Sherry looked back at her notes, and didn't recognise them for a long moment. She blinked at them a few times. They didn't change, but at the same time became more recognisable with every blink.
She started copying the notes on the board, the words sliding from her eyes to her fingers without ever touching her brain. She wasn't even sure if she had written them next to the right part of the handout.
"Are you ok?" Michi whispered.
"Mmm."
"You're acting totally spaced out."
Sherry dragged her eyes around to face Michi. "Tired. Didn't sleep well last night."
Michi nodded. "Yeah, I always toss and turn for a while when there's a riot. Even if my family's all at home, there's a lot more people that I have to wonder about."
Sherry wanted to say that the Averys hadn't been at home, hadn't left any kind of message. But not now. Not here, where so many people could overhear. Some were spies, most probably weren't. But even a whisper could be heard two seats away; Sherry could hear her neighbours speculating, the stories growing wilder each time through.
She hoped, feeling sick, that the Averys had been arrested during the riot.
The loudspeaker crackled, making everybody jump. "Would the following students please report to the office. Joan Albertson, Fred Alten, Sherry Cassidy,"
Sherry jumped, then slumped back into her seat.
"Jennifer Certel, Sebastien Covak..."
The list went on and on, alphabetically by last name. The "T"s came and went, but Sherry couldn't relax.
"... and Alan Zimmermann, please report to the office. To all students and staff, students must remain inside the building at all times until dismissed at the end of the day." The loudspeaker clicked off, and most of the kids who had been acting odd got up and left.
Miss Barnes wrote a couple more notes on the projector, then put down her pen and faced the students. "Keep it down until lunch." She shook her head, sat down at her desk, and started reading something.
The buzz of conversation increased, as everybody stopped pretending they were paying attention. Sherry looked at her watch--five minutes to lunch.
"I wonder what that was all about." Michi frowned, and flipped her pen over a few times before putting it down and transferring the handout into her bookreader.
Just before lunch, Miss Barnes caught Sherry's eye and waved her over.
"Do you know what happened yesterday?" she said quietly.
"Only what you told us."
The room emptied quickly, a few curious glances coming Sherry's way. Michi stayed at her desk, waiting.
Miss Barnes sighed. "You're fostering with the Averys, right?"
Sherry nodded, her eyes narrowing.
"All of the kids called in just now have parents who were either arrested, hurt, or missing in the riot yesterday." She leaned forward and lowered her voice even more. "But they missed a bunch of the foster kids, like yourself."
Sherry swallowed. "How are they?"
"The Averys? Missing. Sherry, once the UN notices they've missed a handful of kids, they'll come looking. And they'll notice if you go back to the Averys' house."
Sherry looked down at her hands, ripped her knotted fingers apart, and shoved them in her pockets. "Are you sure?"
"As sure as I can be. Now, our people in the governor's office say that the kids will be used to get information about their parents' activities, and may also be used as hostages. The Averys are doing a lot of stuff that is critical to our success, so we can't let the UN get their hands on you."
Sherry nodded.
"Go have lunch, and come see me after school, ok?"
Sherry picked up her bag and followed Michi out into the hall. What did "missing" mean? At least there was a less horrible alternative to being arrested now.
She choked down a few bites of her lunch, staring past Michi.
"Sherry..." Michi reached over and knocked on the table in front of her, making Sherry jump. "Have you heard anything I've said?"
Sherry dragged her attention back. "Um, no."
Michi sighed. "So what did Miss Barnes say to you?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to say," Sherry said slowly.
"She told you not to tell anybody?"
"No." Sherry frowned. "She told me some stuff that she said really shouldn't get out. And that the Averys were missing."
Michi gasped. "You mean they were in the riot yesterday? And they didn't come home? No wonder you didn't sleep well. Maybe they were arrested?"
"No, I don't think so. I think they got away."
Michi bit her lip. "Um, usually when people don't come home from a riot but weren't arrested, it's because they were hurt."
"What do you think I've been worrying about since last night?" Sherry pushed her lunch away. "Just shut up about it, ok? Just... just shut up." She swallowed a few times and looked away, resting her head on her hands.
#
Sherry knocked on the door frame of the classroom. "Miss Barnes?"
