Chapter Two: No Such Person

Zhou sealed the nut in a transparent evidence bag. Before closing it, he rubbed a thumb across the scratches beneath the table, then pressed the trace of Lin’s blood onto his paper. Ten minutes later, they escorted her toward Medical. Every city screen along the central corridor carried Governor Helan Qiao’s address. Standing before a simulated blue sky, she announced that Black Tide had been upgraded to Red. Surface life-support failure probability: eighty-seven percent. “Citizens will be transferred in stages to the central dome within forty-eight hours,” Helan said. “Dawnline has no underground refuge. Claims of secret facilities are dangerous misinformation.” Lin and Zhou met each other’s eyes past the two guards.