“Nothing, I know. Let’s see if we can change that. Did you know that even with all this insanity, I’ve been testing people and telling them their family bloodlines?”
I had forgotten all about that. “But I didn’t send anyone to you. And you can’t?—”
“I couldn’t leave level three, but that was before. Once everyone knew I had the tracer, I removed it.”
“How many?—”
“About half have been tested. I’ve been busy.”
“I see.”
“And I know something else that’ll help you.” She had a smug smile.
“What?”
“The Outsiders need us. Otherwise, they won’t survive very long.”
“How?” Now it was my turn to challenge her.
“All those years living in that transport vehicle has affected their heath.”
“So? They’ll be in here. Nice and safe.”
“Won’t help.”
“All right, Mother. Spit it out.”
She faltered for a bit, and I realized what I had just called her. Oh well. Nothing I could do about it now.
“Well?” I prodded.
“They need us because they’re sterile.”
CHAPTER 20
“Sterile?As in unable to have children sterile?” I asked.
“Yep,” Lamont said.
“All of them?”
“That’s harder to determine. Two of these three are and so was one of the two that died. From what I’ve been able to observe, the younger generation—those under twenty-five hundred weeks old or so are all sterile, but the older Outsiders aren’t. It’s just a matter of time, before no one is able to have children.”
“What caused their sterility?”
“Long-term exposure to the radiation in Outer Space. When you discovered Outer Space, I found a few files about the adverse health effects of being Outside. Inside’s Walls have a lead lining to protect us from this radiation, but the article mentioned these things called…meteoroids could hit us hard enough to make a hole, letting in radiation.”
Yet more things we didn’t know about. Lovely. If the Outsiders had indeed been in charge of running Inside, they had to know.
“They’re planning to evacuate our entire population,” I said.
“You might be able to use this information to your advantage. Plus, if you told all theInsidersabout the Outsiders’ plans, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of volunteers to help.”
“The Insiders see them as our saviors. They won’t help me. I’m the one who caused all this trouble in the first place.”
“Then educate them. Recruit them. You can do it.”
“The collar?—”