"Just a minute, Sherry." She turned back to the boy standing in front of her desk and talked with him quietly for a little while longer.
Sherry sat at the desk nearest the door to wait. The clock said it was actually two minutes before the boy nodded and left.
"Thanks for waiting, Sherry. Now, we need to find a place for you to stay. You can't go back to the Averys, so--"
"I was just going to stay at my friend Michi's house."
Miss Barnes shook her head. "They're nice people, but when the UN comes knocking on their door they'll give you up no questions asked. You should stay with me; I managed to get a message to the Averys and they agree."
"You talked to them?"
"Not directly. I got a message to them, and got an answer. They're fine, but they're hiding so you won't be able to talk to them."
Sherry nodded reluctantly.
"And please don't try to contact them. It'll just put them in danger."
"But how do I know you're helping the Averys? How do I know you're not with the UN, and are trying to keep me away from the Averys?"
"That's a hard question to answer. But..." She glanced at the open classroom door and lowered her voice. "The Averys told me about the foster kids placed as spies, and that you had helped them get that information."
Sherry frowned, then nodded slowly. "I guess they wouldn't tell that to somebody they didn't trust."
Miss Barnes smiled slightly. "I certainly hope not. Now, I'm afraid I have some work to do before I leave, so can you sit in... that corner," she pointed, "where you won't be seen unless somebody actually comes into the room, and do your homework, or read, or anything quiet."
Sherry nodded and dropped her bag in the next seat over from the corner, then sat down and pulled out her bookreader.
#
The door lock clicked quietly as Miss Barnes closed it behind them.
"I have never had such a stressful walk home," she said, and sighed.
"Why's that?" A male voice came from another room, followed shortly by the speaker. "Hold on, who's this?"
"Hon, this is Sherry Tenna, fostering with the Averys. Sherry, my husband John Barnes."
Mr. Barnes sucked his cheeks in then blew them out again. "The fun never stops. Hi Sherry, I'm afraid you'll have to be hiding, stay away from windows, and all that. We can't afford to let them see you, and we really can't afford to let them get you. The Averys know you're safe here, so they can concentrate on... their, ah, job."
"Can you tell me what they're doing that's so important?"
"I'm afraid not." Miss Barnes looked sad.
"Well is there any way I can help? They never told me anything but to stay out of trouble."
"And that's excellent advice. Can you take your bag down to the basement? I'll be down in a minute to set you up with a bed."
Mr. Barnes smiled at them both and disappeared back into another room.
"But I can help!"
"The Averys probably had a reason for keeping you out of this. Look, we can tell you some of what's going on, but only the basics. I'm sorry. There's a lot I don't know either, because I don't need to know much to do my job. The more people who know a secret, the more likely the wrong people will hear it."
Sherry sighed. "Oh, all right." She picked up her bag and followed Miss Barnes' directions to the stairs. Secrets did have a way of getting out, but she wouldn't tell. She never told secrets.
True to her word, Miss Barnes showed up at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later, dropped an armful of sheets, and waved Sherry over to the couch.
"Give me a hand, here, would you? Let's get this away from the wall."
They flattened the couch out and pushed it back to the wall, and Miss Barnes tugged on the rug to straighten it before grabbing a sheet off the pile. When the bed was made, Miss Barnes led Sherry on a quick tour of the basement then the rest of the house, ending in the kitchen.
Sherry flopped into a chair. Another abrupt change. She'd long ago given up on the idea of staying in one place until she moved out on her own and didn't have to listen to Social Services anymore, but two months was short even by her standards.
"Can you tell me what's up yet?"
Miss Barnes paused at the counter, then turned around. "Where should I start?"
"Yesterday."
Miss Barnes nodded. "Yesterday's riot was because the UN has been harassing lerkkal and suspected seperatists on trumped up charges. A group of seperatists whose businesses had been shut down, including the Averys, confronted some UN officials, their military escort got involved, and it escalated."
Sherry looked down at her hands. "Then what?"
"A few people were arrested, a few people were hurt. Not many, thank goodness. The UN military were rounding people up--we outnumber them, but they have the big guns and body armour--and the colony police jumped in. Completely blew their cover when they helped most people get away; the UN didn't know they were on any side."
