Free Ember by James K. Decker Page B

the door as it swung shut, and put one hand over her mouth.
    â€œIt’s okay,” I told her. “It’s no big deal.”
    â€œI didn’t even hear—”
    â€œIt’s okay, Ling, really.” I glanced back. “I bet you anything it was that little Heng shit. Punk’s going to end up in jail for sure. Everything go okay?”
    She nodded and wrinkled her nose. “I fed it at the times you said. I entered the log too, like you said.”
    I peered through the bars of the crib, the worry an unconscious habit. Ling noticed and added, “I know they’re delicate. I was careful.”
    â€œSorry, I know. Thanks for doing it.”
    â€œThey’re so ugly.” She frowned, the wrinkles in her face deepening. “Do you need the stipend that bad? Doesn’t your father take care of you?”
    â€œGuardian,” I corrected. She waved a bony hand at me. “We both work. What do you want?”
    She looked at me critically.
    â€œYou’re twenty now,” she said. “Why are you still here anyway? You should be on your own.”
    â€œI was on my own until I was twelve. Cut me some slack.”
    â€œYou’re not twelve anymore. You’re a woman now.” She shook out a cigarette of her pack, staining the end pink as she held it between her lips.
    â€œYeah, I know.”
    â€œFind a man,” she said, lighting the smoke and sucking down a small gray cloud. “Get on the list to have a real baby, not one of those.”
    My face flushed, making the sunburn flare up. I reminded myself that Ling didn’t know.
    â€œWhy don’t you like them?” I said, nodding over at the crib.
    â€œThey don’t belong here.”
    â€œWell, they’re stranded, Ling. It’s not like they have a choice. Besides, we’re better off now, aren’t we?”
    She waved her hand again, dismissive. Ling was old, and probably didn’t care much about brain band, jump gates, or graviton tech. I thought she would have at least cared about the defense shield the haan were building for us, but maybe she didn’t care much about that either. It was a big-ticket item for me. When the first pieces started going up in six months, I’d feel a lot better.
    Ling watched Tanchi paw at the air, the scalefly buzzing in a circle above him, and sighed. “We shouldn’t let them breed.”
    â€œThey have to have some or they’ll die out.”
    â€œLet them die out. Governor Hwong should put a stop to it. He would never agree to this.”
    â€œHe did, though.”
    She frowned again. She wouldn’t criticize Governor Hwong—her loyalty to him was too ingrained—but a look of betrayal flashed in her eyes. No one was sure exactly why the haan wanted the human-haan surrogate program, or exactly why Hwong agreed to it. Some thought the haan were controlling him. Others thought the haan had made the flow of tech and the promise of the defense screen dependent on it. There were a million theories as to why the haan would put their fragile young in our brutish hands, but if nothing else it was a good show of how little a threat they really were. They were immune to all disease and most toxins, but their bodies broke all too easily. Wherever they came from, it was a gentler world than ours.
    â€œThey know how hard they make it, Ling,” I said. “They hate how hard they make it. They’d leave if they could.”
    â€œYour father should put a stop to it,” Ling said. I almost corrected her again, but didn’t bother. “How is he anyway?”
    â€œOkay, I guess. He’s on patrol in Menggu Province and I haven’t heard from him in a while. He’s been kind of blowing me off.”
    â€œMaybe he found a girl there,” Ling joked.
    â€œHe wouldn’t—” I started, meaning to say that Dragan wouldn’t hook up with a Pan-Slav when of course, he was Pan-Slav himself,