Well, it’s better than sitting here and staring at the walls. “Good idea,” Chena admitted. “I should have one too.” And I can put in Shond, and Sadia, and definitely that crazy old woman on the roof.… “We should both use the same encryptions so we’ll be able to read each other’s lists.” Chena took the comptroller out of Teal’s hands and made it scroll out the work Teal had done so far. She felt her eyebrows rise as she read the columns of numbers and letters.
“Not bad, for someone with air between her ears,” she admitted. “But we’re going to want to use some kind of substitution scheme we can remember and not have to code in. That way, if somebody gets hold of the lists, they’ll only be able to do so much when they dump the files.…”
Soon they were whispering back and forth all kinds of possible designations for the various people in the room and giving each other fits of giggles. Mom glanced up from her conversation a few times, but just smiled to see her daughters engaged in their own, relatively quiet game.
What’s she doing over there? Is she trying to find us a cheap house, maybe? Why doesn’t she tell us anything? Chena chewed her lip. It felt raw, but she didn’t stop. Why doesn’t she tell me anything? How bad is it? How much do we owe? She just took the records from the bank. She didn’t show us anything. Is she going to have to go give them her blood or move us into a hothouse or something because there’s not enough?
Why won’t she tell me?
That thought followed her through the rest of the evening, even when the bell rang again and the company in the common room filtered dutifully to the sleeping rooms to unroll their pallets and change into their nightclothes, or not. Chena was stunned and embarrassed to see some of the women just roll themselves up naked into their blankets.
Mom didn’t say anything as Chena just squirmed out of her clothes under her blanket and slid into her nightshirt. It smelled musty.
She’d just pulled the shirt down over her hips when the lights went out.
“Well, so much for that,” murmured Mom. “Good night, my girls.”
Chena closed her eyes and curled in on herself, trying to find sleep in her private warmth and darkness. But all around her came the sounds of unfamiliar breathing, snorts, and snoring, and inside, her thoughts would not make room for unconsciousness and dreams. She kept seeing the administrator looking at Mom, tense and hungry, offering her an easy life and a way out of debt, telling her how hard living down here was going to be.
Chena opened her eyes.
“Mom?”
“Shhh, Supernova. What is it?”
“The money,” said Chena in her lightest whisper.
“Yes, that’s kept me awake a number of nights. What about the money?”
“How do we know this isn’t another company town?” That had been Mom’s term for Athena. Because the Athena directorate owned everything, she said. All the stores, all the apartments, all the air, they’d been able to charge whatever they wanted for them and nobody could say no.
Mom let out a long, soft sigh. “That is a very good question. First, they don’t let you run yourself into debt here, like they did on Athena. Second, they give you a way to live even when you don’t have any money. That way you can manage without having to indenture yourself.”
“Yeah.” Chena pushed herself up onto one elbow and turned toward Mom’s voice, even though she couldn’t see her. “But I mean, they keep you so busy working for the town, when do you find time to make money so you won’t have to work for the town?”
Another sigh. “It’s never easy, Chena. We are going to be a long time getting our heads above water. But it will happen. I am not going to let you girls struggle under my debts.”
“I thought they were Dad’s debts,” said Chena, before she could stop herself.
“No, Supernova, they are very much mine too.” Mom’s voice sounded heavy, like it was weighted down with all the things she wasn’t saying. “But they will never be yours.” Chena heard her blankets rustle. Mom’s warm and certain hand caressed her hair briefly. “Now go to sleep, Chena. We all have a long day tomorrow.”
“Right. Good night, Mom.”
The blankets rustled again, and Chena pictured her mother rolling over toward the wall. Chena flipped over onto her back and lay staring at the ceiling for a long time.
She had come to associate debt with danger. As long as they owed somebody, it seemed like that somebody could do whatever they wanted. They could make Dad vanish, they could drive her family out of their home, they could make Mom frightened and angry.