“Tell us more about the regional clinics, Doctor,” Grace interjects.

For less than a second, a dark expression washes over Dr. Ezirike’s face, but he continues, explaining the intake process and the local efforts to combat the worst effects of the Climate Cataclysm while caring for the climate refugees most adversely affected. But, to Ify, his voice has turned into the buzzing of a distant insect. Her gaze returns to the children, some of whom would have been alive in 2176. Some of whom would have been alive before then. Alive to have witnessed the end of the war. A war no one seems to want to talk about.

A war, it seems, that didn’t even happen.

■  ■  ■  ■  ■

Grace waits until the driver has taken her and Ify some distance from the hospital before speaking.

A wave of relief moved through Ify at the sight of their two new guards. Since the night of Grace’s encounter with the police, Ify has insisted that the two guards, smartly dressed and thankfully taciturn, accompany them on every trip. She was foolish to think that simply having come from here meant that she was safe from whatever dangers lurked in this place. It took Grace’s near-arrest to show her that.

“You don’t have to worry about a robot taking your job if you’re the robot,” Grace says, a hint of a smirk at the edge of her lips.

Ify raises an eyebrow. Grace doesn’t make jokes. Ify sees the nervousness in her again, the way she grips her stylus, on the verge of breaking it. She should send her home. Even though Director Towne had ordered Grace to come along, maybe to spy on her, this is too taxing a mission. Ify knows this place, as strange as it appears to her. The newness for Grace must be overwhelming. And layered on top of that unease is the stress that comes with having to uncover a medical mystery imperiling the lives of over a thousand children in Alabast. That’s what Ify will do. She’ll send her back. As soon as they’re back at the apartment, she’ll begin drafting the paperwork.

A thought strikes Ify.

“Grace.”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Why did you interrupt me? In the doctor’s office.”

Grace looks behind her. The driver and the other minder sit in silence as the jeep glides down the city flightlines. Then she presses a button on the console beside her, and the partition rises. She waits until it’s closed and, even then, leans forward in a whisper. “There were no security cameras in that hospital.”

“What?”

“I thought I was being paranoid. But when I started looking, I saw that there were none. Not a single room we walked into had cameras.”

“But surveillance drones.”

Grace shakes her head. “I had my tablet set to detect drone activity once we entered.”