Lily reached out to all of her mechanics, sharing mindspeak with them.
They’re radioactive, you guys. We can’t stay with them for long. Rowan, do you have any idea how to help these people?
Those that haven’t passed the tipping point? Yes. But the ritual will be very difficult for you, Lily. Tell the others to spread out and try to find people who still have some healthy life-helix material.
It took Lily a moment to understand, but when Rowan passed an image of what he needed to her, she instantly understood.
We call that DNA, Rowan.
Try to find healthy DNA. I’m afraid I’ll have to stay here while you go scan them. These people don’t want me near them. They hate Outlanders.
I’m sorry about that.
I’ve dealt with prejudice my whole life, Lily, but at least these people have a reason. An Outlander betrayed them and exposed them to some contaminant that did this to them, although I can’t think of what it was.
Lily could guess what it was—enriched uranium, which had been made in the laboratories of Lillian’s college. Chenoa used the tunnel women to pass the uranium from city to city and then into the Outlands where she and her two acolytes, Hakan and Keme, put it into the thirteen bombs. And she never told the women how dangerous it could be. All this time Lily had sided with Outlanders, wanting to believe that they were pure victims who were blameless and noble. There were no good guys anymore.
Lily felt Rowan put his hand on her arm, startling her out of her thoughts. She smiled at him warmly. At least Rowan was still pure and good. He had no idea about what Chenoa and Alaric had done to these women.
I know this is hard, but you have to be strong, Lily. They need help.
It’s okay. I can handle it.
Lily passed on Rowan’s instructions and then started approaching the contaminated women, trying to find even a scrap of undamaged DNA. She couldn’t help but think of Lillian and she didn’t want Rowan to know. Lillian had used the same words Rowan had. She’d said “tipping point” when she talked about her strange illness with Captain Leto, and now Lily knew for certain what that illness was—radiation poisoning. This was how Lillian was dying. Slowly. Painfully.
Lily and her mechanics walked through the medical camp, but very few of the women could be saved. The children were even worse. All of them were under the age of two, and all of them suffered from heart-wrenching birth defects. Lily tried to be respectful, but more than once she had to turn her face away or she knew she’d start crying.
“I can’t think of a worse way to die,” Una said quietly when they had regrouped.
“I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life,” Breakfast said, agreeing with her.
“Did you find anyone with healthy cells?” Rowan asked. His expression was stormy with anger, but Lily knew it wasn’t because these people rejected him. He needed to be angry. Rowan couldn’t allow himself to be paralyzed by sadness right now or to get insulted by the prejudice that surrounded him. He had to stay focused and find a way to save these people.
“I got two, maybe three,” Breakfast said.
“Three,” Una said.
“One,” Lily said, looking down.
“I only saw one, too,” Tristan said, looking at Lily.
“I got two,” Rowan said. “Were any of them children?” Everyone shook his or her head. “I didn’t think so. We need to collect clean tissue samples—no contamination or it will be a disaster,” Rowan said.