Shutdown (Glitch) by Heather Anastasiu

meant the floor of our level should still be solid. The air filtration system which ran through the walls must not have been ruptured either, because I didn’t feel even the faintest prickle of an allergy attack.
    “Won’t someone from the outside come investigate?” City said. “Shouldn’t we all be packing and getting the hell out of here?”
    “Seismic activity is common enough in the region,” the Professor said, coming forward. He looked so much older than he had six months ago and his limp seemed more pronounced. It was like grief had added fifteen years. In spite of how he looked, though, his voice came out strong. “And it probably didn’t carry very far outside the mountain, maybe only a couple miles in every direction. Not enough to warrant an investigation.”
    “This location is the biggest of the last safe havens left,” Jilia said, pacing beside him. She talked as if thinking out loud. “It’s large enough to hold a significant population, and it’s secure and untraceable because of the techer boy. We can fix the damage from the quake.” She looked up at us all as if she’d come to a conclusion. “And like Henry said, the quake was small enough. It should go unnoticed.”
    “ This time, maybe,” City said, glaring my way.
    “So you think it’s safe to stay?” I asked, looking between Jilia, Henk, and the Professor. I ignored City even though her words were already worming their way through my brain. I’d put everyone at risk, and my presence would continue to endanger them.
    A dark-haired guy stepped forward, nodding. For some reason he wore a name tag on his shoulder. It read S IMIN . The name sounded only vaguely familiar. “I can monitor air traffic and local coms.” He looked down at a portable console in his hands. “There hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary so far. We can keep on high alert. Their fliers don’t have the cloaking tech like Henk developed for the Rez. If there’s any trouble, we should be able to see it coming and evacuate.”
    I swallowed, my eyes immediately shooting to Henk’s. We both knew there weren’t enough escape pods for everyone. Not by half. Henk had been working on acquiring material to build more, but it had been put on the back burner compared to the need for food and other basic supplies. We still had three transports, though. The largest could seat up to forty people.
    But if we tried to leave now, where would we go? There was a complex of cabins in the mountains that we’d set up as part of our evacuation plan, but it wasn’t a very sustainable position. Not like here. It would be foolish to evacuate now if it turned out there was no threat. And Jilia, the Professor, and Simin said they thought it’d be okay. I nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay, we stay then. But Jilia, is there anything you can give me to keep me from dreaming?”
    Jilia drew her eyebrows together even farther. “There are some medications I have on hand that inhibit sleep cycles. They aren’t good for long-term use, but will work until we can figure out a more permanent solution.”
    “And what happens if it doesn’t work?” City’s voice was shrill. “Look at this place!”
    “There’s no reason to think it won’t work,” Jilia said. She put a hand on her forehead, looking every inch as tired as I felt. “We’ll start cleaning in the morning.”
    “I want updates every half hour,” I said to the techer boy. He nodded, then jogged out of the room. I looked at everyone else. “And make sure the newest arrivals are familiar with the evacuation plan, just in case.”
    City threw her hands in the air, and spun, walking away from the group crowded around us.
    I bit down on my cheek hard to help me keep my face a blank mask. Guilt nibbled me raw from the inside out, but I couldn’t show it right now. I was supposed to be a leader. But as I watched City’s retreating form, I realized that soon it might be in the best interest of everyone if someone else