Titus faced her. "James will never be cured. It is something he will have to struggle with for the rest of his life. Now is the difficult part, where you and his loved ones come in."

"What do I need to do?" she asked.

"You need to be strong, and you need to show you're there for him."

"You mean I can visit him?"

A smile appeared on Titus's face. "As soon as this meeting is over."

Elise stood up and addressed the still-bickering leaders in a loud voice. "That's enough for today. Why don't we continue this conversation later? For now, Baron Kobi, pull your knickerbockers on the western blocks back until the good governor Mang and his marines can reinforce you. The rest of you, let's put the plan on that forward outpost at the Grand Central Terminal for first thing on tomorrow's agenda." She rapped the table with small knuckles. "Meeting adjourned."

"Well, that's one way to end the meeting," Titus quipped.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze as she hurried out. These high-level coordination meetings weren't that necessary anyway. All of these tribes knew how to fight in dense urban areas. All they really needed was someone to gather them all together, point them toward their common enemy, and sometimes babysit or referee their squabbling.

She made a detour up to the lab, where Sasha was going over the latest enzyme counts on the new batch of vaccines Grace and she had cooked up. Elise was trying to spend more time in the lab, though the responsibilities and demands of the Nation made that difficult. Mostly, she was able to sneak in some very early and late hours every day to oversee the progress and relay instructions. It wasn't enough. Fortunately, Grace and Sasha were here to back her up.

Now that the Mother of Time wasn't flitting all over the solar system, their research had picked up again. Sasha was learning quickly, as children often did. The girl definitely had a knack for science. She worked tirelessly and asked a lot of questions, which was a great temperament for this line of work. She was also fearless, which probably was not, but that was something that would be reigned in with age.

"Hey, Sasha," Elise said. "How do the new samples look?"

The girl handed her a tablet. "I recorded them all. I think they look good. Better than the last batch that killed everything."

Elise took the tablet and studied the numbers. "Better" was an understatement. Far better, in fact. The most recent vaccine had been able to hop over six different strands of Earth Plague. The only ones that it had issues with were in areas over thirty-five degrees Celsius, which unfortunately these days was more than half the planet. A few modifications to the formula would be necessary. She placed the tablet on the table.

"Go wash up. I have a surprise for you."

Sasha gave Elise one look and brightened. Elise's grin grew as the girl let out a high-pitched squeal and dashed off to rinse the gunk from her hands. There was only one surprise that Sasha wanted, and they both knew Elise wouldn't tease her with anything less. She waited until Sasha had scrubbed her hands thoroughly so she no longer smelled like ammonia and manure-they were dealing with Earth Plague samples-and then together, the two bounded to the sixty-sixth floor to what all the Elfreth now referred to as the chronman level.

She saw Hory and Chawr sitting in front of the door playing a game of finger blades. The two stopped as soon as they noticed her coming and stashed the knife. They knew how much she disapproved of that stupid game. "Oldest." Hory bowed.

"One day, when you two cut yourselves and go running to the infirmary to get fixed up, I'm just going to save the bandages and lop off the finger."

Chawr held up both hands and wiggled them. "Still all here, Oldest."

She rolled her eyes. "How's Elder James?"

"Quiet," Hory said. "We feared for today after Elder Titus took him off of his medicine. However, he is in good spirits. Earlier, he ran with us around the floor."

Elise had heard of that. Out of boredom or something, James had begun teaching a few of the guardians and fights how to fight. Within a week, word had spread throughout the entire Nation, and now, fighters from several tribes came to take classes. Supposedly, he had over a hundred students already. What a peculiar development. Elise considered this a fantastic turn of events. She couldn't imagine how boring it must be to be under house arrest for so long. Not only that, this was a fine way for him to rehabilitate his image among the tribes.

She put her arm around Sasha's shoulder. "We'd like to see him, please."

Chawr opened the door and let her through. Elise felt her heart beat faster as she approached his door. It felt like forever since the last time she had seen him. The two had certainly been apart for longer before. Some of his jobs, like the one when he went to retrieve Levin, had kept him away from her for over two months.

This time felt different though. Previously, they were involuntarily apart because of distance and work. He was gallivanting around Earth and the solar system while she worked on the cure. This time, the separation was voluntary. She had chosen, of her own volition and for his good, to extract herself until he was better. Did he understand why she had had to do this? Was he angry with her? A hundred worries ran through her mind as she walked to the door. She hesitated as she lifted her hand to knock.

