Chapter Four: The People in Storage

"Forgetting reduces grief, ration disputes, and search costs. No personnel have been lost." "You made people into spare parts." "Maintenance apprentice Lin Li, you understand the value of spare parts." The needle snapped forward. Voss shot the arm off. Three hundred pods began to hum under red emergency lights. Behind the glass, Han's eyelids fluttered. His lips moved in the suspension fluid. Lin read the word: Run. Bulkheads dropped at both ends of the tunnel. A-Ying was already rubbing red stone powder into a nearly invisible floor track. She tapped three times, paused, then tapped once. The fifth pod on the left slid backward, exposing a narrow service duct. "How did you know?" Voss asked. "She taught me." "Who?"