Jordan clutched her mother's shirt in one hand and held the hand of one of the lab scientists in the other. They formed a chain to make their way to the light of the inner dome. When the last door opened, Jordan threw her hands over her eyes and blinked in the sudden brightness.

"Farmer!"

"Dad!" The three rushed together into a group hug. Jordan felt a kiss planted on her head. "What's going on?"

"Is everyone okay?" Farmer asked.

Jordan and Mandy nodded. Farmer took their hands and pulled them to the small group of people collected around Pierce and Minjun.

"We don't seal the dome," Minjun was explaining.

Pierce looked at Minjun in confusion. "What do you mean we don't seal the dome?"

"Just that, we don't do the seal from inside the dome," said Minjun.

Pierce looked from Minjun to Michael. Michael shrugged his shoulders, and Pierce shook his head. "Well, then, how does the dome get sealed?"

"Central does it," said Minjun.

"Central? I don't understand."

"I tell them when I'm ready to test, Central gives me a deadline, and then they push Go. They start and end a seal from their end via the network."

"Is there a way out?" asked Pierce.

"You mean, is there a way out of the dome or a way out of preventing the seal?"

"Yes, both. Is there a way to disable the network? An override or something in the system to stop the seal?" Impatience and frustration steeled Pierce's tone.

"The network is over my head. Michael?" Minjun deferred to Michael, but Michael shook his head. "Maybe Robin could take a look."

Pierce looked over the heads of the people around him. Robin wasn't in the inner dome. "We can ask her when we see her. Is there any other way out of the dome when it's sealed?"

"There's a–"

"Not now, Jordan," Pierce interrupted.

"Yeah, but–"

"Not now!" Pierce growled. He turned to Michael. "Does Central have control over anything else we should know about?"

Minjun answered for him. "They have control over everything. They can monitor and change oxygenation or open and close the vents in the dome ceiling. They can turn off all the lights and electricity whenever they want."

"Why? Why do they have that kind of control?"

"They said it's a stop-gap," Michael said. "In case something happened to the administrators inside. In the event of an emergency, Central can operate the controls remotely."

"There must be a way we can control those from the inside. Some sort of override? As a stop-gap in case Central's stop-gap doesn't stop the gap?"

"No, there's no override when Central takes control."

Pierce's frown deepened. "Can we interrupt the network?"

Michael shook his head. "The dish that receives the satellite transmission is outside the dome."

Minjun explained. "It needed to be where it would receive the best signal. The fiber cable is sunk through the rock and comes directly into the cage in the server room."

"So, let's go cut the cable," Pierce said.

"We can't. At least, not in a timely manner. There are multiple drops for contingency. And they're each encased in their own independent steel pipes. It would take days to cut through them. And that's suggesting we can get into the server room."

Pierce squared his shoulders in exasperation. "Which means?"

"The server room gets sealed independently of everything else in the dome."

"Let me guess," said Pierce. "Another stop gap?"

Minjun hung his head and nodded. "To protect the servers."

"Well, it might be our only option," Pierce replied ruefully.

Jordan turned away from Pierce and Minjun and took her father's hand. "Dad, I know a way–"

"Not now, Jordan," he said to her gently. He squeezed her hand and turned back to Pierce. "Let's see what Pierce says. We need to understand what our options are."

The door near the infirmary opened. Jinho and Evan walked out and Robin held the door open for Andrew who was limping painfully. Evan's mouth was open, frozen mid-wow as he looked at everything in the dome.

Jinho ran to his father and they had an animated conversation. Minjun shook his head several times and tried to push Jinho aside but he kept pulling at his arm. When Minjun pushed him away with a shout, Aurum fluttered at Jinho's shoulder. Jinho put his hands up and caught the canary between his hands. He waited until it had settled, then lifted it to his shoulder. When he looked up again, his father had stomped off toward the door to Mechanicals.

When Pierce broke from the group and strode over to Robin, Jordan let go of her father's hand and fell into step behind him. Andrew was looking wide-eyed around the dome and met Jordan's eyes.

"So, they're going to starve us out?" Robin asked Pierce. Her voice was low and carried the undercurrent of worry.

Pierce glanced at Jordan and said to Robin, "We don't need everyone in a panic."

Jordan grabbed Andrew's hand and led him to Jinho who stood under the center of the dome staring around at the clumps of confused people. Evan plucked an ear of corn from a nearby plant. He stuck it in his pocket, but Andrew pulled it out and tossed it back into the plants where it came from.

"What's going on?" Jinho asked.

"Robin thinks they're going to starve us out."

"I don't really think that's what she thinks," Andrew said.

"I tried to tell my father about the shaft," Jinho said.

"I tried to tell Pierce, too. Nobody will listen to me," Jordan said bitterly. "Even my dad shushed me."

"We have to try again."

Pierce and Robin were joining Farmer when Minjun ran back out of Mechanicals. He had a roll of diagrams that he unrolled as he ran up to the group. Farmer reached over and helped him hold the paper while Minjun pointed to it in various places.

"Come on," Jinho said. He approached his father and spoke rapidly to him in Korean again. Minjun shook his head. Jinho pointed to the paper. Minjun shook his head again and turned away from him toward Pierce.

"Listen to me!" Jinho demanded. Minjun turned back to Jinho with a shocked look on his face. "We know how to get out of here."

"That is not possible. You're wasting our time."

Minjun brushed him back and resumed talking to Pierce and Farmer again. Jinho's face and ears had turned deep pink with embarrassment when he turned back to Jordan and Andrew.

"Jinho..." Struck by some undercurrent of fear in Andrew's tone, Jordan turned to look at him. He stared wide-eyed at the boy with the canary. Her eyes flew to Jinho and she gasped.

Hanging by its foot at the end of its delicate chain, Aurum lay limply against Jinho's chest.