Earthseed

kids.”
    The man wasn’t just talking about Willem now; she thought of Anoki and Jennifer and her mouth grew dry. “They’re not a burden. They’ve always done everything the rest of us did.”
    “I suppose he had the same lessons, too. No doubt he mastered them thoroughly.”
    “He learned what he could. Maybe it’s not much, but he does his work, his share. He had to be in Competitions just like everyone else.”
    “You don’t need the unfit. If we were on Earth …” He waved a hand.
    “Lillka told me about Earth, what one of you said about it.”
    “And what did she say?” He leaned back against one of the posts.
    “That Earth wasn’t the only world in its solar system. That there were others with people in them, worlds like Ship.”
    He frowned. “If you can call them worlds.”
    “Did they have Projects, too?”
    Caleb laughed. “They sent out unmanned probes. That’s all they did. They thought we were foolish to plan our venture. They couldn’t bear to travel themselves. They’d rather huddle around the sun, like primitives afraid of the night. They’d rather see pictures of other worlds than travel themselves.” He leaned forward. “They thought they could buy us off with their machines and their technology—they made us dependent. But we’ll be the ones to inherit other worlds, not them.”
    Zoheret glanced at him, reminded of something else Lillka had told her. “Lillka said you were going to send Ship to other worlds and raise more kids.”
    “That was always part of the plan.”
    “No,” Zoheret said. “Ship never said so. It was going to stay in orbit so we could talk to it after we were settled. It wouldn’t just leave.”
    Caleb raised his eyebrows. “Do you really think we would have gone to all this trouble to seed one world? The ship was programmed to seed as many as possible.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “It’s true. The ship would have told you that when the time came to do so.”
    “No.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “It isn’t what Ship wants. It cares about us now.” She wanted to believe that.
    “The ship will do what we want it to do.”
    “You don’t belong here,” she said fiercely. “You weren’t part of the plan. Ship didn’t even know about you.”
    Caleb stood up. “Get back to work.”
    They had put up another post when Willem finally returned, walking toward them with empty hands. Caleb went to him. “Where’s our lunch?”
    Willem gaped at him. “I forgot.” His eyes glistened. “I went and—”
    Caleb hit him before Willem could explain, and kept hitting until the boy fell, arms over his head. The man began to kick him. Zoheret threw herself at Caleb, catching a glimpse of his wild eyes. He thrust her away. Her head hit a post and she fell to the ground. As she got up, the back of Caleb’s hand caught her; she hit the post again, and could not move.
    At last she struggled up; her head was spinning. She stumbled toward Caleb. Willem was very still. Caleb was on his knees, crying. Zoheret knelt by Willem. His eyes stared up at her sightlessly. She felt for his pulse and could not find it, then pressed her ear to his chest. His heart was silent.
    “Get the medikit,” Caleb said. “In the storehouse. Get the medikit.”
    She said, “He’s dead.”
    “No. Oh, no.”
    “You killed him.” Her own tears would not come. “He wasn’t feeling well. I bet you beat him before. He was hurt inside. And now you’ve killed him.”
    She swung at Caleb; he grabbed her wrists. “It was an accident. Do you understand? It was an accident.” Caleb had stopped crying and was now looking around wildly, as if wanting to be sure no one else had seen.
    “Murderer.” She looked at a distant group carrying hoes to another field. “I’m going to tell them what you did.”
    “It was an accident.” He gripped her wrists very tightly. “And that’s what you’re going to say. He wasn’t feeling well, and he fell against a pole, and he died before we could get help. You’re going to say that because if you don’t, the same thing will happen to you.”
    “Nobody will believe it.”
    “Yes, they will. They won’t believe you—I’ll see that they don’t. You’re a troublemaker.” His eyes narrowed. “And if you say anything else, I’ll say the accident was your fault, and that I was covering for you out of kindness.”
    He released her and picked up the body; his hands were shaking.

    Zoheret was alone in the shack; the