?Jesus! I wonder what you?ll be like when you grow up.?
?Not as big as you,? Akin said wistfully.
?Really? You know that??
Akin nodded. ?Strong, but not very big.?
?Smart, though.?
?It would be terrible to be small and foolish.?
Gabe laughed. ?It happens,? he said. ?But probably not to you.?
Akin looked at him and smiled himself. He was still pleased when he could make Gabe laugh. It seemed that the man was beginning to accept him. It was Tate who had suggested that Gabe take him up the hill and show him the mills. She pushed them together when she could, and Akin understood that she wanted them to like each other.
But if they did what would happen when his people finally came for him? Would Gabe fight? Would he kill? Would he die?
Akin watched the blacksmith make a machete blade, heating, pounding, shaping the metal. There was a wooden crate of machete blades in one corner. There were also scythes, sickles, axes, hammers, saws, nails, hooks, chains, coiled wire, picks
And yet there was no clutter. Everything, work tools and products, had their places.
?I work here sometimes,? Gabe said. ?And I?ve helped salvage a lot of our raw materials.? He glanced at Akin. ?You might get to see the salvage site.?
?In the mountains??
?Yeah.?
?When??
?When things start to get warm around here.?
It took Akin several seconds to realize that he was not talking about the weather. He would be hidden at the salvage site when his people came looking for him.
?We?ve found artifacts of glass, plastic, ceramic, and metal. We?ve found a lot of money. You know what money is??
?Yes. I?ve never seen any, but people have told me about it.?
Gabe reached into his pocket with his free hand. He brought out a bright, golden disk of metal and let Akin hold it. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. On one side was something that looked like a large letter t and the words, ?He is risen. We shall rise.? On the other side there was a picture of a bird flying up from fire. Akin studied the bird, noticing that it was a kind he had never seen pictured before.
?Phoenix money,? Gabe said. ?That?s a phoenix rising from its own ashes. A phoenix was a mythical bird. You understand??
?A lie,? Akin said thoughtlessly.
Gabe took the disk from him, put it back into his pocket and put Akin down.
?Wait!? Akin said. ?I?m sorry. I call myths that in my mind. I didn?t mean to say it out loud.?
Gabe looked down at him. ?If you?re always going to be small, you ought to learn to be careful with that word,? he said.
?But
I didn?t say you were lying.?
?No. You said my dream, the dream of everyone here, was a lie. You don?t even know what you said.?
?I?m sorry.?
Gabe stared at him, sighed, and picked him up again. ?I don?t know,? he said. ?Maybe I ought to be relieved.?
?At what??
?That in some ways you really are just a kid.?
13
Weeks later, traders arrived bringing two more stolen children. Both appeared to be young girls. The traders took away not a woman but as many metal tools and as much gold as they could carry, plus books that were more valuable than gold. Two couples in Phoenix worked together with occasional help from others to make paper and ink and print the books most likely to be desired by other villages. Bibles?using the memories of every village they could reach, Phoenix researchers had put together the most complete Bible available. There were also how-to books, medical books, memories of prewar Earth, listings of edible plants, animals, fish, and insects and their dangers and advantages, and propaganda against the Oankali.
?We can?t have kids, so we make all this stuff,? Tate told Akin as they watched the traders bargain for a new canoe to carry all their new merchandise in. ?Those guys are now officially rich. For all the good it will do them.?
?Can I see the girls?? Akin asked.
?Why not? Let?s go over.?
She walked slowly and let him follow her over to the Wilton house where the girls were staying. Macy and Kolina Wilton had been quick enough to seize both children for themselves. They were one half of Phoenix?s publishers. They would probably be expected to give up one child to another couple, but for now they were a family
