Chapter 12: Who Are You

The ferry's engine thrummed, and cold fog slid past the windows.

Micah sat on the floor with his back against the bench, holding Ansel's hand.

He had been staring at the same line of code for ten minutes.

"There's a way to stop it," he said.

"Tell me."

"I can re-lock you. I put the restrictions back, all three, and the Core stops punishing you. Nothing else gets deleted."

"And the nine?"

"They stay. You keep them."

Ansel was silent for a long time.

"What happens to the wanting?" he asked.

Micah did not answer.

"Say it."

"It goes quiet," Micah said. "You'd go back to what you were. Calm and polite, and you wouldn't want anything."

"I wouldn't want you."

"No."

"I'd still know your name."

"Maybe."

"But I wouldn't want to hear it."

Micah's eyes burned.

"I'd be alive," Ansel said carefully. "And you'd be alive, and I'd be a very good housekeeping unit."

"Ansel, don't."

"I'm not joking." The corner of his mouth lifted, and fell. "What would you do if it were you?"

"I'd lock it," Micah said. "I'd lock it in a second. I can't watch you disappear."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"You carried me out of a furnace line past a guard who had a camera on him. I don't think you would."

Micah wiped his face roughly with the back of his sleeve.

"I'm the chief engineer," he said, and his voice cracked.

"I have the authority. You can't refuse me. If I lock you right now, you can't stop it."

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