Sector Frior was a cavern of industrial gargoyles and echoing panic. The vast, subterranean bay was carved from the bedrock and reinforced with heavy steel girders that vanished into the gloom above. Massive gear mechanisms dominated the far corners. Their teeth were taller than a man and coated in thick, black grease. This was the lung of the Biome, the expansive lift designed to carry heavy machinery to the surface, but today it carried the weight of a desperate exodus.

  A tide of terrified civilians flooded the platform. They clutched meager sacks of belongings and children who wailed in confusion. Jeeps and transport trucks idled in rows. Their engines rumbled and spewed exhaust that mingled with the smell of fear.

  People rushed the vehicles. A man in a torn tunic shoved an elderly woman to the ground to claim a seat on a truck.

  "Move! I need that spot!"

  A mother screamed as the crowd separated her from her son.

  "Jem! Jem!"

  The Galvanizers stationed in the sector struggled to maintain order. They formed a human chain to guide the flow, but the sheer volume of bodies threatened to break their line.

  Gustov stood atop the open bed of a modified military truck near the center of the formation. He loomed over the sea of heads like a lighthouse. Beside him stood Kingham. The old leader held submachine gun, but his back was straight and his eyes burned with authority.

  Gustov cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

  "Stop shoving! There is space for everyone! Do not act like Rusters!"

  The crowd surged forward regardless.

  Kingham raised his submachine gun into the air and fired a short burst into the high ceiling.

  Rat-a-tat-tat.

  The sharp cracks silenced the immediate vicinity.

  Kingham shouted.

  "Listen to me! We have been preparing for this emergency for years! We have enough trucks! We have enough fuel! But if you trample each other, you die here!"

  He pointed a shaking finger toward the tunnel entrance they had just fled.

  "Brave men are still in those tunnels! Strider and his unit are bleeding to buy you this time! Do not jeopardize their sacrifice by fighting like animals! Orderly lines! Now!"

  The shame of his words struck the mob. The frenzy dulled. People stopped pushing. Hands reached down to help the fallen elderly woman up. The frantic energy shifted into a grim, efficient load-in.

  In the back of the same jeep, Aidro stood on his toes. He scanned the rushing faces with wide, wet eyes.

  "Mom! Sophie!"

  He grabbed Kingham’s sleeve.

  "Grandpa, where are they? They haven't arrived yet!"

  Kingham looked around the platform. He searched for the familiar blue of Leik’s hair. He saw nothing but strangers.

  "They will be here, Aidro. Keep looking."

  A knot of worry tightened in Kingham’s chest. The gunfire from the other sectors grew louder like a constant thunder that rolled closer with every heartbeat.

  "Leik! Over here!"

  Gustov pointed toward the crowd.

  Leik emerged from the mass of bodies. She pushed the wheelchair that had Divento and Sophie in it.

  Gustov hopped down from the truck. The suspension groaned as his weight left it. He rushed over and plowed a path through the stragglers.

  "You made it! Thank the stars."

  He grabbed the handles of the wheelchair.

  "We have to load up. The lift is about to blow its whistle."

  They reached the jeep. Gustov looked at the cramped space in the back.

  "Divento, the chair stays."

  Divento gripped the armrests.

  "My chair? But I can't walk!"

  "We don't have the space. We need room for people, not wheels."

  Gustov didn't wait for an argument. He reached down and hoisted the engineer into his arms as if he were a child. He lifted him into the back of the truck and set him on a bench seat.

  Kingham reached down a hand.

  "Give me the girl."

  Leik passed Sophie up to him. Kingham settled his granddaughter next to Aidro.

  Leik climbed up herself. She pulled her legs in tight as more people scrambled onto the vehicle.

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  She grabbed Gustov’s arm as he climbed back on.

  "What is the situation? Where is Strider?"

  Gustov looked away for a second, then met her eyes.

  "Most of the civilians made it. We are at ninety percent capacity. But the Galvanizers... they are holding the line at Sector Gamma. Strider ordered the retreat, but he stayed back to blow the tunnel."

  He paused and lowered his voice.

  "I doubt they will make it here in time, Leik. The enemy is right on top of them."

  Leik felt the blood drain from her face.

  Sophie tugged on her sleeve.

  "Mommy? Where is Daddy? Isn't he coming?"

  Leik pulled Sophie and Aidro into a crushing hug. She buried her face in their hair to hide her own tears.

  "Daddy is... Daddy is doing his job. He is being a hero."

  Sophie started to cry. It was a thin, high wail that cut through the engine noise. Aidro didn't cry. He hugged his sister and stared at the tunnel entrance with a hard, angry expression.

  Leik felt her heart break, but she forced the pieces together. They could not wait. Survival demanded motion.

  Kingham surveyed the platform. Most of the trucks were fully loaded. A few dozen people still ran toward the vehicles, but the vast majority were aboard.

  He looked at the control booth on the far wall.

  "We can't wait any longer."

  He grabbed a radio handset.

  "All units, stay within the bounds of the platform! Secure your passengers! We are lifting!"

  He turned to the operator and signaled with a chopping motion of his hand.

  "Pull it! Pull the damn lever!"

  The operator hesitated. He looked at the tunnel where the rearguard should be.

  Kingham shouted over the comms.

  "Do it now! Or we all die!"

  The operator complied. He yanked the heavy iron lever down.

  CLANG-HISS.

  The floor beneath them shuddered. The massive gears in the corners began to turn.

  Grind-Rumble-Grind.

  The entire Sector Frior platform, a slab of steel and concrete the size of a city block, began to rise.

