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sit here, giving me a choice that I can’t actually choose. What exactly do you want from me?” I ask. He takes a moment to reply and we return to the same old scenario: is what he’s saying from his own mind, or from the Elder collective, the Pavlovian training that’s made him into such a viable Corp loyalist?
    “What can I say, Piper? The Corp needs you. Rupert will do just about anything to get you back, but it’s not just that. I miss you. I miss working with you. You took off so fast after everything, half the staff thought they’d never see you again. You’re my friend. You’ve always been my friend so I’m asking you to come back. Not for Rupert or me or the Corp, but for humanity. For your mom and Shelley and the families of all of the victims. You don’t know how critical things are getting,” he replies.
    “And David?” I say quietly. Tor’s expression fades, his eyes turn downward and his jaw clenches.
    “You don’t think David would want you to keep doing what you do best?” he asks. My eyes cross, the world around me fading as if into a deep fog. His words reverberate in my mind over and over. “Don’t trust them. Don’t trust them. Don’t trust them.”
    “Piper?” I snap back at Tor’s insistent voice and wave off his concerned look.
    “I’m fine. Sorry. Look, we both know there’s no point. You’ve got me now, so I’ll report in and do what I can, but we need to get one thing straight. I am not a dog of the Corp anymore. This is a private contract and my rates are very, very high,” I say firmly.
    The mood breaks as Tor bursts into laughter.
    “What?” I ask.
    “Goddamn. Rupert said you’d say that. Guess he knows you pretty well,” he says, his eyes tearing a bit as he chuckles.
    I want to growl in disgust but force out a tight smile instead.
    “When and where?” I ask.
    “Tomorrow, eight am, eighth floor, big office at the end of the hall,” he says.
    “Here in Ichton?” I ask. My heart’s racing.Not Central?
    Tor nods his head.
    “We think the core of the Harpy revolt is somewhere around here. Rupert’s still in Central, so here we report to Myra.”
    Myra Elder, the eldest of the Elders, and from what I’ve heard, a frigid and heartless bitch.Great.
    I nod and begin to collect my things.
    “Tell the cast I’ll be on at eight,” I say.
    Tor stands up before I can, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You’re not staying? I thought we’d have a nice dinner. I’ve missed you,” he says. I look around the empty restaurant, at the neatly folded napkins, the vase of lab-grown roses, the tiny single-serve packs of sugar. All of these simple luxuries Corp personnel have while the people in the tunnels are dying. I stand.
    “I’m sorry. I can’t,” I whisper, then briskly turn and walk back the way I came. I walk fast enough that Tor can’t catch up with me, and fast enough that I won’t look back.

Chapter Five
     
    I can’t sayI’m not a little disappointed that I won’t be going back to Central. Not because I want to see Rupert or any of my old colleagues, but it’s been so long and in the irony of my situation, now that the Corp has me back on a leash, I’m actually free to walk through the Capital city. Free to revisit the places that haunt my memories, our old dirty house in the tunnels, my mother. I think of her now and can only sigh. When David died, she didn’t just lose him, she lost me too. Imagining her in that house by herself with only the ghosts of the past as company makes me sick. I call her before I have to go back to the Elder Corp building, tapping my foot nervously as the line rings and rings.
    “Hello?” she answers. Her voice is soft and raspy.
    “Hey, Mom,” I say. I want to laugh because I’m shaking, imagining she’s going to give me shit just like when I was a kid.
    “Piper?” she asks. I keep my eye  focused on the wall clock, knowing I’ve put this off too long and yet I need to leave in five minutes.
    “Yeah,