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

Damn. Cops.

The sheriff and both deputies stood at the entrance into the dome. They weren’t trying to stop anyone entering, simply observing and looking unhappy. But the colony’s rules allowed for any resident to call a public meeting and express their views, so they had no grounds to stop Zach—yet. Adam kept his head down as he and Korrie slipped past and inside.

The big open floor was filled with people, most of whom stood around chatting; nobody seemed especially worried yet. They had probably come out for the entertainment value of seeing this crazy guy Benesh. Closer to the platform, the crowd thickened, and Adam had to shove to make a path through, holding Korrie by the hand to keep her right behind him. Near the stage, he could hear arguments going on already, and a moment later, he broke through to find Zach surrounded by senior academics and council members, all arguing with him. On the stage, the Franes were setting up video equipment.

Zach, his back against the stage, looking harried as he argued with several people at once, saw Adam, and relief lit his face like a sunrise. He smiled at Adam, and the smile shut the others up, making them turn to see what had induced it. Perhaps they misinterpreted it as being at the sight of Professor Korrie, since none of them took any notice of Adam. Morrison was here and Colleen Johnson. No wonder poor Zach looked like a stag at bay, with the head of the Institute and the head of the council berating him.

“Ann?” someone said, and Adam realized with some surprise it was old Dr. Johnson. If he came out and argued against Zach’s findings, they would be—quite literally—dead in the water.

“Hello, Davey,” Korrie said. “Up past your bedtime, aren’t you?”

A few people looked shocked at her teasing, but he smiled. “I never miss a good show.”

“I think you’ll get one tonight.” She nodded at Zach. “I’m ready if you are, Dr. Benesh.”

He looked at her with a worried expression, but Adam touched his arm, stepped close to speak in his ear. “She agrees with you. She’ll back you up.”

Zach sighed with relief and turned to go for the steps to the stage. Before he could, Morrison grabbed his arm.

“Benesh, if you do this, you’ll never work for the Terraforming Authority again. You’ll throw your career away. Think of your parents, man, all they’ve done for you. Are you going to destroy everything they and you have worked for?”

“If I have to, yes.” Zach pulled his arm out of Morrison’s grip and walked away. Adam and Korrie followed. Morrison seemed to recognize Adam and frowned but didn’t bother asking him not to throw his career away. Well, he barely had one yet. However this turned out, he had less to lose than Zach. He caught up with Zach at the back of the platform. Zach looked better than he had earlier, had managed to snatch a shower and a shave somewhere, though his clothes were still rumpled and limp.

“You’re all set up,” Simon Frane said.

“What about the video transmission?” Zach asked.

“Already started,” Visha said. “I’ve broken into the dome’s camera system. The whole colony could be watching right now.”

“We’d better go lie low for a while, before someone reports the distress signal and the sheriff comes looking for us,” Simon said. He shook Zach’s hand. “Good luck, see you tomorrow.” He and Visha took off, melting into the crowd.

“I have a chair up on the platform for you, Professor,” Zach said to Korrie. “Thank you for supporting me. Adam, are you coming up?”

“I think I’ll stay by the stairs,” Adam said. “Run interference if anyone tries to come up. And keep an eye on those.” He nodded at the power feeds for the video equipment. Someone getting at them could sabotage Zach’s evidence presentation.

“Good idea, thank you.”

Thank you brought their earlier kiss to mind, and he wanted to repeat it, for luck again, but there were so many people here, and all of them paying attention to Zach, even Adam felt inhibited. Instead he made a thumbs-up gesture and said, “Knock ’em dead.”

Zach nodded and climbed the steps to the stage. Korrie had already gone up there and sat in the folding chair, appearing entirely oblivious to the hundreds of people watching. The crowd stirred when Zach came onto the stage. Most couldn’t know him, Adam thought, but those who did would have pointed him out, and the knowledge rippled through the crowd. Adam climbed a couple of the steps so he could see the knot of hostile councilors and academics at the front, the large crowd behind them, the uniformed cops by the doorway over at the back… Wait, he saw only two of them. Someone was on the move.

Voices still chattered away in the bar over to the side of the big open space. Plenty of people were crowding in there, some standing outside of it, drinks in hand, watching the stage. Glancing around, Adam made a note of the nearest exit. If he had to get Zach and Korrie out of here, he wanted to be ready.

Zach, carrying a microphone, stepped to the front of the stage.

“Good evening and thank you all for coming. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Dr. Zach Benesh. I sent the message today asking you all to be here. I apologize for any alarm I’ve caused. But this situation is so serious I had no choice but to use the strongest language.” He paused as voices stirred, but nobody shouted him down yet. Somewhere near the back, a baby wailed, the sound fading as it was taken outside. “I’m a geophysicist working in the Physical Sciences department of the Terraforming Institute.”

Adam almost expected one of the professors to shout, “not anymore,” but they didn’t—yet.

“I’ve discovered from seismic scans that the magma chamber under the sea floor directly below this island is about to empty rapidly. When this happens, the