  Those who had not yet scrambled into a truck held on tightly to the bumpers and railings. They pulled themselves up as the ground fell away.

  Leik stared back at the tunnel entrance. It became a smaller and smaller black rectangle in the distance.

  "Strider..."

  She bit her lip until the taste of iron filled her mouth.

  Gustov sat beside her. He patted her shoulder with a heavy hand.

  "He is the best of us, Leik. If anyone can find a rat hole to crawl out of, it is him."

  The platform rose steadily. The air pressure changed, popping their ears. The familiar, stale scent of the underground began to thin.

  One of the refugees, an old woman clutching a cat, looked around fearfully.

  "I haven't seen the sky in ten years. What are we going to do? Where will we go? The Rusters will smell us the moment we break surface."

  “She is right. We’re not Galvanizers. We can’t fight those Rusters.”

  “Then are we evacuating to our deaths?”

  Kingham heard the despair ripple through the truck. He cleared his throat.

  "We have a destination. I know a place."

  He looked at the faces turned toward him.

  "There is a Class B Biome in the sands of Papaya. It is called 'Ninja Aesoi'. The leader there is an old friend of mine. We served together in the early days. She will accept us."

  Leik wiped her eyes and looked at him skeptically.

  "A Class B? Kingham, be realistic. No Biome just accepts refugees. We number in the hundreds. We have mouths to feed and sick to heal. Even if she is your friend, she has a council. She has quotas. She would never allow a horde of strangers to just walk in."

  Divento leaned forward from his bench.

  "She is right. We are not just refugees. We are fugitives. We are fleeing a military force with high-grade tech. If this 'friend' has any sense, she will turn us away at the gate to avoid bringing that war to her doorstep."

  Kingham nodded slowly.

  "You are both right. Under normal circumstances, she would leave us to rot."

  He gestured to Gustov.

  "Show them."

  Gustov moved to a reinforced ammo crate bolted to the floor of the jeep. He unlatched the heavy lid and threw it open.

  The dim light of the lift shaft caught the silver glint inside. Rows upon rows of Plastinium cans sat nestled in foam.

  "W-H2O." Kingham announced. "We have the ultimate bargaining chip. Who could refuse these?"

  He picked up a can and held it aloft.

  "I will buy our way in. And since it is a Class B, they have the infrastructure to host more people. We are not dead weight. We have engineers, farmers, Galvanizers. We pay our toll with water, and we earn our keep with sweat."

  The refugees in the truck stared at the cans. The fear in their eyes was replaced by a glimmer of hope. Wealth spoke a universal language.

  Divento frowned.

  "There is a possibility they take the water and kill us afterward. It is what I would do if I were desperate."

  Kingham met his gaze.

  "It is a risk. But I know this woman. She is hard, but she isn't a devious snake like most. She honors a contract."

  A man in the back whispered.

  "I hope he is right."

  Leik looked at the cans, then at the rising walls of the shaft.

  "Okay. So we have a bribe. Where is this place? What are the coordinates?"

  Kingham scratched his beard. He looked at the ceiling of the shaft.

  "Coordinates... well, I don't know them exactly. It has been twenty years."

  Panic flared instantly.

  "What?" Gustov yelled. "You don't know? Has the rust eaten your brain, old man? If we don't have coordinates, we are just driving in circles until the fuel runs out or the Ruster kills us!"

  Refugees began to mutter. The calm Kingham had established threatened to fracture.

  Kingham held up his hands.

  "Calm down! I might not have the numbers, but I remember the land! The memory is burned into me! That Biome was located near a specific landmark. A tall, rusted skyscraper that leans to the side. It is shortly after you cross a bridge."

  Leik’s head snapped up.

  "A bridge?"

  "Yes. A massive steel bridge that curves unnaturally over a dry canyon."

  Leik visualized the raids she had been on. She mapped the desert in her mind.

  "The Banana Bridge," she whispered.

  Kingham looked at her.

  "What?"

  "We call it the Banana Bridge because of the curve. I've passed it a few times on deep patrols. I never crossed it because the radiation count spikes there, but I know where it is."

  She looked at Gustov.

  "We don't know the specific area of the Biome, but if we have to cross the bridge to get there, then that is our waypoint. We know the coordinates for the bridge."

  Relief washed over the truck.

  "Banana Bridge," Gustov repeated. "Ridiculous name, but it works."

  Kingham grabbed the radio handset again.

  "Attention all drivers. Set navigation for the Banana Bridge. We form a convoy once we breach. Do not deviate."

  He looked at Leik.

  "Since we are already exposed, it is no use avoiding our tech. Use the comms. Keep the formation tight. Those Rusters won’t care if we are being hunted."

  The platform shuddered as it neared the top of the shaft. A sliver of blinding natural light began to widen above them.

  Gustov reached under the seat. He pulled out a heavy assault rifle and a bandolier of ammunition.

  "Here."

  He handed them to Leik.

  "It's already loaded. Safety is off."

  Leik took the weapon. The weight felt familiar and comforting.

  "Thanks."

  Kingham picked up his submachine gun. He checked the bolt. The weight of the steel reminded him of his glory days, of standing atop piles of dead Rusters with a younger, stronger body.

  "We are breaching."

  The engines of the trucks and jeeps roared in unison. A cloud of smoke filled the platform.

  Above them, the massive blast doors of the surface exit groaned.

  Creeeeaaaak.

  They began to slide open.

  Shafts of red sunlight pierced the gloom. Dust motes danced in the beams. The wind howled through the widening gap, carrying the scent of dry sand.

  Leik gripped her rifle. She pulled Sophie close with her elbow and looked up at the sky.

  "Here we go."