“Stop!” she shouted. “If you want to go out there and organize a coup, then do it. Go make your case and gather your votes. But what I did was necessary, and it’s time to move on.”

Walter didn’t answer. And he didn’t leave, either. He looked down at the floor, breathing heavily.

Michael sat, stunned, taking it all in, not sure he understood what was happening. The thing that really stood out to him was when Helga had pointed at his friends and Sarah’s parents. She’d very deliberately pointed at them, but not him. That simple gesture meant everything.

“Once and for all,” Bryson interrupted the silence. “Can someone please tell us—what is the true death?”

“Straight out.” Sarah nodded.

Helga leaned forward on the desk and clasped her hands together. “Remember what I explained earlier? Even if we’re not sure exactly how it works, for a Tangent to exist inside the body of a human, a connection needs to remain to the original person’s consciousness. It’s a link that can’t be severed or the body would die. We believe this is the reason the Hive exists.”

She took a deep breath, studying her hands as she rubbed them together. “The true death is when an intelligence stored within the Hive is destroyed. It can be either a Tangent or a human. Destroy it in the Hive and that…person, Tangent, consciousness, whatever you want to call it, is gone forever. And if it’s connected to a body here in the Wake, that body will die as well. They both cease to exist, as far as we know.”

She paused. “But that’s just one way for the so-called true death to happen. What it really means is quite simple. It’s when anyone—Tangent or human—dies without having a backup stored. However the death happens, virtually or in reality. If there’s no backup in the Hive, then a person’s intelligence, memories, and essence are gone forever.”

Michael was picturing the Hive in his mind. He wondered how they did it—how they killed a consciousness. He imagined floating in that vast space with all those orange pods, igniting one with a virtual flamethrower. He could almost hear the screams as the intelligence inside was burned to a crisp.

He shook the image out of his head and turned to Helga. “I’m still stored there, right?”

Everyone in the room looked at him.

Slowly, Helga nodded.

“And so is Jackson Porter,” he continued. “So we could still insert him back into this body and I could go on existing in the Sleep. Right?”

Helga nodded again. She seemed almost sad.