ongoing technical problems. As for the electrical problems you cited, we have no suggestions. You will have to figure them out on-site, giving priority to seed vault temperatures.
—Conelrad HQ
“Guess we have job security now,” Abe said. “Say, isn’t it about time you distributed those firearms you’ve been hoarding?”
Jackson’s bright green eyes flashed. “I’ll decide when the time is proper!” He snatched the printout from Abe and stalked off.
The Director, whom Abe referred to as “Top Seed,” had not smiled for a long time, and Abe worried about the older man’s mental and physical health. Even faced with the tyranny of the Director, Abe always tried to see the good in him, the way he’d dedicated his life to such an important cause. As for Abe, even through the most difficult of times he cultivated his own sense of humor, as if tending to a precious plant. He found laughter therapeutic, enabling him to get through problems.
Entering the chamber through a thick glass door, Belinda grimaced and asked, “Couldn’t you show him just a little more respect?”
“I was just kidding him. He knows I respect him.”
The tall blonde scowled. “Be careful. If you go too far he could just eliminate you and build a robot to take your place. I’ve seen him tinkering in his workshop late at night.”
“Yeah, well if he did that, he’d miss me. I provide a lot of the entertainment around here … not only for him, but for the others. I’m the voice of sanity, keeping people on their toes, and he knows it, no matter what he says.”
“Benitar is nuts, you know,” she said. “and smart, with that personal escape capsule he has for himself, kept where the rest of us can’t get to it.”
“I’d rather call him focused than nuts,” Abe said. But there were troubling aspects of the Director’s personality, he admitted to himself, including things he didn’t bother to explain to any of the staff. Before the weather went into the deep freeze, the wealthy Jackson had designed and built a rocket-propelled capsule, which he had fitted into a chamber on the upper level, donating his own funds to the government for this, and supposedly getting their approval. Calling it the “emergency seed-evacuation capsule,” Benitar said he had a sampling of seeds stored on board, and that the rest of the craft was only big enough for one person. None of the staff had ever been permitted to see the vessel, nor did they know the access and launch codes.
“It gives me an uneasy feeling just knowing it’s up there,” Belinda said, looking upward, “while the rest of us poor saps don’t have anything like it.”
He looked at her intently, and changed the subject, since matters involving Benitar were often pointless and frustrating to discuss, because no one could do anything about them. “I hear you went topside this morning,” Abe said. “What’s the weather like out there?”
“White on the ground, gray in the sky.”
“Same as usual.”
She shook her head. “Deeper snow and a darker, lower cloud cover. Wind is whipping up. Looks like we’re in for another blizzard—Who knows? Maybe the mother of them all.”
CHAPTER 2
Dumped Into the Devil Zone
The young woman carried a backpack as she trudged along a snowy road that wound through a thick forest of evergreens, their boughs drooping under heavy winter loads. The road showed only animal tracks. No vehicles had passed this way in a long time. As her boots crunched through the ice and snow, Peggy Atkins wondered if she had been there previously, before the midday storm had covered her tracks. All around, she heard the eerie snapping of branches as they finally gave way under the weight of snow.
For days she had been wandering along narrow highways and logging roads, unable to get her bearings because the daytime sky was always gray, with no glimmer of sunshine. She could not think of a worse place to be, and sometimes felt herself wishing it
—Conelrad HQ
“Guess we have job security now,” Abe said. “Say, isn’t it about time you distributed those firearms you’ve been hoarding?”
Jackson’s bright green eyes flashed. “I’ll decide when the time is proper!” He snatched the printout from Abe and stalked off.
The Director, whom Abe referred to as “Top Seed,” had not smiled for a long time, and Abe worried about the older man’s mental and physical health. Even faced with the tyranny of the Director, Abe always tried to see the good in him, the way he’d dedicated his life to such an important cause. As for Abe, even through the most difficult of times he cultivated his own sense of humor, as if tending to a precious plant. He found laughter therapeutic, enabling him to get through problems.
Entering the chamber through a thick glass door, Belinda grimaced and asked, “Couldn’t you show him just a little more respect?”
“I was just kidding him. He knows I respect him.”
The tall blonde scowled. “Be careful. If you go too far he could just eliminate you and build a robot to take your place. I’ve seen him tinkering in his workshop late at night.”
“Yeah, well if he did that, he’d miss me. I provide a lot of the entertainment around here … not only for him, but for the others. I’m the voice of sanity, keeping people on their toes, and he knows it, no matter what he says.”
“Benitar is nuts, you know,” she said. “and smart, with that personal escape capsule he has for himself, kept where the rest of us can’t get to it.”
“I’d rather call him focused than nuts,” Abe said. But there were troubling aspects of the Director’s personality, he admitted to himself, including things he didn’t bother to explain to any of the staff. Before the weather went into the deep freeze, the wealthy Jackson had designed and built a rocket-propelled capsule, which he had fitted into a chamber on the upper level, donating his own funds to the government for this, and supposedly getting their approval. Calling it the “emergency seed-evacuation capsule,” Benitar said he had a sampling of seeds stored on board, and that the rest of the craft was only big enough for one person. None of the staff had ever been permitted to see the vessel, nor did they know the access and launch codes.
“It gives me an uneasy feeling just knowing it’s up there,” Belinda said, looking upward, “while the rest of us poor saps don’t have anything like it.”
He looked at her intently, and changed the subject, since matters involving Benitar were often pointless and frustrating to discuss, because no one could do anything about them. “I hear you went topside this morning,” Abe said. “What’s the weather like out there?”
“White on the ground, gray in the sky.”
“Same as usual.”
She shook her head. “Deeper snow and a darker, lower cloud cover. Wind is whipping up. Looks like we’re in for another blizzard—Who knows? Maybe the mother of them all.”
CHAPTER 2
Dumped Into the Devil Zone
The young woman carried a backpack as she trudged along a snowy road that wound through a thick forest of evergreens, their boughs drooping under heavy winter loads. The road showed only animal tracks. No vehicles had passed this way in a long time. As her boots crunched through the ice and snow, Peggy Atkins wondered if she had been there previously, before the midday storm had covered her tracks. All around, she heard the eerie snapping of branches as they finally gave way under the weight of snow.
For days she had been wandering along narrow highways and logging roads, unable to get her bearings because the daytime sky was always gray, with no glimmer of sunshine. She could not think of a worse place to be, and sometimes felt herself wishing it
Similar Books
