“Vale is obviously hiding something,” Kira continued, “and even if we sit around waiting for him to give us the meeting he promised, he’ll probably just give us another runaround. He’s hiding something, and I don’t like it, and we still haven’t heard anything from Heron, and I’m sick of it. It’s time to go to the spire.” She glanced at it, a tall black peak jutting up behind the other buildings. “Phan took me around earlier, just kind of showing me the complex, and some of the buildings get pretty close to it. We could get most of the way there without arousing any suspicion and then, I don’t know, try to sneak in without anyone noticing. I honestly don’t know if anyone would even care—Phan said it was structurally unsound after the Partial bombings, but they don’t exactly seem nervous living next to it. They don’t really seem to think of it at all.”

“Is there a fence?” asked Samm.

“A low wall,” said Kira, “mostly made of junk and old furniture. They’re trying to keep the kids from wandering in by accident, but they don’t seem to have any active security—that’s pretty typical of this society as a whole. They don’t expect anyone to attack, or rebel, or break the law at all, and as far as I can tell, no one ever does.”

“And naturally this makes you suspicious,” said Samm.

“That would make anyone suspicious,” said Kira. “There is no perfect society—there’s always going to be unrest, or criminals, or something sinister underneath, making it run. Maybe Vale is using some kind of mind control to keep everyone in line. Like the link, but for humans.” Samm looked at her with a reasonable attempt at skepticism on his face. She smirked. “I don’t know, but it’s something.”

There was a cry of triumph from the field, and Kira looked up to see half the football players jumping in excitement. A young man was lying on the ground, moaning softly, the ball lying next to him, and Calix was walking away from what appeared to be a brutal tackle, a small dribble of blood on her cheek. Kira’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow. I had no idea she was that intense.”

“She’s got some stuff to work through,” said Samm. He narrowed his eyes as he peered at the field. “I hope she doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“Now’s our chance,” said Kira, putting a hand on his arm. “Wait till they set up for another run, and then follow me. If we go behind these trees and left to that building, we’ll be out of sight before they even notice we’re gone.”

“And if somebody else sees us?”