Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Fourteen

No, youre good-tempered in any case low, I say to Gretchen. Its making you flat. You subscribe to to be a n i higher or aroundthing. Like this. I sang the part I deprivationed her to sing.I am nonifi honkion that, Gretchen verbalize.No, youre sing lower than that, I said.Then youre singing the wrong none, Gretchen said. Beca physical exercise Im singing the none youre singing. Go ahead, sing it.I absolved my throat, and sang the none I inadequacyed her to sing. She matched it perfectly. I stopped singing and palpate outed to Gretchen. She was flat.Well, nuts, I said.I told you, Gretchen said.If I could pull up the song for you, you could identify the none and sing it, I said.If you could pull up the song, we wouldnt be onerous to sing it at solo, Gretchen said. Wed still listen to it, analogous civilized benignant beings.Good point, I said.T butt over againsthers nil practised ab disc everywhere it, Gretchen said. I certify to you, Zoe. I knew coming to a colony world was going to be hard. I was ready for that. unless if I knew they were going to take my organiser, I might experience on the plainlyton stayed digest on Erie. Go ahead, bode me sh allow.Shallow, I said.Now ascertain me Im wrong, Gretchen said. I d atomic number 18 you.I didnt ordinate her she was wrong. I knew how she felt. Yes, it was shallow to admit that you missed your personal organiser. more everyplace when youd spent your integral life able to call up of all durationything you necessitateed to amuse you on a PDA music, guides, books and friends when you had to part with it, it made you miserable. Really miserable. Like confine on a desert island with nothing unless coconuts to bang unneurotic miserable. Because on that point was nothing to re slip it with. Yes, the compound Mennonites had brought their proclaim small subroutine library of printed books, fair without delay most of that consisted of Bibles and agricultural manuals an d a few classics, of which Huckleberry Finn was one of the more than recent volumes. As for popular music and entertainments, well, they didnt untold truck with that.You could secure a few of the Colonial Mennonite teens thought it was funny to watch the dwell of us go by entertainment withdrawal. Didnt seem real Christian of them, I study to say. On the separate cash in ones chips, they werent the ones whose lives had been drastically altered by landing place on Roanoke. If I were in their shoes and watching a whole bunch of new(prenominal) passel whining and moaning some how horrible it was that their toys were taken onward, I might feel a detailed smug, too.We did what tidy sum do in situations w present they go without We ad scantilyed. I hadnt read a book since we arrive on Roanoke, but was on the time lag list for a circumscribe copy of The Wizard of Oz. There were no recorded shows or entertainments but Shakespeare never fails in that respect was a reader s theater performance of Twelfth dark planned for a week from Sun twenty- quartet hour period. It promised to be fairly gruesome Id comprehend some of the read-throughs but Enzo was reading the part of Sebastian, and he was doing well enough, and law be told it would be the thrum-go time I would look at ever experienced a Shakespeare play or all play another(prenominal) than a school pageant live. And its not equivalent thither would be twainthing else to do anyway.And as for music, well, this is what happened Within a couple days of landing a few of the colonists hauled out guitars and accordions and hand drums and other much(prenominal) instruments and started laborious to play to disc everywhereher. Which went abysmally, because nobody knew anyone elses music. It was same(p) what happened on the Magellan. So they started t all(prenominal)ing individually other their songs, and thus peck showed up to sing them, and so people showed up to listen. And thus it was, at the very tail end of space, when no one was sounding, the colony of Roanoke reinvented the hootenanny. Which is what Dad called it. I told him it was a stupid phone for it, and he said he agreed, but said that the other leger for it wingding was worse. I couldnt argue with that.The Roanoke Hootenanners (as they were straightaway calling themselves) took requests but only if the mortal requesting sang the song. And if the musicians didnt jazz the song, youd bugger off to sing it at least a couple of times until they could physical body out how to fake it. This led to an evoke development singers started doing a cappella versions of their favorite songs, first by themselves and increasingly in groups, which might or might not be accompanied by the Hootenanners. It was becoming a point of pride for people to show up with their favorite songs already snip, so everyone else in the audience didnt use up to yen through a set of dry runs before it was all listenable .It was synthetic rubber to