“Oh, wait, there are inventories in the ledgers,” Hallie said, as he made his way across to the shelves. “The missing bit - the amplifier? - might be mentioned in there.”
“Worth a look, but it depends how they’ve listed it. If it’s by the manufacturer or shop code then it might be hard to find.” Girard’s voice was slightly muffled as he knelt by the lowest shelf, opening up a large cardboard box.
“Good point,” Hallie said, but she sat back down, picking up the nearest inventory book, scanning through the entries while Girard continued his search.
A little while later she and Girard made low sounds of discovery at almost the same time.
“Did you find it?” Hallie asked, putting a finger on the line she’d just been reading and turning to Girard. He was about halfway along the shelves, investigating what looked like a small wooden crate.
“I’ve found where it should be,” he answered. “You?”
“I found mention of a box of spare parts, and if I’m reading this right, it includes an amplifier,” Hallie said.
“Just the one?” Girard asked.
“I think so.” Hallie got up, taking the ledger over to him, and pointed out the entry she’d found. He scanned the list, which had made almost no sense to her. She had a faint idea what a fan belt was, and, glancing inside the box Girard had been inspecting, recognised some of the items there.
“Yes, that’s the right list, and this is the right box,” Girard confirmed. “Someone has taken the spare amplifier as well.”
“So, there’s no way to fix the radio,” Hallie concluded. She frowned across the room at the inner workings of the radio, mind turning over what they’d learned so far. “Pulling out the amplifier and taking the spare seems calculated. Someone, or possibly more than one person, who knew what they were doing. It doesn’t fit with shoving a bit of metal inside. The damage there seems more impulsive. Less calculated.”
“I agree,” Girard said. He put the box back on the shelf. “It wouldn’t take any skill to pull out the amplifier, but taking the spare took knowledge.”
“Someone reasonably familiar with the parts available, and the device itself,” Hallie speculated. She glanced down at the ledger she was still holding. “Everything is neatly and meticulously recorded. The people who were living here also worked together to get the wall put up, the ditch dug. They’d tried making individual homes. They were working on making a field for planting. Planning ahead. It doesn’t fit with sabotaging the island’s only means of outside communication.” A shiver ran over her skin. She might have spent her life isolated in one city, but that city was part of a network of trading ports around the world, and with the limited news that had filtered into low city, she’d always felt a thin thread of connection to the rest of the world. The closest she had come to this kind of isolation had been the short time she’d spent at Cotovatre’s house, when bad weather had blocked the train - their only means to get back to the city - from moving, and the only outside communication she’d been aware of had been a single device, either a radio or satellite phone. But she’d been surrounded by Cotovatre’s household, who were prepared for the isolation and the weather, and collectively had the skills necessary to thrive. The people who’d lived in this settlement seemed to have beenbarely surviving. They’d retreated into a common bunk house, abandoning their partly-built homes. And the field that they had been working on wasn’t ready for use, not yet. A great deal more work was required. They weren’t in a position to cut themselves off from outside help.
“No,” Girard agreed. He gave her a hard, steady look. “We’ve got some choices.”
“Find somewhere to hole up until the director sends back-up,” Hallie said slowly, “or see what else we can find out.” A shiver crossed her skin. “I don’t think I could deal with another swarm. They got right into this building, even with all the blocks we put in place.”
“I know,” Girard said. He put a hand on her arm, briefly, as if he needed the contact to reassure himself that they were both in one piece. “I think if there were more people here, we’d have been fine. A few more people with heavy sticks and we’d have been able to keep them outside. But there’s just us.”
“So we can’t stay here,” Hallie concluded. “We need to move somewhere else. Try for higher ground to see if the radio phone will work?”
“That’s one option, yes. Although the warrimel could follow us and climb trees, if we stay in their territory.”
“This place has only been settled, what, a year? Two?” Hallie looked around. “But the main settlement has been there for close to two decades.”
“So they almost certainly don’t have warrimel in that area.” Girard nodded, following her train of thought. “Good. That will be one less thing to worry about, at least. I’d like to head for the settlement, see if we can learn anything more on the way, but only go in there if it seems safe. I want to know what happened to the people who lived here, what happened to Waller Howther, and who these gunners are.”
“Lots of questions,” Hallie said, with a brief grin. She had the same questions - and others - buzzing in her own mind.
Girard grinned back, then sobered again. “We can try the radio phone again on the way.”
“Or there’s always the old house up on the hill,” Hallie said, remembering the glimpse she’d caught from the helicopter. “It didn’t look that far from the first settlement. If it’s empty, it would be somewhere to stop until we know what’s going on, or Peredur can send more people.” As much as she didn’t like the idea of hiding, she had to be practical about how much she could manage just then.
“Alright. So let’s head towards the main settlement and see what we can learn on the way and if we can make contact with the director. We can reassess on the way and camp out near the main settlement if we need to - we should be out of the warrimel territory by then.” Girard said. He hesitated, expression serious as he looked at her. “It’s going to be a few hours’ walk.”
Hallie remembered the flight over the island and the brief glimpse she’d caught of what she assumed was the main settlement, on the coast, with a couple of boats in the water. She hadn’t been able to judge distances from the helicopter, having no idea how fast it was flying, but a few hours’ walk fit with her overall impression of the island which was that it was far larger, and richer in natural resources, than she had ever imagined, when she’d heard people in low city talking about Paradise.
“I’ll manage,” Hallie assured him, understanding his unspoken question. She’d collapsed the night before, after all. She grimaced. “I might be very slow, but I’ll manage. It would help if I could get my pack to sit more comfortably, though.”
Girard’s expression lightened a fraction. “I can help with that. Let’s get some more food then set out.”
Chapter nine
ThesmalladjustmentsthatGirard had helped her make to the backpack had a far more dramatic effect than Hallie would have believed possible. She was still aware that she was carrying extra weight, but it was now balanced and moved with her, not hindering her at all.
Stepping out of the radio building and into the pale daylight had been both stomach-churning and shocking.
