he could tell computers to recognize me.”
Mom and Prasad looked at each other. Katsu stayed in her spot on the floor. She hadn’t spoken yet.
“I believe we must run faster, my wife,” Prasad said.
“I believe my husband is once again correct,” she replied.
That was weird. I’ve never heard Mom call anyone her husband before. Before I could think about that much more, though, Mom asked what had happened to me since I had gone off with Kendi. All they knew was that someone named Dr. Say had told them I was coming.
I started from the beginning and told them about the escape and Pitr’s death, Bellerophon and the dinosaurs, the Empress’s orders and Padric Sufur. Mom looked enraged when I told her Ara was supposed to kill me.
“Nowhere is safe!” she cried. “Not even a monastery.”
Prasad got her calmed down enough for me to finish. Then Prasad told me about the lab and the twisted children inside it. I didn’t know how to react to that, so I didn’t say anything.
“So our secret benefactor is Padric Sufur,” Prasad said. “The question is, why did he send you here?”
“Because I told him to,” I said, a little confused. “I overheard him talking to someone about you guys and I told him he had to bring me here.”
Mom shook her head. “He would not take such great risks merely so you could see your family. Even with your…abilities, Sejal, the risk is foolish. The fact that Max Garinn took a sample of your blood so eagerly tells me there is something else this Padric Sufur wants of you.”
“He wants me to end war,” I said, a little proudly. Prasad was going to know how important I am. I went on to explain.
“Foolishness,” Mom said when I was done.
I stared at her. “What?”
“Foolishness,” Mom repeated. “And I am unable to believe Sufur doesn’t know this.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded. “It would work.”
“Think it through, Sejal,” Prasad said gently. “At any moment there must be half a dozen wars going on between systems. You are one person. You couldn’t stop all of them from going to war, no matter how powerful you are. And the potentates you threatened would certainly send assassins. One of them would find you eventually. It would be impossible for a single person to end war in this manner.”
I glared at both of them. “So why is he paying me all this money?”
Mom tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch. “Any number of reasons. He may wish to ensure that no one else has control of you. Or he may want to use you for more financial gain.”
“He wants Sejal’s genes,” Katsu said.
Everyone looked at her. I had almost forgotten she was there. Katsu has black hair like mine, but her eyes are brown like Mom’s.
Anyway. Prasad started to ask her what she meant, but Mom interrupted.
“The blood sample,” she said. “Garinn wanted to get it quickly because it’s important to the experiment. I won’t give them my eggs, but Sejal’s genes may be a better substitute. He is more powerful than any Silent in history.”
“What would he want with Sejal’s genes?” Prasad said.
“This place is built on lies.” Katsu was staring at the carpet in front of her. “When Father first arrived, Kri and Say told him they were trying to end the slavery of women who could produce Silent babies. A lie. When Mother arrived, she said she wished to aid in the research. A lie. When Sejal met Sufur, Sufur said he wanted to use Sejal as a threat to end war. A lie. Sufur let Sejal think he was doing a great favor by letting Sejal come back to Rust. A lie. Everything here is a lie.”
“So what is the truth, my daughter?” Mom said quietly.
“The Dream,” Katsu replied. “There are no lies in the Dream.”
“You said Sufur wants Sejal’s genes,” Prasad said. “Do you know why?”
“Max Garinn wants Sejal’s genes,” Katsu corrected. “Garinn creates viruses that change people.”
“The children,” Mom whispered, and I assumed she meant the ones Prasad had helped create in the lab.
“Another group will enter the Dream soon,” Katsu went on. “I have felt their minds pressing on its fabric. When they enter, I don’t know if I can hold all them in one place.”
Then she got up, walked into another room, and shut the door.
“Is she always like that?” I asked. I felt off-balance.
“Yes,” Prasad answered. He sounded tense.
“I would gamble a great deal of money,” Mom said, “that Garinn intends to use Sejal’s genes and create a retrovirus that will bring the next set of children into the Dream earlier than they normally would.”
“But why?” Prasad almost shouted. “Katsu says that would destroy the Dream. Why would they want to do that?”
“I am uncertain,” Mom said. “We need to learn more. We need to know if Dr. Say is Silent, as my husband suspects. We need to know if Padric Sufur truly wants to destroy the Dream, and why he would want to do it.”
She paused for a moment.
“And,” she said, “we need to take over this base.”
Naturally, just when things were getting really interesting, a computer chime went off and Prasad said he had to get down to the lab for the day. He squeezed my shoulder on his way out and left.
I sat on the couch next to Mom, not certain about what to do or think. So that was my dad. He seemed nice, I guess. I supposed I was expecting to feel some kind of connection with him, but he just seemed like a distracted stranger.
Mom gave me another hug and I let her. Then we talked some more. Neither of us said anything about the tricking or the fight we’d had. I told her more about Bellerophon and the dinosaurs and she told me more about the lab and the Nursery. Then I told her I was tired and wanted to take a nap. She showed me to her and Prasad’s room. That was weird, too, knowing that Mom was sleeping with him.
Anyway. Mom shut the door and I lay down. I didn’t really want to sleep, of course. I wanted to enter the Dream.
I closed my eyes and tranced myself. Voices whispered around me. I reached for them, and found myself on my seashore in the Dream. Right away, though, I could tell things were getting worse. The place felt almost empty. The dark place rumbled and roared over my ocean, and it was huge and closer. I thought of stories Mom used to tell about giants coming up out of the ocean and smashing whole cities to pieces with their clubs.
I took a deep breath and moved myself to the border of darkness and Dream.
It was still screaming. I looked inside, trying to ignore the noise. The figure was there, dancing, and now I saw it was Katsu. That was why she had looked familiar. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted to her, but she didn’t hear me. I kept shouting and waving my arms and eventually she turned. I couldn’t see her face very well-it was too dark-but it was definitely her. She motioned at me to come and join her. I took a step back.
Then I saw it. A shadow separated itself from the black place. It was shaped like a twisted human. It took off over the plain, and wherever it touched the ground, the earth crumbled. A small tornado whirled up behind it, and I could feel it ripping at the Dream itself. I stared.
Then Katsu appeared. She ran after the shadow, even got ahead of it, not even affected by the deep canyon it made or the whirlwind. She touched it and talked to it, though I was too far away to hear what she said. Abruptly it turned and rushed back to the dark place. Katsu watched it go, then ran over to me. We looked at each other for a long time.
“I’ve been calling to you in the Dream,” she said. “Why didn’t you answer?”
“You mean go in there?” I jerked a thumb at the darkness. “Forget it!”
“They won’t hurt you as long as I’m with you.”
Thunder rumbled and a cold wind rushed over us for a minute. I lengthened the sleeves on my shirt and changed my shorts into pants.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“The children in the Nursery, of course. You heard Mother speak of them.”
Katsu wore a simple blue jumpsuit in the Dream. Her hair isn’t as curly as mine, but it’s a lot longer. We’re the same height.