Sasha didn't give her a chance to complete the motion. She pushed the door open wide and charged inside. "James!"

Elise heard a cry of surprise and then his voice calling Sasha's name. She leaned on the doorway, crossed her arms, and watched as Sasha leaped into James's arms. Her breath caught in her throat as he picked her up and twirled her around. What she saw was a stark contrast to the perpetual gray, brown, and rot that seemed to permeate through the isle. Maybe it was a little providence or a trick of the eye as a rare bit of the afternoon sun shined on him, but there was something alive and colorful, even magical, about that moment. It gave Elise hope that things in this miserable present could get better.

James hadn't noticed her, so she studied him, trying to see if she could tell a difference between the last time she had seen him, half drunk and sobbing, and now. The first thing that came to mind was that he looked rested, healthy, even. The second thing she noticed was that he looked thinner. His face was less bloated and splotchy, and his eyes weren't quite as dark, no longer sunken in like a raccoon's.

She gave the two Griffins some time, a brother and sister born six years apart who now had a quarter-century difference in age. James was more a father to Sasha now than brother, and it showed. After a few minutes, Elise finally spoke. "Have they been feeding you enough?"

James looked up and noticed her for the first time. His face twitched as their eyes met. Time slowed down, and she wondered how he was going to react. Was he angry at her for locking him up? James picked up Sasha and carried her over to Elise.

He leaned in close and kissed her on the mouth. "About time you came in to visit. I was tired of you waiting outside my door."

Her mouth dropped. "How ... how did you know?"

He looked over at Chawr and Hory standing behind her. "See. You see those guards standing outside my door? That's where you made your mistake, Oldest. Those are my guys." Those two fools grinned from ear to ear until she shot them a glare. They managed to look sort of abashed until she smiled.

"Close the door," she ordered.

The three of them moved the family reunion to the couch. Elise sat on one side of him and Sasha snuggled up to him on the other. She studied his reactions as Sasha spilled out her life over the past few weeks to him, from Elise teaching her geometry to Franwil's continuing efforts to groom her as an herbalist to Rima showing her how to make a bow. The smile on his face fell once when Sasha told him about the new Flatiron boy who had been teasing her and always brought her flowers. In Elise's opinion, the girl should be a storyteller, because her tales were getting taller and taller.

James caught her staring. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, moving closer to him. "I think you'll make a great dad."

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon together until Bria and Laurel came to relieve Chawr and Hory, and to bring up James's evening meal.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she said, throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a last kiss. "You keep on getting better."

"How much longer do I need to stay here?" he asked. "This floor is driving me crazy."

"Soon," she said. "Titus says in a few days." She paused. "You know I love you, right?"

He squeezed her tightly to him. "That's the only thing that kept me-"

The All Galaxy shook and the windows rattled. Everyone froze. The skyscraper rumbled again, this time followed by the sound of multiple explosions. A few seconds later, Chawr burst into the room. "Oldest, we are under attack by the Co-op."

"Where?" James asked.

"Everywhere!"

"Oh, no, they found us," Elise gasped. Both she and James stood up and headed for the door.

Elise pushed Sasha into Bria's arms. "Take her to the lab. There's a storeroom in the back that has a hidden cubbyhole. Sasha knows where it is. If you find Grace and Titus, take them with you." She grabbed James by the hand and dragged him out the door. "I guess you're getting out earlier than expected."

FIFTY.

THE MEETING.

Levin had every intention of honoring his agreement with Vaneek and waiting patiently for his former assistant to contact him, but he questioned his decision more and more with each passing day. Without a backup plan for how to obtain the encrypted files with his painstaking research of how far corporate influence went in Chron Com, he didn't have any other choice. Even so, he had nearly lost hope when he finally did hear from Vaneek a week later.

"Midnight. Cargo dock wing, D-Lio," was all Vaneek said before going silent.

Levin pulled up the blueprint of Earth Central on his AI band. D-Lio was a rarely-utilized underground hangar at the far end of the south wing of Earth Central, usually reserved for storing mothballed vessels: generation ships, sun beamers, and terraformers. Surprisingly, a large number of pleasure crafts, space yachts and the like, were housed there as well, their resource consumption too high for modern use. In any case, it was a strange rendezvous point. Not like Levin had much of a choice. With few other options, he had to trust Vaneek.

Levin looked over at Cole. "We're a go for tonight. Be ready."

Cole, sitting on a chair with his feet up on the railing, grunted. "So the skinny twerp got back to you after all."

