“Good,” Andy said with a gentle smile. “Because we came to the same conclusion, so we ran a few checks and confirmed his identity. We’ve opened up a private channel and organised a chat for about five minutes time. I’m sorry, I know it’s not the best time.”

Anxiety and anticipation leapt in my chest, chasing out the lingering numbness.

“No, it’s okay. I know that we need to be quick,” I said, trying my best not to sound flat.

Based on the looks that Andy and Elliot shot me, I failed.

“He’s found a safe place to talk under the garage and he’s set up some proximity alarms. He should be safe there.”

I nodded. Discomfort warred within me. I wanted to make sure that he was okay and to see how things on the base were going but I hated the idea of risking anyone, especially someone so young.

If the Council found out that Sammy was even speaking to us, I had no doubt that he’d be tortured. It might have already happened. There was definitely a possibility that I open the call to see Harvey’s smug face staring back at me.

“It’ll be okay, Aries. Sammy will be careful,” Andy said softly.

My head snapped up.

“How did you know it was Sammy?” I asked.

Andy laughed gently.

“He told us when he was confirming his identity and so that we could access his screen remotely.”

I nodded, my eyes flicking towards the screen on the table before me.

“He’ll be safe. He’s smart and a quick thinker so even if he is caught somehow, he’ll find a way around it,” Andy reassured me.

“Plus, his mom will be able to get him out of most problems,” Elliot added.

I looked between them in confusion.

“Who’s his mom? I think Sammy said she was a Commander or something. Is she someone big?” I asked.

“Is she just,” Elliot said, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“She was promoted to the head of Information Management for the Council a few years ago. It’s about as powerful as a person can get without being a member of the Council,” Andy explained after seeing my confused expression.

My confusion slowly morphed into fear.

“What? We shouldn’t get him involved!” I objected, my mind wandering to Cas and his father.

If Sammy’s mom were similar in any way to Cas’ dad, he wouldn’t be protected by her, he’d be more at risk. I couldn’t do that.

“It’s okay,” Andy started. “I’ve met Phoe a few times, she isn’t a bad person and she cares a lot about her kids.”

I bit my lip as doubt crossed my mind. I wasn’t sure if I could trust anyone who worked for the Council, especially not if they were that high up. They must be ruthless.

“Either way, you’re not going to be asking Sammy to do anything, just finding out more about the base and how things are going there. That’s pretty low risk.”

I hated it and it definitely made me uncomfortable but I agreed. I wished that there was another option or some other way that we could get information but I knew that all of the tutors who’d worked there whilst I was on the base had either fled or been murdered.

“I guess,” I said reluctantly.

The screen before me lit up.

“Too late now, it’s time,” Aquila said, sitting up straighter and gesturing over the table before us.

The holodisplay powered up silently and I watched as the lights raced around the outside of the circle.

“If you prop the screen up so the camera can see you better, you’ll be able to speak to Sammy and it’ll stream to the display so that we can see what’s going on too,” she explained.

Nerves bounced in my stomach as I pulled the stand out of the back of the case and propped it up. I could see my reflection on the dark screen as it waited to be activated. I looked a mess. I felt like the heartbreak and poor sleep was clearly etched into my face.

My eyes were surrounded by shadows and I wasn’t sure how much of them were due to broken sleep and how much had been caused by Peggy’s flailing fists in the night. The cut on my cheek from when I’d collapsed on Andy’s ship and fallen onto the controls was barely healed.

I smoothed my hair quickly, trying to tame some of the frizzy flyaways that stuck out from my head at all angles. It was useless but I didn’t care enough to do anything more.

“Okay. Are you ready, Aries?” Andy asked as Elliot’s hands hovered over the screen in front of him.

I knew that he was waiting to activate it so that I could speak to Sammy but fear flip-flopped in my stomach.

“Yes,” I forced myself to say.

Elliot glanced at me, making sure that I was ready before he began typing.

His fingers hitting the screen was the only noise for a moment before the screen and holodisplay lit up.

Sammy’s face, far too close to the camera, appeared.

“Captain Aries!” he cried in a hushed tone, the worried look on his face immediately becoming one of happiness. “It’s so good to see you! Of course, I knew I was going to because Director Gaddon would never have lied to me but still! I can’t believe it’s you! I know you said that you’d come back but I thought you’d forgotten all about me in your quest to take on the entire Council!”

