Earthseed

things back with me.”
    “I’m sure you can do without them. If there’s anything you really need, I’ll be happy to provide it.”
    “Why can’t we go there?” Bonnie asked.
    “Why return to your old haunts? That part of your life is over now.”
    Bonnie narrowed her eyes. “You don’t want us there. Why? What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing is wrong.” Ship’s voice dropped to a tenor. “I simply think you should stay here and discuss the problem that brought you into this part of me before you go back to the Hollow. There’s no need to dawdle in your old rooms.”
    “We’ll walk, then.” Bonnie got up and went to the door. It remained closed. She hit the smooth white surface with her hand. “Open the door.”
    “I’m afraid I cannot do that.”
    Zoheret lifted her hand to her mouth. Had Ship gone mad? If it had, they were lost; there was no escape.
    “Open the door!” Bonnie cried, kicking it.
    “After we talk.”
    “What’s the matter? Why won’t you open it?”
    “I’ve done my best to carry out this Project. But you are placing it in jeopardy.” Ship’s words chilled Zoheret. She went to Bonnie and stood at her side. “I’ve done my best.” Zoheret had never heard that tone before; it was the sound of despair. “I should tell you that you—” Ship paused. “No. Explain your problem to me. We can talk and you may then return to the Hollow, where you belong. Believe me, that would be best. You shouldn’t be here now. I was counting on you to be mature enough to handle your own problems.”
    It’s our fault, Zoheret thought. Ship didn’t expect us to ask for help, and now it’s afraid we can’t take care of ourselves. She was suddenly angry at Ship for trying to make them feel guilty. But its voice had been too pained, too unlike it, too out of proportion to the cause. Something else was worrying it.
    “Ship,” she said carefully, “we have some trouble, but it’s not what you think.” Ship should have been comforting her, not the other way around. “We can handle it. I think we just needed to get away for a while so we could see it more objectively.”
    Bonnie glared at Zoheret, as if wanting to argue; Zoheret shot her a warning glance. “We’ve had some disagreements with Ho and some others, but we probably just need to get together and talk it over.” Bonnie grimaced, but held her peace. “We’ll go back,” Zoheret continued. “I’m sorry we came here and upset you.”
    “Are you sure you don’t want to talk?” Ship was trying, it seemed, to make amends.
    “We’ll solve it ourselves. That’s what you’d like us to do, I know. Just give us some food, and we’ll go.”
    “Very well.” They helped themselves to some packets and put them in Bonnie’s pack.
    “Good-bye, Ship,” Zoheret murmured as the door slid open. They hurried down the corridor and through the entrance to the Hollow.
    As the door closed behind them, Bonnie opened her mouth; Zoheret held up her hand. She led the other girl to the clearing, looking down at the woods below. There were sensors hidden among the trees, but no ears here.
    “Sit down,” she said to Bonnie. “Take out some food and pretend you’re hungry. Keep your head down. It might be watching, even if it can’t hear.” They sat, and Bonnie handed her a packet.
    “What was that all about?” Bonnie said in a low voice.
    Zoheret leaned forward, shaking her hair over her face. “We have a big problem now, as bad as this business with Ho. Ship’s hiding something.”
    “I know that.”
    “Keep your voice down.” Zoheret laughed loudly. “Go on, laugh. Look like you’re not worried.”
    Bonnie chuckled nervously.
    “We have to find out what it’s hiding, and why.”
    “I know that,” Bonnie said softly. “Why didn’t we stay, then?”
    “Do you think Ship would have just let us wander around until we found out?”
    “I guess not.”
    “We have to surprise it.”
    “How are we going to surprise Ship?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “What if it’s lost? What if something went wrong with the probes?”
    Zoheret shook her head. “It couldn’t be that. Ship wouldn’t be trying to keep us from our old rooms if that was the problem. There’s something going on there. We have a right to know what.”
    “And how are you going to fool Ship?” Bonnie waved a hand. “It’s all around us. We can’t do anything without it knowing if it’s watching us. And how are we going to get into the corridors