“The Dream is more than a mere communication system,” he told her. “It creates a shared empathy and concern for our fellow beings. Without the Dream, there can be no compassion, no love, no joy. People will prey on one another. No one will care enough to raise children, or even have them. Within a few generations, all sentient life will simply fade away. Compared to this, war is as nothing.”
Say looked at him. She was still leaning against the worktable. Vidya realized her right hand, the one that held the cattle prod, was beginning to ache, and she risked switching it to her left.
“I don’t believe you,” Say said at last. “You’re lying to try to make me change my mind. I won’t. I watched my parents and my brother die in the famine. I saw my mother and sister raped to death by Unity soldiers. The project will destroy the Unity-” she spat “-for good.”
Prasad’s brown eyes were implacable. “It will also destroy Rust and every other civilization in the universe.”
“I still say you’re lying.”
“You can let go now, Sejal,” Katsu said, and Vidya turned her head to look. The slaves, Kri, and Garinn were well taped. Sejal blinked, then stood up and cracked his knuckles. As one, the prisoners widened their eyes and made muffled grunts and cries.
“We won’t hurt you,” Katsu told them. “We will release you as soon as we are finished here.”
“You can’t do anything,” Say said. “The final phase of the project is already underway. The next set of children will enter the Dream any moment now, if they haven’t already, and they will destroy it.”
Vidya’s temper broke. She balled up a fist and smashed Say’s face. Say’s head snapped back under the impact. Vidya’s knuckles stung. Say grabbed the tabletop with one hand and put the other to her mouth. It came away smeared with blood.
“Bitch,” she spat. “I’m glad you lost.”
Vidya was about to reply when Prasad laid a hand on her arm. “My wife should remain calm. Remember, we have a plan of our own.”
“You can’t stop the project,” Say almost laughed.
“No?” Vidya gestured at the door that lead to the Nursery. “Did you, then, find a way to let the Silent enter the Dream from cryo-sleep?”
Say’s pale eyes went wide. “You can’t.”
“You are mistaken.” Vidya put out her hand. “Katsu, would you bring me the tape please? Then you and your brother can help us with the children.”
Say backed up a step. A trickle of blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. “I won’t let you.”
“You can’t stop us,” Vidya said with a hint of mean gladness at the horrified look on Say’s face. “Please hold still. I am going to tape you up, and it would be very painful for you if I had to use the cattle prod first.”
“Tessa!” Say barked. “Emergency lockdown with password release. All files and access. Activate emergency alert system. Scramble all-”
Vidya leaped forward and thumbed the cattle prod trigger. A spark snapped and Say collapsed to the floor with a cry of pain. Kri tried to shout something, but it was muffled by the tape over his mouth.
“Acknowledged,” replied the computer. “Emergency lockdown in progress. Alert system activated.”
“Tessa!” Prasad ordered. “Abort emergency lockdown.”
“Access denied. Insufficient security clearance.”
“Shit!” Sejal said. He ran over to Say’s limp form.
“The new children are entering the Dream,” Katsu said. “I can feel them.”
Vidya’s insides twisted and she resisted the impulse to fling the cattle prod away. Stupid! She had been so stupid! It had been foolishness itself to tell Say what they were planning before immobilizing her. Now an entire universe would pay for her mistake.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“We need to force her to release the lockdown,” Prasad said. “Otherwise the computer won’t activate the cryo-units.”
“The children are screaming.” Katsu headed for the door that lead to the Nursery. “I have to go into the Dream.”
Vidya knelt next to Sejal, who was checking Say’s pulse. He gasped when he touched her, further proof she was Silent.
“The woman’s a fanatic,” Vidya said. “We can’t persuade her with words. Are there any drugs in the labs we could use?”
“No,” Prasad replied. “And I wouldn’t know how to use them if there were.”
“Dammit!” Vidya pounded the cold tile floor with her aching fist. “One woman. This one woman stands in our way and we can’t force her to do what’s right.”
“You can’t,” Sejal said beside her. “But I can.”
“Possessing her won’t help,” Vidya objected. “It won’t tell you what the password is.”
“There are other things I can do, Mom,” Sejal said.
The Dream was almost empty. Kendi stood naked at the mouth of his cave, letting the good heat of the sun bake into his bones. He knew he shouldn’t stay long, but it was such a relief to feel the Dream around him. His toes dug into the sandy soil. The scrubby vegetation of the Outback stretched away beneath the azure sky. And in the distance was the dark place.
Ara was dead. The thought pierced him like a spear, ripping through heart and lungs with a white-hot edge. She couldn’t be dead. She was Mother Adept Araceil Rymar do Salman Reza. His teacher. His friend. His second mother.
The Real People saw death as something natural, nothing to grieve about. But all he knew was that it hurt. He felt trapped, hemmed in by grief and sorrow.
“Keeeennndiiii.”
The harsh voice sent a chill down Kendi’s spine.
“Keeeennndiiii.”
He was sitting on a hard stone floor. It was cold under his buttocks. The air had turned damp and it was filled with smells of garbage and human waste. Metal bars pressed against the knobs of his spine.
Kendi lifted his head. It was the Unity prison cell. Kendi’s eyes went wide and he pushed himself back against the bars. This wasn’t real. He was here but he wanted to be there.
The cell remained. Nine metal bunks were stacked three high against the walls. A crude and filthy toilet stood in the corner. Cries and conversation echoed from other cells. Six other men and four women, one of whom was pregnant, were crowded into this one. A knife blade glinted in the shadows and one of the women screamed, a high, horrible sound. It was followed by a tiny, mewling noise. Blood splashed to the ground. Kendi stared at it.
“Keeeennndiiii. Loony, loony Keeeeennndiiii!”
Kendi wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked in the corner.
Sejal sat on the floor next to Say, who glared daggers at Vidya. She had managed to pull herself into a sitting position against one leg of the worktable. Her black hair had come loose from the braid coiled above her neck and her face was pale.
“Do what you want,” she croaked. “I won’t release the computer.”
“Look at me, Dr. Say,” Sejal said. “Look at me now.”
Almost like a puppet, Say turned her head to look at Sejal. He was staring intently at her with those strange blue eyes. The grave look on his face made him look very adult and handome, like his father. Vidya mentally shook her head. Now was not the time for such things. She wondered if Katsu had reached the Dream yet and if she were having any impact on the children in the Nursery.
“Dr. Say,” Sejal said softly, “I know you don’t like my mother. But you like me, don’t you?”
After a long moment, Say nodded. Sejal reached out and ran the back of his finger down Say’s cheek. She shuddered delicately. Vidya stared. Where had Sejal learned that gesture? The answer followed almost immediately on the question and nausea bubbled in her stomach. Behind them, Prasad shuffled his feet.
“Dr. Say. Jillias,” Sejal murmured. “Do you love me?”
