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I had been co to take hi Adam involved in whatever Dr Banks had co in et anywhere nearexactly the thing I was increasingly co hi to recuse itself just because he didn’t knohat he was getting into He would have to learn eventually

"Sure," I said

We walked silently and hand in hand through the hydroponics garden, our footsteps echoing loudly No one else was there Adam tended to take his duty shifts when they wouldn’t require him to interact with anyone, and I wondered how intentional that was on his part: whether he understood on some level just how much distance there was between us and the humans here

It was funny, in an aay I should have been excited by the thought of another chi Ronnie and Kristoph, who had helped Sherman keep me captive, yes, but who hadn’t been responsible for kidnapping me, and who had at least been the sa with as I walked through a huht by creatures ere genetically my family Adam was too innocent to really help me shoulder my fears Anna could have been the answer…

But Anna ith Dr Banks, and he was the thing I trusted least in the world There were no easy answers here

"Why do you think he brought her to us? I wouldn’t bring her to us if I were hiht take her away and not let him have her back"

That was pretty close to the actual situation I nodded grimly "That, and Dr Cale doesn’t like Dr Banks veryaway fro here was kind of dumb" Adam frowned "Is he dumb?"

That was the probleh to help her h not to walk into a trap without knowing that’s what he’s doing"

"So why?"

I didn’t have an answer I just shrugged helplessly, and kept hold of Ada

Adam seemed to be content with silence after that, maybe because neither of us knee were supposed to say We had a new sister We just didn’t knoe could trust her, or what for for us e reached it, a sign that Dr Cale had told the rest of the staff to lie lohile we dealt with our unwanted visitors Dr Banks was in a cell, but she still didn’t trust him, and the less he knew about the scope of our operation, the better

Adam seemed to think so, too He frowned as we stepped into the open elevator, clearly understanding what its presence meant "Dr Banks is a badof the question was childish I answered it all the same, without hesitation: "Yes He’s a very bad man I don’t know of anyone that he hasn’t been bad to, except for ood to hi us toward the lab as Adas better for humans? So they’d be less sick, and have less to worry about?"

"Yeah, but I don’t think they n over ownership of their bodies in the process" I squeezed Adam’s hand "Dr Banks skipped a lot of steps that would have made the implants safer for people to use That’s why Dr Cale had to run away in the first place--that’s why she stole you from the lab If she hadn’t been forced to do that, " And Adam and I wouldn’t exist Instead, Sally Mitchell and whoever Ada around the world, ignorant of the future they had so narrowly dodged

"Is it selfish that I like this world better than a world where we’re not real?" asked Adahts that I glanced at him, startled Then I shook my head

"No," I said, as the elevator stopped and the doors slid s real for anybody Not even Nathan It’s not selfish to want to exist It’s a function of the survival instinct buried in all coanisms" Even the sleepwalkers had it That hy they ate so voraciously, following the deeply ingrained "this is how you survive" coled against the co of the human brain

We had taken about five steps outside the elevator when Ada extre I frowned I didn’t hear anything except for the faint buzz of the lab machinery and the low voices of the technicians ere still at work Not everything could be shut down at the drop of a hat

"Ada, weaving between the workstations and darting down the aisles I sprinted after hiht He whipped around a pink-painted ith ht yards behind I heard Dr Cale shout his na a shly aside I kept on running