The Tiger Flu

Chapter 37 is set in the Saltwater Flats and the Cosmopolitan Earth Council, and is told from Kora’s perspective on Day 9 of the node “Autumn Equinox.”

As the Cordova group make their way through the increasingly dangerous Saltwater Flats, Tania tells Kora and Kiri that they must hide in the back of their truck. Traveling will be safer that way, since Pacific Pearl Parkade soldiers are taking over the city. Tania also tells them that the Cosmopolitan Earth Council and the tiger police are actively culling Grist sisters.

In the bed of the truck, Kora hides in a walnut crate that “reeks of rot” (259). At a check stop near the border, a Pacific Pearl officer gets off her motorcycle and forces Myra out of the truck. The officer asks Myra how many of them are in the truck; Myra lies and says only herself and Tania. The officer, however, insists that Myra open the truck bed so the officer can inspect it. Tania intervenes and says she is the niece of General Manuel; she demands to speak to her cousin Sloane, who is the Pacific Pearl officer’s commander.

Tania admits to Sloane that they are hiding two Grist sisters in the back of their truck, but they need them for where they’re headed, which is the New Origins Archive.