Kingdom of Cages(80)

“Nothing. It’ll go to whoever gets the house next.” She picked up her nightshirt. “I suppose, anyway.”

Chena wrapped her arms around herself as if she were trying to hold something in. “Mom?”

“Yes, Supernova?” Mom folded the nightshirt’s shoulders in toward each other and smoothed it over her arm.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you really doing this?”

Mom laid the folded shirt back on the pallet. “Because if I don’t, they are going to take you away from me.”

Chena’s chest constricted, hard. “They said that?”

Mom nodded. She picked up a pair of Teal’s trousers.

“Why?” cried Chena. “They can’t. This place has laws. I didn’t do anything.”

“No,” Mom agreed. “But apparently that girl you hired to help with your errand-running did, and they are saying that because you paid her, you are responsible for her.”

Chena froze. She didn’t even close her mouth. Mom folded the trousers neatly and laid them on top of the nightshirt. “I didn’t know either,” she said. “They are not accepting that as an excuse.”

“But—” began Chena

“No, Supernova.” Mom shook her head. “They wanted me and they got me. All we can do now is ride the wave and look for a way out.” She plucked one of her work shirts out of the box. “Another way out.”

Wordlessly, Chena walked over to stand next to her mother. She pulled a pair of slacks out of the box and folded them in half, and then in half again. She laid them next to the pile of shirts and reached for a pair of socks.

A knock sounded on the front door. Mom dropped the shirt she was folding, went into the front room, and opened the door. Madra stood on the walk outside. Her face was a mask. Only her eyes held any expression, and Chena hoped that no one would ever look at her like that.

“I understand you will be transferring to the hothouse,” said Madra.

“Yes.” Mom inclined her head. “I was going to come find you. I imagine there’s some paperwork?”

“Not much, but I do need to read your chips.” Madra pulled the scanner off her belt. “Is Teal here too?”

“She’s on the roof,” volunteered Chena. “I’ll go get her.”

“That’s okay.” Teal stepped into view, squeezing past Madra to get through the door. “I’m here. What are we doing now?”

“Checking out,” said Mom. “Hold out your hands.”

They all held up their right hands, and Madra ran her scanner over the tattoos. When she was done she checked the reader and hit a couple of keys before returning the machine to her belt. Then she looked at Mom one more time and opened her mouth.

Mom didn’t give her a chance to say anything. “I know, Madra. Thank you for your help.”

“Good-bye, Helice.” She walked back out the door, just as a skinny man in black slacks and a white shirt came into view.

Chena recognized him at once: He was the man from the constable’s office. Teal’s spy. The cold glance and small nod she got from Teal confirmed it. This was Basante, and he had come to take them all away. Like Sadia had been taken away, and Shond, and their parents. Chena took hold of Mom’s hand, and didn’t even feel childish about it.

“Yes, Chena,” said Mom as she squeezed her hand. “We’re going now.”


It was a proper assignment, Tam’s Conscience tried to tell him. Now that the family Trust is in the complex, they are out of your jurisdiction as administrator. Those are the parameters. It does you no good to be angry with your sister.

“But it may do someone else some good,” he muttered back as he strode into the laboratory.

The laboratory was as much of a hive as the family dome. But where the family dome was a garden and forest of living plants, the laboratory was a forest of workstations and a garden of equipment—clusters of monitors, a labyrinth of pipes and aquariums, mazes of glass-walled cubicles that could be sealed off to create sterile environments.

According to Aleph, Dionte was in one of the imaging rooms. Tam followed the curve of the wall until he came to the appropriate door. Tam’s touch on its surface caused it to flash his name to whoever occupied the chamber. After a moment, the door slid open and let him in.

Walking into the imaging room was like walking into a cage of light. The room’s glass screens had been set to show thousands of fine lines that shimmered in the air, making a complex, multicolored net around Dionte. She sat in the center of that net, her fingers splayed out, touching nothing but light.

“What are you doing?”