“I’m trying to create a code that will, in layman’s terms, detonate the thanites. Wherever they’ve clustered in the body, I can make them react with each other and self-destruct. Done all at once, the chain reaction should be enough to kill the hollow host as well. Imagine a billion tiny explosions running through the body like a shockwave. Any hollows that survive the initial deactivation will be left vulnerable to infection. Theoretically, the world would be safe again in as little as a week.”
“What’s the but?”
Peter chuckled. “Hah. You’re right, of course. There’s always a but. I’m doing my best. I’ve been spending all of my time on it since the stillness event. But I’m still not there yet.”
“What do you need?” Clare asked.
Dorran’s hand found her arm and squeezed lightly, his attention still fixed on Peter.
Peter took a slow, deep breath then let it out gradually. “I believe there is a research institute still functioning. In Evandale. From what I’ve gathered, there are five or six scientists still living there since the station was an airlocked room during the stillness. If I can get my research to a useable point, they might be able to take it, check it, and enact it. Something like this… it’s not the kind of thing you want to launch unless you’re absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, certain that it will work the way it’s intended. If it goes wrong, even just slightly, it could kill every single survivor.”
“So you want to get your research to them.” Clare chewed her lip, thinking. “Are they listening to the radio? Can you send your data to them through it?”
“I’ve never heard them on the radio, though they may be listening. But either way, it would take months to verbally communicate the code to them, as well as introduce a huge margin of error. No; it needs to be through USB. I have a drive with everything on it. I need to pass it to them somehow.” Peter glanced between Clare and Dorran. “I would have tried to take it myself, except the stakes are too high. If I were to die, the research would be lost with me. It probably sounds like I’m being selfish, but the truth is, without me, there is no cure. I have to avoid risks at any cost. Someone else needs to take the USB.”
Dorran’s hand tightened on Clare’s arm. He wasn’t happy with the turn of events.
“Oh…” Clare glanced between the two men. “I know this is important, but—”
“Don’t worry! I’m not dumping the responsibility on you!” Peter chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not that mean. I know it’s a big request. All I’m asking is that, when you leave the tower, you to take a copy of the code with you. If you encounter any other survivors on your way home, tell them where it needs to go. See if you can pass it along until it reaches the Evandale station.”
Dorran’s hand finally relaxed. Clare nodded, relieved. “That might be easier.”
“Thank you. Truly. If anyone else arrives here, I’ll make a duplicate USB and ask them to do the same. That way, even if one copy is lost or damaged, there should be backups.” Peter beamed at them. “I’m still a couple of days away from my data being ready. Would you mind staying here for at least that long? There are bunks you can sleep in. Once the code is finished, you can leave any time. Or stay a while longer, if you need the rest. To be honest, it’s nice to have company after so long.”
The tower felt precariously unsafe with hollows clustered around it and the storm raging outside the windows. But despite that, Clare knew they would struggle to find a better situation between there and Winterbourne. As little as she liked the tower’s clinical feel, at least Helexis had water, food, and the first human they had met since the stillness.
Peter clapped his hands on his knees. “You don’t have to decide right now. Eat some food. I’ll see about finding you something more comfortable to sleep in. And maybe some toothbrushes as well.”
He left the room at a brisk trot. Clare waited until the door clicked closed behind him, then she turned to the man at her side. Dorran stared at the wall opposite them. He wasn’t a chatty person by nature, but he seemed even more withdrawn than normal.
Clare rubbed his arm. “What are you thinking?”
He pressed his lips together, seeming to measure his response. Thunder rumbled, and the lights above them flickered. “I really do not know.”
“Something’s worrying you.”
“Yes.” His eyes looked sad. “Clare, this is so far beyond what I am familiar with. Tiny machines. USB drives that need to be delivered to parts of the country I have never heard of before. And this man, Peter…”
Clare waited patiently, knowing he needed a moment to collect himself.
At last, he shrugged, exhaling deeply. “It does not matter.”
“Hey, I’ll be the judge of that.” She squeezed his hand. “You know you can tell me anything.”
A thin smile ghosted across his lips then vanished. “I used to rely on instincts at Winterbourne. I could tell when someone was in a bad mood; I could tell when someone was lying to me. But here, in this foreign world, surrounded by new concepts and new faces, I cannot know what to believe. And I am afraid jealousy is manifesting as hostility.”
It took Clare a second to understand, and when she did, she blinked in surprise. “You’re jealous of him?”
“Of course I am.” He let her hand go. “He talks so easily. He is charismatic and intelligent. And he is adept at this world; he may even be capable of saving it. Looking at him is like looking at an exhibition of my inadequacies. And I wish I were handling it more graciously than I am.”
Clare crept closer and wrapped her arms around him. She rested her head against his shoulder, trying to spread some comfort to him through touch. “You have so many strengths of your own. If I had to pick someone to cross the country with, I’d choose you every time.”
“You are kind.”
“I’m honest.”
Dorran chuckled and kissed the top of her head. He rested there for a moment, and Clare listened to his heartbeat, steady and reliable.
“What do you want to do?” Dorran asked. “About this USB drive and the research institute.”
It wasn’t an easy question. Clare pressed her eyes shut. “I know where Evandale is. But I’ve never visited it. It would be a long drive.”
“Longer than what we’ve already crossed?”
“Yeah.”
Dorran’s finger grazed Clare’s cheek, brushing stray hair behind her ear. “How do you feel about his other suggestion, that we pass the drive to another traveller?”
“I mean… we could probably find someone eventually, but…”
He nodded, but Clare had the sense he wished he didn’t agree. “It feels negligent.”
“It doesn’t seem right to carry the answer to the world’s problems in our pocket and not do everything we could to get it to Evandale. We could pass it to another survivor, but it might take days to find someone, and they probably wouldn’t want the responsibility any more than we do.”
“He still believes other people may come to the tower. But his signal has been broadcasting for weeks, and we are the first to find him. How long would he wait for another traveller?”