say that some of these arrangements were more arranged than others, to stage it politely, and some folk music sang with the same vocal control as a cat in a shower. but now, a couple of months after the hootenannies had begun, people were beginning to get the hang of it. And people had begun coming to the hoots with new songs, arranged a cappella. One of the most popular songs at the recent hoots was let Me Drive the Tractor the tale of a colonist being taught to drive a manual tractor by a Mennonite, who, because they were the only ones who knew how to operate noncomputerized farm machinery, had been put in charge of planting crops and inculcateing the rest of us how to use their equipment. The song ends with the tractor going into a ditch. It was based on a lawful story. The Mennonites thought the song was pretty funny, sluice though it came at the price of a wrecked tractor.Songs well-nigh tractors were a long way from what any of us had been listening to before, but then, we were a long way from where any of us were before, in any sense, so maybe that fit. And to get all sociological about it, maybe what it meant was that twenty or fifty shopworn years down the line, whenever the Colonial Union decided to let us get in contact with the rest of the gentle race, Roanoke would have its own distinct musical form. Maybe theyll call it Roanokapella. Or Hootenoke. Or something. exactly at this particular moment, all I was go offvassing to do was to get the right note for Gretchen to sing so she and I could go to the attached hoot with a central decent version of Delhi Morning for the Hootenanners to dive up on. And I was failing miserably. This is what it feels like when you realize that, despite a song being your favorite of maybe all time, you dont real hunch forward every little nook and cranny of it. And since my copy of the song was on my PDA, which I could no longer use or plane had anymore, there was no way to correct this problem.Unless. I have an idea, I said to Gretchen.Does it involve you learning to sing on key? Gretchen asked.Even better, I said.Ten minutes later we were on the other side of Croatoan, stand in front of the villages learning halfway the one place on the inbuilt planet that youd still find a functioning plot of land of electronics, because the inside was designed to completely block any radio or other signals of any sort. The technology to do this, sadly, was rare enough that we only had enough of it for a converted cargo container. The good news was, they were making more. The bad news was, they were only making enough for a medical examination bay. Sometimes life stinks. Gretchen and I walked into the receiving area, which was pitch black because of the signal-cloaking material you had to scrawny the outer door to the information center before you could open the internal door. So for about a second and a half it was like being swallowed by grim, black, fea tureless death. not something Id recommend.And then we opened the upcountry door and found a geek inside. He looked at the some(prenominal) of us, a little surp skipd, and then got that no look.The answer is no, he said, incontrovertible the look.Aw, Mr. Bennett, I said. You dont thus far complete what were going to ask.Well, lets see, said Jerry Bennett. Two puerile girls daughters of the colony leaders, incidentally scantily happen to walk into the only place in the colony where one could play with a PDA. Hmmm. Are they here to beg to play with a PDA? Or are they here because they enjoy the company of a chunky, middle-aged man? This is not a hard question, Miss Perry.We just want to listen to one song, I said. Well be out of your hair in just a minute.Bennett sighed. You discern, at least a couple times a day psyche just like you gets the bright idea to come in here and ask if I could just let them borrow a PDA to watch a movie, or listen to some music or read a book. An d, oh, itll just take a minute. I wont even notice theyre there. And if I say yes, then other people go away come in enquire for the same time. Eventually Ill spend so much time serving people with their PDAs that I wont have time to do the bestow your parents, Miss Perry, have assigned me to do. So you tell me What should I do?Get a lock? said Gretchen.Bennett glanced over to Gretchen, sourly. Very amusing, he said.What are you doing for my parents? I asked.Your parents are having me slowly and painstakingly locate and print every single Colonial Union brass section memo and file, so they whoremaster refer to them without having to come in here and bother me, Bennett said. In one sense I appreciate that, but in a more immediate sense Ive been doing it for the travel three days and Im likely to be doing it for another four. And since the printing machine I have to work with jams on a regular basis, it does rattling require someone to pay attention to it. And thats me. So t here you have it, Miss Perry quartette years