Page 132 of Dose

“You offered me a larger cage.”

“And what do you have now?” Her gaze flicks toward Theon. “A man who calls you his. A household that locks you underground when it is frightened. You traded one handler for another and learned to enjoy the command.”

The words find the bruise because they were designed to.

Theon does not answer for me.

Twenty-nine seconds.

I turn the bypass another quarter rotation. The gauge remains below the red.

“He calls me his when I ask him to,” I say. “He stops when I tell him. And the door opened every time I touched it.”

“You think that makes you free?”

“I think it makes the choice mine.”

Twelve seconds.

Theon’s valve reaches its stop. Mine follows.

The timer reaches zero.

Three solenoids snap open above us. The lines shudder. On the other side of the wall, the ventilation fans accelerate.

Nothing enters the Nursery.

The mechanical gauge drops as the aerosol empties into the exterior scrubber.

Korte releases the transmitter.

The switch clicks.

Nothing changes.

For the first time since I met her, she looks uncertain.

“You were supposed to be perfect,” she says.

“No. I was supposed to be obedient.”

Footsteps approach from the west corridor.

Korte’s left hand moves behind her vest.

“Don’t,” Nikolai says.

She turns with a compact pistol in her hand.

Nikolai fires once.

The sound inside the concrete corridor is enormous. Korte drops beside the panel, the pistol striking the floor after her.

There is no final confession. No apology. Her face holds only surprise.

I expected her death to answer something.

It does not.