Tate made a tight, shuddering fetal knot of her body and lay moaning. She gasped several times, gulping air as she might have gulped water.
'Shit!' she whispered minutes later when the reaction began to wane. 'Oh shit. It wasn't a dream, I see.'
'Finish dressing,' Lilith told her. 'You knew it wasn't a dream.'
Tate looked up at Lilith, then down at her own half naked body. Lilith had managed to get pants on her, but had only gotten one of her arms into the jacket. She had managed to work that arm free as she suffered through the reaction. She picked up the jacket, put it on, and in a moment, had discovered how to close it. Then she turned to watch silently as Lilith closed the plant, opened the wall nearest to it, and pushed the plant through. In seconds the only sign left of it was a rapidly drying spot on the floor.
'And in spite of all that,' Lilith said, facing Tate, 'I'm a prisoner just as you are.'
'More like a trustee,' Tate said quietly.
'More like. I have to Awaken at least thirty-nine more people before any of us are allowed out of this room. I chose to start with you.'
'Why?' She was incredibly self-possessed--or seemed to be. She had only been Awakened twice before- average among people not chosen to parent a group-but she behaved almost as though nothing unusual were happening. That was a relief to Lilith, a vindication of her choice of Tate.
'Why did I begin with you?' Lilith said. 'You seemed least likely to try to kill me, least likely to fall apart, and most likely to be able to help with the others as they Awaken.'
Tate seemed to think about that. She fiddled with her jacket, re-examining the way the front panels adhered to one another, the way they pulled apart. She felt the material itself, frowning.
'Where the hell are we?' she asked.
'Some distance beyond the orbit of the moon.'
Silence. Then finally, 'What was that big green slug-thing you pushed into the wall?'
'A... a plant. Our captors-our rescuers-use them for keeping people in suspended animation. You were in the one you saw. I took you out of it.'
'Suspended animation?'
'For over two hundred and fifty years. The Earth is just about ready to have us back now.'
'We're going back!'
'Yes.'
Tate looked around at the vast, empty room. 'Back to what?'
'Tropical forest. Somewhere in the Amazon basin. There are no more Cities.'
'No. I didn't think there would be.' She drew a deep breath. 'When are we fed?'
'I put some food in your room before I Awoke you. Come on.'
Tate followed. 'I'm hungry enough to eat even that plaster of Paris garbage they served me when I was Awake before.'
'No more plaster. Fruit, nuts, a kind of stew, bread, something like cheese, coconut milk...'
'Meat? A steak?'
'You can't have everything.'
Tate was too good to be true. Lilith worried for a moment that at some point she would break-begin to cry or be sick or scream or beat her head against the wall-lose that seemingly easy control. But whatever happened to her Lilith would try to help. Just these few minutes of apparent normality were worth a great deal of trouble. She was actually speaking with and being understood by another human being-after so long.
Tate dove into the food, eating until she was satisfied, not wasting time talking. She had not, Lilith thought, asked one very important question. Of course there was a great deal she had not asked, but one thing in particular made Lilith wonder.
'What's your name, by the' way?' Tate asked, finally resting from her eating. She sipped coconut milk tentatively, then drank it all.
'Lilith Iyapo.'
'Lilith. Lil?'
'Lilith. I've never had a nickname. Never wanted one. Is there anything apart from your name that you'd like to be called?'
'No. Tate will do. Tate Marah. They told you my name, didn't they?'
'Yes.'
'I thought so. All those damn questions. They kept me Awake and in solitary for. . . it must have been two or three months. Did they tell you that? Or were you watching?'
'I was either asleep or in solitary myself, but yes, I knew about your confinement. It was three months in all. Mine was just over two years.'
'It took them that long to make a trustee of you, did it?'
Lilith frowned, took a few nuts and ate them. 'What do you mean by that?' she asked.
For an instant, Tate looked uncomfortable, uncertain. The expression appeared and vanished so quickly that
