My comment turned my thoughts to Gateway. What if I couldn’t open it? What if I was caught and killed before seeing Outside? I berated myself. One minute I was convinced Gateway didn’t exist, the next, I waxed maudlin over the possibility of not opening it. Just because we found a few coordinates in the computer, shouldn’t make me an instant believer.

I forced that line of thought away. It wasn’t helping, and I could what-if myself until I was reduced to a nervous mess. Instead, I followed Rat and tried not to breathe through my nose.

Shoveling black goo from the bottom of the incinerator was my last task.

“Isn’t this maintenance’s job?” I asked.

“Nope. This is good stuff.” He dumped a shovelful into the bin. “That’s it. Take the bin to the recycling plant and then you’re done.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the sheep’s pen. Want to come? I’m good with sheep, too.” He winked.

“No, thank you. Ignorance remember? Best I don’t become an expert in waste management.”

He waved as he left. And I realized he enjoyed his work. His job was used to punish other scrubs, but he didn’t see it that way. He knew his job was vital to Inside and was content. Why couldn’t the rest of the scrubs be content? Maybe they were, and I hadn’t noticed.

“Trella? What are you doing here?” Logan asked as I pushed the bin through the sorting piles. Dark half circles hung under his eyes.

I waved the cuff in front of his bleary eyes. “I pissed my supervisor off. She assigned me extra duty.”

“Anne-Jade will be glad. She’s worried because she fell asleep in the air shaft, but she didn’t see your supervisor, so she hoped it would be okay.”

“She did fine. I’m glad you came over. Broken Man wants to open those files. When can you get the password questions?”

“My next off-shift.”

“Great. Also can you—” I checked for Pop Cops “—get security information about the uppers?”

“Depends on what you want to know.”

I’d already memorized the names Domotor had given me. Reciting the list of uppers to Logan, I asked, “Can you find out which one of these people is working undercover for the Travas?”

“If the information is listed in the computer system, but it’s unlikely.”

“Why?”

“Because someone could find it.”

“Like Broken Man?”

“No. You need level-nine clearance…oh!”

I smiled as Logan realized only a few Travas had the required security clearance.

“It’s still unwise to have such sensitive information listed,” Logan said.

“I agree, but I’d bet the higher Pop Cop officers feel rather confident about their security network, believing no one, especially no scrub could breach it. So try not to bust their illusion.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m like a—”

“Ghost. I know.” Two Pop Cops headed in our direction. “I better go. I can’t miss any more shifts, but I’ll stop by your barrack during one of my breaks.”

Logan nodded and returned to work. I left the recycling plant and hurried to find Emek. Only five hours remained in my off time and I was determined to locate Gateway.