“What will I be then to the Dietrichs?”
“You’ll be the first of their foster children to grow up. They’ll remember you.”
“But … they’re not like you. I can tell that much. I can feel a difference.”
“They’re not telepaths.”
“They’re slaves!” Her tone was accusing.
“Yes.”
Page was silent for a moment, startled by Ada’s willingness to admit such a thing.
“Just like that? Yes, you make slaves of people? I’m going to be part of a group that
makes slaves of people?”
“Page?”
“Why do you think 1 tried to die?”
“Because you didn’t understand. You still don’t.”
“I know about being a slave! My parents taught me. My father used to strip me naked, tie me to the bed, and beat me, and then?”
“I know about that, Page.”
“And I know about being a slave.” The girl’s voice was leaden. “I don’t want to be a part of anything that makes people slaves.”
“You have no choice. Neither do we.”
“You could stop doing it.”
“You’d still be with your parents if we didn’t do it. We couldn’t have cared for you.” She took a deep breath. “We don’t harm people like the Dietrichs in any way. In fact they’re healthier and more comfortable now than they were before we found them. And the work they’re doing for us is work they enjoy.”
“If they didn’t enjoy it, you’d change their minds for them.”
“We might, but they wouldn’t be aware of it. They would be content.”
The girl stared at her. “Do you think that makes it better?”
“Not better. Kinder, in a frightening sort of way, I know. I’m not pretending that theirs is the best possible way of life, Page?although they think it is. They’re slaves and I wouldn’t trade places with them. But we, our kind, couldn’t exist long without them.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t exist! If our way is to enslave good people like the Dietrichs and let animals like my parents go free, the world would be better without us.”
Ada looked away from her for a moment, then faced her sadly. “You haven’t understood me. Perhaps you don’t want to; I wouldn’t blame you. The Dietrichs, Page, those good people who took you in, cared for you, loved you. Why, do you imagine, they did all that?”
And abruptly, Page understood. “No!” she shouted. “No. They wanted me. They told me so.”
Ada said nothing.
“They might have been taking in foster children, anyway.”
“You know better.”
“No.” The girl glared at Ada furiously, still trying to make herself believe the lie. Then something in her expression crumbled. How did it feel, after all, to learn that the foster parents you adored, the only parents who had ever shown you love, loved you only because they had been programmed to?
Ada watched her, fully aware of what she was going through, but choosing for a moment to ignore it. “We call ourselves Patternists,” she said quietly. “This is our school. You and the others here are our children. We want the best for you even though we’re not capable of giving it to you personally. It isn’t possible for us to take you into our homes and give you the care you need. It just isn’t possible. You’ll understand why soon. So we make other arrangements.”
The girl was crying silently, her head bowed, her face wet with tears and twisted with pain. Now Ada went to her, put an arm around her. She continued to speak, now offering comfort in her words. The girl was going to be too strong to be soothed with lies or
partial amnesia. She had already proved that. Nothing would do for her but the truth. But that truth was not entirely disillusioning.
“The Dietrichs deserve the love and respect you feel for them, Page, because you’re right about them. They are good people. They love children naturally. All we did was focus that love on you, on the others. In your case we didn’t even have to focus it much. I didn’t think we would. That’s why I chose them for you?and you for them”
Finally Page looked up. “You did? You?”
“Yes.”
She thought about that, then leaned her head to one side, against Ada’s arm. “Then I guess it’s only right that you be the one to take me away from them.”
Ada said nothing.
Page lifted her head, met Ada’s eyes. “You are going to take me away, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want to go.”
