Terra Read Online Free

talking to Mica about my discovery and the resulting payout when he returns from school. The next morning, I head back to the reopened recycling center before he wakes. They’ve extended the Collection in light of yesterday’s early closure, and I have too many questions about this sudden, unprecedented wealth to let him get too excited just yet. Brant’s warning echoes in my head, but I need answers: Is this legit? Why did they insist upon escorting me home—all the way home? Am I in danger? More importantly, is Mica in danger? And, in the back of my mind, less urgent but still there: What in the world was it that I found?
    “If you do not have goods to drop off, you have no business at this plant,” the guardsman tells me, his face vacant.
    “Just let me talk to someone. The Collection Agent from yesterday, or Guardsman Brant. I just have a few questions, it won’t take long.
    “Do you have goods to drop off?”
    “Well, no, but—”
    “Then you have no business here,” he repeats.
    “I’m not leaving until I get some answers,” I say, crossing my arms stubbornly. I hear a sigh, and look over to see today’s Collection Agent, a young man with wavy, chin-length brown hair and a crystal stud in his ear, seated at the drop-off station, watching me. He squints to study my face from the distance. After a moment, he holds a finger up, instructing the next scav waiting in line to hold on, then beckons me over. The scav scowls at me as I approach.
    “Who is it that you insist on seeing?” the agent says.
    I bite the inside of my lip before answering. “Brant,” I say after a moment. “I need to speak with Guardsman Brant.”
    “Jarvis!” The agent summons the guardsman I’d been arguing with. “Call up the main office. Get Brant out here.” Jarvis nods, then walks into the recycling center with his hand at his ear. “You can wait until he gets here, and then you will need to leave. You are being very disruptive.”
    I nod, and walk around to the side of the building, away from the glares and murmurs coming from the people standing in line. Eventually, a black transport vehicle rolls up in front of me. Brant steps out of the vehicle, a weary expression already on his face.
    “Miss Rhodon,” he says guardedly as he approaches.
    “Brant,” I respond.
    A tense moment of silence passes between us.
    “Well?” he says finally. “I assume there is a reason you summoned me?”
    “I have some questions about what happened yesterday. My… my payout. My find.”
    “You should leave it alone, Miss Rhodon,” Brant says sharply. With the smallest head movement possible, he checks the peripheral area for onlookers. I look around too. Even though we’re out of sight from the scavs waiting in line, there are still quite a few people around.
    “Is there somewhere more private we could speak?” I ask.
    He shakes his head, though it seems more like an indication of his exasperation than an actual response.
    “I… I’m nervous,” I say quietly. “All that steel, it’s not normal. I have no idea if this whole thing is legitimate; nobody will even tell me what I found. And after what you said yesterday, I just thought—”
    “You have been compensated for your discovery. Leave it at that.”
    “That’s all I get? You’re not even going to explain why you were suddenly assigned as my protection detail? Or what the hell your little warning meant? I deserve to know if I’m at risk from the Black Traders, or if there’s some other reas—”
    “We’re done here.” He cuts me off and turns back to the idling transport. Without so much as another glance, he gets into the vehicle and takes off. My eyes follow the path of the transport in disappointment as I walk back around to the front of the building. An unfortunately familiar voice echoes out from the crowd.
    “Back for seconds, Rhodon?” Yttria Coal cries, her harpy-like voice burning in my ears. I search the line until I see her, standing next to