“We don’t want your digging—”
Juliette turned to the audience. “I don’t want to dig either. Honestly, I don’t think we have enough fuel left, because we’ve been burning it since we got here and because we worked the machine hard to get her to turn. And I don’t think we have food for more than a week or two, not for everyone. We’re not digging. But our schematic matched the size and location of the machine we found back home. It matched it perfectly to scale and even the direction it was pointing. I have a schematic here of this silo and this digger.” She ran her hand over the other sheet of paper, then went back to the large map. “When I plot this, look how the line goes between all the other silos, not touching any of them.” She walked and slid her finger across the line until she touched Elise’s finger. Elise beamed up at her.
“We have a good guess of the fuel we used to get to this silo, and how much remains. We know how much fuel we started with and how fast it burns. And what we determined is that the digger was loaded up with just enough fuel – with maybe ten percent extra – to have taken us directly to this spot.” She again touched Elise’s finger. “And the diggers are aimed slightly up. We think they were placed here to take us to this point – to get us out of here.” She paused. “I don’t know when they were going to tell us – if they were ever going to tell us – but I say we don’t wait to be asked. I say we go.”
“Just go?”
Juliette scanned the audience and saw that it was one of the men from the Planning Committee.
“I think it might be safer out there for us than if we stay. I know what will happen if we stay. I want to see if it’s better if we leave.”
“You hope it’s safer,” someone said.
Juliette didn’t search for the voice. She let her gaze drift across the crowd. Everyone was thinking the same thing, herself included.
“That’s right. I hope. I have the word of a stranger. I have whispers from someone I’ve never met. I have a feeling in my gut, in my heart. I have these lines that cross on a map. And if you think that’s not enough, then I agree with you. I’ve lived my entire life only believing what I can see. I need proof. I need to see results. And even then I need to see them a second and a third time before I get a glimpse of how things truly are. But this is a case where what I know for certain – the life that awaits us here – is not worth living. And there’s a chance that a better one can be found elsewhere. I’m willing to go see, but only if enough of you are with me.”
“I’m with you,” Raph said.
Juliette nodded. The room blurred a little. “I know you are,” she said.
Solo raised his hand. With his other, he tugged on his beard. Juliette felt Elise take her hand. Shaw held a squirming puppy, but still managed to raise his.
“How will we get there if we don’t aim to dig?” one of the miners hollered.
Juliette bent at the waist to grab something at her feet. While her head was down, she wiped at her eyes. She stood and lifted one of the cleaning suits, held it in one hand, a helmet in the other.
“We’re going outside,” she said.
60
The food dwindled while they worked. It was a grim countdown, these disappearing cans and what had been rounded up from the farms. Not everyone in the silo participated; many never came to the Town Hall; many more simply wandered off, realizing they could grab more grow plots if they hurried. Several mechanics asked for permission to head back down to Mechanical and round up those who had refused to make the climb, to try and convince them to come, to see if Walker could be stirred. Juliette was overjoyed with the prospect of gathering more people to go. She also felt the pressure mount as everyone worked.
The server room became a massive workshop, something like you’d see down the halls of Supply. Nearly a hundred and fifty cleaning suits were laid out, all of them needing to be sized and adjusted. Juliette was sad to see that it was more than they needed, but also a little relieved. It would’ve been a problem the other way around.