Page 47 of Perfection

“D-37.”

“Affirmative.”

“What does that mean?” York asked.

Kindra groaned. “The computer has assigned each child a number, and we just heard two of them testing positive for the virus.”

York held her ragged gaze.

“HERO will compile the results,” she said as she walked to the holographic monitor on the desk.

He dragged over a chair. “Here, sit,” he ordered. She looked exhausted. He imagined that in her perfect life she faced few real difficulties as part of her everyday routine.

With an embarrassed smile, she sagged onto the chair. A second later, he saw her straighten. The woman had pluck, he thought as he grabbed himself a stool.

“What time did they start coming?” he asked.

“There were five families waiting when I arrived this morning. The line has been growing ever since.”

It was noon. “Have you eaten?”

She shook her head, closed her beautiful blue eyes, then opened them. “There isn’t time.”

“You need to maintain your health. Nine, please have two protein shakes delivered to us.”

She glared at him and started to rise. With a hand on her shoulder, he urged her back down. He massaged the knotted muscles in her shoulder and neck with one hand. She wet her lips and sighed. He felt her sag slightly under his hand. When a robot delivered their drinks, she drank hers in silence, looking at him every now and then from beneath her dark lashes.

When they were finished, he asked, “Better?”

She nodded.

“Now what?” he asked, knowing it was time to get back to work.

“Now we find out how bad this really is.” She flexed her long neck from side to side, the same way she’d done in the unity room.

“Nine,” she said. “Pull up the statistics we have gathered thus far. How many children have the same virus as Isabelle?”

“One hundred and seven confirmed cases.”

A punch of breath escaped Kindra. “Oh, God.” She closed her eyes and dipped her chin to her chest.

“Some are at different stages of the virus, but all will expire within a matter of days,” the computer said without inflection. The machine blipped. Typed words appeared on the screen: They will all die…

Then the screen returned to normal.

“What was that?” York asked.

Comp Nine made a woozy sound. “I don’t know. An override occurred.”

“Check the source,” Kindra said.

“I find nothing,” Nine responded.

Her brows furrowed. “I don’t understand. What—”

“A warning,” York said.

“And it means?”