“Oh, you did,” said Ram. “You are superb. If Noxon proposes anything that might get rid of you, I’ll strangle him first.”

“We’ve already proven you aren’t quick enough to kill me,” said Noxon. “And any change I make, I’ll be sure to keep you around, eyeless and mean as ever.”

“I’m not mean,” said Deborah, sounding a little hurt.

“I meant it in the nicest possible way,” said Noxon.

“None of the possible ways to mean that are nice at all,” said Deborah.

“He means that he’s halfway to being in love with you,” said Ram. “And I agree, that isn’t a very nice thing to contemplate, what with that incredibly ugly face of his.”

“Enough,” said Noxon. “Let’s go watch a gnu get slaughtered and butchered by Erectids. And then go back and save a little girl from being a blind orphan for the rest of her life. And then we can figure out how to save a faraway planet from destruction. I’m not putting it to a vote, and any of you who wants to can opt out of any step along the way, and choose your own consequences. But those are the changes I’m going to make.”

“You do realize that the simplest choice would have been to leave me dead,” said Deborah. “Why did they even leave this note to warn us? You can still accomplish your mission whether I’m there or not.”

“Because Professor Wheaton couldn’t bear to live in a world in which you were dead,” said Noxon. “Future me explained it very clearly.”

“So it isn’t me, it’s Father who caused all this annoyance,” said Deborah.

“My fault,” said Wheaton. “I take full responsibility.”

“Are you coming with me, or not?” asked Noxon.

They followed him out the door of the hotel room. They arrived at the parking lot much later than before, and now two rangers tried to persuade them not to go. But they went, and saw the prey stunned by two expertly thrown cobblestones, and then killed with the jab of a wooden spear into the spine. They watched the Erectids flake small blades from their seedstones, and flay and section the body while the blood was still warm, then bind the haunches and slabs of meat with twine and start jogging back toward the camp, where the fires would be waiting, and the women and children and old men were hungry for the meat, which would mean the survival of the tribe for another few days.

CHAPTER 24

Motherless Boy

“Something doesn’t feel right to me,” said Square to Umbo.

Umbo looked at the young man but said nothing. It wasn’t Umbo’s job to draw him out. Square would say what he had to say, when he was ready to say it. If Umbo spoke now, it would become Umbo’s conversation, and since he had no idea what the conversation would be about, it didn’t seem likely to be productive.

“I’m trying to think through everything that everybody has taught me about what’s right and wrong,” said Square. “I know it doesn’t mean legal or illegal—it’s usually right to obey the law, because that’s how civilization works best, but not always. I mean, over in Ramfold, either you’re King-in-the-Tent because you’re married to Param Sessamin and her mother is Sessaminiak, the rightfully deposed queen, or you’re a traitor and a rebel because you and Param make that claim but Hagia is still Sessamin, and Haddamander is King-in-the-Tent and all his actions are right.”

“Is that what you’re trying to make up your mind about?”

“Oh, not at all,” said Square. “I was just showing my thinking about right and wrong versus legal and illegal.”

“I’m not Rigg, and he only demands that from you because that’s how he was raised, one long oral examination.”

“But it’s a good education. I know so much now that I finally understand how little I know.”

“Very wise. But I was born knowing that.”

“Having your supposed father tell you that you’re stupid every hour of the day is not the same thing,” said Square.

“He swore he was teaching me a lesson,” said Umbo. “I was defrauded.”

“The thing that doesn’t feel right,” said Square, “is having Rigg at the head of your army of traitorous rebels.”

“He isn’t, actually,” said Umbo. “Olivenko is the overall commander.”

“But it’s actually worse the way it is, having Rigg lead every raiding party. He hates fighting.”

“No,” said Umbo. “He hates killing.”

“You can’t keep this up forever. Having each of his raids take place before all the others, so each one becomes the first one. Always taking the enemy completely by surprise. Eventually you’re going to go back so far that nobody will want to join the rebellion because it’ll be before Haddamander and Hagia did anything bad. Back when the People’s Revolutionary Council ruled and nobody really hated them all that much, except the royalists.”

“Good grasp of history,” said Umbo.

“Well, it’s not really history, is it? Since at this moment, here in Vadeshfold, those events are still a few centuries ahead. You aren’t even born yet.”

“Nor are you,” said Umbo. “And on the timeline that exists now in Ramfold, you never will be.”

“It was kind of you to save me from temporal oblivion,” said Square.

“Sometimes you talk way too much like Rigg.”

“He’s your best friend,” said Square.

“Maybe you are, now,” said Umbo.

“Well, maybe I’m his best friend, too. Because he sees the end of these raids coming. And then it’ll be time for real war, against prepared enemies, and a lot of people will die.”

“They all volunteered,” said Umbo.

“That doesn’t mean dying isn’t just as dead,” said Square. “And when they kill Haddamander’s soldiers, won’t it be even worse, because they volunteered to do it?”

“No, Haddamander’s soldiers won’t be any deader because they were slain by volunteers,” said Umbo.

“Morally worse,” said Square. “Wronger. I think that’s how it feels to Rigg.”

Umbo knew he was right, and so said nothing.

“Why can’t you admit when you’re wrong?” said Square.

“You were right,” said Umbo, “but I wasn’t wrong, because I didn’t disagree with you.”

“But you can’t say it.”

It was time to prod him back onto the topic. “What is it that doesn’t feel right to you, Square?”

“For Rigg to have to keep leading raids as Captain Toad.”

Now Umbo understood what Square was getting at. “We’re not bringing any more facemasks into Ramfold.”

“You won’t be,” said Square. “I’m not talking about bringing any more of my people there.”

“Your people!” said Umbo. “There are only six of you who got the masks as babies, and you’re the oldest.”

“I’m not the one who decided when they should arrive here. But you know I’m talking about my future people. The ones who got facemasks as adults, because they wanted to be like Loaf. What are they training for, if not to fight in Ramfold?”

“If we need them,” said Umbo. “If we can’t win any other way.”

“Because what’s wrong becomes right when the need is great,” said Square.

“Because what’s perilous becomes worth the risk when alterna­tives reduce to zero,” said Umbo. “Not every decision can be framed as right and wrong.”

“Well, actually, every decision can be framed as right or wrong, including the decision whether to frame the decision as right versus wrong.”

“Please, please stop trying to be just like Rigg,” said Umbo. “We had two of him for a while, and we couldn’t stand it so we kicked one of them off the planet.”

“Not even close to true. Rigg told me what really happened.”

“You can’t take Rigg’s place, Square. He may not like war, but Loaf trained him for it and he’s very good.”

“The facemask makes him good,” said Square. “And I have—”

“No training whatsoever,” said Umbo.

“Loaf has trained me a lot.”

“Loaf has trained you how to fight like a child.”