“You can’t talk. You’ve never even met your ex-girlfriend,” Vik pointed out.

“Yeah, but at least our thing was longer than twelve minutes.”

Vik shoved him. “It was a full day, simulation time, Gormless One.”

Tom just kept laughing. “But it was twelve minutes real time. Twelve minutes, Vik. Ten plus two. You take longer showers than your entire relationship.”

“Die slowly, Tom.”

Wyatt walked alongside them back to the Spire, shivering and completely soaked. She was utterly silent.

“Are you well?” Yuri asked her. Wyatt nodded shortly.

“Hey, you know we threw you in the water to congratulate you, right?” Tom said.

“Yes, we thought it would be amusing,” Vik said. “And to be fair, it was. For us.”

Wyatt dragged her gaze over to them. “I was thinking about something. I’ll be in Upper Company, and you guys won’t.”

“Face rubbing,” Vik said.

But it wasn’t. “I’m not in Programming with you because I work with Blackburn. And now I won’t be in anything else with you.”

“For six months,” Vik said. “Unless somehow you make CamCo right away, but even you, Enslow, cannot charm a bunch of sponsors in so short a time.”

Even you . . . Tom stifled a laugh at the thought of Wyatt schmoozing.

“But what if you never get promoted to Upper Company?” Wyatt said, troubled. “What if none of you do? Then I’ll never see you guys ever.”

“Wow, Enslow, your confidence in us is overwhelming,” Vik said, but Tom registered the possibility grimly.

People only moved to Upper Company if they legitimately had a shot at CamCo. If they had at least mild interest from a few possible sponsors. He didn’t. He wouldn’t.

“Look, Evil Wench,” Vik said, “we didn’t get promoted right away, but there’s no saying it’s permanent for us.”

“Except when it comes to me,” Tom said with forced lightness.

“And me,” Yuri added softly, and they all lapsed into a grim silence.

Wyatt was the first trainee since Heather Akron to get bumped to Upper after a mere six months in Middle Company. From the scattering of mutterings he heard about “Blackburn’s pet” and the brief glimpse Tom caught of Heather’s face during the promotions announcements in Programming—like she’d swallowed a mouthful of acid—he knew a few people weren’t pleased about it at all. Then again, Heather resented Wyatt in general ever since the firewall debacle. Wyatt found a tracking cookie in her processor, spying on all her network activity. It had been cleverly added to the general homework feed and then programmed to self-delete from every processor but Wyatt’s. Heather denied responsibility with a huge smile, but none of them believed her. She obviously was still trying to make Wyatt’s life “seriously suck.” Wyatt’s advancement in rank had to burn her.