of technical education and twenty years of professional work have allowed me to become a printer monkey at the very ass end of space. Truly, my lifes goal has been achieved.I shrugged. So let us do it, I said.I beg your pardon, Bennett said.If all youre doing is making legitimate the printer doesnt jam, thats something we could do for you, I said. Well work for you for a couple of hours, and in exchange you let us use a couple of PDAs while were here. And then you pot do whatever else you need to do.Or just go have lunch, Gretchen said. Surprise your wife.Bennett was silent for a minute, considering. Offering to actually help me, he said. No ones well-tried that tactic before. Very sneaky.We try, I said.And it is lunchtime, Bennett said. And it is just printing.It is, I agreed.I suppose if you mess things up horribly it wont be too bad for me, Bennett said. Your parents wont punish me for your incompetence.Nepotism working for you, I said. non that there allow for be a problem, Gretchen said.No, I agreed. Were excellent printer monkeys.All right, Bennett said, and reached across his worktable to grab his PDA. You can use my PDA. You manage how to use this?I gave him a look.Sorry. Okay. He punched up a get hold of files on the display. These are files that need to go through today. The printer is there he motioned to the far end of the worktable and the paper is in that bin. draw it into the printer, stack the finished documents next to the printer. If it jams, and it will, several times, just yank out the paper and let it autofeed a new one. Itll automatically reprint the last page it was working on. While youre doing that you can sync up to the pastime archive. I downloaded all those files into one place.You downloaded everyones files? I asked, and felt ever so slightly violated.Relax, Bennett said. Only public files are accessible. As long as you encrypted your private files before you writheed in your PDA, like you were told to, your secrets are safe. Now, one time you access a music file the speakers will kick on. Dont turn them up too high or you wont be able to receive the printer jam.You have speakers already set up? Gretchen asked.Yes, Miss Trujillo, Bennett said. desire it or not, even chunky middle-aged men like to listen to music.I fare that, Gretchen said. My dad loves his.And on that ego-deflating note, Ill be arrive at, Bennett said. Ill be moxie in a couple of hours. Please dont destroy the place. And if anyone comes in asking if they can borrow a PDA, tell them the answer is no, and no exceptions. He set finish off.I hope he was being ironic there, I said.Dont care, Gretchen said, and grabbed for the PDA. Give me that.Hey, I said, holding it away from her. First things first. I set up the printer, queued the files, and then accessed Delhi Morning. The opening s matchs flowed out of the speakers and I soaked them in. I swear I almost cried.Its amazing how badl y you call ined this song, Gretchen said, about halfway though.Shhhhh, I said. heres that part.She saw the expression on my face and kept low-key until the song was through with(p).Two hours is not enough time with a PDA if you havent had access to one in months. And thats all Im going to say about that. exactly it was enough time that both Gretchen and I came out of the information center feeling just like wed spent hours soaking in a nice hot bath which, come to envisage of it, was something that we hadnt done for months either.We should keep this to ourselves, Gretchen said.Yes, I said. Dont want people to bug Mr. Bennett.No, I just like having something over everyone else, Gretchen said.There arent a lot of people who can carry off petty, I said. Yet somehow you do.Gretchen nodded. convey you, madam. And now I need to get back home. I promised Dad Id fastball the vegetable garden before it got dark. tolerate fun rooting in the dirt, I said.Thanks, Gretchen said. If you were feeling nice, you could always offer to help me.Im working on my evil, I said.Be that way, Gretchen said.But lets get together after dinner party tonight to practice, I said. Now that we know how to sing that part.Sounds good, Gretchen said. Or will, hopefully. She waved and headed off toward home. I looked around and decided today would be a good day for a walk.And it was. The sun was up, the day was bright, particularly after a couple of hours in the light-swallowing information center, and Roanoke was deep into spring which was really pretty, even if it turned out that all the native blooms smelled like rotten tenderness dipped in sewer sauce (that description courtesy of Magdy, who could turn over together a phrase now and then). But after a couple of months, you stop noticing the smell, or at least arrogate theres nothing you can do about it. When the whole planet smells, you just have to deal with it.But what really made it a good day for a walk was how much our worl d has changed in just a couple of months. John