Aaron's face fell. "That's it?"

Miles' brows drew together as he absently hauled himself to his feet. He didn't answer Aaron's question.

It suddenly clicked.

Miles took a step back, colliding with Percy before shoving him out of the way. "I'm so stupid."

"Miles, what?" This was Aaron, who stumbled after Miles when Miles kept walking backwards.

"I'm so stupid!" Miles repeated, almost laughing now. "Oh my god."

"Miles, tell us what's happening."

Miles' gaze flicked to Aaron. "We need to find Bri's group and bring them here. The more of us, the better."

"Miles," Aaron said sharply.

Miles didn't quite comprehend that nobody else had realised what he had. "Vega Sector," he said, hoping to spark some memories.

Lia and Percy and Eira were starting to draw themselves away from the e-Screen now, all gathering around Miles. "What are you talking about?" Lia asked.

"Vega sector," Miles said persistently. "Don't tell me none of you know what that is."

"My dad works there," Percy said awkwardly.

Miles' first thought was So that's why you're so fucking rich, but his second thought, he said out loud, "It's where the whole fucking Alteration is controlled. Where it's updated and fixed and where people go when they turn sixteen. Vega Sector is the name of the company that created the Alteration. Sort of. Antonio Vega created it, but he died about a decade ago. Then Vega Sector - obviously named after him - A.K.A his company, just kept going. Obviously."

"How do you know all this?" Eira asked.

"I told you he's a geek," Percy said with a roll of his eyes.

For once, Miles didn't waste his time arguing with Percy. "To put it simply, every single city in the world is obligated to have a Vega Sector tower. The tower is full of all these computers and labs and stuff. When people in the city turn sixteen, they go to the tower in whatever city they're in, and that's where they're Altered. Then they're in the data base and they can all be regulated from the tower."

Lia didn't seem to be following. "But what does all this mean?"

"I was getting to that," Miles said. "It's important, because each Vega Sector tower has the ability to contact the other towers. Well, not the towers themselves, obviously. But the people who work there. The entire world is basically connected by these towers, which keep the Alteration running."

Lia only looked more confused.

Miles continued, "This is massive information, specifically because of where we live. Lia, this is insane information." He took a moment to gather his thoughts. "This city - where we live and where we are right now - is where Vega Sector began. Antonia Vega lived here and created the prospect of the Alteration here. He and his company made the Alteration a thing here. In this city."

"What does that mean?"

Miles threw his arms up. "It means that the Vega Sector tower in this city has special access to all of the others. All over the world. Think of it like this: all over the world, there are Vega Sector towers. But the one in this city is like, the boss. It has control over all of the others. That, no doubt, means that this whole virus thing, it started in that very tower. Because that tower controls all of the others. That tower controls every fucking Altered person in the world, if you're authorised and know what to do."

Everybody seemed to be starting to understand now. Aaron said, "So if we can find our way into the tower, what can we do?"

"It's impossible," Miles said. "But... I'm sure there would have to be a way in the tower to shut off the Alteration. Kill it completely. If somebody used the Vega Sector tower in our city to start the virus, there's definitely a way in that tower to stop the virus. Of course... stopping the virus probably means completely killing the computers in the Altered' heads. Which will, in essence, revert them back to being Unaltered."

"What happens if that happens?"

"It won't," Miles said. "There's no way any of us could figure out how to shut down the Alteration. That's not possible."

"But if we did?"

"If we did, then the Altered would be back to being Unaltered. They'd still have all their memories, I'd assume, but they'd lose everything about them that makes them perfect. Except for their appearance, because that's... very permanent. That's not really a part of the computer chip in their head, that's surgery."

Aaron slowly sat down, shaking his head over and over. "So if we got into that tower... and we figured out how to reach out to all the other towers in the world... we could shut down the Alteration?"

Miles exhaled sharply. "Theoretically."

Eira inquired, "But what's stopping people from other parts of the world doing that?"

"Like I said," Miles stated, "The tower in our city is the only one that can control the other towers in the world because it was the first tower created."

Lia said, "So other people in our city could do it instead of us?"

Trying to stay calm, Miles repeated once more, "It's seriously impossible. Even employees of that place - like Percy's dad - would have no idea how to reach out to the other towers, let alone shut off the Alteration. Antonio Vega was probably the only guy who knew how, but he's dead."

"His family might know?"

"I don't know if he has any living family. He had a daughter, but she died a few years ago."

"Well," said Lia, "if somebody figured out how to cause the virus, we can figure out how to stop it."

Miles only wished that was true.

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