Earthseed

Zoheret had dismissed the doubts; surely Ship and the people working on the Project had known about possible difficulties and had allowed for them. Ship’s probes would explore the world thoroughly before they went down to it to live.
    She sat down, stretched out her legs, grabbed her ankles, and touched her head to her knees. Her knees were bony. She thought of Bonnie, with her curving calves and high, round breasts; that was all Manuel really cared about. Lillka was panting as she rowed. Lillka asked too many questions and thought she could answer them by thinking and reading. Well, she couldn’t. Some of them could be answered only by experience, and others would never be answered. That was the way things were, and there was nothing to be done about it.
    Lillka abandoned the rower and sprawled on a nearby mat while Zoheret lay on her back and lifted her legs. “Competition’s coming up,” Lillka said.
    “I know.”
    “Ship hasn’t even had us draw for teams yet. I hope we’re on the same one. Not that it matters. Who cares who wins those things? I don’t.” Lillka sighed. “I hope it’s problem-solving or games this time, and not swimming or something like that.”
    “Ship hasn’t said. I get the feeling”—Zoheret paused as she lifted her legs one last time—“that it’s planning something different.”
    “I think so, too.”
    Zoheret sat up, waiting for Ship to interject a comment, but it remained silent.
    “I don’t know why Ship makes us have a competition anyway,” Lillka continued. “Everybody gets all worked up about it as if it matters who wins, and some kids get nasty about it, and then when it’s all over, Ship tries to make it seem as though we all gained something and gives us that stuff about teamwork and building your character. Building your character!” Lillka sniffed. “I’m going back to the library. Maybe the competition’ll be questions and answers. I could beat anybody on that.”

    Zoheret retreated to her room after supper. She had never cared for the noise and disorder of the dining hall, and ate as many meals in her room as Ship would allow. Fortunately, her room, which she shared with Lillka and a girl named Kagami, was empty.
    Ignoring the vases and drawings with which Kagami had littered her part of the room, Zoheret slid her desk top out of the wall and set up her reading screen. She sat down, determined to master her anatomy lesson. As she stared at the diagrams of muscles, her mind drifted.
    I’m not very good at studying, she thought. She could learn what others learned, but it seemed to take her longer than some. That might be only because she found it difficult to concentrate. She tried to force her attention back to the diagrams. Lillka could study something and learn it quickly and have questions about it and come up with implications that would never have occurred to Zoheret.
    She was still staring at the diagrams when Ship spoke. “Manuel has asked me to tell all of you that he will have a proposal to offer during your meeting in the dining hall. He and several others wish to discuss your relationship with me during your forthcoming sojourn in the Hollow. If you cannot attend in person, please turn on your screens at that time. If you cannot participate in the meeting at all, give me your excuse, and I’ll provide a recording for you later.”
    Zoheret frowned. It might be interesting to see Manuel actually offer a proposal, since he usually spent his time at meetings addressing humorous remarks at the speaker or fooling around with his friends in the back of the room. But she already knew what he was going to say.
    “I’ll watch it here,” she said to Ship.
    “No, you won’t. You’ll go to the hall. You don’t have an excuse.”
    “I do. I have to study. I need every minute.”
    “You’ll have plenty of time until then. You would learn more if you applied yourself and spent your time more efficiently.”
    “I know what they’re going to talk about,” Zoheret said angrily. “They’re going to say you should shut down your sensors in the Hollow while we’re living there.” Ship was silent. “Aren’t you mad?”
    “Why should I be mad? I see no reason for not raising the issue.”
    “But you always worry about what might happen to us there. You’re always saying to be careful.”
    “I feel it’s wise to scan the area. But I cannot coddle you forever. I don’t worry, and I don’t get mad. It is unconstructive to do so.”