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"So they could bring what they’d made"

"What did you talk about there?"

"Poetry," I say "Songs"

"And that’s all," the Pilot says

His voice can be as cold or as warenerous and welcoiving as the marble of the steps at City Hall

I have a question of my own for him "Why didto thes have happened since you first joined the Rising several o," the Pilot says "Poisoned lakes Mysterious codes A Gallery built where people could gather and exchange things they’d written It seeain, there was a great deal to find" And now his voice is very cold

"Cassia’s not fighting against the Rising," Xander says "She’s part of the Rising I can vouch for her"

"So can I," Ky says

"Thatto me," the Pilot says, "if it weren’t for the confluence of data around the three of you There’s enough to make all of you suspect"

"What do youwanted us to do I came back to Central to live Ky flew ships for you Xander saved patients"

"Your se your other actions to those in the Rising with less authority and information," the Pilot tells me "They initially had no reason to report you to s and made connections that were unavailable to others As the Pilot, I have access to more information When I looked closely, I found the truth People died wherever you went The decoys in your camp, for example, many of ere Aberrations"

"We didn’t kill those decoys," Ky says "You did When the Society sent people out to die, you sat back and watched"

The Pilot continues, relentless "A river near the Carving was poisoned while you were in the area You detonated wiring in the Carving, destroying part of a village that belonged to Anoe facility in the canyons, a facility that the Rising had infiltrated You conspired to obtain and carry blue tablets You even killed a boy with them We found his body"

"That’s not true," I say, but in a way, it is I didn’thim the blue tablets, but I did And then I realize why the Archivist asked ht be stored "You’re the one anted to kno much I knew about the tubes," I say "Do you really trade them?"

"You trade the tubes?" Ky asks

"Of course," the Pilot says "I’ll use whatever I need to secure loyalty and resources for finding the cure The sa else will"

Ky shakes his head, disgusted I can’t help but be grateful that ere able to get Grandfather’s tube away from the Cavern Who knohat the Pilot would have used it for

"There’s sothose who suffered contaminated water supplies"

The lake I remember those dead fish But I don’t understand what he ure this out

"The Plague spread too quickly," Xander says, his eyes lighting up "It stayed contained in Central for a long time, and then all of a sudden it idespread Until the virus went into the water, we had an epide it to one another After the water supplies were contaminated, we had a pandeht there with Xander, putting together the pieces "It’s a waterborne Plague," Ky says "Like the one they sent to the Eneue inning of the Rising--widespread contamination in several different Cities and Provinces--means that someone added the virus to water sources to hurry up the process" I shake my head "I should have realized So that’s why the illness was everywhere, all at once"

"And that’s ere stretched so thin at thedidn’t anticipate the sabotage But we handled it anyway Everything would have been fine, except for the mutation"

"You can’t think the three of us could coordinate all of that," Ky says

"No," the Pilot says "But the three of you were a part of it And it’s time to co else for Cassia on the datapod"

I look back at the screen and see a second file embedded Inside I find a picture of my mother, and one of my father The screen flashes back and forth between the two of them

"No," I say "No" My parents look up frolassy-eyed They are both still

"They have the mutation," the Pilot says "There is no cure They are both in a medical center in Keya" He anticipates my next question before I ask it "We have been unable to locate your brother"

Bra somewhere where no one can find hi? No He’s not I won’t believe it I can’t iine Bram still

"Now," the Pilot says, "you have an incentive to tell us everything you can Who do you work for? Are you Society syroup introduce the mutation? Do you have a cure?"

For the first time, I hear him lose control while he speaks It’s only on the last word, cure, and I can tell how truly desperate and driven he is He wants this cure He will do anything he can to find it

But we don’t have a cure He’s wasting his time with us What should we do? How can we convince him?