日期：2024-04-11 22 After filling out reports, discovering Marnes had no next of kin, speaking with the coroner at the dirtfarm, and answering questions from nosy neighbors, Juliette finally took a long and lonely walk upeight flights of stairs, back to her empty of... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 21 The next morning, Juliette arrived early at her desk having stolen little more than four hours of sleep. Beside her computer, she saw a package waiting for her: a small bundle wrapped in recycled pulppaper and encircled with white electrical ties... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 20 It was well after ten by the time Juliette pushed herself away from her desk. Her eyes had become toosore to stare at her monitor any longer, too tired to read one more case note. She powered down hercomputer, filed the folders away, killed the o... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 19 Days Earlier Juliette sat on the floor of the holding cell, her back against the tall rows of steel bars, a mean worlddisplayed on the wallscreen before her. For the past three days, while she had attempted to teachherself how to be silo sheriff,... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 Part 3 Casting Off 18 There were numbers on each of the pockets. Juliette could look down at her chest and read them, andso it occurred to her that they must have been printed upside down. They were there for her to read,and for no one else. She num... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 17 The generator room was unusually crowded and eerily silent. Mechanics in worn overalls stood threedeep behind the railing and watched the first-shift crew work. Juliette was only dimly aware of them;she was more keenly aware of the silence. She l... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 16 The floors flew by faster as they approached home. In the darkest sections of the staircase, betweenquiet floors of people hunkered down and awaiting a return to normalcy, old hands wrapped aroundeach other and swung between two climbers, brazenl... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 15 It felt appropriate that their climb back to the up top would occur during a power holiday. Jahns couldfeel her own energy complying with the new decree, draining away with each laborious step. Theagony of the descent had been a tease, the discom... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 14 After their meal, Shirly and Marck gave them directions to the bunk room. Jahns watched as theyoung married couple exchanged kisses. Marck was coming off his shift while Shirly was going ontohers. The shared meal was breakfast for one and supper... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 13 Marnes and Jahns were guided to the mess hall by Marck, a mechanic just getting off second shift. Marnes seemed to take umbrage at needing a tour guide. The deputy possessed that distinctly malequality of pretending to know where he was, even whe... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 12 On the second and final day of their descent into the down deep, the novel gradually became thehabitual. The clank and thrum of the great spiral staircase found a rhythm. Jahns was able to loseherself in her thoughts, daydreaming so serenely that... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 11 They were almost down to the fifties before Jahns could think straight. She imagined she could feelthe weight of Peter Billingss contract in her pack. Marnes muttered his own complaints from a fewsteps behind, bitching about Bernard and trying to... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 10 It was lunchtime, but neither of them was powerfully hungry. Jahns nibbled on a cornbar while shewalked, priding herself on eating on the climb like a porter. They continued to pass thesetradesmen, and Jahnss esteem of their profession grew and g... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 9 Jahnss walking stick made a conspicuous ring as it impacted each metal step. It soon became ametronome for their descent, timing the music of the stairwell, which was crowded and vibratingwith the energy of a recent cleaning. All the traffic seeme... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 Part 2 Proper Gauge 8 Her knitting needles rested in a leather pouch in pairs, two matching sticks of wood, side by side likethe delicate bones of the wrist wrapped in dried and ancient flesh. Wood and leather. Artifacts likeclues handed down from g... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 7 Holston was a dozen paces up the hill, still marveling at the bright grass at his feet and the brilliantsky above, when the first pang lurched in his stomach. It was a writhing cramp, something likeintense hunger. At first, he worried he was going... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 6 Present Time The first year without her, Holston had waited, buying into her insanity, distrusting the sight of her onthat hill, hoping shed come back. Hed spent the first anniversary of her death scrubbing the holdingcell clean, washing the yello... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 5 Three Years Earlier I want to go out. I want to go out. Iwanttogoout. Holston arrived at the cafeteria in a sprint. His radio was still squawking, Deputy Marnes yellingsomething about Allison. Holston hadnt even taken the time to respond, had just... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 4 Present Time Holston sat on the lone steel bench in the airlock, his brain numb from lack of sleep and the surety ofwhat lay before him. Nelson, the head of the cleaning lab, knelt in front of him and worked a leg ofthe white hazard suit over Hols... 阅读全文>>

日期：2024-04-11 3 Three years earlier Youve gotta be kidding me, Allison said. Honey, listen to this. You wont believe this. Did youknow there was more than one uprising? Holston looked up from the folder spread across his lap. Around him, scattered piles of paperc... 阅读全文>>