Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

people off the island. But it would take several trips to ferry away twelve hundred people. They needed help from off-planet as soon as possible, and even the fastest ship would take at least ten days to get here from Saira Station after it got the distress call.

So they couldn’t wait here and hope the basin didn’t flood before rescue arrived. They needed to buy time. They needed to get to higher ground. That was what he’d say at the meeting tonight; he’d tell everyone they had to leave the town and climb the mountains ringing the island.

He jumped slightly as Simon and Visha stood up, Visha putting Amina down.

“Okay, we’re going to get this done,” Simon said.

“How can I help?” Zach said, sitting up.

“We can manage,” Visha said. “Why don’t you rest here for a while? You look wiped out.”

Zach shook his head. “I need to work on a presentation of my data.” He had to put it into a form everyone, scientist or not, could understand. “I don’t suppose I could trouble you for some more coffee?”

* * * *

Adam ran up the steps to Professor Korrie’s door and raised a hand to knock as it opened. She already had her coat on and buttoned up.

“What are you standing around here for, young man? Let’s go.”

He grinned. “And my straight friends tell me women are never ready when a man calls.”

She snorted as she pulled the door closed behind her. He offered her his arm to take the steps. “Only young women can get away with that. The men are willing to wait for them.”

“So,” he said as they drove off. “Are you going to make me wait until we get there?”

“No. I’m afraid I concur with Dr. Benesh’s findings.” She sighed. “He’s a nice young fellow, but I have to say I wish I’d proven him wrong.”

Adam nodded. A sick churning started in his guts. Even Korrie agreeing didn’t mean for sure it would happen, but he began to feel a lot more urgency to get the hell off this island. He increased his speed.

“Do you agree we have to evacuate right away too?”

“Yes. The fault is already giving way. It’s going to collapse very soon. Within days. And once it does, it’s impossible to predict the speed at which events will unfold. We have to get off the island. I just hope we can persuade people to act quickly.”

“You backing him up is going to make a huge difference in getting people to listen. You’re a founder. People will take notice of you.” He hoped so. He’d heard tales of her being something of a maverick in her younger days, and he hoped that wouldn’t work against them.

She chuckled. “I never can quite get used to that. I can still remember being a freshly minted junior geologist who nobody took any notice of. I fear Zach has the same problem.”

“He is a genius, though.”

“Indeed. I wasn’t.”

Adam blushed. “I didn’t mean to imply… Ah, you must have been very young when you came here.”

“Twenty-four. I finished my PhD right here.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Well, was doing.” He sighed. “I guess that’s all over.”

“Everything is over. And our lives will be too, if I can’t help Zach convince people. He’s going to need to stand firm in the face of a lot of opposition. Is he up to it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know him well.”

“Oh? Aren’t you two…ah, sorry, none of my beeswax.”

“Involved, you mean? We’d sort of started to be. I hope we’ll have a chance to take it further.” He grimaced. “I couldn’t predict the end of the world would get in the way.”

“Love never comes at a convenient time.”

“I…I don’t think I’d call it ‘love’ yet. I mean he’s…” Could he fall in love with Zach? “I think it’s a little early to tell.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just a daft old rock witch. Don’t take any notice of me if I’m not talking about geology.”

She seemed embarrassed, but Adam smiled at her. Perhaps, if they survived this, who knew what might happen? Zach had said it himself—they were compatible. Same age, both scientists, similar education. And there was a mutual physical attraction, even if Adam wasn’t getting an instant boner every time he thought of Zach.

But there had to be more than that for a relationship, never mind for love, and Zach had something else about him that drew Adam. An intensity. A charisma. Could the intensity be tiring, though? Would Zach be high maintenance? Adam liked a man he could relax with and had broken up with guys in the past who wanted too much attention and who could make a drama out of everything. Who could be bothered?

He put those thoughts out of his mind as they arrived in town. At least Zach’s intensity and charisma would be useful when he addressed the meeting tonight. His data was so specialized most of the people there would be relying on the opinions of the experts—and the experts didn’t all agree, so it could come down to who came across the most convincingly.

“It looks as if we’re going to have a good attendance anyway,” Korrie said. There were a lot of people on the street, all walking toward the B dome, and more vehicles around than normal at this time of the evening.

“Let’s park here and walk the rest of the way,” Adam said, turning up a side street. He’d hate for their vehicle to be trapped in by a crowd later. Also, if Professor Wilson was there and saw it, he’d find Adam and demand the keys. Adam didn’t want to give them back. He suspected he’d need the vehicle for a little while yet. At this point, he thought, giving Korrie his arm as she stepped out, he should probably admit to having stolen the damn thing. With Korrie still holding his arm to keep them from losing each other, the two of them joined the crowd and let it sweep them