A shadow falls across the curtain. Tesla sighs. “That is of little concern.”

“Would they hurt Miriam?”

“She is already hurt. It would serve no purpose to give up the truth about us.”

I yank the curtain back. “Miriam resisted the Symbiosis for nothing.”

Tesla holds a large leather carry bag, a jumble of equipment in it. He lowers it onto the counter and turns to face me. “I believe the Proxy pushed her further than necessary.”

“What?”

“It serves her purpose. She told them you cannot find your brother without her assistance. The Executive will not let her leave the compound without a guarantee that you will return her safely. She told them she could bring Miriam out of stasis and suggested it would be the best means of inspiring your compliance. You find your brother and return the Proxy without incident and you get your mother back.”

A high-pitched whine stabs through my inner ear. “She hurt Miriam so she could manipulate me into doing what she wants?” All around the room glass objects clatter and skip. “That little bitch. That sick little bitch. She’s not going to help Miriam. She wants to escape. Tell them! Tell the Executive they can’t trust her!”

Tesla looks pained. “The Executive are aware of her agenda. It is not the first time she has tried. She will not escape, but you can imagine her desperation.”

“You feel sorry for her?” My mouth twists. “She’s evil!”

“Because we have made her so.”

“You can’t trust her.”

“No, but we have an opportunity to save your brother and whether the Proxy follows through on her promise or not, your mother would want us to help him.”

“She’ll run.”

“Benjamin, Davis and Felicity will come with us. They will guard her. Jamie will join us also to find his sister.”

“You can’t trust Benjamin. You can’t trust any of them! They all want Aiden dead. I don’t care if she tells them who I am; I’m not giving him up.” My whole body shakes, my ears ring and pop, pressure building in my head. The rattling test tubes infuriate me – evidence of my lost control. With a cry of frustration I fling my arm out as though I can silence the glass with a gesture. What I don’t expect is the instant bolt of energy that flashes through me, the relief and release of it through my hand and the shock wave that hits the test tubes. It’s not loud, the explosion. A cloud of tiny glistening shards one moment, a pile on the counter the next.

The door opens at the back of the room. Jamie’s signal touches mine.

I don’t see him. Tesla has me by the arms. His eyes drill mine. “I am doing everything I can to keep the last eighteen years of our lives from counting for nothing.” His voice is rough, his accent broadened with feeling. “If you give the Proxy reason to betray your identity, then we–”

Jamie crosses the floor. “What do you mean, her identity?”

The sliding door opens and the three of us freeze. Benjamin strides in, Davis behind him. “It’s time.”

MIRIAM

Run. That’s my instinct. The sheer intensity of my panic closes my throat. It makes the looming walls of the compound corridors seem to lean in above me, faceless concrete like a tomb. I resist the urge to gasp for air, to shove my way out from among the men who surround me. Benjamin and Davis in front, Jamie and Tesla in back. Where would I go that Affinity couldn’t find me?

We march through globes of artificial light towards a familiar wing.

I try to iron it out in my head, fasten down the edges. Whatever Tesla says, I don’t trust Affinity. They’ll kill Aiden. But if I say I won’t go, the Proxy will spill that I’m a Synergist kid and what, I become lab equipment? I don’t give a damn about that right now but if I go and the Proxy escapes, Miriam’s brain will be permanently fried. If by some miracle we find Aiden and they accept he’s deactivated, what then? I don’t believe for a second they’d let him walk.

They should have drowned us when we were born, like feral kittens in a sack. Would have saved us all a lot of trouble.

“A goddamned Stray?” Davis eyes me with loathing over his shoulder as he strides ahead. “They want to test the son of a bitch? Bullshit waste of time and resources.”

“If the assignment is too much for you, Mr Davis …” Tesla begins.

Davis missteps and rights himself. “I wasn’t saying that, sir. It’s just … not how we usually roll.”

“If Affinity believes it is worth investigating, then it is for the benefit of the entire organisation. We must keep an open mind.”

Davis nods, the muscle in his jaw knotting.

We reach the recovery ward and pass by, stopping at a door to its left. The door opens and I feel that terrible slowing in time, like walking on the moon in a gravity suit, struggling to propel myself or keep balance.

The room is a small ICU. The Executive wait in a loose semicircle around Miriam, who lies in a hospital bed. Her hair is cut ragged like mine, a paper gown, dried blood on her bandaged wrists, sensor pads at her temples and one blinking over her heart. Her chest rises and falls, slow compressions, her breath drawing in and out, wet susurrations through a hard plastic tube. It draws my full focus, the tube. Protruding from her mouth, it glistens with saliva, a concertina bend to hook over her chin, rubbing the skin beneath to pink, connected to a monitor with an automatic bellows. Her teeth scrape against the plastic and I can see the smooth curve of it disappearing down the back of her throat. I swallow.

“The intubation ensures enough oxygen to the brain,” the older woman says, the one who looks like Felicity. Knox stands next to her, his mouth sour and hard. “If you return within forty-eight hours with your brother and the Proxy, we will set aside time for restorative therapy, where the Proxy will focus on amplifying your aunt’s regenerative signal. Any longer than forty-eight hours and your aunt will be left as she is.” She pauses as though she expects me to speak.

I don’t say anything. I don’t look at anyone but Miriam.

“Felicity and the Proxy will meet you in the transport. It is extremely important that …” The woman’s voice goes on, all civilised with her calmly veiled threats. I don’t even wonder why she’s doing the talking and not Knox; it’s happening just the way the Proxy said it would.

I want to touch Miriam but my fingers are icy with the flood of adrenaline. I rub them on my pants. It doesn’t help. I slip my hand under hers anyway. She’s warm as blood and her pulse is steady, her heart in the palm of my hand. I reach for her hair and try to pat it down on the pillow, ignoring my trembling and the blur of my tears. I don’t sob. I make no sound. I won’t give them my grief.

I reach into the bandwidth, pushing past the blast of the Executive signal mix and Jamie and Davis and Benjamin, like moving through a loud and crowded room. Miriam isn’t there. Her absence is more than I can stand and I bite the inside of my cheek for control. Tesla’s hand settles over my shoulder. The mournful note of his signal – a grief that meets my own. Instead of reducing me to wailing it fills me with resolve. I wipe my face and straighten.

“Understand,” Knox finally speaks up, “this is not a reinstatement of the Deactivation Program, but an isolated investigation. Failure to comply with the terms of the agreement will result in a full disciplinary hearing.”

I keep my focus on Miriam.

“Do you understand, Evangeline?” he makes my name sound poisonous.

I don’t even feel rage, just a brief stab of pain in my ears as I turn to look at him. There’s a small snapping sound and Knox jerks his arm, lifting it to examine the cracked face of his watch. His eyes flash with anger and alarm.

“I understand.”

Tesla steps forwards. “I suggest we get on with it.”