Earthseed

You can stay with Yusef.”
    “No.” She went to the craft, reached past her brother, and pulled out one of the captured weapons. Yusef looked at her quizzically. “Do you really know how to use this thing?” she asked.
    Yusef nodded. “I figured it out. I had a chance to look it over last night.”
    “Show me how to use it.”
    Yusef was still. At last he climbed down. “You hold it like this.” He demonstrated, propping one end against his shoulder. “Sight through the glass.” She found a target, a sapling bordering the swamp. “Press the button.” She pressed it. A beam shot out and blackened a large spot on the tree; she had burned a hole through it. She aimed at a limb and burned it off. “You see, it’s very simple. You’re a natural shot. But don’t use it when you’re too close—you might not have time to aim and fire. And be sure you’re not wide of the mark. Your mistakes will be as dead as your intended targets.”
    “I understand.” She turned to Aleksandr. “I’m ready now.”
    He opened his mouth, as if about to protest, then turned away. Leaving Yusef and three others behind, they hurried toward the woods.

    As they came nearer to the settlement, Ship whispered to them from a tree. “Approach carefully.” Zoheret bent forward. “Two people on patrol are ahead.” Ship’s voice was now coming from a bush.
    They crept up slowly. At the edge of the settlement, a man and a woman patrolled near the woods. The clearing in front of the storehouse had been surrounded by barbed wire; several young people had been herded inside the enclosure. A few people were out in the fields, while others labored in the gardens with spades. One person was in each of the towers, sitting behind weapons mounted on the railings.
    Aleksandr leaned toward a tree. “Ship,” he whispered, “it’s almost time. Tell Yusef to approach.”
    “I shall,” a faint voice replied.
    Zoheret observed the two guards. Somehow they would have to lure the pair to the woods, where they could not be seen easily from the towers, and make certain they could not alert the settlement. She plucked at Aleksandr’s sleeve. “I think I can get them.”
    “Don’t shoot,” he said. “The others will see.”
    “I won’t. I’ll try to lead them in.”
    She crept toward the clearing and picked up a rock. Waiting until their backs were to her, she hurled the rock, then darted behind a tree.
    “What’s that?” the woman said.
    “Probably some animal.”
    “We’d better check.”
    “Ah, leave it alone.”
    Zoheret waited, then picked up a hard piece of earth and threw that. “Hey!” the man said.
    Ho and Owen had come up behind her. Ho rustled a bush and growled.
    “There is something there,” the woman said.
    “There can’t be.”
    “It might be one of those kids who got away.”
    “Then we’d better get help.”
    Zoheret held her breath.
    “We can handle them alone,” the woman said. The two were coming toward them now, weapons up; Zoheret saw that they had only stun guns. She might have to give herself up; the two would then have to take her into the settlement, and the way would be clear for Aleksandr to attack. The man suddenly fired toward Ho’s bush, barely missing the boy. Zoheret tensed, and looked up at the nearer tower; the man there had not seen the beam.
    “Come out,” the man said. “Come out, you little bastard. You won’t get away, so you’d better come out.” He glanced at the woman. “I told you it was only an animal. Those kids wouldn’t have come back here.”
    The two were in the woods now, hidden from the settlement. Zoheret crouched behind a bush. She had to risk being hit.
    She jumped up and ran deeper into the woods. They pursued her; a beam shot past her. She dived for the ground, then rolled to her feet, ready to surrender.
    Ho and Owen jumped, bringing the two down. They were skillful and quick, leaping on the Earthpeople’s backs, covering their mouths so that they could not cry out. Zoheret reached for her stun gun. A knife flashed. Ho got to his feet, wiping his blade on his shirttail. The woman gaped at Zoheret; her throat had been slashed. She struggled silently as she choked on her blood and died, eyes turned toward her killer. The man lay face down; Owen too was cleaning his knife.
    Aleksandr and Kieu approached, followed by the others. Turning violently from the bodies, Aleksandr hid his face; Zoheret heard him retch.
    “You didn’t have to kill them,” Kieu