Earthseed

had expected. But you must find your own way. Your difficulties may be different.”
    “You’re going to stay here, then.” Zoheret felt both relief and disappointment.
    Yusef said, “We must. We have to revive our friends, a few at a time. We have our own preparations to make.”
    “What are we supposed to do when we go back?” Gervais asked. “Tell our friends about you, or keep you a secret?”
    Kieu shook her head. “We can’t tell you that. You have to decide.”

    Zoheret and her companions left as they had entered. They had considered taking the tubeway to the entrance nearer the settlement, but decided that they needed the extra time to figure out what to do. Their packs were heavier; they had loaded them with various delicacies for their friends, and Kagami had raided the infirmary for more medical supplies.
    “We’re going to have to tell them something,” Dmitri muttered as they approached the woods. “If we don’t tell them the truth, we’ll have to make up a convincing story.”
    “We could say that Ship’s doing biological experiments,” Tonio offered, “and was worried about contamination.”
    Kagami shook her head. “It could close off the labs for that. It wouldn’t have to close off the whole corridor.”
    “Maybe we should just tell them the truth,” Gervais said. “They’re going to find out anyway.”
    Dmitri said, “I wish we’d never found out. I wish we didn’t know.”
    Gervais shifted his pack. “Don’t be stupid.”
    “What if the others want to go and meet them?” Tonio said loudly. “What if someone tells them about Ho? We don’t even know if we can trust those people. How do we know Ho or one of his friends hasn’t gone to the corridors already and found out about them? Maybe they’re helping him. Maybe he’s hiding there and that’s the real reason they wanted us to leave.”
    “I don’t think they’d do that,” Zoheret replied. “They tried to be kind. They didn’t seem—”
    “How do you know? She said he was her brother. So maybe she’s helping him.”
    They were talking too much, becoming careless. The woods were closer now. Zoheret turned toward Tonio to tell him to be quiet. Something glinted in the corner of her eye. She glanced at it.
    The bright flash blinded her for a moment. Tonio and Gervais were falling. Her hand moved to her waist. She had time only to see the arm protruding from behind a tree before she fell and the bright spot dancing before her was swallowed by blackness.

12
    She was lying on her back. She moved her fingers; they prickled with pain. A root dug into her back. Where was her pack? She had been wearing one; what had happened to it?
    Zoheret opened her eyes. The tree boughs above her seemed to have formed a net to hold their green leaves. Her knees felt bruised. Her wrists were bound, restraining her movements.
    Slowly, she sat up. Kagami was awake, her back against a tree. Gervais was next to her, lying on the ground. Serena and Tonio were next to him, their heads bowed. Dmitri lay beside Zoheret; he moaned. Each of them was tied at the wrists and ankles.
    Zoheret lifted her head. Across from her, Manuel squatted by the packs; he was eating a cake. A heavyset blond boy named Owen watched them impassively, his hand on his stun gun. Daniella, a small, rodent-faced girl with mousy hair, was with the two boys; she, too, was eating a cake. Zoheret knew that her own weapon was gone even before she looked down at her waist.
    “When’s he going to wake up?” Owen said, waving his weapon at Dmitri.
    “He was shot when he was guarding our fields,” Zoheret replied. “It takes a while to recover afterward—you ought to know that.”
    “Let me give him something,” Kagami said. “I have medicine in my pack.”
    “No,” Owen said. Manuel had been reaching for the pack; he paused. “Why did you go back to the corridors?”
    “We needed some supplies,” Zoheret said.
    “I’ll bet you went whining to Ship.”
    “If we had, don’t you think it would have done something by now?” She bit her lip. She should not have said that; she might have been able to frighten them with the possibility that Ship was watching.
    “She’s not a whiner,” Manuel said. “She wouldn’t have told Ship.” Zoheret glared at him, resenting his defense.
    “We can take care of ourselves,” Owen said. “We don’t have to go into the corridors.”
    Zoheret frowned. They did not know about Aleksandr and the others, then. She