That was stupid. Of course, Felix hadn’t planned to go and murder Bill. He felt bad about Bill, really bad, and would have bawled his head off if the Voice hadn’t told him that everything was fine. But it didn’t matter what he said, Mother had just gotten more and more hysterical. In the end, shaking her head, she’d blubbered, “I have to go. I can’t stand this.”

“Mom?” he told her. “My throat hurts!”

“I know, baby. It’s going around. All the children have it. Even the infants. Is that why you killed Bill?”

“I wasn’t there. I only got there later. And the Voice said it was all right.”

“The voice?” she asked. Felix had never seen such a panicked look in Mother’s eyes as she said, “I don’t know if you are my son, or some heartless monster that belongs to the algae.”

“Mama? Please, I don’t—”

“I can’t stand this.” Then, at the door, she’d raised her eyes and plaintively asked, “Please? Give me my little boy back.”

She had closed the door behind her with finality.

That had been an eternity ago.

Since then, all Felix had for company was his cot, a can to pee in, and the sound of the air blowing softly from the vents.

And the song. Didn’t matter that he was locked away on second level. He could hear it. Especially if he placed his ear against the wall or floor. The deep sounds came through the best. Low thrumming, clicks, a melodic rising and falling of vibrations. The higher sounds were harder to hear, hovering just at the edge of perception.

“You will hear it clearer . . . soon. You will live surrounded by the Song, floating within it,” the Voice had told him.

Felix’s throat really hurt, was swollen on the sides, but the Voice insisted this was normal. And when Felix started to worry—because it really did hurt—the Voice would show him images of underwater. Felix would be drifting along under the surface with the Song all around him, with mottled patterns of sunlight shooting beams through the aqua water. Being weightless, either floating or propelling himself ahead with light strokes of his hands and feet, filled Felix with a tingling sense of ecstasy.

All in all, the effect was magical. Until the Pod, his entire existence had been Crew Deck on Ashanti. As much a miracle as the Pod had been, the boat ride out to set the buoy had filled him with wonder. Now the visions in his head of endless freedom, of drifting where he would go, and never being contained within walls, intoxicated him.

But how was that going to happen?

“Soon,” the Voice reassured him.

His stomach growled, and he wished he had something to drink.