‘Abandoned? What do you mean abandoned?’

‘In order to achieve this goal, all retrievable AI units of all description would be recalled to build and run a special stronghold—a fully self-sustaining residential township for the privileged few—sealed off from the outside world. This was where the chosen ones would shelter, safe from the apocalypse raging outside, cocooned and protected in this specially designed, state-of-the-art fortress. A fortress called the Company Dome, or the Dome for short.’

‘Wait! You mean—’

‘Here they would wait out the catastrophe, leaving the rest of the world to its fate, emerging when things had settled down.’

‘You’re saying that—’

‘And that is the primary purpose of the Dome. Not to keep you or the others up there in, although that too is part of it, as you will soon learn. It is to keep everyone else out. Out and far away from those who effectively engineered and bankrolled the Epidemic—who nest inside at this very moment, huddled away from the world they destroyed. Do you recall me asking you if you knew what the Dome was, Albert? That is what it is. A specially created, zealously protected, artificial bubble, designed to keep the Chairman and those close to him safely out of harm’s way while the world outside tore itself apart. It is the shield that stands between Zacharias Bosquanet and his downfall.’

‘No!’

‘You, and everyone else who has ever come to us from the City have believed that there is nothing outside the Dome. Ironically, this is true—perhaps the one truth you were told. There is nothing outside. Or at least, nothing worth having.’

‘No! No!’

‘The third resolution—’

‘Wait! You’re telling me—’

‘The third resolution was not to be shared with anyone at all, except the immediate family members. Many aspects of it, in fact, came into play only after the relocation plan was complete, including the finalization of the approved list, and everything else put in place. It specified that a lab would be built—the biggest, greatest, the only one of its kind the world has ever seen—a special quarantine zone dedicated to finding a permanent solution to the crisis, using any and all means necessary.’

Albert frowned. ‘Lab? What lab? I’ve never heard of any giant lab around here!’