His nephew had reverted to hostility after the situation at the underground residences. Whatever goodwill Levin thought he had built since pulling him out of Nereid was fleeting. Now, the sullen, angry Cole had returned. It was a shame. Levin thought they had made progress while in Chicago. They were bound to have ups and downs. Levin decided this was just a down period.

"Where is the rendezvous point?" Cole asked. He frowned when Levin told him. "That's out in the middle of nowhere. There's no way the quarantine archives are there."

"It doesn't matter. If Vaneek wants to meet there, we'll do it," Levin said. "He's our only chance to break into the archives. Let's not blow it."

He had considered telling Cole to stay behind. As much as he wanted a gun to watch his back, his nephew wasn't reliable. That violent outburst with Vaneek was so over-the-top it made Levin question Cole's mental state. Still, he was family. To tell him to stay behind at this crucial moment would likely shatter their relationship forever, and Cole wouldn't be here when he returned.

Cole had already disappeared for an entire day shortly after the incident with Vaneek. Levin had thought the last family he had was gone forever, but his nephew returned that night. Levin admitted he was surprised when Cole walked through the door. When asked, Cole just said he had needed to blow off some steam. He even reluctantly apologized for his behavior. It was better than nothing at this point. Levin forgave him immediately, because that's what family did. Or at least that's what family should do.

Right now, they were holed up in one of the beach slums along Lake Michigan two kilometers north of ChronoCom campus. The shanty houses here, frequently flooded by heavy rains, were home to vagrants, the drug-addled, and the poor. They were too violent and worth too little for the local authorities to bother patrolling. Their rickety one-room shack was tight and rancid, but after half a year in the Amazon Penal Colony and then half more in the Mist Isle, both of them were used to such miserable accommodations.

This area was also advantageous because Levin had parked the Frankenstein close by at the only place he considered safe from identification or theft: a hundred meters out into the lake and fifty meters underwater. The bottom of the lake was thick with wreckage, junk, and Earth Plague. In some places, the refuse was piled so high, it broke the water's surface. Levin had maneuvered the collie until it rested between two piles of garbage and then used the exo to carry him and Cole to land. It made for an easy escape if they were ever found.

Levin went over the blueprints and mapped out a route to the wing on a piece of paper. He and Cole spent the rest of the evening going over the plan, making sure they had memorized all the exit points, backup rendezvous points, and contingencies in case things went south. Being overprepared was ChronoCom's mantra. They were still Academy-trained former chronmen.

"Hey," Levin said, offering Cole a hand. "We get out of this alive. Together." Cole hesitated a beat before clasping hands. Levin pulled him close. "End of the day, we're family. We'll make it work."

"Yes, Uncle."

The two set off for ChronoCom campus shortly after ten in the evening. The entire city shut down after dark to preserve energy, so the streets were quiet and dark. They crept through the city's deserted beach until they found an entrance underground and then followed a series of blue tunnels down to a lower set of purple ones, past dimly lit heavily trafficked passages filled with vagrants and night market vendors sitting shoulder to shoulder on the sides.

Levin had powered down his atmos and exo to conserve levels, having been used to the uncleanliness within the ruins of Manhattan, but the stench in these poorly ventilated and heavily occupied underground tunnels was overpowering. He tolerated it for nearly an hour as they wandered through a veritable maze until finally reaching the blue tunnels again. He breathed a sigh of relief when they emerged on the surface just northwest of the ChronoCom campus.

The two cut back east and then south through a rundown residential area. The main groupings of the city's darkened skyscrapers could be seen to the north, jutting up to the sky like misshapen black teeth against the slightly lighter night. That meant visibility, unlike most days, was good. A bad night to be sneaking around.

They continued, moving through alleyways and broken streets until they finally reached ChronoCom campus. They slowed their pace and crept forward with more caution. The campus was patrolled by monitors, but they weren't difficult to avoid. Nighttime patrols were usually punishment, and no one took that job seriously. After all, who was stupid enough to commit a crime near the agency's base of power?

A breeze brought in the stench of sulfur and rot from the clusters of giant smokestacks to the west. Behind them, loud snaps and pops like gunfire echoed in the air. Levin motioned for Cole to pause inside the shadow of one of the buildings. Other than the sounds of cracking far in the distance, the only audible sound was the whistle of the visible gray wind that drew lines in the air. When he was sure their path was clear, Levin signaled for them to continue.

