‘You look like you’re trying to get a tricky poo out, Dale,’ I say. ‘No offence.’

‘I … I don’t understand what’s happening.’

‘Would you like me to explain?’ I say, then without waiting for him to answer, ‘OK, you’ve twisted my arm.’ I push my hair back to stop it dripping down my forehead. ‘Well, as you know, we set your tree on fire, and when the sprinklers put it out, you thought we’d failed. But it was never the fire we wanted. While I was in here distracting you, Mak was filling the external water supply to the sprinklers with a butt-load of tardigrades. I gave myself up to get all of you inside this room, then I set the fire knowing that the sprinkler system would be activated by the heat.’

‘But the water is on our skin,’ Dale says. ‘It hasn’t been consumed. Any reaction to the tardigrades will be minor and temporary.’

‘Yes, the water didn’t get inside your bodies,’ I say. ‘But a lot of it evaporated and became steam. Our tardigrade friends are being carried by that steam. The steam you’ve been inhaling.’ 301

‘What?’ Dale puts his hand over his nose and mouth.

‘Too late for that,’ Mak says. ‘You already can’t get your stinger out – I reckon the mandibles will be next.’

‘No,’ he says, but I can see that he knows it’s true. He’s changing – becoming human again.

Light suddenly blasts out above us, and I look up to see the candles on the roof shining white like beautiful beacons of hope and goodness.

‘Karim’s done it!’ I say. I turn to Dale. ‘You’re going to glitch now, but don’t worry, you’ll unglitch when you’re human again. Take care.’

He doesn’t answer, because he’s frozen with a look of complete and utter guttedness on his face.

‘See you soon, Mum.’ I put my hand on her shoulder and give her a sad smile, even though I know she can’t see me. ‘Let’s wait outside,’ I say. We turn to the exit.

‘Hey guys, what the hell have you done to this room?’ Karim comes running out of the stairwell. ‘My mum is going to be raging when she debugs.’

He jogs over and grins. ‘Gotta say, I’m pretty happy to be the only one here who isn’t soaking wet. Or bleeding.’ 302

‘You’re a legend.’ I put my arm around him. ‘Getting the XGen back on. The least I can do is hug you.’ And I give him a massive bro hug.

‘No!’ he says. ‘Stop!’

‘Group hug moment for sure,’ Kat smiles, and we all pile on, making sure that we soak Karim so he doesn’t feel left out.

‘Guys!’ he mumbles from the middle of the huddle. ‘My hair!’

26

Worth Fighting For