Troy watched from a swivel chair as Aris paced up and down Augusta's office, pulling faces as he tapped the headphone clipped onto his tragus. Jinaka, General of Tellus, was on the other end of the line.

'Yes, Jinaka, don't worry. It will be ready in time, you'll see. . .'

Magilith reached out to hold Troy's hand, and with a grudging sigh, he allowed it. Her nails were bitten down to the quick. He glanced up at her – there she was again. Even now, she was chewing the nails of the hand not held in his own.

Doesn't she know it makes her look weak?

If she heard his thought, she didn't make it obvious; the Ra were generally polite when they accidentally overheard a private thought. Perhaps, her lips turned a little more downwards. Perhaps an extra crease folded between her eyes.

Perhaps.

'Let me see your arm?' Augusta, the Lord Protector of the Northern Province, wagged her finger at Troy; he glanced up at Magilith, reluctant. She gave a weary nod. Troy rolled up his sleeve, and lay his arm out on the desk in front of him; Augusta closed her eyelids, pressed each one once, then blinked, fluttering her eyes. Troy understood—Augusta must be long sighted. She was adjusting her lenses for short-vision.

'How many shots have you had?'

'Three,' Troy answered, showing her the puncture marks in his arm. The first two were surrounded by grey, flaking skin, that tightened around each tiny hole. The third was unblemished. The skin looked perfect.

Augusta pursed her lips in thought, stroking the three holes with a long, cold finger. They ran down his forearm; the first near the crook of his elbow, the second mid-way towards his hand, the third, on the inside of his wrist. Unless you zoomed in extra close, you could barely even tell that he'd been vaccinated by his wrist at all.

'And it's stopped the coughing?'

'Completely,' Magilith interrupted eagerly. 'The fevers and tremors too. Troy's been symptom free for weeks.'

'And it was definitely Tellun Poisoning?'

'Definitely, Lady Augusta. He displayed all the first stage symptoms.'

'Hmm.' Augusta sat back, peering at Troy like he was a spectacle in a museum. Troy imagined what his display cabinet information would say. Troy McIntosh: Tellun, Ten Years, Two Months, with Symptoms of Poisoning. Excruciating Death: Narrowly Avoided.

Magilith flinched. Troy stopped thinking at once.

'My Lady?' he asked instead, clearing his throat. 'I was wonderin'—how did you choose your name?'

Augusta blinked. What an odd question. 'Why?' She squinted at the boy.

Troy chose his words carefully. He wished he were taller, so he could be a more imposing feature—the Ra were rather shorter than the average Tellun. Archer McIntosh had been six foot three. Troy knew that size didn't always command power, but, it sure couldn't hurt. 'After you got elected, you got to change your name, didn'cha? You could change to be whoever you wanted.' He stopped talking just as he felt his accent slipping; he could already feel Magilith's irritation. The Ra didn't approve of "sloppy speech."

Aris, however, loved quizzing Troy on the intricacies of Tellun dialects. In fact, Aris did lots of things that were . . . unusual, even for a Ra. He would practise talking like a Tellun for hours. He'd record himself, play his voice back, practising different accents. Sometimes, he would ask Troy to test him. His Caeltanican accent was better even than Troy's, and his Huan was faultless.

Augusta's eyebrows scooted up to meet a severe hairline, that bordered hair scraped into a towering bun on top of her head. 'The name "Augusta" means "Majestic." I thought it far more fitting than my common name.'

'Yes,' Troy nodded. That made perfect sense.

Augusta smiled, embraced in fond memories. 'I only settled on it the day before my anointment—'

Yes!

Augusta jumped out of her skin as Aris punched the air in an explosion of excited thoughts—he spun around to face them, his mouth stretched into a wild, almost manic grin. He was happy. Troy had never seen him so happy.

'Yes, of course, Jinaka—we'll have the third capsule with you shortly, don't worry. Yes, of course, we'll take complete care of installation. And the vaccine? It's coming on nicely. You'll have it within the week.'

