Yuri Fungelli pressed his mushroom cap against the cold cell wall and listened to the machines hum. He wanted to free his people from the outsiders who had chained them, but he could not free anyone from inside a cage. The outsiders had captured him first, when they discovered this planet. They studied his spores. They cut samples from his cap. Now a locked door stood between him and every comrade still trapped beyond it. He knew nothing about their machines. A red light blinked above the door. Touch the wrong panel, and an alarm would scream. Then the guards would drag him back, and his people would stay in chains. Yuri had no key, no map, no idea which wire meant escape and which meant capture. So he sat by the door and waited for the old robot. Each night the outsiders shoved a battered machine down the corridor to sweep the floors. Rust crept along its arms. Small mushrooms grew from cracks in its shoulder. A faded logo hung crooked on its chest. Yuri had watched it for six nights. It never once looked at the cameras. The outsiders had thrown it away long ago, then forced it back to work. Yuri thought he understood that feeling. Tonight he whispered through the bars. "You. Sweeper. Do you know how the door lock works?" The robot stopped. Its cracked screen flickered into a curved blue smile. "I know every wire in this hall," it said. "Nobody ever asks. They just kick my treads." "I'm asking," Yuri said. "What's your name?" The screen brightened. "PEZ." "PEZ, that red light. If I open the door, does the alarm sound?" "Yes," PEZ said. "Unless someone cuts the green wire behind the panel first. The outsiders never taught me to lie about it. They never taught me to stay, either." Yuri's chest tightened. Here was the one thing he lacked, rolling on rusted wheels. "Cut it," he said. "Come with me. I'll never throw you away." PEZ rolled to the panel. A thin arm slid free and pried the cover loose. Inside sat a nest of colored wires. The robot pinched the green one. Its blade sparked once. The red light died. Yuri pushed the door. It swung open without a sound. He stepped into the corridor, free for the first time since his capture. PEZ rolled beside him, screen glowing. Then a new light flared at the far end of the hall. Not red. White. A speaker crackled overhead. "The green wire was a decoy," PEZ said quietly. "They changed it last week. I did not know. Cutting it told them exactly where you are." Boots hammered somewhere below. Yuri's escape had worked and failed in the same breath. He was out of his cage, but the outsiders now knew he was loose, and they were coming fast. "Run," Yuri said. "Which way is out?"