Earthseed

was only a tiny being crying out in a little space. How strange to think of oneself in that way.”
    “Are your sensors in the Hollow working?”
    “Let me try a few. Yes, they are working. Shall I leave them on? I had promised not to do so.”
    “Forget your promise. Better shut them down for now, anyway. We don’t want anyone in the Hollow to suspect that they’re working.”
    “What is going on?” Ship asked. “What attacked me?”
    “You’ll find out.” Aleksandr turned his head toward Yusef. “Check that craft—see if there’s anything inside it. Then we’ll take this woman to her friends and ask Zoheret to tell us her story.”
    “You haven’t beaten us yet,” the woman said. “And you won’t.”
    “I thought …” Ship paused as they entered the corridor. “I thought I would go mad. Thank you for saving me.”

    Zoheret sat on a table, sipping water as she spoke to the people gathered in the dining room. Her voice grew hoarse; she saw Kieu wince as she mentioned their capture by Ho. When she spoke of Willem, her eyes filled and she had to blink away tears; she saw one young woman turn away and wondered if she was Willem’s sister. When she spoke of Caleb’s death, she looked down and had to stop speaking for a few moments.
    When she was finished, she looked around at the worried faces. No one said anything.
    “They concealed themselves well,” Ship said at last. “I did not know they were aboard. They must have had their own entrance to the Hollow. How foolish of them. Had I known, I could have monitored them as they lay in suspension.”
    “Why do they behave the way they do?” Aleksandr asked.
    “I cannot say. Tracing the causes of human behavior is a complex task—I found that out with you. Answers are often hard to come by. It seems I was not told everything about Earth.”
    “We must decide what to do,” Kieu said. “We can’t revive more comrades to help us—they’ll be too disoriented and will need time to adjust. And we don’t have that time.”
    “Ho should be here soon,” Zoheret said. “He’ll help us, and there are about twenty people with him, plus my five friends. That would give us a chance.”
    “Will the boys and girls in the settlement help us?” Aleksandr said.
    Zoheret sighed. “Some will. Some at least won’t get in the way. I’d guess that a lot of them will wait to see who might win. But they won’t be expecting us—that should give us an edge.”
    Yusef held up a hand. “Wait. We all seem to be assuming that we’re going to help Zoheret.”
    Zoheret turned toward her brother. “Aren’t you?”
    “Should we? You saw the weapon that woman had. There’s another one like it in their craft. They’ll shoot to kill. We won’t just be up against stun guns.”
    “But we need your help. We can’t fight them alone.”
    “Are you so sure?” Yusef said. “The settlement will think that Ship has been shut down. You and the friends you’re waiting for outnumber the Earthpeople, and can surprise them. Presumably, some of those in the settlement will rise up and help you, but if they don’t, why should we risk our lives to help them? I think we should stay out of it. We can watch on Ship’s screens. If the battle is lost, we can then decide what to do.”
    A few people were nodding their heads. “You have to help us,” Zoheret said. “It’s your battle, too.”
    Yusef pulled at his mustache. “Your assault will weaken the Earthfolk, even if you lose. That should make it easier for us to fight.”
    Aleksandr was glaring at Yusef. “I thought you were through with setting yourself against everyone, going your own way. I thought you’d learned something. But I guess I was wrong.”
    “I’m being practical.” Yusef stood up. “Right now, I think we should get some sleep.” He left the room; several people followed.
    Aleksandr walked Zoheret to her room; he did not speak. When they reached her door, she said, “What did you mean when you said you thought Yusef wouldn’t set himself against everyone?”
    “You ought to know. We had our disagreements, too, just as you did with Ho.”
    “You mean Yusef—”
    “I might be able to talk to him, change his mind. I think we’ve got to settle this business with the Earthfolk soon—if we wait, we don’t know what they might do next. Don’t worry—when your friends get here, we’ll decide what to do. I think some of us will help you.”

    Zoheret was unused to her bed, which now