"Oops." Sherry looked up.
"We hope the tradeoff was worth it. The entire police force is in jail now, along with a few unlucky people who were just too slow to get away." Miss Barnes sighed. "The UN declared martial law, everybody outside the city was recalled, the spaceport was closed to everybody except their military ships, and here we are. There are still more of us, for now. I'd be surprised if they hadn't already called for backup, so depending on when they called we have six to sixteen weeks before they flatten us."
"Sounds hopeless."
Miss Barnes nodded. "Our only hope right now is to find a way to convince a UN authority or the governor to call off the troops when they get here. Does that answer your questions?"
"It doesn't tell me what the Averys are doing."
"I don't know exactly. It's best that I don't. And it's best that you don't either."
"Can I at least talk to them?"
"I don't know where they are."
"Isn't that what mobile phones are for?"
"No. Sherry..." Miss Barnes shook her head and sighed. "It isn't that simple. If they use their phone, the UN will know where they are. they've probably turned their phones off and thrown them in the trash somewhere."
"Oh." Sherry chewed her lip. "So we just wait?"
Miss Barnes nodded.
Sherry sipped her tea and listened quietly as her hosts made plans for the next day. Judging by how they were talking, they really didn't knew a lot. She tried to keep her eyes open, lifting her head off her hand to take another sip of her tea and hoping they wouldn't notice her and send her to bed.
Somebody knocked on the back door, a quick, quiet series of taps.
Mr. Barnes disappeared for a moment, and Sherry heard the back door open.
"Oh, Sherry, you should probably go--"
Mr. Barnes and a lerkkal walked into the kitchen. Sherry blinked and put her tea down. Strange, that lerkkal looked--
"Greetings, Sherry," its translator box said.
"Zelks?"
"Disappointment, your tekker was disturbed."
"Er, it was good while it lasted. Um," Sherry looked at Miss Barnes. "Do you have a translator?"
"Reassure. Translator is mine, better. Speak." Zelks blinked a few eyes at her. "Happiness to me, you enjoy tekker."
"Sherry, we have some business with Zelks, if you don't mind..."
"Johnbarnes, greetings do not interrupt. Customer Sherry is friend-acquaintance."
"Of course, Zelks. My apologies."
"You enjoy tekker?" Zelks didn't turn, but Sherry had the feeling he was paying more attention to the eyes facing her than those facing Mr. Barnes.
"Yes, it was very good. Thank you for suggesting it." Sherry nodded nervously, feeling more rattled by the two pairs of human eyes watching her than the four nearest eyes on Zelks.
"Invitation, if new store, with self eat tekker."
"Er, thank you, I would like that very much."
"Good." Without moving, Zelks' focus shifted back to Mr. Barnes. "Johnbarnes, business now? Suspicion, lerkkal trust humans nothing. Invaders."
"Yes, I know. We didn't know about your people when the first settlers landed here. We're quite happy to keep our colony small, but we are being invaded now, too."
"Distrust, disbelief, human invade human?"
Miss Barnes tried to move Sherry toward the stairs to the basement, but Sherry planted her feet.
Mr. Barnes sighed. "Yes, humans invade humans. The humans invading us do not mean you well. They would take the whole world; we are happy with this small part."
"Defiance, lerkkal sentiment. Doubt, humans want all?"
"They do want all. They say this to themselves, and to us. And Zelks, if the other lerkkal don't believe that we don't want to displace them, then please at least try to convince them that our invaders don't care if they're pushed aside."
"Understanding, self. Distrust, group. Human fight human, centre is shop."
"Can you at least help us a little, though? Even with only your technology. You wouldn't have to tell us how it worked, only how to use it."
To Sherry's ears, it sounded almost like Mr. Barnes was begging.
"Sympathy. Powerless, self; messenger. Technology is lerkkal. Council decision."
Mr. Barnes sighed. "Well, there's a curfew on. Will you stay the night, at least, so the UN troops don't see you leaving?"
"Acceptance, kind invitation host."
"That's it, Sherry," Miss Barnes whispered. "Now will you go to bed?"
"Why didn't he use his better translator in his store?" Sherry whispered back.
