Dark Angel: Skin Game by Max Allan Collins

Author:Max Allan Collins
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Hard Science Fiction, Media Tie-In, Action & Adventure, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345451835
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2003-02-03T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

PASSING IN SCHOOL

TERMINAL CITY, 7:15 A.M.

TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2021

Empty of vehicles, the lower floor of the parking ramp—the building where the siege had begun—swelled with the ragtag citizens of Terminal City.

Except for the handful on guard duty, the entire outlandish contingent of transgenics showed up for the town-hall-style meeting Max had called. Though the sun was rising, the parking garage remained mostly dark and still rather cold. May in Seattle—especially this close to the water—was rarely warm. Though the morning chill had no particular effect on the transgenics, on the other side of the fence the cops were certainly huddled in their cars sipping coffee and slugging doughnuts.

With Joshua, Alec, Mole, Dix, and Luke in her wake, Max swept into the middle of the crowd, and the din of conversation died away. Dressed in her customary black, Max stood out from the disheveled if distinctive mess that was the throng. Most had shown up here with little more than shabby, scavenged clothes on their backs, and living in the hovels of Terminal City did little to improve their appearance.

They may have resembled a Halloween ball for the homeless, but their Manticore-bred military discipline still held and, to Max, they looked wonderful. The community was coming together, the rivalries and prejudices of the varying transgenics types—from ND X-Series, “beautiful” people like Max and Alec, to the ND Transhumans like Dix (a Nomlie), Mole (a second-generation model DAC), and Luke (a Mule)—forgotten, or at least put aside for the greater good. The unique populace of Terminal City did not want to spend their lives in a toxic ghost town any more than they wanted to spend them running; but this biohazard village was starting to look like a suitable alternative, at least for the short run.

Jumping onto a box so she could be seen as well as heard, Max called out, “I’m proud of all of you—we’ve taken a stand. We’ve shown we can live and work together, and that provides hope for the future—if we can get along with each other, winning over the ordinaries oughta be no big trick.”

Her good-natured sarcasm went over well, grins flashing all around in every unusual face.

“But it’s time for a reality check—time to stop patting ourselves on the back, and start dealing with the hand we been dealt, here.”

The crowd stayed riveted on her every word.

“First, although we still have running water, it probably won’t be long before they cut it off. We can smuggle in bottled water, but that’s not going to serve the needs of a community this size. Ideas?”

Lightbulb-domed Luke stepped out of the crowd. “When we moved in here, we built our own generator. We’re close enough to Lake Washington that we can build our own water system too.”

With a quick nod, Max said, “Good—how close are you to completion?”

Luke frowned. “Well… we started on design when we moved in, but—” He shrugged. “—execution could take weeks.”

Gazing out into the crowd, Max asked, “Any of you X2s and X3s got any engineering and construction skills we can tap into?”

A dozen or so hands were raised.

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