Time Siege (62 page)

“Where in Gaia am I?” she said aloud. Her voice felt dead in this window-less room. Dampened. “Hello?” she said louder. “Anyone here?”

A few seconds later, one of the walls hissed, and a tall thin man with an equally long face walked in. He was bald, but in a manicured way. His features were delicate, and he looked almost alien. Like her, he was wearing all white. He moved with an eerie grace. She scooted to the back of her bed as he approached.

The man pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “Hello, Elise Kim. I trust your accommodations are more suitable for you than the horror of what you've experienced the past few months.”

“Who are you?” she asked. “What do you want with me?'

The man bowed his head. “I am Sourn, Vice President of Earth Operations of the Valta corporation. We're all terribly excited to have you on board.”

Elise's throat sank into her stomach. She tried to cry out, but nothing came. Her hands shook. “You genocidal bastards. You've killed so many of the Elfreth and the Manhattan people. You killed all my friends on the Nutris Platform.”

Sourn looked surprised, and then shook his head. “Those fiends and savages have told you lies. It's all right. You're among your own civilized people again. You're safe now.”

“What are you talking about?” Elise said. “What do you want with me? Why did you capture me?”

“Capture you?” He looked bemused. “My dear, I think there's been a terrible mistake. You see, ever since we learned about your predicament, we have been doing everything in our power to rescue you from the savages.”

“What? Rescue me?” A tinge of doubt crept into her thoughts. She added, “They're not savages.”

“Of course they are. Those savages captured and held you for the past year. We're so relieved to have finally mounted a successful rescue.”

Elise's jaws dropped. “What are you talking about?”

She knew what she had experienced the past year with James and Grace and Franwil and the Elfreth. That was real. However, what this person Sourn was saying made sense. Could she have somehow misunderstood the situation from the beginning? Was this some strange case of Stockholm syndrome? A very small seed of doubt sprouted inside her. She couldn't be sure anymore.

“What do you want with me?” she asked again, hesitantly.

“We require your expertise, Elise Kim. Valta is trying to cure the Earth of an evil known as Terravira, or what you refer to as the Earth Plague, and we need you to help us do it. Why else do you think we obtained the Nutris machines?” Sourn stood up and offered his hand. “Will you help us heal our planet?”

She pulled back. “Why would I help you?”

“Because,” Sourn gave her a warm smile. “We're the good guys.”

 

B
OOKS BY
W
ESLEY
C
HU

Time Salvager

The Lives of Tao

The Deaths of Tao

The Rebirths of Tao

The Rise of Io

 

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

WESLEY CHU
was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His debut novel,
The Lives of Tao
, earned him a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award and a Science Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Finalist slot. You can sign up for email updates
here
.

    

 

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C
ONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Acknowledgments

One: The Slog

Two: The Situation

Three: Oldest

Four: Kuo

Five: The Wreck

Six: Mist Isle

Seven: Bulk's Head

Eight: Reinforcements

Nine: Breaking Point

Ten: My Friend

Eleven: Downtown Jungle

Twelve: A Solution

Thirteen: 339

Fourteen: Aggression

Fifteen: Nereid

Sixteen: Reunited

Seventeen: The All Galaxy

Eighteen: Riot

Nineteen: The Doctor

Twenty: First Allies

Twenty-One: Titus

Twenty-Two: Administrative Tasks

Twenty-Three: New Home

Twenty-Four: Family Unit

Twenty-Five: Riding a Bicycle

Twenty-Six: The Carrot or the Stick

Twenty-Seven: Order of Things

Twenty-Eight: Ripples

Twenty-Nine: Reprimanded

Thirty: A Nation

Thirty-One: Unsettled

Thirty-Two: Shot Across the Bow

Thirty-Three: Prey's Bite

Thirty-Four: Idle Hands

Thirty-Five: Risky Business

Thirty-Six: Mad Genius

Thirty-Seven: The Manhattan War

Thirty-Eight: Rock Bottom

Thirty-Nine: Another Way

Forty: Being a Leader

Forty-One: Single Option

Forty-Two: Withdrawal

Forty-Three: Family

Forty-Four: The Road to Recovery

Forty-Five: Closure

Forty-Six: From Within

Forty-Seven: Past Revisited

Forty-Eight: A Traitor

Forty-Nine: Love and War

Fifty: The Meeting

Fifty-One: Assault on One Galaxy

Fifty-Two: The Free Nation

Fifty-Three: The Counter

Fifty-Four: The Upper Floors

Fifty-Five: Family Affair

Fifty-Six: Project Close

Fifty-Seven: Corporate Conflict

Epilogue

Books by Wesley Chu

About the Author

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

TIME SIEGE

Copyright © 2016 by Wesley Chu

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Richard Anderson

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-7653-7754-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-5602-8 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781466856028

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First Edition: July 2016