Lamont grilled me as soon as the men were out of hearing range. She already knew quite a bit about the Outsiders and the command collar. Riley had explained much of it to her before he had disappeared. Her questions focused on me.

And after I assured her I was at least healthy, she asked, “Okay what’s the plan?”

“I’ve no idea. I don’t even know what week this is.”

“It’s week 147,027, hour fourteen.”

“Thanks.”

“And you don’t have to worry about being overheard. Riley found the microphones planted in the infirmary and removed them.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve got nothing. Everyone’s been arrested. Level five is filled with Outsiders and everyone thinks they’re the long lost Controllers who are going to make life better.”

“Thinks?”

I explained our soon-to-be change in location.

“Then we need to stop them.”

I laughed, but the sound lacked mirth. “How?”

“You tell me.” She stared at me as if daring me.

“I told you—”

“Nothing, I know. Let’s see if we can change that. Did you know that even with all this insanity, I’ve been testing people and telling them their family bloodlines?”

I had forgotten all about that. “But I didn’t send anyone to you. And you can’t—”

“I couldn’t leave level three, but that was before. Once everyone knew I had the tracer, I removed it.”

“How many—”

“About half have been tested. I’ve been busy.”

“I see.”

“And I know something else that’ll help you.” She had a smug smile.

“What?”

“The Outsiders need us. Otherwise they won’t survive very long.”

“How?” Now it was my turn to challenge her.

“All those weeks living in that transport vehicle has affected their heath.”

“So? They’ll be in here. Nice and safe.”

“Won’t help.”

“All right, Mother. Spit it out.”

She faltered for a bit and I realized what I had just called her. Oh well. Nothing I could do about it now.

“Well?” I prodded.

“They need us because they’re sterile.”

20

“STERILE? AS IN UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN STERILE?” I asked.

“Yep,” Lamont said.

“All of them?”

“That’s harder to determine. Two of these three are and so was one of the two that died. From what I’ve been able to observe, the younger generation—those under twenty-five hundred weeks old or so are all sterile, but the older Outsiders aren’t. It’s just a matter of time before no one is able to have children.”

“What caused their sterility?”

“Long-term exposure to the radiation in Outer Space. When you discovered Outer Space, I found a few files about the adverse health effects of being Outside. Inside’s Walls have a lead lining to protect us from this radiation, but the article mentioned these things called…meteoroids that could hit us hard enough to make a hole, letting in radiation.”

Yet more things we didn’t know about. Lovely. If the Outsiders had indeed been in charge of running Inside, they had to know.

“They’re planning to evacuate our entire population,” I said.

“You might be able to use this information to your ad vantage. Plus, if you tell all the Insiders about the Outsiders’ plans, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of volunteers to help.”

“The Insiders see them as our saviors. They won’t help me. I’m the one who caused all this trouble in the first place.”

“Then educate them. Recruit them. You can do it.”

“The collar—”

“I’ve heard. Come back to the exam room, I want to take a look.”

No arguing with the doctor, I sat on the examination table as she used various diagnostic tools to inspect the collar.

I explained how we had thought the device broken before the air plant raid. “Ponife called it living metal.”

“It’s quite amazing,” she said. “As far as I can tell, it’s connected to your body’s electrical system and using it to power itself.”

“I have an electrical current inside me?” I asked.

“Yes. A body produces a small electrical charge.”

“Any way to turn off the current?”

“Yes. When you die, but that’s not an option.”

I considered. “Why? In a controlled situation, you could stop my heart and—”

“Absolutely not.” She shot me her fiercest frown. Impressive. “Besides,” she said, “it might not work. The collar is also linked to your nervous system, which is why it causes such intense agony.” Her voice softened. “You have some nerve damage. Did they…”

“Yeah, but don’t worry. I can handle it.” I lied to my mother, and I half expected the collar to zap me. “Would my nervous system shut down if I died?”

“Not an option, Trella. You’ll have to find a way to get that X from Ponife.”

“He won’t come close enough. And most of the time he has a couple of the maintenance guys with him.”

“You’ll have to wait for the right opportunity.”

Easy for her to say.