The surveillance drone moves to within a centimeter of my face, circling slowly around my head, its camera lens scanning me over and over. I can hear the machinery bleeping and buzzing inside its tiny shell. My heart is thumping as it returns to my field of vision, so close that I can barely focus on it.

And then it’s gone, whipping up into the air above the height of the buildings either side of me, disappearing toward the second-home villages on the edge of town.

Apple-Moth lowers, still looking menacing with its red lights. And then, suddenly, the lights change to green and yellow and blue, and the drone begins to bounce on thin air again.

“Wow, wow, wow!” it says, and then lowers its voice again. “Sorry! I mean, wow, wow, wow, that was scary!”

“You did great, Apple-Moth,” I say.

“Really?” the drone replies, lights changing to a deep pink color. “Does this mean we’re friends now?”

I can’t help but smile. “Well …”

“And you’re not going to put me into sleep mode?”

“Jesus,” I mutter, “fine, but if you sense any humans coming toward us, you have to be silent and hide in the pocket behind my body armor, understand?”

“I understand, friend!” Apple-Moth replies, spinning in short, excited circles.

“And use that face-changer software so they think I’m an Alt.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I will! I love an adventure! Do you want to hear a joke?”

“Not now, Apple-Moth,” I say. “Maybe later.”

“Okay! I’m going to think of a good one!”

I refocus my mind on the Arc, and Malachai and Woods, and the probability that I won’t make it back to Kina alive to tell her again that I love her, that I love her more than she’ll ever know.

The safest way to the Arc is through the sewers, back to the pub where Sam and I hid, but the safest way is also the slowest way. Woods and Malachai have just over an hour left before their minds and bodies are taken over by Happy. I have to take the train straight to the center of town.

Apple-Moth and I pass three groups of soldiers as we walk through town, and each time the tiny drone falls silent and dives into the pocket behind my chest plate before any of the Alts can see it. From its hiding place the drone projects a digital face over my own, one that must be appropriately handsome, as all the passing soldiers snap off salutes without hesitation or a second look.

Apple-Moth waits in my pocket at the train station, projecting the attractive overlay onto my face as Alt soldiers wait for the train. All four of the awaiting soldiers salute me and I nod back, playing the part of a grumpy, overworked commanding officer.

When the train finally pulls up, my heart skips a beat. Every single carriage is filled with soldiers.