The word traitor landed on Tony's chest, heavy and cold.

  "What?" was all he could manage to whisper.

  ?Silas Sattland didn't answer.

  He didn't deign to look at him. He turned, returning to the ebony desk as if Tony had already been filed away. He moved papers onto a brass stand with slow, deliberate movements.

  ?"I asked a question," Tony insisted. His voice trembled, but his fists were clenched. "Why did you call my mother that?"

  ?Silas continued reading.

  "Your housing situation is revoked effective immediately. Civilian concealment protocols are compromised. Lydia Vance has your biometric data. Returning to your homes would mean leading TerraCore to our doorstep."

  ?"Our homes?" Alex took a step forward, voice shrill. "My mother is there. If I don't go back... she'll think I'm dead."

  "My father..." Tony added, feeling his blood run cold.

  ?Silas looked up. There was no pity, only annoyance at an unproductive interruption.

  "What your parents think is irrelevant. The absolute priority is the integrity of the Circle. If TerraCore captures you, they will crack your skulls open to see how you work. And through you, they will find us."

  He signed the paper with a quick gesture.

  "You are in protective custody. To the outside world, you no longer exist."

  ?"You can't keep us here!" Cristy screamed. The gas tubes on the shelves flickered in response to her anxiety. "This is kidnapping!"

  ?Silas ignored her.

  "It is survival. And you are the weak link."

  ?Tony felt a violent heat rise to his face. He didn't care about TerraCore. Not right now.

  "I want to know about my mother. Why did you call her a traitor?"

  ?Silas picked up another paper. The man's silence was a clinical insult.

  ?"Answer me!"

  Tony lost control. He lunged forward, slamming his palms onto the desk. The impact rang out sharp.

  "Is my mother dead because of you? Is that what you're saying?"

  ?Silas stopped.

  He slowly raised his eyes. His gaze was empty, devoid of any human emotion.

  "You have her same unstable temperament. Another uncalculated risk."

  ?Without looking away, Silas pressed a small onyx button on the desk.

  Click.

  ?Less than a minute later, the double doors flew open.

  Six figures entered the room with unsettling synchrony. Gray uniforms, tight as a second skin, black ballistic masks with no mouths.

  They surrounded the three kids. No weapons drawn. Just physical threat, heavy, charged with static.

  ?Two guards grabbed Tony. The grip was steel. He tried to leverage his heels, but it was like trying to move a hydraulic press.

  Alex was pinned with his arms behind his back. Cristy was shoved away from the desk.

  ?"Take them to the Lower Level," Silas ordered, returning to his papers. "Underground cells. Solitary confinement."

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  ?"Wait!" Tony yelled as they dragged him backward. "What did you do to her?"

  ?Silas didn't lift his head.

  "A little darkness will do you good."

  He made a vague gesture with his hand.

  "Go."

  ?The guards yanked them out.

  As they were dragged toward the darkness of the foundations, Tony saw Silas turn a page, the pendulum on the wall marking the time of a sentence they didn't understand.

  ?The journey down was a mechanical silence.

  The service elevator descended into the bowels of the earth at the touch of a quartz on the guard's wristband. The air became cold, smelling of metal and stale dampness.

  ?On the lower floor, raw concrete opened onto a row of armored doors.

  Alex and Cristy were shoved into the first two cells. Tony tried to turn, to catch Alex's eye, but a gloved hand pushed him inexorably toward the last door.

  They threw him inside. Tony stumbled, but turned immediately toward the guard who was about to close the heavy door.

  ?"Don't waste energy," the soldier said. Flat, informative tone. "Solid lead-lined cells. Any frequency dies on your skin. inside here, you are mute."

  The door closed.

  Clack.

  ?Tony threw himself against the metal. He pounded with his fists.

  No echo.

  The lead absorbed the impact and the sound instantly. A dull, dead thud.

  It was like screaming in a vacuum.

  ?Total isolation.

  Tony breathed raggedly. He analyzed the cell with his gaze, looking for a weak point.

  Ten by ten feet. Smooth walls. No windows. Forced ventilation from a grate too small to fit a hand through.

  No way out.

