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  “Hey, where are Charles and Nayana?”

  “They went to get food,” I said.

  “So you’re the only one who came to visit me?”

  “I guess so.”

  “That’s pathetic,” she said with a scowl. “But thanks.”

  “No problem.” I turned back to look at her. “I have to know something, though.”

  “What?” she asked uneasily.

  “When you talk about my Scooby-Doo gang, is that a primary reference to Scooby Doo, Where Are You! or a secondary reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

  “Get out of my room,” she answered.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  * * *

  Steve and Tamret and I decided to—literally—take our minds off what happened to Mi Sun, and we took a train to visit the Theater of Plant Experience, a bizarre entertainment where you fed data into your HUD and got to spend half an hour as a tree or a bush or whatever vegetable you liked. It was hard to explain, but strangely relaxing. I left feeling that I’d like to be a plant again some time, but never for too long.

  The theater was in what was called the Spin District, and after we left, we used our bracelets to find a restaurant nearby. Steve picked a place that offered a wide selection of living food. The selections for me were more limited, but I figured I could be a sport, and I finally ordered [seaweed-based noodlelike substance] in a spicy [no translation available, but biologically compatible] gravy. It was good. I recommend it. Tamret proved that girls from across the galaxy share certain things in common and ordered a [salad].

  The restaurant was on a giant patio, hanging over a busy air thoroughfare, and the floor was made of a durable substance, completely transparent, so we could look down and see the lights of the passing vehicles whisking by in the darkness. It was beautiful and utterly futuristic, like the central planets in the Firefly universe.

  Tamret was wearing a sleeveless lavender dress, and she had her hair tied up in a bun, bordered by the protuberances of her ears. She sat with her back toward the railing, and she was lit by the city lights and stars and planet and moon outside the dome. I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved black shirt that had somehow avoiding wrinkling. I thought I was presentable, but I was under no illusion I looked as good as she did.

  I was explaining to them my Ender’s Game concerns, without making any references to Ender’s Game, of course. I hadn’t been able to shake the notion that we were being trained for something, and that whatever that something was, it probably involved fighting the Phands.

  “So what are you saying?” Tamret asked. “That we’re like second-class citizens being recruited as their soldiers?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” Steve said as he used a tonglike utensil to grab at individual blue worms, or maybe snakes, or whatever they were, wriggling around in a bowl. He popped one in his mouth. “Been doing some reading, too. You know most of the beings here are herbivores, yeah?

  I ate my spicy noodle things. “That’s old news.”

  “But this might not be. Most of the planets these beings come from have no carnivores at all. Not even among their animals.”

  This got our attention. “You’re kidding,” Tamret said.

  Steve shook his head. “No, I double-checked. Most of these beings come from planets where no creatures eat other creatures. Confederation scientists believe that intelligent life is more likely to evolve on worlds where there are no predators.”

  “That’s not what I learned in biology,” I said. “I thought that predators promote evolution by forcing animals to adapt in order to survive.”

  “Sure,” Steve said, “if what you want is to survive being hunted by a predator. But when you’ve got all your mates being eaten all the time, there’s more food for you, right? That favors traits like speed, environmental awareness, camouflage, and such. Now take away the predators. You’ve got more animals competing for fewer resources, so that promotes a different type of adaptation. The animals that can best exploit their environments win out over those that are less efficient, so that means intelligence, creativity, problem solving, invention, and all that. Those are traits that, on our worlds, you tend to find among predators. These herbivores are like carnivores that eat plants.”

  “Except they don’t know how to hunt,” Tamret said.

  “Exactly.” Steve nodded. “Now, the last time they brought in initiates, one species was a carnivore and one an omnivore. The time before that, one omnivore. Then you have to go back eight years to find one carnivore species.”

  “The Vaaklir,” I said. Urch’s species.

  “Very good, mate,” Steve said, clearly impressed. “Before that, almost fifty years. You see what I’m getting at? Looks like the Confederation is trying to get cozy with its dark side.”

  “And when you combine that with all the ways they have us train,” I speculated, “it makes it pretty clear they’re gearing up for war.”

  “I still don’t see the problem,” Tamret said. “There are hundreds of worlds in the Confederation. Three more isn’t going to turn any kind of tide. It seems to me that they’re just fine-tuning. They’re tweaking their culture, but they are doing it over the long term.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I told her, “because I get the feeling that things are more focused than that.”

  “Let’s keep our tongues scenting the air, but I don’t want to worry too much, if you know what I mean. Look at this place.” Steve gestured toward the cityscape and the stars beyond. “No point in looking for trouble.”

  “I know what you mean.” Tamret looked out at the city, and a sadness crossed her face. “I hate the thought that we’re going to have to leave in less than a year.”

  I nodded. “I miss my mom and all, but when I think about the Earth, it doesn’t really feel like home anymore. This does.”

