A moment passed. Another.

Then her feet moved off, heading toward the building.

I didn’t wait long. I couldn’t. I wormed my torso out, slid my aching hips through, and crouched beside Alex.

Her green eyes, wet with tears, turned to me disbelievingly.

“Chance,” she said.

It was just my name, but it was all the payment in the world.

I didn’t answer; I just undid the plier clips from the ridges, the straps springing free. We were mostly alone out here. The other Drones patrolled the floating slabs way across the foundation, and the Hosts and Queen were inside the cannery trying to figure out what had gone wrong. More Hosts scoured the hillside, examining the bulldozer’s path, searching for whoever had loosed it. The metal slabs of the kids who’d just been implanted glided away across the vast foundation to join the others.

The slab designated for Alex hovered right off the end of the assembly line.

“Slide up onto this,” I said.

She scooted herself onto it.

When I crawled beneath the floating slab, I felt an intense energy in my joints and bones that made it hard to breathe. It wasn’t completely unpleasant, but it forced me to fight for focus. When I touched the underside of the slab, it responded easily, sliding like a puck across ice. I scuttled under the slab, using it for cover, guiding us to the edge of the foundation nearest the tree line.

For now Alex looked like another fertilized kid drifting to join the others, but soon it would be evident that we were off course. From my squashed position, I watched the legs and feet in the distance. Hosts and Drones everywhere.

And then the Queen’s slender boots exited the cannery, rounding the corner to head back to her spot.

Alex and I reached the edge of the foundation. When I rolled out from beneath the slab, the heavy pull on my joints lifted away. I grabbed Alex’s arm. “Let’s go,” I whispered, and she slid off next to me.

I tapped the slab, sending it back toward the others. It reentered the stream heading to the far side of the foundation.

I could hear the clamor of the kids inside. One girl’s keening rose above the din. I felt emotion welling up beneath my face. “I have to…” My voice cracked. “I have to go back for them.”

“Those things in armor,” Alex whispered. “There are hundreds of them. We’ve only got our fists.” She looked frail, her face white and bloodless. “I doubt we’d even make it to the kids, but I’m willing to die trying if you are.”

Her legs were trembling, and not from fear. She was spent. I’d never seen her so fragile.