Punny no longer knew his job. He would not mind having a regular job again.

  He had once measured his days by tasks, by plans, by the simple certainty that work would lead to a result. Now every hour produced a new surprise, and each surprise made the last one look small. He had stopped thinking in terms of progress and started thinking in terms of survival.

  The sickly looking man by the car claimed he could rescue Vengeful. He called himself Brain 1. Punny saw two more figures in the vehicle, a man and a woman, sitting still as if movement was beneath them. They did not get out. They did not look around. They waited. Punny focused on the one who had spoken.

  “I have never heard of you,” Punny said, “and you barely look capable of standing. Why would I believe you want to help us. Why would I believe you can.”

  Brain 1 let out a long sigh that sounded like contempt given shape.

  “Fine,” Brain 1 said. “I will preface this with the fact that I was designed to be rude. I will attempt to minimize it. Your questioning makes it difficult.”

  “Rude,” Punny repeated. “You just called my questions idiotic.”

  Brain 1 raised a hand. “Stop. Let me begin at the beginning. Do you know why the city exists.”

  “No,” Punny said.

  “Of course you do not,” Brain 1 replied. “Very few do. It exists to serve me, Brain 2, and Brain 3.”

  He pointed toward the motionless figures inside the car.

  “We were designed to be exceptionally intelligent. Prescient. We monitor the system and troubleshoot instabilities. We keep society in order.”

  Pearl Jammer stepped forward. “If that is true, why are you here.”

  Brain 1 looked at Pearl as if he were something unpleasant. “If you stop talking long enough, you might learn something. We knew we were being used. They built the city to keep us captive and dependent. As long as instabilities remained small, we could not act. We studied the cage for years. We tested it. We waited. Patience is easier when you are certain you are right. This is the moment we have been waiting for.”

  Punny felt his jaw tighten. “So you started this.”

  “Not exactly,” Brain 1 said. “The sun and the climate caused your harvest failures. The drones and the city made the truck a target. Vengeful chose to strike Ed. That altered his chip. When we analyzed it, we saw an opening. We stoked events quietly and precisely. We played the situation well.”

  The words were too confident. Too polished. Punny felt the familiar sensation of being handled, of being directed without consent.

  “So you escaped,” Punny said. “Then why come here. Why help us rescue Vengeful.”

  Brain 1’s face tightened. The question displeased him. He did not like answering it. Punny felt suspicion rise, but he forced himself to stay focused. Motives mattered, but Vengeful mattered more.

  Brain 1’s composure slipped and his voice sharpened.

  “I underestimated you,” Brain 1 said. “I come offering what you want most. You respond with suspicion. Do you want Vengeful or not. We did not have to come. We do not have to stay. We accomplished our goal. You are free to remain ignorant and lose your friend.”

  He pushed himself upright with visible effort and shuffled toward the driver side door, muttering insults under his breath. Punny watched him, weighing the risk. The man was poisonous, but he might be useful. Punny did not know where Vengeful was. He did not even know what the station truly was beyond rumor and propaganda.

  “Wait,” Punny said, stepping closer. “You have to understand how this looks. We would be foolish not to be cautious. The world has become larger than we believed. The smart response is to learn before we act.”

  Brain 1 paused. For a moment his contempt eased into something else, something that almost resembled agreement.

  “Yes,” Brain 1 said. “It takes time for people with your limitations to adjust. Would it help if I gave you information you cannot already have.”

  Punny, Rocky, and Pearl all spoke at once. Agreement came fast and loud. Brain 1 nodded as if granting a favor.

  “Vengeful is being held on the space station,” Brain 1 said.

  The words hit Punny in the stomach.

  The space station might as well have been another solar system. No one from the settlement went there. They had no access, no route, no identity, no authority. The station was above them in the same way the sky was above them. A place you could see but could not reach.

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  Punny swallowed. “I believe you. That’s the problem. We cannot rescue someone from a station. We have no way to get there.”

  Brain 1’s mouth curled. “We have been locked on a floor in police headquarters our entire lives. We had no access either. And yet here we are.”

  “This seems different,” Punny said. “It is a different scale.”

  “You cannot make it work,” Brain 1 said. “We will make it work. Your job is to listen and obey. I gave you information you could not obtain. If you pay attention, I will also show you how to confirm it.”

  “How,” Rocky asked, voice tight.

  Brain 1 nodded toward Rex. “He has a control chip. It is damaged, but it is still a key. With my help you use it as a backdoor into the main control system. You confirm Vengeful’s location. Then you act.”

  Rocky’s eyes narrowed. He was already calculating. “That could work.”

  “Yes,” Brain 1 said. “Thank you for stating the obvious.”

  Punny saw Rocky inhale slowly, fighting the urge to respond. The Brains were designed to be unbearable. Whoever had built them had succeeded.

  Punny stepped between them before the exchange turned into a fight.

  “Enough,” Punny said. “We work. We remove the chip. We connect it. We confirm where she is. That is the priority.”

  “Yes,” Brain 1 said. “And you need a port. Before you speak, I have one.”

  He pulled a cord from his pocket.

  Rocky took it without asking. “Come with me. My office is ready.”

  Punny turned to Rex. “Doctor. Now. We remove your chip.”

  “Fine,” Rex said. “If it helps her, do it.”

  As they walked away, Melody jogged up beside them.

