Ex-Isle by Peter Clines (electronic reader TXT) 📕

him up there in charge of the battlesuit?”

“Eden is our highest priority,” said Stealth, “and you have yet to offer an alternative solution.”

“Just let me finish the armor. Five weeks. Four if Barry sticks around. Then you can all go off to this boat-island place.”

“We might not be able to find it in four or five weeks,” St. George said. Danielle put her hands on the table and lowered her head. Her ponytail slipped over her shoulder and hung against her cheek. She muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?”

She straightened up and threw her hair back over her shoulder with a toss of her head. “I’ll go with the suit. With Cesar. We’ll be together up in Eden.” His smile returned, and she shot it down with a look. “That way I can keep working on it and do maintenance.”

St. George wrinkled his brow. “How much can you really do in a week?”

“Depends on how much he damages it in a week,” she said, jerking her head at Cesar.

“I’m serious,” said the hero.

“So am I,” she said. “I can do some work. Enough. We’ll come out ahead.”

“No,” said Stealth, “we would not. Eden has been designed and balanced. Additional personnel will put a strain on space and resources.”

“What resources? I eat two meals a day. I sleep on the floor half the time.”

Stealth gestured at the skeletal framework. “Having Cerberus on site will strain the available power. A large part of your workshop would have to be relocated as well, which would mean reallocation of more vehicles and fuel.”

“I don’t need much,” said Danielle. “I wouldn’t be able to finish the work there, but I could take everything I’d need for the next week’s schedule in…” She glanced around the workshop. “I could fit most of my tools and the material I’d need in there,” she said, gesturing at a red tool cabinet. “Hell, I can fit two changes of clothes in there, too. I won’t take up any room at all.”

The hooded woman shook her head.

“What?”

Stealth looked at St. George. “We are wasting time. Cesar should assume the role of Cerberus at Eden while you and Zzz—”

“HE’S NOT CERBERUS! I’M CERBERUS!”

Cesar and St. George flinched. Danielle’s shout echoed in the big room. She glared at the hooded woman.

“Of course,” said Stealth. “I misspoke. Forgive me.”

A set of quick, whisking steps approached. Gibbs appeared in the workshop’s big door. His limping run lost momentum and became a staggering halt when he saw who was gathered there. “Is everything okay? It sounded like shouting?”

Cesar gave two quick shakes of his head.

Danielle reached over to grab St. George by the arm. She dragged him a few yards away from the table. “Don’t do this,” she whispered. “You can’t take it away from me.”

“We’re not taking it away from you. We’re just—”

“It’s my suit!”

“I know,” he said. “It’s just…”

“Just what?”

St. George glanced over at the hooded woman. “She’s trying to be nice,” he murmured.

“Nice?”

“She’s giving you an out. A reason not to go.”

“It’s my suit. I go where Cerberus goes.”

“I know that,” said St. George. “I remember. But Eden…” He looked back at the battlesuit. Twin threads of smoke trailed from his nose.

Danielle stared at him. “What?”

“Eden isn’t like the Mount. It’s like things were in the beginning. Nothing but chain-link and some plywood around the whole thing. It’s very open. It’s very exposed. Most people are living out of tents because there’s only one real building.”

Her shoulders hunched. She forced them back down, but he saw it. “I’ll be okay,” she said.

“Will you?”

“I just said—”

“You’ve gotten worse,” said St. George. He looked her in the eyes when he said it. “I’m sorry, but we both know it. You used to be able to force your way through it, but since Smith messed with our heads you’ve pretty much been trapped in here, haven’t you?”

She snorted and waved his words away. “No. No, it’s not that bad.”

“You don’t even go near the doors if you can avoid it,” said St. George. “Cesar and Gibbs bring you food and supplies. You wash your clothes in the sink.” He glanced back over at Stealth. “You know she keeps track of all this stuff.”

Danielle’s eyes widened a bit. “What’s she told you?”

“Enough.”

“Like what?”

He looked over at the open doorway. “Have you even seen an ex since we woke up?”

Her shoulders relaxed a bit. “Since this morning?”

“You know what I mean. Since I destroyed Cerberus.”

She bit her lip but didn’t look away.

“You’re going to be out in the open, you’re going to be surrounded, and you’re not going to have the armor,” said St. George. “There’s nowhere in Eden you can go and not hear them. There aren’t many places you can go and not see them.”

“I’ll be okay,” said Danielle.

“You’ll have to be,” he said. “Once you’re up there, that’s pretty much it. They can’t send the truck back just for you. I won’t be here to give you a lift. You’ll be stuck there for three or four days, at least.”

“I’ll be okay,” she repeated. She took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s go tell them you’re going.”

She took another breath. “Thank you.”

“Nothing to thank me for. It’s your suit, right?”

They walked back to the others. Stealth stared at them from inside her hood. Cesar tried to hide a hopeful smile.

“Danielle should go,” St. George said. “She’s right, it’s dumb to send Cesar out there without someone who can troubleshoot the suit. If something went wrong on day one, it’d make all this pointless.”

Stealth studied his face, then bowed her head. “Very well,” she said. “If you feel this is the correct course of action.”

“It is,” said Danielle. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

“If they’re both going,” said Gibbs from across the room, “I might as well go, too.” A few whisking steps carried him over to the table. “I won’t have anything to do here without Dr. Morris or the battlesuit, and if Cerberus is going to