  Tamret met my gaze, and suddenly it felt like Steve wasn’t there: It was just the two of us, and we were thinking the same thing, even if I wasn’t entirely sure what that thing was. My heart was pounding, and I wanted so much to say something to her, but I didn’t know what. It was like there were words I needed her to hear, but they were just outside my grasp. I felt like a moron, staring at her, but she was staring back. I thought, Maybe I don’t need any words at all. Maybe all I need is to sit here, with the stars and the shuttles and spaceships and lights of alien buildings all around us. Maybe that was all I needed to be happy.

  Then I felt a shadow cross my vision, and I turned to see someone looming over our table.

  It was Ardov. Thiel stood behind him, looking bored, and Semj was by her, his expression distant, like he was doing math problems in his head. Ardov was grinning, and I knew that was never a good thing.

  “Can you believe how fragile that human girl was?” he said. “They shouldn’t let beings so breakable into the Confederation. Anything could happen to them at any time.”

  “This is too unpleasant to be a coincidence,” Steve said.

  I started to rise, but I felt the smooth scales of Steve’s fingers on my wrist, pinning my hand to the table. I understood what he was telling me. He wasn’t about to see what happened to Mi Sun happen to me. I nodded to him to show him I understood, and he let go.

  “I messaged Tamret,” Ardov said with unmistakable pride, “and told her to let me know where you were. I figured maybe Zeke here wants a chance to vindicate his fellow human in the sparring room. It should have been him, after all.”

  Why would Tamret have answered his message? And why hadn’t Tamret told us about it? I couldn’t figure out why she put up with him the way she did, but that was a matter for another time. For now I knew I had to make sure he didn’t push us around. “I’m flattered that you like us so much you want to hang out with us,” I told him, “but we’re having a private conversation.”

  “I was talking about you, not to you,” he
said. “No one gave you permission to hoot, [monkey] boy. We’re here for Tamret.” He gestured with his head. “Come on, Snowflake. You’ve spent enough time playing with the animals. I need you to do my laundry.”

  I stood up. My heart was thundering, but I willed myself to be calm. Ardov was taller than I was, and stronger, and a better fighter. He’d almost killed Mi Sun in an environment designed to make injury all but impossible. I had no doubt that he could destroy me without much trouble, but I had to bet that he wouldn’t be willing to risk a conflict. I did not want to have to fight him, but I’d rather end up in the hospital with no one but Mi Sun to talk to than let him put his hands on Tamret.

  “We’re trying to enjoy a nice dinner among friends,” I said, my voice almost steady. “You’ve had your fun today. How about you give it a rest?”

  “How about you sit back down,” he said, “before I throw you over the rail. You think the nanites would save you from that?”

  Steve had a pair of wiggling creatures trapped in his tongs, but he made no effort to eat them. Instead, he sampled the air with two quick flits of his thin tongue. “You could try that, I reckon, but I can taste what you’re going to do before you do it—you couldn’t so much as reach out to my mate here with one furry hand without me seeing it coming. Then it would be you going over the rail wondering how the nanites factor in when you hit the ground from a quarter mile up. You want to bet I’m wrong? Give it a try.” He dropped the creatures in his mouth and swallowed without chewing.

  Ardov grinned down at me. “You can’t fight your own battles? You need your pet to do it for you?”

  “Nice try,” Steve said, “but we’re a team. There’s no you against him. It’s you lot against us. You like those odds? I know I do.”

  Tamret now rose. “It’s fine, Zeke.” Her voice was quiet, soft. “I’ll go with them.”

  “No!” I said, more loudly than I intended. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

  “She wants to be with her own kind. Don’t you, Snowflake?”

  “Yeah, I want to go.” She didn’t sound like she meant it, but she didn’t sound like she didn’t, either. I just couldn’t read her and couldn’t understand why she was letting Ardov order her around. I watched them walk away, Ardov’s arm around her shoulder until they disappeared into the elevator.

  “You can probably sit down now, mate,” Steve said.

  I sat. “What is going on with the two of them?”

  “No idea,” Steve said. “I don’t know mammals, but I do know beings, and there’s something weird there.”

  “I just hope she’s okay,” I said.

  “You find out that git is messing with her, you let me know,” he said, picking up some more of his worm things. “I’d like to have a good reason to break his arms. And his legs. The medical blokes will mend him when I’m finished, so no harm done.”

  • • •

  I wanted to see if I could gently pry some information out of Tamret at breakfast the next day, but she didn’t show up. I tried to act like I wasn’t worried, and resigned myself to waiting until class to see her. As we approached the classroom that morning, however, we saw there was a commotion up ahead, by Dr. Roop’s office. There were several beings in peace officer uniforms, and they appeared to be arguing with Dr. Roop. And then I noticed the Rarel delegation hanging around outside the door. I didn’t get along with any of them, but I had to know what was happening.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Thiel. Semj was the least objectionable of their group, but I couldn’t guarantee he would speak to me if I asked him, and after last night’s generous portion of intimidation, I didn’t want to so much as make eye contact with Ardov.

  “Ugh,” she said. “It’s Tamret. Who else? She’s been caught.”

  “Caught doing what?” I asked, not bothering to keep the alarm out of my voice.

  “Hacking. I swear by [the deity of the caste system], she’s such an embarrassment.”

