Book 2 of the Rth Rising series
Kat and Davd along with a small handful of family and friends have managed to escape Puter and now live outside in freedom. But that leaves thousands trapped inside the arcologies under Puter and the sabotaged programming whose sole purpose is to condemn the colony.
Can Kat’s Aunt Castra and her young protégé dismantle the programming that has already killed Kat’s father and grandfather? And is time running out?
Excerpt
Torr started to speak, but Roch held up his hand. “We don’t have that much time. I might not be able to tell you everything tonight but I’ve received permission to bring you in. I hope I’m not making a mistake.”
“Bring us in? Roch, what are you talking about.”
The enforcer took a deep breath. “It’s a complicated story. Your niece, Kat was assigned to bring in a shirker who was part of the enforcer team here at Thirdport. His name is Davd Palfy.”
Torr nodded slowly. That was the name Cal had given him that day at their apartment.
“Davd and I work for an underground movement to help people escape the arcologies. We, all of us in the movement, think that we should move out onto the planet. Do you want me to stop now?”
“No,” Torr and Castra spoke together and for the first time Roch smiled.
“Good. We could use people like you. First, it is extremely rare for an enforcer to shirk. It’s even more rare that when it happens, an enforcer from a different arcology is brought in for the search. There had to be some urgency for doing it that way and I’m not in the loop about that. I’m sure you’ve heard the story Cal is floating, that Davd murdered Kat and Head when they caught up with him. Davd supposedly threw the bodies into the incinerator to get rid of the evidence. Then Cal was able to overpower Davd and kill him, also tossing his body in the incinerator. The whole thing is a flaming lie. Cal couldn’t overpower a three cycle old except in his imagination. Puter put Cal in the job, so that should explain a lot.
“Davd has worked for cycles helping to lead people out to live in villages we’ve seeded around Thirdport.” He stopped at the gasp from Castra, then continued. “Now Kat is helping in that effort and your mem has become the doctor for one of those villages.”
“They’re alive, they’re safe?”
Roch nodded seeing Castra’s relief.
“They won’t be coming back.”
Roch looked down then shook his head. “But someday maybe you can visit them. If enough people want to leave, we believe they should be allowed. Let anyone who wants to stay inside… fratz remain.
Check out Book 1 – Rth Rising – click on the cover for more information
