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"You have the wrong person," I say "I’nnore them completely, or report them to the Society But they’ve unsettled me What if they take their story--true or not--to the Society? Then a wild hope comes to mind: if they do, will the Society delay Grandfather’s Banquet while they investigate? Could we have a little more time? But then I realize that won’t happen The Society will have the Banquet and take the saht decide to destroy it

"We need you to add data to the sort," the man says

"That’s i data I don’t enter anything new"

"You don’t have to enter anything," the woman says "All you have to do is access an additional data set and transfer some of that data"

"That’s also impossible," I say "I don’t have the correct passkeys The only inforiven"

"We have a code that will allow you to pull more data," the man says "It will help you access the Society’stheir infor, as they tell e and spinning, as though the wind did after all pick ? Will I do what they’ve asked of me?

"Why did you pick me?" I ask

"You fit all the criteria," he says "You’re assigned to the sort today"

"Also, you’re one of the fastest," the wo else, soet"

After they finish explaining what they want me to do, I have very little free time left But I still climb off at the stop near Grandfather’s apartment I have to speak with him before I decide ht Grandfather will tell reenspace, and when he sees me, surprise and happiness cross his face I so to work," I say "But there’s so I need to know"

"Of course," he says "What is it?" His eyes are sharp and keen

"Have you ever," I ask hi to you?"

He doesn’t answer me I see a flicker of surprise in his eyes I can’t tell if he’s surprised at the question or that I know to ask it Then he nods

"From the Society?" I whisper, so quietly I can barely hear myself

But he understands He reads the words onat him, I know that he has h If he admits even to this, then what they say could be true His saer

"I’ll come back later," I promise, and I turn and run down the path, under the red-bud trees

Work is different today Norah, nizecenter

An Official takes charge of the roohtly different," he says "It’s an exponential pairwise sort, using personal data from a subset of the Society"

The people froht They said this was the kind of sort I’d do today And they told me more than the Society does now The wo Match Banquet My Banquet The Society should not be sorting this close to the Banquet And the people from the Arboretum said that so pool had been left out, on purpose, by the Society These people’s data exists in the Society’s database, but isn’t going to be in the pool If I do what the e that

Thein the pool, that it’s unfair to leave them out Just as it’s unfair to leave Grandfather out fro it for Grandfather, but I’ it for me I want to have my real Match, with all the possibilities included

When I access the additional data and nothing happens, no alarh of relief For ht, and for whomever it is that I have put back into the pool

The data is in numbers, so I don’t know their names or even what the numbers correspond to; I only knohat’s ideal, which ones should go with the others, because the Official has told us what to look for I’ to the data pool

The Society should have special sorters to do this, in Central But they’re not using the us I wonder why I think of the criteria the Arboretum workers said made me perfect for what they wanted me to do Could the Society have used the saet? What does that mean?

"Won’t they trace the sort back to me?" I asked the people at the Arboretum

"No," the wos and can reroute your selections so that it will substitute a false identification nuate later, it will be as if you were never there at all"