The crowd was silent, probably as intrigued as Michael. He’d already figured out that this man was a Tangent, but what was he going to do?

“I was programmed to be here,” the man said. “To be here, at this time, for this moment. Programmed by Kaine himself. It’s very important that you all know that. So please be aware of it. I was programmed by Kaine, I was a Tangent, and I was sent into this man’s body to make a demonstration. And so I think I’ve said all that I was programmed to. Thank you for your time.”

The nervous, fidgety man reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and shiny. Sarah sucked in air. Michael, too, knew what was about to happen. He wanted to fly down and stop it, even though he knew this was just a reproduction.

The crowd screamed in horror as the man at the podium reached up and slit his own throat.

6

There was blood and screaming. Pandemonium broke out. Michael stared in stunned silence until the scene faded and they found themselves standing on the flat plane of glass once again.

“Well,” Bryson said, “I guess they’ve stopped being subtle about it.”

Michael’s head still swam from the disorienting movement of Helga’s displays. “What could possibly be the point of that?” he asked. “What that guy did makes absolutely no sense. Why would he do that?”

The others were staring down at the floor and those mesmerizing shapes below it. No one had the answer.

Finally, Helga spoke up. “Bryson’s right. At first, the Tangents were being extremely subtle. But now they’re flat-out announcing their presence. It’s almost like they decided the humans were too stupid to see what was going on, so they came out and started presenting it in sensationalist ways.”

“It doesn’t add up,” Michael whispered, turning everything over in his mind. “Not at all.”

“Why would Kaine send Tangents into human bodies and then have them commit suicide?” Sarah asked.

“To make a show of it,” Bryson replied.

Sarah shook her head. “I get that. But Michael’s right—it doesn’t add up. If anything, the Tangents should want to be a secret. Why would they bring attention to the Mortality Doctrine? That’ll just make the world join hands and try to stop them. It’s like announcing on the NewsBops that you’re going to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre tomorrow afternoon.”

“Exactly,” Michael agreed. Between what he’d just seen and the reminder of what had happened to Gabby, he was having trouble staying focused.

“Michael?”

He looked up at Sarah. “Huh?”

“You seem like you have something more to say.”