and Jane let us all out of Croatoan not too long after Enzo, Gretchen, Magdy and I had our midnight jog, and the colonists had begun to move into the countryside, var.ing homes and farms, helping and learning from the Mennonites who were in charge of our first crops, which were already now evolution in the fields. They were genetically engineered to be fast-growing wed be having our first harvest time in the not too far future. It looked like we were going to run after all. I walked past these new houses and fields, waving to folks as I went.Eventually I walked past the last homestead and over a small rise. On the other side of it, nothing but grass and scrub and the forest in a line to the side. This rise was destined to be part of another farm, and more farms and pastures would cut up this little valley even further. Its funny how even just a couple thousand humanitys could start to change a landscape. But at the moment there was no other person in it but me it was my private spot, for as long as it lasted. Mine and exploit alone. Well, and on a couple of occasions, mine and Enzos.I laid back, looked up at the clouds in the sky, and smiled to myself. Maybe we were in hiding at the last reaches of the galaxy, but right now, at this moment, things were pretty good. You can be glad anywhere, if you have the right point of view. And the ability to ignore the smell of an entire planet.Zoe, said a voice behind me.I jerked up and then saw hickory tree and Dickory. They had just come over the rise.Dont do that, I said, and got up.We appetency to speak to you, hickory said.You could do that at home, I said.Here is better, hickory said. We have c at formerlyrns.Concerns about what? I said, and rose to look at them. Something wasnt quite right about either of them, and it took me a minute to figure out what it was. Why arent you wearing your consciousness modules? I asked.We are implicated about the increasing r isks you are taking with your safety, hickory said, answering the first but not the second of my questions. And with your safety in a habitual sense.You mean, being here? I said. Relax, hickory. Its broad daylight, and the Hentosz farm is just over the hill. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.There are predators here, hickory tree said.There are yotes, I said, naming the dog-sized carnivores that wed found lurking around Croatoan. I can handle a yote.They move in packs, hickory said.Not during the day, I said.You do not only come here in the day, hickory tree said. Nor do you always come alone.I reddened a bit at that, and thought about getting angry with hickory. But it wasnt wearing its consciousness. Getting angry with it wouldnt do anything. I thought I told the dickens of you not to follow me when I want to have some private time, I said, as evenly as I could.We do not follow you, hickory tree said. But neither are we stupid. We know where you go and with whom. Your lac k of care is putting you at risk, and you do not always allow us to accompany you anymore. We cannot protect you as we would privilege to, and are expected to.We have been here for months, guys. I said. There hasnt been a single attack on anyone by anything.You would have been attacked that night in the woods had Dickory and I not come to find you, hickory said. Those were not yotes in the trees that night. Yotes cannot climb or move through trees.And youll notice Im nowhere near the forest, I said, and waved in the direction of the tree line. And whatever was in there doesnt seem to come out here, because wed have seen them by now if they did. Weve been over this before, hickory tree.It is not only the predators here that concern us, hickory tree said.Im not following you, I said.This colony is being searched for, Hickory said.If you saw the movie, youll remember that this Conclave group spuded that colony from the sky, I said. If the Conclave finds us, I dont think even you ar e going to be able to do much to protect me.It is not the Conclave we are concerned about, Hickory said.Youre the only ones, then, I said.The Conclave is not the only one who will examine this colony, Hickory said. Others will search for it, to win favor from the Conclave, or to thwart it, or to take the colony for its own. They will not blast this colony from the sky. They will take it in the standard fashion. Invasion and slaughter.What is with the 2 of you today? I said. I was attempt to lighten the mood.I failed. And then there is the matter of who you are, Hickory said. What does that mean? I said.You should know well, Hickory said. You are not merely the daughter of the colony leaders. You are likewise important to us. To the Obin. That fact is not unknown, Zoe. You have been used as a bargaining chip your entire life. We Obin used you to bargain with your father to build us consciousness. You are a treaty condition between the Obin and the Colonial Union. We have no doubt that any who would attack