“Someone needs to stay here and guard the generator.”

404 knelt in front of the Staff room door and picked up the knob that Hundred had sliced off. “This may have been why Ten had Hundred break in here in the first place…not just to interrogate me, but to unlock the room…we could be in serious trouble…”

“What do you mean? Exactly what is going on here??” Fifteen demanded.

“If Ten wants to share her ‘life’ with all the Phaetons here, then they’ll have to be disconnected from the ‘life-like’ energy they’re currently using. The generator behind this door produces that energy.”

Fifteen’s expression darkened. “We…have a generator? Like electrical appliances…?”

“Yes, we do. It’s technically against the rules for me to tell you…but this is an emergency, and I need your help. Without the generator, even I will go offline, and we’ll lose contact with Administration. We need to keep it from her at all costs, at least until we can force a confession out of her. Can I trust you?”

“…Of course. I won’t let anyone through.”

“What’s the trouble??” called 86 from the doorway. She entered the meeting room, followed by 1225.

“Oh, good,” said 404. “You two got my message. Come over here, please.”

After 404 re-explained the situation, 86 looked perplexed. “So…we have to keep Ten from shutting off this generator so that she can’t resurrect us with “life”?” she asked.

“Precisely,” 404 answered.

“But…why? Isn’t that good? Why should we be tied to this generator for the rest of our lives? Sounds to me like Ten’s found a better way.”

1225 murmured in agreement with the question.

“You…can’t be serious! We have no idea whether what Ten found is actually life! What if it’s something else?! It hasn’t been tested; it could be dangerous!” 404 retorted.

“Ten looks like she’s doin’ alright. Besides, you remember what she did with that Exhaust wall?? It’d be great if we could all do that! Wouldn’t it?”

1225 murmured in agreement again.

“Yes…I mean no! And you, stop making that stupid noise!” 404 glared at 1225. “Look, we can’t just let Ten experiment on us! She can’t be trusted! You should have seen what she did to 911!”

“Exactly what did she do? You never did tell me,” said Fifteen.

“Okay, well, I wanted 911 to examine Ten, and get some physical data for me to send to Administration. And she agreed to it. Shortly after, I get this corrupted message from the infirmary marked EMERGENCY, and I head down there, and all of a sudden, she doesn’t want to do it anymore! She told me she deleted the data!”

86 frowned. “Okay…what does that have to do with Ten?”

“Don’t you get it?? Before 911 met with Ten, she was willing to work with me; afterwards, she was on Ten’s side! And her signal is offline now, just like Ten’s! Ten must have done something to her!”

“Looks like 911 was first in line to get the “life” energy. And she seems fine to me. To be honest, she looks happier than she did before…”

“So you’re okay with Ten turning her into a zombie as long as she looks happy?!”

“Hey, you’re making a lot of assumptions…I mean, what if 911 agreed to the change? And besides, at least she can live on her own now. She’s almost like a real Living One! If any of us are zombies, it’s the rest of us who are only still breathing because some machinery is humming along in the other room!”

1225 looked at the floor. Even Fifteen’s resolve seemed to be shaken.

404 stamped her foot. “IT’S NOT RIGHT, okay?! It’s not right! You can’t just decide to do things like that! They should be talked over and analyzed by people who know better! You’ve never grown any Phaetons in a lab, and neither has Ten, so forgive me if I don’t trust you to know what’s best for us!”

“Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned as one of the Phaetons that actually has to go out and fight, it’s that the people you trust to know what’s best don’t always know what’s best!” 86 shouted back. “Sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands; take risks! Especially when times are tough, like right now! If it weren’t for the dry spell, we’d have lost half our fleet by now, you know! And I’d bet anything that we have Ten to thank for the fact that we’re not up to our ears in Exhaust!”

“Stop it; stop!” 1225 interjected. “Let’s not fight each other! That’s the whole problem, we’re all antagonizing each other instead of listening! What we should be doing is sitting down calmly and discussing this, with everyone! Even Ten!”

“I appreciate that, 1225. But there’s really no point.”

Ten stood in the doorway. Hundred stood next to her.

“Hundred,” said 404. “Don’t tell me you’re on her side!”

“I’m on the side of life,” Hundred replied. Her face was expressionless.

“Exactly. Life will return to the universe, starting right here, right now,” said Ten. “If you’re in support of that— and I don’t see why you wouldn’t be— then get out of our way. We’re going to shut down that generator.”

“No!” 404 cried, blocking the Staff door with her body. “No one is going to do anything until I hear from Administration!”

“Ah, so you did send your data to them yesterday. I thought so. Well, your precious Administration isn’t going to save you from me. Even If they had people on their way here right now, they’re too late. And if they’re already here, they’re way too late.” Ten smiled.

The Phaetons began to hear panicked screams coming from outside.

“…Uh oh. Looks like I’ve predicted another Exhaust formation,” said Ten. “This time, it’s a neat little dome covering this facility. Everyone here is now trapped, including our Living guests. I sure hope someone shows up to protect them…”

“I’m going out there,” said Fifteen, rushing out of the room. 86 followed.

“Wait!” 404 called after them. “What about the generator?!”

“I’m still here,” said 1225. “I’ll stay.” She materialized her armor and unsheathed her swords.

“Really?” Ten asked, materializing her own armor. “Do you even understand what you’re trying to prevent?”

“Maybe I don’t! But that’s why I think we should talk about it first! I mean, what if Administration gets mad at us? What will we do then??”

Ten charged forward with her sword, aiming for 1225’s throat. The Finisher blocked just in time, but was knocked aside by the force of Ten’s swing. The Phaetons heard a sharp crack as her body collided with the wall.

“…Administration won’t be a problem. And I refuse to be held back by the cowards who are afraid of them,” Ten said sternly. She eyed 404, who shrank backwards in terror. Then she smiled again. “Don’t worry, you two. In just a minute, you’ll fall asleep, and wake up in a brand new world…”

She stepped over the threshold of the Staff room door, then suddenly stopped. She looked down.

The tip of Hundred’s sword was sticking out of her chest.