Gloves on, Romy skimmed over an age-thinned paper before scanning it with her portable device. She scrolled down the categories and directed the document to the right file: law. Organising the filing room—a muddle of towering papers and ruined books—was something Romy would love to drag out over a couple of months.

Especially when every second document caught her eye.

Endless information—on Australia, on life before global warming. On current technology.

After a week at her new job, she had to admit Atlas had given her exactly what she’d wished for. If he hadn’t been so rude, she would have acted more grateful at the time.

The others in her knot were learning how to escape and survive in a post-global-warming world. And Romy finally felt like she could contribute to their efforts. She was going to be the informed knot member. The person up-to-date on modern Earth—not just fairy tales and fuzzy, dangerous animals.

The storage room was in one of the three official buildings. Or rather, this building was actually for the soldiers’ supplies and these documents were stuffed in a back room as an afterthought.

None of the information was more recent than 2040, though the e-storage Romy had access to contained data dating back to 1000 BC. It was entirely tempting to read all day.

Soldiers filed in and out of the building throughout the day, never entering the secluded room where she worked. Through the always open door, Romy watched as they entered the room on the other side of the hall. They used a keycard to get in. And exited with weapons and combat gear.

Knot 27 would need guns. How to get them was another question. Romy doubted the soldiers left their keycards lying around. And missing weapons would be noticed quickly. Romy didn’t want them to be caught before they’d even left . . . or anyone else at camp to take the rap for their theft.

She sighed, and returned to her work. Organising and arranging the multitudes of books and files gave her immense satisfaction. Romy wondered if she would have had a job like it back in pre-global-warming times.

She hadn’t seen Atlas at all throughout the week. He’d disappeared somewhere and Houston wouldn’t spill where he’d gone. The last conversation she’d overheard between Atlas and Houston troubled her greatly and she’d hovered on the edge of confronting the doctor about it several times. She was glad Atlas wanted to keep her safe. In fact, she’d replayed that statement over in her mind several times. But shouldn’t he want to keep the entire knot from harm? So why was it that she was being kept close, but the others were allowed out? And did it have to do with whatever Houston was “analysing”?

It didn’t make sense.