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"How ain

"Totally and completely," answers Lev

"And how much do you hate the people ould take parts of you and make them parts of themselves?"

"Totally and completely"

"And how much do you want to make them, and everyone else in the world, pay?"

"Totally and completely" Someone has to pay for the unfairness of it all Everyone has to pay He'll make them

"Good," says Cleaver

Lev is a less and less frightened of it He tells hi

"Maybe he's for real," says Blaine

If Levback "One thing I need to know," Lev asks, "because Julie-Annshe wasn't very clear about it I want to knohat you believe"

"What we believe?" says Mai She looks at Blaine, and Blaine laughs Cleaver, however, puts his hand up to quiet hiood question A real question It deserves a real answer If you're asking if we have a cause, we don't, so get that out of your head" Cleaver gestures broadly, his hands and ar the space around him "Causes are old news We believe in randomness Earthquakes! Tornados! We believe in forces of nature--and we are forces of nature We are havoc We're chaos We ood with the Admiral, didn't we," says Blaine slyly Cleaver throws hiaze, and Mai actually looks scared It's alhts

"How did you mess with the Ade both anxious and angry "We s that are done Right?"

Cleaver gives her a nod, and she seems to relax a bit "The point is," says Cleaver, "it doesn'tas we s don't get shaken up--auess"

"Well, then, we are the er at Lev "The question is, are you one too? Do you have what it takes to be one of us?"

Lev takes a long look at these three These are the kinds of people his parents would hate He could join theh--not this time There must be more Yet, as he stands there, Lev realizes that there is e lurking in a downed power line Anger, but not just anger: a will to act on it as well

"All right, I'er than himself Until now, he hadn't realized how

"Welcoives him a slap on the back so painful, he sees stars

36 Risa

Risa is the first to notice so with Connor Risa is the first to care that so with Lev

In a ravated by it, because things are going so well for her now She finally has a place to be She wishes this could rehteenth birthday, because in the outside world she'd never be able to do the things she's doing now It would be practicing medicine without a license--fine when you're in survival mode, but not in the civilized world Perhaps, after she turned eighteen, she could go to college, and medical school-- but that takes money, connections, and she'd have to face even more competition than in her music classes She wonders if maybe she could join the military and become an Army medic You don't have to be a boeuf to be in a , the i is that there could be a choice For the first ti tihts in her life, the last thing she wants is so that will shoot it all down

This is what fills Risa's mind as she makes her way to one of the study jets The Admiral has three of his most accessible and well-appointed jets set aside as study spaces, complete with libraries, co you want to learn "This is not a school," the Admiral told them shortly after they arrived "There are no teachers, there are no exams" Oddly, it's precisely that lack of expectation that keeps the study jets full most of the time

Risa's duties start shortly after dawn, and it has becoin her day at one of the study jets, since at that ti she's usually the only one there She likes it that way, because the things she wants to learn make other kids uncomfortable It's not the subject matter that bothers the it Anatomy and medical texts, mostly Kids assume that just because she works in the medical jet, she knows all there is to know It disturbs the to learn it

When she arrives today, however, she discovers Connor already there She stops at the hatch, surprised He's so absorbed in whatever he's reading that he doesn't hear her come in She takes a moment to look at him She's never seen him so tired--not even when they were on the run Still, she's thrilled to see him They have both been so busy, there hasn't been ether

"Hi, Connor"

Startled, he looks up quickly and slams his book closed When he realizes who it is, he relaxes "Hi, Risa" By the ti, and doesn't seelad she can have that kind of effect on him

"You're up early"

"No, I'lances out one of the little round s "Is italready?"

"Just about What are you reading?"

He tries to push it out of view, but it's too late for that He has two books out The botto That's no surprise, considering the interest he's taken in the way things work It's the book on top--the one his nose was in when she arrived--that catches her by surprise, aly for Morons?"

"Yeah, well, everyone needs a hobby"

She tries to take a long look into hi, isn't there?" she asks "I don't need to read Connor for Morons to know that you're in some kind of trouble"

He looks everywhere but into her eyes "It isn't trouble At least not for me Or maybe it is in some ways, I don't know"

"Want to talk about it?"

"That," says Connor, "is the last thing I want to do" He takes a deep breath and shifts in his chair "Don't worry, everything will be fine"