Earthseed

that.” She looked at Ho.
    “What else can we do?” Manuel said.
    She needed to win Ho’s trust, and in order to do that, she would have to tell him everything. She wondered if she could trust him. Once she had told him all she knew, he would not need her or her friends. She examined his face, trying to discover a spark of compassion, of mercy. She could not. Ship had made as many errors with Ho as it had with Willem or Anoki.
    “We can go into the corridors,” she said slowly.
    Owen straightened. “It is a trick. She went to Ship, and Ship told her to tell us this story. Ship wants us there so it can punish us.”
    “I didn’t go to Ship.”
    “Then you sent people there, to wait for us. It’s a trick.”
    She ignored Owen; Ho was the one she had to convince. “There are strangers in the corridors, too.”
    Tonio gasped. “You shouldn’t have told them that.”
    “I have to. We have to cooperate now.” Quickly she told Ho about the people in the corridors, filling in a few details about his sister Kieu. “They might help us,” she finished. “They seemed to care—they aren’t like the ones in the settlement.”
    “Are you so sure?” Ho said. “How do you know they aren’t working with the others?”
    “I had a feeling about them.”
    “A feeling.” Ho snorted.
    “Yes.”
    “What about the rest of you? Did you have the same feeling?” The captives hung their heads. Back me up, Zoheret wanted to shout, say something. Even Kagami was peering at her dubiously from under lowered lids. “I know why you’re not talking,” Ho went on. “It’s a lie, and you have nothing to say because there’s nothing to add.”
    “It’s not a lie,” Dmitri said. “It’s true. How could anybody make all that up?”
    Zoheret stared straight at Ho. “You can do what you like with us now—you know everything. Holding prisoners won’t do you any good—you have nothing to gain. But we could help—we can make plans together.”
    Ho smiled. “You don’t want to help me.”
    “How do you know?” Appealing to Ho’s sentiments would not help; maybe a practical argument would. “Think of it this way—if we work together, and if we can figure out what to do about the Earthpeople, you’ll be a hero. Ship won’t punish you, and everybody’ll listen to you then, not just a small group.” She waved a hand at Owen. “Maybe they’ll even make you the leader afterward—not just here, but on the new world. But if you hurt us, eventually Ship will know—it’ll search the whole area with its sensors. You won’t be able to bury us deep enough. And the other kids would always be suspicious—they’d wonder what happened to us if Ship couldn’t find us. I mean, where could we go? And one of your friends might tell them. You’d never know—you’d have to be on guard forever.”
    She waited. Ho was already glancing furtively at his friends, who gazed ahead blandly.
    Manuel said, “You should listen to her.”
    “Don’t tell me what to do!” Ho shouted. “I know you, Manuel—you think you can run things better than I can. Well, you can’t.” He got up and paced, head down. Zoheret folded her hands; she had done all she could.
    Kagami leaned toward her. “Is Bonnie really—?” She turned away. A look of pain crossed Manuel’s face; he lifted a hand to his forehead, as if trying to hide his feelings from his comrades.
    “I saw her go under,” Zoheret answered. “She was unconscious. I don’t know if that woman got her out in time—or even tried to. She was still standing on the bank when the current pulled me away.”
    Ho strode back to the group and stood over her, hands on his hips. “All right,” he said. “I’ve decided. We’re going back to the settlement—you and me. I’m going to check this out for myself.”
    “You’re crazy. It’s too risky. They might be looking for you now.”
    “You might be telling me that because it’s true. You also might be saying it because it’s all a lie and you don’t want me to find that out. You just want to go running to Ship. Everyone always went running to Ship. They never settled things with me—they just ran to Ship until I made them stop.” He drew his lips back from his teeth. “Once you get me in the corridors, I can’t do a thing.”
    “Ho, you have to believe me. We’d all be safer in the corridors. We ought to go there right away. What if those strangers cut off the way to the entrances?”
    “If I find out you’re