Chapter Three: Level Zero Is Not a Floor

Voss raised his weapon and pulled open a cabinet. A girl of about twelve crouched inside. Her hair was unevenly cut, and she wore an oversized thermal suit of an obsolete design. Red stone dust covered her fingers. On the wall behind her, she had drawn a complex pipeline map with a round zero at its center. “Name,” Voss said. “Ying.” “Resident number.” “I don’t have one.” His terminal scanned her irises and found no match. Temperature, breathing, and bone age proved she was alive, yet the city’s food, oxygen, and medical logs contained no record of her consuming anything. Ying looked at Lin. “You came earlier than last time.” “Have we met?” “Not this time.”