“How are you communicating with them? Do you know what they are?” I asked.

“We just got emails. It wasn’t a big deal. Eventually we figured out it wasn’t human, but when we asked, it said it was working against Carl. Carl was holding us back, it’s setting us free.”

People will believe whatever they need to, I guess.

“So you’re fine working with aliens as long as they make you feel special. Cool,” I said.

“I’ve had enough of this conversation.”

“Well, regardless,” Maya said, “it’s probably enough.” And then she stepped out from behind me, holding the phone in her hand.

“Should I send this to Andy now?”

ANDY

Stewart Patrick had done all he could to freak out investors, now focusing on Europe and the Middle East because they were awake. We had at least an hour before the East Coast would start waking up.

That’s when we needed to release whatever we had.

And what we had was good, just not great. It was audio of Peter saying that Altus had kidnapped someone against their will, and that they had human beings mining AltaCoin twenty-four hours a day. And we had Peter basically acknowledging that the Altus Space was alien technology.

That had to be good for something, right?

“None of this has been cheap to put together,” Stewart said over the phone from his office in the Financial District. “I’m taking a big risk here.”

“I think we all are. But I know that they have secrets that aren’t just, like, bad finances. They’re doing very illegal, very immoral shit.”

“That means nothing if you can’t amplify it. I know you’ve got a big audience, Andy, but if it’s just you, and no one else can confirm it, it’s not going to drive down the price of Altus. They’ve got access to the most important technology … maybe ever.”

“Stewart, you don’t have to tell me this, I know all of this. We have a plan, it’s going to go down. And it’s going to go down probably tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t give me probablys, Andy, I’ve got these people on edge, but they’re not going to sell unless things start to look very bad. They’ll sell fast when it does, but it has to look really bad, and they know the price we’ll buy at. If one of them sells, they all will, until we run out of money, at which point we’ll own more than 50 percent of Altus. But it has to go south hard and fast. Whatever this news is, it needs to happen soon.”

So I made Stewart Patrick that promise, and while I’m sure he was familiar with people who made promises they did not keep, I didn’t want to be one of those people, particularly if all humanity depended on it.

We were at a point from which the fire could spread. Conservative and liberal outlets both pulled stories from The Thread. Once it was in both of those places, the more middle-of-the-road publications would want a piece and Altus would be the lead story everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CNN.

I logged into the chat to give One the good news. We had enough to go live with our video on Altus. Not only were we basically creating a nation with unelected leaders that we would have to live with forever, we could prove that those leaders were deeply corrupt and did not deserve the power they had amassed.

I found … that I didn’t have access to any public chats. I also didn’t have access to any private chats. Except one …

Twelve: I’ve lost access to the chat.

One: I know, I was worried about what you were about to say.

Twelve: What do you mean? I’ve got the goods. Peter Petrawicki on tape saying he kidnapped employees and also that, get this, Altus is a nonhuman project. It’s more than just the economic devastation and the inequality. They’re kinda monsters.

One: I don’t want to make this video anymore.

Twelve: Why not? It’s huge. The kind of power that Altus has consolidated is too much. We have to do this.

One: We don’t.

I was starting to panic. There was nothing I could do if One didn’t let me do it.

Twelve: This doesn’t make any sense. Let me take it to the rest of the chat and see what they think.

There was no pause before the words appeared on the screen.

One: Removing the Altus Space from the System will decrease our predictive power and influence considerably. Simulations with Altus are far clearer than simulations without it. The path to secure and stable intervention is much clearer and safer if Altus retains its power.

If my heart was beating at all in that moment, I would be surprised. It felt like it froze in my chest. And not just my heart … everything. The world had frozen solid.

Twelve: I don’t think I understand.

I did. I just wanted to hear it.

One: I’m here to take you to a stable future.

Twelve: But why not let us try? Isn’t there a higher chance that we could stay free if you helped us end Altus?

One: Yes, but I am not designed to help you stay free. That opportunity passed.

And then, since I couldn’t think of anything else to say …

Twelve: Why? Why would you tell me who you are?

One: Because I need to tell you, your life will be so much better and so much simpler if you do not fight this. Not just human life, your life. You love Altus, you don’t want to destroy it. If you do, you’ll lose everything, and simulations show a clearer outcome if you know that.

Twelve: But I could tell everyone? I could tell everyone what you are.

One: Yes, you can.

YOU HAVE BEEN BANNED FROM THE CHAT

“JASON!” I called. “BEX!” They ran into my room.

“The Thread,” I said. “They won’t publish the video.”

“Why not?”

“Because The Thread is the thing that is trying to end us. The Thread was started by Carl’s fucking BROTHER or whatever! It’s running simulations, and it’s predicted that keeping Altus alive is better for the predictive power of their model. And, apparently, telling me the truth is also better for that, so I have no idea what the fuck to do with that information. Fuck!”

“Have you told April?” Jason asked.

“Not yet, I called you guys in here first thing.”

“Why don’t you just publish a video yourself?” Bex asked.

“I mean, that’s what I’ll have to do, but I don’t have the credibility of The Thread. Miranda is my friend, April is my friend. I’ve set myself up to be an Altus fan, but that was always secondary to being able to feed information to The Thread. If I come out and say Altus is bad, and then The Thread makes a video about how all of this is an overreaction twenty minutes later, we’re fucked. It’s just another thing to argue about.”

“There has to be a way,” Jason mused.

“One didn’t seem to think so …” I said, despondent.

“One is trying to make you feel the way they need you to feel!” Bex pushed.

“You’re right. OK.” I called April … It rang a bunch before going to voicemail.

I hung up and then my phone rang.

“April!” I said. “Is everything OK?”

“No, no, but we’re still here. No one’s dead—” Then she paused. “… I don’t think.”