  “Is she in real trouble?” What if she got kicked out? What if they put her in some kind of jail? I couldn’t bear the thought of it.

  “Could be,” said Ardov, coming up behind me. He was chewing on a piece of dried meat, like jerky, and grinning like this was the best morning ever. “Though if she ruins our delegation’s chances, she is in for a hard time when she gets back home.”

  “Good,” Thiel said. “She deserves it.”

  “I don’t think our Snowflake deserves that,” Ardov said.

  Finally Tamret came out of the room, looking embarrassed, something I had never thought possible for her. Dr. Roop had a hand on one of her shoulders, and his neck was lowered, as though this were his own shame. The peace officers left without Tamret, however, and I considered that a good sign.

  “Tamret has made a mistake, and she’s sorry,” Dr. Roop explained to us. “We’ll talk about it more at another time. Suffice it to say that between this and Ardov hurting Mi Sun, the Rarel delegation has not made the best impression.”

  I immediately pulled her to a quiet corner of the hallway. “What happened?”

  “Calm down,” she said, pulling away from my grip. “It’s no big deal. I was just rooting around in the experience-points database. They found out and overreacted. It’s not like I could harm them. You can’t even tinker with Confederation citizens’ accounts.”

  “That’s still careless, love,” Steve told her. “They don’t muck about with that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe.” She looked sullen and defiant, like she didn’t much care one way or another.

  “What’s going to happen to you if your delegation doesn’t get in?” I asked her.

  Her eyes latched onto mine. There was something fearful there I didn’t like. When Tamret was crazy or defiant or foolish I could handle it. I couldn’t deal with seeing her afraid.

  “Did someone say something?”

  “Ardov kind of hinted things might be bad for you.”

  She shook her head, and then she gently brushed strands of lavender hair from her eyes. “That’s not your business.”

  “I just want to know if there’s anything—”

  “I said it’s not your business!” she shouted. Then she pushed past me and stormed down the hall toward the classroom.

  “I don’t think she wants to talk about it,” Steve told me, watching her go.

  “Thanks for decoding.”

  A minute later I saw Semj, the small male Rarel, walking in the hall by himself. I told Steve to head to class, and I hurried to catch up to him.

  “What’s up, dude,” I said.

  He stopped and looked up at me, his eyes an unnerving shade of pink. “They don’t want me talking to aliens,” he said in the uninflected tone I tended to associate with complete weirdos.

  “I won’t be long, then,” I said. “I was just wondering if you know what the story is with Tamret. Why is she going to be in trouble if your delegation doesn’t get in?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe there were a lot of things that other Rarels knew and he didn’t because Semj was some kind of supersmart and socially clueless mutant. I was willing to believe that except for the fact that his pink pupils were dilating and contracting in tiny but rapid bursts, almost like a pulse. I didn’t know anything about Rarel behavior, so I had no idea what it meant, but I was willing to guess it suggested he was either lying or nervous.

  It was also the kind of minor detail I never would have noticed before. Maybe my enhanced vision was helping me to pick up on subtle details. Those skill points were starting to add up.

  “I think you’re lying,” I said. “Tell me what you know about it.”

  “I guess it’s not a secret,” he said, looking at his shoes, which were wide and flat and, admittedly, kind of interesting. “Tamret and Ardov come from the same totali
tarian city-state, and her place there is uncertain because she doesn’t have a caste. I don’t know how she ended up casteless, but she did. That means she has no political protection. If things go badly, she’ll be the easiest person for them to take it out on.”

  Things were starting to make a little more sense. Maybe.

  “I’m leaving now,” Semj said. Then, being a Rarel of his word, he left.

  I turned to head back into the classroom, but Ms. Price was standing directly behind me, blocking my way, hands on her hips, her red lips pursed in disapproval. I also had the distinct impression she had been listening to my conversation with Semj, which had been none of her business. I felt myself pressing my teeth together in anger.

  “Can I have a minute, Zeke?”

  “What?” I folded my arms and stared at her directly. I figured I had nothing to lose by letting her know how I felt.

  “I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with the other random delegates,” she said, “and I suppose I understand that, but from now on, I’d like you to keep your distance from the Rarel female. She’s obviously got some serious issues, and we don’t want you making any more trouble than you already have.”

  Making trouble. That’s what she was calling it. She had already tried to get me kicked out of the delegation, and then to ship me out to the Phandic Empire. Now she wanted to keep me from spending time with Tamret. Somehow that seemed worse than the rest of it.

  “I can spend my free time with anyone I like.”

  “Yes, I suppose you can.” She blew air out of one corner of her mouth, as though she was finding this conversation tedious beyond belief. I know I was. “You can associate with criminals and misfits, but there are always consequences.”

  “You already tried to hand me over to the enemy,” I said. “I don’t think you have too many threats left.”

  “Zeke, you seem to want to misinterpret everything I say and do as hostile. Please try to remember that I am here to help our world, the planet we come from, which suddenly finds itself a very minor player in a complicated galaxy. You have real responsibilities now. You don’t shove aside things that matter because you have a crush on some nonhuman creature.”