Kira looked at the two Partials, noting for the first time how different they were: Samm, like before, was straightforward; he didn’t say half of what he felt, but what he did say was simple and utilitarian. He’d explained his taciturn nature as a side effect of the link: It carried most of their emotional information, so their speech didn’t need to. Partials used their voices to convey ideas, and their pheromones to convey the social context of those ideas: how they felt about it, how nervous or relaxed or excited they were. For a human observer not connected to the link, it made the Partials seem cold and robotic. Heron, in contrast, was a remarkably human communicator—she used facial tics, voice modulation, slang, even body language in a way Kira hadn’t seen from any other Partials. Well, thought Kira, any other Partials but me. I can barely detect the link, though, and I grew up without any access to it at all. I talk like a human because I’ve been communicating with them my whole life.

What’s Heron’s explanation?

Samm was looking at her expectantly, and Kira turned back to the printout. “I’ve cross-referenced this email list with some of the other records Afa’s got in here, and I think these six people are the Trust—maybe not the whole Trust, but I’m pretty sure most of the Trust ringleaders were in this group.” She pointed to each address as she named them off. “Graeme Chamberlain, Kioni Trimble, Jerry Ryssdal, McKenna Morgan, Nandita Merchant, and . . .” She paused. “Armin Dhurvasula. Some of those names probably look familiar.”

“General Trimble runs B Company,” said Samm. “We’ve known for a while she was part of the Trust—but like I said, the Trust are all Partials, not humans. And this Dr. Morgan—there’s probably more than one Dr. Morgan in the world, there’s no guarantee this is the same one.”

“Take a look at her info page,” said Kira, handing him a stack of papers, “printed from the company website. There’s a photo.”

Heron took the stack, Samm reading over her shoulder as she flipped through it. They paused on the photo, studying it carefully; it wasn’t the best quality, but the image was unmistakable. Kira had only been with the doctor for a few minutes, but her face was scarred into her memory. It was the same woman.

Heron set down the papers. “Dr. Morgan is a Partial. She’s on the link—we’ve all felt it. She’s been with us since before the Break. She’s immune to RM. Hell, she survived a gunfight with Samm in close quarters back when you escaped—that’s a sure sign of heightened Partial reflexes. There’s no way she’s a human.”