“It is impossible for you, or anyone, to beat Happy,” Galen scoffs.

“Wrong,” I say, “there’s at least a zero point seven percent chance.”

I see a moment of surprise on Galen’s face.

“Be that as it may,” Galen continues, the politician’s smile reappearing, “we have a proposition for you.”

“I’m sure it’ll be great,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Stand before the Altered, stand before our cameras, and tell the world that you were wrong to fight against us, that you have seen the error of your ways and that the World Government is right and good. Once that is done you will volunteer yourself.”

“Volunteer myself for what?” I ask.

“We need three of you to reverse engineer the formulas and equations of the healing technology within you. You and Tyco will be our subjects, along with a third.”

“I don’t understand,” I say. “You invented the healing tech; you gave it to us. Why do you need to figure it out?”

“The tech was destroyed by its creator, one of our most promising employees, and erased from all internal, external, and android memory, something we were certain could not be done. And then, of course, you destroyed the equipment containing the last remnants of its secrets.” Galen smiles tightly. “Now, the technology exists only in the creator’s mind.”

Abril, I think, she created the healing tech, saw what it was being used for, and then destroyed it.

“What about the creator?” I ask. “Why not just force them to tell you how to re-create it?”

“The creator killed herself shortly after destroying her life’s work.”

She tricked Happy into believing she was dead! I think, and try not to let the satisfaction show on my face.

“So, you need three people who took the Delay?”

“That’s right.”

“And you thought I’d be willing to volunteer?”

“You have already agreed,” Happy tells me, controlling my friend’s body and voice. “You will do it because you are a true leader. You will do it because in exchange we will allow your friends to live the rest of their lives in peace, and that is all you really want. We have run the diagnostics, we have run the probabilities, and you are the most likely to accept this offer. It means no more bloodshed, no more death; it is an end to the war between us.”

“But you plan on destroying all human life on Earth,” I remind them. “You plan on eradicating everything! Destroying humanity so that they can no longer obliterate this planet and all life on it. I know what Phase Three is; I know that you won’t let my friends live.”

“Destroy humanity?” Galen repeats, chuckling to himself. “No, no, that’s not right. Happy does not want to destroy humanity. Yes, Happy thinks of humankind as a virus, but they frame the problem in terms of technology rather than biology. To think of humanity as a computer virus is to hypothesize that it can be reprogrammed.”