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of Pop Con Losing Support.
    Before he can read further, his father angles the holo-screen away from him, switching it off with a tap on the screen. He looks at the sky and flinches, as if only now realizing the time. When he grabs the boy’s hand, the boy is shocked at how cold his father’s hands are, as if he’s been the one in the water.
    They reach the gate and slip inside just as the edge of the sun clears the horizon and the sounds of people waking up spill from the houses on either side of theirs.
     
    ~~~
     
    “What’s a Slip?” the boy asks Janice that morning. He’s meant to be reading aloud to her, but he can’t concentrate when the words from his father’s holo-screen are burrowed so deeply in his brain that they feel like sharp-clawed mice.
    Janice’s blue eyes flash with surprise for a moment, before settling into a frown. “We learned that word a long time ago, child. Don’t you remember? A slip is a bad fall, or a woman’s undergarment. It can also mean narrowly making it through something, like a door. I’m probably forgetting a few other meanings, too.”
    “No,” the boy says. “What if it has a big S? A capital S.” He corrects himself before Janice can.
    He’s glad Janice is so bad at hiding her emotions, because now he’s able to read her as well as the book he’s ignoring. She’s gone pale, her lips dry even when she quickly licks them. She looks…scared. But why?
    “I’m not sure I understand what you mean,” she says, her voice dropping so much it’s almost a whisper.
    “I saw it on Father’s holo-screen,” the boy says. “They’re searching for a Slip. What does that mean?”
    Janice’s eyes soften and she throws back her head, laughing. It’s even higher than usual, and shakes a little. Not her normal laugh. Not real. “Oh that. It just means someone that’s hard to catch, someone who’s slippery. There’s a criminal out there and they’re trying to find him.”
    “The Head of Pop Con is trying to find the Slip?”
    This time there’s a visible twitch of her cheek and half of her mouth. Her eyes bore into him and then through him, drifting off into oblivion. “Janice?” he says quickly, hoping he won’t lose her again.
    She blinks and she’s back. “You have nothing to worry about, child. They’ll catch the criminal soon, and it will all be over.”
    “What did he do wrong?” the boy asks.
    “It’s not important,” Janice says, waving the question away like a pesky fly. But when her hand drifts back down he notices the way her fingers grip her other hand.
    “Did he kill someone?” The boy’s eyes gleam mischievously.
    Janice frowns, looking more like herself again. “No—No. And I don’t want to hear that kind of talk. You’ve been watching too many violent shows on the holo-screen. No Zoran for a week.”
    The boy doesn’t even mind the punishment.
    Because this is the most interesting day he’s had in his entire life.

Chapter Eight
     
    M ichael Kelly knows he’s out of time. He’s had the information for months, but has kept it hidden. Even the Head of Population Control—or Pop Con as most people call it—can’t protect the Slip forever. And if he loses his job it will be worse for everyone. Sacrifice one to save a lot more, right? He knows he’s in denial, that he’s not sacrificing one—that it’s already been hundreds, on his watch alone. And thousands during his predecessor’s reign, when this all started.
    He stares at the three-dimensional images projected from the holo-screen like the scene before him isn’t real. Like he’s watching a program. Like he’s not the mastermind of its creation. Emotional detachment is the only way he ever gets through operations like the one currently underway. The operation that was triggered when he finally allowed the anonymous tip to move through his own organization’s network.
    The abandoned building sits on the outskirts of the city, crumbling around the edges, its broken