Free Swans and Klons by Nora Olsen Page B

snipped the lock, and they opened the door. Blinking, Rubric followed her out into the sunlight. They were on some sort of disused loading dock.
    “Why were you looking for me at Stencil Pavlina’s?” Rubric asked. “There was a Doctor talking to her?”
    “First of all, I got a visit from a Doctor too,” Salmon Jo said, jumping off the dock. “She brought me to her office.” She pulled a bag out from under the dock and hoisted it onto her shoulder. “This is some camping stuff. I stored it here last week, just in case. I should have just left it in my room, maybe. It’s possible I overplanned this.”
    They started up the slope away from the library, and Rubric knew they were taking the shortest diagonal route off campus.
    “It’s okay. Just tell me about the Doctor. What was she like?” Rubric couldn’t help asking.
    “She was my Jeepie Similar! She was so smart, really smart. I never met anyone so smart. Wow, she looked good in that saffron-colored robe. She was taller than me or Panna Madrigal and kind of queenly looking. She said she had heard that I was spreading a lot of rumors about the origins of Klons. She said ideas like ours sometimes floated through Society. She used the words legend and myth .”
    “Like a unicorn,” Rubric said.
    Salmon Jo gave her a funny look.
    “So the Doctor was saying we’re wrong?” Rubric asked hurriedly.
    “She started out like that. But then she said something like, ‘Legends sing of both fact and fiction,’ and she quoted something in Latin. She said, ‘Only the most intelligent people can handle this information about the Klons. We need people who understand the truth about how Society works. People like that run Society, but they have to be loyal and have the right attitude. For really intelligent people like us, there’s not just the Golden Rule, there’s also the Iron Rule.’”
    “The Iron Rule! What’s that?”
    “Protect the Doctors, who wield knowledge wisely, and reveal nothing that could be misinterpreted by the populace.”
    “Misinterpreted,” Rubric muttered in disgust. “That’s not from some ancient text of wisdom, like the Golden Rule is. They just made that up. It’s not even well written.”
    “ Sssh, ” Salmon Jo said. They were walking fast past a group of girls who were talking and laughing. “Act normal.”
    Rubric didn’t know how to act normal. What was normal when they were fleeing? Salmon Jo didn’t look normal. Her skin was ashen except for red spots on her cheeks, and she was practically trembling with anxiety.
    “I wonder how she found out what we were thinking,” Salmon Jo said. “Panna Lobe must have told.”
    “Or maybe Nanny Klon did,” Rubric said. “She was replaced by a new Nanny Klon today.”
    Salmon Jo whistled. “Wow. Could be either one of them. Or both. In retrospect, maybe we shouldn’t have gone yapping to everyone.”
    A girl from Yellow Dorm waved at Rubric, and she waved back uncertainly. “So what did the Doctor do next?” Rubric demanded.
    “I thought I was in real trouble, but the Doctor started saying all these nice things to me. She asked did I want to be trained to be a Doctor myself, and that someone like me could really help Society.”
    They had reached the outskirts of the campus. Here was Salmon Jo’s favorite tree. She liked to sit in there and think and stare out over the wall at the city. For the first time, Rubric realized you could climb from the tree to the brick wall that surrounded the campus. They were only about a hundred paces from the handsome arch with a wrought-iron gate, where a Security Klon sat, that was the entrance to the campus. Great, more climbing, Rubric thought. The Security Klon never even looked their way as they inched up the tree and over the wall. Rubric began to feel a little better. Everything was so relaxed and trustful in Society, maybe it wouldn’t be that hard to be a fugitive.
    When Rubric jumped off the wall, she could feel the thud travel