Kira looked at the ten Partial prisoners lying inert on their tables. If something triggers me, I’ll kill them. I’ll kill Samm. She tried to keep the quaver out of her voice. “What was the trigger?”

“For the Failsafe? It was triggered by a chemical, administered either through the air or by a direct injection. Only some of the Partials were carriers—viral factories, essentially, that could be turned on at a specific moment. We could turn on the cure the same way.”

“Yes,” said Kira, “but what is the trigger? Specifically? And would it be the same for the new models?”

“None of that matters,” said Vale. “The president triggered the Failsafe to stop the Partial rebellion, and when I saw how vicious RM had become I triggered the cure. It’s over and done. Those new models that were mentioned in the email were only prototypes, and as far as I know, none of them survived the Break. They were young children at the time.”

“But what if they did survive?” asked Kira. What if something triggers her accidentally, and she destroys every Partial left on the planet?

Vale stared at her, his face confused and pensive. Slowly his expression changed, and Kira couldn’t help but take a step backward.

Vale took a step back as well. “You said you lived with Nandita, right?” he asked. “An orphanage. How exactly did she find the girls she adopted?”

Kira watched his face warily, trying to guess if he’d guessed what she really was. He seemed suspicious, but how much did he know for sure? How much did he need to know before he acted—and what actions would he take? If he thought she was a threat, would he kill her right here?

She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t give herself away. I can’t look like I know too much, she thought, but I can’t look like I’m dodging the topic, either. “She had four girls,” she said. “She found us the same way as every other foster parent on the island. I think some of us were assigned by the Senate.” She wasn’t sure if it was true, but it sounded good without professing any specific knowledge. “Why do you ask?”

“Some were assigned,” he said, “but not all?”

“Nandita raised us like any other kids,” she said, but suddenly Marcus’s questions about experiments flashed through her mind. That’s it, it’s me, she thought, it makes too much sense.

He watched her closely, taking another step back. Kira glanced over his shoulder—was he backing away from a threat, or slowly inching toward an alarm? How much time do I have? The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on, and she felt a thick bead of sweat run down the small of her back.