"The lerkkal don't trust us, and don't want it getting out that their technology is so high. It took quite a while to get Zelks to trust us enough to use his translator as it is. And our translators are poor because they won't give us enough information about their language to improve them. Now go sleep. You can ask more questions in the morning."
Sherry turned quietly and went down the stairs.
But didn't go to sleep.
When the sound of the Barnes' footsteps stopped, Sherry watched the time for another ten minutes, then tiptoed back upstairs to look for Zelks.
She finally found him in a particularly dark corner of the living room, standing still, his arms and legs tucked in close.
"Zelks," she whispered.
No response.
"Zelks?" She reached out hesitantly, not sure what the equivalent of a tap on the shoulder would be. She settled for touching one of his arms.
His hand whipped out and grabbed her wrist, so fast she barely had a chance to squeak, never mind scream, before she was trapped. The faint light coming in the window reflected off his eyes as they opened one by one. He hissed something in the lerkkal language, and put her down.
After fiddling with his translator for a few seconds, it said "Surprise, why? Night is sleep. Day is business," very, very quietly.
"I just wanted to talk to you when Miss Barnes wasn't around. They won't tell me anything--do you know what's going on between the humans?"
"Sadness, human invades human. Small fight, you saw; large fight day past."
"Yes, I know about the riot. I just don't know what everybody's doing or why."
Zelks was silent for a few seconds, and Sherry wished she could read their body language.
"Confusion, parts working separate to goal. Efficient loss, safe gain."
Sherry sighed. "I understand that they don't know everything. I was just hoping that you knew something they didn't, like what the Averys were doing, or how I could help. Or anything."
"Pleasure, anything. Help is knowledge. Seekers find." Zelks put his translator back where it was. "Sleep." He poked it, then pulled his arms in again and closed his eyes.
Sherry waited, but he didn't move, and she eventually gave up and went back downstairs.
#
Sherry yawned as she walked up the stairs from the basement. The light was awfully bright for first thing in the morning, she thought as she squinted into the living room. Zelks was gone.
Miss Barnes had papers spread all over the kitchen table, and Mr. Barnes was stirring sugar into his tea.
The wall clock said that it was almost noon.
"Whaaa?"
"Oh, good morning, Sherry." Miss Barnes pulled some of her papers away from the seat nearest Sherry.
"Why aren't you at school?" She blinked a few times, and leaned against the chair, trying to get the fuzz out of her head.
"No school today. The news came in this morning, first thing. And you looked so tired yesterday, I figured I'd let you sleep in."
"No school?" Even as she said it, Sherry woke up a little more, enough to realise how slow she sounded.
"Nope. Tea? The UN's martial law thing isn't working well enough for them, apparently, so they want everybody to stay home."
"Huh. Where's Zelks? Um, and yes please to the tea."
Mr. Barnes got out another cup.
"Zelks left already. Why?"
"Oh, no reason," Sherry said. "The lerkkal sure don't seem the way the su--teachers on the Jupiter said. They're pretty smart."
"Very smart. We're only just finding out about things like their translators."
"Hah. And they said the lerkkal couldn't keep up. Sounds like they're passing us." Sherry laughed.
"Can't keep up?" Mr. Barnes put a cup of tea down in front of Sherry. "Who said that?"
"Oh, Kara, the history teacher on the Jupiter, a few other people. Kara's funny about the lerkkal, though. Doesn't think they're smart at all."
"I've heard that. They were actively teaching that on your way here?"
"Yeah. Stuff like how the lerkkal were maybe as smart as chimps back on Earth. Trainable, but they need supervision and help so they don't get wiped out or left behind."
Mr. Barnes raised his eyebrows. "Well, that goes a long way toward explaining why they think their plan will work."
"And the reaction of some of my students when we covered what we know of lerkkal history."
"What plan?" Sherry said, leaning toward Mr. Barnes.
"Nothing you need to know."
"But you said I just explained it! Why shouldn't I know what I just explained?"
"Sherry, we already told you, it's safer for you the less you know. It's safer for everybody."
"Yeah, that's what Zelks said, too." Sherry frowned at her tea, then took a sip. "Do you know if Zelks is coming back?"