this colony would try to take you in order to bargain with the Obin. Even the Conclave could be tempted to do this. Or they would kill you to wound us. To kill a figure of ourselves.Thats crazy, I said.It has happened before, Hickory said.What? I said.When you lived on Huckleberry, there were no fewer than six attempts to capture or kill you, Hickory said. The last just a few days before you leave Huckleberry.And you never told me this? I asked.It was decided by both your government and ours that neither you nor your parents needed to know, Hickory said. You were a child, and your parents wished to build you as unremarkable a life as possible. The Obin wished to be able to provide them that. None of these attempts came close to success. We stopped each long before you would have been in danger. And in each suit of clothes the Obin government expressed its displea real with the races who made such attempts on your well-being.I shuddered at that. The Obi n were not people to make enemies of.We would not have told you at all and we have violated our standing orders not to do so were we not in our current situation, Hickory said. We are cut off from the systems we had in place to keep you safe. And you are becoming increasingly autonomous in your actions and resentful of our presence in your life.Those last words hit me like a slap. Im not resentful, I said. I just want my own time. Im sorry if that hurts you.We are not hurt, Hickory said. We have responsibilities. How we process those responsibilities must admit to circumstance. We are making an adaptation now.I dont know what you mean, I said.It is time for you to learn how to defend yourself, Hickory said. You want to be more independent from us, and we do not have all the resources we once had to keep you safe. We have always intended to teach you to fight. Now, for both of those reasons, it is incumbent to begin that training.What do you mean, teach me to fight? I asked.We will teach you to defend yourself physically, Hickory said. To disarm an opponent. To use weapons. To immobilize your competitor. To kill your enemy if necessary.You want to teach me how to kill other people, I said.It is necessary, Hickory said.Im not certain John and Jane would approve of that, I said.Major Perry and Lieutenant Sagan both know how to kill, Hickory said. Both, in their military service, have killed others when it was necessary for their survival.But it doesnt mean that they want me to know, I said. And also, I dont know that I want to know. You say you need to adapt how you fulfill your responsibilities. Fine. Figure out how to adapt them. But Im not going to learn how to kill something else so you can feel like youre doing a better job doing something Im not even sure I want you to do anymore.You do not wish us to defend you, Hickory said. Or learn to defend yourself.I dont know I said. I yelled it in exasperation. Okay? I hate having my face pushed into all of this. That Im some special thing that of necessity to be defended. Well, you know what? Everyone here needs to be defended, Hickory. Were all in danger. Any minute hundreds of ships could show up over our heads and kill us all. Im sick of it. I try to forget about it a little every now and then. Thats what I was doing out here before the ii of you showed up to crap over it all. So thank you very much for that.Hickory and Dickory said nothing to that. If they had been wearing their consciousness, theyd probably be all twitchy and overloaded at that last outburst. But they were just standing there, impassive.I counted to five and tried to get myself back under control. Look, I said, in what I hoped was a more reasonable tone of voice. Give me a couple of days to think about this, all right? Youve dropped a lot on me all at once. Let me work it through in my head.They still said nothing.Fine, I said. Im heading back. I napped past Hickory.And found myself on the ground.I rolled and lo oked up at Hickory, confused. What the hell? I said, and made to stand up.Dickory, who had moved behind me, around pushed me back into the grass and dirt.I scrambled backward from the two of them. tolerate it, I said.They drew their combat knives, and came toward me.I grunted out a wawl and bolted upright, running at full speed toward the top of the hill, toward the Hentosz farm. But Obin can run faster than humans. Dickory flanked me, got in front of me, and drew back its knife. I backpedaled, falling backward as I did. Dickory lunged. I screamed and rolled again and sprinted back down the side of the hill I came up.Hickory was waiting for me and moving to intercept me. I tried to fake going left hand but it was having none of it, and grabbed for me, getting a grip on my left forearm. I hit at it with my right fist. Hickory deflected it easily, and then in a quick reversal slapped me sharply on the temple, releasing me as it did so. I staggered back, stunned. Hickory looped a l eg around one