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"I can't do it," Colin said at last, sounding frustrated.
"That's okay," Jarvis told him. "Don't worry about it. Here—why don't you see if you can teek the pod all the way over the chimney, okay? Then you can play for a couple of hours before it'll be time for di
"Okay." Obviously relieved to be back on familiar ground, Colin teeked the pod from Jarvis's hand and sent it skittering between the conetree's lower branches. Craning his neck as he stood up, Jarvis saw the pod sail high over the cabin.
Smiling, he headed back toward the cabin door. Di
And later that evening there would be games, conversation, and some unobtrusive testing... and, perhaps, another shot.
Chapter 7
It had begun to cloud up while Lisa was eating di
The Lee Introductory School was in a section of Barona Lisa had only visited once or twice before, and it took some hunting before she finally located the squat three-story building. After the tall, majestic towers of the hive, Lee Intro seemed almost selfconsciously earthbound, and it made her feel a little creepy as she landed by its front door. I'll be just as earthbound soon, she thought. Steeling herself, she walked inside.
The door opened into a spacious lounge about half-full of teens, many of them frowning intently into colorful books. The room itself was much friendlier and less intimidating than the reading area at the library had been, but still Lisa hesitated at the threshold. Maybe she should just go home and forget all of this—
"May I help you?" a courteous voice came from her right.
Startled, Lisa turned and saw for the first time the alcove just inside the outer door. A young adult sat behind a desk there, a telephone and long sheet of paper in front of him.
"I'm looking for Daryl Kellerman," she said, stepping over to him. "He used to be at the Dayspring Hive."
The man ran a finger down his paper, stopped midway and slid it sideways. "Kellerman... well, he hasn't checked out and he's not listed on special duty, so he's probably up in his room. You want me to call up there?"
"Yes, please," Lisa said quickly, before she could lose her nerve.
"Who shall I tell him is here?"
"Lisa Duncan."
The man picked up the phone, consulted the paper again, and punched numbers. "There's a Lisa Duncan here to see Kellerman," he said a moment later. "...All right. He'll be right down," the man told Lisa, hanging up the instrument.
Lisa nodded and drifted away from the desk, wondering which direction Daryl would come from. Her heart was pounding and she could feel her courage draining away with the moisture in her mouth. What am I going to say to him? she thought frantically. She hadn't yet come up with a good answer to that when a door on the left side of the lounge opened and Daryl was there. He spotted Lisa and came toward her.
He'd changed a lot in less than a year, she thought as she put on her best smile and walked forward to meet him halfway. His face was longer and thi
They stopped simultaneously, about a meter apart. "Hi," Daryl said, his voice sounding as tense and awkward as the rest of him looked.
"Hi," Lisa said. "I wasn't sure you'd remember me."
He smiled and some of his tension seemed to disappear. "Not likely. You were either the best worker or worst pest I ever had in a work crew, sometimes both at the same time. Uh... you come by just to see me?"
Lisa hesitated—and was suddenly aware of a new silence in the lounge. Conversations had ceased, and she could feel eyes on her from the other teens in the room. Waiting to hear her answer to Daryl's question? A taste of panic splashed her throat. New rules, new relationships—and I don't know any of them. What do I say?
"Could we go for a walk?" she suggested, choosing the easiest way out. "It's pretty stuffy in here."
"Sure," Daryl said, a mixture of relief and disappointment in his voice. He looked past her to the man at the desk. "I'll be going outside for a while," he said, sounding very grown-up.
"Be in by eight-thirty," the other shrugged.
As they left, Lisa thought she heard a faint snicker from the teens in the lounge.
"So... how is life treating you?" Daryl asked as the door closed behind them.
"Oh, pretty good," she said. "How about you?"
He shrugged. "Fine," he said, his tone not very enthusiastic.
"School kind of rough?"
"A little." He pointed to the left. "Let's go this way; there's that little park a couple of blocks down."
Lisa nodded her agreement, and for a moment they walked along the sidewalk in silence. The neighborhood had a different feeling than the one near the hive, Lisa decided as she looked around. Lee Intro was closer to shops and Barona's busier streets than any of the city's hives were. Because the teens were less mobile than preteens and kids, she wondered?
"How're you doing in school?" Daryl asked suddenly.
"I'm still at the hive," Lisa told him.
He stopped. "What?"
She stopped too. "I'm still at the hive," she repeated, frowning at the look on his face. "I haven't reached Transition yet."
"Oh. I thought..." Abruptly, he started walking again, and she had to hurry to catch up.
"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked, trying to get a clear look at his face through the bounce of their steps. "Did I say something wrong?"
"I just sort of figured you'd come over from Paris Intro down the street," he mumbled, nodding back over his shoulder.
"Well... you don't have to tell your friends I didn't," she said, taking a stab at the reason for his reaction. Preteens, too, were sometimes kidded for friendships with much younger kids.
He threw her a quick look and slowed down to a more reasonable pace. "No, that's okay. I guess... it's not easy to lose your teekay and get tossed suddenly into school at the same time, you know."
"I understand. I'm sorry. Do you want me to go away?" She held her breath, afraid he would say yes, yet feeling intuitively she needed to offer him that choice.
"I guess not," he said and managed a smile. "You came all the way out here to see me; I guess the least I can do is be civil."
She smiled back. "So... tell me about life as a teen."
And for the next half hour he did just that. They arrived at the park and sat together on a bench as he poured out the fears and frustrations of his new life. Lisa listened attentively, striving to keep her own feelings in check as his stories seemed to confirm her worst fears about the coming Transition.
Finally, he ran out of words, and for a few minutes they sat together in silence, watching the rays of the setting sun streaming through cracks in the growing cloud cover. "Thanks for listening," he said at last, reaching over awkwardly to squeeze her hand. "There isn't really anyone I can talk to like that at the school."
"Didn't some of your friends from the hive go with you?" she asked. "I thought Chase and Hari—"