Samm started to protest, and Morgan looked genuinely shocked, but Kira nodded, taking a deep breath. “Dr. Vale’s knowledge, Doctor Morgan’s research, my biology. Heron was right. It’s the only real chance we have of ever curing expiration.” She looked at Samm. “It’s the same thing you said before—the only moral choice is to sacrifice yourself. Somebody has to step up.” She had come to Denver looking for answers, a plan, any sort of hope that she was part of something larger, something that could save both humans and Partials. But that plan had gone wrong long ago, and she was nothing. A failed experiment. She’d dedicated her life to saving the world, but now she realized that dedicating her life wasn’t enough. She had to give it.

She looked back at Morgan. “I’m ready.”

“I . . .” Morgan’s voice trailed off, and she peered at Kira closely. “That’s not what I was expecting at all.”

“Me neither,” said Kira. She clenched her jaw, trying not to cry. “Let’s go,” she said softly. “Now, before I lose my nerve.”

“You don’t want to do this, McKenna,” said Vale. “Any experimentation on Kira could release the Failsafe.”

Morgan looked at him quizzically. “Excuse me?”

“The Partial Failsafe,” said Vale. “The decoy we built to fool ParaGen, the one that kills Partials. The board embedded it into a new line of Partial prototypes without our knowledge. If you stumble onto the chemical trigger, you could release it.”

“What are you playing at, Cronus?” asked Morgan, though Kira could see a hint of doubt in her eyes. “I’ve seen her medical scans—I’ve combed through every cell in her body for months now. If there were another viral package, I would have seen it.”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for,” said Vale.

Morgan stared at him, then shot a glance at Kira. “Is this true?”

“I . . .” Kira kept her eyes locked on Morgan, too afraid to look at Samm. “I think he’s right.”

Morgan nodded vaguely, her eyes distant. “We’ll have to be careful, then.” She turned to the plane. “Take her. Let’s get out of here.”

“What are you going to do with the Preserve?” asked Vale. The soldiers around him, fully under the sway of his link, made it clear from their positioning that they were ready to fight if he gave the word. But they were surrounded, and Kira doubted his small group, no matter how loyal, could really stop Morgan from doing anything.

Morgan glanced around her, at the intact buildings and thriving grass and trees and the families surrounding the plane, as if noticing them for the first time. “Assuming you come with me, I don’t see any reason why your little ant farm shouldn’t be allowed to die in peace.”

“Then I’ll join you,” said Vale.

“And I’m staying,” said Samm.