Augusta, Magilith and Troy watched as Aris paced, whooping silently, bidding Jinaka farewell with the utmost professionalism. He flicked the headphone on his tragus off, and took a deep breath. Then leapt into the air with an ear-splitting:

'YES!'

'Calm down.' Augusta had the horrified expression of witnessing someone vomiting. Aris seized Magilith by the arms and pulled her into an embrace.

'You wonderful, wonderful woman.'

'A-A-Aris,' Magilith stuttered, her cheeks pink as Aris swung her around.

'If it weren't for you, insisting we bring home Troy—'

'You'd have figured out the vaccine someday.'

Aris chuckled, letting her down; she sank back into her chair. Flustered. Giggly.

Troy suppressed his thoughts.

So, what now? Augusta thought to Aris. She glanced sideways at Magilith, clearly not appreciating her presence but resigned enough now to know her presence was non-negotiable.

Now, we must be patient. Aris took his seat beside Magilith, facing his Lord Protector, hands intertwined and pressed to his lips. It won't take long to install the capsule. My team is ready to go—don't worry. Jinaka knows not to bother asking questions. He saw what happened last time I let one of his men get too close—he won't want that happening again.

Augusta looked alarmed. Didn't that arouse suspicion?

No, no, Aris smiled, almost fondly. I sorted it. Now, we just sit back and wait. Once the vaccinations begin. . .

His smile was an arrow of ice. Troy felt its pierce chill deep. Had they forgotten he was there? No. More like . . . They'd forgotten he could hear.

Troy shouldn't have been able to hear. Everybody thought he was stupid. The Stupid Tellun. They thought he wouldn't know how to access a thought-channel he didn't have permission for. The frequency was different.

But Troy wasn't stupid.

He'd realised he could . . . hack, for want of a better term. He didn't understand how, but cognitive frequencies were . . . fluid. That was the only way he could describe them. It wasn't too difficult for him to . . . slip. From his channel with Magilith across into the channel being used now.

He shouldn't have heard. But he did.

How long will corruption take?

It depends. Aris drummed his fingertips on the table. On Tellus? Decades, probably. On Ra? Far, far less. A year or two, I'd wager, but I can probably reduce that to months. Visinium is far less stable here than on Tellus. . .

Corruption? Troy swallowed, stifling any more thoughts. But he couldn't help lingering on that word. Corruption. . .

Once we get the vaccinations going, we can finally start the relocations. Aris was jiggling in his seat. Barely able to contain himself.

Augusta nodded along, tapping notes on the holographic keypad installed into the surface of her desk, words blossoming on her computer screen. Troy didn't bother reading them. They were in code. And the side effects . . . those are sorted now, right?

Aris stopped jiggling. Er. O-Of course. His eyes couldn't help drifting to Troy, who gazed back with what he hoped was a blank expression. On the whole.

Augusta froze. Aris . . . What do you mean, on the whole?

. . . I mean . . . On the whole. They're nothing . . . too bad.

'Aris!'

Troy and Magilith jumped as Aris's name burst from Augusta's mouth. She cleared her throat, trying to regain composure.

But you assured Jinaka—you assured us—that they were fixed!

They are! Mostly! We just need to be careful about the age of Telluns when we vaccinate.

Augusta ground her teeth. Why?

Aris hesitated. For some reason, the vaccine doesn't seem to, uh, gel too well with puberty. Patients tend to get a little . . .

A little what?

. . . Odd.

She closed her eyes. Can the 'oddness' be prevented?

Sure. I put in the paperwork for Jinaka to only give it to over sixteens. I've never had a test-subject over sixteen react. It's definitely worth researching further . . .

And Jinaka was alright with that?

Aris sighed. Well, no, not really. He's insisting on giving it to all the children in Singavere, "as they're the ones who have suffered the most".

Before Augusta could blow her top, he held his hands up to stop her. Calm down! He can't say we didn't warn him, can he? And I've assured him that we'll keep working on it. He's completely suckered, it will be fine.

Augusta's eyes flashed. Troy's heart raced.

So, until then?

Until then? We wait. The playful smile caressed Aris's lips. We wait for contamination to begin.