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trying to tell us? If we can't answer that, then, no, Earth win never be reborn."
Mo'Steel got to his feet, and Jobs felt an adrenaline rush.
"What's up?" he whispered, darting a look at the Marauders. "Trouble?"
"Leg cramp," Mo'Steel replied.
Olga giggled with relief.
D-Caf leaned in. "Here's something else," he said. "Even if we discover what it is Billy
wants us to do, there's still the matter of doing it. What if the Marauders just won't go along
with the plan? Can we force them to? Do we even have the right to make them take a chance
with us? With Billy?"
Silence followed D-Caf's words. Out of the corner of his eye. Jobs saw the Marauders
returning.
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Quickly, he got to his feet. "Too many questions," he said softly. "There are always too
many questions."
Mattock dropped down next to Echo and Lyric.
"Tell us again what j'ou saw in there," Lyric said eagerly.
Mattock looked over his shoulder, though the four exiled Alphas were clearly alone.
"Yes," Echo prodded, rocking the baby gently. "Tell us again."
It was strange, he began. He recounted the experience in detail, though the girls had heard it
all twice before.
Echo frowned. "What j'ou think of this new world Sanchez says will come?"
"Might come," Mattock corrected.
"I think it sounds very nice," Lyric said.
"First the Alpha colony," Echo murmured. "Now, this is our home. And already, we are
talking about yet another place. I'm so tired...."
"Are j'ou saying j'ou don't want to live with plenty of water and food?" Mattock challenged.
"Of course not. It's just that..." Echo thought about how to express what she was feeling. "It's
just that I want my baby to be safe. To be happy. And already she has suffered so much."
Lyric leaned over and kissed the baby's forehead. "A world with lots of food will be good
for her," she said.
"Good for j'ou, j'ou mean," Mattock laughed. Lyric smacked his arm but a grin spread across
her face.
"What if it's all a lie," Echo blurted. "I'm tired of being lied to. I don't want to be made a fool
of again. I don't."
Echo struggled to her feet and looked down at her two companions, who'd suddenly stopped
goofing around.
"I'm going to the sleeping circle now," she told them.
She could feel their eyes on her as she walked away.
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CHAPTER 12
"WE WANT THE NEW WORLD."
The rest of the camp was asleep. Only Newton remained awake, the official guard, prowling
the perimeters. But while his eyes were watching for predators, his mind was focused on what
had happened earlier.
After the Marauders' impromptu meeting, several of the group had rejoined some of
Mo'Steel's gang. Among them were Cocker and Badger. More disturbing. Claw, Snipe, and
Balder had gone along with them. There'd been a lot of talk. Some loud voices. More
laughter.
Newton didn't like laughter. Not now. Not ever.
When he was sure everyone was deeply asleep, Newton woke each member of his crew with
a kick to the side.
Without too much of a racket, the four Marauders were gathered a few yards from the
others. Newton had some business that needed to be taken care of now.
"This new world thing," he said, watching closely for signs of lying. "That what j'ou talking
about with them others?"
Readily too readily Claw, Snipe, and Balder nodded.
"Yeah," Snipe said. "We heard a lot."
Claw and Balder stayed silent but their demeanor showed no fear.
This is no good, Newton thought.
"J'ou with me or j'ou against me," he hissed, grabbing Claw's rotting fur vest and yanking
him close. Claw's facial tic grew more pronounced and his eyes bulged.
"All I saying is it sound good," he said pleadingly. "All that food."
With a curse, Newton threw Claw away from him. "J'ou make me sick. J'ou some kind of
stupid person, trusting that kid!"
Snipe licked his cracked lips and opened his mouth to speak. "Sanchez, he say it a good
thing. We always go with Sanchez."
Newton sneered. "Sanchez is only telling us to listen to that thing 'cause he like the
girl. Violet, the one with the stories. She got him all turned around...."
Balder hitched his baggy pants and shook his head. "Me, I want what they call um ... yeah, a
life of leisure. I hear j'ou lay around, food come right to j'our mouth. Water all around, and it be
warm and "
Beside him, Claw and Snipe nodded vigorously.
"And a man, he be his own boss," Balder added with a drawl. "That sound good to me."
"Who told j'ou that stuff?" Newton demanded.
"All of them," Claw replied.
"That one, D-Caf," Snipe added eagerly.
"A kid!" Newton roared. "What he know? We let Sanchez and that thing do this
this re-greening, I tell j'ou what happen. Earth go spinning around and we all fall off and die.
That, or Marauders be slaves to the others. Be sure, something bad happen. Something very bad."
A slow, knowing smile spread across Balder's face. "J'ou scared," he said, the grin growing
ever more broad. "Big Newton scared, ha-ha!"
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Claw and Snipe joined in the laughter. Newton felt almost weak with frustration.
"J'ou saying j'ou not scared, too?" he cried, and immediately regretted his words.
Snipe and Claw proceeded to fall all over each other, guffawing, slapping thighs and backs.
Balder, on the other hand, sobered up and looked Newton straight in the eye.
"It don't matter what we are," he said calmly, and Newton knew he'd lost his crew for good.
"We want the new world."
Jobs was repairing a tear in one of the bladders. Already a few drops of water had leaked
through and that was a few drops too many. While he worked, he hummed a song that had
been popular just before the Rock destroyed all singers and musicians and instruments and
recording studios with their multimillion-dollar equipment. The tune had just popped into his
head, startling him. He'd totally forgotten about it. He hadn't even liked the song. So why was
it still hanging around in his brain, taking up valuable space?
"I want to tell j'ou why I left the Alpha colony."
Jobs jumped and dropped the half-repaired bladder Echo and the baby had appeared out of
nowhere. "Whoa," he said. "Sorry. I didn't hear you come up."
Echo smiled and reached down to pick up the bladder at the same time Jobs reached down
"Ow!"
"Ow!"
They both stood, grinning sheepishly.
"Are you hurt?" Jobs asked.
"No. Are j'ou?"
"I bruised my pride, but my head is pretty hard. I'm fine. So, uh, you were going "
"Yes. I want to tell j'ou why I left the Alpha colony."
Jobs had wondered about that. Olga and Noyze had told him some disturbing stuff about
how the Alpha colony worked. So when Jobs had seen Echo's baby, he'd made a guess& .
But he hadn't expected the real story to be so awful.
Echo talked, and Jobs listened.
"So," she said, "in the end they were going to let me starve. Me and my baby. Because we
are imperfect."
"Excuse me?" Jobs said. "I mean what?"
"J'ou heard right."
Jobs nodded. "Okay. So, Mattock and Lyric came with you because "
"Because they are my friends," Echo said.
Jobs wanted to know if Mattock liked Echo the way he was beginning to like her. But he
didn't have the nerve to ask Mattock and he certainly didn't have the guts to ask Echo
And he definitely didn't want to question her about her friends' genetic "purity." Maybe there
was more motivation than just friendship behind Mattock and Lyric's escape.
Whatever, Jobs thought. Echo has no idea how "flawed" we all are.
"You'll be happy in a green world," he said abruptly. "We all will."
Echo placed a tiny kiss on her baby's forehead before asking, "What does it mean, 'a green
world'?"
Jobs looked at the delicate wisps of hair on the baby's tiny head. "I don't know exactly how
it will be," he admitted. "But I can tell you about how it was before the Rock. Some things
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will be the same I hope. I believe. Like trees and flowers and rivers and lakes. We'll be
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