“I would rather be dead than stuck in a cage for the rest of my life. This isn’t living.” I snap. Sparks form on my fingertips, and my markings flare.
Chloe steps back as if I’m going to hurt her.
She doesn’t know me, if she thinks I would. And she doesn’t care. She will follow the rules and since her leaders don’t want my existence to be known, I cannot see a life beyond the bars. I grip the metal and the charge runs through it. “Would you be happy spending the rest of your days locked in a cage?”
“I am in a cage, only you can’t see the bars.”
I laugh and it sounds harsh, even in my ears. “You are free to wander. You have a purpose.”
“I didn’t choose this purpose. This job was chosen for me because I had an aptitude for it. My life is dictated by the colony leaders. I have no say in it, and I hate it. I understand why Sabine didn’t want to return. But I hope to bring change.”
Yet, from the look on her face, she doesn’t seem convinced that there will be change. “What would you change?”
“For a start, I will get rid of the stupid imbalance. If things were more equal, people could choose their partners. They should also be able to choose their job, within reason. I’m sure even in your tribe you couldn’t have too many leather workers and not enough farmers."
I incline my head in agreement. “That is true.”
“And I think we should learn from your people.”
“And my people could benefit from learning some of your science.“
“My science is only good while the technology lasts. Once it breaks…I don't think we have the ability or materials to fix it.” She shakes her head. “I feel as though we are the ones who would benefit the most from any trade negotiations.”
I don’t agree. Just because they have technology from their previous home world that they can’t make here doesn’t mean that the ideas behind it can’t be adapted and re-created. “If you knew how to farm and feed yourselves, then you would have more time to make sure you could keep your technology going and teach others how to create it. And everything you have uses electricity." I lift my hand and let sparks form between my fingers.
“None of that matters if the leaders will not acknowledge you exist.”
“They cannot keep my existence hidden forever.”
She presses her lips together. “They can if they kill everyone who knows about you.”
That is a grim thought. It means they didn’t let Sabine and the other women go for altruistic reasons. The leaders wanted them gone, so they wouldn’t talk. It means when Chloe's experiments are done, and she has given all the information to the leaders, they have no use for her.
“Would they really do that? In my tribe, every loss is mourned, even when a fourth son must leave. Are your people so callous?"
“They think of the whole, not of the individual. Some of us think there can be no whole without the individual.”
“Those people are correct. In tribes where the leadership has broken down, people leave. They go to relatives in differenttribes and eventually, the dysfunctional tribe is too small to function.”
“Since we are talking about tribes, why don’t you tell me some more about yours? Like how the leadership works and… How many family units there are?”
“Will you tell me more about your colony’s leadership?" It’s not what I want in exchange, and I think she knows it from the way her teeth rake over her lip and her gaze skim over me.
“I will, and I will bring some games with me next time. Perhaps the guards will play with you.”
“I would rather you play with me.” I realize how that sounds as soon as the words are off my tongue before the whisperer can repeat them in her ear.
Her cheeks redden. “That shouldn’t have happened."
I shrug. “We both wanted it.”
She shakes her head. She will not be touching me again, and I do not know what I did wrong.
17
CHLOE
Ihave been studying and talking to Tiril for a month. It’s been three weeks since I gave him a blow job, and every time I see him, it’s all I can think about. He often removes the whisperer and has learned basic English. My attempts to learn his language have been much less convincing, despite downloading the translations and memorizing words.
