Earth Afire (The First Formic War)

shirt, undergarments, shoes, a heavy jacket, a pair of greaves.
    “What, you’ve never seen new clothes before?” said Imala. “Don’t just stand there. Get dressed.”
    She stepped away from the bed and turned around, putting her back to him.
    “You’re breaking me out?” he said.
    “LTD records will show that you were moved to a holding facility for healthy illegals awaiting deportation. The holding facility will have no record of this, so unless Mungwai checks or the two offices compare records, we’ll probably go unnoticed for a while.”
    “How long is a while?”
    “A few days. Maybe less.”
    Victor began to change. “What about the cameras? There are three in this room and more throughout the building.”
    “I’ve taken care of the ones in here and those out in the hall. Once we’re outside, it’s a different story. Wear the hood.”
    There was a hood on the jacket. Victor slid it on over the shirt and hurried into the pants. She had taken care of the cameras. She had thought of everything, handled everything. And in only a few hours, no less. He suddenly felt a sense of awe toward Imala. She was more like a free miner than he had given her credit for.
    “Is this smart?” he asked. “What if STASA comes looking for me for more intel?”
    “I doubt they will,” said Imala. “Not before your ship leaves anyway. I checked Mungwai’s messages. Her contact at STASA is a low-level associate. No clout. His response to her didn’t sound too promising.”
    “You hacked her messages?”
    “It’s not difficult. Point is, this guy didn’t seem like a strong lead. If he passes the evidence along, it’ll take time to move up the chain and be verified. But don’t sweat it; I’ve built an alert into our system. If STASA tries to contact you, they’ll do it through the LTD, and if that happens, my holopad will let me know. We’ll go directly to STASA then.”
    “You really have thought of everything,” he said, fastening the straps on his shoes. “But why don’t we go to STASA now? We’ve got an in.”
    “We don’t have an in. We have a halfhearted nobody with job preservation on the brain. I’m not putting the fate of the world in that guy’s hands, and I’m not sitting around and waiting for STASA to get their act together. We’re following another lead. Maybe a better one.”
    “Who?”
    “She’s waiting outside.”
    “What about Mungwai? If you do this your career is over.”
    “The fate of the world trumps any concerns about my career, Victor, though I appreciate the sentiment. Don’t worry about Mungwai. She can’t pull our vids down, not all of them anyway. They’ve been copied and reposted far too many times. Two million hits may not seem like a lot on a global scale, but it means the train has left the station. You dressed yet?”
    He snapped the greaves onto his shins. “How do I look?”
    She turned and faced him. “Like a punk teenager. Put your hands behind you.”
    She pulled wrist restraints from her pocket and snapped them onto his wrists.
    “I’m assuming this is part of the ruse,” he said.
    She took him by the arm and escorted him out into the hall. They moved straight for the exit, not rushing, but not poking along either. No one paid them any attention.
    Victor stopped. “My data cube.”
    Imala pulled at his arm and got him moving again, keeping her voice low. “Already got it. Keep moving.”
    They were through the doors and outside. The domed canopy high above them was bright and blue like the skies of Earth, or at least like the skies of Earth Victor had seen in films. A car was at the curb. Imala opened the door and helped Victor inside. An Asian woman in her early twenties was waiting for them, sitting opposite, her right arm much smaller than her left. Imala crawled in next to Victor and closed the door. The car slipped onto the track and accelerated. Imala turned Victor’s shoulder, reached behind him, and unfastened the restraints. “Victor, this is Yanyu. She contacted me after I left Mungwai’s office. She’s a grad assistant for an astrophysicist doing research for Juke Limited. She’s here to help.”
    Yanyu leaned forward, smiling, and offered Victor her left hand, which he shook. “Nice to meet you, Victor. I recognize you from the vids.”
    Her English was good, but her accent was thick. “You’ve seen the vids?”
    Yanyu smiled and nodded. “Many times. And I believe you.”
    Victor blinked. Another believer, and a