Chapter 20 Cora #2
The sun was down. The horizon was the violet-gold band the Mojave produced when the sky was clear and the air was dry and the dust had settled. The first stars were on. Venus was bright.
Crystal said: "Cora."
"Yes."
"What was that."
"I do not know."
"Was that the next thing."
"I think so."
"Tonight."
"Tonight."
We stood on the watchtower for a long time.
Below us the camp went about its evening. Tess at the long table. Mark with Deedee. Drew at the medical tent. The kids at the schoolhouse. The fire pit lit. The smoke rising.
I thought about the count.
Two hundred and fourteen humans. Eleven Vampyren.
Two half-Vampyren adults. Drew, and Auriel and Deedee, that was three, but Auriel and Deedee were children and counted as children, not adults.
Seven Lucian, with Veron. Sebastian. The Urbana kids, eleven.
Mira. Three other refugees who had come in last month.
The team. Mara in the rosemary. Talia at Urbana but here in name.
Patrick somewhere, alive, the next operation.
The count was the count.
The count would change tomorrow.
The count was holding.
I said: "Crystal."
"Yes."
"We should go down."
"Yes."
"Drew will be at the new tent."
"Yes."
"Deedee will want a story before bed."
"Yes."
"The camp is going to need to know about the network-touch by morning."
"Loren will know by morning. Rael will tell Loren tonight. Loren will assemble the council at oh-six. We will be there. The council will start the next operation."
"Crystal."
"Yes."
"That is the next thing."
"That is the next thing."
She put her hand on my arm.
I put my hand on hers.
We went down the watchtower together.
* * *
The new tent, Drew's and mine, was warm.
Drew had lit the small camp-lantern Cora had bartered from Vegas. The lantern was the warm-yellow light that the tent canvas absorbed and re-emitted as the glow that meant home.
I came in.
He was on the cot, reading.
He looked up.
He said: "Cora."
I said: "Drew."
He set the book down.
I sat next to him.
I said: "Rael came up to the watchtower."
He waited.
"Something touched the network. From beyond the sky. Not Earth. Faint. Far. Older than Tyvor."
He looked at me.
He said: "Lucis."
"Yes."
"Lucis is gone."
"Rael said was gone. He said the touching was older than Tyvor."
"That is not good."
"No."
"Cora."
"Yes."
"The next thing."
"The next thing."
He nodded.
He said: "I have a year of medical tent work first. Brecca said tomorrow oh-six.
The Patrick rescue is the second operation.
The Lucis thing is the third or fourth. We have time.
Whatever the network was touched by, it is not at our door.
The wind caught the flag. The flag noticed. The wind is somewhere else."
"For now."
"For now."
I leaned against him.
He picked the book back up. He read.
He read the chapter where the Joads make it to California.
I listened.
After a while I said: "Drew."
"Yes."
"I love you."
"I love you."
"Drew."
"Yes."
"Ours."
"Ours."
He closed the book.
He blew out the lantern.
We slept.
* * *
In the morning, at oh-five-fifty-eight, Loren rang the council bell.
The bell was the small brass bell at the watchtower's first landing that Loren rang for the camp's full-council meetings. The bell rang twice. Twice meant all hands, all leadership.
I sat up.
Drew sat up.
We dressed.
We walked to the council tent.
Brecca was already there. Rael was beside her, with Sebastian.
Tess was there with Kal. Auriel was at Tess's hip, half-asleep.
Crystal and Mark. Cassi with Elena on her arm.
Loren at the table. Renn. Cruz. Sylvia. Veron, standing at the back, the new-camp-member position.
Marta at the side, with her arms crossed.
Loren said: "We have a new thread. Rael will brief."
Rael briefed.
He told the council about the network-touch.
He used the same words he had used on the watchtower.
He told the council that the touching was older than Tyvor.
He told the council that the touching was, Rael paused, something Lucis had carried but had not carried alone.
He told the council that he did not know what that meant.
He told the council that he was going to spend the next week on the watchtower platform, alone, listening, in case the touching repeated.
He told the council that if the touching repeated, he would have a clearer reading.
Loren said: "Cora."
I said: "Yes."
"You led the convoy to Urbana. The convoy operation is closed. The Patrick rescue is the next operation. You have a year to plan."
"Yes."
"Drew."
"Yes."
"You are at the medical tent at oh-six. You are not on the Patrick operation. You are at the medical tent for a year."
"Yes."
"Brecca."
"Yes."
"Train Drew. Train Sylvia further. Train Veron. We are going to need every medic in this camp for whatever the network-touch turns out to be."
"Yes."
"Crystal."
"Yes."
"Logistics. Begin contingency-planning for the off-Earth thread. We do not know what is coming. We plan as if we did. The salvage corridors expand by twenty percent. The pre-cache network expands by thirty percent. We start tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Renn."
"Yes."
"Continue with Veron. Continue with Drew on the cohort lessons. Drew's medical work does not preclude the cohort. The cohort is the long game. The cohort is the slow build. Continue."
"Yes."
"Cassi."
"Yes."