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Chapter 49

Dan searchedhis pockets for the keys while Beckett stared across the parking lot down the sloping grass to the faraway gathering at the fence. They were moving Luna in a blanket. He could run back there, but he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t do anything but leave. His only option. Beckett didn’t like having only one option. Not when it came to Luna.

This sucked. If he had known that last night on the ship, when he held her under his shirt, hiding from the storm, would be the last night — if he had only known. He might have held tighter. Hell, he’d still be there.

So why was he here, back on land? Was this the whole goal — to get her here? She was in a cage and he was driving away.

Dan unlocked the car. Beckett climbed in. The engine rumbled to life.

Dan said, “I know you want to go back, but here’s the thing, that’s real trouble for you and also, what if they arrest you at the protest? They could say all the protesters are criminals and public opinion would turn. Right now your Aunt Chickadee, who is awesome by the way, and her friends, are fun and friendly and smart. People are watching the news and thinking they make sense. But if you show up and get all tragic and argumentative and belligerent and arrested, guess what happens?”

“They look like troublemakers.”

Dan pulled the car out of the parking lot. “Opinion is changing. No one wants the trouble of dealing with this; it takes too much effort. Aunt Chickadee is making people focus on that effort and question whether it’s worth it.”

“You make sense — but it’s still — man.” Beckett ran his hands up and down on his face.

“I don’t blame you. If Sarah was — I don’t blame you. But at least you have Chickadee.” They sped along the coastal highway toward the bus station.

Beckett stared out the window at the shops and houses flying by. “And Roscoe.”

“That guy is a genius. He told me that the government spends thousands of dollars adayon the Nomad camps. Instead they could have expanded the Outpost system with floating derricks. It would have been a fraction of the money, but a couple of politicians, specifically John Smithsonian and his buddy at the Final Interior, Tuck Frank, thought it would be worth it. They’re on some kind of evangelical mission to change the Nomads, turn them into land dwellers. Can you believe it?”

Beckett shook his head. “I was a part of it. All those people, I sent a lot of them to the camps.”

“Yeah well, you didn’t have the full story. We all have the full story now. And if it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have Chickadee chained to their fence.”

“Chickadee is a formidable woman, you should have seen her when I. . .” Beckett’s voice trailed away. He added, “I’m glad she’s always been on my side.”

Dan pulled into a space in front of the bus station, got out, and pulled Beckett’s bag from the trunk.

Beckett said, “Promise me, if something is wrong, any news, a sneeze, God, or a cough, anything — promise me you’ll let me know.”

“Definitely man, I promise. I’ll make sure.”

“Okay, thanks.” The two hugged, said goodbye, and Beckett walked slowly toward the bus station.

Dan yelled, “Shoulders straight Army. You need a strong back for all that sandbag lifting!”

Beckett raised his hand with a wave and disappeared into the cavernous building.

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