He leaned against the glass with his right hand, and peered down, just able to see the ramp directly below him. Even if he could break through the glass, even if he had a breather mask handy, he would be dead as soon as he hit the ground.

Instead he lifted his left hand straight up, sweeping it in an arc several times from left to right.

Would they be watching even now, in the middle of the night? Perhaps not.

But if they were, there was only one way to be sure.

A short while later – he estimated no more than twenty minutes had passed – Ty watched a set of headlights approaching the residency up a long street before driving down the airlock ramp. On closer inspection, it proved to be nothing more than a standard unmanned supply truck.

He sat back down, feeling obscurely disappointed. Then there was a distant, muffled clang as the airlock door opened and closed again. He swallowed and stared once more at the sprinkle of lights outside, wondering who was looking back, and what they were thinking.

An earth-shattering roar shook the building. Alarms began to clang discordantly both inside and outside.

There were shouts and footsteps in the corridor outside, and he realized with a shock that the window of his room had become badly starred. Already smoke drifted up past it.

Ty lurched upright and headed quickly to the door. The message had instructed that he should be ready to move. But did that mean he should simply wait here, or instead try and see if he could find a way out of the damaged building?

He remembered Weil’s promise, and decided not to stay.

Sliding the door open quietly, he risked a glance outside, towards the bank of elevators. Weil was gone from his post. He eyed the elevators hopefully, but hesitated while deciding it might be too dangerous to use them.

Instead he stepped out into the corridor and headed quickly in the opposite direction, making for a door leading into a stairwell. Smoke drifted up from several floors below.

He took the steps downwards three or four at a time, the air growing denser with smoke as he descended. He could distinctly smell burning plastic, but also something else he could not quite identify.

After a moment he realized this was the unique odour of Redstone’s air, which meant the building’s atmospheric seals had been breached.

He continued down several levels until he came to a glass-fronted box mounted on the wall. It was filled with cheap emergency breathers, so he punched out the glass and quickly pulled on a mask.

Heavy footsteps, approaching from above.

Ty leaned out over the banister and peered up in time to see Weil glaring straight back down at him from several levels above.