"Maybe tonight, but I don't want you listening in again, ok? You can help the Averys best by keeping your head down and not getting caught."
"Fine." Sherry scowled into her tea. "So if the lerkkal are so advanced, why do they live in treehouses?"
"They're adapted to trees the way we're adapted to land. It's just where they prefer to be."
"Ok, so then where's their factories? That translator of his was slick, and it had to be made somewhere. I don't remember hearing about any factories. What we've done so far in class has sure made them look like smart but not very techno."
Miss Barnes sighed. "What we've done so far in class has been history and mostly based on the local tribe. From what Zelks says, they're, well, like a lot of tribes near Earth's equator. Why drive technology forward when you can sleep outside naked year-round, and amble around picking food off the trees?"
"Um, oh. So Zelks isn't from around here?"
"No, he's from much farther south. Survey ships have flown over it, but no human has ever actually been there. They have cities to rival anything Earth has, and no lack of factories. It's pretty cold there though. They think this is sweltering heat."
"So why don't you teach about those cities rather than the tribes here? It would be a lot more clear--"
"Because that's all we know. They won't let us go to their cities, won't tell us anything about them. All we have are a few aerial photos."
"Anyhow, I should go." Mr. Barnes stood up. "Wish me luck."
"Luck," muttered Sherry.
Miss Barnes kissed him goodbye. "Take care, and good luck."
#
Sherry lay on her bed in the basement, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing to do here. She couldn't go out, couldn't even spend much time upstairs, because the windows couldn't be covered. And there was nothing to do. She had no new books on her bookreader, had finished all her homework, not that there was anybody to hand it in to, and the only books here were old people books. Same with the movies and music, and there wasn't much in the way of news on anywhere.
Sherry sighed again. Would she notice if she went crazy from having nothing to do?
And this was only the first day.
The door upstairs opened and shut, and Sherry jumped to her feet. She climbed the stairs silently, and listened at the door. Mr. Barnes, and a mechanical voice that could only be Zelks.
She grinned to herself, and sat down to listen. Maybe they would tell Zelks stuff they wouldn't tell her.
"Distrust, group refuses," Zelks was saying.
"Damnit. What can I do to convince them? What will gain their trust?" Mr. Barnes sounded frustrated, and Sherry imagined him waving his hands around.
"Sadness, nothing known. Humans are humans are invaders, no separation."
"Look, even if they don't want to help us, I should still warn you--and them. We've heard about a plan our invaders have, to make the lerkkal slaves."
Sherry stifled a gasp. They wouldn't!
"Disbelief. Inefficiency in plan."
"Oh, but more efficient than paying somebody. They want the sarla plant, and lerkkal can get up in the trees where it grows much more easily--more efficiently--than humans can."
"Reaffirmed disbelief. Robots present efficiency."
"Yes, but we don't have robots that can get up in the trees like you do. And they'll kill those who resist. They've already killed a few humans, and they think the lerkkal are just bright animals, so it won't matter to them a bit if some die, as long as they have a decent breeding stock."
"Offense! Domesticate self never. 'Breeding stock' is other, self never."
"I know you don't want to believe it. But if you don't warn the locals, they're going to get rounded up."
"Distrust. Messenger only."
"But will you tell them?"
"Distrust. Tell, distrust."
"That'll do." Mr. Barnes sighed.
Sherry finished reading another of Miss Barnes' books. They weren't so bad, for old people books, but if she had anything better to do she'd drop them in an instant.
Somebody walked around upstairs, going from... the kitchen, down the hall. She turned back to her book. Pretty sad, it had only taken her two days to get bored enough to pick up these books.
Footsteps crossed the floor above, paused, then returned.
Sherry sat up so fast she dropped her bookreader in the floor. Those were not the footsteps she was used to hearing. They didn't sound human, even.
She tossed her bookreader on the bed and slipped up the stairs.
"Distress, apologies," a mechanical voice said.
"They didn't believe you, did they?" Miss Barnes said quietly.
"Guilt, distress, message distrust. Group distrust. Self distrust. Invaders, death, slavery."
"It's not your fault, Zelks. They didn't trust us anyway. They probably wouldn't have believed you even if you believed us."