“Ugh.” I frown. “That’s enough to make me work on my escape moves, but it’s a risk I have to take. There’s no way I’m going to win. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get sent to the Farm.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Rayelle says. “Promise.”

“Yeah, if you ever need help or have questions, just ask us,” Stewart says.

“Actually, I do have a question.” I scan their faces, wondering how dumb I’m going to sound. “Liam said something the other day about a ‘Super Brain’? What is that?”

Their smiles falter.

“We’ll let you field this one, Stewart,” Sophia says.

He takes a deep breath, his fingers drumming on the table. “Basically, you know how President Madden is implementing her plan for world peace, right?”

“Yes, everyone loves her,” I say. “She wants to bring people together—Corporates, Influencers, Laborers, Unrankables—no more labels. We’ll all be equal. Isn’t that what we want, too?”

“Not exactly.” He wrinkles his nose. “That all sounds great in theory—she knows what people want to hear—but everyone, except the Disconnects, already voluntarily use tech that allows every move to be tracked. And soon her messaging will suggest everyone should voluntarily put computer chips in their brains and upload their minds to a database—the Super Brain—that will connect them to the internet, too. It’ll sound like a good idea. Who wouldn’t want access to all of human knowledge? To think a question and instantly get the answer? Nobody will be smarter than anyone else. We’ll all be equal, part of the collective world consciousness.”

“The thing is,” Sophia jumps in. “The information in the Super Brain is being chosen by the Corporates to build the society they want to live in. They’re rewriting history to create an artificially-intelligent simulation where robots will do all the work and we’ll play all day. Any experience we want will be virtually at our fingertips. Criminal urges and what they call the ‘ugly past’ will have been erased from memory.”

“And all of that will come at the expense of emotions and free will,” Rayelle says. “We won’t feel anger or love or excitement. We’ll be apathetic puppets on her peace playground.”

“I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to get gobbled up by the Super Brain, I’d at least like to know it has its facts straight,” Stewart says.

“We don’t have to get gobbled up, though, do we?” I ask.

“Not if we do our jobs. The only thing standing in the way is the Disconnects. The Unrankables will chip their minds in a heartbeat at the promise of prosperity. Keep people hungry, and they’ll do anything for a handout.” He shrugs. “We’re pretty much the only ones who can save human life as we know it.”

My mouth hangs open. “I can’t even begin to process this.”

“It’s a doozy,” Stewart agrees. “But you asked.”

The Atrium lights dim, signaling lunch break is ending and everyone stands.

“I’ve got Code Breaking, so I’ve got to run,” he says, taking his tray to the compost bins. “But I’ll explain more later.”