“Well, you know it’s an old army camp, right? We found a busted-up sign in an old drain – it was called Cibao in the Renaming. It’s on a very steep part of the mountain – hard to understand why they built it there, really. We haven’t tried a raid in at least a year, but what we saw in the early days was a few ruined buildings, some foundations, and some newer houses – built well, with roofs and solar panels. A really old cemetery. A spring. A big cement area, cracked up, which might have been a parade ground. They use its surfaces to channel rainwater into cisterns. They grow things and raise animals in wire cages. We saw skynut trees; a whole section of succulents, presumably for soap or salve for sunburn. Then there’s the wall. The roads were destroyed in a landslide before we came here. Cibao is easy to defend.”

“What about the people? You said they were old?”

“In the beginning. Now the walls have young males on them, looking out, patrolling. Some have binoculars.”

“They’re on the wall even in the day?” Caroni said.

“Yes. You’ll be amazed at what 500 metres of altitude does to the temperature. They can’t stay outside all day, of course, so they have shifts.”

“What kind of young males? asked Rashelope.

“What kind? I don’t know. Young men. Well fed. Strong. Last time we tried a raid, they killed two of ours. Cut off the head of one and laughed.”

“I mean, are they trained?” Rashelope said. “Ex Domins? Ex Squad?”

“I don’t know about their training. They definitely have more weapons than we do, but we don’t know about their ammunition.”

“Are there females?” Rashelope said.

“We’ve seen some working outside, mostly with the food they grow.”

“Slaves?” Sorrel asked. Everyone turned to look at her.

Arc shrugged. “We’ve heard the stories too. What we saw – and remember, this isn’t recent – was females working with the crops and males nearby with guns or other weapons.” He turned his head to look at Sorrel. “Why?”

“It’s not important right now,” Caroni said, glaring at Sorrel.

“That’s our story; more or less,” Arc concluded. “We’ve been sending out smaller groups to see if we can find a new place to settle because there’s less and less food here.”

“Like us. We can find out a lot more about the camp with a PlAK and someone with Level 1 access,” Caroni said.

“Why’re you so interested in the camp? It’s a fortress. Believe me, we’ve tried to get in there. It can’t be done.”

“I hear you.”

“Time for your story now,” Arc said.

Sorrel half listened to Caroni’s voice, telling of Jiba, their time there and the new threats. “Sorrel can hack into Level 1. That’s how we found out the Northerners are coming. And saw the dust storm.”