  “Do you trust him,” she asked.

  “No,” Punny said. “Not at all. But trust is not the question. Utility is. If they can get us Vengeful, we use them.”

  Rex’s voice came from the other side. “They are using you. They know what you want. They know how to bait you.”

  “I know,” Punny said. “But there is no other path on the table. Leaving her there is not an option.”

  Melody nodded once. “Agreed.”

  They moved through the settlement. Punny noticed how quiet it was. The settlement was always small, but today it felt thinner, as if people were hiding. A group had gathered near the auditorium, but most doors were closed. Fear did that. It turned communities into shadows.

  They reached the doctor’s house quickly.

  John Smith had been with them as long as Punny could remember. Grey hair. Wire rim glasses. A calm voice that made you feel less doomed than you were. He looked at Rex with something like professional curiosity and a quiet respect.

  “So,” Dr. Smith said, extending his hand, “this is my long lost colleague.”

  Rex shook it, half smiling. “I did not even know I had colleagues.”

  “A day you learn something is a good day,” Dr. Smith said. “I repeat that more these days. Age does that. Do not worry. My surviving patients agree I can still function.”

  The group laughed despite themselves. Dr. Smith had that effect. He could take fear and reduce it. Not by denying it. By making it smaller.

  “Sit,” Dr. Smith said, already moving. “I will not keep you long.”

  Rex sat on the couch. Dr. Smith scanned the back of his neck, confirmed the chip location, numbed the skin, then deeper tissue. He produced a scalpel and a clamp.

  “Hold still,” Dr. Smith said. “You might feel pressure. I suspect you have said that sentence yourself. I have always wondered why no one has invented a way to remove the pressure too. It would make our lies more honest.”

  He worked quickly.

  Then he lifted the clamp.

  A small metallic chip hung in its jaws.

  Rex touched his neck, surprised by the simplicity of the outcome. “That was fast.”

  “I have practice,” Dr. Smith said. His tone stayed light. “Keep it clean. Do not be foolish. I assume you know that.”

  Punny took the chip and held it in his hand. It was small. Too small. He stared at it, thinking of the city, the workers, the sense of belonging that had been manufactured and enforced by something that could fit on his palm.

  They thanked Dr. Smith and left.

  On the walk to Rocky’s house Punny felt urgency build. Not only for Vengeful, but for Rocky. Rocky had been left with Brain 1 for too long, and Punny remembered the sound of Brain 1’s voice, the effortless cruelty of it.

  They were still a block away when they heard shouting.

  Melody increased her pace. “We should hurry.”

  They entered to find Rocky and Brain 1 on opposite sides of the room, both red faced, both breathing hard. Rocky’s hands shook with contained anger. Brain 1 did not even look up at the newcomers.

  Rocky pointed at Brain 1. “I will never work with this arrogant asshole again.”

  Brain 1’s voice was lazy. “All you had to do was listen. Even someone with your limitations could manage that.”

  Punny stepped between them and put a hand on Rocky’s chest to hold him back.

  “Enough,” Punny said. He turned to Brain 1. “You think you are smarter than everyone. Maybe you are. I do not care. Rocky knows computers. I listen to him. You want us to cooperate, you stop the abuse. There is no debate.”

  Brain 1 opened his mouth.

  “Shut up,” Punny said. “Here is the chip. Tell us what happens next.”

  For the first time, Brain 1 looked at him as if he were seeing him clearly. Something like respect flickered. Not warmth. Not kindness. Recognition.

  Brain 1 inhaled. Then again. Then again. He paced in the corner, muttering to himself as if recalibrating.

  “You are right,” Brain 1 said finally. The concession sounded painful. “I will attempt to be less hostile. Rocky has the connection. He can install it.”

  Punny handed the chip to Rocky. Rocky set it into the connector. There was a soft click.

  “Send me your program,” Rocky said to Brain 1.

  Punny frowned. “Program.”

  “The Brain wrote a tool,” Rocky said, eyes fixed on the screen. “It breaks through security. If it works, I can reach the walled off areas.”

  Rocky pressed enter.

  His mouth opened.

  “Holy hell,” Rocky whispered. “It worked. We are in.”

  He started typing faster, navigating directories like a man running through a burning building.

  “Tell me again where,” Rocky said.

  “Space Station Seven,” Brain 1 replied. “Policy headquarters directory. Current prisoners. As I have told you.”

  Rocky ignored the insult. His eyes were locked on the data.

  “I found her,” Rocky said. His voice rose. “She’s there.”

  For a moment the room broke open with relief. Punny heard himself cheer. Melody did too. Rex exhaled as if he had been holding his breath for an hour. It did not solve the rescue, but it was a victory. It was proof that they were not blind.

  Then Rocky frowned again.

  “It looks like they have a new Chief Inspector,” Rocky said.

  Brain 1’s head snapped up. “What.”

  “It is there,” Rocky said. “A new one. I guess even you can be wrong. It says they are on their twenty first Chief Inspector.”

  Brain 1 moved to the screen, pushing Rocky aside. His fingers began slow, then faster. The change in speed matched the change in his face. Worry replaced contempt. The room cooled.

  “This is not the twenty first Chief Inspector,” Brain 1 said.

  He turned to them.

  “This is Number Twenty One,” he said. “The Numbered are involved now. That is bad for everyone.”