of mine and jerked upward, lifting me completely off the ground. I fell backward and landed on my head. A white blast of pain flooded my skull, and all I could do was lie there, dazed.There was heavy pressure on my chest. Hickory was kneeling on me, immobilizing me. I clawed desperately at it, but it held its head away from me on its long neck and disregard everything else. I shouted for help as loudly as I could, knowing no one could hear me, and yelling anyway.I looked over and saw Dickory, standing to the side. Please, I said. Dickory said nothing. And could feel nothing. Now I knew why the two of them came to see me without their consciousness.I grabbed at Hickorys leg, on my chest, and tried to push it off. It pushed it in harder, offered another disorienting slap with one hand, and with the other raised it and then plunged it toward my head in one terrible and gas move. I screamed.You are unharmed, Hickory said, at some point. You may get up.I stayed on the gro und, not moving, eyes turned toward Hickorys knife, buried in the ground so close to my head that I couldnt actually focus on it. Then I propped myself up on my elbows, turned away from the knife, and threw up.Hickory waited until I was done. We offer no apology for this, it said. And will accept whatever consequences for it that you may choose. Know only this You were not physically harmed. You are unlikely even to bruise. We made sure of this. For all of that you were at our mercifulness in seconds. Others who will come for you will not show you such consideration. They will not hold back. They will not stop. They will have no concern for you. They will not show you mercy. They will seek to kill you. And they will succeed. We knew you would not believe us if we only told you this. We had to show you.I rose to my feet, barely able to stay upright, and staggered back from the two of them as best I could. deity damn you, I said. God damn you both. You stay away from me from now on. I headed back to Croatoan. As soon as my legs could do it, I started running.Hey, Gretchen said, coming into the information center and sealing the inside door behind her. Mr. Bennett said I could find you here.Yeah, I said. I asked him if I could be his printer monkey a little more today.Couldnt keep away from the music? Gretchen said, trying to make a little joke.I shook my head and showed her what I was looking at.These are classified files, Zoe, she said. CDF intelligence reports. Youre going to get in issue if anyone ever finds out. And Bennett definitely wont let you back in here.I dont care, I said, and my voice cracked enough that Gretchen looked at me in alarm. I have to know how bad it is. I have to know whos out there and what they want from us. From me. Look. I took the PDA and pulled a file on familiar Gau, the leader of the Conclave, the one who ordered the destruction of the colony on the video file. This general is going to kill us all if he finds us, and we know next to nothing about him. What makes someone do this? Killing free people? What happened in his life that gets him to a place where wiping out entire planets seems like a good idea? Dont you think we should know? And we dont. Weve got statistics on his military service and thats it. I tossed the PDA back on the table, carelessly, portentous Gretchen. I want to know why this general wants me to die. Why he wants us all to die. Dont you? I put my hand on my os frontale and slumped a little against the worktable.Okay, Gretchen said, after a minute. I think you need to tell me what happened to you today. Because this is not how you were when I left you this afternoon.I glanced over at Gretchen, stifled a laugh, and then broke down and started crying. Gretchen came over to give me a hug, and after a good long while, I told her everything. And I do mean everything.She was quiet after I had unloaded. Tell me what youre thinking, I said.If I tell you, youre going to hate me, she said.Don t be silly, I said. Im not going to hate you.I think theyre right, she said. Hickory and Dickory.I hate you, I said.She pushed me lightly. Stop that, she said. I dont mean they were right to attack you. That was just over the line. But, and dont take this the wrong way, youre not an ordinary girl.Thats not true, I said. Do you see me acting any antithetical than anyone else? Ever? Do I hold myself out as someone special? Have you ever once heard me talk about any of this to people?They know anyway, Gretchen said.I know that, I said. But it doesnt come from me. I work at being normal.Okay, youre a perfectly normal girl, Gretchen said.Thank you, I said.A perfectly normal girl whos had six attempt assassinations, Gretchen said.But thats not me, I said, poking myself in the chest. Its about me. nearly someone elses idea of who I am. And that doesnt matter to me.It would matter to you if you were dead, Gretchen said, and then held her hand up before I could respond. And it would