Sam shook her head. Something to deal with after this. If any of them lived through this.

She looked to her left. Aarthi was there, one of the dozen Division Six members going with them. Her old colleague smiled at her, gave her an encouraging thumbs up.

Sam nodded in response. That was two people here she’d been in the field with.

Three if you counted Kade.

But you couldn’t really count Kade.

“Sam.”

She turned and he was there, getting into the hard military seat next to her. She hadn’t heard him over the roar of the troop transport plane’s engines.

He fumbled with the straps. She reached over, clicked them home for him, one, two, three.

She chuckled to herself. This wasn’t his area of expertise.

Their hands brushed as she finished securing his harness. She looked up and he was staring at her. Was it strange, to look at someone and not know what was in their head? To not feel something coming off their mind? What would it feel like for her, when she took Nexus again?

It might have been today, if the world hadn’t blown up.

“I’m sorry I made it so hard when we first got here,” Sam said. She put her fist down on his knee in friendship. “It was about me, not you. I know you’re…” Innocent, she almost said. Still a kid. Naïve. “…good hearted. The kids love you.”

Kade gave her a strained smile. “The kids love you too,” he said. “They’re really looking forward to you taking Nexus again.”

She smiled. “I feel good. I think I’m ready.”

Kade’s smile went away. “I’m glad you haven’t yet.”

Sam blinked in surprise. That was kind of a strange thing to say.

“Sam,” he looked at her again. “When we get there. The plan has a lot of risks. And if… Well, there’s something I may need you to do for me.”

Kade leaned in close then, and told her what he was asking of her, and why.

And when he was done, Sam leaned back, her eyes closed, bile rising in her stomach at the thought of what he’d just said.

Kade wasn’t so naïve anymore, after all.

105
Ripples

Sunday 2041.01.20

“So who did this to us?” Bo Jintao demanded.

It was late in the afternoon. They’d been meeting for hours. Sending out runners to acquire information, to send orders, to send for more troops.

Even civilian phones and data didn’t work for them. They worked for civilians, but whoever had hacked them had turned censor codes against them, was blocking the civilian network from working within government ministries and military facilities, was filtering out messages with key phrases, key voices.

It was infuriating. All their tools were being used as weapons against them.

Information Minister Fu Ping was sweating. The man looked like he feared for his life.