Earthbound (The Reach, Book 1) by Mark R. Healy Read Free Book Online

place.”
    “Well, I couldn’t stay here.  Half the damn city was looking for me.  Where else was I supposed to go?”
    “Surely there was somewhere you could lie low in Link.”
    Knile shrugged.  “Maybe.”
    “Or maybe there was some other reason you didn’t want to hang around.”
    They stared at each other, and eventually Knile smiled thinly.
    “It’s not exactly paradise here.”
    “Better than the lowlands.”  When he offered no response she decided to let it go.  “So what were you doing out there?  You become a wind farmer or something?” she said with a grin.
    “Nah.  I just went from place to place, picking up work wherever I could.  Getting by.”
    Talia grew serious.  “What’s it like out there?”
    Knile brushed his fingers along the pale fabric.  “Like here, but worse.  They’re doing it tough.  Even the larger communities have fractured.  There’s just little clusters of people now, maybe ten or twenty in one place.  No more than that.”
    “Are they growing much food?”
    “Nope.  In fact, they’re slowly starving themselves out of existence.  A lot of them have even given up on respirators, and they’re not bothering to purify the water anymore.”
    “What?  Why on earth would they do that?”
    “They just don’t have the gear.  It’s all worn out or fallen apart, and they can’t replace it.”  Knile’s eyes met hers.  “They’re poisoning themselves.”
    “God,” Talia said soberly.  “That’s awful.”
    Knile thought of the old man out on the street with his cart of putrid produce.
    “It’s starting to happen here, too, isn’t it?”
    Talia looked away.  “In places.”
    “So it’s only a matter of time, now.”
    Talia frowned.  “It’s been only a matter of time for about three generations now, Knile.  Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming.”
    “Maybe I did, but not this soon.”
    “Sooner, later, who cares?” Talia said.  “We’re all stuck here, right?”  She glanced at him curiously.  “We’re all in the same predicament.”
    “Maybe.”
    She eyed him suspiciously and then moved around the edge of the table toward him.
    “What’s got you looking so smug?”
    “Huh?”
    “What was it that made you come back here?”
    Knile paused, unsure of how to phrase his response.  “I got a ticket out.”
    Talia looked at him blankly.  “Out where?”
    He gestured vaguely upward.  “Out.  Through the Reach.  There’s a passkey with my name on it.  I’m leaving.”
    Talia laughed out loud, shaking her head at him derisively.  “You’re getting out.”  Her voice was filled with sarcasm.  “Really?  And Fallon told you that?”
    “It’s real, Talia.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “It’s real.  I checked the message myself.”
    She placed a hand on her hip.  “So let me get this straight.  There’s an actual legit passkey that’s been sent down from above.  For you.”
    “Yes.”
    “That makes no sense, Knile.  What are you thinking?”
    “Why doesn’t it make sense?”
    “Well, who the hell is your Sponsor, for a start?  Who is it that likes you enough to put your name on a passkey?”
    “I don’t know that.  It doesn’t matter.”
    “Of course it matters.  You said yourself that half the city is looking for you.  The Enforcers are looking for you.  How do you know they didn’t set this up as some kind of trap?”
    “The Enforcers don’t control the passkeys,” Knile said.  “They keep the law from the Atrium down.  The railcar, the passkeys, and access off-world… that’s controlled by the Consortium.  The Enforcers don’t have a say in it.”
    Talia snorted.  “You believe what you want.  Personally, I think you’re deluded.”
    “I’ll trust my own judgement.”
    “Yeah, well…”  Talia rolled her eyes.  “This coming from the guy who thinks it’s a good idea to spend his time wandering around the lowlands.  You’ll forgive me if I’m a little sceptical about