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already a little different. There’s a cheat-sheet and a list of forbidden words in your folder.’
    Troy felt a bout of dizziness and nearly sagged to the ground as weight was added, the lift slowing to a stop. He was still incredibly weak.
    The door opened; he followed Merriman down a short hallway, the same one he had emerged from hours earlier. The doctor and his assistant waited in the room beyond, preparing an IV. The doctor looked curiously at Troy, as if he hadn’t planned on seeing him again so soon, if ever.
    ‘You finish your last meal?’ the doctor asked, waving Merriman toward a stool.
    ‘Every vile drop of it.’ Merriman unclasped the tops of his overalls and let them flop down around his waist. He sat and held out his arm, palm up. Troy saw how pale Merriman’s skin was, the loose tangle of purple lines weaving past his elbow. He tried not to watch the needle go in.
    ‘I’m repeating my notes here,’ Merriman told him, ‘but you’ll want to meet with Victor in the psych office. He’s right across the hall from you. There’s some strange things going on in a few of the silos, more fracturing than we thought. Try and get a handle on that for the next guy.’
    Troy nodded.
    ‘We need to get you to your chamber,’ the doctor said. His young assistant stood by with a paper gown. The entire procedure looked very familiar. The doctor turned to Troy as if he were a stain that needed scrubbing away.
    Troy backed out of the door and glanced down the hall in the direction of the deep freeze. The women and children were kept there, along with the men who couldn’t make it through their shifts. ‘Do you mind if I … ?’ He felt a very real tug pulling him in that direction. Merriman and the doctor both frowned.
    ‘It’s not a good idea—’ the doctor began.
    ‘I wouldn’t,’ Merriman said. ‘I made a few visits the first weeks. It’s a mistake. Let it go.’
    Troy stared down the hallway. He wasn’t exactly sure what he would find there, anyway.
    ‘Get through the next six months,’ Merriman said. ‘It goes by fast. It all goes by fast.’
    Troy nodded. The doctor shooed him away with his eyes while Merriman began tugging off his boots. Troy turned, gave the heavy door down the hall one last glance, then headed in the other direction for the elevators.
    He hoped Merriman was right. Jabbing the button to call the express, he tried to imagine his entire shift flashing by. And the one after that. And the next one. Until this insanity had run its course, little thought to what came after.

5
    2049
    Washington, DC
     
    Time flew by for Donald Keene. Another day came to an end, another week, and still he needed more time. It seemed the sun had just gone down when he looked up and it was past eleven.
    Helen . There was a rush of panic as he fumbled for his phone. He had promised his wife he would always call before ten. A guilty heat wedged around his collar. He imagined her sitting around, staring at her phone, waiting and waiting.
    It didn’t even ring on his end before she picked up.
    ‘There you are,’ she said, her voice soft and drowsy, her tone hinting more at relief than anger.
    ‘Sweetheart. God, I’m really sorry. I totally lost track of time.’
    ‘That’s okay, baby.’ She yawned, and Donald had to fight the infectious urge to do the same. ‘You write any good laws today?’
    He laughed and rubbed his face. ‘They don’t really let me do that. Not yet. I’m mostly staying busy with this little project for the Senator—’
    He stopped himself. Donald had dithered all week on the best way to tell her, what parts to keep secret. He glanced at the extra monitor on his desk. Anna’s perfume was somehow frozen in the air, still lingering a week later.
    Helen’s voice perked up: ‘Oh?’
    He could picture her clearly: Helen in her nightgown, his side of the bed still immaculately made, a glass of water within her reach. He missed her terribly. The guilt he felt, despite his