Earthseed

mad. You understand.”
    Manuel turned and they followed him into the woods. “It doesn’t matter,” Zoheret whispered to Annie as they walked, stirring the dead twigs and pine needles with their feet. “We all studied the maps so much we practically have them memorized anyway, so that map of Manuel’s won’t make any difference.”
    “He copied everything. I wish I knew how he pocketed it without Ship finding out.” Annie scowled. “Don’t worry. I know enough to keep my mouth shut.”
    It was cooler under the trees; the air was still. Zoheret wondered what the trees were hiding, and wished the team had skirted the forest, but that would have taken too long. Manuel was speaking to Dmitri; the muscular boy shook back his long, brown hair and moved ahead of Manuel. Zoheret resented the way Manuel had taken command of the team. No one had stood up to him, or questioned his authority. Ahead of her, Gervais churned through the underbrush on skinny legs. Zoheret would have trusted Gervais to lead, but the intense, solemn boy had contented himself with making suggestions. Maybe he had been wise. Manuel had listened to him, and Gervais had avoided the sort of confrontation that would have had the team taking sides.
    Manuel might be disliked, but he would help them win, and that was more important. He knew the Hollow as well as anyone, except possibly Ho, because the two had always been sneaking off to the Hollow, even against Ship’s wishes. She walked more quickly, not wanting to be left behind.

    The team stood on a hill, looking down. A clearing lay before them. They had made it this far seeing no more than squirrels, a few birds, and a deer that had disappeared quickly among the trees. But now their way was blocked. A bear and her cub were in the clearing.
    They were downwind of the animals, and the creatures had not noticed them yet. Manuel whispered to Dmitri.
    “No,” Gervais said in a low voice, moving closer to Manuel. “It’s too dangerous.”
    “We’ve got stun guns,” Manuel said. “I think we should shoot. We’d have plenty of time to get across before they revive.”
    “No,” Zoheret said. She forced herself to look directly at Manuel. “It’s too dangerous. That’s a mother with her cub. She’ll attack if she feels it’s threatened. We might miss.”
    “Not if enough of us shoot.”
    “But you could hurt them.” One or two shots, she knew, would stun the animals into unconsciousness, but several shots might damage their central nervous systems. Enough shots, even with stun guns, could kill. She was suddenly afraid of the weapon at her waist. “Why risk it when we can go around the clearing?”
    “We’ll lose time,” Dmitri said.
    “We’ll lose more time if we stand here arguing about it.” Zoheret looked at the others, hoping for support.
    “She’s right,” Annie said. “Let’s go around the clearing.”
    “Do you know how much time we’ll lose?” Manuel said angrily.
    “I don’t care.”
    The larger bear looked up, sniffing the air. Manuel moved quickly, racing a few paces down the hill, then raised his gun. He fired.
    The bear roared as the beam of light shot past her. She lumbered toward them, moving faster than Zoheret had thought she could. Two more beams struck her in the chest and she fell at the foot of the hill. Dmitri hit the cub.
    The two animals were still. The team scampered down the hill and ran across the clearing. Jennifer stumbled as she ran; Manuel ran swiftly, head high in triumph. When they reached the trees on the other side, Zoheret rested for a moment, leaning against a trunk. The knapsack on her back felt heavy.
    “Come on,” Manuel said. He was standing next to her. “We should be far away when they wake up.”
    “You shouldn’t have done that.”
    “I had no choice. It worked, didn’t it?” He turned away.

    After lunch, they kept up a steady pace until the light permeating the Hollow began to grow dimmer. The hills around them now bore only a few trees and bushes; if nothing went wrong, they would reach the lake, and more forest, before dark.
    They had, Zoheret thought, been lucky so far. The trip had been uneventful, except for the bears. Ship had always kept its word; it had said it would shut down its sensors. But she still felt as though it were watching, making sure that they came through the Hollow safely.
    She rejected that notion. She was being childish, thinking that Ship was looking out for them, that it cared. Ship