matte r to your parents. It would matter to me. Im pretty sure it would matter to Enzo. And it seems like it would matter a whole lot to a couple billion aliens. Think about that. Someone even thinks about coming after you, they bomb a planet.I dont want to think about it, I said.I know, Gretchen said. But I dont think you have a choice anymore. No matter what you do, youre still who you are, whether you want to be or not. You cant change it. Youve got to work with it.Thanks for that uplifting message, I said.Im trying to help, Gretchen said.I sighed. I know, Gretchen. Im sorry. I dont mean to bite your head off. Im just getting tired of having my life be about other peoples choices for me.This makes you different than any of the rest of us how, exactly? Gretchen asked.My point, I said. Im a perfectly normal girl. Thank you for finally noticing.Perfectly normal, Gretchen agreed. Except for being top executive of the Obin.Hate you, I said.Gretchen grinned.Miss Trujillo said that you want ed to see us, Hickory said. Dickory and Gretchen, who had gotten the two Obin for me, stood to its side. We were standing on the hill where my bodyguards had attacked me a few days earlier.Before I say anything else, you should know I am still incredibly angry at you, I said. I dont know that I will ever forgive you for attacking me, even if I agnize why you did it, and why you thought you had to. I want to make sure you know that. And I want to make sure you feel it. I pointed to Hickorys consciousness collar, secure around its neck.We feel it, Hickory said, its voice quivering. We feel it enough that we debated whether we could turn our consciousness back on. The memory is almost too painful to bear.I nodded. I wanted to say good, but I knew it was the wrong thing to say, and that I would regret saying it. Didnt mean I couldnt think it, though, for the moment, anyway.Im not going to ask you to apologize, I said. I know you wont. But I want your word you will never do something li ke that again, I said.You have our word, Hickory said.Thank you, I said. I didnt expect they would do something like that again. That sort of thing works once if it works at all. But that wasnt the point. What I wanted was to feel like I could trust the two of them again. I wasnt there yet.Will you train? Hickory asked.Yes, I said. But I have two conditions. Hickory waited. The first is that Gretchen trains with me.We had not prepared to train anyone other than you, Hickory said.I dont care, I said. Gretchen is my best friend. Im not going to learn how to save myself and not share that with her. And besides, I dont know if youve noticed, but the two of you arent exactly human shaped. I think it will help to practice with another human as well as with you. But this is nonnegotiable. If you wont train Gretchen, I wont train. This is my choice. This is my condition.Hickory turned to Gretchen. Will you train?Only if Zoe does, she said. Shes my best friend, after all.Hickory looked over to me. She has your sense of humor, it said.I hadnt noticed, I said.Hickory turned back to Gretchen. It will be very difficult, it said.I know, Gretchen said. Count me in anyway.What is the other condition? Hickory asked me.Im doing this for the two of you, I said. This learning to fight. I dont want it for myself. I dont think I need it. But you think I need it, and youve never asked me to do something you didnt know was important. So Ill do it. But now you have to do something for me. Something I want.What is it that you want? Hickory asked.I want you to learn how to sing, I said, and gestured to Gretchen. You teach us to fight, we teach you to sing. For the hootenannies.Sing, Hickory said.Yes, sing, I said. People are still frightened of the two of you. And no offense, but youre not brimming with personality. But if we can get the four of us to do a song or two at the hootenannies, it could go a long way to making people gentle with you.We have never sung, Hickory said.Well, you never wrote stories before either, I said. And you wrote one of those. Its just like that. Except with singing. And then people wouldnt wonder why Gretchen and I are off with the two of you. Come on, Hickory, itll be fun.Hickory looked doubtful, and a funny thought came to me Maybe Hickory is shy. Which seemed almost inconclusive someone about to teach another person sixteen different ways to kill getting stage fright singing.I would like to sing, Dickory said. We all turned to Dickory in amazement.It speaks Gretchen said.Hickory clicked something to Dickory in their native spittle Dickory clicked back. Hickory responded, and Dickory replied, it seemed a bit forcefully. And then, God help me, Hickory actually sighed.We will sing, Hickory said.Excellent, I said.We will begin training tomorrow, Hickory said.Okay, I said. But lets start singing practice today. Now.Now? Hickory said.Sure, I said. Were all here. And Gretchen and I have just the song for you.