Earthseed

would believe that their friends were returning and would be caught off guard. So it was hoped.
    “Something puzzles me,” Kieu said. “The violence these Earthfolk display. I had thought Earth learned to overcome such impulses.”
    “They channeled them,” Yusef replied. “Obviously they didn’t overcome them. Maybe Earth was more violent than we realized. Zoheret said that there were artificial worlds built near Earth—maybe Earth was where the violent ones were kept. Earth once had prisons for criminals—maybe Earth itself was a prison.”
    “I was told,” Zoheret said, “that they chose to stay there, that they could have left.”
    “So they say. But look at us. Look at your friend Ho. Are we really so different? We grew up learning how to use weapons—obviously, they thought that was important.”
    “We needed them for hunting, for protection. Anyway, they’re not lethal.”
    “Nonlethal weapons.” Yusef shook his head as he steered. “But they can kill if used a certain way. There’s no such thing as a nonlethal weapon.” He paused. “The Earthfolk may have controlled themselves before. But now they’re cut off from everything they ever knew, and there’s nothing to restrain them. And they must have disagreed with others working on the Project, or they wouldn’t have had to hide themselves from Ship.”
    When they reached the swamp’s edge, Yusef stopped the craft a bit too abruptly; a few people fell off their seats. Aleksandr leaped out. “Ship?”
    “Yes?” a voice said from a nearby tree.
    “We’ll skirt the swamp and head toward the woods. Are all your sensors on?”
    “Yes. There is something I must tell you.”
    “What is it?”
    “This will be difficult to say. Perhaps I should have waited, but I think you should know. I see death—just past the lake, near a cave. Six people are dead. I see their bodies—they do not move.” Zoheret came to Aleksandr’s side. “There is someone nearby. Duck!”
    The beam shot out just as Ship gave its warning. Zoheret threw herself to the ground; others scrambled back to the craft.
    “Stop,” Ship said more loudly. “Come out. Friends are here to aid you.”
    The reeds stirred. “Zoheret?”
    “Ho,” she shouted back. “Don’t shoot—we’re here to help.”
    Ho stumbled out of the reeds, followed by Owen and Daniella. They were covered with mud and reeked of the swamp’s marshy, sulfurous smell. Ho’s eyes were glazed. Owen looked sick; Daniella’s face was grim.
    “They surprised us,” Ho said. “They had weapons that kill. There were only four of them, but we couldn’t fight—they had the weapons and a craft to back them up.” He covered his eyes with dirty hands. “We three got away. We hid in the swamp—I figured if they came after us again, we could lose them there.”
    “You should have come to the corridors,” Zoheret said.
    “We were going to. I had to talk everyone into it first. Then we were found. They tracked me. They used that dog of Jorge’s. At least I killed that dog.” He gripped her arms. “Zoheret, they killed Vittorio, and Gene, and …” He paused. “And one of your group.”
    “Who?” she cried.
    “Dmitri.”
    She sagged against him. Dmitri had smiled at her when she had left the island, as if showing her that everything would be right in the end. She stood up and backed away. “No.” How much did she have to endure? She stumbled toward the vehicle and leaned against it, pressing her cheek against the cold metal. He was dead because she hadn’t loved him enough, she thought irrationally, and knew she would have traded another life for his—Tonio’s, Gervais’s, perhaps even Kagami’s. She lifted her head and glared at Ho, hating him for being alive.
    “You’re wrong,” she shouted. “He isn’t dead. He’s only hurt. We have to go get him.”
    “Ho is right, Zoheret,” Ship murmured. “I can see that he is. There is nothing you can do for Dmitri now.”
    “It’s your fault, Ho. If you hadn’t kept him there, he’d still be alive.”
    She walked to the swamp, staring into the treacherous wet ground, watching the bluish mist nestle near twisted shrubs. Aleksandr was talking to Ho, telling him their plan and what had happened in the corridors. She could not look at his face, so like Dmitri’s.
    Aleksandr came to Zoheret’s side. “We have to go now,” he said. “Others are still in danger. You can wait here.”
    “I’m coming with you.”
    “You needn’t.