Free Earthseed by Pamela Sargent Page A

Now she felt paralyzed, unable to move. She wanted more water, but the bathroom was too far away.
    Dmitri might have distilled something poisonous; maybe he hadn’t known so much about making liquor as he had pretended. Ship wouldn’t have let him do that, she told herself, trying to believe it. Jorge, Serena, and Tonio had joined her and Dmitri in the laboratory, bringing food from the party. She had laughed heartily at something Tonio had said, and vaguely remembered helping Dmitri to his room; her memories were faded images, separated by blank spaces. She winced and closed her eyes.
    Lillka came out of the bathroom. Zoheret wanted to ask her to get a glass of water, but then she would have had to explain why. Lillka was humming; her voice came closer. Zoheret pulled her sheet over her face as the room grew lighter.
    She moaned. “Tell Ship to dim the lights.” A shadow fell across her eyes and then a hand pulled the sheet from her face.
    “Zoheret?”
    “Don’t. I’m tired.”
    “You must have had fun.” Lillka said it as though she disapproved. “I went to the infirmary last night. Kagami was wondering where you were.” The room darkened. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
    “I’m fine. I was in the lab with Dmitri.”
    “I heard about him and his still. I can’t believe you were so stupid.”
    “Leave me alone.” She pulled up her sheet.
    Zoheret dozed uneasily for a while. When she woke up again, Lillka was gone. She sat up, feeling better, though her neck ached and her head still throbbed.
    She drank water and took a shower, rubbing her temples as the hot water soothed her head, and was suddenly very hungry. She hurried out of the bathroom. “Ship? May I have some breakfast here?”
    “You mean lunch,” Ship said. “Yes, you may, but I trust you’ll be well enough to have supper in the dining room. I also expect you to join your friends in the laboratory this day. You have a lot of cleaning up to do.” Zoheret groaned. A panel near her screen slid open, offering eggs, toast, and milk. She sat down and began to eat. “I hope that you have been chastened by your experience.”
    “Dmitri must have done something wrong with his still.”
    “He did not. I saw what he did. If you’d been content with the beer I provided for the party, you wouldn’t be ill now. If you’d had one drink, or used moderation, as I advised, you wouldn’t have suffered. But I suppose you had to learn it for yourself. Human beings are so unreasonable sometimes. I warned you. You should have listened.”
    Zoheret pushed the plate and glass away; the tray slid into the wall and the panel closed. She felt depressed. They’d had their last party in this part of Ship, and she’d had a rotten time.
    She said, “I’m not ready.”
    “Not ready for what?”
    “To live in the Hollow.” She went to her bed and threw herself across it, hiding her face.
    “You’d better be ready,” Ship said harshly, “because that’s where you’re going soon. It’s the next part of the program.”
    Zoheret lifted her head. “You’ll look out for us, won’t you?”
    “I shall shut down my sensors once you’re settled. I’ve thought about it, and I think most of you will agree that it’s best if I do. If you need my aid, you can always go to the doorway nearest your settlement and request it.”
    “How can you do that after what happened?”
    “What did happen?” Ship was speaking in its alto, but its voice was a bit higher than usual. “Are you talking about the Competition? I thought you all did quite well. There were no deaths and the injured are healing. Every team finished the course. I’m proud of you.”
    “Ho cheated.”
    “He did not. He broke no rules. You may not like what he did, but it worked—he won. Life involves trading one thing for another, Zoheret—setting priorities. You have to decide whether or not your goal justifies the means used to achieve it. Ho and his team decided that winning this