Skyfall by Anthony Eaton Page A

people, had simply let her.
    Whirling, Janil flung the interface at the wall behind him, as hard as he could. It bounced and fell to the floor without so much as a scratch.
    â€˜So much for breakdown and decay.’ Janil smiled a mirthless smile before turning back to the windows.
    The girl looked vaguely otherworldly. It wasn’t just the colour of her body, either. After five years of fieldwork, Janil had become accustomed to the sight of sun-darkened skin, though he still found it difficult to believe there’d been a time when everyone looked like this.
    No, it was just the fact of her, of her very existence. And the timing – her turning up now, right when it might already be too late and throwing everything off balance, out of kilter. Even his father wasn’t behaving rationally all of a sudden.
    â€˜Perhaps I should kill you.’ Janil’s voice echoed in the empty room. ‘In a lot of ways, I’d be doing you a favour. You’re in for a tough few months.’ He’d seen the footage of what had happened to this girl’s mother, seen the tests, read the results, seen what happened in the end. That girl down in the chamber would never touch the ground again, he knew. She’d never see the sun, not really, and never breathe air that wasn’t mixed and measured. He’d be doing her a kindness.
    It took only a couple of seconds to retrieve the interface pad and call up the command menu controlling the gas mix in the chamber. One command and she’d never even wake up. Then the Prelate would have to face up to what was in that report; she’d have no choice. Without the false hope this girl offered, they’d all have to pay attention.
    His finger touched the icon and he entered the command that would change the ratio of carbon monoxide in the chamber.
    Confirm command execution?
    Janil Mann’s finger hovered above his interface. His eyes slipped again to the girl lying below, bathed in hard, white light.
    His com chimed.
    â€˜Janil, where are you?’
    His father’s voice. Janil considered staying silent, but that wouldn’t achieve anything. It would take Dernan Mann less than a minute to check the scan logs and find out where he was.
    â€˜I’m in obs.’
    â€˜Meet us in my office, please. We need to talk. The three of us.’
    â€˜I’ll be there in a moment.’
    Confirm command execution?
    Janil hesitated.
    No.
    His finger barely brushed against the display, which immediately reverted to its holding menu. He took one last look down at the girl. Even from up here he could make out the slight rise and fall of her chest as she slept, unaware of how close she’d been to never waking. He almost envied her.
    â€˜I’m sorry. I really am.’
    Even his whisper was reflected back at him off the bare walls. He wasn’t certain if he was apologising to the girl or to himself. Sky! He wasn’t certain if he was apologising for almost killing her or for not having the nerve. Turning away, Janil crossed back through the lock, through the lab and into the corridor beyond.
    Unlike a few minutes earlier, now Janil walked calmly. For a minute he’d held the power of life and death in his hands and it was a sobering experience.
    At the door of his father’s office, Janil hesitated. Perhaps he could just keep on walking – out of DGAP, out of research – and leave it all behind.
    â€˜And go where?’ he muttered. When you lived in a skycity, you were always trackable. Always. Walking away wouldn’t solve anything. They’d just track him down and pull him back in, whether he wanted it or not.
    â€˜Shi.’
    Janil flicked his wrist across the scanner and opened the door, hating himself for it.

‘What was all that about?’ Lari turned on his father the moment Dernan Mann’s office door slid shut behind them.
    â€˜Calm down, Larinan.’
    â€˜Calm down? The city Prelate just welcomed