Father looked at him, and there was so much sympathy, so much kindness in his eyes that Albert felt more scared than ever. He looked down at his hands—they were shaking. When he looked back up at Father, he saw him pointing straight up, at the roof above their heads.

‘There it is, Albert. Above the rock is the lab, the greatest scientific premises ever constructed, a lab so huge that it is an entire City—and you have lived in it your whole life. The entire City is a lab—a laboratory filled with a captive population of test subjects. That was the price those who signed on to be in the City paid—they paid with the rest of their lives, and the lives of their future children.’

Albert stared, horror twisting his insides, contorting them. His legs had joined in with his hands in shaking. When he spoke, his voice was, too. ‘But—you’re saying—you mean—’

‘Why, Albert, do you think the entire City is segregated into isolation for a third of every day under controlled conditions? Why do you think all contact is minimized? Why is there a curfew to prevent even the smallest chance that people will interact? It is to prevent exposure—and of course to administer various aerosol-dispersed treatments from time to time. Airborne chemical testing. There is no telling what the long-term effects on each of these subjects will prove to be. The only one we know of for sure is the congenital myopia that the first few batches of test subjects developed. Short-sightedness. As far as the Chairman was concerned, it wasn’t even a side effect, it made no difference to the outcome of the tests, and it was easy enough to come up with a suitable explanation to feed to the captive population. And, of course, when they wish to observe or test a subject more thoroughly, there are lawbots handy to bring them in.’

Albert didn’t dare speak—he was afraid he would throw up. He sat head down, swallowing, taking deep breaths, he didn’t know for how long. When he finally could, he lifted his head and said dimly, ‘But it’s the Employment Department. It’s there so that people don’t … ’

That was all he could manage. His voice trailed off—he didn’t know how to finish the sentence or what he had intended to say in the first place.

‘It is not just the Department, Albert. The entire City is geared towards one thing—coming as close as possible to a complete state of control under which the cure can be tested. I believe the original plan involved the subjects living exclusively in observational pods, until the end, either of the experiment or their lives. It is only a scarcity of resources that prevented that from happening. This was seen as the next best alternative.’