We stand in—what seems to me—an awkward silence for an uncomfortably long time, and I force myself not to feel. If I start to feel, I think my heart might break.

The doors open in silence, and we step into the small metal box.

Tyco holds his thumb against a scan point, and the elevator moves backward, deep into the dome, before it begins to climb up.

We travel upward, still saying nothing until the elevator slows and then stops.

The doors open onto the sixty-sixth floor: the same circular room I had stood in when trying to rescue Malachai and Woods, only now the production line has grown still, the robotic arms that had been creating thousands of drones standing frozen in place.

The floor is dark wood. Between the stationary production lines is a long table, behind which sit two men: Galen Rye and Maddox Fairfax.

I can’t help but stare at Maddox—he had been my best friend in the Loop, had gotten me through the hardest time of my life and taught me so much. And now he’s a host for Happy, the first one, and I know it’s torture for him in there. I know he wants to die.

The eyes of Maddox and Galen glow bright as they look at me.

“Luka Kane,” the Maddox host says, using Maddox’s vocal cords to communicate with me, but there’s no life in that voice. “This is becoming something of a regular occurrence.”

“What can I say? I don’t like being locked up and experimented on,” I reply, shrugging.

The lights in Galen’s eyes fade out, indicating that the real Galen Rye is being allowed to speak, but before he composes himself, I see a look of pain and loathing on his exhausted face, and then he smiles at me.

“Luka, I believe the last time we met I told you that it would be the last time you and I spoke. Once again you proved to be the thorn in my side. I must commend you on your ingenuity and resourcefulness. Before you, no one had ever escaped the Loop, and no one had ever escaped the Block. You have done both. Tell me, where did you go to when you disappeared?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You, and dozens of others—I believe you call them the Missing—have found a way to become invisible to us. How?”

“I’m not telling you anything,” I reply. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“Very well,” Galen says, laughing. “We will know soon enough.”

“Why am I here?” I ask, my voice surprisingly even and calm.

“Logic tells me that you believe you will die here. That is not the case. You are here to live, Luka.”

“To live like you? Like Maddox? No thanks. That’s no kind of life.”