  He backed up to the opposite wall and slid to the floor.

  He didn't think about his mother.

  His mind went to Alex, in cell 4. To Cristy, in cell 5.

  He had dragged them into this. He had forced his hand, wanted to see the tower, wanted answers.

  Now they were buried alive under an invisible mansion.

  He hugged his knees to his chest. There was no room for tears, only for the cold calculation of disaster.

  The cold of the cell seeped into his bones. His eyelids grew heavy.

  The body gave out before the mind. His head fell forward and Tony sank into a black, dreamless sleep.

  ?Dawn didn't arrive as hope, but as a statistic.

  Silas Sattland watched the park from the large window. The light orbs extinguished, the garden gray.

  The toroid on the steeple pulsed.

  Thum-thum-thum.

  An artificial respirator for a dying system.

  Silas looked at his hands. They were clean, washed with aseptic soap.

  ?He didn't turn when the door opened.

  The Council doesn't ask for permission.

  Three of them entered. Valeryk, the Calculator. Irena, the Keeper. Kael, the Strategist.

  Civilian clothes, expensive, invisible. They looked like they had come to liquidate a failed company.

  ?"Critical energy report," Valeryk began. He placed a tablet on the desk. "Anomalous power spike during extraction. Abigail and Theodore vibrated without filters. The signature was massive."

  ?Silas turned. Mask of polished exhaustion.

  "It was necessary."

  ?"You lit a beacon in the dark," Irena said. She hugged herself, shivering. "TerraCore has the data. If they isolate the Tower frequency..."

  ?"If they touch the Towers," Kael completed, leaning against the doorframe, "the Field collapses."

  ?No one spoke.

  No need to explain.

  If the Field fell, the Hunger returned.

  Silas saw the terror in Irena's eyes. Withdrawal. The body burning its own reserves. And then the only alternative: the hunt.

  Returning to feed on humans. Nocturnal predators.

  The end of civilization.

  ?"We won't go back to that," Irena whispered. "I prefer extinction."

  ?"Extinction is inefficient," Valeryk cut in. "The problem is the three subjects. They attracted TerraCore."

  He looked at Silas.

  "Permanent isolation? or disposal?"

  He said it as if talking about radioactive waste. Like last time. Like Sector 7.

  ?Silas held his gaze.

  "Neither."

  ?The three elders froze.

  ?"Isolation will destroy them," Silas said. "Untrained, in Faraday cages, they will go into entropic decay within a week. Three useless corpses."

  ?"Are you proposing we release them?" Valeryk asked.

  ?"Integrate them."

  The word fell onto the table, heavy.

  "Lydia Vance knows who they are. Civilian lives are over. If we keep them in cages, they become a cost. If we integrate them, they become assets."

  ?Irena shook her head. "They are unstable. The Traitor's son..."

  ?"He resisted contractors," Silas interrupted her. "Without training. We need soldiers. If TerraCore attacks, we will need every frequency."

  He approached the table.

  "We take them out of the cells. We insert them into the basic program. Under the Tower flow, no crisis. But on a short leash."

  ?Valeryk calculated. Risks. Benefits.

  "If they escape..."

  "They won't escape. We'll say it's the only way to protect their families. Fear is an excellent collar."

  ?Kael nodded, a cynical smile.

  "Special surveillance. Probation."

  ?"Exactly," Silas confirmed. "24/7 monitoring. At the first sign of failure, at the first external contact..."

  ?"I'll shut them down myself," Valeryk concluded.

  ?Irena nodded, reluctant. Better three controlled monsters than the Hunger for everyone.

  "Let it be done."

  ?They stood up. Decision made. War logistics, not mercy.

  As they left, Kael stopped beside Silas, looking at the purple sky.

  "You're not saving them, Silas. You're just arming them."

  ?The door closed.

  Silas remained alone.

  He pressed the button on the intercom.

  "Control Room. Unlock cells 4, 5, and 6. Take them to the residential level. Assign Tutors."

  He closed the channel.

  He watched the toroid pulse. Thum-thum-thum.

  The monster's heart was still beating. And he had just provided three new batteries.

  Author’s Note ??