The streets around the café where she'd met Nicholas only a few days before weren't quite as busy as those she had just left, but there were people around and quite a few clones. What now? Aurelia cursed herself for not thinking ahead for once. Was she supposed to walk up to random clones on the street and ask if they knew Zak? She felt like an idiot. She shrugged and approached the first clone she saw.

The man was polite, but he looked at her as if she were crazy and shook his head. No, he didn't know any Zak. She must have asked two dozen people in the next thirty minutes, and as the dome lightened and morning came, the streets emptied. She had found nothing. She was about to turn and head back to the hospital when she noticed a movement in an alleyway in front of her. A man appeared, sliding out of the shadows enough for her to see him gesture to her to follow him.

She almost didn't. Aurelia might have grown up on relatively safe Earth, but she wasn't completely naïve. She felt the metal weight of Jonathon's stunner still in her pocket. Screw it, she thought. She grasped the stunner in her hand and slowly walked towards the alley.

Seeing her coming, the man turned and led her away. The alley was lighter than she had expected, and she could hear a busy street at the other end. She concentrated on following the man, who wore only black. Without turning or stopping, he spoke. "Stop asking questions."

Aurelia quickened her pace to try and keep up with him, but the man did the same, preserving the distance between them.

"Go back to the hospital and wait. But no more questions."

They were coming to the end of the alley now, and the man spoke only once more.

"Pick this up," he said.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out an envelope. As he dropped it onto the ground, Aurelia had a clear view of thick scars on his wrist. There can be only one reason for that, she thought. The man was a clone who had somehow erased his wrist numbers. She bent to pick up the item he dropped, and when she looked up, he was gone.

The alley let out onto a main boulevard outside the hospital entrance. Aurelia shoved the envelope into her pocket and hurried inside.

***

She didn't open the flat package until she was safe in her living pod. When she did, she felt bemused. Inside was a paper printout of a screen shot, showing an application for a guided tour of the arena. It took her a moment to put two and two together. Then she pulled out her screen, found the appropriate icons, and filled out the application. She assumed this was Zak trying to contact her, but even if it weren't, going to the arena was no bad plan. When she was done, she rolled up her screen and checked her intercom messages. There was one from her parents but nothing from either Jonathon or Nicholas. Her time reader told her she had a little over an hour before she was due at work, so she took the chance to nap. But she couldn't sleep; her mind was too busy to let her.

***

When she appeared in her office, Jason looked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Er . . . well, I was going to work," she said. Without her first coffee of the day, and after a sleepless night, she wasn't feeling especially sharp.

"You've been taken off the rota today," Jason said, pulling out his screen to show her.

Sure enough, her name had been replaced by his as acting head of trauma. What the hell?

Jason grinned at her. "Forgotten something?" he asked. "Important meeting you're supposed to be at? Presentation you're supposed to be giving?"

Aurelia shook her head. "I don't think so."

She pulled out her own screen and checked her agenda. There in black and white was a message summoning her to the arena. How had that happened so quickly? "Crap," she said, for Jason's benefit. "I'm supposed to be at the arena this morning."

He laughed. "Got you doing the guided tour, have they?" he said. "Don't worry. It only lasts a couple of hours. They try and force everyone to do it. I think it's scare tactics, personally. Showing you how mighty the military are and all that stuff. That, and the elite who oversee the clones are pissed because they're stuck with them clones and want everyone important to see what a good job they're doing in the hopes they'll get promoted the hell out of there."

Aurelia shrugged. "Whatever. It can't be all bad, I guess. You're covering for me this morning—got anything you want me to look at before I go?"

He shook his head. "All under control. Oh, but before I forget, Elza was asking to see you yesterday. You should go up when you've got a minute."

"She okay?"

"Yep, should be working tomorrow or the day after, I think. We've told everyone she had the flu, so there should be no questions."

Aurelia smiled. "Good work." For all the medical advances made in the last few centuries, simple colds and flu were still incredibly difficult to treat, mostly because the genetic makeup of the viruses kept changing.

"Go on, then," Jason urged her. "Go see the pretty boys playing soldiers. I can take care of things here."

"I know," said Aurelia with a smile as she left. Jason was turning out to be a very competent med Worker indeed.

***

She arrived at the arena having little idea of what to expect, but keeping her fingers crossed that she would find Zak or he would find her. She presented herself to a sec Worker by the main door and was told to wait. Within a few minutes, a tall blond clone appeared. "Hi!" he said brightly, holding out his hand. "I'm here to guide you on your tour of the arena. If you're ready, let's go."

Aurelia barely had time to shake his hand, let alone say anything, as she was whisked away through a pair of swinging doors. The clone kept up a constant flow of chatter.

"Given that the military class are here to protect the workers and elites of both Lunar and Earth, we feel it's important that we're transparent about how your soldiers are trained and educated . . ."

