'At any rate,' Martina finished, 'you've shattered the cult for Keith-and a lot of the others. They may not take it kindly.'
Kendi's face fell and Ben took his hand under the table. 'We'll get into the Dream,' Ben said, 'and tell the Council we'll need therapists who can deal with this kind of thing. We'll get Keith through it, Kendi, don't worry. You don't have to do everything yourself, you know.'
But Kendi couldn't help worrying.
'That's the second time he's called you that,' Martina said. 'Is that your name now? Kendi? The trickster lizard?'
'I chose it after I became a Child,' Kendi told her. 'Like I said, it's long story and I'll tell you and Ut-Keith at the same time.' Assuming he'll talk to me.
'I have to ask you something else,' Martina said. 'About that man Isaac Todd.'
'Bedj-ka,' Harenn said, 'go up to our quarters. You may play on the sims.'
Bedj-ka gave his mother a look, then slid out of his chair and left without arguing.
'Ask away,' Kendi said.
'You told Roon he always fathers Silent children,' Martina said. 'And you arranged for Roon to take Todd prisoner. I don't know what he did-'
'He sold children into slavery,' Harenn interjected.
'— but the babies he fathers will be enslaved by Silent Acquisitions. They're innocent, but they'll suffer for what their father did. Is that what you intended?'
Kendi smiled. 'Harenn?'
'Isaac Todd will father no more children,' Harenn said. 'He thought I was injecting him with gelpox to make him a test subject for the plan, but he received another injection entirely.'
'What did you give him?' Martina asked.
'A form of the mumps virus genegineered for slave owners who want to castrate their slaves.' Harenn gave a rare smile. 'It is not contagious, but by tomorrow morning, Isaac's testicles will have swollen to the size of oranges. There is no cure. The disease causes erectile dysfunction and permanent sterility.'
'Poetic justice, I'd say,' Kendi put in. 'Roon's going to be furious.'
'And fired,' Ben said. 'That was mean, raising his hopes like that and then destroying them.'
'Yeah,' Kendi said happily. 'And I'm sure Silent Acquisitions will be pretty mean to Isaac, too. He's failed them twice now, and he blabbed about the Collection.'
Kendi tensed again. 'We'll meet him in the entry bay.'
Kendi felt Ben squeeze his hand and he tried to squeeze back, but he had no strength. Martina stood next to them. She had removed the ridiculous wimple and gloves, but still wore the green robe. It was all the clothing she had. Harenn and Lucia waited a short distance away. Kendi had almost asked the two of them to leave, but then he had realized he drew comfort from their presence, from Harenn's strength of will and from Lucia's calm serenity. So he said nothing.
The entry bay airlock cycled with a rushing sound and slowly slid open. Keith looked exactly like the holo Kendi had seen back on Drim, though he was wearing a yellow robe and was a centimeter or two shorter than Kendi. The latter surprised him. He always remembered Keith as the taller one.
'Evan?' he said. 'My god, I'd know you anywhere.' Keith ran forward and clasped Kendi in his third hard hug of the day. The Silent jolt snapped through him. Martina joined her brothers. Keith gasped as she touched him-another jolt.
'You aren't angry?' Kendi said after they parted.
'Angry?' Keith said. 'Why would I be angry? God, you got me out of that place. And you're a Child of Irfan? You have a lot of explaining to do.'
'You believed in Roon,' Martina said. 'I thought I'd lost you to him.'
Keith ran a hand over his face and Kendi noticed he had few silver hairs. 'I figured I'd have a better chance of escaping if they thought I was a believer. It was starting to work-they promoted me to Beta.'
'Why didn't you say something?' Martina demanded. 'I was worried sick.'
'I thought you had bought into it. All those things you said at Confessional and the way you always worked so hard?'
'That was just a trick so I could escape.'
Kendi laughed and gave them both another hug. 'That's us,' he said. 'A family of tricksters.'
Ben watched Kendi's reunion, feeling happy and, oddly, jealous. It suddenly occurred to him that he would have to share Kendi now. Then he shook his head.
After a moment, Kendi broke away and brought Ben forward for another introduction. This brought about another handshake and another Silent jolt. Then an uncomfortable silence fell. There was so much to say, but no one knew where to start. Harenn came to the rescue.
'There is still food up in the galley,' she said. 'Why don't you go up there and talk where it is more comfortable?'
The Weavers agreed to this and headed for the door. Ben started to follow, but Harenn caught his sleeve. 'Ben,' she said, 'Lucia and I wish to talk to you up in the medical bay.'
'What about?'
'We'll explain up there,' Lucia told him.
Mystified, Ben followed the two women. The soft blue corridors, with their rounded corners and soft machinery hum, felt calm and homelike after the frenzy of the last several days.
'Don't you have to pilot the ship, Lucia?' Ben asked as they went.
'Gretchen is still overseeing the transfer of the SA employees back into the escape pods,' Lucia replied. 'She's also launching a signal beacon to make sure SA can find them. It shouldn't take more than two or three hours for them to be rescued. But for now I'm not needed on the bridge.'
They reached the medical bay, the place where Isaac Todd had singsonged his way through several interrogations. It seemed as cold and sterile as ever. Ben's little star-shaped cryo-unit sat on one of the counters, lights winking quietly.
'Where did you get that?' Ben demanded.
'Kendi asked me to run some tests,' Harenn explained. 'He also told me that the two of you want to raise them as your children.'
Ben flushed. 'He told you that?'
'Why shouldn't he?' Lucia said. 'I think you've made a wonderful decision, Ben. That's why we brought you down here.'
'I don't understand.'
'You will need host mothers,' Harenn said. 'I would like to volunteer.'
Ben stared.
'You and Kendi have reunited me with my child,' Harenn said simply. 'In the process, Kendi lost his own family and had to risk his freedom to get them back. I can never fully make that up to him-and you-but this thing would be a start.'
'I'm volunteering, too,' Lucia said. 'It would be an honor. Both of you have been touched by Irfan, and I don't mean because you're Silent. Besides, these children need parents, and I want to help.'
Ben cast about for something to say and came up empty. At last he only said, 'Thank you. Thank you both.'
'There is more,' Harenn said. 'Lucia doesn't know this, but if she bears one of these children, she needs to be informed.'
Alarm thrilled through Ben. 'Is something wrong with them?'
'Not at all,' Harenn said. 'Something is merely… interesting.'
'What do you mean, Harenn?' Lucia said. 'Don't be cruel by keeping him-us-in suspense.'
Harenn nodded. 'Ben, Kendi said you don't know where the embryos come from, that your mother found them on a derelict ship. Do you know how old the embryos are?'
'Only vaguely,' Ben said. 'The cryo-unit was something over thirty years old when Mom found it, so that would mean the unit is close to sixty years old now, but that doesn't say anything about the embryos. They could be a lot newer.'
