale no more? The planet wasn’t a single-occupancy home. Those who trashed it and got away? Who profited off other people’s pain?

Save the deserving. Make the murderers pay.

She might not have been brave enough to poison herself, or sad enough to cry. But she was angry enough, and that made her feel alive.

As their copterbot waited in line to clear decontamination, Kasey linked into the video and audio feed of the P2C meeting taking place at the HQ conference room. She stayed on mute and listened as an eco-city 6 delegate spoke.

“All predictions remain in flux. But with ECAT, I reckon we can neutralize up to eighty percent of airborne microcinogens.”

“And how long will that take?” asked Ekaterina, standing at the front, David beside her like a potted plant. For once, it frustrated Kasey to see him so passive.

“Like I said, it really depends—”

“The question, Officer Ng,” Ekaterina cut in.

“Eleven months to two years. A lot can change—”

“And where, may I ask, are impacted peoples going to stay for a year?” A snap of Ekaterina’s fingers and holographs appeared, destroyed territory cities fountaining up in the center of the conference room. “Already, we have twenty million dead and ten million missing. More will succumb to the complications of prolonged exposure. A projected hundred million casualties are expected by the half-year mark. Territory hospels are failing. Their governments will follow.” Mutters, quieting when Ekaterina said, “We eco-cities are vulnerable too.”

Not to toxins, Kasey knew, but to hysteria. During the first wave of natural disasters, people had tried to claw their way into the eco-cities, forcing the adoption of a rank-based admission system. Who’s to say it wouldn’t happen again?

“Now,” said Ekaterina. “Does anyone have a better proposal?”

Silence.

Kasey pressed UNMUTE. “I do.”