The wire cage eats diamonds into my back. I sit so the empty space is behind me. That space is nothing, a big fat zero.

I start multiplying the ones together, not the zeroes. Zeroes are everywhere. Even the diamonds in my cage look like zeroes. All 12,151 of them. Numbers keep my brain working. But not the zeroes.

Something growls in the black nothing underneath me. It shivers my stomach. A zero is down there, too. A hungry zero.

I can’t see the cage I’m facing, but I know it’s there. A boy lives inside that one. He’s maybe a few years older than me. Small sounds come from his cage all the time – squeaking, banging. I wish I could talk to him.

Soon after the growl below comes the light. Always. It buzzes first, then flicks on above our cages. All our cages. Miles and miles of cages in both directions. Except behind my back. Not anymore.

I blink into the light, then taste the milky sugar before it drips down the hoses into the nodes in my arms. Sweetener maybe, like what Momma used to put in her coffee. The light shoots sparks behind my eyes. I look away and see the boy’s hoses dangle loose.

He’s fiddling with the top of his cage. He glances at me, the dark stitches across his mouth and neck shiny with sweat. Then he opens the top and springs out. I jump to my knees and cling to the diamonds.

How did he get it open? His cage creaks under him. He’s crouched on top of it. He shakes his head at me. And the lights go out again.

            There’s nowhere for him to go. What if he falls into the hungry zero below us? Unless… unless he scoots himself over the bar our line of cages hangs from. But then what? I tear at my nodes and hoses. They won’t budge.

            One times nine is nine…

            I feel his vibrations get fainter in the diamonds of my cage. He must know it’s too late for me. Because after the growl and the light, the next cage in line falls. Always. There’s a click above, and my cage drops. I can’t scream. I’m falling into the zero. All I see is zero.