His voice droned on, and Aurelia found herself being dragged through training locations and classrooms. Rows of young men sat or stood obediently everywhere she went, drilled with robotic precision, answered questions in synch; it was like a well-oiled machine. But Aurelia found it spooky. Sure, Worker schools were places of discipline too, but here there was no laughter, no playing, no differences. She hurried to keep up with her guide, who kept on talking.

She wanted to ask questions. She wanted to know where the small clones were; she hadn't seen anyone under the age of around ten or so. She wanted to know what they ate, where they slept, how they felt. Were they lonely? Questions ticked around her head, but she guessed it was probably for her own safety that the clone kept talking. Her questions could get her into trouble.

Finally, they had circled the arena and arrived back at the reception area. But they weren't done. The clone led her up the wide flight of stairs that she had once climbed with Nicholas, and she knew that they were going to the viewing decks surrounding the parade grounds in the center of the arena. Still talking, he led her about a quarter of the way around the circle before stopping.

"Maneuvers will begin shortly, if you wish to see them."

His voice told her she had no choice, so she sat on a bench and waited, though she had seen this show before with Nicholas. As the buzzer sounded and the clones began trooping out, her guide sat beside her on the bench.

"I'm Zak," he said.

She turned, but his eyes were fixed on the parading men outside, so she followed his lead and watched, speaking without looking at him. "I need to find Nicholas."

"Why?"

"Do you know where he is?" she asked, needing to know how much he knew so she didn't waste time giving him information he didn't need.

"In custody with Jonathon Hansen," the clone replied promptly.

Good. She was glad she didn't need to explain. "He escaped last night. We had planned to help him get to Earth and protect him while he was there, but for some reason, he felt it necessary to break out and go off alone."

"Why do you need to find him?"

That was a good question. Why did she? She swallowed and thought. "Because if anyone else finds him first, he's going to be in trouble," she said, honestly.

She assumed at this point that Jonathon had already reported Nicholas missing, in which case sec Workers would already be hunting for him. The clone beside her was quiet for a moment, his eyes scanning the soldiers below him.

"Nicholas told me to trust you," he said finally. "But why?" He sounded curious rather than suspicious.

"Because I've helped him before, I guess," said Aurelia. "And also because, well, because he loves me, I think."

"But you don't love him?" Again, his voice was gentle and curious.

"Not in the same way," she admitted.

"It's rare to find a Worker that will return our love," the clone said, his voice sounding strange.

"But you know one, don't you?" It was a wild guess on her part, but one that hit home.

"Yes," said Zak. "My wife."

He'd used the old fashioned word for pair mate, one that Aurelia hadn't heard for a long time.

"It is the reason Nicholas trusts me," said the clone, turning now to look at her.

Of course, pairing with a clone was absolutely illegal. They must have an underground pairing, a life of secrecy, of barely meeting. Aurelia's heart ached when she looked into Zak's eyes. How hard must it be? She couldn't imagine. Would she feel the same if she were forbidden from being with Jonathon? Yes, she thought, I would. She'd do whatever was necessary to be with him, even if for only a few moments. Zak nodded at her, signaling that they'd come to an understanding, and she was glad she'd been honest with him.

"What do you need from me?" he asked.

"I need to know where he is so I can talk to him."

Zak furrowed his brow. "I don't know where he is. He hasn't contacted me, and he isn't likely to. I spend most of my time here at the arena, which makes it difficult to get any kind of privacy."

Crap. She'd automatically assumed that Zak would know where Nicholas was. She bit her lip, thinking. "Okay, do you have any ideas about where he might be? Where he could be hiding?"

Zak shrugged. "There are hundreds of places in Lunar to hide, but none of them will last too long if people are really looking for you. I guess that Nicholas is already being hunted?"

Aurelia nodded.

"If he's in Lunar, he'll be found within the next day or so. It's impossible for you to check every hiding place. There's only one of you, and there are thousands of sec Workers," he pointed out.

He was right. Even with purple-haired Tara helping her, there was no chance of her searching hundreds of places. Her stomach felt heavy, and she was almost ready to give up. But she couldn't leave Nicholas to his fate.

"Where would you go if you were him?" she asked desperately.

Zak turned back to the arena grounds, where long rows of men were snaking in and out of each other, creating a mosaic of complex patterns. He frowned as he thought and was quiet for several minutes. When Aurelia thought he had forgotten her or was unable to answer her question, he cleared his throat.

"I think if I were him, I would go out."

The last word was emphasized; she could hear it, though she didn't know what he was talking about. "Out?" she asked.

Zak nodded. "If I were being hunted and wanted to avoid being caught, then my first instinct would be to go out. You've less chance of being spotted, though the risks of living are higher, of course. It's a delicate balance, but I think out would be the best bet."

"Where is out?"

He turned to her again, in surprise this time, and when he spoke it was like he was explaining things to a young child. "You know, out—on the surface, out from under the dome."