They dashed between the shadows of buildings and towers as the misshapen form of Earth Central loomed larger and larger. Several blocks and three patrols later, they reached the southernmost building connecting to the main building and continued around the perimeter until they found an entrance with a large, flaked-off D over the door.

Levin pressed his ear to it and listened. He heard nothing but the shrill whistle overhead. He looked at Cole and counted his fingers down from three. The door opened with a long creak and Cole, blaster rifle pressed against his shoulder, crept in. Levin waited a beat and followed.

The cavernous room had faint moonlight pouring through small slit windows where the walls met the roof. They could see the outline of a ship, a space yacht by the looks of it, covered by a tarp. The smell of oil and dust lingered in the air. Levin tapped Cole twice on the shoulder and pointed to the east side of the room. Levin walked the perimeter on the west.

Staying low to the ground, he went two-thirds the length of the building before a small light between the shadows of two ships caught his eye. He cut in to it and found Vaneek standing alone, nervously pacing back and forth.

The boy gave a start and looked his way. "Who's there?"

Holding his hands up, Levin walked into the light. "Thanks for agreeing to see me."

"Auditor Levin," Vaneek said, visibly relieved. "You're on time. Of course. Come with me."

"Where are we going? This can't be where the quarantine archives are located."

Vaneek looking nervous, chuckled. "This is just the easiest way to sneak you in. Come on, we're heading two more levels underground."

"Hang on," Levin said. "Let me recall Cole."

The young administrator fidgeted. "Does he have to come?"

"I'm in hearing range," Cole said inside Levin's head. "Your voices are echoing all over the room. Go ahead. I have sights on him and can keep an eye out on you from the shadows."

"Will do, Cole," Levin thought back. "Hey, thanks again for following through with this and watching my back. It means a lot."

"I'm just not going to let that little shit get the jump on Javier-Oberon. That's all."

Levin nodded to Vaneek and together, they headed further east, past the skeletons of several more ships, until they reached a staircase heading down to the sublevel of the building. There, more ships resided, most in worse condition than the ones above. This must be where the agency kept dead collies for parts. Hundreds of wrecks littered the room, some covered in so many layers of dust he couldn't make out what they were. Levin couldn't help but feel the many blackened portholes staring eerily at him as he passed by. They continued through the maze of ships until they reached a small clearing.

"What is going on?" Levin asked.

Vaneek held up the light. "He's here."

Dozens of lights shined brightly on him from every direction. It was a trap! Levin powered on his exo and prepared to punch through the ceiling. However, he noticed at least twenty other exos power on as well, all of them orange. He was surrounded by auditors.

Julia appeared out of the darkness. "Stand down, Levin."

Levin turned to Vaneek standing next to him, the betrayal painful, but not completely unexpected. He wanted to say something, either out of anger or regret. It didn't matter. This was how his life would end. In the middle of the night in an old warehouse. Without even a fight, for he had already decided that he wasn't going to fight Julia again. Not like it would make a lick of difference with all these exos here. He didn't stand a chance.

"I sought Auditor Julia's advice," Vaneek blubbered. "I didn't know what else to do."

Levin turned to her and held his arms up, exposing his bands. "As agreed, the next time you see me."

Julia rolled her eyes. "You're so damn histrionic, Levin." She walked up to him and pulled a metal device out of her netherstore container. He recognized it as a data reservoir when she placed it in front of him. "Your encryption key, Auditor Levin."

His confusion was followed by a small spark of hope as he punched in the 143-character code to decrypt his personal files. As soon as he did, Julia put her hands on the reservoir and spoke in a clear voice, "It's sent. Analyze and review."

He took a step toward her. "I have a master summary list you can access-"

The exo around her flared. "Don't move, Levin. Your life right now depends on what is in this reservoir. If it's not exactly what you told me, I'm hauling you straight to Young."

The next ten minutes stretched in the darkness. Someone behind him gasped. Another to his right cursed. Within minutes, the chatter in the room grew as the group surrounding him grumbled about his evidence. A silhouette stepped toward him, as did a few more until he could make out who they were. He recognized Hameel, head of Handler Operations; Moyer, the Lead Monitor; Rowe, High Auditor of the space sector; and Marn, High Auditor of Ganymede. A few moments later, as the conversation intensified and the crowd gathered around him, he realized that almost half of Earth's ChronoCom leadership was here.

"Cole," Levin thought as he waited. "How does it look from your position? I'm here with a group of seniors within the agency."

"Things are dead quiet," Cole replied. "Everything going all right down there?"