Guilt churned in my stomach but he hadn’t finished talking yet.

“I read the story that you published. Or, I guess, I shouldn’t call it a story right, it was real. So, maybe a memoir? But then, you aren’t dead and I thought memoirs were only really written about dead people, right? I don’t know! Either way, I can’t believe you included me in it! I was so shocked when I read my name! I can’t believe that you said about me sneaking into my mom’s study to use the stimulator, I thought my brother was going to kill me when he read that so thank the Gods you didn’t say anything about the time I snuck into that Council party and dropped an egg on Councillor Harvey! Although, if I knew what an asshole he was, I would have done it on purpose,” Sammy’s eyes narrowed and an uncharacteristic look of anger crossed his face.

“Language,” Andy chided gently.

Sammy’s eyes widened.

“I’m so sorry, Director! I didn’t know you were there! Of course, you said you’d be but I wasn’t sure!” he squeaked out.

Andy leant towards me so that Sammy could see him in the camera.

“That’s alright but be careful, you’re still on the base and Councillor Harvey is a very dangerous person,” Andy warned him.

“Did you get into trouble for what I wrote?” I asked, needing to know.

I guess, we didn’t include all of it. I didn’t mention anything about the equipment that Cas and Gem had hidden in the vents for him or the guide that Peggy had written. I can include that now that I know he won’t get into trouble for it, I guess.

“Nah, not really. I mean, they took my wrist monitor to try and work out what Cas sent me,” he said holding up his bare wrist. “And I told them that the code he’d given me for the hatches never really worked because, for some strange reason, the codes keep changing on a daily basis so no one can use them now. I’m really sorry, Director Haddon. I might have said that I thought it was something you’d done before you left.”

“That’s okay, Sammy, it was a good excuse. What actually happened and why have they not given you your wrist monitor back yet?” Andy asked, leaning in again.

A fleeting smirk passed his face.

“Well…” he started. “I might have had a bit of a play around with the system of some of the Bots so that the base recognises them as unknown entities so that each time they access the vents, it resets the codes. And then also worked out how the new codes are created and maybe then also started sharing it with some of the people I trust weekly so that we can keep using them. Honestly, the tutors gave up on trying to access them so as long as we’re smart about it, they don’t even notice.”

I was silent and I’m pretty sure that my mouth was hanging open.

“What?” I said when I was finally able to speak.

“Yeah… I mean, I don’t feel great about hacking the Bots but Cas showed me how and that guide that Peggy left was really good and made it so easy so I didn’t think Director Gaddon would be too angry…” he said hesitantly.

I looked at Andy who had a look of shock on his face.

“Honestly, kid, I don’t think he’s angry at all, I think he’s impressed. I am too, that sounds like a lot of really hard work,” I said genuinely.

Sammy’s face lit up.

“It wasn’t that hard! I mean, I’ve been hacking my mom’s office doors for ages and it wasn’t too different!” He paused. “Are you sure he’s not mad at me?”

“Not at all. Great work! What about your monitor?” Andy asked.

The kid’s face dropped again.

“Well… it’s broken. Kind of.” He hesitated again. “We all read your story and one of my friends, Pavo, he worked out that there were listening devices in our wrist monitors and that they were monitoring us that way so… they started breaking.”

“Breaking?” I asked.

I’d had a wrist monitor for most of my life and I’d never had any problems with it. I’d never heard of anyone’s wrist monitor breaking before.

Something about the look on Sammy’s face told me that it wasn’t a coincidence.

“Yup!” he said happily. “Pavo is kind of an engineering whizz because he was in an orphanage that didn’t have a working heating system when he was a kid so he worked out how to fix it through, like, trial and error. That’s why they’re missing the top part of their little finger. But anyway, he worked out how to open the monitors without the tamper alarms going off and once he worked that out, he made this device that triggered random monitors to just fly open from a distance. He even posted about it in some of the back channels and taught some other people how to make them! It’s great! It’s given us way more freedom which was needed because the base is a mess.”

I glanced at Andy who looked worried.

“What’s going on?”