Read Online The Plague Forge [ARC] by Jason M. Hough - Free Book Online Page A

Nachu said after a moment. He and Colton had remained in the cramped room in case additional supply requests came up. At this point they knew the city better than Skyler himself.
    Skyler glanced at the kid and was reminded of the university students he used to beat at cards back in Amsterdam. All the intelligence to take on the world, just enough experience to think they could pull it off. Only one in a thousand could stand out in a crowd like that, and this kid was one of those. Same went for the other, Colton. In another time they’d have been future Neil Platzes, waiting to happen. “What’s interesting?”
    “That spot.” Nachu pointed to the mark in Niger. “It’s due south of where they say the SUBS virus started.”
    Skyler looked closer. Tania and Tim both leaned in, too, and Nachu took the pencil. “They never nailed the exact place down,” he said, “but it was somewhere around … here. This map shows it as forest and grazing land, but this is a historical map, see? A . D . 2100. Today that’s all part of the Sahara.”
    The circle he drew encompassed parts of Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria, and it lay right in the middle of the cone Skyler had drawn. He swallowed hard. It couldn’t be a coincidence, and as he stared at the map a sudden chill made him shudder.
    “Tania,” he said.
    She looked at him, eyebrows raised.
    “What if …” He paused, considering his words. “Suppose that new ship is a weapon. Only, not aimed at us, but aimed at the disease.”
    Her nose wrinkled. “Why would they start the disease and then attack it?”
    “Maybe it got out of control?” Tim offered.
    “Or,” Skyler said, thinking aloud now, “maybe they didn’t start the disease.” Everyone stared at him now. “Look at us. I mean, humanity. We’re a mess. Our colony. Blackfield coming after us, Platz and the Council, factions like the Jacobites. Grillo and all the other minor syndicates. We’re fractured all over the place, but we’ve been making this assumption that the Builders are a cohesive whole.”
    Tania nodded slowly. “So, one Builder faction decides Earth should get a free space elevator. An opposition group can’t stop it from being sent, so they decide to wipe us out instead.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Then,” Tim said, “the first group somehow sets up the Elevator to offer some protection, the aura, until they can devise a way to stop the disease.” He was smiling, but it turned to a frown almost instantly. “Doesn’t explain the Belém Elevator, or the aura towers.”
    “Or these crashed ships, and that room inside the Key Ship,” Tania said. “I mean, if it’s a weapon, why not have it ready to go? Why scatter these bits across the planet and require us to reassemble it?”
    Skyler shrugged. “How should I know?”
    “Besides,” Tania added, “it doesn’t mesh well with the fact that Neil somehow knew exactly how many events would occur. Hmm …”
    “It’s just a theory.”
    Tania patted him on the forearm. “Relax, Skyler. We’re scientists. Poking holes in theories is part of the job.”
    Nachu spoke up again. “Maybe this opposition group sabotaged the weapon in flight. They couldn’t destroy the parts, but they could make them really hard to find, hard to gather. Buy time for the virus to do its job.”
    “Yeah,” Skyler said. “How about that? I like this kid.”
    “Not bad,” Tania agreed. “I’ll admit it’s probably the best theory I’ve heard yet, save perhaps for the insane space clown theory Greg and Marcus cooked up. But it doesn’t change the mission. It adds urgency, yes, but the task remains the same.” She gave him a serious look. “Are we agreed to the plan?”
    The conviction in her eyes startled him. He’d hoped against hope she’d abandon the idea of joining the Emerald mission. “Look,” he said. “I know you’ve trained hard, Tania. But you’re not immune; at least it’s highly unlikely that you are. Your presence on the mission is